People's life goals relate to their personality type

September 16, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Davis

In the first research of its kind, a new University of California, Davis, study suggests that for the most part, people formulate goals consistent with their personality traits -- and an individual's goals are related to how their personality subsequently changes over time.

The study surveyed more than 500 students when they started college, each year during college, and 20 years later on their goals related to being creative, having a successful career, having a family, being wealthy, or being active in religion or politics. The goals of these UC Berkeley students -- about half were still responding after two decades -- remained relatively stable over time, though there were some notable changes.

"This study was a unique opportunity to examine how individuals' personalities and major life goals were related to each other across two decades of life," said Olivia E. Atherton, the lead author of the study and former doctoral student in psychology at UC Davis. "We found that, in many ways, one's personality shapes the types of life goals that are valued, and as a result of pursuing those goals, personality changes."

Successful people stress goals

Various enormously successful people, such as Albert Einstein, have noted the importance of goals, researchers said. Einstein once said, for example: "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." The personality characteristics he possessed were likely the driving force behind the types of goals he aimed to achieve, researchers said.

"Einstein's tendency to be creative, curious, and intellectual likely fueled his scientific goals, as well as his more aesthetic goals, such as his passion for playing the violin," the study authors wrote.

The study, "Stability and Change in Personality Traits and Major Life Goals from College to Midlife," was published in late August in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Besides Atherton, co-authors include Richard Robins, a professor of psychology who is director of the UC Davis Personality, Self and Emotion Lab; as well as Emily Grijalva, University of Buffalo; and Brent W. Roberts, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The personality traits examined in the present study are termed the "Big Five" in psychology. They are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. These five traits broadly capture most of the ways in which people differ from one another, and they are related to a wide range of important life outcomes.

Researchers examined these traits, along with aesthetic goals (wanting to be creative and artistic); economic goals (wanting to have a successful career and be wealthy); family/relationship goals (wanting to be married and have children); hedonistic goals (wanting to have fun and experience pleasure); political goals (wanting to have influence in public affairs); religious goals (wanting to participate in religious institutions); and social goals (wanting to help others in need).

." .. We found that, on average, individuals increased in agreeableness and conscientiousness, decreased in neuroticism, and showed little change in openness to experience and extraversion from age 18 to 40," researchers said.

Some goals become less relevant 

They also found that people place less importance on all goals over time, suggesting that individuals winnow the goals they value with age, presumably because they are achieving milestones associated with those goals and thus, the goals become less important as a result.

"By identifying their own personal strengths and limitations, middle-aged adults may place less importance on certain major life goals because some goals may no longer be viewed as self-relevant," researchers said.

The authors did find that personality traits are related to major life goal development over time. For example, individuals who become more agreeable, kind and compassionate, also tend to place more emphasis on social and family/relationship goals over time. And, individuals who become more responsible, organized and self-controlled tend to value more economic and family goals.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916135605.htm

Teacher stress linked with higher risk of student suspensions

Study examines impact of teacher burnout on student behavior, discipline issues

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

Just how stressed are teachers? A recent Gallup poll found teachers are tied with nurses for the most stressful occupation in America today. Unfortunately, that stress can have a trickle-down effect on their students, leading to disruptive behavior that results in student suspensions.

One of those overburdened teachers is Jennifer Lloyd, a high school English teacher in Maryland and a graduate student at the University of Missouri. She has noticed how perceptive her students are to her mood and their ability to feed off of her energy, for better or worse.

"If I come into class from a rough meeting or a stressful morning and I bring those feelings into the classroom environment, the kids notice," Lloyd said. "Sometimes they will give that negative energy right back to me, and we all end up having a bad day."

To examine the impact of teacher burnout on student behavior outcomes, Lloyd's sister, Colleen Eddy, a doctoral student in the MU College of Education, and her colleagues with the Missouri Prevention Science Institute, conducted teacher surveys and classroom observations in nine Missouri elementary schools. They found when teachers are highly stressed and emotionally exhausted, students in their classrooms are at a higher risk of being suspended or disciplined by school administrators.

"Removing students from the classroom environment as a form of punishment can be really harmful, as research has shown it not only reduces student achievement but also increases the risk of dropout," Eddy said. "If we want to make schools a positive place for student learning, we first need to ensure it is a positive workplace for teachers. By giving teachers strategies to better manage disruptive student behavior, they will have more time for instruction and building those positive relationships with students."

Strategies for managing teacher stress include personal coping mechanisms, such as reflecting on things to be grateful for, as well as collaborating with school administrators to identify ways to reduce some of the demands placed on overburdened and under supported teachers.

"Teachers have the potential to impact the lives of so many students in their classrooms," Eddy said. "Therefore, supporting them with the skills they need in classroom management and stress management is really important because it will have a positive impact on their students in the long run."

As the sister of a teacher, Eddy has seen firsthand the influence Lloyd can have on her students and their long-term life trajectories.

"The students have told me that it is so helpful to know they have someone who is in their corner and supporting them, and when students don't have that, we have seen higher absence rates and lower assignment completion," Lloyd said. "They don't want to be engaged if they feel like no one in the building cares about them, so if they do feel cared for and supported in the school environment, they are much more likely to remain in school and be a part of the learning experience."

Since nearly half of all new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, creating a support system to help manage teacher stress can reduce teacher burnout and improve student outcomes.

"Our research is focused on identifying what we can shift in students' environments to improve their learning and behavioral outcomes," Eddy said. "Teachers are so important and their influence on students is immense. They are superstars and deserve all the support we can give them."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915105929.htm

Exposure to workplace sexual harassment linked to an increased risk of suicidal behavior

Measures targeting inappropriate behaviours in the social work environment could help reduce suicide, say researchers

Science Daily/September 2, 2020

BMJ

Workers who have been exposed to sexual harassment in their workplace are at greater risk of suicide and attempting suicide, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

The authors say their findings suggest that workplace interventions focusing on the social side of the work environment could help reduce suicide.

The "Me Too" movement has brought a lot of attention to work-related sexual harassment in recent years, and the impact it can have on businesses and society, but most importantly on individuals.

While previous research has found that sexual harassment in the workplace is linked to physical health symptoms, sickness absence, and poorer mental health, such as psychological distress, depression, and anxiety, little research has been carried out on its impact on suicidal behaviour.

So a team of researchers set out to determine how exposure to workplace sexual harassment is associated with suicidal behaviour in a large population of Swedish workers.

The study included 85,205 men and women of working age in paid work who completed a questionnaire between 1995 and 2013 which included questions about exposure to work related sexual harassment.

Workers were asked if they had been subjected to sexual harassment in their workplace in the past 12 months either from superiors or fellow workers, or from "other people", such as patients, clients, passengers and students.

Sexual harassment was defined as "undesirable advances or offensive references to what is generally associated with sexual relations."

Any suicides or suicide attempts by these workers over an average follow up period of 13 years were identified from administrative registers.

Overall, 4.8% of the workers reported workplace sexual harassment during the previous 12 months: 1.9% of all men and 7.5% of all women. Those exposed were more likely to be younger, single, divorced, and in low paid but high strain jobs (high demands but low control), and born outside of Europe.

A total of 125 people died from suicide and 816 made a suicide attempt during the follow-up period, which translates to a rate of 0.1 suicides per 1000 person years and rate 0.8 attempted suicides per 1000 person years.

After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, exposure to workplace sexual harassment was found to be associated with a 2.82 times greater risk of suicide and 1.59 times greater risk of attempted suicide. The increased risk estimates remained significant after adjusting for health and work characteristics, and there were no significant differences in rates between the sexes.

Sexual harassment from others was found to be more strongly associated with suicide than sexual harassment from superiors or fellow workers

This is an observational study, so can't establish cause, and the authors point out that their results may have been undermined by underreporting of sexual harassment because of varied attitudes towards what represents an incident, or some respondents including incidents they had witnessed.

Nevertheless they say workplace sexual harassment may "represent an important risk factor for suicidal behaviour. This suggests that workplace interventions focusing on the social work environment and behaviours could contribute to a decreased burden of suicide."

More research is needed to determine causality and risk factors for workplace sexual harassment and the mechanisms explaining the association between work related sexual harassment and suicidal behaviour, they add.

This study underscores the need to consider workplace sexual harassment as both an occupational hazard and a significant public health problem, say US researchers in a linked editorial.

Yet given that the most common approaches to prevention (sexual harassment training) and to mitigation (reporting or grievance procedures) have been shown to do more harm than good, new ways to prevent and address workplace sexual harassment are urgently needed, they write.

"We believe no workplace can be considered safe unless it is free of harassment, and this issue cannot be sidelined any longer," they say.

"Promising, evidence-based solutions exist and should be widely implemented and evaluated. Victims of sexual harassment should receive mental health screening and treatment to mitigate risks for subsequent mental health concerns and suicidality," they conclude.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200902185524.htm

Being a selfish jerk doesn't get you ahead

August 31, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Berkeley Haas School of Business

Two studies provide empirical evidence to settle the question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead. The studies concluded that being a jerk provides no advantage in career advancement. Any power boost disagreeable people get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the studies concluded.

The evidence is in: Nice guys and gals don't finish last, and being a selfish jerk doesn't get you ahead.

That's the clear conclusion from research that tracked disagreeable people from college or graduate school to where they landed in their careers about 14 years later.

"I was surprised by the consistency of the findings. No matter the individual or the context, disagreeableness did not give people an advantage in the competition for power -- even in more cutthroat, 'dog-eat-dog' organizational cultures," said Berkeley Haas Prof. Cameron Anderson, who co-authored the study with Berkeley Psychology Prof. Oliver P. John, doctoral student Daron L. Sharps, and Assoc. Prof. Christopher J. Soto of Colby College.

The paper was published August 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers conducted two studies of people who had completed personality assessments as undergraduates or MBA students at three universities. They surveyed the same people more than a decade later, asking about their power and rank in their workplaces, as well as the culture of their organizations. They also asked their co-workers to rate the study participants' rank and workplace behavior. Across the board, they found those with selfish, deceitful, and aggressive personality traits were not more likely to have attained power than those who were generous, trustworthy, and generally nice.

That's not to say that jerks don't reach positions of power. It's just that they didn't get ahead faster than others, and being a jerk simply didn't help, Anderson said. That's because any power boost they get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the researchers found. In contrast, the researchers found that extroverts were the most likely to have advanced in their organizations, based on their sociability, energy, and assertiveness -- backing up prior research.

"The bad news here is that organizations do place disagreeable individuals in charge just as often as agreeable people," Anderson said. "In other words, they allow jerks to gain power at the same rate as anyone else, even though jerks in power can do serious damage to the organization."

The age-old question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead has long interested Anderson, who studies social status. It's a critical question for managers, because ample research has shown that jerks in positions of power are abusive, prioritize their own self-interest, create corrupt cultures, and ultimately cause their organizations to fail. They also serve as toxic role models for society at large.

For example, people who read former-Apple CEO Steve Jobs' biography might think, "Maybe if I become an even bigger asshole I'll be successful like Steve," the authors note in their paper. "My advice to managers would be to pay attention to agreeableness as an important qualification for positions of power and leadership," Anderson said. "Prior research is clear: agreeable people in power produce better outcomes."

While there's clearly no shortage of jerks in power, there's been little empirical research to settle the question of whether being disagreeable actually helped them get there, or is simply incidental to their success. Anderson and his co-authors set out to create a research design that would clear up the debate.

What defines a jerk? The participants had all completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), an assessment based on general consensus among psychologists of the five fundamental personality dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness. It was developed by Anderson's co-author John, who directs the Berkeley Personality Lab. In addition, some of the participants also completed a second personality assessment, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R).

"Disagreeableness is a relatively stable aspect of personality that involves the tendency to behave in quarrelsome, cold, callous, and selfish ways," the researchers explained. ." ..Disagreeable people tend to be hostile and abusive to others, deceive and manipulate others for their own gain, and ignore others' concerns or welfare."

In the first study, which involved 457 participants, the researchers found no relationship between power and disagreeableness, no matter whether the person had scored high or low on those traits. That was true regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, industry, or the cultural norms in the organization.

The second study went deeper, looking at the four main ways people attain power: through dominant-aggressive behavior, or using fear and intimidation; political behavior, or building alliances with influential people; communal behavior, or helping others; and competent behavior, or being good at one's job. They also asked the subjects' co-workers to rate their place in the hierarchy, as well as their workplace behavior (interestingly, the co-workers' ratings largely matched the subjects' self-assessments).

This allowed the researchers to better understand why disagreeable people do not get ahead faster than others. Even though jerks tend to engage in dominant behavior, their lack of communal behavior cancels out any advantage their aggressiveness gives them, they concluded.

Anderson noted that the findings don't directly speak to whether disagreeableness helps or hurts people attain power in the realm of electoral politics, where the power dynamics are different than in organizations. But there are some likely parallels. "Having a strong set of alliances is generally important to power in all areas of life," he said. "Disagreeable politicians might have more difficulty maintaining necessary alliances because of their toxic behavior."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200831154408.htm

A coffee and catnap keep you sharp on the nightshift

August 28, 2020

Science Daily/University of South Australia

A simple coffee and a quick catnap could be the cure for staying alert on the nightshift as new research from the University of South Australia shows that this unlikely combination can improve attention and reduce sleep inertia.

In Australia, more than 1.4 million people are employed in shift work, with more than 200,000 regularly working night or evening shifts.

Lead researcher, Dr Stephanie Centofanti from UniSA Online and the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at UniSA says the finding could help counteract the kind of sleep inertia that is experienced by many shiftworkers.

"Shift workers are often chronically sleep-deprived because they have disrupted and irregular sleep patterns," Dr Centofanti says.

"As a result, they commonly use a range of strategies to try to boost their alertness while on the nightshift, and these can include taking power naps and drinking coffee -- yet it's important to understand that there are disadvantages for both.

"Many workers nap during a night shift because they get so tired. But the downside is that they can experience 'sleep inertia' -- that grogginess you have just after you wake up -- and this can impair their performance and mood for up to an hour after their nap.

"Caffeine is also used by many people to stay awake and alert. But again, if you have too much coffee it can harm your overall sleep and health. And, if you use it to perk you up after a nap, it can take a good 20-30 minutes to kick in, so there's a significant time delay before you feel the desired effect.

"A 'caffeine-nap' (or 'caff-nap') could be a viable alternative -- by drinking a coffee before taking a nap, shiftworkers can gain the benefits of a 20-30-minute nap then the perk of the caffeine when they wake. It's a win-win."

The small pilot study tested the impact of 200 mg of caffeine (equivalent to 1-2 regular cups of coffee) consumed by participants just before a 3.30am 30-minute nap, comparing results with a group that took a placebo.

Participants taking a 'caffeine-nap' showed marked improvements in both performance and alertness, indicating the potential of a 'caffeine-nap' to counteract sleep grogginess.

Dr Centofanti says this shows a promising fatigue countermeasure for shift workers. She says the next move is to test the new finding on more people.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200828115401.htm

Meditation for mind-control

September 23, 2020

Science Daily/College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

 A BCI is an apparatus that allows an individual to control a machine or computer directly from their brain. Non-invasive means of control like electroencephalogram (EEG) readings taken through the skull are safe and convenient compared to more risky invasive methods using a brain implant, but they take longer to learn and users ultimately vary in proficiency.

He and collaborators conducted a large-scale human study enrolling subjects in a weekly 8-week course in simple, widely-practiced meditation techniques, to test their effect as a potential training tool for BCI control. A total of 76 people participated in this study, each being randomly assigned to the meditation group or the control group, which had no preparation during these 8 weeks. Up to 10 sessions of BCI study were conducted with each subject. He's work shows that humans with just eight lessons in mindfulness-based attention and training (MBAT) demonstrated significant advantages compared to those with no prior meditation training, both in their initial ability to control BCI's and in the time it took for them to achieve full proficiency.

After subjects in the MBAT group completed their training course they, along with a control group, were charged with learning to control a simple BCI system by navigating a cursor across a computer screen using their thought. This required them to concentrate their focus and visualize the movement of the cursor within their head. During the course of the process, He's team monitored their performance and brain activity via EEG.

As stated prior, the team found that those with training in MBAT were more successful in controlling the BCI, both initially and over time. Interestingly, the researchers found that differences in brain activity between the two sample groups corresponded directly with their success. The meditation group showed significantly enhanced capability of modulating their alpha rhythm, the activity pattern monitored by the BCI system to mentally control the movement of a computer cursor.

His findings are very important for the process of BCI training and the overall feasibility of non-invasive BCI control via EEG. While prior work from his group has shown that long-term meditators were better able to overcome the difficulty of learning non-invasive mind control, this work shows that just a short period of MBAT training can significantly improve a subject's skill with a BCI. This suggests that education in MBAT could provide a significant addition to BCI training. "Meditation has been widely practiced for well-being and improving health," said He. Our work demonstrates that it can also enhance a person's mental power for mind control, and may facilitate broad use of noninvasive brain-computer interface technology."

It could also inform neuroscientists and clinicians working in BCI design and maintenance. A thorough understanding of the brain is crucial for creating the machine learning algorithms BCI's use to interpret brain signals. This knowledge is especially important in BCI recalibration, which can be time-consuming and frequently necessary for non-invasive BCI's.

The work of He and his team presents a new application for a well-known and widely practiced form of meditation, and may even offer insights into the neurological effects of meditation and how it may be adapted for better BCI training. This study offers novel information for researchers of BCI's and presents a new tool for both understanding the brain and preparing subjects to use a BCI.

 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124647.htm

Mindfulness with paced breathing and lowering blood pressure

September 9, 2020

Science Daily/Florida Atlantic University

Now more than ever, Americans and people all over the world are under increased stress, which may adversely affect their health and well-being. Researchers explore the possibility that mindfulness with paced breathing reduces blood pressure. One of the most plausible mechanisms is that paced breathing stimulates the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system, which reduce stress chemicals in the brain and increase vascular relaxation that may lead to lowering of blood pressure.

According to the American Stroke Association (ASA) and the American Heart Association (AHA), more than 100 million Americans have high blood pressure. Elevated blood pressure is a major avoidable cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide due primarily to increased risks of stroke and heart attacks. Elevated blood pressure is the most important major and modifiable risk factor to reduce stroke. In fact, small but sustained reductions in blood pressure reduce risks of stroke and heart attacks. Therapeutic lifestyle changes of weight loss and salt reduction as well as adjunctive drug therapies are beneficial to treat and prevent high blood pressure.

Mindfulness is increasingly practiced as a technique to reduce stress through mind and body interactions. In some instances, mindfulness includes paced breathing defined as deep and diaphragmatic with slow rates typically about five to seven per minute compared with the usual rate of 12 to 14. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators have published a paper in the journal Medical Hypotheses, exploring the possibility that mindfulness with paced breathing reduces blood pressure.

"One of the most plausible mechanisms is that paced breathing stimulates the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system, which reduce stress chemicals in the brain and increase vascular relaxation that may lead to lowering of blood pressure," said Suzanne LeBlang, M.D., a neuroradiologist, second and corresponding author, and an affiliate associate professor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine.

The researchers believe the hypothesis they have formulated that mindfulness with paced breathing reduces blood pressure should be tested. To do so, FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine co-authors are already collaborating with their co-authors from the Marcus Neuroscience Institute, Boca Raton Regional Hospital/ Baptist Health South; and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health on an investigator-initiated research grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health. The initial pilot trial would include obtaining informed consent from willing and eligible subjects and assigning them at random to mindfulness either with or without paced breathing and examining whether there are sustained effects on lowering blood pressure.

"This pilot randomized trial might lead to further randomized trials of intermediate markers such as inhibition of progression of carotid intimal thickening or coronary artery atherosclerosis, and subsequently, a large scale trial to reduce stroke and heart attacks," said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, senior author, first Sir Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine. "Achieving sustained reductions in blood pressure of 4 to 5 millimeters of mercury decreases risk of stroke by 42 percent and heart attacks by about 17 percent; so positive findings would have important clinical and policy implications."

According to the ASA and AHA, cardiovascular disease (CVD), principally heart attacks and strokes, accounts for more than 800,000 deaths or 40 percent of total mortality in the U.S. each year and more than 17 million deaths worldwide. In the U.S., CVD is projected to remain the single leading cause of mortality and is rapidly becoming so worldwide. Stroke alone ranks fifth in all-cause mortality in the U.S., killing nearly 133,000 people annually as well as more than 11 percent of the population worldwide.

"Now more than ever, Americans and people all over the world are under increased stress, which may adversely affect their health and well-being," said Barbara Schmidt, co-author, teacher, researcher, philanthropist, bestselling author of "The Practice," as well as an adjunct instructor at FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine. "We know that mindfulness decreases stress and I am cautiously optimistic that mindfulness with paced breathing will produce sustained lowering of blood pressure."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200909100214.htm

Sport and memory go hand in hand

September 23, 2020

Science Daily/Université de Genève

If sport is good for the body, it also seems to be good for the brain. By evaluating memory performance following a sport session, neuroscientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) demonstrate that an intensive physical exercise session as short as 15 minutes on a bicycle improves memory, including the acquisition of new motor skills. How? Through the action of endocanabinoids, molecules known to increase synaptic plasticity. This study, to be read in the journal Scientific Reports, highlights the virtues of sport for both health and education. School programmes and strategies aimed at reducing the effects of neurodegeneration on memory could indeed benefit from it.

Very often, right after a sporting exercise -- especially endurance such as running or cycling -- one feels physical and psychological well-being. This feeling is due to endocannabinoids, small molecules produced by the body during physical exertion. "They circulate in the blood and easily cross the blood-brain barrier. They then bind to specialise cellular receptors and trigger this feeling of euphoria. In addition, these same molecules bind to receptors in the hippocampus, the main brain structure for memory processing," says Kinga Igloi, lecturer in the laboratory of Professor Sophie Schwartz, at UNIGE Faculty of Medicine's Department of Basic Neurosciences, who led this work. "But what is the link between sport and memory? This is what we wanted to understand," she continues.

Intense effort is more effective 

To test the effect of sport on motor learning, scientists asked a group of 15 young and healthy men, who were not athletes, to take a memory test under three conditions of physical exercise: after 30 minutes of moderate cycling, after 15 minutes of intensive cycling (defined as 80% of their maximum heart rate), or after a period of rest. "The exercise was as follows: a screen showed four points placed next to each other. Each time one of the dots briefly changed into a star, the participant had to press the corresponding button as quickly as possible," explains Blanca Marin Bosch, researcher in the same laboratory. "It followed a predefined and repeated sequence in order to precisely evaluate how movements were learnt. This is very similar to what we do when, for example, we learn to type on a keyboard as quickly as possible. After an intensive sports session, the performance was much better."

In addition to the results of the memory tests, the scientists observed changes in the activation of brain structures with functional MRI and performed blood tests to measure endocannabinoid levels. The different analyses concur: the faster individuals are, the more they activate their hippocampus (the brain area of memory) and the caudate nucleus (a brain structure involved in motor processes). Moreover, their endocannabinoid levels follow the same curve: the higher the level after intense physical effort, the more the brain is activated and the better the brain's performance. "These molecules are involved in synaptic plasticity, i.e. the way in which neurons are connected to each other, and thus may act on long-term potentiation, the mechanism for optimal consolidation of memory," says Blanca Marin Bosch.

Improving school learning or preventing Alzheimer's disease 

In a previous study, the research team had already shown the positive effect of sport on another type of memory, associative memory. However, contrary to what is shown here, they had observed that a sport session of moderate intensity produced better results. It therefore shows that, as not all forms of memory use the same brain mechanisms, not all sports intensities have the same effects. It should be noted that in all cases, physical exercise improves memory more than inaction.

By providing precise neuroscientific data, these studies make it possible to envisage new strategies for improving or preserving memory. "Sports activity can be an easy to implement, minimally invasive and inexpensive intervention. For example, would it be useful to schedule a sports activity at the end of a school morning to consolidate memory and improve learning?"

Improving academic learning or preventing Alzheimer's disease 

In a previous study, the research team had already shown the positive effect of sport on another type of memory, associative memory. But, contrary to what is shown here, they had observed that a sport session of moderate intensity, not high intensity, produced better results. Thus, just as not all forms of memory use the same brain mechanisms, not all sports intensities have the same effects. It should be noted that in all cases, physical exercise improves memory more than inaction.

By providing precise neuroscientific data, these studies make it possible to envisage new strategies for improving or preserving memory. "Sports activity can be an easy to implement, minimally invasive and inexpensive intervention. Would it be useful, for example, to plan a moment of sport at the end of a school morning to consolidate school learning," Kinga Igloi wonders, who, with her colleagues at Sophie Schwartz's laboratory, aims to achieve such practical objectives.

Neuroscientists are currently pursuing their work by studying memory disorders, and in particular by studying populations at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. "Some people as young as 25 years of age may experience subtle memory deficits characterised by overactivation of the hippocampus. We want to evaluate the extent to which sports practice could help compensate for these early deficits that are precursors to Alzheimer's disease.," conclude the authors.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124616.htm

Risk gene for Alzheimer's has early effects on the brain

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases

A genetic predisposition to late-onset Alzheimer's disease affects how the brains of young adults cope with certain memory tasks. Researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum report on this in the scientific journal Current Biology. Their findings are based on studies with magnetic resonance imaging in individuals at the age of about 20 years. The scientists suspect that the observed effects could be related to very early disease processes.

The causes for Alzheimer's in old age are only poorly understood. It is believed that the disease is caused by an unfavorable interaction of lifestyle, external factors and genetic risks. The greatest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease stems from inherited mutations affecting "Apolipoprotein E" (ApoE), a protein relevant for fat metabolism and neurons. Three variants of the ApoE gene are known. The most common form is associated with an average risk for Alzheimer's. One of the two rarer variants stands for an increased risk, and the other for a reduced risk.

"We were interested in finding out whether and how the different gene variants affect brain function. That is why we examined the brains of young adults in the scanner while they had to solve a task that challenged their memory," explained Dr. Hweeling Lee, who led the current study at the DZNE in Bonn.

Distinguishing similar events

The group of study participants comprised of 82 young men and women. They were on average 20 years old, and all of them were university students considered to be cognitively healthy. According to their genotype for ApoE, 33 of them had an average, 34 an increased and 15 a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease at a late age. During the study in the brain scanner, all individuals were presented with more than 150 successive images displayed on a monitor. These were everyday objects such as a hammer, a pineapple or a cat. Some pictures were repeated after a while, but sometimes the position of the displayed objects on the screen had changed. The study participants had to identify whether an object was "new" or had been shown before -- and if so, whether its position had shifted.

"We tested the ability to distinguish similar events from one another. This is called pattern separation," said Hweeling Lee. "In everyday life, for example, it's a matter of remembering whether a key has been placed in the left or right drawer of a dresser, or where the car was parked in a parking garage. We simulated such situations in a simplified way by changing the position of the depicted objects."

High-resolution through modern technology

Simultaneously to this experiment, the brain activity of the volunteers was recorded using a technique called "functional magnetic resonance imaging." Focus was on the hippocampus, an area only a few cubic centimeters in size, which can be found once in each brain hemisphere. The hippocampus is considered the switchboard of memory. It also belongs to those sections of the brain in which first damages occur in Alzheimer's disease.

When measuring brain activity, the scanner was able to show its full potential: It was an "ultra-high field tomograph" with a magnetic field strength of seven Tesla. Such devices can achieve a better resolution than brain scanners usually used in medical examinations. This enabled the researchers to record brain activity in various sub-fields of the hippocampus with high precision. "Up to now, there were no comparable studies with such level of detail in ApoE genotyped participants. This is a unique feature of our research," said Hweeling Lee.

No differences in memory performance

There were no differences between the three groups of subjects with regard to their ability for pattern separation. "All study participants performed similarly well in the memory test. It did not matter whether they had an increased, reduced or average risk for Alzheimer's disease. Such results are certainly to be expected in young healthy people," said Nikolai Axmacher, Professor of Neuropsychology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, who was also involved in the current study. "However, there were differences in brain activity. The different groups of study participants activated the various subfields of the hippocampus in different ways and to varying degrees. Their brains thus reacted differently to the memory task. In fact, we saw differences in brain activation not only between people with average and increased risk, but also between individuals with average and reduced risk."

At present, it is uncertain whether these effects are significant for developing Alzheimer's in old age. "Our findings might be related to very early disease processes. Determining this is a task for future studies and could help to devise biomarkers for the early diagnosis of dementia," said Hweeling Lee. "In any case, it is remarkable that a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's disease is already reflected in the brain at young adulthood."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915110001.htm

Older people with early, asymptomatic Alzheimer's at risk of falls

Even without cognitive problems, those with Alzheimer's-related brain damage at increased risk of falls

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/Washington University School of Medicine

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries in older adults, causing more than 800,000 hospitalizations and about 30,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. Some risk factors are well-known -- advanced age, problems with vision or balance, muscle weakness -- but an under-recognized factor is early Alzheimer's disease. Older people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's, before cognitive problems arise, are more likely to suffer a fall than people who are not on track to develop dementia.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that, in older people without cognitive problems who experience a fall, the process of neurodegeneration that leads to Alzheimer's dementia already may have begun. The findings, available online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggest that older people who have experienced falls should be screened for Alzheimer's and that new strategies may be needed to reduce the risk of falling for people in the disease's early stages.

"In the world of fall research, we generally say that you're at risk of falling if you lose strength and balance," said co-senior author Susan Stark, PhD, an associate professor of occupational therapy, of neurology and of social work. "If you lose strength and balance, the recommended treatment is to work on strength and balance. But if someone is falling for another reason, maybe because his or her brain has begun accumulating Alzheimer's-related damage, that person might need a different treatment entirely. We don't yet know what that treatment might be, but we hope we can use this information to come up with new treatment recommendations that will reduce the risk of falls in this population."

In 1987, John C. Morris, MD, then a trainee at Washington University, discovered that older people with Alzheimer's dementia are more than twice as likely to suffer a traumatic fall than people of the same age without dementia. Morris is now the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology and head of the university's Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Since Morris' discovery more than three decades ago, scientists have learned that the brains of Alzheimer's patients start undergoing changes decades before memory loss and confusion become apparent. First, plaques of amyloid proteins form, then tangles of tau protein. Some brain areas begin to shrink, and communication networks between distant parts of the brain start to decay. Stark and colleagues have shown that the link between Alzheimer's and falling holds true even during the silent phase of the disease: People with so-called preclinical Alzheimer's are at increased risk of falling despite having no apparent cognitive problems.

To better understand why people without cognitive symptoms are at risk of falling, first author Audrey Kelemen, a graduate student in Stark's lab, and colleagues followed 83 people over age 65 for a year. All participants were assessed as cognitively normal by a qualified neurologist at the beginning of the study. Each participant filled out monthly calendars recording any falls and underwent brain scans for amyloid and for signs of atrophy and impaired connectivity.

The researchers discovered that the presence of amyloid in the brain alone did not put people at increased risk of falling but that neurodegeneration did. Participants who fell had smaller hippocampi -- brain regions that are devoted to memory and that shrink in Alzheimer's disease. Their somatomotor networks -- webs of connections that are involved in receiving sensory inputs and controlling movement -- also showed signs of decay. The researchers concluded that falling is most likely to occur in the neurodegeneration phase of preclinical Alzheimer's -- the last five years or so before memory loss and confusion arise.

"Since I started working on this project, I've started asking my patients about falls, and I can't tell you how often that has helped me start understanding what is going on with the individual," said co-senior author Beau M. Ances, MD, PhD, the Daniel J. Brennan, MD, Professor of Neurology and a professor of radiology and of biomedical engineering. Ances treats patients who have dementia and other neurological conditions on the Washington University Medical Campus.

"When a person's mobility is being diminished, even though the person looks very normal, that could be a sign that something needs further evaluation," Ances said. "It's actually a really important potential marker that should make us say, 'Wait a minute. Let's dive into this more. Are there other things that go along with it?'"

The researchers have begun further experiments to better understand why brain changes in Alzheimer's put people at risk of falling, so they can develop fall-prevention recommendations. In the meantime, simple changes could go a long way toward protecting older people from devastating falls, Stark said.

"You can prevent a lot of falls just by making the environment safer," Stark said. "Simple changes could help and can't hurt: making sure the tub isn't slippery; making sure you can get up easily off the toilet; balance and strength training; reviewing your prescriptions to see if certain medications or combinations of medications are increasing the risk of falling. Until we have specific fall-prevention treatments for people with preclinical Alzheimer's, there are still plenty of things we can do to make people safer."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915140133.htm

Green light therapy shown to reduce migraine frequency, intensity

September 10, 2020

Science Daily/University of Arizona Health Sciences

New research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that people who suffer from migraine may benefit from green light therapy, which was shown to reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches and improve patient quality of life.

According to the Migraine Research Foundation, migraine is the third most prevalent illness in the world, affecting 39 million people in the United States and 1 billion worldwide.

"This is the first clinical study to evaluate green light exposure as a potential preventive therapy for patients with migraine, " said Mohab Ibrahim, MD, PhD, lead author of the study, an associate professor in the UArizona College of Medicine -- Tucson's Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Neurosurgery and director of the Chronic Pain Management Clinic. "As a physician, this is really exciting. Now I have another tool in my toolbox to treat one of the most difficult neurological conditions -- migraine."

Overall, green light exposure reduced the number of headache days per month by an average of about 60%. A majority of study participants -- 86% of episodic migraine patients and 63% of chronic migraine patients -- reported a more than 50% reduction in headache days per month. Episodic migraine is characterized by up to 14 headache days per month, while chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days per month.

"The overall average benefit was statistically significant. Most of the people were extremely happy," Dr. Ibrahim said of the participants, who were given light strips and instructions to follow while completing the study at home. "One of the ways we measured participant satisfaction was, when we enrolled people, we told them they would have to return the light at the end of the study. But when it came to the end of the study, we offered them the option to keep the light, and 28 out of the 29 decided to keep the light."

Dr. Ibrahim and co-author Amol Patwardhan, MD, PhD, who are affiliated with the UArizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center, have been studying the effects of green light exposure for several years. This initial clinical study included 29 people, all of whom experience episodic or chronic migraine and failed multiple traditional therapies, such as oral medications and Botox injections.

"Despite recent advances, the treatment of migraine headaches is still a challenge," said Dr. Patwardhan, an associate professor and the vice chair of research in the Department of Anesthesiology. "The use of a nonpharmacological therapy such as green light can be of tremendous help to a variety of patients that either do not want to be on medications or do not respond to them. The beauty of this approach is the lack of associated side effects. If at all, it appears to improve sleep and other quality of life measures."

During the study, patients were exposed to white light for one to two hours a day for 10 weeks. After a two-week break, they were exposed to green light for 10 weeks. They completed regular surveys and questionnaires to track the number of headaches they experienced and the intensity of those headaches, as well as quality of life measurements such as the ability to fall and stay asleep or to perform work.

Using a numeric pain scale of 0 to 10, participants noted that green light exposure resulted in a 60% reduction in pain, from 8 to 3.2. Green light therapy also shortened the duration of headaches, and it improved participants' ability to fall and stay asleep, perform chores, exercise, and work.

None of the study participants reported any side effects of green light exposure.

"In this trial, we treated green light as a drug," Dr. Ibrahim said. "It's not any green light. It has to be the right intensity, the right frequency, the right exposure time and the right exposure methods. Just like with medications, there is a sweet spot with light."

Dr. Ibrahim has been contacted by physicians from as far away as Europe, Africa and Asia, all asking for the green light parameters and schematic design for their own patients.

"As you can imagine, LED light is cheap," he said. "Especially in places where resources are not that available and people have to think twice before they spend their money, when you offer something affordable, it's a good option to try."

The paper, "Evaluation of green light exposure on headache frequency and quality of life in migraine patients: A preliminary one-way cross-over clinical trial," was published online by Cephalalgia, the journal of the International Headache Society.

"These are great findings, but this is where the story begins," Dr. Ibrahim said. "As a scientist, I am really interested in how this works because if I understand the mechanism, then I can utilize it for other conditions. I can use it as a tool to manipulate the biological systems to achieve as much as we can."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910090016.htm

Vitamin B1 deficiency a key factor in the development of alcohol-related dementia

Hypothesis describes the role of iron deposits in the brain as the cause of dementia in alcoholics

September 9, 2020

Science Daily/Medical University of Vienna

A common consequence of chronically high alcohol consumption is a decline in cognitive function, which can even progress to full-blown dementia. However, we do not yet fully understand how alcohol damages the brain. A research group led by Stephan Listabarth from MedUni Vienna's Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Social Psychiatry, has now developed a hypothesis whereby iron deposits in the brain -- resulting from alcohol-induced vitamin B1 deficiency -- can be regarded as key factors in cognitive decline. The work has now been published in the leading journal Alzheimer's and Dementia. 

In Austria, around 5% of the population are alcohol dependent from the age of 15 onwards. This means that approximately 365,000 people are affected by the dangerous health consequences associated with high alcohol consumption. One of these consequences is a decline in cognitive function, especially memory and abstraction. This is then referred to as alcohol-related dementia. However, we do not yet fully understand the exact pathomechanism, that is to say the way in which the brain is damaged by alcohol.

Researchers Stephan Listabarth, Daniel König and Benjamin Vyssoki from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Social Psychiatry at MedUni Vienna and Simon Hametner from MedUni Vienna's Department of Neurology, Division of Neuropathology and Neurochemistry, have now advanced a plausible hypothesis to explain alcohol-induced brain damage: the cognitive deterioration is caused by iron deposits in the brain but the administration of vitamin B1 could protect the brain from these deposits.

We know from various neurodegenerative diseases that iron deposits in the brain are responsible for nerve tissue damage. These deposits can also be detected in specific regions of the brain (including the basal ganglia) in people who drink a lot of alcohol. The hypothesis advanced by the study authors now also offers an explanation as to why iron deposits are so prevalent in this patient group: high alcohol consumption results in elevated iron levels in the blood and also to vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency, which, among other things, is important for maintaining the blood-brain barrier. If these two situations coincide, more iron will be deposited inside the brain, ultimately leading to oxidative tissue damage.

This newly described role of vitamin B1 in this process could represent a huge step forward in our understanding of the development of alcohol-related neurological damage and, in particular, could offer a new point of attack for preventive and therapeutic approaches. It would then be conceivable to give continuous vitamin B1 substitutionin future, as a preventive measure.

The researchers believe it would also be useful to evaluate the use of drugs to reduce iron levels (e.g. chelators), as is already done in other neurodegenerative diseases. The authors of the current work have already started planning a prospective clinical study to validate the above-mentioned relationship between alcohol dependency, vitamin B1 deficiency and cerebral iron deposits and to provide a basis for further research in the field of alcohol-related dementia in the future.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200909100248.htm

Understanding the link between hearing loss and dementia

September 1, 2020

Science Daily/Newcastle University

Scientists have developed a new theory as to how hearing loss may cause dementia and believe that tackling this sensory impairment early may help to prevent the disease.

Hearing loss has been shown to be linked to dementia in epidemiological studies and may be responsible for a tenth of the 47 million cases worldwide.

Now, published in the journal Neuron, a team at Newcastle University, UK, provide a new theory to explain how a disorder of the ear can lead to Alzheimer's disease -- a concept never looked at before.

It is hoped that this new understanding may be a significant step towards advancing research into Alzheimer's disease and how to prevent the illness for future generations.

Newcastle experts considered three key aspects; a common underlying cause for hearing loss and dementia; lack of sound-related input leading to brain shrinking; and cognitive impairment resulting in people having to engage more brain resources to compensate for hearing loss, which then become unavailable for other tasks.

The team propose a new angle which focuses on the memory centres deep in the temporal lobe. Their recent work indicates that this part of the brain, typically associated with long-term memory for places and events, is also involved in short-term storage and manipulation of auditory information.

They consider explanations for how changes in brain activity due to hearing loss might directly promote the presence of abnormal proteins that cause Alzheimer's disease, therefore triggering the disease.

Professor Tim Griffiths, from Newcastle University's Faculty of Medical Sciences, said: "The challenge has been to explain how a disorder of the ear can lead to a degenerative problem in the brain.

"We suggest a new theory based on how we use what is generally considered to be the memory system in the brain when we have difficulty listening in real-world environments."

Work on mechanisms for difficult listening is a central theme for the research group, including members in Newcastle, UCL and Iowa University, that has been supported by a Medical Research Council programme grant.

Dr Will Sedley, from Newcastle University's Faculty of Medical Sciences, said: "This memory system engaged in difficult listening is the most common site for the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

"We propose that altered activity in the memory system caused by hearing loss and the Alzheimer's disease process trigger each other.

"Researchers now need to examine this mechanism in models of the pathological process to test if this new theory is right."

The experts developed the theory of this important link with hearing loss by bringing together findings from a variety of human studies and animal models. Future work will continue to look at this area.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200901112218.htm

People with less body response to stress task had more PTSD signs after COVID-19 began

Study findings surprised researchers, who had expected the reverse, researcher says

August 31, 2020

Science Daily/Baylor University

People who did not have a large heart rate response to a stress task surprised researchers later -- after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic -- when they showed more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder related to the crisis than others who also did the stress task and COVID-19 stress ratings.

Researchers had anticipated that the reverse would be true -- that those with higher heart rate reactions to the stress task would experience more distress related to COVID-19. Previous work shows individuals with a PTSD have higher responses to stress. But very few studies have examined heart rate responses to acute stress before the onset of a traumatic event, researchers said.

"The study shows that diminished biological arousal -- how the body responds when it is exposed to something startling or stressful -- before a global pandemic may predict PTSD symptoms related to the event," said principal investigator Annie T. Ginty, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University.

The biological reactions were measured by blood pressure and heart rate, said co-author Danielle Young, Psy.D., research coordinator in the Baylor Behavioral Medicine Lab.

The study, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, grew out of an ongoing study of undergraduate students at Baylor University.

"The research also showed that some college students were experiencing distress related to the pandemic in its earliest stages, even when social distancing was just beginning," Ginty said.

In the study's first phase, with 120 participants, researchers measured their resting heart rate and blood pressure before and during a standard acute psychological stress test. They asked students to do mental math, rather than writing down figures or using a calculator, and give the scorers verbal responses. In a four-minute test, they were asked to add consecutive single-digit numbers while remembering the most recent and adding it to the next number presented. They did this while being videotaped with a scorer present and looking at themselves in a mirror.

"The standard acute psychological stress task is meant to increase levels of stress by including requirements of cognitive effort, social evaluation, self-evaluation and competition," Ginty said. "The task substantially increases heart rate and feelings of stress."

The study's first phase, which ended in February 2020, was done in Central Texas. After the pandemic's onset, researchers launched a second phase between March 26 and April 5, sending participants a follow-up questionnaire about COVID-19. The participants were in 22 states after early campus closure due to COVID-19. When asked, none had tested positive for COVID-19 and 87.5 percent were living in a city/state with a "shelter in place" order.

The questionnaire included standard items used to measure PTSD symptoms of intrusion (dreaming about the event and having trouble staying asleep), hyperarousal (irritability and having trouble concentrating) and avoidance (trying not to think or talk about the event) in the seven days before they responded to the questionnaire.

The findings are in line with a previous study of soldiers, which showed that a lower response of cortisol -- the primary stress hormone -- to an acute psychological stress task before deployment predicted greater PTSD symptoms post deployment.

The present study supports growing evidence that lower biological arousal in response to psychological stress may be bad for health outcomes, particularly mental health outcomes. The findings support Ginty's previous work, which demonstrated that lower arousal to acute stress is associated with higher levels of perceived stress -- meaning that people rate their environment as more stressful.

Previous work also has shown that higher levels of biological arousal may be associated with developing PTSD symptoms. But those studies used what are considered passive tasks -- such as hearing loud bursts of noise. Lower biological responses to stress tasks that require participants to actively engage in the task may be a unique biomarker for mental health outcomes.

Ginty said that future research should aim for more comprehensive measures of biological reactivity and include a lifetime history of traumatic event exposure. However, the current study did account for childhood trauma and diagnosis of a mental health condition before the pandemic's onset.

"Since findings suggest that individuals with diminished arousal to active stress may be at greater risk for negative mental health outcomes, it could be helpful to offer preventive treatment or resources to them at the early stages of stress or trauma exposure," Ginty said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200831165700.htm

Research shows how a diet change might help US veterans with Gulf War illness

August 31, 2020

Science Daily/American University

A new study from American University shows the results from a dietary intervention in U.S. veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness, a neurological disorder in veterans who served in the Persian Gulf War from 1990 to 1991.

The veterans' overall number of symptoms were reduced and they experienced less pain and fatigue after one month on a diet low in glutamate, which is a flavor enhancer commonly added to foods, and that also functions as an important neurotransmitter in the nervous system.

Because the symptoms of GWI are similar to those of fibromyalgia, the U.S. Department of Defense provides funding for previously tested treatments in fibromyalgia that could also help veterans suffering from GWI. The low glutamate diet was previously shown to reduce symptoms in fibromyalgia, and thus, was a candidate for this funding. There are no cures for either illness, and treatments are being sought for both to manage chronic pain. GWI is thought to be connected to nervous system dysfunction in veterans. In the Gulf War, soldiers were exposed to various neurotoxins such as chemical warfare agents, pyridostigmine bromide (PB) pills, pesticides, burning oil fields, and depleted uranium.

"Gulf War Illness is a debilitating disorder which includes widespread pain, fatigue, headaches, cognitive dysfunction, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Veterans with GWI have a reduced quality of life as compared to veterans who do not have the illness," said AU Associate Professor of Health Studies Kathleen Holton, who explores how food additives contribute to neurological symptoms and is a member of AU's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience. "In this study testing the low glutamate diet, the majority of veterans reported feeling better. We saw significant reductions in their overall number of symptoms and significant improvements in pain and fatigue."

The study, published in the journal Nutrients, details the experiments in a clinical trial of 40 veterans with GWI. The study participants were randomized to either immediately start the low glutamate diet for one month, or to a control group. After completion of the one-month diet, participants were challenged with monosodium glutamate and placebo to see if symptoms returned.

The challenge with MSG versus placebo resulted in significant variability in response among participants, with some subjects worsening, while others actually improved. This suggests that while a diet low in glutamate can effectively reduce overall symptoms, pain, and fatigue in GWI, more research is needed to understand how the diet may be altering how glutamate is handled in the body, and the specific role that nutrients may play in these improvements.

The role of glutamate 

Glutamate is most easily identified when it is in the form of the food additive MSG; however, it appears most commonly in American diets hidden under many other food additive names in processed foods. Americans also consume glutamate through some foods where it occurs naturally, such as soy sauce, fish sauce, aged cheeses like parmesan, seaweed, and mushrooms.

Glutamate is known to play a role in pain transmission, where it functions as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system. When there's too much of it, it can cause disrupted signaling or kill cells, in a process called excitotoxicity. Previous research has shown that glutamate is high in pain processing areas of the brain in individuals with fibromyalgia and migraine. High concentrations of glutamate have also been linked to epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, ALS, cognitive dysfunction (including Alzheimer's), and psychiatric issues such as depression, anxiety and PTSD.

In her research, Holton limits people's exposure to glutamate, while also increasing intake of nutrients known to protect against excitotoxicity. She analyzes how diet affects cognitive function, brain wave activity, brain glutamate levels, and brain function using MRI. In the study of veterans, the low glutamate diet was made up of whole foods low in additives and high in nutrients. Holton theorizes that the increased consumption of nutrients that are protective against excitotoxicity may have led to improved handling of glutamate in the nervous system. The study and diet tested in the veterans were similar to her previous studies, where she observed improvements in those with fibromyalgia, as well as in Kenyan villagers living with chronic pain.

It will take more research to determine if reducing exposure to glutamate can be used as a treatment for chronic widespread pain and other neurological symptoms in U.S. veterans with GWI. Holton is currently pursuing funding for her next grant, which will recruit 120 veterans for a Phase 3 clinical trial to confirm the study's findings in a larger group, and further explore the mechanisms for these effects.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200831112333.htm

Nurses burned out and want to quit

August 28, 2020

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

A survey of nurses caring for children with heart problems has revealed that more than half are emotionally exhausted. The analysis, presented today at ESC Congress 2020, also found that good working environments were linked with less burnout.

"Nurses' wellbeing is central to ensuring the best outcomes for patients," said study author Dr. Annamaria Bagnasco of the University of Genoa, Italy. "When wards have poor leadership and fragmented teams with no development prospects for nurses this should raise an alarm that there is a risk of burnout."

Previous research has shown that burnout rates are higher in paediatrics than in other specialties, and that burnout is connected to patient safety. Strategies to reduce burnout and its impact on patient safety are needed.

This study examined emotional exhaustion in nurses providing routine care on paediatric cardiology wards and whether it was related to the working environment.

Data were obtained from the RN4CAST@ITPed study. A web survey was distributed to 2,769 nurses working in children's hospitals throughout Italy between September 2017 and January 2018. A total of 2,205 (80%) nurses responded, of whom 85 worked in cardiology wards and intensive care units (ICUs). Additional data were collected from hospital administrations. Topics included workload, skill mix, work environment, and emotional exhaustion.

The following definitions were used: Workload referred to how many patients each nurse was caring for (nurse-patient ratio). Skill mix included both the education level of nurses working in one unit and the number of nursing assistants providing support during each shift.

Work environment was measured with the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), which covers issues such as: having a nurse manager or immediate supervisor who is a good manager and leader; opportunities for advancement; opportunities to participate in policy decisions; and collaboration between nurses and doctors.

Emotional exhaustion was investigated using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which measures feelings about work. For example, feeling emotionally drained, used up, fatigued in the morning, burned out, frustrated, working too hard, stressed, or "at the end of my rope."

This analysis focused on responses from the 85 nurses working in cardiology wards and ICUs at five hospitals. Interviews were also conducted with these nurses. More than half (58%) were emotionally exhausted. The main causes were related to working conditions, including being responsible for high numbers of patients and the complexity of caring for sick children.

"The most important consequence was that 30% of the nurses we interviewed wanted to either go and work in another hospital or even change their career," said Dr. Bagnasco.

The researchers then analysed the relationship between emotional exhaustion and the working environment. Improving the workplace environment was associated with an 81% fall in emotional exhaustion -- even with the same skill mix and nurse-patient ratio.

"Our study shows that nurses value good leadership, being involved in decision-making, having chances to develop their career, and team working," said Dr. Bagnasco. "The lack of these conditions is connected to burnout, which we know from prior research could compromise patient safety."

Dr. Bagnasco noted that paediatric cardiac nurses must collaborate with children and their families, who often feel concerned and afraid. She said: "Establishing a trusting relationship is essential but burned out nurses may find it 'too heavy' to bear emotionally. If the working environment is positive for the nurses who work in it, children and their families will receive better and safer care."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200828081037.htm

Police officers face multifaceted, compounding stressors that can lead to adverse events

August 18, 2020

Science Daily/University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Repeated exposure to high-stress calls for service and ongoing exposure to stress without relief were two of the contributing factors that could lead law enforcement officers to become susceptible to adverse events while performing their duties, according to a new study published in BMC Public Health by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

The study team aims to use this research to develop intervention models that can address and help prevent these multifaceted stressors from affecting an officer's ability to respond to high-stress calls confidently.

"If we can develop innovative interventions for law enforcement officers that address their unique occupational demands, we can help mitigate compounding stress factors that affect their overall mental health," said Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, the study's lead author and an assistant professor at UTHealth School of Public Health in Dallas.

The research team collected data from three law enforcement agencies in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex: a large urban department, a suburban department, and a rural department. The researchers met with officers in focus group settings to identify stressors and to gain insight on how to prevent future adverse effects such as use of force, officer or civilian injury, civilian complaints, or discharge of a weapon.

The study participants were 86% male and 14% female with an average tenure of 12 years. Five themes emerged that influenced an officer's perception of the stress level of a call -- officer characteristics such as former military experience or gender, civilian behavior, supervisor factors such as the tendency to micromanage, environmental factors, and situational factors.

The data revealed several factors that contributed to officer stress accumulation, including not "resetting" stress levels after a high-stress call, burnout from answering numerous back-to-back calls, and feeling pressure to move on to the next call quickly. Experience from a previous adverse event was also a contributing factor to cumulative stress. However, according to the focus group responses, behaviors such as taking a break between calls, practicing breathing exercises, and addressing one's mental health over time can help lower levels of chronic stress.

The researchers noted that the combination of the perceived stress level of a call and other cumulative stress factors increase the likelihood for adverse events between police and the public. If the cycle of chronic stress is addressed and limitations placed on the number of high-stress calls an officer responds to during a shift, adverse events may be limited as well. Previous studies have shown that for other occupations, reduced levels of stress increase productivity and job satisfaction.

Irving Police Chief Jeff Spivey, whose officers participated in the study, said the results will help them find additional ways to assist their officers with mental health needs.

"Providing multiple resources for our officers to support and focus on their mental health needs, like our internal peer support groups, is a cause I am very proud to champion," Spivey said. "Peer support services have proven to be effective in helping police officers appropriately manage their mental health; that's why we have teamed up with the Caruth Police Institute and other departments across the state to create a peer network for first responders throughout Texas."

Jetelina and her team are currently testing the feasibility of using smart watches to break cumulative, real-time stress for officers. Additional research on the prevalence of undiagnosed mental health disorders among law enforcement officers is necessary to assess the effectiveness of current mental health resources and to ensure that new resources are developed.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818142143.htm

Loneliness predicts development of type 2 diabetes

September 15, 2020

Science Daily/King's College London

Published in the journal Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]), the study shows that it is the absence of quality connections with people and not the lack of contact that predicts the onset of type 2 diabetes, suggesting that helping people form and experience positive relationships could be a useful tool in prevention strategies for type 2 diabetes.

The results have implications in light of recent findings that people with diabetes are at greater risk of dying from COVID-19. The study indicates that prolonged loneliness may influence the development of diabetes, suggesting the experience of lockdown could potentially compound people's vulnerability in this pandemic if the loneliness continues for some time.

Loneliness occurs when an individual perceives that their social needs are not being met and reflects an imbalance between desired and actual social relationships. A fifth of adults in the UK and a third of adults in the USA report feeling lonely sometimes.

There is a growing interest in the role of loneliness in health and previous research has associated loneliness with increased risk of death and heart disease. This is the first study to investigate the experience of loneliness with later onset of type 2 diabetes.

The study analysed data from the English Longitudinal Study Ageing on 4112 adults aged 50 years and over which was collected at several times from 2002 to 2017. At the start of data collection all participants were free of diabetes and had normal levels of blood glucose.

The study showed that over a period of 12 years 264 people developed type 2 diabetes. and the level of loneliness measured at the start of data collection was a significant predictor of the onset of type 2 diabetes later on in life. This relationship remained intact when accounting for smoking, alcohol, weight, level of blood glucose, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. The association was also independent of depression, living alone and social isolation.

Lead author Dr Ruth Hackett from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) King's College London said: 'The study shows a strong relationship between loneliness and the later onset of type 2 diabetes. What is particularly striking is that this relationship is robust even when factors that are important in diabetes development are taken into account such as smoking, alcohol intake and blood glucose as well as mental health factors such as depression. The study also demonstrates a clear distinction between loneliness and social isolation in that isolation or living alone does not predict type 2 diabetes whereas loneliness, which is defined by a person's quality of relationships, does.

She continued: 'I came up with the idea for the research during UK lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic as I became increasingly aware and interested in how loneliness may affect our health, especially as it is likely that many more people were experiencing this difficult emotion during this period.'

According to the study a possible biological reason behind the association between loneliness and type 2 diabetes could be the impact of constant loneliness on the biological system responsible for stress, which, over time affects the body and increases the risk for diabetes.

'If the feeling of loneliness becomes chronic,' explained Dr Hackett. 'Then everyday you're stimulating the stress system and over time that leads to wear and tear on your body and those negative changes in stress-related biology may be linked to type 2 diabetes development.'

Another explanation for the findings could be biases in our thinking that may perpetuate the association between loneliness and diabetes as when people feel lonely, they expect people will react to them negatively which makes it more difficult to form good relationships.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200915105943.htm

Pain 'catastrophizing' may lead to little exercise, more time sedentary

August 27, 2020

Science Daily/Penn State

Chronic pain affects the majority of older adults in the U.S., and getting enough exercise plays a key role in pain management. New research suggests that how people think about their pain can have a significant effect on whether they get enough physical activity -- or if they spend more time sedentary.

In a study, a team led by Penn State researchers found that when people with knee osteoarthritis "catastrophized" -- feeling an exaggerated helplessness or hopelessness -- about their pain more than usual, they were less likely to be physically active later in the day, contributing to a domino effect of sedentary behavior followed by even more pain catastrophizing.

According to the researchers, the results -- recently published in the journal PAIN -- have potential implications for pain management and wellness in older adults, and suggest that pain catastrophizing could be an important therapeutic target for interventions and pain treatment.

"Reducing daily pain catastrophizing may help older patients to be more active and less sedentary on a daily basis," said Ruixue Zhaoyang, assistant research professor. "This could help improve their chronic pain condition, physical function, and overall health, and reduce the possibility of hospitalization, institutionalization, and healthcare costs in the long term."

According to the researchers, chronic or persistent pain affects between 60 and 75 percent of older adults in the U.S., making pain management strategies like engaging in enough physical activity an important part of many older adults' lives.

Zhaoyang said that catastrophizing about pain -- thought patterns like "the pain is terrible and is never going to get any better" or "I can't stand the pain anymore" -- may lead some older adults to avoid exercise in an effort to also avoid pain. But if exercise is put off for too long, it can lead to spirals of depression and even worse pain.

"Staying physically active is one of the most important self-management strategies for chronic pain patients," said Lynn Martire, professor of human development and family studies. "However, many chronic pain patients avoid physical activities that they are actually capable of doing. Our study focused on one critical psychological factor that may explain why patients avoid physical activity despite its importance for pain management: their catastrophic thinking about their pain."

For the study, the researchers used data from 143 older adults with knee osteoarthritis. The participants kept daily diaries and wore accelerometers -- a wearable device for measuring physical activity -- for 22 days. Each morning, the participants would report how they felt about their pain that day and the accelerometer would gather information on physical activity and sedentary behavior.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that on mornings when participants catastrophized about their pain more than usual, they ended up engaging in less moderate to vigorous physical activity later that day.

Additionally, the researchers found that catastrophizing about pain in the morning lead to more time in sedentary behavior the same and the following day, as well. In turn, more time spent sedentary lead to increased pain catastrophizing on the following day.

"One particularly interesting finding is that the detrimental influence of catastrophizing thinking about pain is independent of the pain experience itself," Zhaoyang said. "In other words, how patients think about their pain, rather than the level of experienced pain, had a more powerful impact on their daily physical activity."

Martire said the results suggest that pain catastrophizing can kick-start a potentially harmful cycle -- greater pain catastrophizing in the morning leads to avoid of physical activity, which in turn worsens catastrophizing about pain on the following day.

The researchers added that these findings suggest that pain catastrophizing could be a good target for interventions aimed at managing chronic pain and increasing physical activity.

"Our study demonstrated that patients' catastrophizing thinking can change from day to day and can be modified by their everyday activity behavior," Martire said. "Future interventions may get better results from using mobile technology to monitor patients' activity levels in everyday life and provide just-in-time adaptive interventions targeting patients' pain catastrophizing to reduce their sedentary behavior."

The researchers added that while their study looked specifically at people with knee osteoarthritis, catastrophizing can happen with any type of pain. They said the implications of their findings could potentially apply to pain management in patients with other types of chronic pain.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200825160549.htm

Older adults with existing depression show resilience during the pandemic

August 19, 2020

Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

A study involving older adults with pre-existing major depressive disorder living in Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, and St Louis found no increase in depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers from five institutions, including UCLA, found that the older adults, who were already enrolled in ongoing studies of treatment resistant depression, also exhibited resilience to the stress of physical distancing and isolation. The findings were published in peer-reviewed journal, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

"We thought they would be more vulnerable to the stress of COVID because they are, by CDC definition, the most vulnerable population," said Helen Lavretsky, MD, a professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "But what we learned is that older adults with depression can be resilient. They told use that coping with chronic depression taught them to be resilient"

For the study, researchers conducted interviews with the participants, all of whom were over the age of 60, with an average age of 69, during the first two months of the pandemic. Using two screening assessments of depression and anxiety, PHQ-9 and PROMIS, researchers found no changes in the participants' depression, anxiety or suicidality scores before and during the pandemic.

Researchers further determined that:

• Participants were more concerned about the risk of contracting the virus than the risks of isolation.

• While all maintained physical distance, most did not feel socially isolated and were using virtual technology to connect with friends and family.

• While they were coping, many participants said their quality of life was lower, and they worry their mental health will suffer with continued physical distancing.

• Participants were upset by the inadequate governmental response to the pandemic.

Based on the findings, the study authors wrote that policies and interventions to provide access to medical services and opportunities for social interaction are needed to help older adults maintain mental health and quality of life as the pandemic continues.

Lavretsky said many participants reported their quality of life to be lower, and they worried that their mental health will suffer with continued physical distancing. She said further research is needed to determine the impact of the pandemic over time.

She added that the findings offer takeaways for others while weathering the pandemic. "These older persons living with depression have been under stress for a longer time than many of the rest of us. We could draw upon their resilience and learn from it."

The study identified several self-care and coping strategies used by the participants, which included maintaining regular schedules; distracting themselves from negative emotions with hobbies, chores, work or exercise; and using mindfulness to focus on immediate surroundings and needs without thinking beyond the present.

The authors further emphasized that access to mental health care and support groups, and continued social interaction are needed to help older adults whether the pandemic.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200819170223.htm