Maternal socialization, not biology, shapes child brain activity

Probing reward-related processing in children of depressed moms

March 23, 2022

Science Daily/Elsevier

Children of mothers with clinical depression are at three times greater risk to develop depression themselves than are their low-risk peers. Researchers are working to understand the neural underpinnings of the risk, and some studies have shown altered brain processing of reward in at-risk children as young as 6. An outstanding question remains as to whether children with a maternal history of depression have a biological predisposition to blunted neural reward responding or whether it depends more on social factors. Now, new work finds those dampened responses depended on maternal feedback, suggesting the latter.

The study appears in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, published by Elsevier.

Researchers have long observed changes in brain activity associated with depression in adults, particularly in a brain area called the ventral striatum (VS), which is associated with motivation, pleasure, and goal-directed behaviors. Similarly, several studies have shown striatal responses to rewarding experiences are blunted in adolescent children of depressed parents, which predicts later development of depression. However, more recent work shows that these brain changes can emerge long before the teenage years, when the risk for depression typically increases.

For the current study, lead author Judith Morgan, PhD, at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, recruited 49 children aged 6 to 8 without a history of psychiatric illness. Half the kids' mothers had a history of clinical depression, and half had no psychiatric history. To measure reward-related brain activity, children played a video game in which they guessed which of two doors contained a hidden token while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Depression may disrupt parents' capacity for emotional socialization, a process by which kids learn from their parents' reactions to their emotional responses. Positive socialization responses include acknowledgment, imitation, and elaboration, whereas negative or emotionally dampening parental responses may be dismissive, invalidating, or punitive.

Mothers participating in the study completed an extensive questionnaire designed to measure parental emotional socialization by presenting a dozen situational vignettes of children's displays of positive emotions and collecting parents' reactions to them. Strikingly, children with a maternal history of depression were more likely to have reduced reward-related brain activity in the VS, but only if their mothers reported less enthusiastic and more dampening responses to their children's positive emotions, the researchers found.

"In our study, mothers' own history of depression by itself was not related to altered brain responses to reward in early school-age children," said Dr. Morgan. "Instead, this history had an influence on children's brain responses only in combination with mothers' parenting behavior, such as the ability to acknowledge, imitate, or elaborate on their child's positive emotions."

"This is hopeful news as interventions geared at coaching parents to encourage positive emotions in their children may have a powerful impact on child reward-related development, especially for families of children who may be at greater risk because of a family history of depression," Dr. Morgan added.

Cameron Carter, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, said,

"This important work provides a great example of how clinical neuroscience can reveal neural mechanisms underlying depression and discover new links that may explain why one person has depression and another does not. These links take us beyond clinical observation and therapy alone to open new avenues (such as parenting interventions) for prevention that can promote resilience and wellness."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220323101221.htm

Higher exposure to bisphenol A in the womb associated with increased risk for asthma and wheezing in school-age girls

Study of over 3,000 children from six European countries examines possible effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenols on respiratory health in childhood

March 18, 2022

Science Daily/Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

An analysis of data from more than 3,000 mother-child pairs from six European countries indicates that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A may have negative effects on respiratory health in school-age girls. The results of a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an entity supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, have just been published in the journal Environment International.

Bisphenols are chemical substances used in the manufacture of plastics and resins found in many consumer products, such as food cans, reusable bottles and toys. The most well-known is bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor used widely in the manufacture of food containers and the interior coatings of such recipients. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) included BPA on its list of substances of "very high concern" in 2017. Since then, some countries have limited its use, leading some manufacturers to replace BPA with other bisphenols.

Since it is known that bisphenols are present in maternal milk and that they can cross the placental barrier, the aim of the authors of the study published today was to discover whether prenatal exposure to these chemical compounds is associated with respiratory health problems in later years. The authors studied urine samples taken during pregnancy from more than 3,000 women from six European countries (Spain, France, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) collected between 1999 and 2010 and data on the respiratory health of their offspring collected years later through questionnaires and spirometry.

Analysis of the urine samples revealed a high prevalence of BPA, which was found in 90% of the samples. The other bisphenols studied were, however, less prevalent at the time these samples were collected: the Netherlands was the only country where a notable presence of other bisphenols was detected among the study participants (bisphenol F in 40% of the samples and bisphenol S in 70%). This finding was probably due to the early switch to replacements for bisphenol A in that country.

The results of this study revealed an association in girls between concentrations of bisphenol A in maternal urine during pregnancy and an increased risk of asthma and wheezing at school age (a twofold increase in the concentration of bisphenol A was linked to a 13% higher risk of respiratory symptoms). This association was not, however, observed in boys or in the case of the other two bisphenols studied. Neither were any associations observed between prenatal bisphenol A exposure and lung function at school age.

"Our results are in line with those of earlier studies, which have also reported that bisphenol A has a negative impact on respiratory health in childhood. We believe that the effect may be due the fact that bisphenols can cross the placental barrier and interfere with the child's respiratory and immune systems during the developmental phase," explains Alicia Abellán, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study.

Talking about the differences observed between girls and boys, Maribel Casas, ISGlobal researcher and last author of the study, makes the point that "bisphenols are endocrine disruptors and can interfere with sex hormones. As our findings suggest, this may give rise to differences in the effects they have depending on the sex of the person exposed."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220318080253.htm

Prenatal mindfulness program improves stress response in infants

March 10, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

Infants whose mothers participated in a mindfulness-based program during pregnancy had healthier stress responses at 6 months old, a new UC San Francisco study found.

This is the first known study to show that a prenatal social intervention may improve health outcomes in offspring, as measured by autonomic nervous system responses, said Amanda Noroña-Zhou, PhD, first author of the study in Psychosomatic Medicine.

"It is really well established that maternal stress in pregnancy increases the risk for health problems in the children," said Noroña-Zhou, PhD, a clinical psychologist affiliated with UCSF's Center for Health and Community. "But we haven't had a good understanding of how this process unfolds and of the biological mechanisms underlying it, or whether we can buffer the effects of stress on negative health outcomes."

The researchers studied 135 mother-infant dyads from low-income, racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds who were experiencing high stress in their lives. Infants whose mothers underwent an eight-week mindfulness-based program had a faster cardiovascular recovery from stressful interactions, as well as more self-soothing behavior, than those who didn't.

An ability to "bounce back" from stress is tied to better health outcomes later in life, said Nicki Bush, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics in the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and the senior author on the study.

"There has been so little research on what we can do in the positive lane; it's been mostly about showing the negative effects of prenatal stress," Bush said. "This is the next frontier -- interventions for moms that have positive effects on both mom and baby."

Quick Recovery from a Stressful Event

The study follows one from 2019 showing the same mindfulness intervention reduced stress and depression in mothers, as well as improved their glucose tolerance and physical activity levels.

To elicit the infants' stress response, mothers were trained in the "still face paradigm," whereby the mothers played with their children for two minutes, then held a completely neutral facial expression for two minutes and ignored the babies' bids for attention. They repeated the play-ignore cycle and ended with two minutes of play.

Using electrodes, the researchers collected measurements of the infants' autonomic nervous system activity -- the fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest responses -- during the exercise. Trained observers, who were unaware of treatment status, also coded the infants' behavior responses.

The fight-or-flight response of babies whose mothers had undergone the mindfulness program was more acute when they were being ignored by their mothers and also receded more quickly after the stressor went away than babies in the control group. The treatment-group babies engaged in more self-soothing behavior, such as sucking their thumbs and looking at their hands, as well.

"A strong reaction and quick recovery are healthy, because we want our bodies to be ready for action when something is wrong, then go back to normal easily," Bush said. "The babies whose mothers did not receive the intervention had a more delayed response. They didn't respond strongly until the threat had passed, and then they didn't calm down easily after the threat was over."

Support for a Two-Generation Approach

The team intentionally chose mothers for their research who had a high level of stress due to their life situations, including financial strain and health challenges, to ensure the intervention worked for those who might benefit from it the most, said Bush.

"We hope this kind of data can embolden policymakers and advocates to say, hey, this was an inexpensive, group-based intervention that reduced mothers' depression and stress, and may improve babies' long-term wellbeing at the same time" Bush said.

Such "two-generation" programs that address caregivers and children at the same time are becoming more popular in California. Last year's state budget dedicated $800 million to creating a dyadic care benefit for Medi-Cal patients, which will allow caregivers and babies to be treated for behavioral health needs together. Home visiting programs, in which pregnant and new mothers receive visits from early childhood professionals who provide parenting guidance, is up for a proposed $50 million increase in the 2022-23 state budget.

"Pregnancy is an incredible window of opportunity for both mothers and babies," said Bush. "We could, as a society, save a lot of money while doing the right thing for the next generation."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220310143732.htm

Eating prunes may help protect against bone loss in older women

February 9, 2022

Science Daily/Penn State

It's already well known that prunes are good for your gut, but new Penn State research suggests they may be good for bone health, too.

In a research review, the researchers found that prunes can help prevent or delay bone loss in postmenopausal women, possibly due to their ability to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which contribute to bone loss.

"In postmenopausal women, lower levels of estrogen can trigger a rise of oxidative stress and inflammation, increasing the risk of weakening bones that may lead to fractures," said Connie Rogers, associate professor of nutritional sciences and physiology. "Incorporating prunes into the diet may help protect bones by slowing or reversing this process."

The review was recently published in the journal Advances in Nutrition.

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones become weak or brittle that can happen to anyone at any age, but according to the researchers is most common among women over the age of 50. The condition affects more than 200 million women worldwide, causing almost nine million fractures each year.

While medications exist to treat osteoporosis, the researchers said there is a growing interest for ways to treat the condition with nutrition.

"Fruits and vegetables that are rich in bioactive compounds such as phenolic acid, flavonoids and carotenoids can potentially help protect against osteoporosis," said Mary Jane De Souza, professor of kinesiology and physiology, "with prunes in particular gaining attention in previous research."

According to the researchers, bones are maintained throughout adult life by processes that continually build new bone cells while removing old ones. But after the age of 40, this breaking down of old cells begins to outpace the formation of new ones. This can be caused by multiple factors including inflammation and oxidative stress, which is when free radicals and antioxidants are unbalanced in the body.

Prunes, however, have many nutritional benefits such as minerals, vitamin K, phenolic compounds and dietary fiber -- all which may be able to help counter some of these effects.

For their review, the researchers analyzed data from 16 preclinical studies in rodent models, ten preclinical studies and two clinical trials. Across the studies, the researchers found evidence that eating prunes helped reduce inflammation and oxidative stress and promoted bone health.

For example, the clinical trials found that eating 100 grams of prunes -- about 10 prunes -- each day for one year improved bone mineral density of bones in the forearm and lower spine and decreased signs of bone turnover.

Additionally, eating 50 or 100 grams of prunes a day for six months prevented loss of total bone mineral density and decreased TRAP-5b -- a marker of bone resorption -- compared to women who didn't eat prunes.

"Taken together, evidence from in vitro, preclinical studies, and limited clinical studies suggest prunes may help to reduce bone loss," Rogers said. "This may be due to altered bone turnover and by inhibiting inflammation and suppressing markers of oxidative stress."

The researchers said one potential mechanism for the effects is prunes triggering a change in the gut microbiome that then lowers inflammation in the colon. This may then lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and markers of oxidative damage.

In the future, the researchers plan to further report on the effects of prune consumption for 12 months on bone outcomes, inflammatory pathways and the gut microbiota in a randomized controlled trial that was led by De Souza.

Janhavi Damani, graduate student in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Hannah VanEvery, graduate student in nutritional sciences; and Nicole Strock, postdoctoral scholar in kinesiology, also participated in this work.

The California Dried Plum Board helped support this research.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220209112110.htm

Wisdom engendered: Study finds men and women have different strengths

Women score higher on compassion-related items and self-reflection while men score higher on cognitive-related items and emotional regulation

February 3, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

Previous studies have shown that wisdom is a personality trait underpinning mental health and well-being. Recently, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine looked at gender differences relative to wisdom, using two different validated scales.

The study, publishing in the February 3, 2022, online edition of Frontiers in Psychology, assessed gender differences in wisdom and associated constructs, including depression, loneliness, well-being, optimism and resilience.

Six hundred and fifty-nine community-based participants, ages 27 to 103, participated in the study and completed both the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE) and the 3-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS).

The SD-WISE includes 24 items related to six defined components of wisdom: pro-social behaviors (empathy and compassion), emotional regulation, self-reflection, acceptance of uncertainty and diversity of perspectives, decisiveness and social advising. The 3D-WS contains 39 items covering three dimensions of wisdom: cognitive, affective or compassionate/and reflective.

The researchers found that, in general, women scored higher on compassion-related items and on self-reflection while men scored higher on cognitive-related items and on emotional regulation. Generally speaking, the total 3-D-WS score was higher in women than in men, but there was no gender difference in the total score on the SD-WISE.

In both women and men, wisdom was associated with greater mental well-being, optimism, and resilience and lower levels of depression and loneliness.

"We wanted to gain information on potential differences in wisdom between men and women that could impact well-being," said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "We found women and men have different relative strengths in wisdom, likely driven by both sociocultural and biological factors."

"Our latest findings are only a piece of the overall puzzle. There are several paths toward achieving a wise life. People approach wisdom differently and looking at gender is one way to assess those potential differences," said Emily Treichler, PhD, first author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and a research psychologist in the Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

"Having a better understanding of wisdom and how to improve it has health benefits and value for individuals and society. Other studies have shown that the levels of certain components of wisdom like empathy/compassion and emotional regulation can be increased with appropriate psycho-social and behavioral interventions. Studies such as ours may help tailor wisdom interventions to individuals based on specific characteristics."

The researchers emphasize there were limitations of the study: It was cross-sectional rather than longitudinal. And it did not look at wisdom profiles of non-binary people or ask people whether they identify as transgender, and that should be one of the next steps.

"More work needs to be done, but we can take what we have learned and apply it to future studies to make the results applicable to different groups, with the ultimate goal of promoting healthier lives," said Jeste.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220203083610.htm

Living in a walkable neighborhood lowers risk of excessive weight gain during pregnancy

February 2, 2022

Science Daily/Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

In one of the first studies to examine the link between neighborhood characteristics and weight gain during pregnancy, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers find that pregnant people who live in walkable neighborhoods in New York City have lower odds of excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) than those who live elsewhere in the city. They also found that living in a neighborhood with high rates of poverty increased the odds of excessive GWG. The findings are published in the journal Obesity.

Excessive or inadequate weight gain during pregnancy poses numerous health risks for both pregnant individuals and children. Excessive GWG is associated with a higher risk of pregnancy complications, including pregnancy-related hypertension and greater long-term postpartum weight retention. Excessive GWG is also associated with the risk for childhood asthma and obesity. Earlier research by Columbia Mailman researchers found that GWG was linked with a three-fold increased risk of childhood obesity at age 7 and excessive maternal weight gain.

Neighborhood walkability refers to urban form characteristics that support and favor walking and is defined by criteria including population density, land-use mix, density of public transit infrastructure, and street connectivity. Residents of walkable neighborhoods have been shown to engage in more walking, greater overall physical activity, and to have lower body mass index (BMI). Walkable neighborhoods are associated with better control of blood sugar among people with Type II diabetes. The most walkable areas of New York City include Battery Park City, Greenwich Village, NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy, and the West Village (Manhattan CBs 1 and 2). The least walkable areas include neighborhoods in eastern Queens and parts of Staten Island (Queens CB13 and Staten Island CB2).

"Given the long-lasting benefits of healthy pregnancies for parental and child health, this research provides further impetus for the use of urban design and poverty reduction to support healthy weight and reduce the risk of excessive gestational weight gain and related health risks," says the study's first author, Eliza Kinsey, PhD, formerly a postdoctoral research scientist in the Department of Epidemiology, now an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

The current study was conducted in partnership with researchers at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Bureau of Vital Statistics and used de-identified birth record data for the year 2015 to examine neighborhood-level influences on GWG. Using medical record data, the DOHMH compiles data on all live births in the city, including basic health and demographic information for the pregnant individual and birth outcome statistics (e.g., birth weight, gestational age).

Among the sample of 106,285 births, 42 percent of the pregnant individuals experienced excessive GWG, and 26 percent had inadequate GWG. Pregnant people living in neighborhoods ranking among the poorest quarter of the city had an additional 17 percent greater odds of excessive GWG. Pregnant people living in the top quarter of neighborhoods ranked for walkability had 13 percent lower odds of excessive GWG. These findings align with prior studies in New York City that have found that both neighborhood poverty and walkability predict BMI in the general population.

Adjustment for pre-pregnancy BMI attenuated the association between neighborhood poverty and excessive GWG but had little impact on the association between neighborhood walkability and excessive GWG.

Senior author Andrew Rundle, DrPH, professor of epidemiology, noted: "Neighborhood walkability is likely associated with GWG due to differences in behavior during pregnancy, presumably walking for exercise and daily activities -- not solely by influences on pre-pregnancy BMI. A significant amount of the exercise pregnant people get comes from low-impact activities like walking. Making neighborhoods more walkable has a host of health benefits, both for those currently living there and future generations."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220202134706.htm

Social isolation and loneliness increase heart disease risk in senior women

February 2, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

During the current pandemic, social distancing has been one tool used to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But data from a new study point to as much as a 27% increase in heart disease risk in postmenopausal women who experience both high levels of social isolation and loneliness.

The findings of the prospective study, published in the February 2, 2022 online issue of JAMA Network Open, reveal that social isolation and loneliness independently increased cardiovascular disease risk by 8% and 5% respectively. If women experienced high levels of both, their risk rose 13% to 27% compared to women who reported low levels of social isolation and low levels of loneliness.

"We are social beings. In this time of COVID-19, many people are experiencing social isolation and loneliness, which may spiral into chronic states," said first author Natalie Golaszewski, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego. "It is important to further understand the acute and long-term effects these experiences have on cardiovascular health and overall well-being."

Importantly, social isolation and loneliness are mildly correlated and can occur at the same time, but they are not mutually exclusive. A socially isolated person is not always lonely and conversely a person experiencing loneliness is not necessarily socially isolated.

"Social isolation is about physically being away from people, like not touching or seeing or talking to other people. Loneliness is a feeling, one that can be experienced even by people who are regularly in contact with others," said senior author John Bellettiere, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of epidemiology at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.

Social isolation and loneliness are a growing public health concern as they are associated with health conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease including obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

When researchers included all of these health behaviors and conditions in their study and adjusted for diabetes and depression, high social isolation and loneliness remained strongly linked with increased risk for heart disease, supporting the importance of studying these social conditions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, responsible for 1 in every 5 deaths.

As social networks shrink, older adults are more at risk for social isolation and loneliness, wrote the authors. One-fourth of adults 65 and older report social isolation and one-third of adults 45 or older report being lonely.

"We do not yet know whether the increased risk of cardiovascular disease is due to acute exposure to social isolation and loneliness or whether prolonged exposure accumulated over a lifetime is the culprit. Further studies are needed to better understand that," said Bellettiere.

Previous research indicates women experience more social isolation than men.

For this study, 57,825 postmenopausal women living in the United States who had previously participated in the Women's Health Initiative study responded to questionnaires assessing social isolation from 2011 to 2012. They were sent a second questionnaire assessing loneliness and social support in 2014 to 2015.

Participants were followed from the time of the questionnaire completion through 2019 or when they were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. A total of 1,599 women experienced cardiovascular disease.

"Measures of social isolation and loneliness -- even with brief questions as was done in our study -- should be incorporated into standard care," said Golaszewski. "We monitor our patients' blood pressure, weight and temperature, and it might also be beneficial to capture the social needs that individuals may be lacking to better understand cardiovascular risk and develop solutions."

Individuals who feel lonely or socially isolated can find information about steps to help reduce these feelings from the National Institute on Aging.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220202111730.htm

Paternal alcohol use increases frequency of fetal development issues

February 1, 2022

Science Daily/Texas A&M University

Prenatal visits have traditionally focused almost exclusively on the behavior of mothers, but new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) continues to suggest that science should be looking more closely at the fathers' behavior as well.

Dr. Michael Golding, an associate professor in the CVMBS' Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP), has spent years investigating the father's role, specifically as it relates to drugs and alcohol, in fetal development.

Golding says a number of publications have shown that males pass down more than just their genetics, but exactly how that process works and the consequences of it remain largely unknown.

"When you look at the data from throughout human history, there's clear evidence that there's something beyond just genetics being inherited from the male," Golding said. "So, if that data is solid, we've got to start looking more at male behavior.

"Say you had a parent who was exposed to starvation -- they could pass on what you might call a 'thriftiness,' where their kids can derive more nutrition from less food," he said. "That could be a positive if they grow up in a similar environment, or they could grow up in a time when starvation isn't an issue and they might be more prone to obesity or metabolic syndromes. That kind of data is clearly present in clinical data from humans."

Golding's study of how things beyond genes, such as behavior and environment, affect development is called epigenetics, and one of the big questions in the search for answers on how male prenatal behavior can impact fetal growth has been how exactly these epigenetic factors manifest.

Now, there is at least one answer.

In a November publication in the FASEB Journal, Golding's team showed that the epigenetic factor of prenatal exposure to alcohol in males can manifest in the placenta.

According to Kara Thomas, VTPP graduate student and the lead author on the paper, their data shows that in mice, offspring of fathers exposed to alcohol have a number of placenta-related difficulties, including increased fetal growth restriction, enlarged placentas, and decreased placental efficiency.

"The placenta supplies nutrients to the growing fetus, so fetal growth restriction can be attributed to a less efficient placenta. This is why placental efficiency is such an important metric; it tells us how many grams of fetus are produced per gram of placenta," Thomas said. "With paternal alcohol exposure, placentas become overgrown as they try to compensate for their inefficiency in delivering nutrients to the fetus."

However, the mystery also deepened.

While these increases happened frequently in male offspring, the frequency varied greatly based on the mom; however, the same increases were far less frequent in female offspring. Golding believes this suggests that although that information is passed from the father, the mother's genetics and the offspring's sex also play a role.

"This is a novel observation because it says that there's some complexity here," Golding said. "Yes, men can pass things on to their offspring beyond just genetics, but the mom's genetics can interpret those epigenetic factors differently, and that ultimately changes the way that the placenta behaves."

These results don't draw a clear line in how human male drinking prior to conception impacts fetal development, but they continue to at least point to it being a question that needs to be explored.

Golding is hoping that soon doctors, and society at large, will begin to ask more questions about male prenatal behavior so that there's more data from which to work.

"The thing that I want to ultimately change is this stigma surrounding the development of birth defects," Golding said. "There's information coming through in sperm that is going to impact the offspring but is not tied to the genetic code; it's in your epigenetic code, and this is highly susceptible to environmental exposures, so the birth defects that we see might not be the mother's fault; they might be the father's or both, equally.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201161046.htm

Paternal alcohol use increases frequency of fetal development issues

February 1, 2022

Science Daily/Texas A&M University

Prenatal visits have traditionally focused almost exclusively on the behavior of mothers, but new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) continues to suggest that science should be looking more closely at the fathers' behavior as well.

Dr. Michael Golding, an associate professor in the CVMBS' Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP), has spent years investigating the father's role, specifically as it relates to drugs and alcohol, in fetal development.

Golding says a number of publications have shown that males pass down more than just their genetics, but exactly how that process works and the consequences of it remain largely unknown.

"When you look at the data from throughout human history, there's clear evidence that there's something beyond just genetics being inherited from the male," Golding said. "So, if that data is solid, we've got to start looking more at male behavior.

"Say you had a parent who was exposed to starvation -- they could pass on what you might call a 'thriftiness,' where their kids can derive more nutrition from less food," he said. "That could be a positive if they grow up in a similar environment, or they could grow up in a time when starvation isn't an issue and they might be more prone to obesity or metabolic syndromes. That kind of data is clearly present in clinical data from humans."

Golding's study of how things beyond genes, such as behavior and environment, affect development is called epigenetics, and one of the big questions in the search for answers on how male prenatal behavior can impact fetal growth has been how exactly these epigenetic factors manifest.

Now, there is at least one answer.

In a November publication in the FASEB Journal, Golding's team showed that the epigenetic factor of prenatal exposure to alcohol in males can manifest in the placenta.

According to Kara Thomas, VTPP graduate student and the lead author on the paper, their data shows that in mice, offspring of fathers exposed to alcohol have a number of placenta-related difficulties, including increased fetal growth restriction, enlarged placentas, and decreased placental efficiency.

"The placenta supplies nutrients to the growing fetus, so fetal growth restriction can be attributed to a less efficient placenta. This is why placental efficiency is such an important metric; it tells us how many grams of fetus are produced per gram of placenta," Thomas said. "With paternal alcohol exposure, placentas become overgrown as they try to compensate for their inefficiency in delivering nutrients to the fetus."

However, the mystery also deepened.

While these increases happened frequently in male offspring, the frequency varied greatly based on the mom; however, the same increases were far less frequent in female offspring. Golding believes this suggests that although that information is passed from the father, the mother's genetics and the offspring's sex also play a role.

"This is a novel observation because it says that there's some complexity here," Golding said. "Yes, men can pass things on to their offspring beyond just genetics, but the mom's genetics can interpret those epigenetic factors differently, and that ultimately changes the way that the placenta behaves."

These results don't draw a clear line in how human male drinking prior to conception impacts fetal development, but they continue to at least point to it being a question that needs to be explored.

Golding is hoping that soon doctors, and society at large, will begin to ask more questions about male prenatal behavior so that there's more data from which to work.

"The thing that I want to ultimately change is this stigma surrounding the development of birth defects," Golding said. "There's information coming through in sperm that is going to impact the offspring but is not tied to the genetic code; it's in your epigenetic code, and this is highly susceptible to environmental exposures, so the birth defects that we see might not be the mother's fault; they might be the father's or both, equally.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201161046.htm

Depression and anxiety spiked in pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic

January 31, 2022

Science Daily/University of Essex

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a spike in depression and anxiety in expectant mums, a new study by the University of Essex has revealed.

The research found social support protected against anxiety symptoms associated with the pandemic but highlighted changes to maternity services forced by lockdown and other restrictions likely hit mental health.

It is speculated in the BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth-published paper that the removal of appointments and other changes to face-to-face contact may have affected well-being.

The senior author, Dr Silvia Rigato, said it was vital to "protect maternal wellbeing during pregnancy and beyond" and "to ensure that all children, and their new families, are given the best possible start in life."

The study found there was a spike in reported depression rates of 30 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, from 17 per cent to 47 per cent -- with anxiety rates also jumping up 37 per cent in expecting mothers to 60 per cent.

The peer-reviewed study of 150 women took place during the height of the Coronavirus crisis between April 2020 and January 2021 -- before the vaccination programme rolled out -- and was led by Dr Maria Laura Filippetti and Dr Rigato, researchers at the Essex Babylab in the University of Essex.

The paper showed that prenatal trauma, such as the one experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, can significantly amplify vulnerability to mental health problems.

It also emerged from the study that pregnant women with higher depressive symptoms reported feeling less attached to their unborn babies.

Dr Rigato said: "While this result is in line with previous observations that women's mood during pregnancy influences the early relationship with her child, it reinforces the need for authorities to support women throughout their pregnancy and the postnatal period in order to protect their health and their infants' development."

Importantly, the research also revealed the positive effect that social support plays in protecting expecting mothers' mental health.

The authors found women who considered the impact of COVID-19 to be more negative showed higher levels of anxiety.

Crucially though, help from partners, family and friends, and the NHS acted as a protective factor and was associated with fewer negative symptoms.

Dr Filippetti said more must be done to help women during this vulnerable time in their lives.

She said: "The high rates of depression and anxiety during the pandemic highlighted by our study suggest that expectant women are facing a mental health crisis that can significantly interfere and impair mother-infant bonding during pregnancy, and can potentially impact on childbirth outcome, as well as later infant and child development."

It is now hoped the research will be used to help understand how the pandemic affected children's development, mum's mental health post-partum and how dads coped through pregnancy and beyond.?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220131110457.htm

Microbiome of mother's vagina may affect infant mortality risk and baby's development

January 27, 2022

Science Daily/University of Maryland School of Medicine

A new study in mice from University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers showed that an unhealthy vaginal microbiome in pregnant mothers in combination with an unhealthy diet contributed to increased pup deaths and altered development in the surviving babies.

The researchers offset these deaths from the unhealthy vaginal microbiome by giving the mothers a healthier diet. The researchers say their findings could imply that simple interventions, such as access to a diet rich in fiber-containing fruits and vegetables, may help counteract some of the harmful effects on human babies that an unhealthy microbiome may impart -- particularly in vulnerable populations.

Their findings were published on November 1, 2021, in Nature Communications.

When babies pass through the birth canal, they are exposed to their mother's vaginal microbiome, where their skin is coated and they ingest their first microbes outside the sterile womb.

Women with certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and those in low-resourced neighborhoods with limited access to healthcare and nutrition, are more at risk of having an unhealthy vaginal microbiome. These unhealthy vagina microbiomes have too many different kinds of bacteria, viruses, or yeast which, unlike diversity in the gut, is a bad thing in the vagina, increasing the likelihood for infections.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Black women in the U.S. have infant mortality rates 2.3 times higher than white women, and this is independent of education and income levels.

"We know what is healthy for mom is healthy for baby's brain development, and on the flip side stress contributes to disease risk," said Tracy Bale, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health & Brain Development. "We wanted to identify biological factors that predict these negative health outcomes and determine how each one contributes to these inequities in our society."

A few years ago, the Bale laboratory showed that mouse pups delivered by C-section and given vaginal microbiomes from stressed mouse mothers had differences in how their brains developed and how they responded to later stress in their environment compared to those pups given microbiomes from unstressed moms.

Work on the human vaginal microbiome by Jacques Ravel, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Associate Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences, found that human vaginal microbiomes fall into five different groupings based on the resident microbes with four healthy variations, and one 'unhealthy' group.

Dr. Bale's research team wanted to know if this unhealthy vaginal microbiome might affect a baby's development and birth outcomes, similar to their previous mouse studies. They tested this idea by using vaginal microbiome samples from pregnant women in their C-section mouse model. First, they applied either the healthy or unhealthy bacterial samples into the mouse's vagina to recreate the gestational environment. Then, the pups born via C-section ingested the same vaginal microbiomes mimicking vaginal birth exposure. The researchers investigated which genes were turned on and off in the brains of the pups to see how the mothers' vaginal microbes affected their pups' development. They found these pups had early activation and development of their immune systems.

Next, to more accurately model a vulnerable and low-resourced population, the researchers repeated the study, but added the risk factor of prediabetes and obesity by swapping the pregnant mouse's normally healthy low-fat, high-fiber chow for an unhealthy high-fat, low-fiber diet. Sixty percent of the mouse pups exposed to the human unhealthy microbiomes and fed the unhealthy diet died within 48 hours of delivery. However, with the same microbiome exposure but on a healthy high-fiber diet, the death rate dropped by more than half.

Dr. Bale says that soluble fiber, like that found in fruits and vegetables, ferments in the gut, allowing the bacteria to produce short-chain fatty acids, which are needed for baby's brain development and are also effective anti-inflammatory agents for mom.

"The vaginal microbiome component led to dramatic changes in the brain through fetal immune system development, and it appears that this overactive immune system seems to up the risk for infant mortality," said Dr. Bale. "In humans we had observed these associations with unhealthy vaginal microbiomes, but now our work is allowing us to make these connections and to identify the mechanisms that ultimately affect pregnancy outcomes, perhaps as novel biomarkers that could be used in identifying women at risk."

Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said, "These studies help to set the stage for what interventions may be tested to improve the health and wellness and reduce infant mortality rates, particularly in our most vulnerable populations."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220127104217.htm

Women ages 35 and younger are 44% more likely to have an ischemic stroke than male peers

January 24, 2022

Science Daily/American Heart Association

Women ages 35 years and younger were 44% more likely to have an ischemic stroke (caused by blocked blood vessels in the brain) than their male counterparts, according to a new review of more than a dozen international studies on sex differences in stroke occurrence, published today in a Go Red for Women® 2022 spotlight issue of Stroke, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

"In this second annual Go Red Stroke issue, we have compiled some outstanding articles to inform our readers about multiple important clinical and translational science issues addressing gaps in our knowledge of stroke among women," said Stroke Editor-in-Chief Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., FAHA, chair of the department of neurology, and the Olemberg Family Chair in Neurological Disorders and executive director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Miami Leonard Miller School of Medicine, in Miami. "Stroke affects more women each year than men. We want all stroke professionals to know about the latest research on the recognition, prevention and treatment of strokes among women."

In the article, "Systematic Review of Sex Differences in Ischemic Strokes Among Young Adults- Are Young Women Disproportionately at Risk?" (Leppert et al.), researchers looked at the differences in stroke incidence among women and men in various young adult age groups. They reviewed studies from January 2008 to July 2021 published and indexed on PubMed, one of the largest online research databases in the world managed by the National Library of Medicine at National Institutes of Health. They included original studies that were population-based and focused on young adults 45 years of age and younger. The studies included data on any stroke type, including ischemic strokes; hemorrhagic strokes (a bleed that occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures); TIA, or transient Ischemic attack, also called a mini-stroke (caused by a serious, temporary clot); and cryptogenic strokes for which no known cause is identified. Most of the strokes in the review were ischemic strokes, which account for about 87% of all strokes.

The researchers identified 16 studies, including a combined total of 69,793 young adults with stroke (33,775 women and 36,018 men), from more than half a dozen countries, including the U.S., Canada, France and The Netherlands.

The authors' analysis identified the sex differences in the incidence of ischemic strokes was the greatest and most evident among adults younger than age 35 years, with an estimated 44% more women than men in this age group experiencing ischemic strokes. This sex difference narrowed among adults ages 35 to 45 years. Sex differences in older age groups were more difficult to determine due to wide variability in the way data was presented among the studies in this systemic review. The researchers were also not able to identify specific causes behind the higher prevalence of strokes in young women compared to young men.

Researchers noted the variables of their data set that posed limitations to their review included: study populations spanning different continents, including 15 different countries with varying levels of development, and the diversity of the study participants from numerous racial and ethnic groups; methodological differences among the studies; and possible publication bias because larger epidemiology studies may not have published results in the younger age groups due to the relatively small number of cases captured. According to the researchers, the incidence of ischemic stroke increases exponentially with age, and only 15% of all ischemic strokes occur in adults younger than age 50 years.

Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded, "Traditional atherosclerotic risk factors are a major contributor to ischemic strokes in both young men and women and become increasingly important with age. However, these risk factors are less prevalent in younger women and may not account for the observed higher incidence of ischemic strokes in women younger than age 35. Young women who are survivors of ischemic stroke also have worse outcomes, with 2 to 3 times higher risk of poorer functional outcomes compared to their male counterparts."

The researchers said more research is needed to better define the sex differences of ischemic stroke in young adults and the contributions that non-traditional risk factors, such as pregnancy, postpartum and hormonal contraceptives, may play in the overall burden of ischemic strokes in young women.

"Our finding suggests that strokes in young adults may be happening for different reasons than strokes in older adults. This emphasizes the importance of doing more studies of stroke in younger age groups so that we can better understand what puts young women at a higher risk of stroke," said study co-author Sharon N. Poisson, M.D., M.A.S., an associate professor of neurology at the University of Colorado, Denver. "Better understanding which young adults are at risk for stroke can help us to do a better job of preventing and treating strokes in young people."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124151037.htm

A spouse's education can positively impact their partner's overall health

January 24, 2022

Science Daily/Indiana University

Research has long shown that people with more schooling tend to experience better overall health. But can your spouse's education make you healthier?

According to a study by Indiana University researchers, the answer is yes.

The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that spousal education is positively related to people's overall health, with an effect size that rivals the impact of a person's own education.

"Our results show that who you're married to, and how much education they have, matter for your health," said Andrew Halpern-Manners, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at IU. "This provides further evidence that education, in addition to being valuable for individuals, is also a sharable resource."

The researchers used more than half a century's worth of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a rich longitudinal study of individuals, their spouses, their siblings and their siblings' spouses that includes information about respondents' health, marriages, educational attainments and the educational attainments of their spouses. Due to the timing of the study, which began in 1957, it only refers to heterosexual couples.

Elaine M. Hernandez, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at IU, said researchers have routinely observed a relationship between spousal education and health, but the nature of this relationship has been harder to establish. Because healthier people tend to have more schooling and to partner with those who also are highly educated, it can be difficult to isolate the unique effect of spousal education.

To address this, the team compared the self-rated health of siblings whose spouses had different levels of schooling. The idea, Halpern-Manners said was to find pairs of people who were as similar as possible across a variety of dimensions and then ask whether differences in their partners' education could explain differences in their health.

They found that the effect of spousal education on a person's self-assessed overall health is positive and relatively large, suggesting that people benefit from having more highly educated partners in the same way (and to roughly the same extent) that they benefit from being highly educated themselves.

This pattern was especially pronounced among women, whose health was more closely tied to spousal education than men's. This finding, Hernandez said, could reflect the time period (1960s-1970s) in which most of the respondents completed their education, married and entered the labor force.

"The fact that we observe significant cross-over effects means that education has health-enhancing benefits for the individual, but it also has tangible benefits for those around them -- especially intimate ties," Halpern-Manners said. "This underscores the importance of education -- as a public good worth investing in -- and suggests that its overall public health impact may be larger than we typically imagine."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124115051.htm

Changes in sleep and biological rhythms from late pregnancy to postpartum linked to depression and anxiety

The three-month period before and after giving birth is a vulnerable time for women’s mental health

January 18, 2022

Science Daily/McMaster University

A set of parameters including sleep and biological rhythm variables are closely associated with the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, starting in the third trimester of pregnancy to the third postpartum month, according to a new study.

The three-month period before and after giving birth is a vulnerable time for women's mental health. It is estimated that 15 to 18 per cent of women experience anxiety and seven to 13 per cent experience depression during this peripartum period. In addition, nearly 10 per cent of women experience clinical levels of comorbid anxiety and depression during this time.

In the largest observational study to date investigating changes in sleep and biological rhythms during the peripartum period, researchers identified several variables that are linked to depression and anxiety. Most notably, changes in the circadian quotient (the strength of the circadian rhythms), the average amount of activity during nighttime rest, and the amount of fragmentation of nighttime rest were strongly linked to higher depressive and anxiety symptoms.

"Our findings highlight the importance of stabilizing the internal biological clock during the peripartum period to maintain healthy mood and minimize anxiety," said Benicio Frey, senior author of the study and professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster University.

"Given the findings, future efforts should be made to standardize evidence-based interventions targeting these biological rhythms variables identified by our team, either as treatment or prevention strategies."

Frey and his research team conducted the study from the Women's Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. This clinic specializes in psychiatric disorders during the peripartum, premenstrual, and perimenopausal periods.

Researchers recruited 100 women, 73 of whom they followed from the start of the third trimester to three months postpartum. They analyzed subjective and objective measures of sleep, biological rhythms, melatonin levels, and light exposure using a variety of tools, including questionnaires, actigraphs (wearable sleep monitors), laboratory assays, and other methods.

Interestingly, the findings indicate that certain biological rhythms variables may be important to depressive symptoms at specific points along the peripartum timeline. For instance, higher fragmentation of nighttime rest was linked to a decrease in depressive symptoms at six to 12 weeks postpartum -- a period that tends to coincide with a higher risk of developing postpartum depression.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220118145922.htm

Small measures can be a big help for children of mothers with depression

December 20, 2021

Science Daily/Uppsala University

Several new studies among Syrian refugee families in Turkey and families with infants in Sweden and Bhutan show that children of mothers in poor mental health risk falling behind in their cognitive development. However, very small changes can suffice to break this correlation and enable the children to return to their normal developmental level. Having plenty of people around them and an available community are two of the most important factors for helping children, in all three countries.

"If you improve the mental health of mothers by four per cent, the child wins an entire year in their cognitive development, in statistical terms. Small measures, in other words, can make a big difference in supporting the next generation," says Gustaf Gredebäck, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Uppsala University and Director of the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab, which led the studies.

The research was done through interviews and experimental studies onsite in Bhutan, Turkey and Sweden. In Sweden and Bhutan, 120 families with 9-10 month-old infants participated. In Turkey, 100 families who had fled from Aleppo in Syria participated in the study. They have children between the ages of 6 and 18. In Sweden, families with small children were the primary participants in the research conducted by Uppsala Child and Baby Lab. In Bhutan, the material was collected in collaboration with the Faculty of Nursing and Public Health and Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan. In Turkey, the studies were done with the help of researchers from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University.

A common finding for the families in all three countries was that several of the children's cognitive abilities were impacted by the mental health of their mothers, regardless of whether they were a refugee family in Syria or the family was in a safe environment in Sweden. The child's intelligence did not seem to have been affected; rather, it was the child's attentiveness, social understanding and ability to make decisions that were adversely affected.

Individual conditions around the mother can make the situation worse. The impact on the child is greater if the mother has a low level of education, has low social support, feels discriminated against and has fallen in social status. However, there are also clear initiatives that society can take to improve the mother's situation and well-being, and in this way reduce the impact on the child: receiving support from her partner, having a large family or a large social network, and that society rallies round and supports the mother.

"All the cultures have aspects that are positive. In Sweden, we have our individualistic environments. We have more gender equality, for example, being able to share parental leave can be a form of relief. At the same time, we have few natural meeting places for relatives and social situations, something that is much stronger in the groups in the other countries. In Bhutan, an active religious life helps quite a bit. There is a strong connection to religion, and many people participate in religious gatherings several times a week. This gives them routines for regular meetings with others and widespread social support."

It is important to note that all the described correlations are statistical, i.e., based on observations between different parts of the studies. The researchers have not yet studied the causality of the correlations by improving the mothers' mental health in at-risk settings and measuring the effects on the children's development. That will be the next step after the current correlation studies.

"It inspires hope that apparently only small improvements are needed for the child to revive. In Sweden, we have to work hard to break the isolation, particularly for single mothers. We do not have any social glue. Many lack strong ties to their relatives and have no extended family to share the burden. We lack continuity in religious rites and do not have many natural contexts to connect to. If we can create more of these opportunities, we can help turn the tide in the cognitive development of many children and offer them better lives," says Gustaf Gredebäck.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211220083106.htm

Parental stress is a contributing factor linking maternal depression to child anxiety and depressive symptoms

December 1, 2021

Science Daily/University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

A secondary analysis of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Fragile Families) found a bi-directional relationship where a mother's mental health symptoms impacted the child's mental health symptoms and vice versa, according to researchers with Cizik School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

The analysis, published Dec. 1 in the print edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders, investigated mother and child mental health symptoms over a 10-year period to provide new insights into the development of depression and anxiety among families. The research points to parental stress, or the processes and subsequent reactions that result from attempting to manage the challenges and burdens of parenthood, as the factor that partially links maternal depression and child anxiety and depressive symptoms.

"By focusing on mother-child duos, we identified that maternal depression at an earlier time point predicted child anxiety and depressive symptoms at a later time point. Further, children who experienced anxiety and depressive symptoms at an earlier time point were more likely to have mothers who experienced depression at later time points," said Daphne Hernandez, PhD, associate professor and Lee and Joseph Jamail Distinguished Professor in the School of Nursing and senior author on the study.

Experiences with maternal depression increase feelings of being overwhelmed with the parenting role, contributing to hostility and lack of warmth in the family environment, according to the researchers. The lack of warmth could affect a child's mental health negatively.

The Fragile Families study began at Princeton University and Columbia University between 1998 and 2000 to study the outcomes of familial relationships of unmarried parents on their offspring. The large population-based sample has allowed researchers across the U.S. to provide insights into various family and relationship dynamics.

The researchers' findings have the opportunity to guide suggestions for mental health treatments for families where both mothers and children are experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

"A dual intervention, where both mother and child are receiving treatment together, in addition to their separate treatment plans, may be a successful approach for families where mothers and children exhibit symptoms of anxiety and depression," Hernandez said. "Most importantly, implementing strategies to lower parental stress is vital."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211201111944.htm

Stress, by itself, can lead to excessive drinking in women but not men

Study shows stress led to drinking more than intended in men only when they already had consumed alcohol

December 13, 2021

Science Daily/Arizona State University

A new study has shown that stress alone can drive women to excessive drinking.

Men who experienced the same stress only drank to excess when they had already started consuming alcohol.

Though rates of alcohol misuse are higher in men than women, women are catching up. Women also have a greater risk than men of developing alcohol-related problems.

Participants consumed alcoholic beverages in a simulated bar while experiencing stressful and non-stressful situations. Stress led women, but not men, to drink more than intended, a finding that demonstrates the importance of studying sex differences in alcohol consumption. The study was published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

"Some people can intend to have one or two alcoholic beverages and stop drinking, but other people just keep going. This impaired control over drinking is one of the earliest indicators of alcohol use disorders, and we know stress contributes to both impaired control over drinking and dysregulated drinking. The role of stress in impaired control over drinking is understudied, especially in women," said Julie Patock-Peckham, assistant research professor at ASU and lead author on the study.

The study took place in a research laboratory designed to simulate a bar, complete with a bartender, bar stools and lively conversations. The participants included 105 women and 105 men. They were randomized into different groups, with some either experiencing a stressful situation and others a non-stressful situation. Next, half the participants received an alcoholic drink that was equivalent to three cocktails, and the other half received three non-alcoholic drinks. After that, all participants had unrestricted access to alcoholic drinks from the bar for 90 minutes.

"We know that both genes and the environment play a role in problematic drinking. We can't do anything about the genes, but we can intervene with the environment. Stress and impaired control over drinking are tightly connected, and because stress is something we can manipulate, we tested whether stressors cause dysregulated drinking," said Patock-Peckham, who leads the Social Addictions Impulse Lab at ASU.

The experimental set-up let the research team determine whether stress, the initial drink or the combination of the two caused how much alcohol the participants consumed. The team measured alcohol consumption in total number of drinks consumed and by using breath blood alcohol content (BAC).

Exposure to stress led to heavier drinking in all participants. Men who received a first drink with alcohol in it and experienced stress drank more than men who received the placebo.

Whether the first drink was alcoholic or not did not matter for women: Experiencing stress led to heavy drinking.

"That women just needed the stress but men needed the push of already having alcohol on board shows how important this type of research is," Patock-Peckham said. "The outcomes from alcohol use are not the same for men and women, and we cannot keep using models that were developed in men to help women."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211213181537.htm

Lack of sleep affecting students’ mental health especially women

Daytime tiredness and sleep deprivation put students at risk of depression and high stress

November 2, 2021

Science Daily/Taylor & Francis Group

More than two thirds (65.5%) of students are experiencing poor sleep quality and this is linked to mental health problems, new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Human Biologysuggests.

The findings, based on more than 1,000 (1,113) men and women attending university full-time, also show those reporting depressive symptoms were almost four times as likely to suffer from inadequate sleep habits.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was a problem among over half (55%) the students -- they were almost twice as likely to have depression or experience moderate to high stress levels. In addition, the study highlights a gender divide, with poor quality sleep and EDS more prevalent among females.

The authors warn stressors, such as course demands, make college students vulnerable to sleep disorders which in turn affect academic performance and health. They're calling on universities to do more to promote positive sleep habits and good mental health.

"Sleep disorders are especially harmful for college students because they're associated with several negative effects on academic life," says lead author Dr Paulo Rodrigues from the Faculty of Nutrition, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

"These include failures in attention and perception, high absenteeism rate, and sometimes dropping out of the course.

"The university environment offers greater exposure to factors that may compromise sleep habits such as academic stress and social life. It's crucial to evaluate and monitor sleep habits, mental health, and the quality of life of students to reduce the risk of developing other chronic diseases.

"University managers should plan the implementation of institutional actions and policies. This is to stimulate the development of activities that promote good sleep habits and benefit students' mental health."

Living away from home for the first time, using stimulants that impair sleep and keeping erratic bedtimes are all factors that make students vulnerable to a lack of quality rest at night. An average of seven hours sleep has been reported by those attending college when nine hours is considered the ideal for young adults.

Poor sleep and EDS in those attending university has already been identified by studies, but few have investigated any link with stress/depression. This new research is part of the Longitudinal Study on the Lifestyle and Health of University Students (ELESEU) and used data from 2016 and 2017.

The authors surveyed 1,113 undergraduates and post-graduates aged from 16 to 25 years who were enrolled in a range of studies at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil. Participants were asked about their sleep quality, EDS, socioeconomic status, and their body mass index (BMI) was also assessed.

The data was used to estimate the level of association between poor sleep quality/EDS, and depressive symptoms and perceived stress levels. Results showed a significant link between these factors, and depressive issues and moderate to high stress levels.

In addition to the findings on gender, a link was identified between poor sleep quality and the degree course discipline. Students studying biological and health sciences were more likely to be affected as were those enrolled in social and human sciences.

The mechanism behind sleep disturbance and depression is not unclear, as is whether mental health issues trigger poor quality sleep (or vice versa). Hence, the authors suggest that more research is needed to understand this interaction better.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211102111148.htm

Study casts doubt on theory that women aren't as competitive as men

November 1, 2021

Science Daily/University of Arizona

As researchers investigate reasons for America's persistent gender wage gap, one possible explanation that has emerged in roughly the last decade is that women may be less competitive than men, and are therefore passed over for higher-ranking roles with larger salaries.

But a new study suggests that it's likely not that simple. Researchers found that women enter competitions at the same rate as men -- when they have the option to share their winnings with the losers.

The study, conducted by Mary L. Rigdon, associate director of the UArizona Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, and Alessandra Cassar, professor of economics at the University of San Francisco, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rigdon's research involves studying how market structure, information and incentives impact behavior. Her work over the last 20 years has explored questions about trust, reciprocity, competition, altruism, cheating and more, with a particular focus on gender differences, especially the gender wage gap.

"If we're finally going to close the gender pay gap, then we have to understand the sources of it -- and also solutions and remedies for it," said Rigdon, who is also a faculty affiliate in the Department of Political Economy and Moral Science in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

In 2021, women will earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, Rigdon said, meaning women work nearly three months extra to receive the same amount of pay. This statistic does not account for certain characteristics, such as an employee's age, experience or level of education.

But even when considering those characteristics, women are still paid about 98 cents for every dollar earned by men, Rigdon said. In other words, a woman is paid 2% less than a man with the same qualifications.

Economists have considered a few possible explanations for this, Rigdon said. One theory, known as the "human capital explanation," suggests that there are gender differences in certain skills, leading women to careers that pay less. Another theory -- perhaps the most widely considered -- is patent discrimination.

Rigdon and Cassar zeroed in on the relatively new theory that women are less competitive and less willing to take risks than men.

But if women were more reluctant to compete, then they would occupy fewer high-ranking positions at the tops of major companies, and that's not the trend that's taken shape over the last several years, Rigdon said. Women make up about 8% of the CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. While that number is low overall, it's a record high.

"We thought it must be the case that women are as competitive as men, but they just exhibit it differently, so we wanted to try to get at that story and demonstrate that that is the case," Rigdon said. "Because that's then a very different story about the gender wage gap."

Rigdon and Cassar randomly assigned 238 participants -- split nearly evenly by gender -- to two different groups for the study. Participants in each of those two groups were then randomly assigned to four-person subgroups.

For all participants, the first round of the study was the same: Each was asked to look at tables of 12 three-digit numbers with two decimal places and find the two numbers that add to 10. Participants were asked to solve as many tables as possible -- up to 20 -- in two minutes. Each participant was paid $2 for every table they solved in the first round.

In round two, participants were asked to do the same task, but the two groups were incentivized differently. In the first group, the two participants in each four-person team who solved the most tables earned $4 per table solved, while their other two team members were given nothing. In the other group, the top two performers of each four-person team also earned $4 per table, but they had the right to decide how much of the prize money to share with one of the lower performing participants.

In the third round, all participants were allowed to choose which payment scheme they preferred from the two previous rounds. For half the study participants, this meant a choice between a guaranteed $2 per correct table, or potentially $4 per correct table if they became one of the top-two performers in their four-person subgroup. For the other half of the participants, the choice was $2 per correct table, or $4 per correct table for the top-two performers with the option to share the winnings with one of the losing participants.

The number of women who chose the competitive option nearly doubled when given the option to share their winnings; about 60% chose to compete under that option, while only about 35% chose to compete in the winner-take-all version of the tournament.

About 51% of men in the study chose the winner-take-all option, and 52.5% chose the format that allowed for sharing with the losers.

Rigdon said she and Cassar have a few theories about why women are more inclined to compete when they can share the winnings. One suggests female participants are simply interested in controlling the way the winnings are divvied up among the other participants.

Another theory that has emerged among evolutionary psychologists, Rigdon said, suggests that female participants may be inclined to smooth over bad feelings with losers of the competition.

"We really have to ask what it is about this social incentive that drives women to compete. We think it's recognizing the different costs and benefits that come from your different biological and cultural constraints," she said. "But at the end of the day, I think we still have this question."

Rigdon and Cassar are now developing an experiment that gets to the heart of that question, Rigdon said.

The researchers are careful to not propose policies for corporate America based on a line of research that still has many questions. But, Rigdon said, the latest finding suggests that corporations might do well to engage in more socially responsible activity.

"Maybe you'll attract a different set of applicants to your CEO positions or your board of director positions," she said. "Women might be more attracted to positions where there is this social component that isn't there in more traditional, incentive-based firms where it's all about CEO bonuses."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211101154808.htm

PTSD symptoms vary over course of menstrual cycle

Finding could have implications for diagnosis, treatment, study suggests

October 28, 2021

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

In women who have experienced trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may vary over the course of the menstrual cycle, with more symptoms during the first few days of the cycle when the hormone estradiol is low, and fewer symptoms close to ovulation, when estradiol is high, finds research published by the American Psychological Association.

The results could have implications for PTSD diagnosis and treatment, according to lead author Jenna Rieder, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "When in the cycle you assess women might actually affect whether they meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD, especially for people who are right on the border," she said. "And that can have real practical implications, say for someone who is a veteran and entitled to benefits or for health insurance purposes."

The research was published in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy.

Estradiol is a form of estrogen that regulates the reproductive cycle in women. During the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, rising estradiol levels trigger a cascade of events that result in ovulation. Studies have linked low-estradiol portions of the cycle to greater activation in the limbic areas of the brain, which are related to emotion, and to lower activation in the prefrontal cortex when viewing emotional content. Low estradiol has also been linked to greater stress and anxiety as well as increased fear responses.

In order to examine whether those links might affect trauma response, researchers studied 40 women, ages 18 to 33, all of whom had experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a serious injury or sexual violence. In the first part of the study, which took place in a research lab, researchers measured the participants' level of estradiol in their saliva, then asked them to describe the trauma that had happened to them and the PTSD symptoms they'd experienced in the past month. They found that lower estradiol was associated with greater self-reported symptom severity in the participants.

The researchers also measured two stress biomarkers in participants' saliva, the hormone cortisol and the enzyme salivary alpha-amylase, before and after the participants described their trauma. Salivary alpha-amylase is related to the "fight-or-flight" stress response and cortisol is related to the body's slower, more sustained stress response.

"In a healthy system we want a moderate, coordinated response of both of these biomarkers," Rieder said. In the women in the low-estradiol portions of their menstrual cycles, the researchers instead found low cortisol and high salivary alpha-amylase levels in response to retelling their trauma stories -- a pattern that's been linked in previous studies with maladaptive stress responses.

In the second part of the study, the researchers asked the participants to answer five daily questionnaires (upon waking, before bed, and at three times during the day), for 10 days spanning the high- and low-estradiol portions of their menstrual cycles. The questionnaires measured how participants were feeling at each time (from "extremely unpleasant" to "extremely pleasant," and "extremely non-stimulated or activated" to "extremely stimulated or activated"). Participants also completed a PTSD symptom checklist each evening.

On average, the researchers found that participants had greater variability in their daily moods during the low-estradiol days of their cycle and reported more severe PTSD symptoms on those days.

The findings could have implications for diagnosing and treating PTSD in women, who have long been underrepresented in PTSD research. "PTSD for a long time was mostly studied in men, in part because it was mainly studied in veterans, who were mostly men," Rieder said.

In addition to affecting diagnosis, knowing how the menstrual cycle affects PTSD symptoms could be useful for both clinicians and patients, according to Rieder. "I think this is something that clinicians would want to know, so they can impart this knowledge as part of psychoeducation," Rieder said. "For women who are naturally cycling, it may be useful to understand how the menstrual cycle affects their symptoms. When you can explain what's happening biologically, it often becomes less threatening."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211028093308.htm