Methods and Results: WHHL rabbits were assigned to 1 of 3 social groups: an unstable group, in which unfamiliar rabbits were paired daily, with the pairing switched each week; a stable group, in which littermates were paired daily; and an individually-caged group. The stable group engaged in more affiliative social behavior than the unstable group. The unstable group showed more agonistic behavior compared with the stable group and higher C-reactive protein levels than the individually caged group. The individually caged group was behaviorally sedentary, had higher 24-hour urinary catecholamine levels than the other groups, and exhibited higher NAD(P)H-oxidase activity in the aortic arch relative to the stable group.

Conclusions: The results suggest that social environment creates distinct behavioral contexts that can affect markers of inflammation and oxidative stress early in the development of atherosclerosis. Specifically, physical inactivity associated with individual caging affects indices of oxidative stress and inflammation. These pathophysiological markers may help to explain behaviorally related differences in the extent of atherosclerosis observed in prior studies.

Methods: A total of 174 undergraduate university students whose childhood SES was assessed by highest level of education completed by their parents underwent 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring.

Results: Initial correlation analyses revealed positive associations between childhood SES and BP dipping, indicating that lower levels of childhood SES were associated with less systolic BP (SBP) (r = .29, p < .01) and diastolic BP (DBP) dipping (r = .38, p < .01). A stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that childhood SES explained 6.9% of the variance in SBP dipping and 11.5% of the variance in DBP dipping above and beyond other lifestyle-related factors including daytime BP, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, and current SES.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that irrespective of adult achievement, childhood SES may have lasting health implications.

Method: A total of 629 women (mean age = 59.6 ± 11.6 years) were evaluated at baseline for cardiovascular disease risk factors as part of a protocol including coronary angiography; the subjects were followed over a median 5.9 years to track the incidence of cardiovascular events including stroke. Participants also completed the Social Network Index (SNI), measuring the presence/absence of 12 types of common social relationships.

Results: Stroke events occurred among 5.1% of the sample over follow-up. More isolated women were older and less educated, with higher rates of smoking and hypertension, and increased use of cardiovascular medications. Women with smaller social networks were also more likely to show elevations (scores of ≥10) on the Beck Depression Inventory (54% versus 41%, respectively; p = .003). Relative to women with higher SNI scores, Cox regression results indicated that more isolated women experienced strokes at greater than twice the rate of those with more social relationships after adjusting for covariates (hazard ratio = 2.7; 95% Confidence Interval = 1.1–6.7).

Conclusions: Smaller social networks are a robust predictor of stroke in at-risk women, and the magnitude of the association rivals that of conventional risk factors.

Methods: Data from 41,654 respondents in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions were analyzed.

Results: After controlling for demographics, the continuous variable of BMI was significantly associated with most mood, anxiety, and personality disorders. When persons were classified into BMI categories of underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, and extremely obese, both obese categories had significantly increased odds of any mood, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder, as well as any personality disorder, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 1.21 to 2.08. Specific Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-revision IV mood and personality disorders associated with obesity included major depression, dysthmia, and manic episode (ORs, 1.45–2.70) and antisocial, avoidant, schizoid, paranoid, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders (ORs, 1.31–2.55). Compared with normal weight individuals, being moderately overweight was significantly associated with anxiety and some substance use disorders, but not mood or personality disorders. Specific anxiety disorders that occurred at significantly higher rates among all categories of persons exceeding normal weight were generalized anxiety, panic without agoraphobia, and specific phobia (ORs, 1.23–2.60). Being underweight was significantly related to only a few disorders; it was positively related to specific phobia (OR, 1.31) and manic episode (OR, 1.83), and negatively associated with social phobia (OR, 0.60), panic disorder with agoraphobia (OR, 0.40), and avoidant personality disorder (OR, 0.59).

Conclusion: These data provide a systematic and comprehensive assessment of the association between body weight and psychiatric conditions. Interventions addressing weight loss may benefit from integrating treatment for psychiatric disorders.

Methods: Twenty-eight people with CFS, 35 persons with ISF, and 39 NF identified from the general population of Wichita, Kansas, were admitted to a research ward for 2 days. Saliva was collected immediately on awakening (6:30 am), at 08:00 am, 12 noon, 4:00 pm, 8:00 pm and at bedtime (10:00 pm) and plasma was obtained at 7:30 am. Salivary cortisol concentrations were assessed using radioimmunoassay, and plasma IL-6 was measured using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: People with CFS demonstrated lower salivary cortisol concentrations in the morning and higher salivary cortisol concentrations in the evening compared with both ISF and NF groups indicating a flattening of the diurnal cortisol profile. Mean plasma IL-6 concentrations were highest in CFS compared with the other groups, although these differences were no longer significant after controlling for BMI. Attenuated decline of salivary cortisol concentrations across the day and IL-6 concentration were associated with fatigue symptoms in CFS.

Conclusions: These results suggest an altered diurnal cortisol rhythm and IL-6 concentrations in CFS cases identified from a population-based sample.

Methods: Women (n = 939) and men (n = 740) born in Helsinki, Finland, from 1934 through 1944 filled out the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale at an average age of 63.4 years. Growth was estimated from birth, child welfare clinic, and school records. Adult body size was measured in a clinic.

Results: Men and women who had higher levels of hostility in adulthood were born lighter and thinner, showed slower weight gain from birth to 6 months of age, were lighter throughout childhood (standardized regression coefficients (β) <–0.05; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), –0.14 to –0.00; p values <.05), but were heavier in adulthood (β values > 0.06; 95% CIs, 0.02–0.14; p values <.01). They were also shorter from 6 months until the age of 1 year (β values <–0.09; 95% CIs, –0.14 to –0.03; p values <.003), and tended to be shorter in adulthood (β = –0.05; 95% CI, –0.09 to 0.00; p = .06). The latter effects were largely attributable to slower growth in stature from birth to 6 months (β = –0.08; 95% CI, –0.14 to –0.02; p = .005). The associations were not explained by major confounders.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that slow prenatal and infant growth is linked with hostility in adult life.

Methods: Salivary cortisol measurements were obtained in a sample of 279 twin pairs at 10 random times a day for 5 days. A structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition) axis I mood disorder (SCID) was administered. Using multilevel regression analysis, the moderating influence of a lifetime diagnosis of depression in the co-twin on the association between time of day and cortisol concentrations in the proband twin was examined.

Results: Diurnal variation in cortisol in the proband twin differed as a function of lifetime diagnosis of depression in the co-twin. In addition, this moderating effect was significantly stronger for dizygotic than for monozygotic twins.

Conclusions: Probands of co-twins with lifetime depression have a different diurnal cortisol profile than those without, suggesting that altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning is an indicator of depression susceptibility.

Methods: Before their first and sixth ECT treatments, study patients (n = 44) completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess the severity of depressive symptoms. Activity of the platelet thromboxane (TBX) A₂ pathway was assessed by measuring the morning spot urinary concentrations of 11-dehydroxy-thromboxane B₂ (11-D-TBX B₂), a major metabolite of platelet-derived TBX A₂.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that improvement on the BDI was significantly more likely in patients without a history of hypertension (p = .02) and in patients who were prescribed a greater number of "platelet-altering" medications (p = .03). During a course of ECT, a decrease in urinary 11-D-TBX B₂ was significantly more likely to occur in ECT nonresponders (p = .01) and younger patients (p = .02).

Conclusions: Clinical response to ECT coadministered may not be associated with decreases in platelet-derived TBX. Future studies will confirm which somatic "antidepression" treatments offer optimal thrombovascular benefits for depressed patients with multiple risk factors for, or clinically evident, cerebral disease or CAD.

Methods: The sample included 653 community volunteers (51.0% female; 15.8% Black) aged 30 to 54 years (mean ± standard deviation = 43.8 ± 7.1 years). Latent constructs of depression, anxiety, and anger were each measured by three scales from well-validated self-report questionnaires. Resting HF-HRV was derived from 5-minute segments of continuous electrocadiographs recorded during both unpaced and paced respiration conditions.

Results: Structural equation models (SEM) of the individual trait emotions showed depression and anxiety related inversely to HF-HRV and anger unrelated to HF-HRV. SEM also showed negative affect related inversely to HF-HRV. All associations were present after covariate adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including age, sex, race, education, body mass index, smoking status, and blood pressure.

Conclusions: Negative affect as a common pathway between depression, anxiety, and anger and impairments in cardiac autonomic function was supported, suggesting negative affect may be the unifying and potentially toxic element linking individual trait negative emotions to ANS dysregulation.

Method: Graded nonnoxious and noxious heat stimuli were delivered randomly with a thermode applied to the volar surface of the left arm of 15 unmedicated subjects with current MDD and 15 age- and gender-matched healthy comparison subjects. MDD and non-MDD subjects rated the intensity and unpleasantness of all stimuli.

Results: Two main results were observed. First, MDD relative to non-MDD subjects showed decreased heat pain thresholds. Second, a significantly increased affective bias (unpleasantness/intensity) was observed in subjects with MDD, particularly over the range of nonnoxious heat stimuli. This bias was independent of the change in sensory pain thresholds.

Conclusion: These findings represent corroborative evidence of abnormal affective heat pain processing in young adults with MDD, and suggest that MDD is associated with "emotional allodynia," a qualitatively altered negative emotional response to normally nonaversive thermal stimuli.

Methods: Three large groups of volunteers (total 496) were exposed to REFs emitted by mobile phones in one session and sham signals in a different session. REF and sham exposure sessions were counterbalanced and double blinded. Participants were exposed to either Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or unmodulated signals, and the mobile phone was positioned either on the left or on the right side of the head. Before and after REF and sham exposure participants completed a questionnaire to rate five symptoms. Any changes in the severity of the symptoms after REF exposure were compared with changes after sham exposure.

Results: For one group of participants (N = 160), it was found that dizziness was affected by GSM exposure, but this was not consistently found with the other two groups of participants. No other significant effects were found.

Conclusions: We did not find consistent evidence suggesting that exposure to mobile phone REFs affect subjective symptoms. Even though we acknowledge that more research is needed, we believe that our results give an important contribution to the research on mobile phone use and subjective symptoms.

Methods: Consecutive exhausted PCI patients (n = 638), participating in the EXhaustion Intervention Trial (EXIT), were assessed for depression at baseline using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition and for symptoms of anxiety at baseline, 6, and 18 months using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (state only). SAS procedure TRAJ was used to examine courses of anxiety symptoms over an 18-month period.

Results: Five trajectories were identified: nonanxious (13.2%), mildly anxious (39.7%), decreasingly anxious (11.6%), moderately anxious (29.3%), and severely anxious (6.3%), with four of them being stable over 18 months. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that angina pectoris, major depression, the use of anxiolytics, and low educational level distinguished moderate-to-severe anxious patients from nonanxious. The absence of angina and major depression and not using diuretics explained the decreasing trend in anxiety in one of the trajectories.

Conclusions: Anxiety trajectories varied across patients, with four of five being stable over 18 months. In clinical practice, knowledge of these trajectories and their determinants may help identify distinct groups of patients with potentially differential risks of adverse health outcomes.

Methods: At 6 years of age, children completed lung function tests. At 9 years of age, the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) were administered. Linear regression was used to assess the relationship between cognition and lung function.

Results: The sample of 165 children included 53% girls and 52% Hispanic. Mean (± standard deviation) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV ₁) was 1.26 ± 0.2 L; mean forced vital capacity (FVC) was 1.37 ± 0.2 L. In multivariate regression, a 1% increase from expected FEV₁ was associated with increases in the matrices and composite subscales of the K-BIT (p < .05), and in the verbal and learning subscales of the WRAML (p < .10). FVC was associated with increases in the composite and matrices subscale of the KBIT and in the visual and learning subscales of the WRAML (all p < .05).

Conclusion: Increased lung function was associated with increased cognitive development among children after adjusting for tobacco exposure, birthweight, and peak blood lead. Lung and cognitive function may operate under common regulatory processes and thus have shared vulnerabilities to a host of environmental factors during development.

Methods: Studies were identified in a Cochrane Collaboration review assessing the effectiveness of interventions designed to prevent obesity in childhood through the use of diet, physical activity, and/or lifestyle and social support (Summerbell C et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005:CD001871). Studies were required to be either randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials with a minimum duration of 12 weeks. These studies were systematically examined.

Results: Twenty-two studies were identified by the Cochrane Collaboration Review. No studies compared the rates of eating disorders or other psychiatric disorders across intervention and control groups. Symptoms of eating disorders, global measures of well being and functioning, and psychosocial variables of particular relevance to obesity such as attitudes related to food and physical activity were assessed by a minority of studies, and some measures were problematic. With the exception of one measure on one study, findings suggest that participants receiving an active intervention either did not differ significantly from the control group, or they experienced significant benefits on those psychological measures that were assessed.

Conclusions: The existing evidence does not support the view that childhood obesity prevention programs are associated with unintended psychological harm. However, because these variables have been so poorly assessed, conclusions about the possible iatrogenic effects of these programs are premature.

Methods: The sample was selected among subjects who took part in a prevalence study carried out on a representative sample of the general population and from among people with anorexia and bulimia nervosa referred to an outpatient specialist unit. Subjects who were born in the two obstetric wards of Padua Hospital between 1971 and 1979 and who completed the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire were included. A blind analysis of the obstetric records of the whole sample was performed. The final sample was composed of 66 anorexia nervosa, 44 bulimia nervosa, and 257 control subjects.

Results: Among the different groups of obstetric complications, only the group that included preterm birth and other signs of neonatal immaturity or dysmaturity displayed a significant relationship with harm avoidance. The use of a mediation path analytic model revealed a significant, but incomplete, mediation effect of harm avoidance in explaining the link between neonatal dysmaturity and the development of eating disorders. Maternal weight gain during pregnancy seemed to have a protective effect on harm avoidance.

Conclusions: The presence of signs of neonatal dysmaturity at birth seems to influence the development of high levels of harm avoidance in eating disorders.

Methods: Participants were the first 432 persons (22 male, 410 female) enrolled in the NIH funded Genetics of Anorexia Nervosa Collaborative Study. All participants had current or lifetime AN. The participants ranged in age from 16 to 76 (mean = 30.4, SD = 11.3). Suicidal behavior and intent was assessed via the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies. We compared frequency and severity of attempts across diagnostic subtypes and comorbidity, and personality features associated with the presence of suicide attempts in persons with AN.

Results: About 16.9% of those with AN attempted suicide. Significantly fewer persons with the restricting subtype (7.4%) reported at least one attempt than those with purging AN (26.1%), AN with binge eating (29.3%), and a mixed picture of AN and bulimia nervosa (21.2%). After controlling for major depression, suicide attempts were associated with substance abuse, impulsive behaviors and traits, Cluster B personality disorders, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as low self-directedness and eating disorder severity.

Conclusions: Suicide attempts in AN are not uncommon, are frequently associated with the intention to die, occur less frequently in persons with the restricting subtype of the illness, and after controlling for depression are associated with a constellation of behaviors and traits associated with behavioral and affective dyscontrol.