PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Stress may delay brain development in early years

2012-06-08
(Press-News.org) MADISON — Stress may affect brain development in children — altering growth of a specific piece of the brain and abilities associated with it — according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

"There has been a lot of work in animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use," says Jamie Hanson, a UW–Madison psychology graduate student. "We have now found similar associations in humans, and found that more exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes."

Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of what the researchers refer to as spatial working memory. They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, which will be published in the June 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Brain scans revealed that the anterior cingulate, a portion of the prefrontal cortex believed to play key roles in spatial working memory, takes up less space in children with greater exposure to very stressful situations.

"These are subtle differences, but differences related to important cognitive abilities" Hanson says.

But they maybe not irreversible differences.

"We're not trying to argue that stress permanently scars your brain. We don't know if and how it is that stress affects the brain," Hanson says. "We only have a snapshot — one MRI scan of each subject — and at this point we don't understand whether this is just a delay in development or a lasting difference. It could be that, because the brains is very plastic, very able to change, that children who have experienced a great deal of stress catch up in these areas."

The researchers determined stress levels through interviews with children ages 9 to 14 and their parents. The research team, which included UW–Madison psychology professors Richard Davidson and Seth Pollak and their labs, collected expansive biographies of stressful events from slight to severe.

"Instead of focusing in on one specific type of stress, we tried to look at a range of stressors," Hanson says. "We wanted to know as much as we could, and then use all this information to later to get an idea of how challenging and chronic and intense each experience was for the child."

Interestingly, there was little correlation between cumulative life stress and age. That is, children who had several more years of life in which to experience stressful episodes were no more likely than their younger peers to have accumulated a length stress resume. Puberty, on the other hand, typically went hand-in-hand with heavier doses of stress.

The researchers, whose work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, also took note of changes in brain tissue known as white matter and gray matter. In the important brain areas that varied in volume with stress, the white and gray matter volumes were lower in tandem.

White matter, Hanson explained, is like the long-distance wiring of the brain. It connects separated parts of the brain so that they can share information. Gray matter "does the math," Hanson says. "It takes care of the processing, using the information that gets shared along the white matter connections."

Gray matter early in development appears to enable flexibility; children can play and excel at many different activities. But as kids age and specialize, gray matter thins. It begins to be "pruned" after puberty, while the amount of white matter grows into adulthood.

"For both gray and white matter, we actually see smaller volumes associated with high stress," Hanson says. "Those kinds of effects across different kinds of tissue, those are the things we would like to study over longer periods of time. Understanding how these areas change can give you a better picture of whether this is just a delay in development or more lasting."

More study could also show the researchers how to help children who have experienced an inordinate amount of stress.

"There are groups around the country doing working memory interventions to try to train or retrain people on this particular cognitive ability and improve performance," Hanson says. "Understanding if and how stress affects these processes could help us know whether there may be similar interventions that could aid children living in stressful conditions, and how this may affect the brain."

###

— Chris Barncard, 608-890-0465, barncard@wisc.edu

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Bakersfield Dentist is Perfecting Smiles at Apollonia Dental

2012-06-08
Earlier in May Dr. B. David Zinati, a Bakersfield dentist, joined the practice of Apollonia Dental Center. Zinati is a graduate of University of South California's School of Dentistry, and displays exceptional orthodontic knowledge as well as a yearning to help patients. Dr. Joseph Marvizi, a fellow Apollonia dentist, desired for Zinati to provide patients with top quality dental care as the practice's in-house orthodontist. The confidence boost that comes from a perfectly aligned smile is not the only reason for patients to see their orthodontist. Crooked teeth ...

Ecologists call for preservation of planet's remaining biological diversity

Ecologists call for preservation of planets remaining biological diversity
2012-06-08
Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 17 ecologists are calling for renewed international efforts to curb the loss of Earth's biological diversity. The loss is compromising nature's ability to provide goods and services essential for human well-being, the scientists say. Over the past two decades, strong scientific evidence has emerged showing that decline of the world's biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of ecosystems, according to an international team led by the University of Michigan's Bradley Cardinale. It also decreases ...

Sea temperatures less sensitive to CO2 13 million years ago

2012-06-08
San Francisco -- In the modern global climate, higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are associated with rising ocean temperatures. But the seas were not always so sensitive to this CO2 "forcing," according to a new report. Around 5 to 13 million years ago, oceans were warmer than they are today -- even though atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were considerably lower. The unusual mismatch between sea temperatures and CO2 levels during this time period hints that the relationship between climate and carbon dioxide hasn't always been the same as ...

Standard measures of clinical care of blood pressure misleading, say researchers

2012-06-08
Standard performance measures used by health care systems and insurance companies to assess how well physicians are controlling their patients' blood pressure tell an incomplete and potentially misleading story, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The study authors tested a more nuanced experimental measure, designed to better reflect the clinical judgments doctors make in caring for patients, against criteria commonly used in standard performance measures. They compared ...

Study: When highly skilled immigrants move in, highly skilled natives move out

2012-06-08
In the first study to measure the temporary impact of highly skilled immigrants on native populations, University of Notre Dame EconomistAbigail Wozniak and Fairfield University's Thomas J. Murray — a former Notre Dame graduate student — found that when highly skilled immigrants move to a city or town, the U.S. natives in that area who are also highly skilled tend to move away. However, the study found that the same immigrant group's presence decreases the chances that low-skilled natives would leave. "High skill" refers to those having some post-secondary education or ...

Terry Yon: In Struggling Economy, Pharmacies Remain Essential

2012-06-08
Although employment rates are on the rise, many consumers are still wary to increase spending on luxury items. A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle observes a large reduction of discretionary spending. A recent Consumer Insights Panel, conducted by Emphatica, Inc., reveals what types of purchases shoppers have cut back on the most. What the study found was that most people avoid making purchased in electronics, fine dining and furniture. It also revealed that people are not as willing to make cuts in their pharmaceutical, grocery and gas purchases. Terry Yon, ...

Adolescents and young adults with mental health disorders at risk of long-term opioid use

2012-06-08
VIDEO: Seattle Children's Dr. Laura Richardson discusses her new study on long-term opioid use among adolescents and young adults. Click here for more information. SEATTLE: June 6, 2012 — Long-term use and abuse of opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, has markedly increased in the United States in the last two decades. Of note, prescription opioids constitute 86.9 percent of prescription drug misuse among high school students. And last week in a two-day U.S. ...

Absolute Capital Homes Revamps Foreclosures for Eager Buyers

2012-06-08
Anyone involved in the housing market knows the recent housing crisis has cause massive hysteria among banks, realtors and home owners alike. While the figures suggested by a recent Newsday article suggest that the housing crisis is on its way out, there are still plenty of foreclosed homes available for purchase. Although the numbers are high, the competition is even higher and individual buyers often lose out in face of investment companies and house flippers. Responding to the tips found in the article, New York-based Absolute Capital Homes suggests that unlucky buyers ...

Some factors that impact islet transplantation explored in Cell Transplantation papers

2012-06-08
Tampa, Fla. (June 6, 2012) – Two studies appearing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (21:2/3), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/, evaluate the transplantation potential and success of islet cells derived from pancreatic tissues, in addition to a clinical study that reports the occurrence of adverse events. Fresh islets are better than cultured islets A team of researchers from Baylor Research Institute, Texas and the University Graduate School of Medicine in Okayama, Japan has found that islet cells freshly retrieved ...

News alert: Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons June highlights

2012-06-08
Below are highlights of new review articles appearing in the June 2012 issue of the JAAOS, as well as the full table of contents. Each news highlight, and listed title in the table of contents, includes a link to the abstract. Effects of Smoking on Bone and Joint Health During cigarette use, hazardous gases and chemicals that can cause genetic mutations and the development of cancer are released into the bloodstream. One of these chemicals, nicotine, also can cause and/or exacerbate many smoking-related diseases and harm a patient's bone and joint health prior to, during ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy

How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease

A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet

Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice

Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast

Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase

Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows

Unintentional drug overdoses take a toll across the U.S. unequally, study finds

[Press-News.org] Stress may delay brain development in early years