Search results for "mental stre"

Maternal effects in quail and zebra finches: behavior and hormones.

2013

8 pages; International audience; Maternal effects are influences of parents on offspring phenotype occurring through pathways other than inherited DNA. In birds, two important routes for such transmission are parental behavior and non-DNA egg constituents such as yolk hormones. Offspring traits subject to parental effects include behavior and endocrine function. Research from the Adkins-Regan lab has used three avian species to investigate maternal effects related to hormones and behavior. Experiments with chickens and Japanese quail have shown that maternal sex steroids can influence sex determination to produce biased offspring sex ratios. Because all birds have a ZZ/ZW chromosomal sex de…

Assessment of mental stress through the analysis of physiological signals acquired from wearable devices

2019

Mental stress is a physiological state that directly correlates to the quality of life of individuals. Generally speaking, but especially true for disabled or elderly subjects, the assessment of such condition represents a very strong indicator correlated to the difficulties, and, in some case, to the frustration that derives from the execution of a task that results troublesome to be accomplished. This article describes a novel procedure for the assessment of the mental stress level through the use of low invasive wireless wearable devices. The information contained in electrocardiogram, respiratory signal, blood volume pulse, and electroencephalogram was extracted to set up an estimator f…

New Therapeutic Implications of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Function/Dysfunction in Cardiovascular Disease

2019

The Global Burden of Disease Study identified cardiovascular risk factors as leading causes of global deaths and life years lost. Endothelial dysfunction represents a pathomechanism that is associated with most of these risk factors and stressors, and represents an early (subclinical) marker/predictor of atherosclerosis. Oxidative stress is a trigger of endothelial dysfunction and it is a hall-mark of cardiovascular diseases and of the risk factors/stressors that are responsible for their initiation. Endothelial function is largely based on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) function and activity. Likewise, oxidative stress can lead to the loss of eNOS activity or even “uncoupli…

Context dependent variation in corticosterone and phenotypic divergence of Rana arvalis populations along an acidification gradient

2022

Background Physiological processes, as immediate responses to the environment, are important mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity and can influence evolution at ecological time scales. In stressful environments, physiological stress responses of individuals are initiated and integrated via the release of hormones, such as corticosterone (CORT). In vertebrates, CORT influences energy metabolism and resource allocation to multiple fitness traits (e.g. growth and morphology) and can be an important mediator of rapid adaptation to environmental stress, such as acidification. The moor frog, Rana arvalis, shows adaptive divergence in larval life-histories and predator defense traits along an acidi…

Effects of anthropogenic stress on hosts and their microbiomes: Treated wastewater alters performance and gut microbiome of a key detritivore ( Asell…

2023

Human activity is a major driver of ecological and evolutionary change in wild populations and can have diverse effects on eukaryotic organisms as well as on environmental and host-associated microbial communities. Although host-microbiome interactions can be a major determinant of host fitness, few studies consider the joint responses of hosts and their microbiomes to anthropogenic changes. In freshwater ecosystems, wastewater is a widespread anthropogenic stressor that represents a multifarious environmental perturbation. Here, we experimentally tested the impact of treated wastewater on a keystone host (the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus) and its gut microbiome. We used a semi-natur…

Plp38MAPK activity in embryogenesis, morphogenesis and stress response: an indicator of perfect health?

2011

P38 conveys a variety of signals, including conventional growth, migratory and death signals, as well as responding to environmental and mechanical stimuli. These signals induce phosphorylation of p38, which triggers both its translocation to the nucleus and the activation of its catalytic function. In Paracentrotus lividus we have shown that for a correct cilia re-generation the p38 activation is essential; we also showed, by time course Western blotting, two activation peaks during development (morula and early gastrula stages) with a precise localization of activated p38 in micromere and micromere derived cells (Nichel treatment higlighted this feature), and in the oral apical region. Th…

Évolution rétrograde de Neospathodus au cours de la crise Permo - Triasique

2016

The Permian - Triassic evolution of platform conodonts (Gondolellidae) consists mainly in developing the carina and the platform. During the sublethal environmental stress conditions subsequent to the Permian - Triassic extinction, the Wuchiapingian - Griesbachian Clarkina lineage is replaced by the primitive looking platform-lacking Dienerian - Aegean Neospathodus kummeli - Kashmirella timorensis lineage. Moreover, above Jinogondolella denticulata, end of the Capitanian Jinogondolella lineage, “Neospathodus” arcucristatus, an atavistic blade-like homeomorph that lacks a platform, underlies Protoclarkina crofti, of the base of the anagenetic Clarkina lineage. These primitive-looking forms a…

The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) Mission: From Spectral Measurements to High-Level Science Products

2021

The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission was selected in 2015, by the European Space Agency (ESA), as an Earth Explorer mission, with a launch planned for 2024. The key scientific objective of the mission is the quantitative global mapping of actual photosynthetic activity of terrestrial ecosystems, as a function of variable vegetation health status and environmental stress conditions. The measurements will have a spatial resolution of 300 m, adequate to resolve land surface processes associated to vegetation dynamics at a global scale. To be able to accomplish such objective, the FLEX mission carries the FLORIS spectrometer, specially optimized to map vegetation fluorescence with a spectra…

Bevölkerungsbezogene psychische Gesundheit als Schlüsselfaktor im Umgang mit COVID-19

2020

Zusammenfassung Ziel Das Ziel des Beitrages besteht darin, auf die bedeutsame Rolle der Prävention und Reduktion der psychischen Belastungen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung und in sensiblen Gruppen im Rahmen der Coronavirus-Krankheit-2019 (COVID-19) -Pandemie hinzuweisen. Methodik Der vorliegende Beitrag umfasst die Analyse und Bewertung von Studien und Empfehlungen von Organisationen wie der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO), die die bevölkerungsbezogenen psychischen Auswirkungen von Epi-/Pandemien und deren Einfluss auf den weiteren Verlauf untersucht haben. Ergebnisse Angstbedingte Verhaltensweisen können sich negativ auf den Verlauf von Epidemien auswirken. Im Rahmen vergangener Ausbrüche v…

2016

BACKGROUND: While noise annoyance has become recognized as an important environmental stressor, its association to mental health has hardly been studied. We therefore determined the association of noise annoyance to anxiety and depression and explored the contribution of diverse environmental sources to overall noise annoyance. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated cross-sectional data of n = 15.010 participants of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS), a population-based, prospective, single-center cohort study in Mid-Germany (age 35 to 74 years). Noise annoyance was assessed separately for road traffic, aircraft, railways, industrial, neighborhood indoor and outdoor noise ("during the day"; "i…