Forebrain glucocorticoid receptor overexpression alters behavioral encoding of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells in mice

Stress hormone signaling via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) modulates vulnerability to stress-related disorders, but whether GR influences how the brain encodes contextual experience is unknown. Mice with lifelong GR overexpression in forebrain glutamatergic neurons (GRov) show increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli. This phenotype is developmentally programmed and associated with profound changes in hippocampal gene expression. We hypothesized that GR overexpression influences hippocampal encoding of experiences. To test our hypothesis, we performed in vivo microendoscopic calcium imaging of 1359 dorsal CA1 pyramidal cells in freely behaving male and female WT and GRov mice during exploration of a novel open field. We compared calcium amplitude and event rate as well as sensitivity to center location and mobility between genotypes. GRov neurons exhibited higher average calcium activity than WT neurons in the novel open field. While most neurons showed sensitivity to center location and/or mobility, GRov neurons were more likely to be sensitive to center location and less likely to be sensitive to mobility, as compared to WT neurons. More than one-third of behavior-selective GRov neurons were uniquely sensitive to location without mobility sensitivity; these uniquely center-sensitive neurons were rare in WT. We conclude that dorsal CA1 pyramidal cells in GRov mice show increased activity in a novel environment and preferentially encode emotionally salient behavior. This heightened sensitivity to a novel environment and preferential encoding of emotionally salient elements of experience could underlie differential stress vulnerability in humans with increased glucocorticoid sensitivity.

A Systematic Review of a Polyvagal Perspective on Embodied Contemplative Practices as Promoters of Cardiorespiratory Coupling and Traumatic Stress Recovery for PTSD and OCD: Research Methodologies and State of the Art

Baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been proposed as a transdiagnostic biomarker of stress vulnerability across psychopathologies, and a reliable association between PTSD, OCD and lower resting RSA was found. Contemplative practices have been linked to the activation of the vagus as well as to an increased RSA that, according to the polyvagal theory, reflects the activation of the ventral vagal complex (VVC) and may promote PTSD and OCD recovery. PubMed and Scopus databases were selected to conduct a search following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, and A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) was used to appraise the methodological quality for this systematic review. Six articles met the inclusion criteria (one cross-sectional study, one study with pre-post measurements, two cohort studies and two RCT studies). Mindfulness-related interventions promoted parasympathetic activity, an increased vagal tone and improvements in PTSD and OCD symptoms. According to the polyvagal theory, mindfulness-related and compassion-related meditations would be conceptualized as neural exercises expanding the capacity of the ventral vagal complex to regulate the present state and to promote resilience. Clinical and methodological issues are discussed.

Dynamics of Water Accounting Balance for Assessing Water Stress Vulnerability Considering Social Aspects

To advance proper planning, water accounting (WA) could provide the possibility of linking physical and operational data to their interdisciplinary attributes. In its new form, WA, combined with a dynamic model considering socio-economic aspects, is a valuable tool for rectifying today's water issues. The social water-accounting-based system dynamics (SWA-SD) provides a feedback-based platform to better support flexible decision-making. Analyzing the indicators that correspond to water security in the context of DPSIR (driving force-pressure-state-impact-response) and SWA-SD combined with principal component analysis (PCA) for identifying data patterns is applied to a generic study area suffering from water stress to assess the environmental, economic, and social vulnerabilities. The water accounting has to be based on water balance data (called water accounting balance). As a practical solution to generate water balance data, a time series by the use of basic climatic and hydrologic data is synthesized. According to the results, the water stress and urbanization index were increased by a factor of 43% and 64% in 2020 during a 20-year time horizon, respectively, which is alarming for the region. Moreover, the economic and social water resources vulnerability shows an upward trend, and the environmental component shows many highs (as much as 2.24) and lows (as low as 0.73) due to different supply measures responded to the increasing demands. This study provides a basis that can be replicated for other developing regions to quantify this type of important planning information and for implementing different socially sensitive triggers and technically feasible to measure water vulnerabilities.

Is Compulsive Sexual Behavior Different in Women Compared to Men?

The inclusion of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in the ICD-11 has sparked research interest on this topic in recent years. This review aims to investigate gender differences in Compulsive Sexual Behavior (CBD) and persons with CSBD. While impulsivity and psychiatric comorbidity play a role in persons with CSBD regardless of gender, some gender differences can be identified. CSBD is more prevalent in men, with a higher rate of reported sexual behaviors and higher scores on questionnaires measuring CSBD related symptoms. Neuroticism and stress vulnerability seem to play a more important role in the symptomatology of CSBD in women. While it seems plausible that childhood adversities play a role in the development of CSB, the manner with respect to how these adversities affect men and women differently is still to be explored. More clinical studies including the female CSBD population are required to infer clinical implications.

Stress and Psychopathology Reduction in Pregnant Women through Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy during COVID-19: A Feasibility Study

Background: The global pandemic has affected the psychological health of the population, including pregnant women. Due to the difficulty of offering conventional therapies to reduce stress in this population, studies are needed to show the effect of online therapies. Therefore, the objective was to test the effect of online cognitive behavioural therapy in pregnant women during the pandemic on the main variables of stress and psychopathology. Methods: The sample consisted of 16 pregnant women who participated in a weekly cognitive behavioural intervention for 8 weeks. Prenatal concerns, general stress, stress vulnerability, resilience and psychopathology were assessed. Results: The results show a reduction in prenatal concerns, perceived stress, stress vulnerability and psychopathology, as well as an increase in resilience. Conclusions: Online cognitive behavioural intervention may be effective in pregnant women, so it is important to conduct a randomised controlled trial to certify these findings.

Daily Food Insecurity and Heart Rate Variability Among Healthy Low-Income Adults: A Longitudinal Pilot Study Over Two Seasonal Months

Objectives Food insecurity (FI) is prevalent among low-income adults and is related to increased stress. Heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with adverse health and a known indicator for stress vulnerability. However, the relationship between FI and HRV is unclear. Our study aims to study the associations between FI and ultra-short-term HRV (5 minutes) at daily basis. Methods A total of 22 healthy low-income adults were recruited in fall 2019 and 18 were followed up in winter 2020. Data on FI and HRV were collected over a 3-week-long wave in each surveyed month (2nd – 4th week). Daily FI was assessed using the adapted USDA adult module on the provided smartphones. Each day, a 5-minute heart rate was recorded using the Polar H7 sensor, yielding a number of HRV metrics in two domains. SDNN, Rmssd, and pNN50 are time-domain metrics quantifying the amount of variability in interbeat interval (the higher the ‘better’). LF/HF Ratio is a frequency-domain metrics estimating the distribution of power into frequency bands (the lower the ‘better’). The Time Varying Effect Models were used to estimate the association between daily FI and ultra-short-term HRV metrics as a function of study day. Results A total of 606 person-days (response rate = 72.1%) of data in FI and HRV was collected. In fall, higher FI score was significantly associated with lower lnRmssd at day 19 (b = −0.13) and 20 (b = −0.12), lower Pnn50 at day 20 (b = −0.13), and higher LF/HF ratio from day 1 to 5 (b ranges 0.29–0.88). In winter, higher FI score was related to lower lnRmssd at day 18 (b = −0.24) and 19 (b = −0.27), lower Pnn50 from day 17 to 19 (b ranges −10.99 to −7.79), and higher LF/HF ratio from day 9 to 11 (b ranges 0.78–1.22) and day 18 to 20 (b ranges 1.17–2.40). Conclusions Across the 2 months spanning two seasons, our pilot study found that daily FI was significantly and consistently associated with suboptimal time-domain HRV metrics in the last few days of the study months. Results for the frequency-domain also support a time-varying impact of FI on HRV. The preliminary results support a potential more profound impact of FI on stress vulnerability, particularly by the end of the months. Funding Sources The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (UL1TR002014) and the Broadhurst Career Development Professorship for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.