Childhood adversity is linked to adverse health in adulthood. One posited mechanistic pathway is through physiological responses to acute stress. Childhood adversity has been previously related to ...both exaggerated and blunted physiological responses to acute stress, however, less is known about the psychological mechanisms which may contribute to patterns of physiological reactivity linked to childhood adversity.
In the current work, we investigated the role of challenge and threat stress appraisals in explaining relationships between childhood adversity and cortisol reactivity in response to an acute stressor.
Undergraduate students (
= 81; 61% female) completed an online survey that included general demographic information and the Risky Families Questionnaire 24 h before a scheduled lab visit. In the lab, a research assistant collected a baseline salivary cortisol sample. Following the baseline period, participants were read instructions for the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a validated psychological lab stressor. Next, they completed a challenge vs. threat task appraisal questionnaire and completed the speech and math portion of the TSST. Twenty minutes following the start of the TSST, a second salivary sample was collected to measure changes in salivary cortisol following the TSST.
Linear regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), and baseline cortisol levels, showed childhood adversity associated with changes in cortisol levels
= -0.29
(73) = -2.35,
= 0.02,
. Linear regression analyses controlling for age, sex, and childhood SES showed childhood adversity associated with both challenge
= -0.52
(74) = -5.04,
<
and threat
= 0.55
(74) = 5.40,
< 0.001,
appraisals. Significant indirect effects of childhood trauma on cortisol reactivity were observed through challenge appraisals
= -0.01 (95% confidence interval = -0.02, -0.003), and threat appraisals
= -0.01 (95% confidence interval = -0.01, -0.003).
Childhood adversity may contribute to blunted cortisol reactivity, a pattern of response which is linked to obesity, addiction, and other behavior-related diseases. Our findings suggest that this relationship is in part a product of stress appraisals.
•The optical chain mockup of ITER spectroscopy was manufactured, aligned and tested.•The measured spatial resolution at the object plane is 6.8–9 mm.•The system keeps the required image quality under ...shift/tilt of vacuum components.•Calibration of the optical path can be carried out with additional optical fiber.
H-alpha and Visible Spectroscopy is one of the ITER first-plasma diagnostics providing full poloidal coverage of plasma scrape-off layer near the first wall. There are two poloidal-view channels in Equatorial Port Plug 11 (EPP11), one tangential-view channel in Equatorial Port Plug 12 (EPP12), and one divertor-view channel in Upper Port Plug 02 (UPP02). At the moment, the final design phase is ongoing, requiring proper testing of design solutions to identify the realistic optical parameters and the problems related to the manufacturing, alignment, calibration and stability issues. A full-scale mockup of the whole optical chain has been built for this purpose. It comprises the most important units starting from the in-vessel optical front-end (First Mirror Unit) to the Interspace relay optics (Long-Focus Spectral Telescope), and to the Optical Bench Assembly located in the Port Cell, where the collected light is coupled to the imaging cameras and to the complex optical fiber bundle transmitting it to the various detectors and spectrometers to be located in the ITER Diagnostic Building. The detailed optical design, analyses, benchmarking and test results are reported with a main focus on the alignment/calibration issues, and on the spatial resolution measured. The measurements have been performed in the wide spectral range 450–700 nm, which is required for the monitoring of the H-alpha, Beryllium and other impurity emission line profiles with probable local peaks considered as the most important ITER safety-relevant task for the passive visible spectroscopy diagnostics.
Background: Feeling alive and invigorated, or vitality, is examined within the framework of a stress paradigm. The current study investigated whether endocrine and cardiovascular responses to acute ...psychological stress predict declines in vitality.
Methods: A sample of 90 undergraduate students completed an in-lab stressor. We measured anxiety, state vitality, cortisol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure before the task, and measured changes in state vitality, cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure in response to the stressor. We investigated whether pre-task anxiety predicted changes in state vitality, and whether such changes were explained by physiological responses.
Results: Results indicate that cognitive and somatic anxiety preceding a stressor predict changes in vitality, which is mediated by the magnitude of diastolic (95% CI 0.017, 0.517; 0.006, 0.454) and systolic (95% CI 0.038, 0.705) blood pressure responses to the task. Cortisol reactivity was associated with somatic anxiety (F(6, 83) = 3.34, p < .01, β = 0.401) but was not related to changes in vitality.
Conclusions: Together, these results contribute to the understanding of how physiological reactivity to a stressor can deplete vitality.
Abstract
Background
Historical loss in American Indians (AIs) is believed to contribute to high incidence of mental health disorders, yet less is known about the associations between historical loss ...and physical health.
Purpose
To investigate whether frequency of thought about historical loss predicts risk factors for chronic physical health conditions in an AI community.
Methods
Using Community Based Participatory research (CBPR) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), we measured frequency of thoughts about historical loss in 100 AI adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation. Participants completed a 1-week monitoring period, during which ambulatory blood pressure and daily levels of psychological stress were measured. At the end of the week, we collected a dried blood spot sample for measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP).
Results
In hierarchical linear regression models controlling for demographics and relevant covariates, greater frequency of thoughts about historical loss predicted higher average daily psychological stress (B = .55, t = 6.47, p < .001, ΔR2 = .30) and higher levels of CRP (B = .33, t = 3.93, p < .001, ΔR2 = .10). Using linear mixed modeling with relevant covariates, we found that greater thoughts about historical loss were associated with higher systolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .32, 95% CI = .22–.42, t = 6.48, p < .001, ΔR2 = .25; Fig. 1c) and greater diastolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .19, 95% CI = .11–.27, t = 4.73, p < .001, ΔR2 = .19).
Figure 1.
Associations between historical loss and indicators of stress. (a) Association between historical loss and average daily stress. (b) Association between historical loss and CRP. (c) Association between historical loss and systolic ambulatory blood pressure. (d) Association between historical loss and diastolic ambulatory blood pressure.
Conclusions
The data suggest that frequency of thought about historical loss may contribute to increased subclinical risk for cardiovascular disease in the Blackfeet community.
In Blackfeet American Indian Adults, more frequent thoughts about historical loss and trauma predicted a psychological and physiological profile linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease
Considering multi-physics requirements and loads in the early design phase as well as during the later experimental verification is especially important for the design of fusion devices due to the ...extreme environmental conditions and loads. Typical disciplines in design of fusion devices are thermodynamics, structural-mechanics, electro-magnetics, and optics. The interaction of these disciplines as well as an efficient approach to implement this interaction in numerical and experimental simulations is presented as applied at the new JET KL11 divertor endoscope design and verification process. The endoscope's first pictures already showed the very good performance of the instrument.
Giant exoplanets on wide orbits have been directly imaged around young stars. If the thermal background in the mid-infrared can be mitigated, then exoplanets with lower masses can also be imaged. ...Here we present a ground-based mid-infrared observing approach that enables imaging low-mass temperate exoplanets around nearby stars, and in particular within the closest stellar system, α Centauri. Based on 75-80% of the best quality images from 100 h of cumulative observations, we demonstrate sensitivity to warm sub-Neptune-sized planets throughout much of the habitable zone of α Centauri A. This is an order of magnitude more sensitive than state-of-the-art exoplanet imaging mass detection limits. We also discuss a possible exoplanet or exozodiacal disk detection around α Centauri A. However, an instrumental artifact of unknown origin cannot be ruled out. These results demonstrate the feasibility of imaging rocky habitable-zone exoplanets with current and upcoming telescopes.
► Replacement of JET diagnostics to match the new ITER-like Wall. ► The endoscope test ITER-like design with only mirror based optics. ► Withstanding and diagnostic capability during Plasma operation ...and disruptions. ► Engineering process from design to installation and procurement.
The development of optical diagnostics, like endoscopes, compatible with the ITER environment (metallic plasma facing components, neutron proof optics, etc.) is a challenge, but current tokamaks such as JET provide opportunities to test fully working concepts. This paper describes the engineering aspects of a fully mirrored endoscope that has recently been designed, procured and installed on JET. The system must operate in a very strict environment with high temperature, high magnetic fields up to B=4T and rapid field variations (∂B/∂t∼100T/s) that induce high stresses due to eddy currents in the front mirror assembly. It must be designed to withstand high mechanical loads especially during disruptions, which lead to acceleration of about 7g at 14Hz. For the JET endoscope, when the plasma thermal loading, direct and indirect, was added to the assumed disruption loads, the reserve factor, defined as a ratio of yield strength over summed up von Mises stresses, was close to 1 for the mirror components. To ensure reliable operation, several analyses were performed to evaluate the thermo-mechanical performance of the endoscope and a final validation was obtained from mechanical and thermal tests, before the system's final installation in May 2011. During the tests, stability of the field of view angle variation was kept below 1° despite the high thermal gradient on endoscope head (∂T/∂x∼500K/m). In parallel, to ensure long time operation and to prevent undesirable performance degradation, a shutter system was also implemented in order to reduce impurity deposition on in-vessel mirrors but also to allow in situ transmission calibration. One of the main specifications of the shutter system was high reliability. This was considered as achieved when the prototype was successfully tested to 3000 cycles at a temperature of 300°C.
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