Immune responses to stress after stress management training in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction

Psychological stress may alter immune function by activating physiological stress pathways. Building on our previous study, in which we report that stress management training led to an altered self-reported and cortisol response to psychological stress in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we explored the effects of this stress management intervention on the immune response to a psychological stress task in patients with RA.

Methods

In this study, 74 patients with RA, who were randomly assigned to either a control group or a group that received short stress management training, performed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) 1 week after the intervention and at a 9-week follow-up. Stress-induced changes in levels of key cytokines involved in stress and inflammatory processes (for example, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8) were assessed.

Results

Basal and stress-induced cytokine levels were not significantly different in patients in the intervention and control groups one week after treatment, but stress-induced IL-8 levels were lower in patients in the intervention group than in the control group at the follow-up assessment.

Conclusions

In line with our previous findings of lower stress-induced cortisol levels at the follow-up of stress management intervention, this is the first study to show that relatively short stress management training might also alter stress-induced IL-8 levels in patients with RA. These results might help to determine the role of immunological mediators in stress and disease.

Trial registration

The Netherlands National Trial Register (NTR1193)     

Ureide metabolism in leaves of nitrogen-fixing soybean plants

In leaf pieces from nodulated soybean (Glycine max [L] Merr cv Maple Arrow) plants, [¹⁴C]urea-dependent NH₃ and ¹⁴CO₂ production in the dark showed an approximately 2:1 stoichiometry and was decreased to less than 11% of the control (12-19 micromoles NH₃ per gram fresh weight per hour) in the presence of 50 millimolar acetohydroxamate, a urease inhibitor. NH₃ and CO₂ production from the utilization of [2-¹⁴C] allantoin also exhibited a 2:1 stoichiometry and was reduced to a similar extent by the presence of acetohydroxamate with a concomitant accumulation of urea which entirely accounted for the loss in NH₃ production. The almost complete sensitivity of NH₃ and CO₂ production from allantoin and urea metabolism to acetohydroxamate, together with the observed stoichiometry, indicated a path of ureide assimilation (2.0 micromoles per gram leaf fresh weight per hour) via allantoate, ureidoglycolate, and glyoxylate with the production of two urea molecules yielding, in turn, four molecules of NH₃ and two molecules of CO₂.     

The localisation of lead in the skin of light- and dark-adapted Xenopus laevis

Toads pretreated for 2 months on either a dark or a light background were then exposed to lead nitrate at 50 ppm lead for 21 days, the illumination regimes being maintained. Metal analysis of dorsal skin showed significantly higher lead levels (p less than 0.01) in dark-adapted toads. No precipitated lead deposits were observed at the ultrastructural level, necessitating X-ray microanalysis of sections containing melanophores, gland cells and general (non-melanophore) cytoplasm. Analysis showed the lead to be concentrated within the melanosomes of the melanophores, and to be significantly higher (p less than 0.01) in individual melanosomes of dark-adapted toads than in light adapted ones. Copper was also found to be concentrated in the melanosomes and was higher (p less than 0.01) in the melanosomes of the dark-adapted toads. The results are consistent with the known affinity of melanin for heavy metals and the documented increase in melanophore number under prolonged dark background regimes. Since all toads received the same lead exposure, the melanosome results give rise to speculation that higher melanin levels might occur in individual melanosomes of dark-adapted skin.     

A unique minute-rough colonial variant of Candida albicans

Summary A heretofore undescribed minute-rough colonial variant has been isolated from cultures of a red, adenine auxotroph ofCandida albicans, strain WC—7. The variant has been detected only in WC—7 populations which are propagated at 37° C on very low concentrations of adenine. It produces colonies much smaller than those of WC—7 at both 25° C and 37° C on defined media containing either ammonium ion or casein hydrolysate as nitrogen sources. On ammonium nitrogen, young variant colonies are smooth and contain only typical yeast cells. While colonies which grow at 37° C retain these characteristics upon extended incubation, those growing at 25° C progressively roughen due to extensive development of pseudohyphae as the glucose levels in their vicinities decline. Under comparable conditions, colonies of the parental strain WC—7 remain smooth and free of pseudohyphae, Supplementing the medium with large amounts of glucose, intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle or any one of several amino acids biosynthetically derived from intermediates of oxidative respiration prevents formation of pseudohyphae by the variant without significantly affecting its growth rate. Genetically, the variant is unstable and reverts frequently to a stable, rapidly growing form apparently identical to strain WC—7. Evidence is presented indicating that, under certain circumstances, variant cells can exercise a contact-inhibition of the growth of their revertants. Possible physiological bases of the variriant's cultural properties are discussed.     

Immunoneutralization of inhibin suppresses reproduction in female mink.

This study determined whether immunoneutralization of inhibin affected gonadotropin secretion, embryo development, and ovarian function in mink. Adult female mink (n = 10) were immunized with bovine inhibin alpha 1-26 gly-tyr (bINH, 100 micrograms) conjugated to human alpha globulins (HAG), or with HAG alone (n = 10, controls), mixed with Freund's complete adjuvant. A series of five boosters containing bINH or HAG were then administered during a 2-yr period. Titers of bINH antibodies and serum concentrations of gonadotropins were determined for each breeding season in 1990 and 1991. Each year after whelping, we determined gestation length; sex, number, and weight of live and dead kits per litter at birth; and number and weight of kits per litter 3 wk after whelping. Results were pooled for statistical analysis. Bovine INH antibody titers (percent 125I-bINH bound to serum diluted 1:8000) were 53 +/- 3% vs. 2 +/- 0.6%, and serum concentrations of FSH were higher (p < 0.05) in bINH-immunized mink compared with controls (144 +/- 23 vs. 67 +/- 12 ng/ml). However, number (3.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 5 +/- 0.4) and weight (8 +/- 0.3 vs. 9.7 +/- 0.4 g) of kits per litter at birth and number of kits per litter alive 3 wk after birth (2.9 +/- 0.5 vs. 4.7 +/- 0.4) were lower (p < 0.05) in bINH-immunized mothers compared with controls. During the nonbreeding season in 1991, a single injection of hCG (100 IU) was administered to bINH-immunized and control mink; 24 h later blood was sampled, and organ weights were determined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Small nuclear RNAs from Drosophila KC-H cells; characterization and comparison with mammalian RNAs

Small molecular weight nuclear RNAs were extracted from cultured Drosophila KC-H cells and characterized by their electrophoretic mobilities in 5–15% gradient acrylamide gels or in 10% acrylamide-7 M urea gels. Comparison between the electrophoretic profiles of these SnRNAs with those from human and mouse cells revealed striking similarities and allowed for assignation of band nomenclatures as established for mammalian cells. Comparison of mobilities in the two gel systems also permitted correspondence between the different nomenclatures established by various groups for this class of RNAs, as well as an approximate estimate of their molecular sizes.     

Religion on Dover beach

How does transcendental religion flourish when a secular frame sets conditions of belief? This question is put in a case study of the Catholic Newman Society at the University of Melbourne (1955–65). The Society flourished in a secular University where Charles Taylor’s ‘immanent frame’ was supposedly in place. Explanations are found in the particular spirituality nurtured in the Society and in the contingencies of Australian Catholicism in the mid‐twentieth century, but also in the conventions of secular discourse in the University. Conclusions drawn from the case are: (i) that there are elective affinities between some forms of transcendental religion and a secular context; (ii) that social science dichotomies that separate the religious and secular obviate appreciation of elective affinities and hybridisation; (iii) that there are parallels between ethnographic inquiry and inner‐worldly spirituality that may help us develop a conversational ethnography.