Psychological stress was associated in a dose-response manner with an increased risk of acute infectious respiratory illness, and this risk was attributable to increased rates of infection rather than to an increased frequency of symptoms after infection.

After completing questionnaires assessing stressful life events, perceived stress, and negative affect, 394 healthy Ss were intentionally exposed to a common cold virus, quarantined, and monitored for the development of biologically verified++ clinical illness. Consistent with the hypothesis that psychological stress increases susceptibility to infectious agents, higher scores on each of the 3 stress scales were associated with greater risk of developing a cold. However, the relation between stressful life events and illness was mediated by a different biologic process than were relations between perceived stress and illness and negative affect and illness. That these scales have independently relations with illness and that these relations are mediated by different processes challenges the assumption that perceptions of stress and negative affect are necessary for stressful life events to influence disease risk.

Functional neuroimaging studies reveal differences in neural correlates of the retrieval of emotional and nonemotional memories. In the present experiment, encoding of emotionally neutral pictures in association with positively, neutrally or negatively valenced background contexts led to differential modulation of neural activity elicited in a subsequent recognition memory test for these pictures. Recognition of stimuli previously studied in emotional compared to neutral contexts elicited enhanced activity in structures previously implicated in episodic memory, including the parahippocampal cortex, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. In addition, there was engagement of structures linked more specifically to emotional processing, including the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. These emotion-related effects displayed both valence-independent and valence-specific components. We discuss the findings in terms of current models of emotional memory retrieval.

OBJECTIVES. This study was conducted to test the supposition that both smoking and consuming alcohol suppress host resistance to viral infections. METHODS. The relations between smoking, alcohol consumption, and the incidence of documented clinical colds were prospectively studied among 391 subjects intentionally exposed to one of five respiratory viruses and 26 subjects given saline. Clinical colds were defined as clinical symptoms verified by the isolation of virus or by an increase in virus-specific antibody titer. Analyses included control variables for demographics; body weight; virus; and environmental, immunological and psychological factors. RESULTS. Smokers were at greater risk for developing colds than nonsmokers because smokers were more likely both to develop infections and to develop illness following infection. Greater numbers of alcoholic drinks (up to three or four per day) were associated with decreased risk for developing colds because drinking was associated with decreased illness following infection. However, the benefits of drinking occurred only among nonsmokers. CONCLUSIONS. Susceptibility to colds was increased by smoking. Although alcohol consumption did not influence risk of clinical illness for smokers, moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased risk for nonsmokers.

ObjectiveTo develop a clear understanding of the relationship between severity of urinary incontinence (UI) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental well-being in a population of women of working age with the requisite demands of a busy, active life.

Previous research suggests that effects of caffeine on behaviour are positive unless one is investigating sensitive groups or ingestion of large amounts. Children are a potentially sensitive subgroup, and especially so considering the high levels of caffeine currently found in energy drinks. The present study used data from the Cornish Academies Project to investigate associations between caffeine (both its total consumption, and that derived separately from energy drinks, cola, tea, and coffee) and single-item measures of stress, anxiety, and depression, in a large cohort of secondary school children from the South West of England. After adjusting for additional dietary, demographic, and lifestyle covariates, positive associations between total weekly caffeine intake and anxiety and depression remained significant, and the effects differed between males and females. Initially, effects were also observed in relation to caffeine consumed specifically from coffee. However, coffee was found to be the major contributor to high overall caffeine intake, providing explanation as to why effects relating to this source were also apparent. Findings from the current study increase our knowledge regarding associations between caffeine intake and stress, anxiety, and depression in secondary school children, though the cross-sectional nature of the research made it impossible to infer causality.

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This review aims to address the major sources of stress experienced by international students, the role of individual differences, the chronology of their stress levels and wellbeing over time, and gaps in the existing literature. Two electronic databases (PubMed and Psych Info) were searched for English peer-reviewed articles using eight search terms. Thirty-eight studies were included in this paper and divided into themes and sub-themes including sources of stress, individual differences and mental health including stress, depression and wellbeing. The findings highlight major stressors and show mixed results in some areas due to the lack of homogenous samples based on country of origin or ethnicity and sometimes context differences concerning the country or university social dynamics. Limitations were identified in the methodology, and several recommendations for future research are included.