May 2025
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1 Read
Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine
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Publications (399)
April 2025
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11 Reads
Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health
April 2025
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6 Reads
American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y.: 1989)
Problem We sought to investigate whether maternal inflammatory cytokines during pregnancy are associated with histologic inflammatory or vascular lesions in the placenta and/or correlated with gene expression patterns in the placenta. Method of Study We leveraged data from a large randomized controlled trial (RCT) at a single site. Maternal serum was collected in the second and third trimesters, and a composite inflammatory score was created using five measured biomarkers (CRP, IL‐6, IL‐1ra, IL‐10, and TNF‐α). Placentas were collected at delivery for histological analysis and four major patterns of placental injury were characterized. Fresh small chorionic villous biopsies were collected for placental genome‐wide mRNA profiling. Transcripts showing >2‐fold differential expression over the 4‐SD range of circulating inflammatory biomarkers were reported, adjusting for potential confounders. Results The primary analysis included 601 participants. A one standard deviation increase in the third‐trimester inflammatory composite was associated with increased odds of chronic inflammation in the placenta (OR: 1.23, 95% CI 1.01, 1.51;). This was driven primarily by elevations in IL‐10 (OR: 1.37; 99% CI: 1.06, 1.77). Higher maternal IL‐10 in circulation was associated with bioinformatic indications of reduced pro‐inflammatory gene regulation pathways in the placenta (AP1 decreased 25%, p = 0.003; NF‐kB decreased 53%, p = 0.003) and indications of increased STAT family signaling pathways which mediate signaling through the IL‐10 receptor (increased 73%, p = 0.002). Conclusions Our results indicate that elevated maternal circulating IL‐10 during pregnancy is associated with chronic inflammatory lesions in the placenta at delivery. Additionally, higher levels of circulating IL‐10 are associated with upregulated STAT signaling pathways in placental tissues.
March 2025
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8 Reads
Brain Behavior and Immunity
February 2025
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22 Reads
Brain Behavior and Immunity
February 2025
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1 Read
Biophysical Journal
February 2025
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25 Reads
Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health
Background The symptom burden for patients with Long COVID-associated dysautonomia is high, yet there are currently no effective treatments. Mindfulness programs reduce psychological and physical symptoms as well as inflammatory gene expression in a variety of medical conditions. The study aim was to evaluate the effect of a six-week mindfulness program in women with Long COVID dysautonomia symptoms. Methods Using a single arm, pre- and posttest design, women aged 18–54 years with Long COVID and orthostatic intolerance suggestive of dysautonomia were recruited from a single center. Participants attended a standardized, six-week, virtual mindfulness program. An active stand test and 6-min walk test (6MWT) were performed at baseline and post-intervention. Self-reported measures of physical and mental health symptoms collected at baseline, post-intervention and 4 week follow up included the composite autonomic symptom score (COMPASS-31), perceived stress (PSS), anxiety (GAD7), depression (PHQ8), COVID-19 event specific distress (IES-R), fatigue (FSI), sleep (ISI), well-being (MHC-SF), resilience (CD-RISC 10), and quality of life (SF-20). The effects on conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) were examined by next-generation sequencing of dried whole blood samples. Results Twenty participants were enrolled with a mean age of 39.9 years (range 21–52 years). No significant changes were observed for the active stand test or 6MWT. A significant reduction in insomnia severity (ISI: 16.6 vs. 13.6; p = 0.001) was observed post-intervention, but scores reverted toward baseline levels at 4-week follow-up. No significant improvements were seen in autonomic symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress, depression, well-being, or COVID-19 related distress. Pro-inflammatory CTRA gene expression decreased significantly from pre-to post-intervention (p = 0.004). Declines in CTRA gene expression were most significant among those with 3 COVID-19 positive events (p = 0.01), followed by 2 events (p = 0.04) and 1 event (p = 0.05). Declines in CTRA gene expression did not vary significantly as a function of recent illness, COVID-19 hospitalization, demographic characteristics, or general medical history. Conclusion A virtual, six-week mindfulness program may improve sleep quality in women with Long COVID dysautonomia. While no objective improvement in dysautonomia symptoms were observed, our findings suggest a favorable effect of the mindfulness intervention on inflammatory and antiviral biology with a decrease in CTRA gene expression. Nonetheless, the symptom burden in this population is very high, and more attention is needed to provide effective multi-modal clinical therapies to this population.
February 2025
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5 Reads
Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
February 2025
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1 Read
Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
January 2025
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27 Reads
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3 Citations
Brain Behavior and Immunity
Citations (35)
... The first ageing "clocks" were initially developed using DNA methylation data, and there is already promising initial data suggesting that deficits in social connections are related to accelerated epigenetic ageing. 20,21 But other clocks based on more downstream molecular phenotypes like proteomic and metabolomic data and broader clinical data are increasingly being developed and function well in predicting age-related pathology. 22 One type of clock increasing in popularity is a physiological clock that combines phenotypic measures of blood-based biomarkers (e.g. ...
- Citing Article
October 2024
The Journals of Gerontology Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
... Moreover, we could not investigate the heterogeneity in racial and ethnic differences in epigenetic clocks by the timing of DNAm measurement, as there were relatively few studies involving racially marginalized children. Recent research in over n=2000 individuals from the Future Families and Child Well-Being cohort find that these racial and ethnic differences are visible in 9-year-old's saliva GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DunedinPACE and become larger in repeated measures of DNAm from age 9 to 15 years in all three metrics 23,47 . ...
- Citing Article
October 2024
... Chronic social deprivation (isolation) induces multisystem dysregulation in rodents, including metabolic dysfunction, affective disorders, cognitive impairment, and social behavior deficits [4]. Clinical epidemiology further confirms social isolation as a risk factor for several human pathologies including diabetes, cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, and cardiovascular disease in humans [5]. ...
- Citing Article
October 2024
Brain Behavior and Immunity
... Historically, middle-aged and older adults were the primary consumers of antiaging products. However, recent trends suggest a growing interest among younger individuals in preventive measures (Mandelblatt and Antoni, 2025). ...
- Citing Article
August 2024
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
... However, changes in neurons were less pronounced than in microglia. This contrast in sex-dependent patterns across cell types indicates that immune responses in AD may be more sex-dependent than core neuronal functions, potentially reflecting known sex differences in neuroimmune responses and inflammatory signaling pathways in the brain [56,57]. Across all cell-types, sex-neutral age-dependent changes dominated over sex-dependent changes, suggesting that while sex-specific responses are important, many fundamental disease-associated changes occur similarly in both males and females across age groups. ...
- Citing Article
August 2024
Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health
... Pregnant women present higher levels of circulating KLOTHO when compared to nonpregnant women, and the expression in the placenta of KLOTHO mRNA and protein varies according to fetal growth and increases with gestational age in physiological pregnancies [60,61]. However, the downregulation of this protein has been found in pathological pregnancies, both in the blood and placental tissue, which is indicative of accelerated placental aging [61][62][63][64]. Mechanistically, KLOTHO acts either as an obligate coreceptor for fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) or as a soluble pleiotropic endocrine hormone (s-Klotho), inhibiting four pathways that have been linked to aging and aging-related processes in various ways: transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), Wnt, and NF-κB [65]. ...
- Citing Article
June 2024
Pediatric and Developmental Pathology
... In a meta-analysis involving nine TC studies, it was found that TC significantly reduced serum TNF-α and decreased IL-6 [97]. Additionally, a RCT involving breast cancer survivors demonstrated a sustained decrease in IL-6 and IL-1β after 12 months, highlighting the enduring anti-inflammatory effects of TC exercise [98]. Moreover, the gut microbiota has been increasingly recognized as closely linked to KOA development due to its intricate interplay with joint health [99,100]. ...
- Citing Article
May 2024
Brain Behavior and Immunity
... Studies of "opener" rats-i.e., rats who consistently help release trapped cagemates-have revealed increased neural activity in multiple regions during prosocial motivation (73). Notably, they also show higher OXT receptor messenger RNA expression in the nucleus accumbens and upregulation of several transcription control pathways (73). ...
- Citing Preprint
- File available
May 2024
... Moreover, reactions to marital stressors may vary with the emotional context. For instance, the physical or emotional suffering of a close social partner brings aging-related social and emotional motivations into conflict, which may result 1) in a breakdown of protective avoidance strategies, risking a person's own emotional well-being, or 2) in social disengagement, which may harm the relationship [50]. In early evidence, a laboratory-based study of marital behavior found larger inflammatory responses to a partner's suffering than to marital conflict [50]. ...
- Citing Article
May 2024
Brain Behavior and Immunity
... The examination of stress reactivity paradigms, inflammation and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) latency, influenza virus vaccine models, biological aging, the gut microbiome, and more have provided an outstanding basis for a productive independent research career. And, through new grants of my own, and "inheriting" ongoing studies upon Jan's retirement, I endeavor to continue to broaden my scope to the examination of other populations and biomarkers including studies of stress and resilience among sexual and gender diverse populations [118], adults living with cancer and their partners [119,120], and caregivers for spouses with Alzheimer's and related dementias [20]. Jan has always been on the cutting-edge of research, as demonstrated by the diversity and wide-ranging impact of her studies. ...
- Citing Article
April 2024
Brain Behavior and Immunity
