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Stress: The roots of resilience
NATURE NEWS ^ | 10 October 2012 | Virginia Hughes

Posted on 10/11/2012 12:44:29 PM PDT by neverdem

On a chilly, January night in 1986, Elizabeth Ebaugh carried a bag of groceries across the quiet car park of a shopping plaza in the suburbs of Washington DC. She got into her car and tossed the bag onto the empty passenger seat. But as she tried to close the door, she found it blocked...

--snip--

The most talked-about biological marker of resilience is neuropeptide Y (NPY), a hormone released in the brain during stress. Unlike the stress hormones that put the body on high alert in response to trauma, NPY acts at receptors in several parts of the brain — including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and brainstem — to help shut off the alarm. “In resiliency, these brake systems are turning out to be the most relevant,” says Renu Sah, a neuroscientist at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Interest in NPY and resilience took off in 2000, partly because of a study of healthy US Army soldiers who participated in a survival course designed to simulate the conditions endured by prisoners of war, such as food and sleep deprivation, isolation and intense interrogations8. NPY levels went up in the soldiers' blood within hours of the interrogations. Special Forces soldiers who had trained to be resilient had significantly higher NPY levels than typical soldiers.

Researchers are now conducting animal experiments to study how NPY works. In one experiment, a team at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis restrained a rat in a tight-fitting plastic pouch for 30 minutes, then released it into a box with another rat9. The restraint made the rat so anxious that it avoided interacting with the other animal for 90 minutes. But when rats were injected with NPY before the treatment, they interacted with cage-mates as if nothing had happened...

(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Testing
KEYWORDS: neuropeptidey; neuroscience; npy; ptsd; resilience; stress

1 posted on 10/11/2012 12:44:36 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

That which occurs between the ears of humans defies rational explanation.


2 posted on 10/11/2012 1:03:29 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: neverdem

That which occurs between the ears of humans defies rational explanation.


3 posted on 10/11/2012 1:06:41 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: neverdem

Interesting work with interesting implications, including the advisability or consequences of using an antidote for stress reaction.

I do wonder why the victim didn’t scoot out the car on the other side, which is the response I would hope to have in a similar situation... Interesting to consider the role visualization and practice play.


4 posted on 10/11/2012 1:07:32 PM PDT by cyn
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To: gorush
That which occurs between the ears of humans defies rational explanation.

Especially if the process includes a re-route through the genitalia...

5 posted on 10/11/2012 1:08:50 PM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: T-Bird45

...not to mention the feared “cranial-rectal inversion”.


6 posted on 10/11/2012 1:12:30 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: cyn
I do wonder why the victim didn’t scoot out the car on the other side, which is the response I would hope to have in a similar situation...

If you have electronic doorlocks, you as the driver may just unlock the driver's side door while all the other doors remain locked. So if you are pushed over to the passenger's side of the car, you just can't scoot over and get out; the passenger's door is still locked, and only the driver can unlock it via a child-safety switch on the driver's door. At least, this is the way it has worked on my last few cars, GM and foreign.

7 posted on 10/11/2012 1:15:59 PM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: cyn
"I do wonder why the victim didn’t scoot out the car on the other side, which is the response I would hope to have in a similar situation"

A common response is to freeze...in spite of what the "fight or flight" crowd says. The book "What Every BODY is Saying" by Joe Nevarro an ex FBI counter intelligence guy talking about non-verbal communication postulates this very point. (An enjoyable read, by the way)

8 posted on 10/11/2012 1:21:41 PM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: cyn

I think it is impossible to know how we might react in any given situation. I was just about to close my car door when I heard a voice and turned. Some guy had stuck his face in my door and I did what I supposed any normal person would do; I slammed the door on his face, threw the car in reverse and took off. I would be willing to bet the guy never did that again.


9 posted on 10/11/2012 1:24:11 PM PDT by Excellence (9/11 was an act of faith.)
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To: cyn
I do wonder why the victim didn’t scoot out the car on the other side,

Most cars today have center consoles and bucket seats that would greatly slowdown that maneuver.

10 posted on 10/11/2012 2:31:56 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again,)
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To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
H/T to AdmSmith for linking the technical description in the first comment about G-protein coupled receptors in my first link. My next link is for the general FReeper.

I finally got around to reading a topic that I was always curious about, but I always put off for later. It was excellent! If you work in medicine, nursing or a pharmacy and you're not familiar with the topic, it's a great review, i.e. that technical description. It's just a little over 9 pages.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 Robert J. Lefkowitz, Brian K. Kobilka (USA)

Receptor Scientists Nab Chemistry Nobel

Stem Cells Safe for Rare Brain Disorder

DNA has a 521-year half-life

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

11 posted on 10/11/2012 3:40:05 PM PDT by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
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To: ottbmare
If you have electronic doorlocks, you as the driver may just unlock the driver's side door while all the other doors remain locked. So if you are pushed over to the passenger's side of the car, you just can't scoot over and get out; the passenger's door is still locked, and only the driver can unlock it via a child-safety switch on the driver's door. At least, this is the way it has worked on my last few cars, GM and foreign.

Why on earth would car companies assume the person driving gets to make the call if passengers can leave... It's control freak creepy... on steroids.

12 posted on 10/11/2012 7:42:39 PM PDT by GOPJ (You only establish a feel for the line by having crossed it. - - Freeper One Name)
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To: GOPJ
Why on earth would car companies assume the person driving gets to make the call if passengers can leave... It's control freak creepy... on steroids.

I guess they aren't thinking about rape situations so much as parents controlling kids. They're called "child safety locks." Of course, that doesn't explain why the front passenger side door AND THE DRIVER'S DOOR are also under the control of this button.

I never use the electronic doorlocks, once I'm inside. If something goes wrong with the electrical system--say, an accident, or contact with water--you can't get out.

13 posted on 10/11/2012 9:42:09 PM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: neverdem

Wow.


14 posted on 10/11/2012 11:03:16 PM PDT by MarMema (eh.)
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To: ottbmare
Of course, that doesn't explain why the front passenger side door AND THE DRIVER'S DOOR are also under the control of this button.

I never use the electronic doorlocks, once I'm inside. If something goes wrong with the electrical system--say, an accident, or contact with water--you can't get out.

In Florida - with our 'water water everywhere' people die who can't get out of cars quickly enough. The way the locks are done tell me car companies are run by liberal control freaks. They don't even give a choice anymore. Creepy liberals stinking up the world...

15 posted on 10/12/2012 7:30:21 AM PDT by GOPJ (You only establish a feel for the line by having crossed it. - - Freeper One Name)
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To: ottbmare
Of course, that doesn't explain why the front passenger side door AND THE DRIVER'S DOOR are also under the control of this button.

I never use the electronic doorlocks, once I'm inside. If something goes wrong with the electrical system--say, an accident, or contact with water--you can't get out.

In Florida - with our 'water water everywhere' people die who can't get out of cars quickly enough. The way car locks are done tells me car companies are run by liberal control freaks. They don't even give a choice anymore. Creepy liberals stinking up the world...

16 posted on 10/12/2012 7:31:25 AM PDT by GOPJ (You only establish a feel for the line by having crossed it. - - Freeper One Name)
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To: GOPJ

Yes, where I used to live there were two people who died when they accidentally drove into water. The water was pretty shallow, only six or seven feet, and they could have lived if their doors and windows weren’t locked.

I never lock the doors and windows in my car, and I always carry a window punch so I can knock the windows out if the worst happens. Because once it did, and my baby and I had to be pried out of the car.

The ones I really hate are the cars that automatically lock your door and put your shoulder belt around you! Talk about intrusive...!


17 posted on 10/12/2012 8:35:40 AM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: ottbmare
Yes, where I used to live there were two people who died when they accidentally drove into water. The water was pretty shallow, only six or seven feet, and they could have lived if their doors and windows weren’t locked...I always carry a window punch so I can knock the windows out if the worst happens. Because once it did, and my baby and I had to be pried out of the car.

I'm thankful you and your baby made it out safely. That must have been terrifying. I'm so ready for a conservative car company and a conservative newspaper. Control freak liberals are exhausting... on every level.

18 posted on 10/12/2012 9:14:26 AM PDT by GOPJ (You only establish a feel for the line by having crossed it. - - Freeper One Name)
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