@article{WittBuchmannBlomeyeretal.2011, author = {Witt, Stephanie H. and Buchmann, Arlette F. and Blomeyer, Dorothea and Nieratschker, Vanessa and Treutlein, Jens and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Schmidt, Martin H. and Bidlingmaier, Martin and Wiedemann, Klaus and Rietschel, Marcella and Laucht, Manfred and Wuest, Stefan and Zimmermann, Ulrich S.}, title = {An interaction between a neuropeptide Y gene polymorphism and early adversity modulates endocrine stress responses}, series = {Psychoneuroendocrinology}, volume = {36}, journal = {Psychoneuroendocrinology}, number = {7}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0306-4530}, doi = {10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.12.015}, pages = {1010 -- 1020}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Interindividual variability in the regulation of the human stress system accounts for a part of the individual's liability to stress-related diseases. These differences are influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Early childhood adversity is a well-studied environmental factor affecting an individual's stress response which has been shown to be modulated by gene environment interaction (GxE). Neuropeptide Y (NPY) plays a role in stress regulation and genetic variation in NPY may influence stress responses. In this study, we analyzed the association of a common variant in the NPY gene promoter, rs16147, with cortisol and ACTH responses to acute psychosocial stress in young adults from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk (MARS), an ongoing epidemiological cohort study following the outcome of early adversity from birth into adulthood. We found evidence of a GxE interaction between rs16147 and early adversity significantly affecting HPA axis responses to acute psychosocial stress. These findings suggest that the neurobiological mechanisms linking early adverse experience and later neuroendocrine stress regulation are modulated by a gene variant whose functional relevance is documented by increasing convergent evidence from in vitro, animal and human studies.}, language = {en} } @article{KanitzPretzerReifetal.2011, author = {Kanitz, Jenny Lena and Pretzer, Kim and Reif, Marcus and Voss, Andreas and Brand, Ralf and Warschburger, Petra and Laengler, Alfred and Henze, Guenter and Seifert, Georg}, title = {The impact of eurythmy therapy on stress coping strategies and health-related quality of life in healthy, moderately stressed adults}, series = {Complementary therapies in medicine : the journal for all health care professionals.}, volume = {19}, journal = {Complementary therapies in medicine : the journal for all health care professionals.}, number = {5}, publisher = {Churchill Livingstone}, address = {Edinburgh}, issn = {0965-2299}, doi = {10.1016/j.ctim.2011.06.008}, pages = {247 -- 255}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Background: 'Stress' and 'health-related quality of life' (HRQoL) are two important theoretical constructs for modern therapy evaluation with clinical relevance. Eurythmy therapy (EYT) is a mind-body-therapy derived from anthroposophic medicine with promising effects on heart rate variability (HRV), HRQoL and disease scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EYT on stress coping strategies (SCS) and HRQoL in a controlled study with moderately stressed participants. Methods: 68 healthy, moderately stressed adults (mean age: 42.2; SD: 8.2) performed 10 h of EYT in a group setting over a period of six weeks. A non-randomised control group of 22 healthy adults (mean age: 43.6; SD: 13.7) received no intervention and did only complete the questionnaires at the same data points. Outcomes were measured before and after the intervention (AVEM \& SF-36). Results: A significant impact on SCS was found in seven AVEM scales (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 4.59; p = .04). With regard to changes in risk pattern affiliation (AVEM), 24\% of the participants receiving EYT (n = 55) changed over time from a risky stress coping pattern to a healthier pattern. Concerning the HRQoL four normally distributed scales of the SF-36 ('vitality', 'social functioning', 'mental health' and 'physical functioning') showed a significant group x time interaction favouring the EYT group (MANOVA, F (1/74) = 17.26; p < .001). Statistically and clinically relevant mean differences over time of at least eight scale points were found for 'role physical', 'bodily pain', 'vitality' and 'mental health', and of at least 15 scale points for 'role emotional' and 'social functioning'. Conclusions: A six-week period of EYT training can result in a significant reduction of stress and consequently improve QoL. Because a significant proportion of participants had high levels of stress at baseline the results suggest a health-enhancing benefit of EYT that may have clinical potential for prevention of stress and associated disorders in healthy individuals and possibly in patients with chronic diseases, for example.}, language = {en} }