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Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In February and March, 1973, 566 U.S. military prisoners (POWs) were released from North Vietnam. These men had been POWs for a period of time between 2 months and 9 years, with a mean incarceration of 4.44 years. They had faced physical and psychological stress similar to that experienced by POWs from previous wars: starvation, disease, inadequate shelter, lack of medical care, interrogations and torture (Deaton, Burge, Richlin & Latrownik, 1977; Mitchell, 1991). By definition, such prison conditions constituted a traumatic experience (Deaton et al., 1977). However, a unique stress for our POWs in North Vietnam was the additional trauma of solitary confinement. This paper reviews the coping and "time killing" activities of U.S. Navy Vietnam POWs who experienced solitary confinement and tortuous interrogation. This paper also reports the physical and psychological adjustment of our POWs following their release from captivity. Suggestions are made regarding the revision of the curriculum for captivity survival training programs such as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school.
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PMID:Self-hypnosis training and captivity survival. 903 97

Patients with eating disorders have been found to have problems with Interoceptive Awareness. This study seeks to examine this issue in an experimental paradigm. In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis that, in addition to lowering a body's autonomic stress response, a state of starvation also lowers the psychological stress response. Results indicated that those with anorexia nervosa showed a muted physiology, but they did not show a complete denial of negative emotion. No relation was seen, however, between their affective and physiological responses to a stress task, which contrasted results found for the controls.
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PMID:The stress response in anorexia nervosa. 1272 2

The brain occupies a special hierarchical position in the organism. It is separated from the general circulation by the blood-brain barrier, has high energy consumption and a low energy storage capacity, uses only specific substrates, and it can record information from the peripheral organs and control them. Here we present a new paradigm for the regulation of energy supply within the organism. The brain gives priority to regulating its own adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration. In that postulate, the peripheral energy supply is only of secondary importance. The brain has two possibilities to ensure its energy supply: allocation or intake of nutrients. The term 'allocation' refers to the allocation of energy resources between the brain and the periphery. Neocortex and the limbic-hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) system control the allocation and intake. In order to keep the energy concentrations constant, the following mechanisms are available to the brain: (1) high and low-affinity ATP-sensitive potassium channels measure the ATP concentration in neurons of the neocortex and generate a 'glutamate command' signal. This signal affects the brain ATP concentration by locally (via astrocytes) stimulating glucose uptake across the blood-brain barrier and by systemically (via the LHPA system) inhibiting glucose uptake into the muscular and adipose tissue. (2) High-affinity mineralocorticoid and low-affinity glucocorticoid receptors determine the state of balance, i.e. the setpoint, of the LHPA system. This setpoint can permanently and pathologically be displaced by extreme stress situations (chronic metabolic and psychological stress, traumatization, etc.), by starvation, exercise, infectious diseases, hormones, drugs, substances of abuse, or chemicals disrupting the endocrine system. Disorders in the 'energy on demand' process or the LHPA-system can influence the allocation of energy and in so doing alter the body mass of the organism. In summary, the presented model includes a newly discovered 'principle of balance' of how pairs of high and low-affinity receptors can originate setpoints in biological systems. In this 'Selfish Brain Theory', the neocortex and limbic system play a central role in the pathogenesis of diseases such as anorexia nervosa and obesity.
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PMID:The selfish brain: competition for energy resources. 1517 62

The population of Leningrad suffered from severe starvation, cold and psychological stress during the siege in 1941-1944. We investigated long-term effects of the siege on cardiovascular risk factors and mortality in surviving men and women. 3905 men born 1916-1935 and 1729 women born 1910-1940, resident in St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) between 1975 and 1982, of whom a third experienced the siege as children, adolescents or young adults, were examined for cardiovascular risk factors in 1975-1977 and 1980-1982 respectively and followed till end 2005. Effects of siege exposure on blood pressure, lipids, body size, and mortality were studied in multivariate analysis stratified by gender and period of birth, adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol and social characteristics. Women who were 6-8 years-old and men who were 9-15 years-old at the peak of starvation had higher systolic blood pressure compared to unexposed subjects born during the same period of birth (fully adjusted difference 8.8, 95% CI: 0.1-17.5 mm Hg in women and 2.9, 95% CI: 0.7-5.0 mm Hg in men). Mean height of women who were exposed to siege as children appeared to be greater than that of unexposed women. Higher mortality from ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease was noted in men exposed at age 6-8 and 9-15, respectively. The experience of severe stress and starvation in childhood and puberty may have long-term effects on systolic blood pressure and circulatory disease in surviving men and women with potential gender differences in the effect of siege experienced at pre-pubertal age.
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PMID:Blood pressure, hypertension and mortality from circulatory disease in men and women who survived the siege of Leningrad. 1743 55

There is accumulating evidence to support the interactions between psychological stress and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In order to elucidate the relationship between psycoimmunological stress and IBD, we examined the alteration of immune system during the disease course of experimental Ulcerative colitis(UC)-model induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). When C57BL/6 mice were treated with 4.5% DSS, they developed progressive weight loss. In contrast, the same treatment applied to BALB/c mice led to a small weight loss from which they soon recovered. Surprisingly, we found significant involution of the thymus and a reduction in the number of double positive thymocytes in DSS-treated C57BL/6 mice but not in DSS-treated BALB/c mice. Double negative thymocytes, especially DN1 (CD25-CD44+) and DN2 (CD25+CD44+) thymocytes, were relatively upregulated. The weights of spleens were slightly increased in both C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice following oral administration of DSS. In C57BL/6 spleens, both CD4 and CD8 single positive T cells gradually decreased (day 3), then recovered (day 14) after treatment. Because oral administration causes starvation, we examined the effects of starvation on the thymus and spleen. Although involution of thymus was observed both in starvation and DSS-treatment, the weight of spleen was reduced only in starvation. Also, the population changes in thymocytes in starvation was different from DSS-treatment. The administration of the steroid inhibitor RU486 partially reversed the thymic involution in C57BL/6 mice, thus DSS-treated UC might induce psycoimmunological changes partly through hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
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PMID:Thymic involution correlates with severe ulcerative colitis induced by oral administration of dextran sulphate sodium in C57BL/6 mice but not in BALB/c mice. 1869 22

The population of Leningrad suffered from severe starvation, cold and psychological stress during the siege in World War II in 1941-1944. We investigated the long-term effects of the siege on cancer mortality in 3,901 men and 1,429 women, born between 1910 and 1940. All study subjects were residents of St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, between 1975 and 1982. One third of them had experienced the siege as children, adolescents or young adults (age range, 1-31 years at the peak of starvation in 1941-1942). Associations of siege exposure with risk of death from cancer were studied using a multivariable Cox regression, stratified by gender and period of birth, adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol and social characteristics, from 1975 to 1977 (men) and 1980 to 1982, respectively (women), until the end of 2005. Women who were 10-18 years old at the peak of starvation were taller as adults (age-adjusted difference, 1.7 cm; 95% CI, 0.5-3.0) and had a higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared with unexposed women born during the same period (age-adjusted HR, 9.9; 95% CI, 1.1-86.5). Mortality from prostate cancer was nonsignificantly higher in exposed men. The experience of severe starvation and stress during childhood and adolescence may have long-term effects on cancer in surviving men and women.
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PMID:Cancer mortality in women and men who survived the siege of Leningrad (1941-1944). 1904 20

Recent findings suggest sympathetic inhibition during dietary restriction as opposed to increased sympathetic activity during re-feeding. The present study investigated cardiac autonomic regulation and stress reactivity in relation to biochemical markers of dietary restriction status in women diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. We predicted that bulimic individuals (BN) with a biochemical profile indicating dietary restriction exhibit reduced cardiac sympathetic and/or increased vagal activity. We also hypothesized, that BN with a biochemical profile within a normal range (i.e. currently not dieting or malnourished) would show heart rate variability responses (HRV) and reactivity to mental stress indicating increased sympathetic activation compared with non-eating disordered controls. Seventeen female volunteers diagnosed with bulimia nervosa were categorized according to their serum profile (glucose, pre-albumin, IGF-1, TSH, leptin) into currently fasting versus non-fasting and compared with 16 non-eating disordered controls matched for age and BMI. Spectral components of HRV were calculated on heart rate data from resting and mental stress periods (standardized achievement challenge) using autoregressive analysis. Compared to non-fasting BN and controls, fasting BN showed increased vagal and decreased sympathetic modulation during both resting and recovery periods. Cardiac autonomic regulation was not impaired in response to mental challenge. No differences could be found between non-fasting BN and controls. The results confirm the notion of cardiac sympathetic inhibition and vagal dominance during dietary restriction and suggest the specificity of starvation related biochemical changes for cardiac autonomic control. The results are discussed in terms of the higher incidence in cardiac complications in these patients.
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PMID:Dietary restriction, cardiac autonomic regulation and stress reactivity in bulimic women. 1949 32

The present article presents epidemiological, and comparative evidence supporting the hypothesis that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may represent a thrifty adaptation selected to compel animals to minimize voluntary energy expenditure. The autoimmune, pathophysiological manifestations underlying RA are framed here as constituting an evolved, protective mechanism that would have influenced animals to avoid exertion and maintain a sedentary lifestyle in order to minimize metabolic output and ultimately escape starvation. Arthritic pain is characterized here as a defensive, innate signal much like fatigue, fever, nausea and reflexive pain, and like these, is seen on a continuum varying between imperceptible encumbrance and debilitating disability. The epigenetic relationship between acute psychological stress and flare-up of arthritic symptoms is examined and taken to suggest that arthritis may be a predictive, adaptive response to severe stress allowing reductions in metabolism to follow adverse conditions or nutritional scarcity. The close associations between rheumatoid arthritis and the metabolic syndrome are also explored along with potential ties to the "thrifty genotype" and "thrifty phenotype" phenomena. This hypothesis is examined in the contexts of evolutionary medicine, phenotypic plasticity, the stress response and the bioenergetics of thrift. A brief and exploratory review of pertinent evidence suggests that RA, its subclinical manifestations, and even other forms of arthropathy may possibly represent adaptations that promoted metabolic thrift during our evolutionary past.
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PMID:Does rheumatoid arthritis represent an adaptive, thrifty condition? 1971 39

The data of the "Little Ice Age" (1500-1850) in Croatia and those which applied to human health were especially emphasized were analyzed. They are some which stand out like: importance of the sort of soil and relief, the influence of cutting down of woods and cattle-breeding and especially the war which lasted for 250 years in the territory of Croatia. The important interactions between those parameters were defined. The important correlations were also defined between freezing and long winters as well as wet springs and summers which caused starvation, malnutrition and the increase of infant mortality and also epidemics with enormous psychological stress among people in that period. The result was witch-hunting and burning (which was also advocated in the other parts of Europe) and they sometimes reached the levels of madness. Considering that such events were unknown in the earlier periods (in such proportions) and that (even today) the influence of the slow virus is emphasized in connection to the etiology of schizophrenia so why should't it be supposed that the "Litlle Ace Age" could be the cause of the larger prevalence of schizophrenia in the teritory of Croatia.
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PMID:Virus etiology of schizophrenia: the characteristics of the "*Little Ice Age" and its consequences. 2584 52

As major mediators of stress regulation, glucocorticoids have an essential role in maintaining cardiovascular homeostasis under both physiological and pathological conditions. The release of glucocorticoids into the peripheral circulation is adjusted by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to various pathological challenges such as sepsis, starvation, and psychological stress. Clinically, dysregulation of the glucocorticoid-mediated signaling as a result of either excess ligand or receptor hypersensitivity is connected with the progression of unfavorable cardiovascular events such as cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease. The direct effects of glucocorticoids on cardiac tissues are mediated by two steroid receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor and mineralocorticoid receptor, which are both expressed by cardiomyocytes. Although each receptor has some shared responses to glucocorticoids, each receptor also has unique effects on cardiac functions. Elucidating the selective actions of each receptor is critical for determining the proper pharmaceutical targets in cardiovascular diseases.
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PMID:Glucocorticoid signaling in cardiac disease. 2596 Dec 32


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