Mere visual perception of other people's disease symptoms facilitates a more aggressive immune response.

An experiment (N = 28) tested the hypothesis that the mere visual perception of disease-connoting cues promotes a more aggressive immune response. Participants were exposed either to photographs depicting symptoms of infectious disease or to photographs depicting guns. After incubation with a model bacterial stimulus, participants' white blood cells produced higher levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the infectious-disease condition, compared with the control (guns) condition. These results provide the first empirical evidence that visual perception of other people's symptoms may cause the immune system to respond more aggressively to infection. Adaptive origins and functional implications are discussed.

Sex-based disparities in colorectal cancer screening.

PURPOSE: Research suggests that recurrence and survival from colorectal cancer are worse in men than in women but the causes for this are unclear. Our aims were to (1) assess for sex differences in colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) within a large, contemporary population-based sample in California; and (2) examine the impact of income, education, and insurance status on sex differences in CRCS. METHODS: Screening-eligible patients were identified from the 2007 US California Health Interview Survey. Up-to-date, CRCS was defined as fecal occult blood test within 1 year, flexible sigmoidoscopy within 5 years, or colonoscopy within 10 years. Logistic regression models were constructed to evaluate the relationship between sex and CRCS. Stratified analyses on the basis of self-reported income (low vs. high), education (≤ high school vs. > high school), and health insurance status (insured vs. uninsured) were performed to determine if sex differences in screening were modified by these parameters. RESULTS: In total, 11,260 men and 17,705 women were identified: mean ages were 65 and 66 years, respectively, and 63% were white in both the sexes. In the entire cohort, only two thirds of men and women reported undergoing up-to-date CRCS. Women had decreased odds of CRCS than men, after adjusting for potential confounders. Stratified analyses indicated that sex disparities in CRCS persisted among the insured, educated, and high-income earners. CONCLUSIONS: Women are less likely to undergo CRCS than men, but poor health care access is associated with low CRCS in both the sexes. Conventional strategies aimed at improving health care access should also include sex-specific interventions that raise awareness about preventive care to most effectively optimize CRCS.

Depression and oxidative damage to lipids.

Depression is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Oxidative damage to lipids is one of the key early events in the etiology of atherosclerosis, the pathologic condition that underlies these diseases. The current study examines the pathophysiological consequences of depression by comparing serum levels of F(2α)-isoprostanes (8-iso-PGF(2α)), a biomarker of oxidative damage to lipids, in a group of depressed individuals (n=73) and a matched comparison group (n=72). The depressed group had significantly higher levels of serum 8-iso-PGF(2α), while controlling for age, gender, race, years of education, daily smoking, number of alcoholic drinks per week, average amount of physical activity per week, and body mass index. Analyses using interviewer ratings on the Hamilton Scale revealed that, within the depressed cohort, there was no significant association between the severity of symptoms and levels of 8-iso-PGF(2α), suggesting this is a threshold rather than a dose-response relationship. Results extend on our knowledge of depression and oxidative damage to lipids. In conclusion, oxidative damage to lipid molecules may represent a common pathophysiological mechanism by which depressed individuals become more vulnerable to atherosclerosis and its clinical sequelae.