Cortisol News and Research

RSS

Cortisol is a hormone made by the adrenal cortex (the outer layer of the adrenal gland). It helps the body use glucose (a sugar), protein, and fats. Cortisol made in the laboratory is called hydrocortisone. It is used to treat many conditions, including inflammation, allergies, and some cancers. Cortisol is a type of glucocorticoid hormone.

Dogs shown to identify human stress condition odors

Researchers used a controlled olfactory paradigm to assess whether dogs could discriminate between human odors in breath and sweat samples before and after experiencing experimentally induced negative psychological stress.

30 Sep 2022

Does maternal psychological and biological stress affect the composition of human breast milk?

Researchers investigated the influence of biological and psychological postpartum maternal stress on human milk fatty acid composition through a prospective cohort study in Amsterdam.

30 Sep 2022

Italian scientists investigate whether stranded cetaceans show evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection

A new study examines SARS-CoV-2 infection in stranded cetaceans found dead along the Italian coast.

27 Sep 2022

Study investigates the prevalence of adrenal tumors in an unselected screening population

A cross-sectional study of more than 25,000 adults has found that with increased screening, the prevalence of adrenal tumors in an unselected community population was 1.4%. The prevalence increased with age, from 0.2% in adults aged 18 to 25 up to 3.2% in adults older than 65 years of age. However, approximately 70% of identified tumors were nonfunctioning, meaning they did not make extra hormones, regardless of the participant's age. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

13 Sep 2022

Animal models for studying the impacts of hormonal contraception

In a recent study published in the Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology journal, researchers assessed the impact of hormonal contraceptives (HC) on the brain and stress.

8 Sep 2022

How does a walk in nature impact the brain?

A new study shows how exposure to nature through a one-hour walk in a natural setting can prevent mental strain and possibly reduce the incidence of mental ill-health.

8 Sep 2022

MIT's design opens a path toward chip-free wireless sensors

Wearable sensors are ubiquitous thanks to wireless technology that enables a person's glucose concentrations, blood pressure, heart rate, and activity levels to be transmitted seamlessly from sensor to smartphone for further analysis.

18 Aug 2022

What are the unique traits of Long COVID?

In a new study, researchers identified distinctive characteristics of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) via immune profiling.

12 Aug 2022

Childhood physical abuse victims more likely to experience poor physical and mental health

Older adults who were physically abused as children were significantly more likely to develop chronic pain and chronic physical illness in later life according to a newly-released study by University of Toronto researchers.

7 Jul 2022

Compromised reproductive health associated with socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood environments

A new study found that women residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the United States have moderately lower chances for conception without fertility treatment.

5 Jul 2022

Acute illness increases cortisol levels in children and adolescents

A new study reports that in children and adolescents without glucocorticoid deficiency, circulating cortisol levels were higher during acute illnesses.

28 Jun 2022

Dog-assisted interventions can lead to lower stress in children

Dog-assisted interventions can lead to significantly lower stress in children both with and without special needs, according to a new study using salivary cortisol levels published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Kerstin Meints of University of Lincoln, UK, and colleagues.

15 Jun 2022

Study suggests the gut microbiota may be one of the factors determining the physiological inter-sex differences in pain perception

Researchers investigated whether the gut-brain axis could influence pain thresholds.

10 Jun 2022

Infants exposed to COVID-19 in the womb exhibit differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes

Babies born to mothers who suffered COVID-19 disease during pregnancy seem to exhibit differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 6 weeks, according to a preliminary analysis presented in the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry.

6 Jun 2022

Epistatic drift leads to unpredictability in protein evolution

A critical goal in genetics and evolution is predicting the effects of mutations that may happen in the future and inferring the effects of those that happened in the past.

19 May 2022

Brief embrace with a romantic partner may subsequently reduce stress-induced cortisol response

Women instructed to embrace their romantic partner prior to undergoing a stressful experience had a lower biological stress response-;as indicated by levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva-;compared to women who did not embrace their partner.

18 May 2022

Children exposed to maltreatment present a response-to-stress pattern like that of adolescents

The acute psychosocial stress states stimulate the secretion of an antibody type protein which is decisive in the first immune defence against infection, but only after puberty. However, children with a history of maltreatment present a similar response to that of adolescents, which suggests there is an early maturation of the immune system in these cases.

11 May 2022

The involvement of the skeletal muscles in long COVID-19

Researchers reviewed the mechanisms of muscle tissue injury, aggravating conditions, and associated sequelae in long COVID‐19.

18 Apr 2022

Study shows the benefits of once-weekly prednisone in obese mice

Obese mice that were fed a high-fat diet and that received prednisone one time per week had improved exercise endurance, got stronger, increased their lean body mass and lost weight, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

1 Apr 2022

Stress hormone cortisol decreases altruistic behavior in people with high mentalizing ability

The stress hormone cortisol reduces altruistic behavior and alters activity in brain regions linked to social decision making -; but only in people who are better at imagining others' mental states, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

23 Mar 2022