Salivary Bioscience News

HPA Axis Attunement May Serve a Bonding Function within Women’s Close Friendships

The Role of Co-Rumination and Adrenocortical Attunement in Young Women’s Close Friendships. Author: Rankin A, et al. (2018), Psychoneuroendocrinology. ABSTRACT: Attunement, or synchrony, of behavior and physiology has been well documented in family, mother-child, and romantic relationships.  This study aimed to determine whether attunement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis occurs in women’s close friendships, and […]

Relationship Between Salivary Cytokines and Household Fear of Deportation in Mexican-Origin Families

Household fear of deportation in relation to chronic stressors and salivary proinflammatory cytokines in Mexican-origin families post-SB 1070 Author: Martínez AD, et al. (2018), SSM – Population Health. ABSTRACT: Sociologists recognize that immigration enforcement policies are forms of institutionalized racism that can produce adverse health effects in both undocumented and documented Latinos and Mexican-origin persons in […]

The Utility of Salivary Cotinine as a Biomarker for Adolescent Smoke Exposure

Examining the Validity of Self-reported Primary and Secondary Exposure to Cigarette Smoke in Adolescent Girls: The Utility of Salivary Cotinine as a Biomarker. Author: Beal SJ, et al. (2018), Subst Use Misuse. BACKGROUND: Studies of cigarette use and exposure often rely on either self-report or cotinine assay. In adolescence it is not clear how well assays […]

Salimetrics Launches Salivary Oxytocin Testing Service

Salivary Uric Acid May be an Important Biomarker Indexing Health and Disease Risk

The validity, stability, and utility of measuring uric acid in saliva. Author: Riis JL, et al. (2018), Biomarkers in Medicine SUMMARY: Uric acid (UA) is associated with cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, as well as a wide range of other health conditions and behaviors. A noninvasive measure of UA would be particularly useful in biobehavioral health […]

Salivary Stress Biomarkers May be a Useful Tool for Determining the Risk of Stress Maladaptation

Measuring Resilience to Operational Stress in Canadian Armed Forces Personnel. Author: Hellewll SC & Cernak I. (2018), J Trauma Stress. ABSTRACT Adaptability to stress is governed by innate resilience, comprised of complex neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms alongside inherited or learned behavioral traits. Based on their capacity to adapt, some people thrive in stressful situations, whereas […]

Effect of Service Dogs on the Salivary Cortisol Awakening Response in Veterans with PTSD

The Effect of a Service Dog on Salivary Cortisol Awakening Response in a Military Population with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Author: Rodriguez KE, et al. (2018), Psychoneuroendocrinology ABSTRACT Recent studies suggest a therapeutic effect of psychiatric service dogs for military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but are limited by self-report biases. The current study […]

PhD scholarship opportunity at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

A unique opportunity for PhD study at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, has become available. The UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme aims to attract the best and brightest people into strategic research areas and provide them with an enhanced culture of research excellence, mentoring, career development, leadership and community, with: *   $40,000 stipend […]

Salivary Cortisol Associated with Stress and Sleep Patterns in Military Men

Morning Cortisol Is Associated With Stress and Sleep in Elite Military Men: A Brief Report. Author: Hernández LM, et al. (2018), Mil Med INTRODUCTION: Accumulating evidence suggests that trends in salivary cortisol after awakening may be reliable biological predictors of morbidity and mortality. In a sample of elite military men, our lab recently established summary parameters of morning cortisol as well as […]

Salivary Cytokine Levels in Response to Psycho-Social Stress

The plasmatic and salivary levels of IL-1β, IL-18 and IL-6 are associated to emotional difference during stress in young male Author: La Fratta I, et al (2018), Sci Rep BACKGROUND: Saliva collection is considered a non-invasive method to detect inflammatory markers in response to emotional states within natural social contexts. Numerous studies have prompted an important […]

Salivary Secretory Immunoglobulin A: The impact of smoke exposure during and after pregnancy

Prenatal and postnatal cigarette and cannabis exposure: Effects on Secretory Immunoglobulin A in early childhood. Author: Molnar DS, et al. (2018), Neurotoxicol Teratol. BACKGRUOND: AIMS: Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA) plays a critical role in immune functioning by preventing pathogens from adhering to epithelial mucosa. Most infectious agents enter the body via mucosal surfaces, thus SIgA […]

High prestige in social groups increases salivary testosterone levels in men

Prestige in a large-scale social group predicts longitudinal changes in testosterone. Author: Cheng JT, et al. (2018), J Pers Soc Psychol. BACKGROUND: In many social species, organisms adaptively fine-tune their competitive behavior in response to previous experiences of social status: Individuals who have prevailed in the past preferentially compete in the future, whereas those who […]

Salivary cytokine shows elevated communication and interaction fears may heighten neuroendocrine and inflammatory responses

Communication and social interaction anxiety enhance interleukin-1 beta and cortisol reactivity during high-stakes public speaking. Author: Auer BJ, et al (2018), Psychoneuroendocrinology BACKGROUND: Worry or fear related to speaking in front of others, or more broadly, communicating and interacting with others, is common. At elevated levels, however, it may contribute to heightened stress reactivity during acute […]

Research highlights multi-system perspective for motivation, adolescent depressive symptoms, and HPA axis activation

An exploratory analysis of the joint contribution of HPA axis activation and motivation to early adolescent depressive symptoms. Author: Rudolph KD, et al (2018), Developmental Psychobiology BACKGROUND: This study examines the interactive contribution of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and approach-avoidance motivation systems to longitudinal changes in depressive symptoms across the adolescent transition. In the summer […]