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Burton Singer

Publications and source records attributed to Burton Singer.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Psychological well-being and ill-being: do they have distinct or mirrored biological correlates?

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, researchers attend to both positive and negative aspects of mental health. Such distinctions call for clarification of whether psychological well-being and ill-being comprise opposite ends of a bipolar continuum, or are best construed as separate, independent dimensions of mental health. Biology can help resolve this query--bipolarity predicts 'mirrored' biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being correlate similarly with biomarkers, but show opposite directional signs), whereas independence predicts 'distinct' biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being have different biological signatures). METHODS: Multiple aspects of psychological well-being (eudaimonic, hedonic) and ill-being (depression, anxiety, anger) were assessed in a sample of aging women (n = 135, mean age = 74) on whom diverse neuroendocrine (salivary cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, DHEA-S) and cardiovascular factors (weight, waist-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, total/HDL cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin) were also measured. RESULTS: Measures of psychological well-being and ill-being were significantly linked with numerous biomarkers, with some associations being more strongly evident for respondents aged 75+. Outcomes for seven biomarkers supported the distinct hypothesis, while findings for only two biomarkers supported the mirrored hypothesis. CONCLUSION: This research adds to the growing literature on how psychological well-being and mental maladjustment are instantiated in biology. Population-based inquiries and challenge studies constitute important future directions.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Protective environments and health status: cross-talk between human and animal studies.

Although aging populations tend to have increased prevalence of a diversity of diseases and disabilities, there are substantial numbers of people who, nevertheless, maintain good health into old age. Human studies frequently demonstrate associations between environmental factors, particularly supportive social environments, and positive states of health. Identifying the pathways from protective social environments to reduced disease risk necessitates the use of animal models as a basis of explanation and a source of suggestions for further human research. We present two examples of this kind of cross-talk: (i) the possibility that the success of well-being therapy following pharmacological treatment for depression as a means of preventing recurrent depressive episodes is based on the stimulation of enrichment of dendritic networks in the hippocampus and spine retraction in the basolateral amygdala; (ii) the possibility that the release of intracerebral oxytocin is a mediating factor between persistently supportive social environments and reduced disease in later life, as exemplified by low levels of allostatic load.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Cumulative biological risk and socio-economic differences in mortality: MacArthur studies of successful aging.

Previous research has suggested that socio-economic status (SES) differences in mortality are only partially explained by differences in life-style, psychological and social factors. Seven year mortality data (1988-1995) from the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging, a longitudinal study of adults, aged 70-79, from New Haven, CT; East Boston, MA; and Durham, NC; were used to test the hypothesis that a cumulative measure of biological dysregulation ("allostatic load"), reflecting multiple regulatory systems, would serve as a further mediator of SES differences in mortality. Logistic regression analyses revealed that a cumulative index of biological risk explained 35.4% of the difference in mortality risk between those with higher versus lower SES (as measured by less than high school education versus high school or greater educational attainment). Importantly, the cumulative index provided independent explanatory power, over and above a measure of doctor-diagnosed disease, though the latter also contributed to education-related variation in mortality risks. The summary measure of biological risk also accounted for more variance than individual biological parameters, suggesting the potential value of a multi-systems view of biological pathways through which SES ultimately affects morbidity and mortality.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2004

Sex differentials in biological risk factors for chronic disease: estimates from population-based surveys.

BACKGROUND: In light of substantial sex differences in health outcomes, researchers need to focus on disentangling the underlying biological and social determinants. The objective of this study is to determine whether two populations that differ in many cultural and social dimensions--Taiwan and the United States--also vary with regard to sex differentials in biological markers of chronic disease. METHODS: The analysis is based on three population-based surveys that include interviews, urine and blood specimens, and physical examinations: the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey (WLS), and the MacArthur studies of successful aging. The outcomes comprise six indicators of cardiovascular risk (total/high-density lipoprotein [HDL] cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, and waist/hip ratio) and four markers of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning (epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate [DHEA-S]). RESULTS: U.S. males have significantly higher risk than females for all indicators of cardiovascular risk except glycosylated hemoglobin (p < 0.05). Sex differences are less consistent and smaller in Taiwan. Indicators of SNS and HPA axis functioning reveal a significant female disadvantage in both countries. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis identifies important sex differences between Taiwan and the United States in biomarkers of cardiovascular risk that are consistent with cause of death data and may emanate from cultural and social differences between the two societies. The similarity of sex differences in SNS and HPA axis functioning across studies may reflect either stable sex differences in biological aging of these axes or commonalities in the social construction of gender-based responses to life experiences.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

The association between psychosocial factors and vaccine-induced cytokine production.

Existing data suggest that immune function is compromised by negative psychosocial factors. We hypothesized that high psychological well being and quality relationships would be associated with vigorous cytokine responses to vaccination. Lymphocytes from 18 individuals were studied for their ability to produce interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) with influenza or hepatitis A immunization. Psychological well being and relationship quality were measured using standardized scales. Significant positive correlations were made between psychological well being and quality relationships and IFN-gamma and IL-10 production to influenza and hepatitis A on day 28 (Pearson correlations: 0.6-0.7; P<0.05). This preliminary study represents one of the first to show positive physiological health is associated with positive psychosocial factors.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2003

Cell and tumor classification using gene expression data: construction of forests.

The advent of gene chips has led to a promising technology for cell, tumor, and cancer classification. We exploit and expand the methodology of recursive partitioning trees for tumor and cell classification from microarray gene expression data. To improve classification and prediction accuracy, we introduce a deterministic procedure to form forests of classification trees and compare their performance with extant alternatives. When two published and commonly used data sets are used, we find that the deterministic forests perform similarly to the random forests in terms of the error rate obtained from the leave-one-out procedure, and all of the forests are far better than the single trees. In addition, we provide graphical presentations to facilitate interpretation of complex forests and compare our findings with the current biological literature. In addition to numerical improvement, the main advantage of deterministic forests is reproducibility and scientific interpretability of all steps in tree construction.

Cells↗