Research
Penn State Intercom......February 1, 2001
Moderate aggression may lead
to stronger immune systems
By Steve Infanti
Public Information
Men
who are moderately aggressive have stronger immune systems, according
to new study by a team of researchers from University Park and the University
of Nebraska
.
"We have observed this relationship in animal studies but this is the first time that a connection has been made between aggression and immunity in humans," according to Douglas Granger, associate professor of biobehavioral health in The College of Health and Human Development.
Granger, Alan Booth, distinguished professor of sociology and human development and family studies at University Park, and David R. Johnson, professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska, published their findings recently.
"Our study suggests that differences in people's aggressive behavior influence how their immune systems are prepared to deal with infections, viruses and bacteria," Booth said.
Men who have been in occasional fights or been in trouble with the law, either as an adult or youth, have immune systems that may be ready to marshal a more rapid and intense response to pathogens associated with disease or injury than do men who are seldom aggressive, according to the researchers.
"However, higher levels of aggression do not convey additional immune benefits," Booth said.
The researchers studied a sample of 4,415 men aged 30 to 48 years who were interviewed to determine their level of aggressive behavior. The subjects then underwent medical examination to determine their state of health. The researchers also took blood samples from each subject. Those samples were then analyzed for different types of white blood cells or lymphocytes.
"White blood cells are major players in the body's immune system," Granger explained. Out of eight indicators of immune activity studied, two specialized types of lymphocytes (CD4 cells and B cells) that determine the initiation, magnitude and duration of specific cellular immune responses were present in high concentrations in the circulation of moderately aggressive men.
According to the study, individuals who reported engaging in two aggressive acts were 30 percent more likely to be in the top quartile of CD4 cell numbers than those reporting no aggressive acts, after taking into account current health risks and problems that might be stimulating the immune system. Men reporting five aggressive acts were 7 percent more likely to be in the top quartile than those reporting three aggressive acts. Those with eight aggressive acts were only 4 percent more likely to be in that category than those reporting six aggressive acts. Increases in aggressive behavior did not convey correspondingly higher odds of being in the top quartile. A parallel pattern was observed for B lymphocytes.
Men reported on 12 different acts of aggression ranging all the way from playing hooky twice a year or more to fights involving weapons.
Study of infant lung
defects
aimed at identifying
genes
Researchers from The College of Medicine are trying to identify genes that have a role in influencing lung growth and development in newborns.
Mala R. Chinoy, associate professor of surgery at the college in Hershey, said researchers are using high throughput screening technology called DNA / gene chip microarray to identify genes in the normal and abnormal lungs.
"The data collection allows us to analyze thousands of genes simultaneously, she explained. "We ultimately want to identify the candidate genes affecting specific functional and developmental pathways of lung."
Chinoy and her colleagues have a mouse model, which they use to study abnormal lung development. In the past four years, they have found several similarities between human babies born with pulmonary hypoplasia or small insufficient lungs, with coexistent congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and the mouse model that they have established. Affected human and mouse newborns have defects of heart and lung and microvasculature of the lung (network of small vessels which supply blood to the lung).
Chinoy reports that her team has recently shown low blood-plasma levels of nitric oxide in the mouse newborns, which are born with lung defects. This is the first study to show such a relationship. Nitric oxide is a molecule that is important for dilating or opening up the pulmonary vasculature to allow proper blood flow through these micro-vessels in the lungs, which facilitates the purification of blood through sufficient gas exchange.
Chinoy also believes that endogenous nitric oxide plays a significant role in the structural development of vasculature during the embryonic stages and low levels of nitric oxidelead to vascular smooth muscle proliferation. In the newborns, this thickened smooth muscle layer around the blood vessels in the lungs interferes with proper blood flow, thus resulting in elevated blood pressure, and respiratory distress due to hampered function of the lungs.
She hopes that the future work in this area will focus on understanding the defective embryonic development of heart, lung and blood vessel formation in lungs. More detailed work in this field will open avenues to help treat defects in unborn babies and in the long run prevent the fatal outcome of this defect in newborns.
Cost of living remains lower
in rural Pennsylvania, study shows
According to a one-year study by James A. Kurre of Penn State Erie, the cost of living for residents of rural Pennsylvania continues to be lower than for urban Pennsylvanians.
Kurre, associate professor of economics, conducted the study on behalf of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
His study follows up on a cost-of-living report Kurre developed for the center in 1992. In addition to looking at the cost of living, Kurre's updated study reviews six subindexes: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and miscellaneous. The indexes were helpful in
identifying high-and low-cost locations in the state.
Although Kurre's key finding was that rural counties in Pennsylvania tend to have lower costs of living overall and for each of the six subindexes, not all rural places are less expensive than urban places.
"For example," Kurre said, "urban Lycoming, Cambria and Luzerne counties tend to have lower costs than many rural counties, and Pike and Monroe counties tend to have higher costs despite their rural classifications."
Kurre based his cost of living estimates on a national average of 100. Counties with cost estimates above 100 are more expensive than the national average and those with estimates below 100 are less expensive than the national average. According to his study, the cost of living index is 101.0 for Erie County, 100.6 for Crawford County, 99.9 for Venango County, and 99.7 for Warren County. Philadelphia County, with an index of 127.6, was Pennsylvania's most expensive.
The study also found that urban areas tend to be more expensive for all subindexes and overall cost of living. Geographic patterns also indicated that eastern and urban counties were more expensive in the past and still are today.