Psychosocial Functioning and Inflammation: An Integrative Analysis

描述（由申请人提供）：这个K01提案的总体目标是使弗里德曼博士能够发展对老年人的心理社会福祉和健康进行独立综合研究所需的技能和专业知识。炎症通常会随着年龄的增长而增加，并与一系列与年龄相关的疾病有关，包括心脏病和糖尿病。提出的研究的关键假设是，积极的社会心理功能将预测老年人血液传播的炎症蛋白水平较低，并将缓和慢性生活逆境的负面影响。为了开展这项工作，弗里德曼博士寻求在老年健康、流行病学和分析方法方面的额外培训。拟议的培训计划包括正式课程和集中于这些主题的密集指导。这些教学活动将补充弗里德曼博士在精神神经免疫学方面的背景，并使他能够(a)利用美国中年调查（MIDUS）的纵向社会心理数据来检查人类功能的多个维度，(b)将这些数据与新评估的神经生物学指标联系起来，包括炎症因子。该研究计划将利用所学到的新概念和技术来测试四个关键假设：(1)积极的社会心理功能将预测低水平的炎症蛋白，并将调节炎症与低社会经济地位和慢性压力的关联；(2)神经内分泌功能（皮质醇的日斜率、静息条件下和实验室应激源下的皮质醇水平）将介导社会心理功能和炎症蛋白的关联；(3)情绪调节的神经指标（脑电图不对称）可以预测炎症蛋白的低水平；(4)综合分析社会心理、社会人口学、神经内分泌和神经回路因素将确定这些多域相互作用的途径（使用递归划分），以预测炎症蛋白的高低水平。这种教学和研究经验的结合将使弗里德曼博士具备成功过渡到专注于多领域人类经验和健康的独立研究所需的知识和技能。这项研究还有望产生关于积极的社会心理功能与炎症过程之间联系的新信息，这将有助于确定和确定有效的干预措施，以改善晚年的健康和福祉。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of this K01 proposal is to enable Dr. Friedman to develop the skills and expertise necessary for independent integrative research on psychosocial well-being and health in aging adults. Inflammation typically increases with age and has been linked to a range of age-related disorders, including heart disease and diabetes. The key hypothesis of the proposed research is that positive psychosocial functioning will predict lower levels of blood-borne inflammatory proteins in older adults and will moderate the negative impact of chronic life adversity. In order to conduct this work, Dr. Friedman seeks additional training in geriatric health, epidemiology, and analytical methodology. The proposed Training Plan includes both formal coursework and intensive mentorship focused on these topics. These didactic activities will complement Dr. Friedman's background in psychoneuroimmunology and enable him (a) to examine multiple dimensions of human functioning using longitudinal psychosocial data from the Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) and (b) to link these data to newly assessed neurobiological measures, including inflammatory factors. The Research Plan will utilize the new concepts and techniques learned to test four key hypotheses: (1) positive psychosocial functioning will predict low levels of inflammatory proteins and will moderate the associations of inflammation with low socioeconomic status and chronic stress; (2) neuroendocrine function (diurnal cortisol slopes; cortisol levels under resting conditions and in response to laboratory stressors) will mediate the association of psychosocial functioning and inflammatory proteins; (3) neural indices of emotion regulation (EEG asymmetry) will predict low levels of inflammatory proteins; and (4) integrative analyses of psychosocial, sociodemographic, neuroendocrine, and neural circuitry factors will identify pathways through which these multiple domains interact (using recursive partitioning) to predict high or low levels of inflammatory proteins. This combination of didactic and research experiences will equip Dr. Friedman with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful career transition to independent research focused on multi-domain human experience and health. The research is also expected to generate new information about links between positive psychosocial functioning and inflammatory processes that will aid in the identification and targeting of effective interventions to improve health and well-being in later life.