Psychosocial Functioning and Inflammation: An Integrative Analysis

描述(由申请人提供)：这项K01提案的总体目标是使Friedman博士能够发展必要的技能和专业知识，对老年人的心理社会福祉和健康进行独立的综合研究。炎症通常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。这项拟议研究的关键假设是，积极的心理社会功能将预测老年人血液中炎性蛋白的水平较低，并将缓解慢性生活逆境的负面影响。为了进行这项工作，弗里德曼博士寻求在老年健康、流行病学和分析方法学方面进行额外的培训。拟议的培训计划包括以这些主题为重点的正式课程和强化指导。这些教学活动将补充弗里德曼博士在心理神经免疫学方面的背景，并使他能够(A)使用来自美国中年调查(MIDUS)的纵向心理社会数据来检查人类功能的多个维度，以及(B)将这些数据与新评估的神经生物学指标(包括炎症因子)联系起来。研究计划将利用所学到的新概念和技术来检验四个关键假设：(1)积极的心理社会功能将预测低水平的炎症蛋白，并将缓和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(白天皮质醇水平；休息条件下的皮质醇水平和实验室应激源的反应)将中介心理社会功能与炎症蛋白的关联；(3)情绪调节的神经指数(EEG不对称)将预测低水平的炎症蛋白；(4)对心理社会、社会人口学、神经内分泌和神经回路因素的综合分析将确定这些多个领域相互作用的途径(使用递归划分)，以预测炎症蛋白的高水平或低水平。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。预计这项研究还将产生关于积极的心理社会功能和炎症过程之间联系的新信息，这将有助于确定和确定有效干预措施，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.