Background
Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is one of the most common congenital heart defects. Most patients live into adulthood as a result of improved surgical techniques; however, late complications, including hypertension, recoarctation, and arrhythmias, are common. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) might play a role in the pathology. This study evaluated cardiac ANS activity and cardiac function in children after CoA repair and investigated the relationship between the two.
Methods
The study participants were 31 children after CoA repair and 62 healthy controls aged between 8 and 18 years. Ambulatory impedance cardiography was used to measure cardiac ANS activity and cardiac output for 24 hours. Transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were used to measure cardiac function.
Results
No group differences were found in ambulatory cardiac ANS activity. However, ambulatory cardiac output and left ventricular function were significantly decreased in patients compared with controls.
Conclusions
Left ventricular function and ambulatory cardiac output are impaired in patients after CoA repair, despite unchanged cardiac ANS activity in this group. These results underscore the importance of clinical follow-up, even in patients without residual stenosis.

Objective 
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance has been cross-sectionally associated with inflammatory processes. Longitudinal studies are needed to shed light on the nature of this relationship. We examined cross-sectional and bidirectional prospective associations between cardiac autonomic measures and inflammatory markers.
Methods 
Analyses were conducted with baseline (n = 2823), 2-year (n = 2099), and 6-year (n = 1774) data from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. To compare the pattern of results, prospective analyses with ANS (during sleep, leisure time, and work) and inflammation were conducted in two data sets from the Netherlands Twin Register measured for 4.9 years (n = 356) and 5.4 years (n = 472). Autonomic nervous system measures were heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Inflammatory markers were C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6.
Results 
The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety results showed that higher HR and lower RSA were cross-sectionally significantly associated with higher inflammatory levels. Higher HR predicted higher levels of CRP (B = .065, p < .001) and IL-6 (B = .036, p = .014) at follow-up. Higher CRP levels predicted lower RSA (B = −.024, p = .048) at follow-up. The Netherlands Twin Register results confirmed that higher HR was associated with higher CRP and IL-6 levels 4.9 years later. Higher IL-6 levels predicted higher HR and lower RSA at follow-up. Conclusions  Autonomic imbalance is associated with higher levels of inflammation. Independent data from two studies converge in evidence that higher HR predicts subsequent higher levels of CRP and IL-6. Inflammatory markers may also predict future ANS activity, but evidence for this was less consistent.

Objective Early life stress has been shown to influence the developing autonomic nervous system. Stressors in infancy may program the autonomic nervous system resting state set point, affecting cardiovascular function in later life. Excessive crying may be an indicator of increased stress arousal in infancy. We hypothesized that excessive infant crying is related to altered cardiac autonomic nervous system activity and increased blood pressure at age 5–6 years. Methods In the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development study, excessive crying, maternal burden of infant care and maternal aggressive behavior in the 13th week after birth (range 11–16 weeks) were reported using questionnaires. Blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability and indicators of cardiac autonomic nervous system activity (sympathetic drive by pre-ejection period, parasympathetic drive by respiratory sinus arrhythmia) were measured at age 5–6 years during rest. Inclusion criteria were singleton birth, term-born, and no reported congenital or cardiovascular problems (N = 2153 included). Results Excessive crying (2.8%) was not associated with resting heart rate, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, respiratory sinus arrhythmia nor with blood pressure at age 5–6 years. Conclusions Excessive infant crying as an indicator of increased stress arousal does not seem to be related to resting activity of the autonomic nervous system or blood pressure at age 5–6. Potential associations may become visible under stressed conditions.

Research suggests that sleep disturbances are associated with elevated levels of inflammation. Some evidence indicates that women may be particularly vulnerable; increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers with sleep disturbances are primarily observed among women. Midlife, which encompasses the menopause transition, is typically reported as a time of poor sleep. We tested whether poorer objectively measured sleep characteristics were related to a poorer inflammatory profile in midlife women.Two hundred ninety-five peri- and postmenopausal women aged 40–60 completed 3 days of wrist actigraphy, physiologic hot flash monitoring, questionnaires (e.g. Berlin sleep apnea risk questionnaire], and a blood draw for the assessment of inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and von Willebrand factor (VWF) antigen. Associations of objective (actigraphy) sleep with inflammatory markers were tested in regression models. Sleep efficiency was inverse log transformed. Covariates included age, race/ethnicity, education, body mass index, sleep apnea risk, homeostatic model assessment (a measure of insulin resistance), systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and physical activity.In separate models controlling for age, race/ethnicity, and education, lower sleep efficiency was associated with higher IL-6 [b(SE) = .02 (.10), p = .003] and VWF [b(SE) = .02 (.08), p = .002]. More minutes awake after sleep onset was associated with higher VWF [b(SE) = .12 (.06), p = .01]. Findings persisted in multivariable models.Lower sleep efficiency and more minutes awake after sleep onset were independently associated with higher circulating levels of VWF. Lower sleep efficiency was associated with higher circulating levels of IL-6. These findings suggest that sleep disturbances are associated with greater circulating inflammation in midlife women.

Exposure to prenatal adversity is associated with aggression later in life. Individual differences in autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning, specifically nonreciprocal activation of the parasympathetic (PNS) and sympathetic (SNS) nervous systems, increase susceptibility to aggression, especially in the context of adversity. Previous work examining interactions between early adversity and ANS functioning in infancy is scarce and has not examined interaction between PNS and SNS. This study examined whether the PNS and SNS moderate the relation between cumulative prenatal risk and early physical aggression in 124 children (57% male). Cumulative risk (e.g., maternal psychiatric disorder, substance (ab)use, and social adversity) was assessed during pregnancy. Parasympathetic respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and sympathetic pre-ejection period (PEP) at baseline, in response to and during recovery from emotional challenge were measured at 6 months. Physical aggression and non-physical aggression/oppositional behavior were measured at 30 months. The results showed that cumulative prenatal risk predicted elevated physical aggression and non-physical aggression/oppositional behavior in toddlerhood; however, the effects on physical aggression were moderated by PNS and SNS functioning. Specifically, the effects of cumulative risk on physical aggression were particularly evident in children characterized by low baseline PNS activity and/or by nonreciprocal activity of the PNS and SNS, characterized by decreased activity (i.e., coinhibition) or increased activity (i.e., coactivation) of both systems at baseline and/or in response to emotional challenge. These findings extend our understanding of the interaction between perinatal risk and infant ANS functioning on developmental outcome.

Background
The theory of challenge and threat states in athletes (TCTSA) proposes psychological antecedents will predict psychological and cardiovascular responses to stress. The present study investigated this theory in two contextually different stress tasks.
Method
78 males completed a computerised competition and a public speaking task. Cardiovascular activity was measured with impedance cardiography and a blood pressure monitor. Challenge and threat antecedents, indicators of challenge and threat and emotions were assessed pre- and post-tasks.
Results
Both tasks induced significant perturbations in cardiovascular activity and were perceived as highly challenging. Reported perceived threat was higher in the public speaking task compared to the competition task. Associations between the proposed antecedents, self-report and cardiovascular indices of challenge and threat and emotions support the TCTSA for the competition task, but less so for the public speaking task.
Conclusion
The TCTSA is supported during competitive stress, however during social stress there is dissociation between self-report appraisals and cardiovascular reactivity.

De heer V. (V.) lijdt sinds zijn jeugd onder een specifieke fobie met paniekstoornis. De paniek start wanneer hij de grenzen van zijn woonplaats bereikt, onafhankelijk van het type vervoer waarmee hij reist. Ook speelt de bestemming geen rol in het ontstaan of de ernst van de paniekaanval. Tijdens een autorit die een paniekaanval uitlokte zijn EEG opnames gemaakt. bèta activiteit (van 13-30 Hz.) bleek over grote delen van de cortex toe te nemen tijdens de paniekaanval. Verder was sprake van relatief plotselinge afname van delta en theta activiteit (1-8 Hz) over vrijwel de gehele cortex tijdens de paniekaanval.

People are particularly attracted to groups that value morality. However, in social and work life, team decision-making sometimes involves balancing moral considerations with achievement goals in ambiguous situations. We examined how the importance attached to morality and competence in experimentally created task teams influenced perceived team attractiveness and motivational responses. Results showed that team attractiveness was fully determined by value attached to morality in a team. However, cardiovascular responses revealed that when actually engaging in a team interaction where unanimous decisions had to be made about competing considerations, value attached to both morality and competence in a team influenced participants? motivational states. Congruence between the value attached to morality and competence elicited adaptive challenge responses, while incongruence between these team features elicited maladaptive threat. These results have important theoretical and practical implications.

Background: Patients suffering from dissociative disorders (DD) are characterized by an avoidance of aversive stimuli. Clinical experience has shown that DD patients typically avoid the confrontation with their own faces in a mirror (CFM).Objective: To investigate potential CFM-associated self-reported and psychophysiological stress reactions of DD patients, which most likely inform on the still unknown pathophysiology of dysfunctional self-perception in DD.Method: Eighteen DD patients and 18 healthy controls (HCs) underwent CFM. They were assessed for CFM-induced subjective self-reported stress, acute dissociative symptoms and sympathetic and parasympathetic drive using impedance cardiography.Results: DD patients experienced more subjective stress and acute dissociation than HCs upon CFM. Their psychological stress response did not activate the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.Conclusions: In DD patients, CFM constitutes serious self-reported stress and is associated with a blunted autonomic reactivity. Therapeutic approaches promoting self-perception and self-compassion, in particular by using CFM, might serve as goal-oriented diagnostic and therapeutic tools in DD.