There are very few fiction books that focus on a female protagonist that choose to focus on the female relationships in her life without going all ?beaches? on us, focusing on how she needs to ?get the man? (either back or stealing him from a friend), or focusing on how she has totally fallen down on her knees and will never recover until some extreme twist of fate changes her life and suddenly she?s saved! SAVED!

Let me save you time. That doesn?t happen here.

Some events in life are quiet, painful, thoughtful, and, by turns, beautiful. Parker is a 29-year-old who is a part of the boomerang generation. She works in a job she doesn?t despise, and yet she finds herself lacking partnership in her friendships and her romantic relationships. Her ties are weak, at best, with everyone in her life including her parents. The exception to this is the amazing bond she shares with the grandmother who raised her. When Dotty, her grandmother begins to exhibit signs of memory loss as well as the inability to care for herself, Parker?s carefully constructed life does begin to crumble and the question is begged: to whom does an adult child turn when there are no parents who are emotionally able to catch her fall and there is no support system other than the person who is ailing?

In Parker?s case, instead of leaning on the weak supports she has, she turns inward in a way that I have rarely seen in a novel. We tend to despair from the notion of an extrovert who has the ability to reach others or at least who has others that care about reaching her ignoring that help. In this case, Parker is left to go on her own until events with Dotty reach a bitter climax. Letters in Cardboard Boxes explores intergenerational friendships and how the most unlikely places provide us support in times of need. We never truly reach Parker and, frankly, that?s just how she?d prefer it. In the process, though, we get a story that winds us through some realistic life events that someone will need to hear and process.

If you are looking for a serious read that allows you to just feel the differences in relationships between women, this is the novel for you.

Note: I received this novel for free in exchange for my open and honest review of it.

An interview with the author:

I have just a few questions for you.

1. So many books with a female protagonist tend to lean towards a relationship focus due to the surge of ?chick lit.? What made you decide to focus on the inter-generational relationships between Parker and her grandmother and Parker and Tanya?

Abby Slovin: I think the importance of these relationships is often undervalued in our society, particularly because we seem so averse to aging and its effects. But, I wanted to stress the value of these kinds of relationships to foster a better understanding of the world and ourselves. Also, it tends to put our own lives and problems into perspective when we have access to a much longer timeline.

I also created these relationships to toy with the concept of age. I?ve characterized these particular characters to not act ?their age?; Dotty is whimsical and eager; Tanya is wise and mature; Parker is somewhere in the middle. I like to toy with the reader?s expectations of what a ?grandmother? should act like, a ?teenager?, a ?twenty-something,? etc.

2. Do you have personal reasons for choosing the disease of Alzheimers and was it difficult for you to write about a subject that affects so many as the Baby Boomer generation begins to hit this stage?

Abby Slovin: Mainly, it felt like a story that needed to be told. My reasons were not necessarily personal, but I felt strongly about developing a story around loss. My decision to further develop this loss into Alzheimer?s had a lot to do with the nature of the disease. I wanted Parker to struggle with identity and her sense of security as she loses her grandmother and, to me, the idea that her grandmother also loses her memory and a sense of self provides a metaphor for what we all go through as the generations before us are lost. We lose that sense of a longer timeline, we lose a lot of our own history when this happens.

3. Frequently in the novel, Parker treats Jimmy the way men are frequently portrayed as treating women in novels: as someone to be used when needed and then discarded. What motivated you to give Parker the power and what were Parker?s reasons for detaching from Jimmy?

Abby Slovin: I think in a way, they both use each other. Jimmy?s behavior is consistent throughout the story, though. His relationship with Parker is always about convenience. For Parker, I think we see a very different person in the beginning of the novel. Someone who is conflicted by Jimmy?s treatment of her, his sort of indifference to their relationship. She definitely grapples with it more in her own head, and with her friend Jill, in the beginning. But, as her grandmother?s deterioration worsens, she reaches for anyone to fill that void, and ignores the red flags she saw before simply to have that feeling of loneliness subside. Its only once she finds the love letters from 1941 that she realizes she needs something more from a relationship. These letters, and her relationship with Jerry, remind her that she deserves something more.

4. Parker has a reluctant relationship with her parents that is never fully developed in the novel. Was there background to the story that we did not see or that went unexplained?

Abby Slovin: I think there are a lot of unspoken moments in this relationship between Parker and her parents, simply because their absence produced a lot of empty space and silence. Towards the end of the novel, Parker?s mother provided a little insight on their behavior, saying that she thought if they devoted their lives to something they truly loved, they would somehow make a difference in the world. I think this is a motivation people can relate to, and despite it not totally explaining the behavior, provides some good insight on her parents. I?m sure that their behavior seemed inexplicable to a lot of readers and am always very interested to hear how people respond to them. But this is how some people really live their lives.

5. Parker struggles with embracing her adult self and dealing with the decisions she must make that overwhelm her. This is noted as she frequently escapes into her home and into herself when things get tough. Did you draw on any cultural references to give Parker this coping mechanism or was this part of her character as an integral part of the character?s nature? Why?

Abby Slovin: That?s a very interesting question. I think the decision to retreat ? both into herself and her home ? has a lot to do with the way Parker has coped with problems before. And without her grandmother ? her anchor and confidante, I think this reaction becomes even more pronounced. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on whether there is a stronger cultural reference here. I think there could very well be.

Jillian: Well, Parker is on the cusp of Generation ME and part of that generation is the strong desire to be a boomerang kid and go back to the safety and cocoon of your parents home until the world feels safe enough that you can take it on your own when you are an adult. This age of safety keeps falling further and further back. Parker?s been on her own for a while, but never really comfortable, and she?s never had what most people would call a normal social relationship with her peer groups. Her grandmother is her one true friend and I suppose the cultural context I was looking at was ?to whom do you boomerang when things get tough when your parents are emotionally and physically unavailable and you are required to step up and be an adult.? Parker initially falls apart at this concept, as most people of her generation would. She retreats into herself, breaks off contact with her one friend, turns her paramour away, stops seeing Tanya and avoids the world as much as she can. All signs of this point to depression or other mood issues, but the one luxury Parker has never had was allowing her parents to make everything all right. Her grandmother always did that. For me, I always look to a social context and I thought that perhaps you were making a point about how, generationally, there are some anomalies that are not always easily solvable.

Abby Slovin:That?s an excellent point! I think the boomerang concept is exceptionally appropriate in this context, particularly because it seems so likely that Parker?s response would be complete immobilization (and retreat) when the person ?to which we boomerang? is no longer there.

Very interesting analysis, Jillian?

Jillian: I didn?t mean to super analyze your stuff, it?s something I do innately. Sorry about that.

Abby Slovin: No need to apologize at all! What you?ve brought up is fascinating.

I wonder?how do you find the overall process of grief portrayed in the novel? Does it seem to adequately describe some of the stages people typically go through? And how did you react to the character Tanya?

Just curious? I would very much respect your opinion. In many ways, the story is meant to be felt in a literary sense, but I?m always interested in hearing how it compares to certain ?realities?, so to speak? **NOTE: some of what Ms. Slovin asked about was removed as it was personal discussion between the author and blogger.

Jillian: I think Parker hits the first stages of it and she is in the middle of Acceptance when we leave her. The denial stage is very, very strong in her and I think that Kubler-Ross would approve as most people stay in that stage for a long, long time. Parker absolutely refused to see the truth in the diagnosis and even thought she might be able to bring her grandmother back with triggering her. Her failure was heartbreaking and painful for me to read because it?s common. I don?t think she finishes her process with us, which is perfect because it?s not a fast process. Had you tied it up in the neat bow that I normally love I probably would have felt dissatisfied with that.

Tanya?s situation is more complex. She is a mature girl because she is forced to be mature. I wanted more insight into her situation (which I supposed might be a lovely possibility for a spin off), because I never really understood what made her tick. I got that she was compensating for what she needed at home, but her dedication to others was an outlier to the kinds of things you general see. Personally, I thought that was the point. I wanted to see more of her grief in regards to the loss of her homeless friend, who seemed to be her only true friend outside of Parker and Dotty. Her general acceptance and ?It is what it is? attitude was a little unrealistic, but it could also be her own form of denial in that if she ignores all of what is surrounding her, she can survive. An odd defense mechanism, but a true one. Realities are so much stranger than fiction. It is very easy to escape into the real issues people have. It?s one of the reasons I love my job. If you?ve never been to an anon meeting (any of them will do), I highly encourage it. It?s one of the few therapies that are open to the public that allows an insight into the mechanisms people have.

I appreciate your willingness to embrace the strengths and weaknesses in your characters and in your craft to make it more dynamic. So many forget to do so.

[End of interview]

Thank you so much to Abby Slovin, Author of Letters in Cardboard Boxes for allowing me to interview her about her novel. I?ll bet you are interested in knowing more about it now, right? How about your own copy?

1 lucky blog reader will receive an audiobook version of Letters in Cardboard Boxes, courtesy of Abby Slovin.

It can be yours if you win.

Here?s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before March 01, 2012 at 5pm CST telling me you want in!

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 entry each, but you must link them here SEPARATELY or they will not COUNT separately as I will be using a number randomizer to choose the winner?please do not spam your friends to win the contest as most sites frown on that)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it?s there and where I can find it. It?s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won?t be included in the drawing.
**You must have a valid way of contacting you in your entry (which means you must leave your email address on the entry so I can send you a notice saying ?YOU WON!?)
**If your email address bounces back to me, I will leave a post on my blog for 5 days and you will have the option to contact me for your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, doesn?t work, etc., I?ll feel really bad, but I can?t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Source: http://blueshelled.com/2012/02/22/book-review-letters-in-cardboard-boxes-by-abby-slovin/

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by Steve McDonald, Investment U Research
Monday, February 20, 2012

Corporate and municipal bond investing has one major problem: When interest rates go up, bonds go down.

Actually, bond investing has two major problems. The second is that people are rate pigs. They always go for the highest payout on bonds and bond funds and ignore the problems associated with long maturities.

The result is that when bonds do drop in value, which they will do at some point, the drop is accelerated by ?rate pigitis? ? really accelerated. Long maturities drop in value a lot more than short ones.

So, a bond investor has to make a choice:

• Go with really long maturities, get higher yields and suffer through the sell-off when rates go back up?

Or:

• Go for shorter maturities and put up with lower returns, but a much smaller drop in value when the sell-off finally happens?

Of course, there are those who think, ?I?ll just wait it out and collect my interest, ignore the big drop in long maturity bonds and collect my principal at maturity.?

Right! And Obama will suddenly develop a sense of business and economics and stop jerking everyone?s chain.

The Real Truth

Here?s the real truth about the average small-bond investor.

The combination of ?rate pigitis? and being completely unable to wait out a sell-off in any market ? not the just the bond market ? have turned one of the safest investments, bonds, into what will be one of the biggest money losers in the history of the markets. Treasuries included.

In the past few years, rates have settled where I have never seen them in my lifetime. Meanwhile, small investors have been standing in line to pour their money into bonds of all kinds in the hope of escaping the stock market volatility and getting some kind of return on their money. I can understand why? It?s been 10 years since we made a dime on stocks.

All of this money is going into bonds at exactly the wrong time, in all the wrong ways and at prices so high, they have to come down.

It will be a blood bath of biblical proportions when almost everyone cuts and runs as prices drop.

The Staggered Approach to Bond Investing

But this is completely avoidable. There?s a way to own bonds now and get around this impending bloodbath, and still beat the stock market.

In fact, if you use a staggered approach to bonds, rather than the usual ladder, you can:

• Get very high rates of returns.
• Minimize the drop in value when interest rates rise.
• Take advantage of higher rates and the bargains they present in a down bond market.
• And still sleep at night, too?

I know, too good to be true, right?

But this isn?t a guarantee of any kind, you will have some losses ? very few, but some. Based on today?s market averages about one to three out of a 100 trades will be losers.

Sounds good, doesn?t it?

And, you will have to follow all the rules! Yes, rules of the road that cannot be ignored. Any Navy folks out there know what that implies. Standing Orders and all!

Right off the bat, that eliminates about 25% of all investors, big and small. That bottom 25% is doomed by the fact that they don?t know what to believe and are so inexperienced they can?t separate the good information from the garbage.

Another 25% will only play the ?swing for the fence? game in the stock market. They will figure it out eventually, but not until they have lost so much they go back to CDs and money markets. At least they aren?t losing anymore.

Another 25% know they have the secret to success and will only buy stocks, because they know the secret, right?

So that leaves you and me and few other survivors who are able to see a real opportunity.

Here it is! It?s called a ?staggered bond portfolio.? Your broker will tell you it can?t work, but I have been proving him wrong for a long time.

Forget Everything You Know

First, forget everything you know about corporate bonds, and munis for that matter, especially how to structure a portfolio of them.

Think in terms of very small bond positions, as few as one bond per position, five or more is preferable, but you can do one. I know brokers will tell you it is impossible to buy less than 10 or 20 bonds. Baloney! Get another broker who knows something about bonds!

The Rules of the Road

• Buy many bonds of almost all credit qualities, as low as CCC. Right now, I prefer to stay in the BBB to CCC range, but the skittish can go for the higher ratings if you need them to sleep at night. But the BBB to B ratings don?t have that much more risk and the slightly lower-rated bonds are where all the money is.

• Buy bonds in many industries. Don?t load up on a few tech names or familiar names. Stay diversified just as in a stock portfolio.

• In the current market, shoot for an average maturity of five years or less. That means you can buy a few really good ones at seven years and a few that don?t look as good in the one- to two-year maturity. Then fill in the blanks.

As the market shifts to higher interest rates, this strategy will shift to longer maturities and the higher rates that come with them. But for now, you must stay very short on time. This market requires it.

• Never load up on a single bond because you like the return. This is the biggest trap and the biggest money burner in the business. Just ask the folks who bought Lehman Bros. bonds, AAA at the time, because they had a great interest rate and a really good rating.

For the average person, that?s someone who isn?t managing millions, there?s never a good enough reason to buy more than 10 bonds in any one position.

Plan on buying lots of different bonds so when the bad news does hit (and it will eventually), it only affects about one to four bonds out of a 100, and you don?t have your whole life hung out to dry in one position. I?ll bet you can guess which bonds will get you into trouble. Here?s a hint, it won?t be the small positions in your portfolio.

• Look for bonds whose underlying companies just had some bad news; missed earnings, bad product, lawsuit, etc. It will kill the stock and the bond will slip, too, but here?s where the difference between stocks and corporate bonds really shines.

The only question you need to ask yourself about that bond is, ?Will the company be in business when this bond matures?? The answer in almost 99% of cases is, ?Yes.?

That?s it! Let the stockholders die on the vine as this thing gets pummeled. You buy the bond while it?s down, collect the interest and capital gains, wait for the bond to go back up in value ? which they do in most cases ? then sell it or wait for maturity and collect your principal and interest.

Two More Advantages

There are two more advantages to this short staggered portfolio. Take a look at the example below of what a portion of a complete staggered portfolio looks like.

Notice you have several bonds coming due each year. This is key to this strategy. This allows you to buy back into the market at higher rates several times a year. This gives you all kinds of flexibility that laddering doesn?t.

In a traditional laddered portfolio, you have to wait several years for a bond to mature to be able to buy another. That can hurt in a fast changing bond market, which is what I?m expecting in the next few years.

Maybe the most beneficial aspect of the staggered strategy is you can see the horizon. You can see that there?s money coming due, and you know you will get your principal back, and that gives you a psychological advantage over all other types of investments.

Being able to see that horizon ? I call it the light at the end of the tunnel ? makes it that much easier to sit tight and wait out the worst that any market has to offer.

You have to be there at the end of the race to have any chance of being a winner.

That?s how you avoid the bloodbath that?s coming in the bond market, reduce your risk, avoid the volatility of the stock and make real money in bonds.

Good Investing,

Steve McDonald

Any investment contains risk. Please see our disclaimer
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Source: http://www.investmentu.com/2012/February/guide-to-bond-investing.html

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Tesla Motors is up about 18 percent this year and Think Equity believes the rally isn’t over. Colin Rusch, analyst at Think Equity, discusses the green trade.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46483877/

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How you will manage the actual movement of the 401(k)-rollover is important because the incorrect approach can lead to unwanted withholding taxes. Whenever transferring cash from the 401k to an IRA, you can either obtain the check from the 401k administrator after which you bring it to your brand new IRA custodian or you can have the 401k administrator send out the funds directly to your IRA custodian. The first choice is a dreadful choice since the 401kadministrator must withhold 20% of the balance when the check will be shipped to you. If your 401(k) rollover is done directly between your 401k administrator and your new IRA account, no withholding is required.

When moving funds from the 401k to an IRA rollover, it is occasionally valuable to not rollover all financial assets. Particularly, shares of your company that you?ve got inside your 401k as you can get beneficial tax treatment if you take them from the 401k and don?t move them over. Specifically, much of the gain in those shares may very well be entitled to capital gains taxes. But when you rollover your stock to your IRA, that benefit will be gone forever.

Sometimes, the phrase IRA roll over is meant to describe your transfer involving money from a single IRA account to a new one. Here again, you may either receive a check from one IRA custodian and take it to your other or have the prior IRA custodian send the money directly to your new custodian. The latter is really a much better method to complete an IRA rollover since it helps prevent virtually any problems that could cause unnecessary income tax to you. While there is no withholding whenever you get cash from an IRA bill, you will need to finish the IRA rollover inside of 60 days or the distribution will become taxed to you.

Note that all money taken out of a IRA or 401k just isn?t entitled to rollover. As an example, once you become age 70 1/2, you?re facing mandatory withdrawals from either type of account. Whenever taking those obligatory withdrawals, they are reported on your tax return and are then subject to taxes. You may not carry out an IRA rollover of those distributions because they?re not eligible.

Source: http://www.mnsirproject.us/mn-sir-project/478

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120222/ap_on_re_eu/eu_apnewsalert

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Source: http://www.makingcomics.com/2012/02/20/writing-101-structure/

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Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

Source: http://nonprofitnewswire.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/should-your-non-profit-organization-start-a-business/

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There are so many people who travel on a daily basis to various destinations using the usual means of transport. But these many people also need to travel on their own sometimes when the need arises. Parties, functions, specific meetings and other chief or special occasions cannot be attended by way of an inconvenient means of transport.

Now you must be wondering as to why should you travel in the city in such an expensive way. The reason is that your notion of the fact that such cabs shall cost you a fortune is wrong.

Many such cab services are available at pocket friendly rates and so are growing popular amongst the people. The services having grown in umbers nowadays has led to a certain amount of competition and so this has led to the provision of the best of services at favorable rates for customers. Hence you do not lose too much when you try to book one of these? cabs from Delhi.

In fact there are also services in the capital that allow for trips beyond the city. This is to say that cab providers in Delhi also have provisions for customers who want to travel to nearby hill stations or other tourist spots by road. This is another reason why you can opt or such a service while your precious car is safely tucked in back home.

So such? cabs from Delhi are instrumental in also giving you the much desired and private trip to your holiday destination.

You do not have to opt for inappropriate and uneasy ways of traveling to your destination as a result of the availability of such services. You are at liberty to even make your choice when booking a cab of this sort. Many cab services allow for such a choice to be made by the customer himself.

When you are not sure which cab service would be most beneficial and economical then you can turn to the online world to explore your options available to you. In fact, you may also come across services that allow for booking online. Try it, you shall not be disappointed.

Source: http://travel.ezinemark.com/around-the-city-at-inexpensive-rates-7d3399b0860d.html

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Source: http://articlehause.com/2012/02/waterproof-paint-plastic-vapor-barrier-or-concrete-sealer.html

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Contact: Juliana Bunim
juliana.bunim@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California – San Francisco

Short telomeres associated with increased risk for chronic diseases

The ability to anticipate future events allows us to plan and exert control over our lives, but it may also contribute to stress-related increased risk for the diseases of aging, according to a study by UCSF researchers.

In a study of 50 women, about half of them caring for relatives with dementia, the psychologists found that those most threatened by the anticipation of stressful tasks in the laboratory and through public speaking and solving math problems, looked older at the cellular level. The researchers assessed cellular age by measuring telomeres, which are the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. Short telomeres index older cellular age and are associated with increased risk for a host of chronic diseases of aging, including cancer, heart disease and stroke.

“We are getting closer to understanding how chronic stress translates into the present moment,” said Elissa Epel, PhD, an associate professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and a lead investigator on the study. “As stress researchers, we try to examine the psychological process of how people respond to a stressful event and how that impacts their neurobiology and cellular health. And we’re making some

strides in that.”

The researchers also found evidence that caregivers anticipated more threat than non-caregivers when told that they would be asked to perform the same public speaking and math tasks. This tendency to anticipate more threat put them at increased risk for short telomeres. Based on that, the researchers propose that higher levels of anticipated threat in daily life may promote cellular aging in chronically stressed individuals.

“How you respond to a brief stressful experience in the laboratory may reveal a lot about how you respond to stressful experiences in your daily life,” said Aoife O’Donovan, PhD, a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellow at UCSF and the study’s lead author. “Our findings are preliminary for now, but they suggest that the major forms of stress in your life may influence how your respond to more minor forms of stress, such as losing your keys, getting stuck in traffic or leading a meeting at work. Our goal is to gain better understanding of how psychological stress promotes biological aging so that we can design targeted interventions that reduce risk for disease in stressed individuals. We now have preliminary evidence that higher anticipatory threat perception may be one such mechanism.”

The study will be published in the May issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

Research on telomeres, and the enzyme that makes them, was pioneered by three Americans, including UCSF molecular biologist and co-author on this manuscript Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, who co-discovered the telomerase enzyme in 1985. The scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for this work.

###

The research related to anticipation was funded by grants from the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute of Aging/National Institutes of Health and Bernard and Barbro Foundation as well as by a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellowship.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. For further information, please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/.

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Juliana Bunim
juliana.bunim@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397
University of California – San Francisco

Short telomeres associated with increased risk for chronic diseases

The ability to anticipate future events allows us to plan and exert control over our lives, but it may also contribute to stress-related increased risk for the diseases of aging, according to a study by UCSF researchers.

In a study of 50 women, about half of them caring for relatives with dementia, the psychologists found that those most threatened by the anticipation of stressful tasks in the laboratory and through public speaking and solving math problems, looked older at the cellular level. The researchers assessed cellular age by measuring telomeres, which are the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. Short telomeres index older cellular age and are associated with increased risk for a host of chronic diseases of aging, including cancer, heart disease and stroke.

“We are getting closer to understanding how chronic stress translates into the present moment,” said Elissa Epel, PhD, an associate professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and a lead investigator on the study. “As stress researchers, we try to examine the psychological process of how people respond to a stressful event and how that impacts their neurobiology and cellular health. And we’re making some

strides in that.”

The researchers also found evidence that caregivers anticipated more threat than non-caregivers when told that they would be asked to perform the same public speaking and math tasks. This tendency to anticipate more threat put them at increased risk for short telomeres. Based on that, the researchers propose that higher levels of anticipated threat in daily life may promote cellular aging in chronically stressed individuals.

“How you respond to a brief stressful experience in the laboratory may reveal a lot about how you respond to stressful experiences in your daily life,” said Aoife O’Donovan, PhD, a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellow at UCSF and the study’s lead author. “Our findings are preliminary for now, but they suggest that the major forms of stress in your life may influence how your respond to more minor forms of stress, such as losing your keys, getting stuck in traffic or leading a meeting at work. Our goal is to gain better understanding of how psychological stress promotes biological aging so that we can design targeted interventions that reduce risk for disease in stressed individuals. We now have preliminary evidence that higher anticipatory threat perception may be one such mechanism.”

The study will be published in the May issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

Research on telomeres, and the enzyme that makes them, was pioneered by three Americans, including UCSF molecular biologist and co-author on this manuscript Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, who co-discovered the telomerase enzyme in 1985. The scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for this work.

###

The research related to anticipation was funded by grants from the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute of Aging/National Institutes of Health and Bernard and Barbro Foundation as well as by a Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellowship.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. For further information, please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/.

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uoc–aos022112.php

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