If you consistently experience high levels of stress, you may be stimulating bacteria that weaken your blood vessels, Binghamton University researchers have found.

The microbiologists discovered a link between stress hormones and bacteria that may explain how emotional shock or over-exertion can trigger heart attacks or strokes in vulnerable people. Researchers believe that this is how someone could literally be scared to death.

The research, published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, indicates that hormones released during stress could cause thin sheets of bacteria called biofilms to disperse.

If this happens in your body, biofilms within your arterial walls would be stimulated to release enzymes that might weaken the arterial wall and lead to plaque rupturing into the blood stream. Plaque rupture has long been known to be one of the leading causes of heart attack and stroke.

“Our hypothesis fits the observation that heart attack and stroke often occur following an event where elevated levels of catecholamine hormones are released into the blood and tissues, such as occurs during sudden emotional shock or stress, sudden exertion or over-exertion,” says David Davies, associate professor of biological sciences at Binghamton.

Biofilms, often referred to as slime, form when bacteria undergo a genetic change and then organize within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance. Once they are protected within the biofilm, bacteria are harder to detect and to treat with antibiotics.

Davies and his colleagues grew different species of bacteria taken from diseased carotid arteries affected by atherosclerosis, the build-up of thick plaques within the walls of blood vessels. They found multiple bacterial species living as biofilms in the walls of every atherosclerotic carotid artery tested. Certain molecular signals can cause the biofilms to release enzymes that digest the scaffolding anchoring the bacteria in place.

“The release of iron into the blood as a result of increases in stress hormones is what causes the bacteria to release their hold on each other and the plaque,” says study co-author Karin Sauer, professor of biological sciences at Binghamton.

This research suggests that bacteria should be considered to be part of the overall pathology of atherosclerosis. The scientists suggest that management of bacteria within an arterial plaque lesion may be as important as managing cholesterol.

Davies believes this research might someday change the medical community’s view of many conditions. “We’re going one disease at a time and trying to demonstrate whether or not bacteria are involved,” he says. “In most diseases with the letters itis … it means inflammation, it means a biofilm infection.”

William Fierle, president of Emerson Network Power Surge Protection Inc., was recognized as Technology Leader of the Year for his efforts in shaping the technology community through leadership in energy management.

J. Micheal Harris, director of Integration Technology at Corning Inc., was recognized as Technology Innovation Mentor of the Year for his contributions to providing industrial experiences for developing scientists and engineers.

Gay Canough, president of ETM Solar Works, was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year for her contributions to the development of solar technologies in the Southern Tier.

Merwyn Jones, IBM Fellow and director of the Linux Technology Center at Binghamton University, was recognized as Educator of the Year for his efforts in educating the next generation of computer scientists.

Awards were announced Nov. 17 during the S3IP annual dinner, which featured remarks by Edward Reinfurt, executive director of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). Gary Kunis, retired chief science officer for Cisco Systems, provided keynote remarks. S3IP Associate Director Mary Beth Curtin and David Gdovin, president of Diamond Visionics and STOC vice president, presented the technology innovation awards.

The new $30 million, 114,000-square-foot Center of Excellence building will provide space for expansion and consolidation of S³IP and its interdisciplinary, inter-institutional teams of scientists and engineers. The facility will help bridge critical scientific, technology, commercialization and education gaps, and support partnerships in energy-efficient electronic systems, systems integration and packaging, flexible electronics, autonomous solar power, advanced materials and sensors and health care/life sciences.

“This building will solidify Binghamton University’s position as a world leader in small scale systems packaging,” Interim President C. Peter Magrath said. “This facility will connect people and ideas, accelerate discovery in this growing field, and develop further our commitment to partnerships with industry. The research, education and outreach of those who will be housed in this building will make a significant contribution to this region and to New York State.”

Funding for the new building was obtained through the efforts of State Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton, and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell. The new building will provide an estimated $15.9 million annual economic impact and support more than 180 jobs per year in the region during its construction.

New York’s Southern Tier has long been a hub for microelectronics research. S³IP builds on this legacy through high-impact research that supports the translation of economically significant microelectronic innovations to U.S. industry. S³IP is a proven innovation leader, generating more than $700 million in economic impact through partnerships with national and international industries on collaborative, precompetitive research.

“Research is a key driver for innovation and technology development,” Interim Vice President for Research Bahgat Sammakia said. “Our research at the Center of Excellence has always been conducted in strong partnership with industry, and we are fully committed to research that has a broad and transformational impact on the community. This building will create spaces and infrastructure that bring together our faculty, scientists and students with engineers and scientists from industry to work on key technical advancements.”

The two-story glass, metal and stone building will feature versatile, open laboratory space, a symposium hall and offices that support the University’s ongoing and expanding industry partnerships.

Featuring in-house design, planning and construction management, this building will meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, incorporating energy-efficient windows and skylights for maximum use of daylight, green roof applications and the latest technology for heat recovery and humidity control.

To see a video flyover of the architect’s plans for the building, click here.

Mark F. Lenzenweger, a distinguished professor of clinical science, neuroscience and cognitive psychology at Binghamton University, says he has a good response to this troubling question and ideas about how to find those answers.

In his latest book, Schizotypy and Schizophrenia: The View from Experimental Psychopathology (Guilford Press, 2010), Lenzenweger explores lessons he has learned in the psychological science laboratory while probing the broader questions of how to think about and conduct psychopathology research.

“The liability for schizophrenia is relatively prevalent and common in our population,” Lenzenweger says. “Therefore, understanding why someone goes on to develop the illness is a high-priority research question. I firmly believe that those who harbor this liability but do not develop the full-blown illness of schizophrenia may hold the key to this puzzle.

“Since this is an ongoing challenge for our society, training the next generation in how to think about and conduct psychopathology research is just as vital. So what I’ve tried to do is combine both of those elements in a way that I hope will appeal to both the experienced researcher and those just starting out.”

The book traces Lenzenweger’s intense efforts to find answers using laboratory and statistical procedures by examining a host of related conceptual issues, data analysis strategies and methodical viewpoints that he has found helpful in his more than 25 years of laboratory study. Lenzenweger, who relies on clinical anecdotes and research recollections, hopes that readers will develop an appreciation for issues related to the causes of schizophrenia and related disorders.

“Schizophrenia is perhaps the costliest form of mental illness,” Lenzenweger says. “In addition, it has a strong genetic component; about 80 percent of what determines schizophrenia is related to genetic influences. All people with schizophrenia share a personality organization known as schizotypy. And the person who carries shizotypy is known as a schizotype. Yet not all schizotypes are schizophrenic. In fact, the vast majority of schizotypes do not go on to develop the illness. So it stands to reason that the study of schizotypic individuals offers a unique perspective on what might cause the illness.”

Lenzenweger says advancing our understanding of the causes and development of schizophrenia will be difficult.

“There will be no simple solution or discovery that remedies the entire problem,” he says. “But I hope that my book will chart the course for the field as it stands currently and show the way forward for the generation to come.”

Published in the July issue of the Econometrics Journal, the study found that although assigning more homework tends to have a larger and more significant impact on mathematics test scores for high- and low-achievers, it is less effective for average achievers.

“We found that if a teacher has a high-achieving group of students, pushing them harder by giving them more homework could be beneficial,” Henderson said. “Similarly, if a teacher has a low-ability class, assigning more homework may help since they may not have been pushed hard enough. But for the average-achieving classes, who may have been given too much homework in an attempt to equate them with the high-achieving classes, educators could be better served by using other methods to improve student achievement. Given these students’ abilities and time constraints, learning by doing may be a more effective tool for improvement.”

According to co-author Ozkan Eren, assistant professor of economics at the University of Nevada, the study examined an area previously unexplored, namely the connection between test scores and extra homework.

“There has been an extensive amount of research examining the influences of students’ achievement, but it has been primarily focused on financial inputs such as class size or teachers’ credentials,” Eren said. “Our study examined the affect that additional homework has on test scores.”

While past studies suggest that nearly all students benefit from being assigned more homework, Henderson and Eren discovered that only about 40 percent of the students surveyed would significantly benefit from an additional hour of homework each night.

The findings should be of particular interest to schools who have responded to the increased pressures to pass state-mandated tests by forcing students to hit the books even harder, Henderson said.

“This does not mean that homework is unimportant for average achievers,” he said. “But it does mean that this population may also benefit from other activities such as sports, art or music, rather than additional hours of math homework.”

So what can teachers take away from the study? Henderson points out that every student is unique and while umbrella policies may benefit some, they generally cannot be applied to all. “In my own personal experience, I see that each semester requires a different approach,” Henderson said. “This is even true when I teach the same course twice in a semester. Different times of the day or lengths of classes require different methods — just as different quality students require different approaches.”

Henderson also pointed out that repetition has been proven effective for some but not all subjects and what may have worked one academic year may need to be altered the next.

“Teachers should consider quality over quantity when it comes to homework assignments,” he said. “In the end it should be up to the individual teacher to decide how to motivate and educate his or her students. One of the most beautiful things about America to me is the creativity that we instill in our primary/secondary schools. I know that we lag behind many countries in test scores, but I am willing to accept that, assuming that we also produce creative, enthusiastic students.”

While Einhorn, a professor of English, is hardly shy about challenging her students, she wasn’t always open to discussing sensitive issues within the classroom. This contradiction was resolved through a 10-year healing process chronicled in her newest book, Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive? It’s a brutally honest portrayal of the abuse she endured at the hands of her own parents.

The book recalls how Einhorn’s parents used Nazi-style techniques in physically and sexually abusing her and her sister. “As a child my sister and I were forced to torture and destroy animals,” she said. “As an adult I was feeling antagonizing anguish because I participated.”

Years after her parents’ deaths, Einhorn realized that she needed closure and wanted to know if the time had come to forgive. She shared her story with hundreds of people, asking them: “What would you do?”

“Do you forgive your parents and how do you forgive yourself?” she asked.

The result — 53 contributors from all walks of life with inherently contradictory viewpoints on forgiveness. Writers include actor Edward Asner, singer and activist Pete Seeger and death-row inmate Billy Ray Riggs.

Colleague and contributor Susan Thornton has known Einhorn for more than 20 years. “This book is an amazing document because it brings so many perspectives together,” Thornton said. “Each time I read it I take away some new knowledge. It is like being part of a conversation among people I would not ordinarily meet. In reading this book one is in the company of Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Mahatma, ‘Hurricane’ Carter, Dr. Bernard Siegel and other well-known figures, as well as in the company of members of the therapeutic community and other individuals like Lois who are survivors of ritual abuse. It’s an extraordinary document.”

The responses are often surprising. While contributors do not agree on whether and how Einhorn can forgive, they seem to agree on the multiplicity of meanings the term forgiveness can carry.

“There are many more points of view about forgiveness than I ever imagined,” said Eric Loeb, the psychologist who helped Einhorn uncover the abuse and a contributor to the book. “Forgiveness is a side effect of healing, and is more of a gift to the forgiver than to the forgiven.”

Einhorn agrees. “You don’t think there are that many takes on forgiveness,” she said. “After reading them all, forgiveness went from being an F-word to being a reality. To me it’s not a goal, it’s a byproduct of healing and healing is an ongoing process.”

This healing experience has proved beneficial to Einhorn not only in her personal life but professionally as well. “What I teach now is very different,” she said. “I designed three courses that clearly are a result of my healing, Communication Ethics and Social Action, Compassionate Nonviolent Communication and Communication and Film.”

Her classroom and teaching style promote an open dialogue where students feel free to disagree on issues such as racism, stereotyping and censorship. “All my courses now deal with sensitive topics with students expressing their ideas and feelings openly, honestly and authentically,” she said. These courses are designed to challenge students and take them outside their comfort zones. “As a society, we’re not taught how to deal with intense pain. Part of what I teach is the need to feel.”

This English professor’s graphic, unflinching account has generated correspondences from fellow abuse victims worldwide. Readers from as far away as Australia, the Netherlands and Norway have reached out to Einhorn to share their own stories of abuse, to thank her for helping them to reach forgiveness and to look at forgiveness in a different light.

In response to the book, Einhorn was honored as the 2004 Heroine of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Peace by the World Forgiveness Alliance. Past recipients include Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

In the afterword to Forgiveness Einhorn writes: “I don’t know if we can create a better world using only compassionate, nonviolent communication, but I do know we can create a better world if we become more compassionate and less violent in our communication with others and ourselves.”

At a recent social gathering, rather than mingle and interact with fellow guests, Gervais couldn’t help but eavesdrop and analyze the context of the laughter around him. “I hear laughter and my mind goes, ‘boink,’” he said. “I have an appreciation for how ‘fake’ laughter can smooth interactions, open people up, maybe even facilitate real laughter.”

Gervais, 22, a senior pursuing a psychobiology/philosophy double major with a minor in anthropology, became interested in laughter while searching for a term paper topic for David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution and Human Behavior class. What started on a whim has evolved into a 2½-year scholarly study, recently published in the Quarterly Review of Biology, a peer-reviewed journal based at the University of Chicago.

Wilson, who initiated and directs the Evolutionary Studies Program, played an advisory role during Gervais’ research. “Laughter seems like a superficial subject but Matt’s synthesis shows that it played a fundamental role in early human evolution and was probably required for our reliance upon culturally transmitted information, eventually in the form of language,” Wilson said.

The significance of the article is indicated by the reviewers’ comments, one of whom states that it will be “highly influential in the years to come.” The research also earned Gervais the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater scholarship award.

Gervais’ study suggests that “laughter, play and positive emotion should facilitate learning, cooperation, creativity, peace of mind – all things for which society at large strives.” The study lends credence to the old saying that laughter is the best medicine, and it provides an evolutionary explanation for why this is so.

Although all the great apes share a rudimentary form of play panting, laughter is uniquely elaborated in humans and has likely been that way since cavemen – more properly called hominids – became bipedal around 4 million years ago. Such elaborated laughter followed from social play, and also from slapstick mishaps, such as someone tripping over a rock.

“Humor is just a disembodied form of the non-serious incongruity that underlies tickling and chasing and play fighting,” Gervais said. Laughing at such stimuli was actually really important in human evolution, as it facilitated social play when life got really hard on the African Savannah.” By occurring selectively during safe periods and eliciting the motivation to play in others, laughter worked to relieve stress and build physical, cognitive and social resources.

The study also suggests that there are two very different forms of laughter. Around 2 million years ago, evolution began to reorganize hominids’ brains, giving them conscious control of their facial muscles. This gave way to what some have called “dark” laughter. Rather than being dependent on social play and positive emotion, we are now able to fake laughter in a way that no other primates can. We can wield language, and so also access laughter to smooth conversational interaction, appease or even embarrass others.

Wilson said Gervais’ research is earning praise from experts because it connects so many disciplines, including neurobiology, social psychology and physical anthropology.

“Evolution is often portrayed as ruthlessly competitive, so it is heartening to know that the capacity to laugh and all that it represents is also something that evolved,” Wilson said. “In general, laughter is associated with positive individual and societal development.”

Since its publication, Gervais’ study has received attention worldwide and has been featured by newsmakers as diverse as the BBC and Asian News International.

Gervais, who was a football linebacker at Liverpool High School and a two-time state high school power lifting champion, has mixed feelings about the recent attention. “It feels great, a vindication of weekends spent holed up in my dorm room, and it’s also a huge plus for grad school applications,” he said. “But then it’s alarming, somehow a confirmation of my uber-dork status, and it’s surreal, too.”

Though about 50 million Americans — roughly one out of every four adults — have been diagnosed with hypertension, that diagnosis is often difficult due to “white coat hypertension,” when patient anxiety or conditioned responses to seeing a doctor’s white coat make blood pressure readings unreliable. In collaboration with Dr. James Jewell at United Health Services and the UHS medical education department, James will use day-long ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to obtain a more accurate diagnosis of hypertension in his study, slated to begin in July.

“Improved diagnosis will improve treatment,” he said. “It will save money for patients, in that unnecessary treatment will be removed, and needed treatment will be better targeted.”

“We’re pleased that we were selected for the ECRIP grant,” said Judith Spencer, director of Medical Education for United Health Services Hospitals. “This is an exciting project because it unites the hospital’s residency programs with the University. We hope to build a strong relationship so that we can benefit from each other’s expertise. The information we gather in this study will help us teach our residents and enable us to provide better care for our patients.”

Approximately 200 patients from the Johnson City Family Care Center and the Wilson Internal Medicine Clinic will be enrolled in the study. Participants will wear an ambulatory blood pressure monitor and log their readings for a 24-hour period. Blood pressure readings will be taken every 15 minutes during waking hours and every hour during sleep. The results will then be correlated with physical activity and emotional events recorded in the logs.

“This has the potential of generating enormous amounts of information about what affects an individual’s blood pressure,” James said. “The research will contribute to the physician’s ability to accurately determine the best way to treat the hypertension.”

James, who will serve as the research mentor, said the data will benefit the individual patient and be used to create a composite of how lifestyle relates to blood pressure.

After the study is completed, James hopes that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring will become routine medical practice, providing better health care for the local population.