Correlations between the estrogen steroid hormone estradiol and human aggression have not been consistent. In a meta-analysis of 14 studies with 1820 participants, Wang et al. established a positive correlation between estradiol and human aggression, albeit a weak one. Participants’ sex and age, the measure of aggression employed, and quality assessment of the literature in the study influenced the relationship. Further studies are necessary to ensure sufficient statistical power to detect and understand subtle relationships between estradiol and aggression.

Pages 754–762; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001247

Social support has been linked to a range of beneficial health outcomes, but the physiological mechanisms and processes underlying effects of social support are not well characterized. Drawing on functional magnetic resonance imaging and health-related outcome data, Lin et al. found that neural measures of yielding—the reduction of brain activity during social support—moderated the link between social support and health (n = 78). An interaction between dorsal anterior cingulate cortex-related yielding and perceived social support showed that the combinations of low yielding and low social support or high yielding and high social support predicted lower C-reactive protein levels and higher baseline heart rate variability.

Pages 763–771; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001238

Therapeutic communication could increase patient comfort during medical procedures. Berna et al. tested whether a positive message delivered during peripheral intravenous catheter (PIC) insertion could lead to analgesia and anxiolysis, in comparison to a “usual communication” control group. The study also explored whether the message’s effect would be enhanced by an empathetic interaction with the nurse performing the procedure compared with an audio-taped message. Contrary to the hypothesis, the positive communication intervention did not affect pain or anxiety reports following PIC insertion. A therapeutic communication intervention might not be sufficient to modulate mild procedural pain in the emergency room.

Pages 772–777; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001246

In this replication, Slotta et al. hypothesized that people with pathological illness anxiety (PIA) differ fundamentally in their classification of bodily sensations from those without PIA. Asked to categorize respiratory difficulty in a resistive breathing task, individuals with PIA (n = 39) showed a systematic “wait and see” approach in that they classified higher resistive loads as low loads more readily than controls (n = 35). Altered respiroception in PIA might stem from biased perception during the training phase, the recognition phase, biased memory, or a combination of these. Its exact characteristics remain unknown and future research must address the challenge of developing reliable and valid paradigms that account for the variability of interoceptive biases.

Pages 778–784; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001244

Autonomic regulation of organ and tissues may give rise to disruptions of typical functions. The Body Perception Questionnaire Short Form (BPQ-SF) includes items that were developed to assess autonomic symptoms in daily life. In a pair of studies, Kolacz et al. tested the factor structure of self-reported autonomic symptoms in an online sample (n = 2048) and associations with sensor measures in a community sample (n = 62). Low autonomic symptoms were associated with optimal patterns of autonomic activation and recovery, moderate symptoms with prolonged sympathetic activation, and most severe symptoms with impaired autonomic coordination. Results support the utility and interpretation of autonomic symptom self-reports in research and clinical applications.

Pages 785–794; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001250

eHealth is useful in offering lifestyle interventions for patients with cardiometabolic diseases. There are inconsistent findings about whether eHealth should be supported by a human professional or whether self-help interventions are equally effective. Rodrigues et al. meta-analyzed 102 randomized controlled trials (n = 20,781) on cardiometabolic diseases (cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus) and eHealth lifestyle interventions. There was a positive effect of eHealth lifestyle interventions on clinical and behavioral health outcomes but no significant difference between self-help and human-supported eHealth interventions’ effectiveness.

Pages 795–804; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001242

Midlife obesity is a risk factor for dementia, whereas obesity in older age may be protective of cognition. Underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon and the longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and cognitive function remain unclear. Haley et al. modeled the effects of baseline BMI on within-person trajectories of cognitive decline (n = 1339). Higher baseline BMI was associated with slower cognitive decline in participants with and without a mild cognitive impairment diagnosis. Higher baseline BMI was associated with better memory and worse executive function and not associated with language. Domain-specific effects may indicate multiple, independent physiological mechanisms rather than a single mechanism.

Pages 805–812; http://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001245

Depression and fatigue are common among cancer patients and are associated with germline genetic variation. Hoogland et al. examined genetic associations with depression and fatigue in the year after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) (n = 59). Mean levels of depression and fatigue did not change significantly over time. Variants in genes regulating the serotonergic system (HTR2A) and lipid metabolism (SORL1) were associated with changes in depression and fatigue in allogeneic HCT patients, implicating patients’ own genetic inheritance as well as that of donors.

Pages 813–819; https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001251