Objective
Capitalising on the theoretical work, research context and collaborations initiated in the Third Medical and Health Research Programme, the Concerted Action was authorised to address three major scientific objectives:
Objective 1: Understanding the links between behaviour, emotion, neuroendocrine and immunological processes.
Objective 2: Standardisation and implementation of techniques to assess the role of stress in cardiovascular processes.
Objective 3: Analysis of the processes of psychological coping and social support in relation to breakdown in adaptation.
Within these areas, the aims of the Concerted Actions were to promote the identification and quantification of appropriate parameters, and to consider how to prevent or modify maladaptive responses for the betterment of health and well-being throughout the European Community. It should be emphasised that the parameters to be considered ranged widely across relevant disciplines, so included measures at the endocrine, immune, autonomic, behavioural, cognitive, affective and social levels.
Collaborative research has been carried out in centres in European countries into factors causing breakdown in human adaptation which is a cause of poor health and mental illness. A wide range of parameters have been considered with studies in endocrinology, immunology, autonomic functions, psychophysiology, social psychiatry, molecular biology, etc.
Interactions between the brain and immune system have been studied. In particular, the role of interleukin-1 in regulating brain and neuroendocrine function has been studied. It appears that there is a feedback circuit involving interleukin-1 and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal system. The modulation of vasopressin (AVP) in the brain has been studied using in situ hybridization methods for measuring the expression of AVP gene in the stria terminalis.
Glucocorticoid receptor function in the brain has been assessed and hypercortisolaemia has been related to the balance of corticosteroid receptor types in the limbic system.
Methodology for the analysis of effects of stress on cardiovascular processes has been assessed. Mental stress tests have been standardized and power spectrum analysis utilized for measurement of cardiovascular responses. The accuracy and validity of new continuous noninvasive techniques for measuring ambulatory blood pressure have been confirmed.
Measures of psychological coping and defence have been devised and evaluated together with utilization of new biological markers (eg salivatory cortisol, sweat gland counts). Studies have been carried out between different forms of coping and immune suppression during emotional stress. New techniques have been developed for assessing subjective states during performance and links with physiological processes have been explored. A European database has been set up to evaluate health care, lifestyle and health promotion throughout the European countries.
Breakdown in human adaptation is a major factor contributing to poor health and mental well-being in contemporary society. The research that underpins world-wide concern about this problem and its management is drawn from a broad range of disciplines in the biological, behavioural and medical sciences. There is a danger that as research strategies become more refined and sophisticated, knowledge will become more fragmentary, and a diminution in communication between researchers with different perspectives will occur. As part of the Third Medical and Health Research Programme, the European Community decided to initiate a group of Concerted Actions within the field of breakdown in human adaptation. A series of workshops identified key issues, from which it was decided that four areas would benefit particularly from the 'European-added value' that accrues from Concerted Action status. These areas were quantification of parameters for the study of breakdown in adaptation, and breakdown in relation to cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease and performance decrement (Ballieux et al 1984). Work within this family of Concerted Actions commenced in 1984.
The Concerted Action on Breakdown in Adaptation: Quantification of Parameters was continued from 1988 to 1991 within the Fourth Community Medical and Health Research Programme as one of the projects within the area of 'Environment and Lifestyle-related Health Problems'. COMAC-BIOLOGY reaffirmed that breakdown in adaptation is a multidisciplinary problem where no one research approach is likely to be successful in isolation, and where no one research institution has all the necessary skills and resources. It was also recognised that the identification, quantification and standardisation of parameters was an essential requirement for scientific progress.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine psychiatry
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine cardiology cardiovascular diseases
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine endocrinology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine gastroenterology
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Coordinator
LONDON
United Kingdom
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