Dong-A University

Stress-related psychiatric disorders are underpinned by dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus; however, the underlying circuit-specific mechanisms remain ill-defined. Here, we identified the basolateral amygdala (BLA)-to-ventral hippocampus (vHPC) circuit as a critical regulator of stress-coping behaviors. Although chronic social defeat stress reduced the mGluR5 expression in both the vHPC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), our circuit-specific behavioral analysis revealed that the activation of the BLA-vHPC circuit produced a significantly greater improvement in coping behavior compared with the activation of the BLA-mPFC circuit. Subsequently, we mechanistically demonstrated that reduced mGluR5 in the vHPC directly impairs CREB-mediated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) transcription, a molecular cascade tightly linked to passive coping. These findings reveal a novel circuit-specific molecular mechanism governing stress recovery, positioning the mGluR5-BDNF pathway as a highly specific and promising therapeutic target for future gene therapy interventions.

This study aimed to investigate the association between emotional labor and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among Korean workers.

This study used data from the Korean Work, Health, and Sleep Study. Emotional labor was measured using the Korean Emotional Labour Scale-11, and participants were classified into high- and low-risk groups. CVD risk factors assessed included smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep duration, obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Generalized estimating equation models were used to analyze the associations.

High-risk emotional labor was significantly associated with increased odds of smoking, lack of exercise, and insufficient sleep. Chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia also showed elevated odds in the high-risk group, particularly among males.

This study suggests emotional labor as a critical occupational stressor contributing to various CVD risk factors.