When Good Vacations Go Bad: Are You Covered? ? Central ...

The kids are out of school, the days are getting longer, the weather is warm, and you have the car packed and ready to go.?It?s summer vacation time!? You?ve been planning and saving for months for that perfect summer vacation with the family, but what happens if not everything goes as planned?? You may be asking yourself, ?Does my insurance coverage protect me and my family from mishaps, accidents, and losses while on vacation??

It?s always a good idea to contact your local independent insurance agent prior to your trip if you have any concerns about how your current insurance coverage may apply to your specific vacation plans and needs.? Things you may want to discuss with your agent include coverage for vacation home rentals, automobile rentals, and personal watercraft rentals to make sure you are fully protected in the event something goes wrong and you experience a loss.

Here?s some examples of?potential vacation losses and the coverage you may or may not have:

Misplaced or lost luggage or other items of personal property taken with you on your vacation.? Most homeowners policies will not offer coverage for personal property lost or misplaced whether at home or on vacation.? An exception to this may be items that are scheduled under an inland marine policy which typically provides coverage for mysterious disappearance.

Personal property brought with you on vacation is stolen.? A typical homeowners policy will likely provide coverage for theft of personal property taken with you on vacation unless the theft occurs in a camper or watercraft.

Personal property you have with you on vacation burns in a fire.? Typically, a homeowners policy will provide coverage for this type of loss.

Personal property with you on vacation is lost due to a hurricane.? Most standard homeowners policies will exclude damage to personal property caused by hurricanes under the policy?s water damage exclusion.

The vacation cabin you are renting for a week catches on fire when you forget to turn off the stove burner.? A typical homeowners policy may provide liability coverage for your negligence in causing fire damage to a temporary residence you are renting.

You run into a telephone pole with the rental car while on vacation.? See our blog post?http://blog.central-insurance.com/2012/05/14/road-trip-rentals-are-you-covere... this one!

You rent a jet ski to cruise around the lake while on vacation and accidentally run the jet ski into another boat causing damage to both the jet ski and the other boat.? Most likely, a standard homeowners policy will not provide coverage for damage to the jet ski.? There may be liability coverage under a standard homeowners policy for damage caused to the other boat.? This coverage depends on the specifics of your homeowners policy but often times liability coverage for watercraft you might rent is based on the size of the watercraft or the type and size of the watercraft?s motors.? It is very important you know the size of the watercraft and it?s motor(s) and the type of motor so you can confirm your? policy will provide liability coverage.

?I hope all of you have wonderful and safe family vacations this year.? I would love to hear what exciting trips?you have?planned or any past vacation experiences?that did not go as planned and resulted in an insurance claim.

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Lil Wayne Skates Trukfit Clothing Line Into Macy's

'It feels awesome. I'm pretty proud of myself,' Lil Wayne tells MTV News as he launches brand alongside skater Stevie Williams' DGK.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Felicia Morris


Lil Wayne
Photo: MTV News

Lil Wayne has a lot to be proud of, and last week, the Young Money boss got to celebrate yet another victory: Weezy struck a deal that has landed his Trukfit apparel line in Macy's. On Friday, Tunechi marked the occasion at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles alongside his skateboarder buddy Stevie Williams, who placed his DGK line in the retail chain as well.

"It feels awesome. I told my mom, and she was like, 'That's great!' She shops at Macy's," Lil Wayne told MTV News with a childlike laugh. "I'm pretty proud of myself, pat on the back."

Wayne launched Trukfit in January, and in just five short months, landed the line in one of the biggest retail chains in the country. It's no small feat, considering the inspiration for the line came from folks in Weezy's old New Orleans neighborhood who couldn't afford to shop in high-end retail chains for brands like Ralph Lauren's Polo or Tommy Hilfiger.

"There was a truck that would come around the neighborhood for the less-fortunate people that can't go to those stores, and he would have those same items — those Polos, those Tommys — for less," Tunechi explained. "If you were known to have that outfit, then it was not called an 'outfit,' it was called a 'truck fit.' "

The Grammy Award-winning rap star's passion isn't just limited to the recording studio: He's shown a true love for skateboarding as well, so it's fitting that Weezy would share the honor with celebrity skater Stevie Williams.

Williams launched his DGK (Dirty Ghetto Kids) line back in 2002. "Me and Lil Wayne are friends," he said. "It's not collaborated, but it's a collaborated effort between all three brands: DGK, Trukfit and Macy's. It's a good thing."

Have you added any of Lil Wayne's Trukfit to your wardrobe yet? Let us know in the comments!

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Actress Amanda Bynes pleads not guilty in DUI case

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2009 file photo, Amanda Bynes arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Los Angeles prosecutors charged Bynes on Tuesday June 5, 2012 with driving under the influence in April, when she was arrested after grazing a sheriff's car in West Hollywood. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2009 file photo, Amanda Bynes arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Los Angeles prosecutors charged Bynes on Tuesday June 5, 2012 with driving under the influence in April, when she was arrested after grazing a sheriff's car in West Hollywood. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

(AP) ? An attorney for actress Amanda Bynes has entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf in a driving under the influence case.

The actress did not attend the arraignment Wednesday in Beverly Hills. She was charged Tuesday, roughly two months after she was arrested after grazing a sheriff's patrol car.

The actress also directed a Twitter message at President Barack Obama asking him to fire the deputy who arrested her, writing she doesn't drink. After her arrest, the 26-year-old refused a test that would have determined if she was drunk or used drugs.

District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says a pretrial hearing is set for July 18.

Bynes is known for her role in the WB's "What I Like About You."

Associated Press

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The 9 Most Terrible Tech Tattoos [Bad Ideas]

You're free to ink whatever permanent monstrosity you want on your body, but when it comes to technology tattoos, be careful! Some tech tats have expiration dates. All technologies will eventually be replaced, but some will be remembered more fondly than others—and some won't be remembered at all. More »


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PETA goes porno with its new .xxx site

PETA

One of the "sexy photos" PETA includes as part of its new .xxx site.

By Suzanne Choney

PETA's new website using the ".xxx" domain may have tongues wagging ? and maybe tails, too. Yes, you can see porn star Ron Jeremy in a video, but it's a campy but heartfelt welcome to the site, not some skin flick. And there are lots of scantily dressed?PETA babes protesting animal cruelty and the use of fur. But the site is not what most folks looking for ".xxx" sites will expect, to be sure.

The content on the site that is truly X-rated is a collection of disturbing photos and videos of how animals are treated. You should be warned that the site is not only NSFW (not safe for work), but NSFW in this way: Not soothing for weepers. Or anyone with a shred of sensitivity.

That's PETA's point, of course. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (here's the group's regular ."org" website) wants you to be aware of the awful conditions some animals experience, by organizations as well as individuals. You will see some of those shared in the "hard-core videos" area of the site.

There is a lighter side too, including "sex tips" ? for vegans.?For example: "Asparagus is high in vitamin E, which increases blood and oxygen flow to the genitals, and potassium, which is important for healthy sex hormone production, making this veggie a well-known aphrodisiac." Also: "Men should eat cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and other nuts to take in a healthy amount of zinc, which keeps guys potent and helps prevent prostate problems."

Adult-movie star Jeremy makes fun of himself in a video ? "This is for free, for charity ... what the hell was I thinking?"???as he talks seriously about spaying and neutering (of animals, not himself).

Whether you're a PETA fan or foe, you have to give the group credit for creating one of the inventive .xxx-rated sites ever. Even though "inventive" doesn't normally count when it comes to the world of .xxx.

TODAY's Jenna Wolfe reports on the top annoying things about technology, such automatic spell-check that adds errors to messages. Experts weigh in, suggesting that people not rely so heavily on their devices.

?

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

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Killer Wireless-N 1202 WiFi / Bluetooth cards in Alienware gaming laptops eyes-on

Killer WirelessN 1202 WiFi  Bluetooth cards in Alienware gaming laptops eyeson

Last month, Dell announced that its Alienware gaming laptops would be outfitted with Qualcomm Atheros' Killer Wireless-N 1202 WiFi cards. Aside from sporting low-latency capabilities, the add-on also sports some Bluetooth connectivity. Here at E3, we were able to spend some time with the tech to see just how the component and its accompanying software prioritizes your bandwidth and keeps your Call of Duty multi-player sessions in the #1 slot. The Killer application allows you to set different priority levels for anything that would claim a chunk of your internet connection. For example, if you keep your title of choice in the top spot, the tech will only download files or access websites whenever Skyrim isn't trying to send hi-pri info across the interwebs. By default the rankings are as follows from high to low: games, real-time chat (Skype), buffer-tolerant programs (Netflix and iTunes) and file transfer or low-level systems utilities. Until the end of June, you'll only be able to snag the tech in Dell's gaming laptops. We laid our peepers on the interface at the Alienware booth, so hit up the gallery below to take a look at what you can expect with the UI.

Killer Wireless-N 1202 WiFi / Bluetooth cards in Alienware gaming laptops eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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the entertaining house: all roped up!

Decorating on a budget can be challenging and frustrating. We all want our homes to resemble the ones we oggle over when we pour through such opulent glossies as Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, and House Beautiful, to name a few. I like nice things. I have a certain style - a certain way of decorating. I like clean lines, I like a comfortable, lived-in, inviting feel...I want my home to have a sophisticated and yet fun flair. My home needs to reflect my personality, my family, my passions, my past. My home is, in essence, a three?dimensional?scrapbook of my life.

Right now I do not have much. Most of what I owned I shared with my ex-husband. He has it all now and save for a few items that I was able to bring with me, I have to start all over... on a very limited budget. And yes, it's so very frustrating to have to start from scratch, but it's also a good thing. I have family antiques and heirlooms that represent my family, my history. I have artwork and photographs to represent my past. I am slowly getting new furnishings and accessories to represent my own personal style. And each project that I create by hand, represents not only my style but my passion. Slowly and piece by piece it will all come together. It will come together because I made it come together. It will have been created by me. Each new piece of furniture, each new cleaning supply, each new frame on the wall... As my home slowly starts to take shape I not only see a work in progress, but I see the results taking shape before my eyes. It's a wonderful thing... I see my world changing, morphing, filled with possibility and all the wonder that new?beginnings bring. It's still Springtime - rebirth, new beginning, hope... And that's all I see ahead of me.

I like to decorate my home to reflect the seasons. So as summer approaches, not only do our wardrobes lighten up, but so does our decor. I'm a huge fan of bringing the outdoors inside - I always have been. I've always been inspired by nature and this is reflected in my home. In the summertime I like to accent with driftwood, shells and pretty stones that we find along the shore. I also do a lot with twine. It's so inexpensive and so pretty in a clean and rustic way. Using twine is a perfect way to add some summer detail. Twine is easy to decorate with and I hope you'll be inspired by the following images.

My?obsession all started last summer when I decided to repurpose my used Orangina bottles!

Originally posted with directions here
The above is so easy to recreate. The glass bowls and containers are most likely in a cabinet in your home, if not you can find them at the dollar store, Walmart, or some place of that nature. The rope, of all sizes and color, can be found at any hardware store. This look is so simple and yet makes such a statement.


I love these pears! They were created from used light bulbs! Ingenious, n'est ce pas?

?I just adore this lampshade!

What a clever way to dress up flower pots!


Inexpensive Christmas tree lights, or as we like to call them,
Fairy lights and twine balls from the dollar store...
or..

make your own twine balls!

?Twine-wrapped mason jars make for lovely little vases!

I love the idea of roping up your tableware!

So, Annie, I think it's time to get your glue gun!

I'd love to know what ideas not pictured you have to share with me!

XOXO

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10 Things to Know for Tuesday

From right, Sir Paul McCartney and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall join onstage Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, centre, as she waves to spectators at the end of the Queen's Jubilee Concert in front of Buckingham Palace, London, Monday, June 4, 2012. The concert is a part of four days of celebrations to mark the 60 year reign of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

From right, Sir Paul McCartney and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall join onstage Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, centre, as she waves to spectators at the end of the Queen's Jubilee Concert in front of Buckingham Palace, London, Monday, June 4, 2012. The concert is a part of four days of celebrations to mark the 60 year reign of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Rescue workers search for bodies at the site of a plane crash in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, June 4, 2012. A passenger plane carrying more than 150 people crashed in Nigeria's largest city on Sunday, government officials said. Firefighters pulled at least one body from a building that was damaged by the crash and searched for survivors as several charred corpses could be seen in the rubble.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

FILE - This March 25, 2007, file image, made from video posted on a website frequented by Islamist militants and provided via the IntelCenter, shows al-Qaida militant Abu Yahia al-Libi. A CIA drone strike Monday, June 4, 2012, targeted al-Qaida's second in command, Abu Yahia al-Libi, in Pakistan, but it was unclear whether he was among those hit, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials say fewer than five people were hit, although Pakistani officials say more than a dozen people were killed in two days of strikes in Pakistan. (AP Photo/IntelCenter, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO

Late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories of interest (times EDT):

1. YEAR OF TURMOIL IN WISCONSIN LEADS TO TODAY

Both sides of the recall election targeting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are prepared for a razor-thin margin as the Republican tries to become the first U.S. governor to fend off a recall effort.

2. CHOOSING A JURY IN MOLESTATION TRIAL OF PENN STATE'S SANDUSKY

Jury selection begins in the trial of the former defensive coordinator for Penn State. He is expected to be in the courtroom for the start of the trial that is expected to last several weeks.

3. TARGET: AL-QAIDA'S NO. 2

A CIA drone strike targeted Abu Yahia al-Libi in Pakistan and Pakistani intelligence officials say they have evidence he was in the house hit by the strike. But they don't know yet whether he was killed. U.S. officials say they were "optimistic" he was killed.

4. POLITICS OF POT PLAY OUT ON NATIONAL STAGE

Colorado voters decide whether to legalize marijuana in November. President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who both oppose it, are finding themselves unwittingly ensnared in the legalization debate - and both may want to take it more seriously if their race in Colorado is close.

5. RAINS SLOW SEARCH IN NIGERIA PLANE CRASH

Emergency crews can't yet return to the site of the crash because of a torrential downpour and heavy winds. It's still unclear how many people on the ground died, in addition to the 153 passengers killed Sunday.

6. STARE WITH CARE: VENUS PASSES THE SUN

Venus won't pass in front of the sun again until 2117. Says one expert: "''In terms of rarity, to be here at a time when it's happening, you almost have to look at it." Just make sure to have a filter, not your bare eyes.

7. SCHOOLS DON'T GIVE 'PINK SLIME' A PASSING GRADE

All but three states decide against ordering ground beef with the product known as "pink slime" for meals in the National School Lunch Program.

8. FATE OF CALIFORNIA GAY MARRIAGE CASE

A federal appeals court plans to announce if it will rehear a legal challenge to the state's same-sex marriage ban or send the landmark case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

9. CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES: QUEEN ELIZABETH II TO CAP JUBILEE WITH SPEECH

The queen will make the rare address to the nation after a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral, a lunch in a medieval hall and a carriage procession back to Buckingham Palace.

10. PLAYER'S STRUGGLES FUEL STUDIES

Former NFL player George Koonce uses his own struggles - including depression and even a suicide attempt - to fuel a dissertation on the issues retired players face. He's going for a doctorate in philosophy at Marquette University.

Associated Press

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The Best Guide On How To Be Successful In Internet Marketing ...

?

As you face marketing on the internet, you will have some important decisions to make. One involves quantity versus quality, which affects the price you set. Do you want to put out a manufactured product and try to sell a lot at a low price? Or a handmade product at a higher price? The tips below will help you make these important decisions before you start selling.

When it comes to email marketing, be thinking long term strategy, not short term gain. Email can be a very powerful tool in your internet marketing arsenal, but only when real thought has been put behind it. A great place to begin is to calendar out your email touch points over the course of the next twelve months and stick to it. The follow through is essential, as a big piece of email marketing is consistency and repetition!

Include something free with every purchase made at your website. Even something as simple as a key chain or bumper sticker makes customers feel valued. If you include free samples of other products you offer, you will also give the customer the incentive to return to your business to buy the new product.

Internet Marketing

An important tip regarding Internet marketing is to be sure that you understand web analytics and how to apply them to your marketing strategy. This is important because this is where you all of the hard data about visitors to your site such as their location, where they visited, now many people visited, and where traffic came from.

Have a website! This may seem like the most obvious idea on the planet, but there are some businesses that attempt to market online without ever setting one up. Even if you only sell your products in-store, internet marketing is best successful when you have a website. You can use it to tell people what you do sell in your company, and entice them into visiting you in person.

Internet Marketing Business

When trying to get an Internet marketing business known, try to get your web site?s pictures added to an engine search. Even if your Internet marketing business does come up in a search engine, you will have more success when someone does an image search. Be sure that you name your images with keywords that are relevant.

A good way to support your internet marketing business is to start a blog using its name. Write a background story about your business, suggest ways to use your product, pass along comments you have received from other customers. This will keep your customers? interest engaged in your business and strengthen your relationship with them.

Internet Marketing Strategies

No matter what other internet marketing strategies you employ for advertising, you must use Google Adsense. Google is not the #1 internet company in America for no reason. Google is where everyone goes to search, and in one way or another, Google is involved in most business online. Google Adsense, when utilized correctly, is a powerful tool for advertising.

Don?t be afraid to try new internet marketing strategies. Often these ideas do not pay off right away, so do not get discouraged. When you first try something new, do not let the instant results or lack thereof determine whether you will continue with this way of marketing on the internet.

We hope these tips have helped you see the pros and cons of different approaches to internet marketing. Thinking clearly about the type of product you want to sell, its price and marketplace will help you put your best foot forward. Planning ahead will lay the groundwork for your business to succeed.

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Stress may delay brain development in early years

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 6-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jamie Hanson
jlhanson5@wisc.edu
608-262-5148
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON Stress may affect brain development in children altering growth of a specific piece of the brain and abilities associated with it according to researchers at the University of WisconsinMadison.

"There has been a lot of work in animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use," says Jamie Hanson, a UWMadison psychology graduate student. "We have now found similar associations in humans, and found that more exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes."

Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of what the researchers refer to as spatial working memory. They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, which will be published in the June 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Brain scans revealed that the anterior cingulate, a portion of the prefrontal cortex believed to play key roles in spatial working memory, takes up less space in children with greater exposure to very stressful situations.

"These are subtle differences, but differences related to important cognitive abilities" Hanson says.

But they maybe not irreversible differences.

"We're not trying to argue that stress permanently scars your brain. We don't know if and how it is that stress affects the brain," Hanson says. "We only have a snapshot one MRI scan of each subject and at this point we don't understand whether this is just a delay in development or a lasting difference. It could be that, because the brains is very plastic, very able to change, that children who have experienced a great deal of stress catch up in these areas."

The researchers determined stress levels through interviews with children ages 9 to 14 and their parents. The research team, which included UWMadison psychology professors Richard Davidson and Seth Pollak and their labs, collected expansive biographies of stressful events from slight to severe.

"Instead of focusing in on one specific type of stress, we tried to look at a range of stressors," Hanson says. "We wanted to know as much as we could, and then use all this information to later to get an idea of how challenging and chronic and intense each experience was for the child."

Interestingly, there was little correlation between cumulative life stress and age. That is, children who had several more years of life in which to experience stressful episodes were no more likely than their younger peers to have accumulated a length stress resume. Puberty, on the other hand, typically went hand-in-hand with heavier doses of stress.

The researchers, whose work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, also took note of changes in brain tissue known as white matter and gray matter. In the important brain areas that varied in volume with stress, the white and gray matter volumes were lower in tandem.

White matter, Hanson explained, is like the long-distance wiring of the brain. It connects separated parts of the brain so that they can share information. Gray matter "does the math," Hanson says. "It takes care of the processing, using the information that gets shared along the white matter connections."

Gray matter early in development appears to enable flexibility; children can play and excel at many different activities. But as kids age and specialize, gray matter thins. It begins to be "pruned" after puberty, while the amount of white matter grows into adulthood.

"For both gray and white matter, we actually see smaller volumes associated with high stress," Hanson says. "Those kinds of effects across different kinds of tissue, those are the things we would like to study over longer periods of time. Understanding how these areas change can give you a better picture of whether this is just a delay in development or more lasting."

More study could also show the researchers how to help children who have experienced an inordinate amount of stress.

"There are groups around the country doing working memory interventions to try to train or retrain people on this particular cognitive ability and improve performance," Hanson says. "Understanding if and how stress affects these processes could help us know whether there may be similar interventions that could aid children living in stressful conditions, and how this may affect the brain."

###

Chris Barncard, 608-890-0465, barncard@wisc.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 6-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jamie Hanson
jlhanson5@wisc.edu
608-262-5148
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON Stress may affect brain development in children altering growth of a specific piece of the brain and abilities associated with it according to researchers at the University of WisconsinMadison.

"There has been a lot of work in animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use," says Jamie Hanson, a UWMadison psychology graduate student. "We have now found similar associations in humans, and found that more exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes."

Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of what the researchers refer to as spatial working memory. They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, which will be published in the June 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Brain scans revealed that the anterior cingulate, a portion of the prefrontal cortex believed to play key roles in spatial working memory, takes up less space in children with greater exposure to very stressful situations.

"These are subtle differences, but differences related to important cognitive abilities" Hanson says.

But they maybe not irreversible differences.

"We're not trying to argue that stress permanently scars your brain. We don't know if and how it is that stress affects the brain," Hanson says. "We only have a snapshot one MRI scan of each subject and at this point we don't understand whether this is just a delay in development or a lasting difference. It could be that, because the brains is very plastic, very able to change, that children who have experienced a great deal of stress catch up in these areas."

The researchers determined stress levels through interviews with children ages 9 to 14 and their parents. The research team, which included UWMadison psychology professors Richard Davidson and Seth Pollak and their labs, collected expansive biographies of stressful events from slight to severe.

"Instead of focusing in on one specific type of stress, we tried to look at a range of stressors," Hanson says. "We wanted to know as much as we could, and then use all this information to later to get an idea of how challenging and chronic and intense each experience was for the child."

Interestingly, there was little correlation between cumulative life stress and age. That is, children who had several more years of life in which to experience stressful episodes were no more likely than their younger peers to have accumulated a length stress resume. Puberty, on the other hand, typically went hand-in-hand with heavier doses of stress.

The researchers, whose work was funded by the National Institutes of Health, also took note of changes in brain tissue known as white matter and gray matter. In the important brain areas that varied in volume with stress, the white and gray matter volumes were lower in tandem.

White matter, Hanson explained, is like the long-distance wiring of the brain. It connects separated parts of the brain so that they can share information. Gray matter "does the math," Hanson says. "It takes care of the processing, using the information that gets shared along the white matter connections."

Gray matter early in development appears to enable flexibility; children can play and excel at many different activities. But as kids age and specialize, gray matter thins. It begins to be "pruned" after puberty, while the amount of white matter grows into adulthood.

"For both gray and white matter, we actually see smaller volumes associated with high stress," Hanson says. "Those kinds of effects across different kinds of tissue, those are the things we would like to study over longer periods of time. Understanding how these areas change can give you a better picture of whether this is just a delay in development or more lasting."

More study could also show the researchers how to help children who have experienced an inordinate amount of stress.

"There are groups around the country doing working memory interventions to try to train or retrain people on this particular cognitive ability and improve performance," Hanson says. "Understanding if and how stress affects these processes could help us know whether there may be similar interventions that could aid children living in stressful conditions, and how this may affect the brain."

###

Chris Barncard, 608-890-0465, barncard@wisc.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


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