Stress milestones

This is the centennial year of the birth of Hans Selye, who promoted the concept of biological stress, introducing the definition of stress as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand upon it” (Selye 1956, 1974). His ideas sprang from clinical observations and animal experiments. He described three stages of response, together comprising the “general adaptation syndrome”: the initial alarm reaction, adaptation to persistent stress, but exhaustion (and death) if stress is unremitting (Selye 1936).

Central to the response was shown to be stimulation of glucocorticoid secretion by the adrenal glands, beneficial in the short term, along with sympathoadrenal activation, in meeting the threats of stress, but if sustained leading eventually to pathology rather than restoration of homeostasis. Much of stress research has been about defining the systems and molecular mechanisms that regulate the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and the mechanisms of actions (good or bad) of glucocorticoids on key body defence systems, and upon the brain. This research has amply confirmed the importance of the HPA axis in responses to stress, and in the sequelae of unremitting stress. Stress research has involved defining the pathways and mechanisms in the brain that process different types of “stressor” (Selye 1975), and lead to the emotional states and cognitive adaptations that accompany stress. However, in the face of the complexity that has emerged, the idea or hypothesis that there is a single non-specific stress response has been challenged (Pacak et al. 1998), although it remains perhaps heuristically useful, and has been modified by appreciation of and searching for more ordered responses, focused on how the body deals with the disturbances to particular homeostatic systems and mechanisms (Goldstein and McEwen 2002). Perhaps “non-specific” should be considered to be that component of stress that is not yet understood in contemporary terms.

Hans Selye was born in Eastern Europe, and emigrated to North America, spending most of his working life in Montreal, Canada. His vision will be commemorated through several stress conferences in 2007,,, appropriately in Austria, Canada, Hungary and Slovakia. Several papers will appear in the Stress journal through 2007 that address Selye's contributions, and importantly the evolution and development of his concepts.

It is perhaps fitting that the Stress journal has also reached important milestones for 2007. This is the first issue of the 10th volume of the journal, which was founded in 1996. An upsurge in submissions to Stress has followed the announcement in June last year by ISI that the journal's first impact factor is 2.967, which ranks highly among cognate journals. Although the significance of impact factors is debatable, a “good” impact factor does reflect on the importance and quality of papers published, and on the importance of the field. With regard to papers published in Stress these measures depend on the willingness of authors in the field to submit their papers, and on the high quality of reviewing of papers provided by the many hundreds of experts, in the very diverse stress-related topics that are covered by this journal, who have given their expertise. My acknowledgement of this contribution includes thanks for the support and help given to me by members of the Stress editorial board in the review process.

In response to the continuing growth of the Stress journal, the publishers have committed to full electronic submission and editorial handling of papers during the next few months. In addition, the option is now available to authors to opt to pay for open access publication when their papers are accepted for publication. In any event, to facilitate speedy publication, papers are now published on-line ahead of publication in the paper version of the journal.

It will continue to be my job to develop the Stress journal as a primary vehicle for publication of original research reports and expert reviews to disseminate the most interesting, novel and informative contributions that expand knowledge and understanding in the field of stress research. Remarkably, this still builds on the ideas of Hans Selye, and it is notable and reassuring that many of Selye's former students, and their students in turn, contribute to the success of this journal. Arguably, the most dramatic recent developments in understanding stress include progress in identifying developmental and molecular genetic origins of inter-individual variations in susceptibility to stressors, which have the prospect of enabling better coping with stress. Selye (1985) envisaged that “each individual inherits a certain amount of adaptation energy, the magnitude of which is determined by his genetic background, his parents.”, and a current aim is to optimise the amount of the parental gift, genetically and epigenetically conferred, of “adaptation energy” (King and Laplante 2005; Roman and Nylander 2005; Lesage et al. 2006; Meijer 2006).John A. RussellEditor-in-ChiefEdinburgh

Notes

^* Hans [János] Hugo Bruno Selye Austrian–Hungarian endocrinologist, born January 26, 1907, Vienna, Austria-Hungary; died October 16, 1982, Montreal, Canada. He graduated from the German University in Prague in 1929 and worked at the Institute of Experimental Pathology until 1931, when he obtained his PhD. He was then awarded a Rockefeller scholarship, went to Johns Hopkins University, researching in biochemistry, and in 1932 he moved to Montreal, as lecturer in biochemistry at Mc Gill University. He remained in Montreal, was Professor of Histology from 1941, first director from 1945 of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery at Montreal University, and co-founded the Canadian Institute of Stress in 1979. He published 39 books and over 1700 papers.

^† Ninth Symposium On Catecholamines And Other Neurotransmitters In Stress, June 16–June 21, 2007 Smolenice Castle, Slovakia Symposium Secretariat, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Centre of Excellence, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Vlarska 3, 833 06 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone] [email protected]; http://www.stress.sav.sk

^‡ Hans Selye and Sainte Justine Hospital Centennial Symposium/World Stress Congress: Stress: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Implications, July 11–14, 2007, Université Du Québec À Montréal (Uqam) Montreal, Quebec, Canada Milagros Salas-Prato, Chair, Local Organizing Committee [email protected]

^¶ 3rd Cell Stress Society International Congress on Stress Responses in Biology and Medicine August 23–26, 2007 Budapest, Hungary Centennial Anniversary of Hans Selye, the Founder of the Stress Concept http://www.cellstress.uconn.edu/conferences.html Conference Registration: www.stress07.com

^§ 6th World Congress on Stress Organised by the International Society for the Investigation of Stress 11–13 October 2007, Vienna, Austria c/o Congress Office, ICMS Pty Ltd, 84 Queensbridge Street, Southbank Victoria 3006, Australia http://www.icms.com.au/stress2007/