Publications
All papers were published in peer-reviewed and impacted journals.
The abstracts of the papers are listed below, the full papers can be viewed by clicking on the link below the abstract.
Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in Three Generations of Czech and Slovak Holocaust Survivors
Marek Preiss, Dita Šamánková, Jiří Štipl, Monika Fňašková, Markéta Nečasová, Petr Bob, Radek Heissler, Alice Prokopová, Tereza Heřmánková, Veronika Juričková, Edel Sanders, Eva Wagenknechtová and Ivan Rektor
The psychological consequences of trauma related to the Holocaust have been primarily studied in samples derived from Israel, North America, and Western Europe. Few studies have examined postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The present study focused on three generations living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after World War II (WWII): Holocaust survivors (71-95 years of age), their children (30-73 years of age), and their grandchildren (15-48 years of age). We compared scores on measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS; the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version) and posttraumatic growth (PTG; the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory) derived from three focal samples with scores from age-matched comparison participants. Higher PTSS scores emerged for Holocaust survivors in all generations, η2P=.087 but only participants in the first generation reported higher PTG scores relative to the comparison group, with small effect sizes for the overall group differences, η2P=.029. These results are discussed in the historical and political context of postwar Czechoslovakia.
Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study
Monika Fňašková, Pavel Říha, Marek Preiss, Petr Bob, Markéta Nečasová, Eva Koriťáková and Ivan Rektor
Background: We aimed to assess
the lifelong impact of extreme stress on people who survived the Holocaust. We
hypothesised that the impact of extreme trauma is detectable even after more
than 70 years of an often
complicated and stressful post-war life.
Methods: Psychological testing was performed on 44 Holocaust survivors (HS;
median age 81.5 years; 29 women; 26 HS were under the age of 12 years in 1945)
and 31 control participants without a personal or family history of the
Holocaust (control group (CG); median 80 years; 17 women). Magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) using the 3T Siemens Prisma scanner was performed on 29 HS
(median 79 years; 18 women) and 21 CG participants (median 80 years; 11 women).
The MRI-tested subgroup that had been younger than 12 years old in 1945 was
composed of 20 HS (median 79 years; 17 women) and 21 CG (median 80 years; 11
women).
Results: HS experienced significantly higher frequency of depression symptoms,
posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth, and lower levels of
well-being. The MRI shows a lifelong neurobiological effect of extreme stress.
The areas with reduced grey matter correspond to the map of the impact of stress
on the brain structure: insula, anterior cingulate, ventromedial cortex
including the subgenual cingulate/orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole,
prefrontal cortex, and angular gyrus. HS showed good adjustment to post-war
life conditions. Psychological growth may contribute to compensation for the
psychological and neurobiological consequences of extreme stress. The reduction
of GM was significantly expressed also in the subgroup of participants who
survived the Holocaust during their childhood.
Conclusion: The lifelong psychological and neurobiological changes in people
who survived extreme stress were identified more than 70 years after the
Holocaust. Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible
lifelong impact on the brain.
Holocaust history is not reflected in telomere homeostasis in survivors and their offspring
Klára Konečná, Martin Lyčka, Lucie Nohelová, Monika Petráková, Monika Fňašková, Eva Koriťáková, Pavla Polanská Sováková, Sylva Brabencová, Marek Preiss, Ivan Rektor, Jiří Fajkus and Miloslava Fojtová
Telomeres, nucleoprotein structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, are crucial for the maintenance of genome integrity. While the lengths of telomeres at birth are determined genetically, many factors including environmental and living conditions affect the telomere lengths during a lifespan. In this context, extreme and long-term stress has been shown to negatively impact telomeres and their protective function, with even offspring being influenced by the stress experienced by parents. Using quantitative PCR, the relative lengths of telomeres of survivors of the Holocaust during World War II and two generations of their offspring were analyzed. These data were related to those of control groups, persons of comparable age without a strong life stress experience. In contrast to previous studies of other stress-exposed groups, the relative lengths of telomeres were comparable in groups of persons exposed to Holocaust-related stress and their progenies, and in control groups. Interestingly, shorter telomeres of Holocaust survivors of the age under 12 in the year 1945 compared to Holocaust survivors of the age above 12 were detected. Our results are discussed with respect to certain exceptionality of persons having been able to cope with an extreme stress more than 70 years ago and living to a very old age.
No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants
Na Cai, Monika Fňašková, Klára Konečná, Miloslava Fojtová, Jiří Fajkus, Eve Coomber, Stephen Watt, Nicole Soranzo, Marek Preiss and Ivan Rektor
Mitochondrial DNA copy number has been previously shown to be elevated with severe and chronic stress, as well as stress-related pathology like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While experimental data point to likely recovery of mtDNA copy number changes after the stressful event, time needed for full recovery and whether it can be achieved are still unknown. Further, while it has been shown that stress-related mtDNA elevation affects multiple tissues, its specific consequences for oogenesis and maternal inheritance of mtDNA has never been explored. In this study, we used qPCR to quantify mtDNA copy number in 15 Holocaust survivors and 102 of their second- and third-generation descendants from the Czech Republic, many of whom suffer from PTSD, and compared them to controls in the respective generations. We found no significant difference in mtDNA copy number in the Holocaust survivors compared to controls, whether they have PTSD or not, and no significant elevation in descendants of female Holocaust survivors as compared to descendants of male survivors or controls. Our results showed no evidence of persistence or inheritance of mtDNA changes in Holocaust survivors, though that does not rule out effects in other tissues or mitigating mechanism for such changes.