The accurate evaluation of cardiovascular reactions to psychological challenge requires stable baselines against which change can be evaluated. When more than one challenge is employed, the recovery of this baseline becomes important in order to avoid carryover effects. Resting periods, even those of 20 min or more, do not guarantee baseline stability. We compared a 20‐min resting condition and a new form of baseline condition in 48 college men using video tasks as the psychological challenges. The new form was a minimally demanding color detection task, termed the “vanilla”baseline condition. A 10‐min version and a 20‐min version of this condition were tested. Comparisons to 10‐min resting baselines were made using our prior work and values from the literature. Vanilla baseline conditions were shown to be equal to or better than resting baseline conditions using criteria of between‐ and within‐baseline stability, amplitude and significance of responsivity, and generalizability between sessions on separate days. Ten‐minute resting baselines also showed acceptable stability, questioning the value of lengthy baselines. The good performance of the 10‐min vanilla baseline in initial and replication samples supported its utility for estimating baselines for many purposes.

Identification of CD8

No abstract

Summary Checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) therapy has vastly improved long‐term outcomes in metastatic malignant melanoma (MMM). Therapy takes the form of monoclonal antibody infusions that target immune cell checkpoint proteins, such as cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte‐associated protein 4 (CTLA4) and programmed death 1/programmed death ligand 1 (PD1/PDL1). Cutaneous immune‐related adverse effects (IrAEs) are frequent in patients with MMM treated with CPIs. Our aim was to review the clinical presentations of cutaneous IrAEs associated with CPI therapy in adult patients with MMM. We carried out a literature review of clinical trials, case series and case reports of patients with melanoma and those with other cancers treated with anti‐CTLA4, anti‐PD1/PDL1, or a combination of these therapies. Diverse clinical presentations of cutaneous IrAEs are recognized. Anti‐CTLA4 therapy has a higher associated rate of cutaneous IrAEs than anti‐PD1/PDL1 therapies. Low‐grade cutaneous IrAEs are common and are usually managed supportively while continuing CPI therapy. Delayed presentations arising after established use of CPIs can make therapy‐associated cutaneous IrAEs difficult to distinguish from coincidental dermatological disease. Vitiligo‐like depigmentation is a good prognostic indicator of outcome in patients with melanoma. Life‐threatening adverse events including toxic epidermal necrolysis are rare. The identification of predictive biomarkers that highlight patients at risk of life‐threatening IrAEs remains an unmet need. The involvement of dermatologists in the multidisciplinary assessment of cutaneous IrAEs is increasingly pertinent in the management and care of CPI‐treated patients with melanoma.

To determine the stability of individual differences in cellular immune reactions to acute mental stress, we correlated enumerative and functional lymphocyte responses to an evaluative speech task across two experimental sessions scheduled 2 weeks apart in 30 young men. Relative to pretask baseline measurements, the speech stressor elicited a diminished proliferative response to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A, a decrease in circulating CD19 lymphocytes, and an increase in both CD8 and CD56 lymphocytes across the two occasions of testing. Test-retest correlations were significant for the magnitude of change in proliferative response to PHA (r = .50, p < .005) and in numbers of circulating CD8 and CD56 cells (r = .53, and .42, respectively; p's < .02). Concomitant cardiovascular responses also correlated significantly over the two experimental sessions (heart rate: r = .78, p < .0001; systolic and diastolic blood pressure: r = .79 and .48, p < .0001 and .007). These data provide initial evidence that interindividual variability of cellular immune responses to acute psychological stress is moderately reproducible on retesting and may therefore denote a stable dimension of individual differences.