The Effect of Concerns About COVID-19 on Anxiety, Stress, Parental Burnout, and Emotion Regulation: The Role of Susceptibility to Digital Emotion Contagion

Background and aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused social and economic turmoil, which has led to enormous strain for many families. Past work with pandemic outbreaks suggests that media attention can increase anxiety and compensatory behaviors. Social isolation can lead to increase in online communication and parents who use social media may be affected by other people's emotions online through what is known as digital emotion contagion (DEC). The current study aimed to examine the role of DEC in the relationship between stress, concern about COVID-19, parental burnout and emotion regulation (ER). Methods: In April 2020, an online survey was advertised in Social Media Parenting Groups and published on FIU Psychology online research system SONA. Data were analyzed using correlational analysis, linear and multiple linear regression, and moderation analysis. Results: Concern about COVID-19 predicted stress, depression, and parental burnout. Susceptibility to DEC significantly increased the impact of stress on parental burnout. Having relatives infected with COVID-19 increased the effect of DEC on parental burnout. A higher level of ER buffered the relationship between emotion contagion and concern about COVID-19. Conclusion: These findings suggest that susceptibility to digital emotion contagion may have a negative effect on parents. Digital emotion contagion may increase parental burnout and is tied to stress

Geometric, electronic properties and the thermodynamics of pure and Al--doped Li clusters

The first--principles density functional molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out to investigate the geometric, the electronic, and the finite temperature properties of pure Li clusters (Li$_{10}$, Li$_{12}$) and Al--doped Li clusters (Li$_{10}$Al, Li$_{10}$Al$_2$). We find that addition of two Al impurities in Li$_{10}$ results in a substantial structural change, while the addition of one Al impurity causes a rearrangement of atoms. Introduction of Al--impurities in Li$_{10}$ establishes a polar bond between Li and nearby Al atom(s), leading to a multicentered bonding, which weakens the Li--Li metallic bonds in the system. These weakened Li--Li bonds lead to a premelting feature to occur at lower temperatures in Al--doped clusters. In Li$_{10}$Al$_2$, Al atoms also form a weak covalent bond, resulting into their dimer like behavior. This causes Al atoms not to `melt' till 800 K, in contrast to the Li atoms which show a complete diffusive behavior above 400 K. Thus, although one Al impurity in Li$_{10}$ cluster does not change its melting characteristics significantly, two impurities results in `surface melting' of Li atoms whose motions are confined around Al dimer.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Acculturation is associated with left ventricular mass in a multiethnic sample: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

BackgroundAcculturation involves stress-related processes and health behavioral changes, which may have an effect on left ventricular (LV) mass, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We examined the relationship between acculturation and LV mass in a multiethnic cohort of White, African-American, Hispanic and Chinese subjects.MethodsCardiac magnetic resonance assessment was available for 5004 men and women, free of clinical CVD at baseline. Left ventricular mass index was evaluated as LV mass indexed by body surface area. Acculturation was characterized based on language spoken at home, place of birth and length of stay in the United States (U.S.), and a summary acculturation score ranging from 0 = least acculturated to 5 = most acculturated. Mean LV mass index adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors was compared across acculturation levels.ResultsUnadjusted mean LV mass index was 78.0 ± 16.3 g/m(2). In adjusted analyses, speaking exclusively English at home compared to non-English language was associated with higher LV mass index (81.3 ± 0.4 g/m(2) vs 79.9 ± 0.5 g/m(2), p = 0.02). Among foreign-born participants, having lived in the U.S. for ≥ 20 years compared to < 10 years was associated with greater LV mass index (81.6 ± 0.7 g/m(2) vs 79.5 ± 1.1 g/m(2), p = 0.02). Compared to those with the lowest acculturation score, those with the highest score had greater LV mass index (78.9 ± 1.1 g/m(2) vs 81.1 ± 0.4 g/m(2), p = 0.002). There was heterogeneity in which measure of acculturation was associated with LV mass index across ethnic groups.ConclusionsGreater acculturation is associated with increased LV mass index in this multiethnic cohort. Acculturation may involve stress-related processes as well as behavioral changes with a negative effect on cardiovascular health

Electronic conduction in a three-terminal molecular transistor

The electronic conduction of a novel, three-terminal molecular architecture, analogous to a heterojunction bipolar transistor is studied. In this architecture, two diode arms consisting of donor-acceptor molecular wires fuse through a ring, while a gate modulating wire is a \pi-conjugated wire. The calculated results show the enhancement or depletion mode of a transistor by applying a gate field along the positive or negative direction. A small gate field is required to switch on the current in the proposed architecture. The changes in the electronic conduction can be attributed to the intrinsic dipolar molecular architecture in terms of the evolution of molecular wavefunctions, specifically the one associated with the terphenyl group of the modulating wire in the presence of the gate field.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Singularity in the boundary resistance between superfluid 4^4He and a solid surface

We report new measurements in four cells of the thermal boundary resistance $R$ between copper and $^4$He below but near the superfluid-transition temperature $T_\lambda$. For $10^{-7} \leq t \equiv 1 - T/T_\lambda \leq 10^{-4}$ fits of $R = R_0 t^{x_b} + B_0$ to the data yielded $x_b \simeq 0.18$, whereas a fit to theoretical values based on the renormalization-group theory yielded $x_b = 0.23$. Alternatively, a good fit of the theory to the data could be obtained if the {\it amplitude} of the prediction was reduced by a factor close to two. The results raise the question whether the boundary conditions used in the theory should be modified.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revte

Evidence that histidine protonation of receptor-bound anthrax protective antigen is a trigger for pore formation

The protective antigen (PA) component of the anthrax toxin forms pores within the low pH environment of host endosomes, through mechanisms that are poorly understood. It has been proposed that pore formation is dependent on histidine protonation. In previous work, we biosynthetically incorporated 2-fluorohistidine (2-FHis), an isosteric analog of histidine with a significantly reduced pKa (~1), into PA, and showed that the pH-dependent conversion from the soluble prepore to a pore was unchanged. However, we also observed that 2-FHisPA was non-functional in the ability to mediate cytotoxicity of CHO-K1 cells by LFN-DTA, and was defective in translocation through planar lipid bilayers. Here, we show that the defect in cytotoxicity is due to both a defect in translocation and, when bound to the host cellular receptor, an inability to undergo low pH-induced pore formation. Combining X-ray crystallography with hydrogen-deuterium (H-D) exchange mass spectrometry, our studies lead to a model in which hydrogen bonds to the histidine ring are strengthened by receptor binding. The combination of both fluorination and receptor binding is sufficient to block low pH-induced pore formation

CD11b suppresses TLR activation of nonclassical monocytes to reduce primary graft dysfunction after lung transplantation

Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is the leading cause of postoperative mortality in lung transplant recipients and the most important risk factor for development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction. The mechanistic basis for the variability in the incidence and severity of PGD between lung transplant recipients is not known. Using a murine orthotopic vascularized lung transplant model, we found that redundant activation of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2 and -4) on nonclassical monocytes activates MyD88, inducing the release of the neutrophil attractant chemokine CXCL2. Deletion of Itgam (encodes CD11b) in nonclassical monocytes enhanced their production of CXCL2 and worsened PGD, while a CD11b agonist, leukadherin-1, administered only to the donor lung prior to lung transplantation, abrogated CXCL2 production and PGD. The damage-associated molecular pattern molecule HMGB1 was increased in peripheral blood samples from patients undergoing lung transplantation after reperfusion and induced CXCL2 production in nonclassical monocytes via TLR4/MyD88. An inhibitor of HMGB1 administered to the donor and recipient prior to lung transplantation attenuated PGD. Our findings suggest that CD11b acts as a molecular brake to prevent neutrophil recruitment by nonclassical monocytes following lung transplantation, revealing an attractive therapeutic target in the donor lung to prevent PGD in lung transplant recipients