Physiological Correlates of Volunteering

We review research on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising research field. Some of these correlates seem to be causal factors influencing volunteering. Volunteers tend to have better physical health, both self-reported and expert-assessed, better mental health, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has rarely examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal, and genetic correlates of volunteering to any significant extent, especially controlling for other factors as potential confounds. Evolutionary theory and behavioral genetic research suggest the importance of such physiological factors in humans. Basically, many aspects of social relationships and social activities have effects on health (e.g., Newman and Roberts 2013; Uchino 2004), as the widely used biopsychosocial (BPS) model suggests (Institute of Medicine 2001). Studies of formal volunteering (FV), charitable giving, and altruistic behavior suggest that physiological characteristics are related to volunteering, including specific genes (such as oxytocin receptor [OXTR] genes, Arginine vasopressin receptor [AVPR] genes, dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4] genes, and 5-HTTLPR). We recommend that future research on physiological factors be extended to non-Western populations, focusing specifically on volunteering, and differentiating between different forms and types of volunteering and civic participation

Application of Ligninolytic Enzymes in the Production of Biofuels from Cotton Wastes

The application of ligninolytic fungi and enzymes is an option to overcome the issues related with the production of biofuels using cotton wastes. In this dissertation, the ligninolytic fungus and enzymes were evaluated as pretreatment for the biochemical conversion of Cotton Gin Trash (CGT) in ethanol and as a treatment for the transformation of cotton wastes biochar in other substances. In biochemical conversion, seven combinations of three pretreatments (ultrasonication, liquid hot water and ligninolytic enzymes) were evaluated on CGT. The best results were achieved by the sequential combination of ultrasonication, hot water, and ligninolytic enzymes with an improvement of 10% in ethanol yield. To improve these results, alkaline-ultrasonication was evaluated. Additionally, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and principal component analysis (PCA) were employed as fast methodology to identify structural differences in the biomass. The combination of ultrasonication-alkali hydrolysis, hot liquid water, and ligninolytic enzymes using 15% of NaOH improved 35% ethanol yield compared with the original treatment. Additionally, FT-IR and PCA identified modifications in the biomass structure after different types of pretreatments and conditions. In thermal conversion, this study evaluated the biodepolymerization of cotton wastes biochar using chemical and biological treatments. The chemical depolymerization evaluated three chemical agents (KMnO4, H2SO4, and NaOH), with three concentrations and two environmental conditions. The sulfuric acid treatments performed the largest transformations of the biochar solid phase; whereas, the KMnO4 treatments achieved the largest depolymerizations. The compounds released into the liquid phase were correlated with fulvic and humic acids and silicon compounds. The biological depolymerization utilized four ligninolytic fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Postia placenta, and Bjerkandera adusta. The greatest depolymerization was obtained by C. subvermispora. The depolymerization kinetics of C. subvermispora evidenced the production of laccase and manganese peroxidase and a correlation between depolymerization and production of ligninolytic enzymes. The modifications obtained in the liquid and solid phases showed the production of humic and fulvic acids from the cultures with C. subvermispora. The results of this research are the initial steps for the development of new processes using the ligninolytic fungus and their enzymes for the production of biofuels from cotton wastes

Stress, coping and social support processes: Where are we? What next?

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. I review existing knowledge, unanswered questions, and new directions in research on stress, coping resource, coping strategies, and social support processes. New directions in research on stressors include examining the differing impacts of stress across a range of physical and mental health outcomes, the "carry-overs" of stress from one role domain or stage of life into another, the benefits derived from negative experiences, and the determinants of the meaning of stressors. Although a sense of personal control and perceived social support influence health and mental health both directly and as stress buffers, the theoretical mechanisms through which they do so still require elaboration and testing. New work suggests that coping flexibility and structural constraints on individuals' coping efforts may be important to pursue. Promising new directions in social support research include studies of the negative effects of social relationships and of support giving, mutual coping and support-giving dynamics, optimal "matches " between individuals' needs and support received, and properties of groups which can provide a sense of social support. Qualitative comparative analysis, optimal matching analysis, and event-structure analysis are new techniques which may help advance research in these broad topic areas. To enhance the effectiveness of coping and social support interventions, intervening mechanisms need to be better understood. Nevertheless, the policy implications of stress research are clear and are important given current interest in health care reform in the United States. American Sociological Association Several decades ago, Selye (1956) focused research attention on noxious stressors and laboratory animals' patterned physiological changes in reaction to them. The systematic study of stress in humans began to flourish some years later with the publication of Holmes and Rahe's (1967) checklist of major life changes and their associated readjustment weights. Literally thousands of articles on the negative physical and mental health consequences of major life events were published subsequently. Since the late 1970s, a variety of new methods of measuring stress have been developed and refined (e.g., A thorough review of each of these topic areas, including measurement and methodological problems, is beyond the scope of this paper. Since 1985, over 3,000 papers on "stress and health" have been published in psychological and sociological journals alone. I will instead summarize briefly what we know with some certainty (drawing heavily on reviews and key articles), point to unanswered questions, and discuss promising new directions in research on * Address correspondence to the author at: Department of Sociology, Box 1811-B, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, or e-mail [email protected]. 53 54 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR stressors, coping resources, coping strategies, and social support, taking each broad topic in turn. The reader should be aware that much of the psychosocial literature on "stress and health" actually focuses on mental health conditions as outcomes. I will note wherever mental health findings also apply to physical health outcomes in the psychosocial literature. Because I have not delved into the medical or epidemiological journals where additional physical health findings are amassed and because my own expertise is in mental health, this overview and commentary will be heavily biased toward that subject area. STRESSORS: EVENTS AND STRAINS Definitions. "Stress" or "stressor" refers to any environmental, social, or internal demand which requires the individual to readjust his/her usual behavior patterns (Holmes and Rahe 1967). The term "stress reaction" refers to the state of physiological or emotional arousal that usually, but not inevitably, results from the perception of stress or demand. Theory generally holds that stressors motivate efforts to cope with behavioral demands and with the emotional reactions that are usually evoked by them Three major forms of stressors have been investigated in the literature: life events, chronic strains, and daily hassles. Life events are acute changes which require major behavioral readjustments within a relatively short period of time (e.g., birth of first child, divorce). Chronic strains are persistent or recurrent demands which require readjustments over prolonged periods of time (e.g., disabling injury, poverty, marital problems). Hassles (and uplifts) are mini-events which require small behavioral readjustments during the course of a day (e.g., traffic jams, unexpected visitors, having a good meal). Because most research attention has been paid to the effects of life events and chronic strains on physical and mental health, I will concentrate on these stressors in this overview. ' Major Findings and Gaps. It is now well-established that one or more major negative life events experienced during a 6 to 12 month period predict subsequent physical morbidity, mortality, symptoms of psychological distress, and psychiatric disorder Chronic strains or difficulties have been less frequently studied than life events, but the literature consistently shows that strains are also damaging to both physical and mental health (e.g.

Depression in the United States and Japan: Gender, marital status, and SES patterns

A number of investigators have claimed that higher depression scores and higher rates of depressive disorder are found worldwide in women, unmarried persons, and people of low socioeconomic status (SES). A closer look, however, indicates that patterns for Asian countries are less consistent than claimed. As a case in point, using comparable data from the National Family Research of Japan '98 survey (N=6985) and the National Survey of Families and Households in the US (N=8111), we examine the distributions of depressive symptoms by gender, marital status, and SES, with a short form of the CES-D Scale. Bivariate and multivariate analyses show that depressive symptoms are higher in women, unmarried persons, and those with lower family incomes in both countries, but there is no association between education and depression in Japan while symptoms are inversely related to education in the US. We argue that the lack of relationship between education and depression in Japan is not an artifact of measurement but a product of Japan's distinctive stratification processes relating to occupation. Cross-national variations around "general" patterns are important because they offer clues to more specific cultural and structural factors involved in the social etiology of mental disorder.Depression Cross-cultural differences CES-D Japan USA

Family Influences on the Use of Mental Health Services among African Americans

We examine how families influence mental health service (MHS) utilization among African Americans by drawing on the concept of family ambivalence, which encompasses both family support and stress, and by placing utilization within the context of family histories of psychiatric disorder and treatment. Data are from the 2001–2003 National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative sample of African American adults (n = 3,149), including a clinical need subsample (n = 605) of respondents with a disorder. Negative family interactions have indirect positive effects on use of any MHS through need for care, whereas family social support lacks any effect. Although poor self-rated mental health (SRMH) is associated with greater utilization of any and specialty MHS given family histories of no disorder or treated disorder, utilization is low given a family history of untreated disorder, irrespective of SRMH. Screening for family histories of psychiatric disorder in primary care is recommended