Neural mechanisms of self-affirmation's stress buffering effects

Self-affirmation can buffer stress responses across different contexts, yet the neural mechanisms for these effects are unknown. Self-affirmation has been shown to increase activity in reward-related neural regions, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Given that reward-related prefrontal cortical regions such as the VMPFC are involved in reducing neurobiological and behavioral responses to stress, we hypothesized that self-affirmation would activate VMPFC and also reduce neural responses to stress in key neural threat system regions such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI). We explored this hypothesis using self-affirmation and evaluative stress tasks following a within-subjects design in the fMRI scanner. Consistent with prior work, self-affirmation blocks led to lower self-reported stress and improved performance. With respect to neural activity, compared to control blocks, self-affirmation blocks led to greater VMPFC activity, and subsequently less left AI (but not dACC) activity during stress task blocks. Functional connectivity analyses revealed greater connectivity between the VMPFC and left and right AI during self-affirmation compared to control. These findings begin to articulate the neural circuits involved in self-affirmation's effects during exposure to stressors, and more broadly specify neural reward-based responses to stressful situations

The Liturgical Usage of Translated Gregorian Chant in the Korean Catholic Church

For centuries, Gregorian chant has served as a monophonic song written for the religious services of the Roman Catholic Church, but Korean Catholics first encountered this chant in the early nineteenth century. Korean Catholics ultimately became more attracted to the Korean translations of these chants, as opposed to the original Latin versions. This article introduces some issues related to the language translation of Gregorian chant, especially for chants performed in Holy Week. The issues include discrepancies in the number of syllables, shifts in melismatic emphasis, difficult diction in vocalization, briefer singing parts because of space limitations, challenging melodic lines, and translation losses from neumes to modern notes

The Liturgical Usage of Translated Gregorian Chant in the Korean Catholic Church

For centuries, Gregorian chant has served as a monophonic song written for the religious services of the Roman Catholic Church, but Korean Catholics first encountered this chant in the early nineteenth century. Korean Catholics ultimately became more attracted to the Korean translations of these chants, as opposed to the original Latin versions. This article introduces some issues related to the language translation of Gregorian chant, especially for chants performed in Holy Week. The issues include discrepancies in the number of syllables, shifts in melismatic emphasis, difficult diction in vocalization, briefer singing parts because of space limitations, challenging melodic lines, and translation losses from neumes to modern notes

Korean fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) has anti-obesity and anti-hypertensive effects via the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in high-fat diet-induced obese rats.

The health-beneficial outcomes of doenjang, a Korean fermented food have been questioned due to its high salt content; moreover, the detailed underlying mechanisms of its health beneficial effects are not fully investigated. Thus, this study aimed to investigate doenjang's anti-obesity effects, anti-hypertensive effects, and its underlying mechanisms in high-fat diet -induced obesity. Sprague-Dawley rats fed with normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HD), HD with 8% additive salt (HDS), or HD with doenjang containing 8% salt (HDJ) for 13 weeks. Compared to HD and HDS groups, the HDJ group had lower body and epididymal fat tissue weight gain and showed hypotrophy and hypoplasia. The RAS-related mRNA levels in the adipose tissue, including Renin and Ace were downregulated in the HDJ group compared to HD and HDS groups. Additionally, HDJ groups had significant improvements in systolic blood pressure, serum RAS-associated parameters (e.g., angiotensin II and aldosterone), renal mRNA levels related to RAS (e.g., angiotensin II receptor type 1 and 2), and aldosterone-associated mRNA expressions (e.g., mineralocorticoid receptor) in the kidney of HD-induced obese rats. Most importantly, HDS and HDJ groups showed distinct outcomes regarding adipogenesis and electrolytes metabolism, even though both diets contain a high level of salt. HDS group showed a higher epididymal fat tissue weight, mass, and adipocyte size than HDJ group. In addition, compared with HDJ group, HDS group significantly decreased the release of Na+ and K+ throughout the urine and feces. The present study addresses that doenjang has anti-obesity effects and anti-hypertensive effects by activating RAS in the adipose tissue and kidney, respectively. Additionally, this study also demonstrates that salt in doenjang and the additive salt differently influences adipogenesis and electrolytes metabolism, supporting doenjang has health advantageous effects regardless of its high salt contents

Exploring the Relative Effects of Body Position and Spatial Cognition on Presence When Playing Virtual Reality Games

Previous research has suggested that cognitive functions such as execution, attention, memory, and perception differ when body position changes. However, the influence of body position on these cognitive functions is still not fully understood. In particular, little is known about how physical self-positioning may affect the cognitive process of perceptual responses in a virtual environment (VE). In this regard, we compared three body positions (standing, sitting, and half-sitting) in two types of virtual reality (VR) game with different degrees of freedom in navigation (finite and infinite) to explore the association between body position and the sense of presence in VEs. A two-way ANOVA yielded a main effect for body position, with the sense of presence significantly higher for a standing position than for a half-sitting position. However, there was no main effect for game type, nor was there an interaction between body position and game type. In addition, a one-way ANOVA revealed that, for the game with infinite navigation, participants in a standing position felt stronger presence than those who were sitting or half-sitting, whereas no significant difference was found between the sitting and half-sitting positions. In contrast, there was no statistical difference between the three body positions when playing the game with finite navigation. Taken together, it can be speculated that the cognitive effects of body position on presence are correlated with the degree of freedom in navigation in a VE.N

Early Stage Li Plating by Liquid Phase and Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy

Li metal anodes are among the most promising options for next-generation batteries, exhibiting the highest theoretical capacity. However, irregular Li electrodeposition, which raises safety concerns, is a major obstacle in practical applications. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of the beginning phases of Li plating, such as nucleation and early growth, which have a decisive influence on the dendritic growth of Li, is essential. In this study, we investigated the early stage of Li plating at the single-particle level and its correlation with the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) using in situ liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cryogenic TEM. We observed contrasting nucleation dynamics and particle growth patterns in two electrolytes (1 M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate and 1 M LiTFSI in 1,3-dioxolane/dimethoxy ethane), which originate from different chemical and physical properties of the SEIs. Based on our findings, we propose a mechanism of nucleation and initial growth of Li dictated by the SEI. © 2022 American Chemical Society.11Nsciescopu

Aqueous redox flow battery using iron 2,2‐bis(hydroxymethyl)‐2,2′,2′‐nitrilotriethanol complex and ferrocyanide as newly developed redox couple

An all-iron aqueous redox flow battery using iron (Fe) 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2,2',2'-nitrilotriethanol (BIS-TRIS) complex (Fe(BIS-TRIS)) and Ferrocyanide (Fe[CN](6)) as redox couple is newly suggested. The redox potential of Fe(BIS-TRIS) is -1.11 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and this makes Fe(BIS-TRIS) appropriate as active material for anolyte, while Fe(CN)(6) is proper for catholyte due to its excellent redox reactivity, redox potential, and cheap cost. According to quantitative evaluations, Fe(BIS-TRIS) does not produce any side reactions and is more stable than Fe triethanolamine (TEA) (Fe(TEA)) complex that is conventionally considered for the purpose. This fact is confirmed by computational analysis using density functional theory. In the calculation, energy barrier of Fe(BIS-TR1S) suppressing the occurrence of undesirable side reactions is higher than that of other Fe-ligand complexes, indicating that desirable redox reaction of Fe(BIS-TRIS) occurs more stably. In redox flow battery (RFB) tests, RFBs using Fe(BIS-TRIS) do not show any side reactions even after 250 cycles with excellent performances, such as capacity of 11.7 Ah L-1. and coulombic efficiency and capacity retention rate of 99.8 and 99.9%, respectively. This corroborates that RFBs using Fe(BIS-TRIS) have excellency in both performance and stability, while the cheap cost of BIS-TRIS and Fe(CN)(6) enhances the economic benefit of RFBs.11Nsciescopu

A study on longitudinal relationship between ultrafine dust and the prevalence of depression

Abstract Background Recently, the fine dust problem caused by rapid industrialization and science and technological development has emerged as a severe social issue worldwide. This also increases the interest in its effect on human life. In particular, there is a growing concern about the harm of fine dust in Korea. Methods This study is based on the PM 2.5 data from 2017 to 2021 provided by Air Korea to estimate changes in ultrafine dust. In addition, the data from the Community Health Survey provided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) from 2017 to 2021 were used to examine the effect between the change in ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depression. A total of 229 local governments were included in the analysis. The Latent Growth Modeling was carried out to estimate the change in ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depressions and verify the relationship between ultra-fine dust and the prevalence of depression. Results The analysis result revealed that the ultra-fine dust concentration continued to decrease from 2017 to 2021. However, the depression prevalence increased from an average of 2.60% in 2017 to an average of 3.12% in 2021, suggesting the need for adequate and sufficient welfare policies for depression treatment. As a result of estimating the initial value and change rate of ultra-fine dust and depression prevalence, the higher the initial value of ultra-fine dust, the greater the decrease in ultra-fine dust. In terms of depression, the lower the initial value of the prevalence of depression, the larger the increase in depression prevalence. Conclusions This study is significant in that it revealed the strong association of the longitudinal relationship between ultra-fine dust and depression, one of the biggest issues in Korea, by utilizing large-scale longitudinal data

Detecting embedded rebar in cement mortar by frequency-difference electrical resistance tomography

This study investigated frequency-difference electrical resistance tomography (ERT) using a 16-channel ERT system to detect rebar embedded in cement mortar. Two different data collecting methods (i.e., referencedifference and frequency-difference) were used for ERT image reconstruction, and the reconstructed ERT images were validated with binarized micro-CT images. As a result, the reference-difference ERT was not suitable for detecting rebar in cement mortar. This method generated incorrect ERT reconstruction images since the target specimen and reference specimen is different, and thus an inconsistent contact impedance, electrode position error, and different pore distributions between the samples could generate measurement errors affecting internal conductivity distribution. However, use of the frequency-difference method provided more accurate and reliable results for detecting rebar. The ERT images were well-matched with the binarized micro-CT images. In frequency-difference ERT, an identical specimen is used to obtain measurement data, and thus the experimental errors can be largely reduced. In particular, the reconstruction result was influenced by the range of the two used frequencies. In wide-ranging frequency-difference ERT, the rebar was better tracked regardless of distance from the electrodes than when using a narrow range of frequencies

Neural mechanisms of self-affirmation's stress buffering effects.

Self-affirmation can buffer stress responses across different contexts, yet the neural mechanisms for these effects are unknown. Self-affirmation has been shown to increase activity in reward-related neural regions, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Given that reward-related prefrontal cortical regions such as the VMPFC are involved in reducing neurobiological and behavioral responses to stress, we hypothesized that self-affirmation would activate VMPFC and also reduce neural responses to stress in key neural threat system regions such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI). We explored this hypothesis using self-affirmation and evaluative stress tasks following a within-subjects design in the fMRI scanner. Consistent with prior work, self-affirmation blocks led to lower self-reported stress and improved performance. With respect to neural activity, compared to control blocks, self-affirmation blocks led to greater VMPFC activity, and subsequently less left AI (but not dACC) activity during stress task blocks. Functional connectivity analyses revealed greater connectivity between the VMPFC and left and right AI during self-affirmation compared to control. These findings begin to articulate the neural circuits involved in self-affirmation's effects during exposure to stressors, and more broadly specify neural reward-based responses to stressful situations