Longitudinal changes in stress-related growth : relations with stress severity and depressive symptoms

Studies on the positive effects of stress, called stress-related growth (SRG), are increasing, and there are a variety of contradictory theoretical models and findings in the literature. This dissertation compared several of these models in two studies, using two waves of data from the Davis Longitudinal Study, a study of college alumni, roughly split between men and women ranging in age from 30 – 50 (cross-sectional N = 1140; longitudinal N = 509). The first study examined whether the effects of SRG on subsequent stressful episodes were positive (resource accumulation), negative (resource depletion), or were mediated by how individuals coped with the problem (contingent). Results showed that stress severity was weakly but positively related to SRG within time, but no direct cross-lagged effects emerged across time. However, when coping strategies were entered into the model, the within-time effects between stress severity and SRG were fully mediated by both positive and negative coping strategies, whereas the cross-lagged effects were partially mediated by positive coping strategies itself but not negative coping strategies. The second manuscript investigated whether SRG was a protective factor against future depressive symptoms. As the literature is inconsistent, we hypothesized that stress severity would have a moderating effect on the relationship between SRG and depressive symptoms. Cross-sectional results indicated the effect of SRG on depressive symptoms were moderated by the severity of the stressor – it was only in the high stress group that SRG was inversely related to depressive symptoms for the within-time analyses with both the cross-sectional and longitudinal samples. However, the longitudinal analyses showed a different pattern of results. In the cross-lagged model, there was no effect of SRG on subsequent depressive symptoms, although there was a weak effect of depressive symptoms at Time 1 being positively related to SRG at Time 2. Taken together, these results present a highly complex relationship between stress, coping, SRG, and depressive symptoms. The effect of SRG on future outcomes of subsequent stressful episodes is mediated by the type of coping strategies used and dependent upon the degree of stressfulness of the problems faced

Amylopectin chain length distribution in grains of japonica rice as affected by nitrogen fertilizer and genotype

This study investigated the chain length distribution (CLD) of two japonica rice cultivars under six nitrogen (N) treatments by high performance size exclusion chromatography, with the aims to elucidate the effect of N on rice quality and its biological mechanism. Results showed significant influence of N on CLD. In comparison with low N rate, high N lowered the percentage of short amylopectin branches. Fitting with the CLD model of Wu-Gilbert, it suggested that relative activity of SBE to SS was lower at high N rate, thus producing fewer short amylopectin branches. Comparison of CLD between N rates and between cultivars revealed that decrease in short amylopectin branches or the relative ratio of short to long amylopcetin branches correlated with increase in flour gelatinization temperatures (T, T, and T) and decrease in pasting values (except PaT) and amylose-lipid gelatinization temperatures. In addition, quality traits of Wuyujing3, a cultivar with premium eating quality, expressed stably across N treatments compared with the high-yielding cultivar Wuyunjing7

Characterization of ovarian clear cell carcinoma using target drug-based molecular biomarkers: implications for personalized cancer therapy

Information of antibodies used in immunohistochemistry. Table S2A. Relationship with clinicopathological factors-HGSC. Table S2B. Relationship with clinicopathological factors-CCC. Table S3 Association molecular biomarkers expression and platinum-based chemotherapeutic response. Table S4. Comparison of molecular biomarkers between recurrent and disease-free patients. (DOCX 42 kb

Factors That Influence Perceived Organizational Support for Emotional Labor of Chinese Medical Personnel in Hubei

At the outbreak of coronavirus disease in Wuhan, China, 42,322 medical personnel from other provinces and municipalities in China volunteered to rush to Hubei to assist their colleagues. Their all-out efforts contributed to Hubei finally winning the fight to prevent and control the pandemic. The aim of this study is to explore the influence of perceived organizational support on the emotional labor of medical personnel in Hubei Province. A group of 170 medical personnel from (tertiary) hospitals who participated in the pandemic aid operation in Hubei completed self-administered questionnaires, including the perceived organizational support scale, emotional labor scale, and professional identity scale. This study used Pearson's correlation in SPSS to analyze the three variables of organizational support, emotional labor, and professional identity. Organizational support and emotional labor (r = 0.443, P < 0.01), organizational support and professional identity (r = 0.631, P < 0.01), and emotional labor and occupational identity (r = 0.511, P < 0.01) showed a significant positive correlation. The bootstrapping mediating effect test was used to determine the overall mediating effect of occupational identity. Occupational identity was a complete mediating effect between organizational support and emotional labor. The results show that a strong sense of organizational support can promote higher emotional labor among medical workers in Hubei Province. A strong sense of organizational support will also promote a stronger professional identity; further, a strong professional identity completely mediates the effect of perceived organizational support on emotional labor. These results infer that in emergency medical and health services, medical personnel can realize a high sense of organizational support, which could enhance their professional identity; this enables them to combine their professional goals with organizational goals more actively and to finally pay higher emotional labor to achieve organizational goals

Assessing Human Exposure to SVOCs in Materials, Products, and Articles : A Modular Mechanistic Framework

A critical review of the current state of knowledge of chemical emissions from indoor sources, partitioning among indoor compartments, and the ensuing indoor exposure leads to a proposal for a modular mechanistic framework for predicting human exposure to semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Mechanistically consistent source emission categories include solid, soft, frequent contact, applied, sprayed, and high temperature sources. Environmental compartments are the gas phase, airborne particles, settled dust, indoor surfaces, and clothing. Identified research needs are the development of dynamic emission models for several of the source emission categories and of estimation strategies for critical model parameters. The modular structure of the framework facilitates subsequent inclusion of new knowledge, other chemical classes of indoor pollutants, and additional mechanistic processes relevant to human exposure indoors. The framework may serve as the foundation for developing an open-source community model to better support collaborative research and improve access for application by stakeholders. Combining exposure estimates derived using this framework with toxicity data for different end points and toxicokinetic mechanisms will accelerate chemical risk prioritization, advance effective chemical management decisions, and protect public health.Peer reviewe

A Review of Current Methodologies for Regional Evapotranspiration Estimation from Remotely Sensed Data

An overview of the commonly applied evapotranspiration (ET) models using remotely sensed data is given to provide insight into the estimation of ET on a regional scale from satellite data. Generally, these models vary greatly in inputs, main assumptions and accuracy of results, etc. Besides the generally used remotely sensed multi-spectral data from visible to thermal infrared bands, most remotely sensed ET models, from simplified equations models to the more complex physically based two-source energy balance models, must rely to a certain degree on ground-based auxiliary measurements in order to derive the turbulent heat fluxes on a regional scale. We discuss the main inputs, assumptions, theories, advantages and drawbacks of each model. Moreover, approaches to the extrapolation of instantaneous ET to the daily values are also briefly presented. In the final part, both associated problems and future trends regarding these remotely sensed ET models were analyzed to objectively show the limitations and promising aspects of the estimation of regional ET based on remotely sensed data and ground-based measurements

Wearable activity trackers for promoting physical activity : a systematic meta-analytic review

Purpose: Although wearable activity trackers hold a promise of nudging people toward a more active lifestyle, current research reveals inconsistent findings regarding their effectiveness. The objectives of this paper are two-fold: (1) to synthesize evidence on the effects of wearable activity trackers for improving physical activities, and (2) to identify potential moderators of effect size. Methods: A systematic meta-analytic review was conducted. Forty-eight eligible papers based on forty-four distinct trials were identified through a systematic literature search process. Two authors independently extracted information from each study based on predefined data fields. Random-effects meta-analysis, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression analysis were employed. Results: First, interventions with wearable activity trackers significantly increased daily steps and weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity but had no impact on light physical activity or sedentary behavior. Second, daily steps and weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with participants’ characteristics (i.e., gender, age, medical condition, and baseline physical activity level) and intervention features (i.e., sensors, modes of expert support, and intervention duration). The identified factors explained 53% of the total variance for weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Conclusions: The use of wearable activity trackers effectively improves conscious exercise behavior, including daily steps and weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, but not effective for modifying habitual behavior, such as light physical activity and sedentary behavior. We also explicitly show that the extent to which the interventions with wearable activity trackers help users is contingent on the type of users and the design and delivery of interventions. Future studies are called to validate the findings and to offer theoretical explanations.Accepted versionThis work is partly supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC No.: 201906170120)