The relationship between loneliness and the experiences of everyday stress and stressor-related emotion.

Loneliness influences how people experience and respond to stressors, which may account for its role as a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. The present study was motivated by emerging evidence that affective responses to minor daily events have long-term implications for health and well-being. Specifically, we evaluated how individual differences in loneliness relate to the frequency of everyday stressors and stressor-related negative emotions. A diverse community sample of 255 adults (age 25-65 years) completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA), during which they reported recent stressors and current negative affect (NA) five times a day for 14 days. Multilevel logistic analyses indicated that there was a quadratic association between loneliness and likelihood of reporting stressors, controlling for demographics, social isolation, depressive symptoms, and context (current activities, current location). Multilevel regression indicated that loneliness was unrelated to the concurrent effect of stressors on NA but significantly larger lagged stressor effects were observed among individuals in the low and high ranges of loneliness. These findings suggest that individuals with high levels of loneliness are more likely to experience everyday stressors and have prolonged emotional responses following stressors.

Arabidopsis Transcription Regulatory Factor Domain/Domain Interaction Analysis Tool-Liquid/Liquid Phase Separation, Oligomerization, GO Analysis: A Toolkit for Interaction Data-Based Domain Analysis.

Although a large number of databases are available for regulatory elements, a bottleneck has been created by the lack of bioinformatics tools to predict the interaction modes of regulatory elements. To reduce this gap, we developed the Arabidopsis Transcription Regulatory Factor Domain/Domain Interaction Analysis Tool-liquid/liquid phase separation (LLPS), oligomerization, GO analysis (ART FOUNDATION-LOG), a useful toolkit for protein-nucleic acid interaction (PNI) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis based on domain-domain interactions (DDIs). LLPS, protein oligomerization, the structural properties of protein domains, and protein modifications are major components in the orchestration of the spatiotemporal dynamics of PPIs and PNIs. Our goal is to integrate PPI/PNI information into the development of a prediction model for identifying important genetic variants in peaches. Our program unified interdatabase relational keys based on protein domains to facilitate inference from the model species. A key advantage of this program lies in the integrated information of related features, such as protein oligomerization, LOG analysis, structural characterizations of domains (e.g., domain linkers, intrinsically disordered regions, DDIs, domain-motif (peptide) interactions, beta sheets, and transmembrane helices), and post-translational modification. We provided simple tests to demonstrate how to use this program, which can be applied to other eukaryotic organisms.

Loneliness and Cognitive Function in Older Adults Without Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Loneliness has been highlighted as a risk factor for dementia. However, the nature of the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function prior to onset of dementia is unclear. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function in samples screened for dementia at study commencement. METHODS: Five electronic databases (PubMed, PsycNET, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Scopus) were searched from inception to August 31, 2021. A narrative review and random-effects meta-analysis were conducted on studies meeting search criteria. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020155539. RESULTS: The sixteen studies that met inclusion criteria involved 30,267 individuals, with mean age ranging from 63.0 to 84.9 years. Studies varied in dementia screening criteria, measurement of loneliness and cognitive function, and statistical modeling approach. The narrative review indicated that loneliness was associated with poorer global cognition, episodic memory, working memory, visuospatial function, processing speed, and semantic verbal fluency. Results of the meta-analysis indicated that loneliness was negatively associated with global cognitive function (overall r = -0.08; 95% CI = -0.14, -0.02; n = 6). Due to lack of sufficient data and heterogeneity between studies, we were unable to explore associations with other cognitive domains or longitudinal associations. CONCLUSION: Loneliness is associated with subtle impairment across multiple cognitive domains in older adults who were screened for dementia. Better characterization of this relationship will provide important information about how loneliness contributes to the clinical and pathological sequalae of AD and be informative for risk reduction and early detection strategies.

Associations between having been threatened or injured with a weapon and substance use and mental health among high school students in the United States.

Being threatened or injured with a weapon is a serious form of physical bullying. Little is known about the effects of being threatened or injured with a weapon on substance use and mental health among adolescents. A secondary analysis of 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data assessed the associations between having been threatened or injured with a weapon and substance use (binge drinking, marijuana, tobacco use, prescription medication misuse) and mental health (feeling sad or hopeless, considering suicide). Multiple logistic regression models with complex survey weights were used, controlling for potential confounders. Approximately 6.0% of students reported having been threatened/injured with a weapon. After adjusting for covariates, having been threatened/injured with a weapon was associated with binge drinking (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.9-3.4), marijuana (AOR = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.6-2.7), tobacco use (AOR = 2.6; 95% CI: 2.0-3.5), and misuse of prescription medication (AOR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.6-3.0) compared with students who have not been threatened/injured. Having been threatened/injured with a weapon was associated with 1.6 times the odds (95% CI: 1.2-2.2) of feeling sad/hopeless and 1.7 times the odds (95% CI: 1.3-2.3) of considering suicide. Having been threatened or injured with a weapon is an important public health issue associated with negative mental health and substance use.

Emotional Responses to Stressors in Everyday Life Predict Long-Term Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Individuals' emotional responses to stressors in everyday life are associated with long-term physical and mental health. Among many possible risk factors, the stressor-related emotional responses may play an important role in future development of depressive symptoms. PURPOSE: The current study examined how individuals' positive and negative emotional responses to everyday stressors predicted their subsequent changes in depressive symptoms over 18 months. METHODS: Using an ecological momentary assessment approach, participants (n = 176) reported stressor exposure, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) five times a day for 1 week (n = 5,483 observations) and provided longitudinal reports of depressive symptoms over the subsequent 18 months. A multivariate multilevel latent growth curve model was used to directly link the fluctuations in emotions in response to momentary stressors in everyday life with the long-term trajectory of depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Adults who demonstrated a greater difference in stressor-related PA (i.e., relatively lower PA on stressor vs. nonstressor moments) reported larger increases in depressive symptoms over 18 months. Those with greater NA responses to everyday stressors (i.e., relatively higher NA on stressor vs. nonstressor moments), however, did not exhibit differential long-term changes in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Adults showed a pattern consistent with both PA and NA responses to stressors in everyday life, but only the stressor-related changes in PA (but not in NA) predicted the growth of depressive symptoms over time. These findings highlight the important-but often overlooked-role of positive emotional responses to everyday stressors in long-term mental health.