The Reciprocal Relationship Between Social Support in Bereavement and Posttraumatic Growth-A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Analysis.

Social support can promote posttraumatic growth (PTG) in the general trauma population. However, evidence on the reciprocal predictive relationship between social support and PTG is lacking, particularly among the bereaved. In this longitudinal study, we surveyed 181 adults who had lost first-degree relatives within 1 year at three intervals, each 6 months apart. The study utilized The Scale of Social Support in Bereavement (SSB), which distinguishes four domains of social support for the bereaved: living support, economic support, grief processing and emotion restoration. Additionally, The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) was used to measure PTG. Random intercepts cross-lagged panel model analyses revealed that social support and PTG were positively correlated at each time point at the within-person level. Moreover, at the within-person level, the total social support, as well as social support in the restoration-oriented domains at Time 2, positively predicted PTG at Time 3, but this relationship was not observed for grief processing support. Additionally, PTG at Time 1 positively predicted the receipt of emotion restoration support at Time 2 at the within-person level. The mutual influence between PTG and social support, as well as the differential relationship between types of support and PTG, enriches our understanding of ways to promote positive changes among the bereaved. The findings underscore the importance of restoration-oriented social support for bereaved individuals in facilitating PTG.

The relationship between risk perceptions and negative emotions in the COVID-19: a meta-analysis.

Background: COVID-19, as a significant public health issue, has had a major impact on the mental health of people worldwide. Research shows a significant positive correlation between individuals' risk perception levels and negative emotions during the outbreak of COVID-19. However, some studies also suggest that the relationship between the two is not significant. Therefore, we will conduct a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between risk perception and negative emotions from cultural, temporal, and individual psychological perspectives. Methods: Searches were conducted in the Web of Science, Pub Med, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, focusing on publications from January 2020 onwards, specifically targeting studies examining the relationship between risk perception and negative emotion during COVID-19. Results: A total of 58 papers with 85 effect sizes were meta-analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0 software, with a combined sample of 83,948 individuals. Risk perception of COVID-19 showed a moderate positive correlation with negative emotions (r = 0.211, 95%CI [0.18, 0.24]). There was no moderating effect of tight-loose cultures on the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions. However, the epidemic period, gender ratio, and measurement methods did have moderating effects on the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions. Conclusion: In future research, we can further develop theories related to the risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions, and based on these, formulate interventions to promote people's mental health.

On-vine drying (passérillage) improves the quality of "Hutai No. 8" table grape wine: Focusing on phenolics, aromas, color and sensory attributes.

On-vine drying (passérillage) was employed for Hutai No.8 table grapes with different water loss rates and that are used for winemaking to alter the qualities of wine. Results showed that on-vine drying increased sugar content, thereby elevating alcohol and glycerol contents in the resulting wine. A moderate drying treatment (D2, 18 % water loss) produced wine with optimal red color characteristics. The D2 wine contained abundant individual phenolics such as caffeic acid, salicylic acid, resveratrol, p-coumaric acid, and proanthocyanidin B1, which exhibited strong positive correlations with color parameters (a⁎, C*ab and △E*ab). Similar trends were observed in aroma compounds, with ethyl acetate, ethyl caproate, diethyl succinate, geraniol, linalool, 4-terpinenol, α-terpineol, and ß-ionone contents showing significant increment in D2, aligning with enhanced sensory evaluations of wines. Thus, improvement of wine quality can be achieved through moderate on-vine drying (18 % water loss)，serving as a valuable reference for table grape winemaking.

Improving Soluble Phenolic Profile and Antioxidant Activity of Grape Pomace Seeds through Fungal Solid-State Fermentation.

Grape pomace seeds contain abundant phenolic compounds, which are also present in both soluble and insoluble forms, similar to many other plant matrices. To further increase the extractable soluble phenolics and their antioxidant activities, grape pomace seeds were fermented with different fungi. Results showed that solid-state fermentation (SSF) with Aspergillus niger, Monascus anka, and Eurotium cristatum at 28 °C and 65% humidity had a significantly positive impact on the release of soluble phenolics in grape pomace seeds. Specifically, SSF with M. anka increased the soluble phenolic contents by 6.42 times (calculated as total phenolic content) and 6.68 times (calculated as total flavonoid content), leading to an overall improvement of antioxidant activities, including DPPH (increased by 2.14 times) and ABTS (increased by 3.64 times) radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, substantial changes were observed in the composition and content of individual phenolic compounds in the soluble fraction, with significantly heightened levels of specific phenolics such as chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, ferulic acid, epicatechin gallate, and resveratrol. Notably, during M. anka SSF, positive correlations were identified between the soluble phenolic content and hydrolase activities. In particular, there is a strong positive correlation between glycosidase and soluble phenols (r = 0.900). The findings present an effective strategy for improving the soluble phenolic profiles and bioactivities of grape pomace seeds through fungal SSF, thereby facilitating the valorization of winemaking by-products.

Foodomics uncovers functional and volatile metabolite dynamics in red raspberry chewable tablet optimized processing.

Raspberries are known to contain valuable metabolites and possess a robust antioxidant capacity. However, the impact of different tablet processing stages on the nutritional content and flavor profile of raspberries remains unclear. The dynamic profile of functional and volatile metabolites was investigated through foodomics combined with UPLC-MS/MS-based widely targeted metabolomics and HS-SPME-GC-MS, and antioxidant capacities were assessed during tablet processing. 1336 functional metabolites and 645 volatile metabolites were identified. Results indicated tablets retained 34% âˆ¼ 61% of the total volatile contents. In addition, the conversion intensity of functional metabolites was consistent with the order of "Tableting > Freeze-drying > Crushing". Compared to raspberry, tablets showed higher antioxidant activity, which was positively correlated with vitamin contents. This study elucidated that tablet formation demonstrated advantages in antioxidation and aroma retention, which may provide insights for enhancing quality during the tableting process.

Impact of indigenous Oenococcus oeni and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum species co-culture on Cabernet Sauvignon wine malolactic fermentation: Kinetic parameters, color and aroma.

Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is a crucial process to enhance wine quality, and the utilization of indigenous microorganisms has the potential to enhance wine characteristics distinct to a region. Here, the MLF performance of five indigenous Oenococcus oeni strains and six synthetic microbial communities (SynComs), were comparatively evaluated in Cabernet Sauvignon wine. In terms of malate metabolism rate and wine aroma diversity, the strain of O. oeni Oe114-46 demonstrated comparable MLF performance to the commercial strain of O. oeni Oe450 PreAc. Furthermore, the corresponding SynComs (Oe144-46/LpXJ25) exhibited improved fermentation properties, leading to increased viable cell counts of both species, more rapid and thorough MLF, and increased concentrations of important aroma compounds, such as linalool, 4-terpinenol, α-terpineol, diethyl succinate, and ethyl lactate. These findings highlight the remarkable MLF performance of indigenous O. oeni and O. oeni-L. plantarum microbial communities, emphasizing their immense potential in improving MLF efficiency and wine quality.

Design and stability analysis of the gear-type mobile mechanism with a single actuator.

Gear mechanism transmits the motion and power of parallel axes, intersecting axes and staggered axes, which has been widely employed in production and life. Gear-type mobile mechanism is a type of robot that can achieve motion through gear transmission. Due to its unique motion mode, it can handle various tasks in certain unconventional environments, such as particularly steep surfaces. Cylindrical gear, bevel gear and non-cylindrical gear are taken as the main parts of the mechanism to form a novel research series, respectively. The models of gear-type mobile mechanism are established in this paper, and the degrees of freedom of the mechanism are briefly calculated based on the screw theory. Simultaneously, the influence of centroid trajectory on motion stability is discussed to solve the possible problem that opposite rotation occur during the movement. Furthermore, the trajectory model of zero moment point is calculated considering the motion of the gear-type mobile mechanism. After that, the simulation and experimental analysis of its motion capability show that the gear-type mobile mechanism has excellent characteristics in stability, flexibility and continuity.

A mutant GH3 family ß-glucosidase from Oenococcus oeni exhibits superior adaptation to wine stresses and potential for improving wine aroma and phenolic profiles.

In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation into a GH3 family ß-glucosidase (BGL) from the wild-type strain of Oenococcus oeni and its mutated counterpart from the acid-tolerant mutant strain. Our analysis revealed the mutant BGL's remarkable capacity to adapt to wine-related stress conditions, including heightened tolerance to low pH, elevated ethanol concentrations, and metal ions. Additionally, the mutant BGL exhibited superior hydrolytic activity towards various substrates. Through de novo modeling, we identified specific amino acid mutations responsible for its resilience to low pH and high ethanol environments. In simulated wine conditions, the mutant BGL outperformed both wild-type and commercial BGLs, efficiently releasing terpene and phenolic aglycones from glycosides in wine grapes. These findings not only expand our understanding of O. oeni BGLs but also highlight their potential in enhancing wine production. The mutant BGL's enhanced adaptation to wine stress conditions opens promising avenue for improving wine quality and flavor.

The effect of team cultural tightness and transformational leadership on employee creative behavior: A cross-level moderated mediation model.

In recent years, "cultural tightness-looseness" refers to the strength of social norms and tolerance for deviant behaviors perceived by individuals in society, and team cultural tightness applied at the organizational level represents the strength of team norms. According to the cultural tightness-looseness theory, this study explores the influence of team cultural tightness on employee creative behavior, as well as the moderating role of transformational leadership and the mediating role of work engagement. A questionnaire method was used to survey five enterprise organizations in China through three stages, and 288 paired questionnaires were finally obtained from leaders and employees. The results found that team cultural tightness has a significant negative effect on employee creative behavior through the mediating effect of work engagement. In other words, the more the team culture in the workplace tends to be loose, the more it stimulates employee work engagement, which in turn promotes employee creative behavior. In addition, transformational leadership played a significant positive moderating role in the model. Under the influence of transformational leadership style, the negative impact of team cultural tightness on employee work engagement and creative behavior can be mitigated. The study enriches the understanding of the influence and action mechanism of the cultural tightness-looseness theory on employee creative behavior. In future research, the action mechanism of team cultural tightness interacting with different leadership styles to influence employee creative behavior will be explored more deeply.

Regulated synthesis and metabolism of Monascus pigments in a unique environment.

Microbial fermentation in extreme environments is the focus of research, which provides new insights for the production and application of Monascus pigments. In this paper, the regulation of Monascus pigments metabolism by optimizing the conditions, such as osmotic pressure, high sugar stress, light, extreme temperature, high-water content, low-frequency magnetic field and ultrasonics, is reviewed and summarized in four parts: the mycelium growth of Monascus spp., metabolic pathways, gene expression and composition characteristics of Monascus pigments. The relationship between mycelial morphology, gene expression and pigments production during fermentation under unique environments is discussed. Based on the changes in metabolic pathways and composition characteristics, the regulatory mechanism of Monascus pigments under unique conditions is proposed. Moreover, the fermentation strategy and application prospects of Monascus pigments in unique environments are also discussed. This work will provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the optimized production of Monascus pigments.

Interaction between Health and Financial Status on Coping Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The year 2022 started with protests against COVID-19 restrictions throughout North America. These events manifest the fact that some segments of the population are not compliant with the preventive measures of COVID-19, and the reasons of the disobedience against public health regulation remain unclear. The current paper examined the joint effect of financial and health status on people's likelihood of pursuing active coping efforts (i.e., following preventive measures) and giving up coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: We conducted a large-scale survey study in China (N = 3834) in May 2020. RESULTS: Our results showed that people with low financial status were less likely to manifest active coping behavior and more likely to give up coping with the pandemic. People's self-confidence in coping with the pandemic mediated this effect. We showed that one's health status could interact with their financial status in a way that healthy people with low financial status would have less confidence in their coping abilities and thus become less likely to pursue active coping efforts and more likely to give up coping with the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Our results call for policymakers to find more effective solutions for noncompliant groups so that they can abide by the general guidelines in the COVID-19 context and other social crises that may emerge in the future. We suggest that governments should concentrate their support efforts on healthy populations of low financial segments to prevent COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the future from spreading further.

How empowering leadership influences medical workers' work-family conflict in the post-pandemic era: A moderated mediation model of leadership "black box".

After experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, the status and mechanisms of leadership, and the challenges for medical workers in terms of family-work conflicts, have caused widespread concern. In the post-pandemic era, based on role theory and the stressor-detachment model, this paper seeks to break the "black box" of negative effects that can be caused by leadership, research the mechanism and boundary conditions of those negative effects, and explore factors to reduce those negative effects. We recruited 1,010 Chinese medical workers fighting COVID-19 on the frontline. Our study results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between empowering leadership and work-family conflict, and this relationship was completely mediated by role stress, while psychological detachment moderated the relationship between role stress and work-family conflict. Moreover, psychological detachment moderated the mediating effect of empowering leadership on work-family conflict through role stress. Therefore, higher levels of psychological detachment were less conducive to medical workers' family-work conflict. This study has important theoretical significance and practical value for revealing the negative effects and mechanisms of empowering leadership and for medical workers to better deal with work-family relations.

Structural analysis of traditional Chinese complex puzzle locks.

The development of barbed-spring locks in ancient China has a history of more than 2000 years. With the development of the design and manufacturing techniques in ancient China, the safety of locks has gotten better and better. Since the seventeenth century, the puzzle lock, with a complicated structure and a high difficulty in opening, was gradually developed and used. The puzzle lock needs specific steps to be opened. Based on the difficulty of the opening process, traditional Chinese puzzle locks can be partition into two sorts, namely, general puzzle locks and complex puzzle locks. As the structure of the puzzle lock will change during the opening process, the puzzle lock belongs to the reconfigurable mechanism. In this paper, a method of topology matrix is provided to analyze the structure of the complex puzzle lock during systematical operation. Firstly, the characteristics and types of general puzzle locks are explained, and then the topology matrix representation is introduced. Finally, four complex puzzle locks are taken as examples, to illustrate the opening process. There are various types of complex puzzle locks, and the mechanism designs are quite ingenious and interesting, which shows the extraordinary technique and ingenuity of the ancient craftsmen.

Comparative functional analysis of malate metabolism genes in Oenococcus oeni and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum at low pH and their roles in acid stress response.

Oenococcus oeni and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum are major wine-associated lactic acid bacteria that positively influence wine by carrying out malolactic fermentation. O. oeni is the most widely used commercial starter in winemaking because of its fast and efficient malate metabolism capacity under harsh wine conditions. To date, very little is known about the specific molecular mechanism underlying the differences in malate metabolism between O. oeni and L. plantarum under harsh wine conditions. Therefore, in this study, the functions of genes encoding malic enzyme (ME) and malolactic enzyme (MLE) under acid stress in O. oeni and L. plantarum, previously described to have the ability to direct malate metabolism, were comparatively verified through genetic manipulation in L. plantarum. Results showed that the MLE was the only enzyme responsible for direct malate metabolism under acid stress in O. oeni and L. plantarum. In addition, the MLEs in O. oeni and L. plantarum were positively related to acid tolerance by metabolizing malate and increasing the medium pH. Furthermore, the MLE in O. oeni exhibited significantly higher malate metabolism activity than that in L. plantarum under acid stress.

Functional Verification of the Citrate Transporter Gene in a Wine Lactic Acid Bacterium, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum.

Organic acid metabolism by lactic acid bacteria plays a significant role in improving wine quality. During this process, the uptake of extracellular organic acids by the transporters is the first rate-limiting step. However, up to now, there is very little published research on the functional verification of organic acid transporter genes in wine lactic acid bacteria. In this study, a predicted citrate transporter gene JKL54_04345 (citP) by protein homology analysis was knocked out using a CRISPR/Cas9-based gene-editing system, and then complemented using the modified pMG36e vectors in a major wine lactic acid bacterium, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum XJ25, to verify its function in citrate metabolism for the first time. The results showed that the gene knockout mutant XJ25-ΔcitP lost the ability to utilize citric acid, while the gene complement mutant XJ25-ΔcitP-pMG36ek11-citP fully recovered the ability of citric acid utilization. Meanwhile, citP knockout and complement barely affected the utilization of l-malic acid. These indicated that citP in L. plantarum functioned as a citrate transporter and was the only gene responsible for citrate transporter. In addition, two modified plasmid vectors used for gene supplement in L. plantarum showed distinct transcription efficiency. The transcription efficiency of citP in XJ25-ΔcitP-pMG36ek11-citP mutant was 4.01 times higher than that in XJ25-ΔcitP-pMG36ek-citP mutant, and the utilization rate of citric acid in the former was 3.95 times higher than that in the latter, indicating that pMG36ek11 can be used as a high-level expression vector in lactic acid bacteria.

Mechanisms of Organizational Cultural Tightness on Work Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Role of Transformational Leadership.

Cultural tightness-looseness, one of the cultural dimensions that play an essential role in organizational development, is changing the perception of psychology and behavior in organizations. This study conducted a paired questionnaire survey of leaders and their employees from five Chinese companies over three periods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results found that organizational cultural tightness was more influenced by transformational leadership. Different from previous findings, in the context of the Chinese epidemic, organizational cultural tightness positively predicted employees' work engagement with the moderating effect of transformational leadership. Team-member exchange also mediated employees' work engagement, which had a facilitative effect on employees' work engagement. In future research, the contingent effects of other leadership styles and organizational cultural tightness will be explored to reveal the different mechanisms of action on employees' work engagement.

Methionine addition improves the acid tolerance of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum by altering cellular metabolic flux, energy distribution, lipids composition.

This paper reported a wine-derived lactic acid bacterium, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum XJ25, which exhibited higher cell viability under acid stress upon methionine supplementation. Cellular morphology and the composition of the cytomembrane phospholipids revealed a more solid membrane architecture presented in the acid-stressed cells treated with methionine supplementation. Transcriptional analysis showed L. plantarum XJ25 reduced methionine transport and homocysteine biosynthesis under acid stress. Subsequent overexpression assays proved that methionine supplementation could alleviate the cell toxicity from homocysteine accumulation under acid stress. Finally, L. plantarum XJ25 employed energy allocation strategy to response environmental changes by balancing the uptake methionine and adjusting saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in membrane. These data support a novel mechanism of acid resistance involving methionine utilization and cellular energy distribution in LAB and provide crucial theoretical clues for the mechanisms of acid resistance in other bacteria.

Integrative multiomics analysis of the acid stress response of Oenococcus oeni mutants at different growth stages.

BACKGROUND: Acid stress is one of the most important environmental stresses that adversely affect the growth of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), such as Oenococcus oeni which was isolated from grape-berries and mainly used in wine fermentation. The aim of this paper is to comprehensively characterize the mechanisms of acid stress regulation in O. oeni and to provide a viable theoretical basis for breed and improvement of existing LAB. METHOD: First, six O. oeni mutants with acid-sensitive (strains b2, a1, c2) and acid-tolerant (strains b1, a3, c1) phenotypes were screened from three wild-type O. oeni, and then their genome (sequencing), transcriptome and metabolome (LC-MS/MS) were examined. RESULTS: A total of 459 genes were identified with one or more intragenic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these mutants, and were extensively involved in metabolism and cellular functions with a high mutation rates in purine (46%) and pyrimidine (48%) metabolic pathways. There were 210 mutated genes that cause significant changes in expression levels. In addition, 446 differentially accumulated metabolites were detected, and they were consistently detected at relatively high levels in the acid-tolerant O. oeni mutant. The levels of intracellular differentially expressed genes and differential metabolites changed with increasing culture time. CONCLUSION: The integrative pathways analysis showed that the intracellular response associated with acid regulation differed significantly between acid-sensitive and acid-tolerant O. oeni mutants, and also changed at different growth stages.

Characterization of volatile aroma compounds in litchi (Heiye) wine and distilled spirit.

This study used litchi (Heiye) wine and distilled spirit as raw experimental materials to analyze the volatile aroma compounds. Qualitative and quantitative determination of aromatic components was studied using stir bar sportive extraction (SBSE) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results indicated that a total of 128 different types of aroma compounds were observed, which belonged to six chemical groups, including 39 esters, 16 alcohols, 16 acids, 22 terpenes, 17 aldehydes and ketones, and 18 other compounds. In particular, esters were the highest among all six categories and represented approximately 52% of the total flavor component content in litchi distilled spirit. The odor activity values (OAVs) revealed 22 types of aroma compounds with OAVs >1 in this test. It is possible that the produced litchi distilled spirit had a stronger varietal character due to the increased concentrations and OAVs of ß-damascenone, linalool, ethyl butyrate, ethyl isovalerate, ethyl caproate, trans-rose oxide, and cis-rose oxide. Taking the OAVs into account, we evaluated the characteristic aromas for litchi wine and litchi distilled spirit.

Optimization of Electrotransformation Parameters and Engineered Promoters for Lactobacillus plantarum from Wine.

Robust and versatile promoters for Lactobacillus plantarum found in wine are necessary gene expression tools for genetic research involving wine stress. We optimized the electrotransformation parameters for L. plantarum XJ25 isolated from wine and engineered five promoters based on the promoter P23; these promoters showed significantly different transcriptional activities under nonstress conditions. The activities of these promoters in vivo and the resulting growth burden to the host strain under different wine stresses were also evaluated. A range of colors (from white to dark pink) of the developing colonies with the plasmid pNZ8148 carrying an X-mCherry expression cassette, namely, P23-mCherry, trcP23-mCherry, POL1-mCherry, POL2-mCherry, POL3-mCherry, or POL4-mCherry, were analyzed. The applicability of the optimized electrotransformation parameters and synthetic promoters with different activities were also verified in several L. plantarum strains. Therefore, the optimized electrotransformation and these characterized promoters were determined to be suitable for applications in wine research in the future.