Childhood unpredictability and sleep quality in adulthood: the mediating roles of life history strategy and perceived stress.

Background: Early environmental risk have been found to be related to lifelong health. However, the impact of childhood unpredictability, a type of early environmental risk, on health, especially on sleep quality in adulthood, has not been adequately studied. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between childhood unpredictability and sleep quality in adulthood and to explore the possible mediating roles of life history strategy and perceived stress. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 472 participants from a university in Zhejiang Province, China. The questionnaire inquired about demography, childhood unpredictability, life history strategy (Mini-K), perceived stress (14-item Perceived Stress Scale), and Sleep Quality (Pittsburgh Global Sleep Quality Index). Results: Higher childhood unpredictability was significantly associated with worse sleep quality in adulthood. Moreover, the link between higher childhood unpredictability and worse sleep quality in adulthood was explained by the chain mediation of life history strategy and perceived stress. Conclusion: In line with the life history theory, individuals who have experienced higher unpredictability in childhood tend to develop a faster life history strategy and become more sensitive to stress in adulthood, and subsequently suffer a decrease in sleep quality.

Understanding the Cathode-Electrolyte Interfacial Chemistry in Rechargeable Magnesium Batteries.

Rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMBs) have garnered significant attention due to their potential to provide high energy density, utilize earth-abundant raw materials, and employ metal anode safely. Currently, the lack of applicable cathode materials has become one of the bottleneck issues for fully exploiting the technological advantages of RMBs. Recent studies on Mg cathodes reveal divergent storage performance depending on the electrolyte formulation, posing interfacial issues as a previously overlooked challenge. This minireview begins with an introduction of representative cathode-electrolyte interfacial phenomena in RMBs, elaborating on the unique solvation behavior of Mg2+, which lays the foundation for interfacial chemistries. It is followed by presenting recently developed strategies targeting the promotion of Mg2+ desolvation in the electrolyte and alternative cointercalation approaches to circumvent the desolvation step. In addition, efforts to enhance the cathode-electrolyte compatibility via electrolyte development and interfacial engineering are highlighted. Based on the abovementioned discussions, this minireview finally puts forward perspectives and challenges on the establishment of a stable interface and fast interfacial chemistry for RMBs.

Near-UV Extinction of Submicron Thickness Ice Films in the 290-350 nm Range at 258 K.

Ice clouds affect the energy balance of the atmosphere through absorption, reflection, and scattering of solar radiation. We have developed a new experimental technique to simultaneously measure thin ice film extinction and its thickness (about 0.06-0.21 µm) by combining Brewster angle cavity ring-down spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance. The ice film serves as a proxy for ice clouds. Thin ice films were formed by water vapor deposition on a silica surface at 258 K. The average extinction cross sections of ice films were determined to be about 6.6 × 10-23, 8.1 × 10-23, 5.3 × 10-23, 5.6 × 10-23, 5.2 × 10-23, 5.1 × 10-23, and 3.9 × 10-23 cm2/molecule at wavelengths of 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, 340, and 350 nm at 258 K, respectively. Atmospheric implications of the results are discussed.

Avoiding threats, but not acquiring benefits, explains the effect of future time perspective on promoting health behavior.

Promoting health behavior among the public is always a pressing issue. The present research systematically investigated the association between future time perspective and adherence to health behavior including dietary habits, physical activities, and substance use in a Chinese college student sample (N = 519). Results showed that individuals with stronger future time perspective were more likely to adhere to health behavior. Moreover, building upon the health belief model and the protection motivation theory, the present research further explored the underlying mechanisms. Results revealed that it is perceived threats of not carrying out health behavior, but not perceived benefits of carrying out health behavior, that asymmetrically explained the association between stronger future time perspective and greater adherence to health behavior. These findings contribute to both the future time perspective literature and the health behavior literature.

Ovariectomy induces hyperalgesia accompanied by upregulated estrogen receptor α and protein kinase B in the rat spinal cord.

Hormone supplementation is one of the common therapies for menopause-related disorders. Among different tools, the ovariectomy (OVX) rodents are widely accepted as an appropriate menopausal pain model. Our previous study has showed that OVX produces a significant pain facilitation in both acute pain and tonic pain, however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of OVX treatment and estradiol (E2) supplementation on formalin-induced nociceptive responses, and explored the associated spinal mechanisms. Female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent bilateral OVX, and E2 supplementation was given subcutaneously from the 5th week after surgery (30 µg/day for 7 days). Our results showed that formalin-induced nociceptive behaviors did not differ between diestrus and proestrus stages of the estrous in intact rats. However, OVX exacerbated formalin-evoked inflammatory pain, especially in the late phase at 4-5 weeks but not 2 weeks post-surgery. E2 supplementation significantly reversed the OVX-triggered hyperalgesia. Double immunofluorescence staining revealed that both ERα and ERß in the spinal dorsal horn were co-labeled with the neuronal markers, but not with markers of astrocytes or microglia. The spinal ERα (but not ERß) expression significantly increased in the OVX group, which was reversed by E2 supplementation. Moreover, the OVX individuals showed an increased protein kinase B (AKT) level in lumbar spinal cord, and E2 supplementation diminished the AKT expression in OVX rats. Finally, intrathecal injection Wortmannin, an inhibitor for AKT signaling, effectively reduced the nociceptive behaviors in the late phase and the number of c-fos positive cells. Together, our findings indicate that E2 supplementation alleviates the OVX-induced hyperalgesia, which might be involved in spinal ERα and AKT mechanisms.

Toward Antifragility: Social Defeat Stress Enhances Learning and Memory in Young Mice Via Hippocampal Synaptosome Associated Protein 25.

Social adversity not only causes severe psychological diseases but also may improve people's ability to learn and grow. However, the beneficial effects of social adversity are often ignored. In this study, we investigated whether and how social adversity affects learning and memory in a mouse social defeat stress (SDS) model. A total of 652 mice were placed in experimental groups of six to 23 mice each. SDS enhanced spatial, novelty, and fear memory with increased synaptosome associated protein 25 (SNAP-25) level and dendritic spine density in hippocampal neurons among young but not middle-aged mice. Chemogenetic inhibition of hippocampal CaMK2A+ neurons blocked SDS-induced enhancement of learning or memory. Knockdown of SNAP-25 or blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit GluN2B in the hippocampus prevented SDS-induced learning memory enhancement in an emotion-independent manner. These findings suggest that social adversity promotes learning and memory ability in youths and provide a neurobiological foundation for biopsychological antifragility.

A world together: Global citizen identification as a basis for prosociality in the face of COVID-19.

How do global citizens respond to a global health emergency? The present research examined the association between global citizen identification and prosociality using two cross-national datasets-the World Values Survey (Study 1, N = 93,338 from 60 countries and regions) and data collected in 11 countries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Study 2, N = 5,427). Results showed that individuals who identified more strongly as global citizens reported greater prosociality both generally (Study 1) and more specifically in the COVID-19 global health emergency (Study 2). Notably, global citizen identification was a stronger predictor of prosociality in response to COVID-19 than national identification (Study 2). Moreover, analyses revealed that shared ingroup identity accounted for the positive association between global citizen identification and prosociality (Study 2). Overall, these findings highlight global citizenship as a unique and promising direction in promoting prosociality and solidarity, especially in the fight against COVID-19.

Restless in an Unequal World: Economic Inequality Fuels the Desire for Wealth and Status.

Building on theories explaining social outcomes of economic inequality, our research examined the psychological impact of inequality on the desire for wealth and status. Our studies provide both experimental (Studies 1 and 3, Ns = 321 and 596) and correlational (Study 2; N = 141,477 from 73 countries and regions) evidence that higher inequality heightens people's desire for wealth and status. Notably, this effect of inequality on desire is independent of the influence of societal wealth. Moreover, our results reveal social class differences in why inequality fuels motivations: Lower-class individuals are more likely to respond to higher inequality with a heightened desire reflecting self-improvement concerns, whereas upper-class individuals are more likely to respond with a heightened desire reflecting social comparison concerns. These findings suggest that higher inequality creates an environment of restlessness in which both the poor and the rich feel obliged to seek wealth and status, albeit for different reasons.

Social mindfulness predicts concern for nature and immigrants across 36 nations.

People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice - known as social mindfulness. It is not yet clear whether and how these complex and more simple forms of cooperation relate. Prior work has found that countries with individuals who made more socially mindful choices were linked to a higher country environmental performance - a proxy for complex cooperation. Here we replicated this initial finding in 41 samples around the world, demonstrating the robustness of the association between social mindfulness and environmental performance, and substantially built on it to show this relationship extended to a wide range of complex cooperative indices, tied closely to many current societal issues. We found that greater social mindfulness expressed by an individual was related to living in countries with more social capital, more community participation and reduced prejudice towards immigrants. Our findings speak to the symbiotic relationship between simple and more complex forms of cooperation in societies.

The possibility of impossibility: The hope for a cure among terminally ill cancer patients in China.

OBJECTIVE: Although the medical potential of the hope for a cure has been fiercely debated within academia, few researchers have approached this topic from the perspective of terminally ill cancer patients themselves. As such, this article aims to help bridge the gap by exploring how terminally ill cancer patients in China construct the hope for a cure. METHODS: Seventeen terminally ill cancer patients were recruited from the department of oncology at a tertiary hospital, where data were collected through individual interviews and participatory observation from April to December 2020 and analysed via thematic analysis. RESULTS: The respondents experienced a dynamic swing between construction and denial of the hope for a cure. Furthermore, the patients negotiated between three forms of hope, including the hope for a cure, the hope for prolonged life expectancy and the hope of living in the moment. Meanwhile, family-oriented hope was centred on intergenerational relationships, which further shaped the construction of the hope for a cure. CONCLUSION: Medical staff needs to be sensitive to terminally ill cancer patients' dynamic swing, negotiation and motivation during the process of constructing the hope for a cure.

Double jeopardy: How lower levels of support during COVID-19 exacerbated the relationship between loneliness and distress.

While the relationship between loneliness and psychological distress is well documented, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are less clear. One factor known to be related to loneliness as well as psychological distress, is social support, with some studies suggesting that support-both received and provided-can serve as a mechanism to reduce the distress associated with loneliness. In this paper we examine the mediating role of both aspects of support in the relationship between loneliness and psychological distress in the COVID-19 context. We used a multi-country dataset collected at two timepoints during the pandemic; the first during the early stages (N = 6,842, 11 countries) and the second collected for a subset of countries (N = 1,299, 3 countries) 3 months later. Across all eleven countries, results revealed significant positive associations between loneliness and distress. Furthermore, using longitudinal data, we investigated the directionality of this relationship and found that increased loneliness over time was associated with increased psychological distress. The data also showed that both feeling unsupported and feeling unable to provide support to others mediated this relationship. These findings point to the need to facilitate people's ability to draw effective social support and help others-particularly at times when social connectedness is threatened-as a way of alleviating the psychological distress that commonly presents with loneliness.

Perceiving societal pressure to be happy is linked to poor well-being, especially in happy nations.

Happiness is a valuable experience, and societies want their citizens to be happy. Although this societal commitment seems laudable, overly emphasizing positivity (versus negativity) may create an unattainable emotion norm that ironically compromises individual well-being. In this multi-national study (40 countries; 7443 participants), we investigate how societal pressure to be happy and not sad predicts emotional, cognitive and clinical indicators of well-being around the world, and examine how these relations differ as a function of countries' national happiness levels (collected from the World Happiness Report). Although detrimental well-being associations manifest for an average country, the strength of these relations varies across countries. People's felt societal pressure to be happy and not sad is particularly linked to poor well-being in countries with a higher World Happiness Index. Although the cross-sectional nature of our work prohibits causal conclusions, our findings highlight the correlational link between social emotion valuation and individual well-being, and suggest that high national happiness levels may have downsides for some.

The Language of Inequality: Evidence Economic Inequality Increases Wealth Category Salience.

There is evidence that in more economically unequal societies, social relations are more strained. We argue that this may reflect the tendency for wealth to become a more fitting lens for seeing the world, so that in economically more unequal circumstances, people more readily divide the world into "the haves" and "have nots." Our argument is supported by archival and experimental evidence. Two archival analyses reveal that at times of greater inequality, books in the United Kingdom and the United States and news media in English-speaking countries were more likely to mention the rich and poor. Three experiments, two preregistered, provided evidence for the causal role of economic inequality in people's use of wealth categories when describing life in a fictional society; effects were weaker when examining real economic contexts. Thus, one way in which inequality changes the world may be by changing how we see it.

Unlocking collective cooperation in the midst of COVID-19: The role of social support in predicting the social class disparity in cooperation.

We examined whether (the lack of) social support can explain why researchers have found lower rates of adherence to follow public health guidelines amongst people who perceived themselves as coming from lower social class backgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, we surveyed 5818 participants from 10 countries during the first wave of lock-down. Contrary to previous findings, social class was not related to general adherence to COVID-19 regulations or desire to engage in citizenship behaviours (e.g., showing initiatives to help others during the pandemic). However, we found evidence of an indirect effect whereby those who perceived themselves as higher social class were more likely to be both the recipient and provider of social support which in turn predicted greater adherence and desire to engage in citizenship behaviours during the earlier wave of the pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of social support in unlocking potential for collective cooperation (i.e., adherence to COVID-19 rules and desire to engage in citizenship behaviours). They suggest that instead of enforcing strict regulations, government authorities need to address existing social support barriers within lower income communities to facilitate cooperation from everyone in the community.

Perceived Stress, Hope, and Health Outcomes Among Medical Staff in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study investigated the buffering role of hope between perceived stress and health outcomes among front-line medical staff treating patients with suspected COVID-19 infection in Shenzhen, China. In the cross-sectional study with online questionnaires, medical staff's perceived stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality, and hope were measured by the 10-item Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Locus-of-Hope Scale, respectively. A total of 319 eligible front-line medical staff participated. The prevalence of anxiety (29.70%), depression (28.80%), poor sleep quality (38.90%) indicated that a considerable proportion of medical staff experienced mood and sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Internal locus-of-hope significantly moderated the effects of stress on anxiety, depression, and sleep quality. Moreover, external family locus-of-hope and external peer locus-of-hope significantly moderated the association between perceived stress and depression. The prevalence of symptoms indicates that both mental and physical health outcomes of front-line medical staff deserve more attention. Internal and external locus-of-hope functioned differently as protective factors for medical staffs' health and might be promising targets for intervention.

Relationship between obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in medical college students / 预防医学

Objective@#To investigate the relationship of obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in medical students and to provide evidence for prevention and intervention of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in medical students. @* Methods@#Medical students were enrolled from a medical college in Hangzhou and were selected among 3 to 6 classes from Grade One to Grade Four using stratified cluster sampling method. The students were assessed with Obsessive Beliefs Scale-44 （OBD-44） and Obsessive Compulsive Scale Revised （OCD-R）. Linear regression model was conducted to analyze the association between obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in medical students. @*Results@# As 592 medical students were surveyed and 544 responses were valid, the response rate was 91.89%. The median score of OCD-R of medical students was 15,and 28.86 of them had obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Concerning OBD-44, the total score of medical students was 154.11±36.05, the scores of responsibility/threat, perfectionism/certainty and importance/control of thoughts were 61.12±14.53, 58.68±14.31 and 32.90±10.76, respectively. The Linear regression analysis demonstrated that gender could predict checking,washing,obsessing and neutralizing; responsibility/threat estimate predicted hoarding and obsessing ;perfectionism/certainty was the most significant predictor of checking,ordering,washing, neutralizing;and importance/control of thoughts predicted hoarding,checking,ordering,washing and obsessing（all P<0.05）.@*Conclusion@#Gender, importance/control of thoughts and perfectionism/certainty have significant impact over most of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in medical students.

"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader.

Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

Gas-Phase Reactions of Deprotonated Nucleobases with H, N, and O Atoms.

Complex organic molecules, the hallmark of terrestrial life, are increasingly detected in exotic environments throughout the universe. Our studies probe the ion chemistry of these biomolecules. We report gas-phase reaction rate constants for five deprotonated nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil) reacting with the atomic species H, N, and O. Hydrogen atoms react at moderate rates via associative electron detachment. Oxygen atom reactions occur more rapidly, generating complex product distributions; reaction pathways include associative electron detachment, substitution of the hydrogen atom by an oxygen atom, and generation of OCN-. Nitrogen atoms do not react with the nucleobase anions. The reaction thermodynamics were investigated computationally, and reported product channels are exothermic. Many of the proposed products have been observed in various astrochemical environments. These reactions provide insight into chemical processes that may occur at the boundaries between diffuse and dense interstellar clouds and in complex extraterrestrial ionospheres.

Elucidating the Reactivity of O2 (a 1Δg): A Study with Amino Acid Anions and Related Sulfur and Oxygen Anionic Species.

Rate constants and product ions were determined for a series of anions reacting with singlet molecular oxygen O2 (a 1Δg) at thermal energy using an electrospray ionization-selected ion flow tube. The 20 naturally occurring amino acids were used to produce corresponding deprotonated anions; only [Cys-H]- and [Pro-H]- were found to be reactive with O2 (a 1Δg), generating OSCH2CH(NH2)CO2- + HO and C5H6NO2- + H2O2, respectively. The reaction of O2 (a 1Δg) with [Cys-H]- has a rate constant more than ten times larger than the reaction of O2 (a 1Δg) with [Pro-H]-. Furthermore, reactions of O2 (a 1Δg) with carboxylic acid and thiol anions were carried out to elucidate the reactivity of the sulfur-containing functional groups. Potential energy surfaces and overall reaction exothermicities were calculated for representative reactions using density functional theory. Reactions in which attack occurs at the sulfur produce HCSO- as an ionic product. Reactions of several carboxylic acid anions likely proceed through a hydroperoxide intermediate that is analogous to that calculated for reactions with amino acid anions at a higher collision energy. Overall, rate constants for reactions of carboxylic acid anions RC(O)O- were found to be smaller for larger R groups.

The HNO- radical anion: A proposed intermediate in diazeniumdiolate synthesis using nitric oxide and alkoxides.

The strategy of synthesizing diazeniumdiolates (X-N(O)=NO-) through the coexistence of nitric oxide and alkoxides (RO-) was introduced by Wilhelm Traube 120 years ago. Today, despite the wide use of diazeniumdiolate derivatives to release nitric oxide in the treatment of cancer, the first step of the reaction mechanism for diazeniumdiolate synthesis remains a mystery and is thought to be complex. We have studied the gas-phase reactions of nitric oxide with alkoxides at room temperature. An electron-coupled hydrogen transfer is observed, and the radical anion HNO- is the only ionic product in these reactions. HNO- can further react with nitric oxide to form N2O and HO-.