Main Stressors Research Articles

PROFISSIONAIS PALIATIVISTAS: ESTRESSORES IMPOSTOS À EQUIPE NO PROCESSO DE MORTE E MORRER

ABSTRACT Objective: to know the multidisciplinary palliative care team’s perception about stressors in the death and dying process. Method: a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study, carried out from the perspective of Betty Neuman’s theory. Data were collected using online semi-structured interview with nine palliative professionals from two health institutions between February and November 2020. Results: a grid of analysis composed of the three Neuman System Models was organized, i.e., environment, person and health, emerging the categories: Self-perception for care in death and dying; Communication between team, patient and family - minimizing stress in palliative care; Personal and professional stressors and health structure. Conclusion: the main stressor source referred to communication as an intrateam relationship and with patient and family. The pandemic was considered as a potential impact of relational and communication difficulties, and the fragility of health management support was linked to palliative multidisciplinary teams.

Analysis of MEA’s durability under Accelerated Stress Tests that mimic realistic automotive operations

This work aims at studying MEA’s ageing under single operational “mode” accelerated stress tests (AST), that were specifically designed to replicate under hydrogen/air feeding the main stressors of realistic operations in the automotive sector. A methodology for developing AST is here presented and preliminary results about the activity included. In particular, low power and high power functioning have been mimicked in a Zero-Gradient hardware, which allows a reliable materials comparison. Quantities, measurable in-situ and operando, have been tracked during ageing, like cell power, polarization curves, Pt active area, oxygen mass transport resistance, Electrochemical Impedance Spectra. The final objective is to clarify the underlying ageing mechanisms and assess the contribution of each specific operation to the MEA lifetime, focusing in particular on the cathode catalyst layer durability. Moreover, the rate of voltage loss for the new ASTs has been successfully correlated to the degradation observed under a complete driving cycle protocol.

Review on Surgical Management of Esophageal Rupture Saudi Arabia, Review Article

Esophageal rupture presents a significant interprofessional challenge to the entire therapeutic team. The majority of symptoms are non-specific, which can significantly delay the time between perforation and final diagnosis. An esophageal rupture can be caused by a variety of pathophysiological factors. Instruments such as endoscope causes an elevation in the wall tension, particularly iatrogenic interventions, or a massive rise in intraluminal pressure caused by throwing up, chest injury, or abdominal injuries are the main stressors. The choice of the management plan and its outcome depends mainly on the site of the rupture. Although the perforation can occur at any site of the esophagus, there is a tendency to main areas that correspond to natural points of narrowing of the lumen. If esophageal rupture requires surgery, patients should be transported to the operating room as soon as feasible. Minor delays in surgical therapy can lead to higher rates of morbidity and fatality. This review aims to summarize current evidence on etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and surgical management of esophageal rupture.

Development of New Rice (Oryza. sativa L.) Breeding Lines through Marker-Assisted Introgression and Pyramiding of Brown Planthopper, Blast, Bacterial Leaf Blight Resistance, and Aroma Genes

Brown planthopper, blast, and bacterial blight are the main biotic stressors of rice and can cause a massive loss in rice production. Aroma is an important character of rice quality. It is of far-reaching significance to breed resistant and high-quality varieties using germplasms with objective genes. In this study, the introgression and pyramiding of brown planthopper (BPH), blast, and bacterial leaf blight (BLB) resistance genes and aroma genes into elite rice maintainers and restorers were conducted through conventional cross-breeding coupled with the marker-assisted selection (MAS) breeding method. Single-plant selection was performed from F2 onwards to select desirable recombinants possessing alleles of interest with suitable phenotypes. Respective linked markers were used in each generation from intercrossing to the F7 generation for tracking the presence of targeted genes. A total of 74 improved lines (ILs) have been developed which possess a combination of 1 to 4 genes for BPH, blast, and BLB resistance and aroma. These ILs showed moderate to high resistance to multiple biotic stresses (BPH, blast and BLB) or aromatic fragrance without obvious negative effects on agronomic traits. As multiple resistance and aromatic traits have become significant objectives in rice breeding, these resistance and/or aroma gene introgressed or pyramided lines have important application prospects. Core ideas: (1) marker-assisted breeding was used to pyramid multiple genes for an elite breeding line; (2) improved lines with the introgression of 1–4 genes were developed to achieve high resistance against various biotic stresses and aroma; (3) new lines were used as donor parents to introgress multiple genes in other genetic backgrounds.

Experience of Vulnerable Women Narrated through the Body-Mapping Technique.

Vulnerable women are considered a priority in public policies and research agendas. It is necessary to understand better the specificities of their daily lives and the meanings they attribute to their experiences, as this undoubtedly contributes to more grounded and culturally appropriate practices. Additionally, innovative techniques in qualitative research are demanded in academia. This narrative research study was carried out with fourteen women from a Brazilian socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhood. We used the body-mapping technique to investigate the experiences of women with mental health disorders or psychosocial distress. The aim was to analyze the self-perception about daily stressors and discuss the feasibility of this technique to facilitate this group’s storytelling. Data collection was performed through focus groups, guided by the body-mapping technique steps, and supplemented with individual interviews. Interpersonal conflicts and violence were the main stressors. These strongly impacted the well-being of these women and their children. Some important personal qualities and resilience were identified. Body-mapping played a fundamental role in facilitating storytelling. It amplified the linguistic possibilities for participants to express their feelings and promoted reflections about the present, past, and glimpses into the future.

Occupational stress and work engagement among military police officers.

This paper investigates the levels of occupational stress and work engagement among military police officers. This cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted with 268 police officers from the 3rd Military Police Battalion of Paraná state. We observed significant levels of occupational stress in 125 (46.7%) police officers. The main stressors were lack of career growth prospects (3.7; ±1.3); inadequate training (3.4; ±1.2); discrimination/favoritism in the work environment (3.1; ±1.4); long working hours (3.0; ±1.4); distribution of tasks (2.7; ±1.1); control type (2.7; ±1.1); gaps in disclosing information about organizational decisions (2.7; ±1.2); low valuation (2.7; ±1.2). Levels of work engagement ranged from 3.8 [medium] to 4.1 [high]. The correlation between occupational stress and work engagement was low for the dimensions of Absorption (r: -.284; p<0.001) and Overall Score (r: -0.393; p<0.001) and moderate for the dimensions Vigor (r: -0.422; p<0.001) and Dedication (r: -0.414; p<0.001). We concluded that an important number of police officers had shown occupational stress. However, they displayed good levels of work engagement and are enthusiastic, inspired, and proud of their work.

Quiet Route Planning for Pedestrians in Traffic Noise Polluted Environments

Noise pollution is one of the main stressors in urban environments, having negative impacts on people’s quality of life and health. For some groups of citizens, such as school children, patients, and elders, there is a need to support them in finding pedestrian routes in noise polluted areas of cities. In this paper, we focus on the estimation of traffic noise, and present an approach to provide quiet routing services, taking into account the estimated noise levels of roads. By combining Volunteered Geographic Information, official socio-economic data, and open-access GPS trajectory data, we develop a set of traffic related variables, and apply machine learning methods to perform traffic volume estimations. Given the estimated traffic information, an existing traffic noise model is then employed to derive the noise polluted areas. For generation of quiet routes, a new routing algorithm is proposed based on the Dijkstra algorithm. It minimizes the exposure of pedestrians to traffic noise pollution while taking into account the route distance constraint. We apply our quiet routing approach to the city of Heidelberg (Germany). The application results demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithms in the generation of quiet routes customized to pedestrian preferences.

IT Workplace Preferences, Job Demands, and Work Exhaustion

ABSTRACT Work exhaustion has become one of the main job stressors that leads to dissatisfaction and worker turnover. To retain IT talent, managers seek ways to reduce stress, such as lowering workload or increasing monetary compensation. In this paper, we explore work exhaustion in a developing country to examine antecedents and mitigating factors for work exhaustion. Using a survey of 289 IT professionals in Vietnam, a developing country with high turnover rates and limited IT resources devoted to talent retention, we test how job demands and workplace preferences impact work exhaustion. The findings show that a preference for strong workplace structure suppresses workers’ perceptions of work overload and work/home conflict. Additionally, preference for strong workplace autonomy surprisingly amplifies perceived work overload and has no impact on work/home conflict. Our findings suggest the importance of workplace characteristics as well as IT occupational culture in mitigating work exhaustion for IT employees.

Occupational Stress, Coping Strategies, Health, and Well-Being Among University Academic Staff—An Integrative Review

Occupational stress has been constantly rising among academics in universities globally, which affects their health and well-being. Although some studies reviewed occupational stress in academics, there has been less systematic evidence reviewed occupational stress of academic staff through the lens of the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TTSC). This integrative review aims to search, extract, appraise and synthesise recent evidence relating to occupational stress, coping strategies, health, and well-being of university academic staff. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) methodology provides a structure for searching and reporting the search outcomes. Primary studies relating to occupational stress, coping strategies, health, and well-being of academics in university published from 2010 onwards were selected from five databases, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, and Web of Science in June 2020. Keywords included &amp;ldquo;stress&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;coping strategy&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;health&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;well-being&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;academics&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;university&amp;rdquo; in various combinations. The boolean operators &amp;ldquo;AND&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;OR&amp;rdquo; were also used. 17 out of 682 articles were included in this review. Most studies reported academics experienced moderate to high level of stress, and the heavy workload was one of the main stressors. Both positive and negative coping methods were used by academics to cope with stress. Occupational stress can contribute to poor mental health and decreased well-being of academics. This review can help to understand the work phenomenon of university academics and improve their health and well-being, which in turn can contribute to satisfaction and productivity within the educational institutes.

Bridge and transport network resilience – a perspective

Bridges and critical transport infrastructure are primary assets and systems that underpin human mobility and activities. Loss of bridge functionality has consequences on entire transport networks, which are also interconnected with other networks. Cascading events then unfold in the entire system of systems, leading to significant economic losses and societal disruption to business and society. Recent natural disasters have revealed the vulnerabilities of bridges and critical assets to diverse hazards (e.g. floods, blasts, earthquakes), some of which are exacerbated due to climate change. The assessment of bridge and network vulnerabilities by quantifying their capacity and functionality loss and adaptation to new requirements and stressors is thus of paramount importance. The aim of this work was try to understand the main compound hazards, stressors and threats that have short- and long-term impacts on the structural capacity and functionality of bridges and the impact of bridge closures on network operability. The main drivers of bridge restoration and reinstatement were also considered. Loss of performance, driven by redundancy and robustness of a bridge, is the first step to be considered in the overall process of resilience quantification. Resourcefulness is the other main component of resilience analysed in this work.

Major mental disorders in society during COVID-19

ABSTRACT This work aimed to identify specific features of mental disorders associated with COVID-19. A comparative clinical psychopathological and psychodiagnostic study of 25 patients hospitalized at Shmeisani Hospital for the severe course of COVID-19 and 18 people without COVID-19 allowed a clearer gradation between psychogenic mental disorders associated with the pandemic situation as a stressor and mental disorders due to coronavirus disease. Statistical processing of the results was performed using online calculator medstatistic.ru. Anxiety about the cost of medical services turned out to be the main stressor and revealed feelings of insecurity and helplessness in front of the COVID-19 threat.

Environmental stressors perceived by patients in the surgical intensive care unit and their level of satisfaction with nursing care

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine environmental stressors perceived by patients in the surgical intensive care unit and their level of satisfaction with nursing care. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in this study. Methods: This study was conducted between January 2019 and June 2019 with 120 patients who were hospitalised in the surgical intensive care unit. Data collection was via a patient information form, the Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressor Scale (ICUESS) and the Experiences of Nursing Care Scale (ENCS) component of the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales (NSNS). Findings: The mean ICUESS score was found to be 76.30 ±11.18. The main stressors perceived by the patients in the surgical intensive care unit were being in pain, being thirsty and sleeplessness. The ENCS mean score was 81.05 ±9.03. Conclusion: The mean score of the ICUESS of patients was moderate and the mean score of the ENCS was good. There was a statistically significant, negative and moderate correlation between the ICUESS score and the ENCS score.

Extremophilic Microorganisms in Central Europe.

Extremophiles inhabit a wide variety of environments. Here we focus on extremophiles in moderate climates in central Europe, and particularly in Slovenia. Although multiple types of stress often occur in the same habitat, extremophiles are generally combined into groups according to the main stressor to which they are adapted. Several types of extremophiles, e.g., oligotrophs, are well represented and diverse in subsurface environments and karst regions. Psychrophiles thrive in ice caves and depressions with eternal snow and ice, with several globally distributed snow algae and psychrophilic bacteria that have been discovered in alpine glaciers. However, this area requires further research. Halophiles thrive in salterns while thermophiles inhabit thermal springs, although there is little data on such microorganisms in central Europe, despite many taxa being found globally. This review also includes the potential use of extremophiles in biotechnology and bioremediation applications.

Factor Analysis of Occupational Stressors among Academicians from Autonomous Colleges in Madhya Pradesh, India

Occupational stress or work stress is one of the major factors affecting employees at the workplace. It is evident from the available literature that occupational stress is present among the faculties of the higher education. It is increasing due to intense competitive pressure and new challenges in the academic environment. The objective of this paper is to identify the main factors or stressors of occupational stress among the academic faculty of higher educational institutions in India. This study was done on a sample of 400 faculty members, which was drawn randomly from different autonomous colleges of Madhya Pradesh. Exploratory factor analysis was applied for determining the stressors. The stress level was measured, and t-test was performed for data analysis. The study has confirmed five factors namely, Work-Related Stressors; Personal and professional development Stressors; Techno Stressors; Colleagues and Students Interaction Stressors and Organizational Climate Stressors. The results also revealed that major causes of occupational stress. The significant differences in stress level between Male and Female faculties and between Government and Private College faculties are also reported.

Upstream migration of anadromous and potamodromous brown trout: patterns and triggers in a 25-year overview

River fragmentation and alterations in flow and thermal regimes are the main stressors affecting migrating fish, which could be aggravated by climate change and increasing water demand. To assess these impacts and define mitigation measures, it is vital to understand fish movement patterns and the environmental variables affecting them. This study presents a long-term (1995–2019) analysis of upstream migration patterns of anadromous and potamodromous brown trout in the lower River Bidasoa (Spain). For this, captures in a monitoring station were analyzed using Survival Analysis and Random Forest techniques. Results showed that most upstream movements of potamodromous trout occurred in October–December, whereas in June–July for anadromous trout, although with differences regarding sex and size. Both, fish numbers and dates varied over time and were related to the environmental conditions, with different influence on each ecotype. The information provided from comparative studies can be used as a basis to develop adaptive management strategies to ensure freshwater species conservation. Moreover, studies in the southern distribution range can be crucial under climate warming scenarios, where species are expected to shift coldwards.

25 years of multiple stressors driving the coral-algae phase shift in Akumal, Mexico

Interactions between multiple stressors (climate change, pollution, and overfishing) can erode ecological thresholds and trigger a phase shift from a coral-dominated reef state to less desired benthic states. Akumal Reef located in the North of the Mexican Caribbean is an important case study to quantify the ecological changes of coral reefs affected by multiple stressors. Here we used both field data (benthic cover, coral condition, fish biomass), together with satellite data of the main stressors (degree heating weeks, chlorophyll a, and urban area), to (i) reconstruct the timeline of stressors that have affected Akumal Reef from 1995 to 2019; (ii) describe the changes in coral reef components (benthic cover, bleaching, coral diseases, and fish biomass) in this period; and (iii) propose a model integrating coral benthic changes and the significant stressors influencing those changes through time while taking into account stressors interactions and partial effects. Our results show that between 1995 and 2019, hard coral cover suffered an average absolute loss of 84%. This loss contrasted with an average absolute gain in total algae cover of 74% and was negatively associated with an increase of 290% in the urban area. During the study period, there has been no signal of positive recovery in hard coral cover, and increasingly available space has been occupied alternatively by filamentous algae or macroalgae after acute stressor events, such as bleaching or disease, which are more frequent, and persistent in the last decade. Our integrative model highlights interactions between urban area, maximum degree heating weeks, and chlorophyll a as main drivers of hard coral decrease, as well as interactions between urban area and precipitation, related to total algae increase. Akumal Reef degradation trend must be rapidly addressed by implementing management tools integrated into a comprehensive coastal planning model, which must reduce pollution and overfishing, allowing the recovery of its structure and function, and providing persistence of ecosystem services in a context of global changes and ecological ‘surprises’.

High Altitude Hypoxia

The world's highest and largest altitude area is called the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau QTP, which harbors unique animal and plant species. Mammals that inhabit the higher altitude regions have adapted well to the hypoxic conditions. One of the main stressor at high altitudes is hypoxia. Metabolic responses to hypoxia play important roles in cell survival strategies and some diseases. However, the homeostatic alterations that equilibrate variations in the demand and supply of energy to maintain organismal function in a prolonged low O2 environment persist partly in understood, making it problematic to differentiate adaptive from maladaptive responses in hypoxia. Tibetans and yaks are two perfect examples innate to the plateau for high altitude adaptation. By the scan of the whole-genome, EPAS1 and EGLN1 were identified as key genes associated with sustained hemoglobin concentration in high altitude mammals for adaptation. The yak is a much more ancient mammal that has existed on QTP longer than humans. It is, therefore, possible that natural selection represented a diverse group of genes/pathways in yaks. Physiological characteristics are extremely informative in revealing molecular networks associated with inherited adaptation, in addition to the whole-genome adaptive changes at the DNA sequence level. Gene-expression can be changed by a variety of signals originating from the environment, and hypoxia is the main factor amongst them. The hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF-1α and EPAS1/HIF-2α) are the main regulators of oxygen in homeostasis, which play a role as maestro regulators of adaptation in the hypoxic reaction of molecular mechanisms. The basis of this review is to present recent information regarding the molecular mechanism involved in hypoxia that regulates candidate genes and proteins. Many transcriptional responses toward hypoxia are facilitated by HIFs that change the number of gene expressions and help in angiogenesis, erythropoiesis, metabolic reprogramming, and metastasis. HIFs also activate several signals highlighting a strong association between hypoxia, the misfolded proteins’ accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum in stress, and activation of Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). It was observed that at high-altitudes, pregnancies yield a low birth weight 100 g per1000 m of the climb. It may involve variation in the events of energy-demand, like protein synthesis. Prolonged hypobaric hypoxia causes placental ER stress, which, in turn, moderates protein synthesis and reduces proliferation. Further, Cardiac hypertrophy by cytosolic Ca2+ raises and Ca2+/calmodulin, calcineurin stimulation, NF-AT3 pathway might be caused by an imbalance in Sarcoplasmic reticulum ER Ca2+, which might be adaptive in the beginning but severe later on.

Passive Restoration of a Small Mountain Stream in Eastern Oregon

In this study, I documented the results of 11 years of passive restoration of a small mountain stream in northeastern Oregon. Removal of the main stressors on the system, grazing and agricultural practices, resulted in a strong recovery of the riparian vegetation over the middle two-thirds of the reach. Cover of trees and shrubs tripled, tree density increased sevenfold, and stream shading fourfold over the period 2007 through 2018. Average maximum daily stream temperature declined by 2.1 to 2.8 °C, and average maximum diurnal temperature range narrowed by 3.7 to 4.6 °C. Recolonizing American beavers (Castor canadensis) played an essential role in improving the condition of the streambed over 18% of the reach. Their dams and ponds initiated the process of streambed aggradation and transformed the single-thread, incised channel into a multi-thread configuration within beaver complexes. Vegetation expansion was much stronger in impounded than in un-impounded parts of the stream. Passive restoration was not effective in two sections, together comprising one-third of the reach. In the upper part of the stream, recovery stalled because of continued (unauthorized) trespass grazing during late summer and fall. The channelized lower section of the stream was too severely modified for measurable recovery to occur. I concluded that 11 years of passive restoration improved the functionality of the stream from 24% to 32%, and within beaver complexes, up to 57% of its pre-disturbance condition.

Effects of Natural and Anthropogenic Stressors on Fucalean Brown Seaweeds Across Different Spatial Scales in the Mediterranean Sea

Algal habitat-forming forests composed of fucalean brown seaweeds (Cystoseira, Ericaria, and Gongolaria) have severely declined along the Mediterranean coasts, endangering the maintenance of essential ecosystem services. Numerous factors determine the loss of these assemblages and operate at different spatial scales, which must be identified to plan conservation and restoration actions. To explore the critical stressors (natural and anthropogenic) that may cause habitat degradation, we investigated (a) the patterns of variability of fucalean forests in percentage cover (abundance) at three spatial scales (location, forest, transect) by visual estimates and or photographic sampling to identify relevant spatial scales of variation, (b) the correlation between semi-quantitative anthropogenic stressors, individually or cumulatively (MA-LUSI index), including natural stressors (confinement, sea urchin grazing), and percentage cover of functional groups (perennial, semi-perennial) at forest spatial scale. The results showed that impacts from mariculture and urbanization seem to be the main stressors affecting habitat-forming species. In particular, while mariculture, urbanization, and cumulative anthropogenic stress negatively correlated with the percentage cover of perennial fucalean species, the same stressors were positively correlated with the percentage cover of the semi-perennial Cystoseira compressa and C. compressa subsp. pustulata. Our results indicate that human impacts can determine spatial patterns in these fragmented and heterogeneous marine habitats, thus stressing the need of carefully considering scale-dependent ecological processes to support conservation and restoration.

Thinking about the Biodiversity Loss in This Changing World

Extinction of species has been a recurrent phenomenon in the history of our planet, but it was generally outweighed in the course of quite a long geological time by the appearance of new species, except, especially, for the five geologically short times when the so-called “Big Five” mass extinctions occurred. Could the current decline in biodiversity be considered as a signal of an ongoing, human-driven sixth mass extinction? This note briefly examines some issues related to: (i) The hypothesized current extinction rate and the magnitude of contemporary global biodiversity loss; (ii) the challenges of comparing them to the background extinction rate and the magnitude of the past Big Five mass extinction events; (iii) briefly considering the effects of the main anthropogenic stressors on ecosystems, including the risk of the emergence of pandemic diseases. A comparison between the Pleistocene fauna dynamics with the present defaunation process and the cascading effects of recent anthropogenic actions on ecosystem structure and functioning suggests that habitat degradation, ecosystem fragmentation, and alien species introduction are important stressors increasing the negative impact on biodiversity exerted by anthropogenic-driven climate changes and their connected effects. In addition, anthropogenic ecological stressors such as urbanization, landscapes, and wildlife trade, creating new opportunities for virus transmission by augmenting human contact with wild species, are among the main factors triggering pandemic diseases.