Physiological Responses Research Articles

Prior exposure to racial discrimination and patterns of acute parasympathetic nervous system responses to a race-related stress task among Black adults.

Black adults' prior exposure to racial discrimination may be associated with their acute parasympathetic reactivity to and recovery from a new race-related stressor. Existing analytical approaches to investigating this link obscure nuances in the timing, magnitude, and patterns of these acute parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) responses. In a re-analysis of a prior study, we utilize an hidden Markov model (HMM) approach to examine how prior experiences of racial discrimination are associated with intraindividual patterns of (1) physiological states of PNS activity and (2) patterns of and variability in transitions between these physiological states. Participants (N = 118) were Black young adults (range 18-29 years; Mage = 19.67, SDage = 2.04) who completed an online survey to index prior racial discrimination exposure, followed by an in-person lab visit during which their PNS activity in response to a race-related stress task was measured via electrocardiogram and converted into respiratory sinus arrhythmia. HMMs indicated evidence for two states: baseline and a second state representing a significant reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Most participants (93.22%) demonstrated a blunted response to the task, indicating that they did not transition from baseline during the procedure. Prior racial discrimination was not associated with HMM states or state transition parameters. Blunted physiological responses may be an important area of future investigation that could inform early life course mental and physical health screenings.

Multifactorial effects of warming, low irradiance, and low salinity on Arctic kelps

Abstract. The Arctic is projected to warm by 2 to 5 °C by the end of the century. Warming causes melting of glaciers, shrinking of the areas covered by sea ice, and increased terrestrial runoff from snowfields and permafrost thawing. Warming, decreasing coastal underwater irradiance, and lower salinity are potentially threatening polar marine organisms, including kelps, that are key species of hard-bottom shallow communities. The present study investigates the physiological responses of four kelp species (Alaria esculenta, Laminaria digitata, Saccharina latissima, and Hedophyllum nigripes) to these environmental changes through a perturbation experiment in ex situ mesocosms. Kelps were exposed for 6 weeks to four experimental treatments: an unmanipulated control; a warming condition under the CO2 emission scenario SSP5-8.5; and two multifactorial conditions combining warming, low salinity, and low irradiance reproducing the future coastal Arctic exposed to terrestrial runoff under two CO2 emission scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5). The physiological effects on A. esculenta, L. digitata, and S. latissima were investigated, and gene expression patterns of S. latissima and H. nigripes were analyzed. Across all species and experimental treatments, growth rates were similar, underlying the acclimation potential of these species to future Arctic conditions. Specimens of A. esculenta increased their chlorophyll a content when exposed to low irradiance conditions, suggesting that they may be resilient to an increase in glacier and river runoff with the potential to become more dominant at greater depths. S. latissima showed a lower carbon : nitrogen (C : N) ratio under the SSP5-8.5 multifactorial conditions' treatment, suggesting tolerance to coastal erosion and permafrost thawing. In contrast, L. digitata showed no response to the conditions tested on any of the investigated physiological parameters. The down-regulation of genes coding for heat-shock proteins in H. nigripes and S. latissima underscores their ability to acclimate to heat stress, which portrays temperature as a key influencing factor. Based on these results, it is expected that kelp communities will undergo changes in species composition that will vary at local scale as a function of the changes in environmental drivers.

Effects of Caffeinated Chewing Gum on Exercise Performance and Physiological Responses: A Systematic Review

Effects of Caffeinated Chewing Gum on Exercise Performance and Physiological Responses: A Systematic Review

Balancing act: The dynamic relationship between nutrient availability and plant defence.

Plants depend heavily on soil nutrients for growth, development and defence. Nutrient availability is crucial not only for sustaining vital biochemical processes but also for mounting effective defences against a diverse array of pathogens. Macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium significantly influence plant defence mechanisms by providing essential building blocks for the synthesis of defence compounds, immune signalling and physiological responses like stomatal regulation. Micronutrients like zinc, copper and iron are essential for balancing reactive oxygen species and other reactive compounds in plant immune responses. Although substantial circumstantial evidence links nutrient availability to plant defence, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process have only recently started to be understood. This review focuses on summarizing recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms by which nitrogen, phosphorus and iron interact with plant defence mechanisms and explores the potential for engineering nutritional immunity in crops to enhance their resilience against pathogens.

Integrated proteome and pangenome analysis revealed the variation of microalga Isochrysis galbana and associated bacterial community to 2,6-Di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) stress.

The phenolic antioxidant 2,6-Di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) has been detected in various environments and is considered a potential threat to aquatic organisms. Algal-bacterial interactions are crucial for maintaining ecosystem balance and elemental cycling, but their response to BHT remains to be investigated. This study analyzed the physiological and biochemical responses of the microalga Isochrysis galbana and the changes of associated bacterial communities under different concentrations of BHT stress. Results showed that the biomass of I. galbana exhibited a decreasing trend with increasing BHT concentrations up to 40mg/L. The reduction in chlorophyll, carotenoid, and soluble protein content of microalgal cells was also observed under BHT stress. The production of malondialdehyde and the activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase were further determined. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that BHT caused surface rupture of the algal cells and loss of intracellular nutrients. Proteomic analysis demonstrated the upregulation of photosynthesis and citric acid cycle pathways as a response to BHT stress. Additionally, BHT significantly increased the relative abundance of specific bacteria in the phycosphere, including Marivita, Halomonas, Marinobacter, and Alteromonas. Further experiments confirmed that these bacteria had the ability to utilize BHT as the sole carbon resource for growth, and genes related to the degradation of phenolic compounds were detected through pangenome analysis.

Recent advances in ubiquitin signals regulating plant membrane trafficking.

Ubiquitination is a reversible post-translational modification involving the attachment of ubiquitin, a 76-amino acid protein conserved among eukaryotes. The protein "ubiquitin" was named after it was found to be ubiquitously expressed in cells. Ubiquitination was first identified as a post-translational modification that mediates energy-consuming protein degradation by the proteasome. After half a century, the manifold functions of ubiquitin are widely recognized to play key roles in diverse molecular pathways and physiological processes. Compared to humans, the number of enzymes related to ubiquitination is almost twice as high in plant species such as Arabidopsis and rice, suggesting that this modification plays a critical role in many aspects of plant physiology including development and environmental stress responses. Here, we summarize and discuss recent knowledge of ubiquitination focusing on the regulation of membrane trafficking in plants. Ubiquitination of plasma membrane localized proteins often leads to endocytosis and vacuolar targeting. In addition to cargo proteins, ubiquitination of membrane trafficking regulators regulates the morphodynamics of the endomembrane system. Thus, throughout this review, we focus on the physiological responses regulated by ubiquitination and their underlying mechanisms to clarify what is already known and what would be interesting to investigate in the future.

Physiological regulation processes differentiate the experience of ruptures between patient and therapist.

The empirical and clinical literature emphasizes the importance of alliance ruptures, signaling therapeutic processes occurring within and between the partners of the therapeutic dyad. However, knowledge about the underlying regulatory processes that occur amid ruptures is scarce. Identifying the underlying physiological markers may shed light on these regulatory processes. The overarching goal of the present study was to explore physiological markers of withdrawal and confrontation ruptures, within the patient and the therapist. Given the little known on the subject, we used a single-case design (94 episodic segments) to explore biologically based regulatory processes in the face of a rupture, contrasting confrontation ruptures versus withdrawal ruptures versus control episodes (emotional and neutral episodes). Findings showed that the patient and the therapist had contrasting physiological responses to the ruptures, depending on the type. During withdrawal ruptures, the patient exhibited high regulation, while the therapist did not show a clear physiological reaction. During confrontation ruptures, the patient exhibited low regulation, while the therapist exhibited high regulation. The different physiological regulation processes at times of ruptures suggest that, in withdrawal, the patient relied on intrapersonal regulation, contrasting with the interpersonal regulation observed in confrontation ruptures. Findings remained robust after controlling for speech turns and 10,000 Monte Carlo permutations to assess chance-level results. These findings provide initial evidence for the link between arousal and behavior in ruptures, offering valuable psychoeducational material for therapists to improve their handling of these challenging moments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Drought Tolerance in Plants: Physiological and Molecular Responses

Drought, a significant environmental challenge, presents a substantial risk to worldwide agriculture and the security of food supplies. In response, plants can perceive stimuli from their environment and activate defense pathways via various modulating networks to cope with stress. Drought tolerance, a multifaceted attribute, can be dissected into distinct contributing mechanisms and factors. Osmotic stress, dehydration stress, dysfunction of plasma and endosome membranes, loss of cellular turgidity, inhibition of metabolite synthesis, cellular energy depletion, impaired chloroplast function, and oxidative stress are among the most critical consequences of drought on plant cells. Understanding the intricate interplay of these physiological and molecular responses provides insights into the adaptive strategies plants employ to navigate through drought stress. Plant cells express various mechanisms to withstand and reverse the cellular effects of drought stress. These mechanisms include osmotic adjustment to preserve cellular turgor, synthesis of protective proteins like dehydrins, and triggering antioxidant systems to counterbalance oxidative stress. A better understanding of drought tolerance is crucial for devising specific methods to improve crop resilience and promote sustainable agricultural practices in environments with limited water resources. This review explores the physiological and molecular responses employed by plants to address the challenges of drought stress.

Examination of Exercise Physiological Traits According to Usage Grade of National Forest Trails

Forest trail difficulty levels must be investigated to promote their safe usage. However, exercise-based physiological changes are difficult to estimate in a forest environment. Hence, studies comparing indoor and outdoor environmental activities are required. We aimed to investigate the physiological traits associated with different usage grades of national forest trails in the Republic of Korea. We conducted both field and indoor experiments to measure different variables of 20 healthy participants aged 40–50 years to evaluate the exercise intensity and physiological effects of hiking on these trails. Significant variations in physiological responses were observed based on trail difficulty, with the highest heart rate and energy expenditure recorded during the most challenging uphill segments. Specifically, the heart rate increased from 115.4 ± 13.7 bpm in easy segments to 140.3 ± 15.6 bpm in difficult segments, whereas energy expenditure ranged from 404.1 ± 112.2 kcal/h to 518.1 ± 131.0 kcal/h. This study highlights the importance of considering both objective trail difficulty and users’ physiological reactions, including perceived exertion, to enhance user safety and optimize the health benefits of national forest trails. These findings provide essential data for developing comprehensive exercise programs and improving the national forest trail usage grade system.

The scion-driven transcriptomic changes guide the resilience of grafted near-isohydric grapevines under water deficit

Abstract The large diversity of grapevine cultivars includes genotypes more tolerant to water deficit than others. Widely distributed cultivars, like Merlot, are more sensitive to water deprivation than local cultivars like Callet, which are more adapted to water deficit due to their Mediterranean origin. Despite their tolerance, adaptation to water deficit influenced by grafting in rootstocks like 110 Richter is key to facing drought in vineyards, defining the scion/rootstock relationship. To understand these differences, we explored transcriptomic, metabolic, hormonal and physiological responses under three levels of water deficit (mild, high and extreme), using 110 Richter as the rootstock in both cultivars. Results revealed that sensitivity to ABA is essential for water deficit tolerance in the aerial part, guiding root responses. Callet/110 Richter activates more gene expression patterns in response to ABA, reducing water loss compared to Merlot/110 Richter in both aerial and root parts. This modulation in Callet/110 Richter involves regulating metabolic pathways to increase cell turgor, reducing photosynthesis, and producing molecules like polyphenols or flavonoids to respond to oxidative stress. In contrast, Merlot/110 Richter shows a lack of specific response, especially in the roots, indicating less resilience to water stress. Therefore, selecting genotypes more sensitive to ABA and their interaction with rootstocks is key for managing vineyards in future climate change scenarios.

Genome-Wide Identification of UGT Genes and Analysis of Their Expression Profiles During Fruit Development in Walnut (Juglans regia L.)

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) possesses the ability to prevent coronary heart disease and promote cardiovascular health. This ability can be attributed to their rich content of polyphenols, particularly flavonoids. The biosynthesis of flavonoids is reliant on the catalytic activity of uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase (UGT). However, the identification of UGTs in walnut has not been reported. In the current study, a total of 124 UGT genes containing the PSPG box were identified from the walnut genome. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the 124 UGTs could be classified into 16 distinct groups, which exhibited an uneven distribution across the 16 chromosomes. Subcellular localization prediction analysis revealed that approximately 78.23% of walnut UGT proteins were predominantly localized in the cytoplasmic compartment. Furthermore, motif annotation confirmed that motifs 1, 2, and 3 represented conserved structural features within UGT proteins, while interestingly, around 56.5% of walnut UGT members lacked introns. Through the analysis of promoter cis-regulatory elements, it was revealed that JrUGTs are involved in photoresponse, hormonal regulation, and other physiological responses. In conjunction with transcriptome analysis and quantitative expression, approximately 39% of UGT genes in walnut exhibited high expression levels during early fruit development. Correlation analysis between UGT genes’ expression and phenolic content in walnut indicated that JrUGT6, JrUGT38, JrUGT39, JrUGT58, JrUGT69, JrUGT75, and JrUGT82 might be involved in phenolic biosynthesis in walnut. This comprehensive study provides an overview of the UGT genes in walnut, serving as a valuable reference and theoretical foundation for further investigations into the biological functions of JrUGTs in flavonoid biosynthesis.

Response of growth and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of mulberry seedlings to waterlogging stress

This study aimed to investigate the adaptive mechanisms of mulberry (Morus alba) to waterlogged conditions, with a specific focus on the development of adventitious roots (ARs), alteration of growth strategies, and adjustment of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. To achieve this goal, 4-year-old potted mulberry plants were selected for research, and a waterlogging simulation method was implemented. Four treatments were established to investigate the effects of varying water conditions on leaf waterlogging damage, the number of ARs, plant height, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, and proton motive force (pmf) parameters in mulberry plants. These treatments included the control group (CK), shallow submerged group (SS), half-submerged group (HS) and deep submerged group (DS). Our results showed that (1) The number of ARs in each group increased with increasing waterlogging time. (2) Waterlogging stress inhibited the height growth of mulberry, and the changes in plant height in the HS and DS groups were significantly lower than those in the CK and SS groups. (3) The maximum photochemical quantum yield (Fv/Fm) in the HS and DS groups decreased significantly under waterlogging stress. The nonphotochemical quenching (NPQt) of mulberry leaves in the submergence group increased significantly in the early stage of waterlogging stress, and the NPQt in the submergence group increased continuously with increasing waterlogging time. (4) Thylakoid conductivity to protons (gH+) in the leaves of mulberry decreased significantly under waterlogging stress, whereas the steady-state rate of proton flux (vH+) and total electrochromic shift (ECSt) increased significantly. The morphological, physiological, and ecological responses of mulberry plants to waterlogging stress include the timely generation of ARs at the stem base, the adjustment of plant growth strategies, and the repair of photosynthetic response centers in leaves through heat dissipation and thylakoid acidification mechanisms.

MHPpred: Accurate identification of peptide hormones using multi-view feature learning

Peptide hormones were first used in medicine in the early 20th century, with the pivotal event being the isolation and purification of insulin in 1921. These hormones are integral to a sophisticated system that emerged early in evolution to regulate growth, development, and homeostasis. They serve as targeted signaling molecules that transfer specific information between cells and organs, ensuring coordinated and precise physiological responses. While experimental methods for identifying peptide hormones present challenges such as low abundance, stability issues, and complexity, computational methods offer promising alternatives. Advances in machine learning and bioinformatics have facilitated the prediction of peptide hormones, further enhancing their therapeutic potential. In this study, we explored three different computational frameworks for peptide hormone identification and determined that the meta-approach was the most suitable. Firstly, we evaluated the discriminative power of 26 feature descriptors using a series of baseline models and identified seven feature descriptors with high predictive potential. Through a systematic approach, we then selected the top 20 performing baseline models and integrated their predicted probabilities to train a meta-model, leveraging the strengths of multiple prediction strategies. Our final light gradient boosting-based meta-model, mHPpred, significantly outperformed the existing method, HOPPred, on both benchmarking and independent datasets. Notably, mHPpred also demonstrated superior performance compared to the hybrid and integrative framework approaches employed in this study. This superiority demonstrates the effectiveness of our multi-view feature learning strategy in capturing discriminative features and providing a more accurate prediction model for peptide hormones. mHPpred is publicly accessible at: https://balalab-skku.org/mHPpred.

Influence of Vine Decline Disease on the Amino Acid Metabolism of Watermelon Fruit

Vine decline (VD) is a recalcitrant syndrome of watermelon, melon, and other cucurbits, often associated with soil-borne pathogens such as Monosporascus cannonballus and characterized by root necrosis, leaf chlorosis, and wilting at the later stage of fruit maturation. The present study examined VD’s effects on watermelon fruits’ metabolism. The VD-affected watermelon fruits had significantly lower lycopene and total solid contents. Still, polyphenols content and total antioxidant activities were comparable with the controls, suggesting that VD inhibited the ripening processes but maintained defensive processes in the fruits. The VD fruits showed a lower calcium level than the controls, while the contents of other major nutrition minerals were not significantly altered. The VD fruits had a lower content of total amino acids, and their composition was characterized by an increase in the percentage fractions for several amino acids, including citrulline, which may reflect the physiological response to the VD-related water deficit condition. The principal component analysis distinguished amino acid profiles between the VD and control fruits, demonstrating that VD significantly influenced their amino acid metabolisms. The present study revealed that VD imposed characteristic impacts on the biochemical behaviors in the watermelon fruits.

Leaf biochemical and physiological responses to elevated atmospheric ozone concentration in eight modern rice cultivars

Leaf biochemical and physiological responses to elevated atmospheric ozone concentration in eight modern rice cultivars

Impact of flooding at the early reproductive growth stage on soybean yield and seed composition

AbstractFlooding stress is a growing threat to global soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] production as the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitations are increasing due to climate change. Soybean is highly sensitive to flooding and substantial yield losses are observed due to a cascade of negative physiological responses induced by hypoxia. Hence, there is a pressing need for the development of flood‐tolerant genotypes. This study evaluated the grain yield and seed protein and oil content of 31 soybean genotypes over 2 years under both non‐flooding and flooding conditions, where flooding entailed a 4‐day partial water submergence during the early reproductive growth stages R1/R2. Mixed‐effects linear models were utilized to assess the impact of flood damage scores (FDSs, 1–4 scale) on observed phenotypes, as well as differences in observed phenotypes between tolerant, moderate, and susceptible genotypes across flooding and non‐flooding treatments. No significant impact of FDS was observed for seed protein and oil content. In addition, no significant differences in these phenotypes were observed between flooding and non‐flooding treatments across the various genotype categories. On average, for each unit increase in FDS, grain yield decreased by 432.7 kg ha−1 (17.4%). Tolerant genotypes experienced roughly 33% yield losses between flooding and non‐flooding treatments, while moderate and susceptible genotypes experienced 44% and 51% yield losses, respectively. The advancements in genomics and phenomics are promising for the identification and incorporation of novel flood‐tolerant alleles through plant breeding, potentially mitigating flooding‐induced yield losses across diverse environmental conditions.

Comparative effects of caffeine, beta-alanine, and their combination on mechanical, physiological, and perceptual responses to upper-body superset resistance training.

Caffeine and beta-alanine are widely used in multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements believed to enhance resistance training, but their specific role in driving this effect remains unclear. The current study employed a randomized, triple-blinded, placebo-controlled and crossover experimental design to explore the acute effects of caffeine (200mg), beta-alanine (3g), or their combination (200mg caffeine and 3g beta-alanine; C+B-A) administered 30min prior to resistance training (RT) on mechanical, physiological, and perceptual variables. Twenty-one young resistance-trained males (age = 23.5 ± 4.5years, body mass = 82.1 ± 10.2kg) visited the laboratory on six occasions: one familiarization session, one preliminary testing session for load determination, and four experimental sessions which differed only in supplementation condition and involved four supersets of bench press and bench pull exercises. The supplement condition did not significantly affect any mechanical variables (p ≥ 0.335), except for the velocity of the last repetition of the set, where beta-alanine produced lower values (0.383m/s) compared to placebo (0.407m/s; p < 0.05), with no differences observed for C+B-A (0.397m/s) and caffeine (0.392m/s). Heart rate was consistent across the different supplement conditions with the exception of the higher values observed immediately before the start of the RT session for placebo compared to caffeine (p = 0.010) and C+B-A (p = 0.019). Post-RT blood lactate concentration (p = 0.384), general and local ratings of perceived exertion (p = 0.177 and 0.160, respectively), and readiness (p = 0.281-0.925), did not differ significantly between supplement conditions. Selected supplements have minimal effects on performance and physiological responses in agonist-antagonist upper-body superset RT not leading to failure.

Visual fatigue prediction using classification model based on physiological responses of occupants under office lightings

Appropriate management of visual fatigue is crucial for eye health as it significantly impacts life quality throughout an individual's life cycle. The shift to digital tasks in modern office environments has increased occupants' exposure to visual fatigue, leading to various social problems. This study aimed to develop visual fatigue prediction models based on physiological responses and classification algorithms. Experiments were conducted to collect physiological responses and subjective visual fatigue under various lighting environments. Collected data was refined and reorganized as predictor variables by different time windows and target variables by scales. Then, visual fatigue prediction models were developed using supervised machine learning algorithms (i.e., artificial neural network, support vector machine, gradient boosting machine, and random forest). And improved by feature selection and adding subject-label variables. The resulting two-scale and three-scale visual fatigue prediction models demonstrated an average performance of 93.73 % and 94.64 % respectively. This research can contribute to reducing societal costs and enhancing productivity by proposing visual fatigue prediction models that help manage eye health in office environments.

Influence of Foliar Application of Nanoparticles on Low Temperature Resistance of Rice Seedlings

Chilling stress, a common abiotic factor, adversely affects the growth and biomass of rice seedlings during the early stages, ultimately reducing the yield. Effective strategies to mitigate these negative impacts are essential for improving rice productivity. The application of nanotechnology in agriculture, particularly nanoparticles (NPs), has shown a promising effect in alleviating chilling stress in plants. This study evaluates the effects of various nanoparticles, ZnO (0, 50, 100, and 200 mg/L), Fe2O3 (0, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L), TiO2 (0, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L), and CeO2 (0, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L) on the chilling resistance with one control (a water spray) under a normal temperature. Four rice cultivars: LLY-7108 and XZX-6 (Low-temperature-tolerant), and LLY-32 and ZJZ-17 (Low-temperature-susceptible) were tested in this experiment. Rice seedlings were subjected to low temperature conditions (12 h light 14 °C/12 h dark, at 10 °C) for five days, followed by seven days of recovery. The results of this study demonstrate that NPs significantly enhanced seedling height fresh/dry weight and root length compared to untreated controls under chilling stress. NP treatment also reduced the reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and proline content, while enhancing superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities, thereby mitigating oxidative damage. The four rice varieties exhibited clear signs of rapid growth recovery and positive physiological changes due to NPs’ application. Among the tested cultivars, LLY-7108 showed the most substantial recovery and physiological responses, while ZJZ-17 exhibited the least. The findings of this study indicate that the foliar application of ZnO (100 mg/L), Fe2O3 (50 mg/L), TiO2 (50 mg/L), and CeO2 (75 mg/L) NPs effectively mitigates chilling stress in rice seedlings, likely by enhancing the antioxidant enzymatic activity while reducing the oxidative damage. This study highlights the potential of NPs as effective agents in reducing the adverse effects of chilling stress on rice.

Exploring Built Environment Visual Interactions: A SoftBIM Data-Driven Approach for a Database About the Outdoor View

Windows and glazed facades provide outdoor views, serving as vital sources of visual information that aid navigation and interaction within buildings. These views can trigger psychological and physiological responses, affecting individual well-being. However, optimizing outdoor view quality is challenging due to the complex interplay of factors influencing the building’s experience of vision. Managing the complexity of optimizing outdoor view quality within current digital frameworks for building design presents significant challenges. A key issue lies in the ambiguity of certain visual metrics, which are often difficult to translate into explicit descriptors of spatial configurations. Even when such metrics are available, their practical use as guiding tools in the design process is frequently obstructed by complex data interoperability procedures. These procedures are necessary to enable seamless data transfer across the multiple software environments involved in the design process. This study advocates for the softBIM paradigm, which optimizes workflows by embedding visual analysis results into target geometries. Supported by this process, the calculation of a metric to measure the impact of existing and planned visual obstructions on the vision of the targeted landmarks is proposed and analysed. This metric is specifically applied to assess the visual information incoming to the vertical facades of building envelopes, a context of application that denotes criteria of assessment different from the ones usually applied in the most established frameworks for visual analysis (e.g., isovist analysis). SoftBIM enables effective automation strategies to aid the metric computation and the processing of the results to implement seamless export and data implementation. The visual metric is built upon implementing the Ladybug suite and addresses the different limitations in the target-based visibility calculation supported by the tool.