Periods Of Stress Research Articles

Short- and Long-Term Effects of Subchronic Stress Exposure in Male and Female Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Knock-In Val66Met Mice.

Stress is an important risk factor for the onset of anxiety and depression. The ability to cope with stressful events varies among different subjects, probably depending on different genetic variants, sex and previous life experiences. The Val66Met variant of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which impairs the activity-dependent secretion of BDNF, has been associated with increased susceptibility to the development of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Adult male and female wild-type Val/Val (BDNFV/V) and heterozygous Val/Met (BDNFV/M) mice were exposed to two sessions of forced swimming stress (FSS) per day for two consecutive days. The mice were behaviorally tested 1 day (short-term effect) or 11 days (long-term effect) after the last stress session. Protein and mRNA levels were measured in the hippocampus 16 days after the end of stress exposure. Stressed mice showed a higher anxiety-like phenotype compared to non-stressed mice, regardless of the sex and genotype, when analyzed following the short period of stress. In the prolonged period, anxiety-like behavior persisted only in male BDNFV/M mice (p < 0.0001). Interestingly, recovery in male BDNFV/V mice was accompanied by an increase in pCREB (p < 0.001) and Bdnf4 (p < 0.01) transcript and a decrease in HDAC1 (p < 0.05) and Dnmt3a (p = 0.01) in the hippocampus. Overall, our results show that male and female BDNF Val66Met knock-in mice can recover from subchronic stress in different ways.

Stress among Women during Menopause- impact on Mental Health

Stress is a necessary component of life. All living things go through periods of stress at some point in their existence. The word "stress" has become widely used in everyday speech in recent years. Stress, in Lazarus's definition, is an internal process that arises when an individual perceives that a demand exceeds their capacity to adequately respond to it, and when failing to meet that capacity can have significant negative repercussions [1]. The body reacts to stress in a manner akin to how it reacts to danger. A condition of wellbeing known as mental health can motivate people to make positive decisions. In a similar vein, when someone is dealing with an issue, it negatively impacts their mental health and causes their mental wellness to decline. In industrialized nations, menopause typically begins between the ages of 40 and 58. 52 is the average age in the United States (Trusted Source). Some will experience it sooner as a result of a medical condition or treatment (ovaries removed, for example). Hormonal changes brought on by menopause might result in mood swings, heat flashes, and other symptoms. The main focus of the study was to swot on “Stress among Women during Menopause- Impact on Mental Health”. Women who are in the age group of 45 -55 years were selected for the study. The sample consists of 60 women belongs to Madakasira village, Sathya Sai district for the study. Menopause problems questionnaire was developed by the researcher with the guidelines of subject experts it was pre-tested to other sample before going to actual sample. According to the study, women experience a great deal of irritation and fury during menopause, along with anxiety, forgetfulness, low self-esteem, confidence loss, low mood, and feelings of melancholy or despair. These symptoms are sometimes referred to as "brain fog" and/or "lost words."

The Relationship between Burnout and Sense of School Belonging among the Resident Physicians in the Standardization Training in China

ABSTRACT Background As an important part in medical training in graduate school, 33-month medical residency training could be a stressful period inducing burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment). Despite that existing literature has found that sense of belonging may have merits for residents’ well-being, it has remained unclear how sense of school belonging affects burnout and the potential moderators. To address this question, a cross-sectional survey has been conducted among the residents of the physicians standardized residency training program in China. Methods Seven hundred (N = 700) resident physicians from different majors (i.e. clinical medicine, clinical Stomatology, and Chinese medicine) and grades have participated in the survey. Resident’s sense of school belonging was assessed with the psychological sense of school membership scale (PSSM, mean = 45.12, SD = 11.14). Burnout was measured by the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS, mean = 65.80, SD = 15.89), including three subscales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Results The results showed that over 80% of the residents reported moderate or high level of emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment during residency training. Meanwhile, higher level of sense of school belonging was associated with lower overall burnout (B = −0.722, p < 0.001), less emotional exhaustion, reduced depersonalization, and higher personal accomplishment. In particular, the benefits of sense of belonging seem more pronounced among female and those at earlier stage of residency. No interaction effect was found between sense of belonging and major, while those from Chinese medicine reported lower scores in overall burnout and the three dimensions. Conclusions Burnout was a prevalent issue among the resident physicians, and our findings confirmed the protective effects of sense of school belonging against burnout. Therefore, support service should be developed to cultivate resident’s sense of school belonging and social connections, particularly for female and those at earlier stage of residency.

The effect of playing basketball on the psychological state of a cadet of the national academy of the state border service of Ukraine

Summary. The physical training of future border guards forms the basis of their professional activities. Therefore, considerable attention is paid to it during training at a specialized university. With the help of physical training, the necessary physical, psychophysiological and mental indicators of the body are achieved and formed. Systematic physical exercises materialize special knowledge and skills into parameters of professional reliability. Participating in team sports, particularly basketball, involves regular physical activity that contributes to the general health and well-being of cadets. Basketball teaches the value of teamwork and cooperation. In a team environment, players learn to work toward common goals, support each other's strengths, and compensate for each other's weaknesses, and these experiences eventually translate into valuable life skills. Team sports are always challenges that allow cadets to develop emotional stability. Facing difficulties on the sports field helps to develop strength, perseverance and a positive attitude towards failure. In addition, team sports contribute to the development of strong character traits. It is shown that group sports contribute to the development of cadets’ command qualities and high physical indicators that are important for achieving the set goals. Playing sports definitely contribute to increasing psychological preparedness, create conditions for active recreation during the period of stress. Thus, basketball definitely develops a person not only physically, but also mentally.&#x0D; The article examines the use of basketball during the physical training of future border guards and the impact of this sport on the psychological state of cadets, as well as outlines the main directions for future scientific research on this topic.

A longitudinal study of queen health in honey bees reveals tissue specific response to seasonal changes and pathogen pressure

The health of honey bee queens is crucial for colony success, particularly during stressful periods like overwintering. To accompany a previous longitudinal study of colony and worker health, we explored niche-specific gut microbiota, host gene expression, and pathogen prevalence in honey bee queens overwintering in a warm southern climate. We found differential gene expression and bacterial abundance with respect to various pathogens throughout the season. Biologically older queens had larger microbiotas, particularly enriched in Bombella and Bifidobacterium. Both Deformed Wing Virus A and B subtypes were highest in the fat body tissue in January, correlating with colony Varroa levels, and Deformed Wing Virus titers in workers. High viral titers in queens were associated with decreased vitellogenin expression, suggesting a potential trade-off between immune function and reproductive capacity. Additionally, we found a complex and dynamic relationship between these viral loads and immune gene expression, indicating a possible breakdown in the coordinated immune response as the season progressed. Our study also revealed a potential link between Nosema and Melissococcus plutonius infections in queens, demonstrating that seasonal opportunism is not confined to just workers. Overall, our findings highlight the intricate interplay between pathogens, metabolic state, and immune response in honey bee queens. Combined with worker and colony-level metrics from the same colonies, our findings illustrate the social aspect of queen health and resilience over the winter dearth.

Interaksi Sosial Teman Sebaya Terhadap Kematangan Emosional Siswa Kelas Delapan

Adolescence is considered a period of storm and stress, a time in which emotional tensions run high. Peers teach students the ability to control themselves, according to the new role they have acquired in their group. The peer environment plays a role in providing opportunities for adolescents to learn to interact and control their social behavior. The aim of this research is that the peer environment plays a role in providing opportunities for adolescents to learn to interact and control their social behavior. This research is quantitative in nature using a correlational method. The population is all class VIII students at PGRI Semarang Middle School with a total of 254 students. The sampling technique is cluster random sampling. Sampling was taken by lottery so that there were two classes selected, namely classes C and F with a total of 64 students. The instruments used in this research are the peer social interaction scale and the emotional maturity scale with four alternative answer choices. The results of hypothesis testing using the Pearson product moment correlation test, obtained a significance value of 0.000, which means that there is a relationship between Peer Social Interaction (X) and Emotional Maturity (Y). The correlation result obtained was 0.554 and was included in the medium relationship level category.

Economic performance of exporting sectors: Evidence for manufacturing in Brazil

We investigated the resilience of exporting manufacturing sectors during the Brazilian domestic recession (2014–2016) using data from various sources at the Brazilian state-sector level. We propose a new identification strategy that gauges a sector’s exposure to the recession by examining its current position in the international demand cycle, deemed exogenous from the viewpoint of a local exporter in Brazil. Following the two-year Brazilian recession, we observe a persistent negative effect on exporting sectors that are more reliant on domestic economic activity (and thus more vulnerable to the domestic recession) than those less reliant on domestic economic activity (less exposed to the domestic recession). Sectors with lower labor productivity and higher technological intensity were less resilient during the domestic recession, as revenues declined and financing costs increased substantially. Given the critical role of exports in regional economic growth, this study contributes to the formulation of public policies by documenting the economic performance of exporting sectors during periods of economic stress.

Debt Derisking

We examine how corporate bond fund managers manipulate portfolio risk in response to incentives. We find that liquidity risk concerns drive the allocation decisions of underperforming funds, whereas tournament incentives are of secondary importance. This leads laggard fund managers to trade off yield for liquidity while holding the exposure to other sources of risk constant. The documented derisking is stronger for managers with shorter tenure and is reinforced by a more concave flow to performance sensitivity and by periods of market stress. Derisking meaningfully supports ex post laggard fund returns. Flexible net asset values (swing pricing) may, however, reduce derisking incentives and create moral hazard. This paper was accepted by Agostino Capponi, finance. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.03406 .

Availability and use of institutional support programs for emergency department healthcare personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed health care personnel (HCP) at risk for stress, anxiety, burnout, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To address this, hospitals developed programs to mitigate risk. The objectives of the current study were to measure the availability and use of these programs in a cohort of academic emergency departments (EDs) in the United States early in the pandemic and identify factors associated with program use. Cross-sectional survey of ED HCP in 21 academic EDs in 15 states between June and September 2020. Site investigators provided data on the availability of 28 programs grouped into 9 categories. Individual support programs included: financial, workload mitigation, individual COVID-19 testing, emotional (e.g., mental health hotline), and instrumental (e.g., childcare) Clinical work support programs included: COVID-19 team communication (e.g., debriefing critical incident), patient-family communication facilitation, patient services (e.g., social work, ethics consultation), and system-level exposure reduction. Participants provided corresponding data on whether they used the programs. We used generalized linear mixed models clustered on site to measure the association between demographic and facility characteristics and program use. We received 1,541 survey responses (96% response rate) from emergency physicians or advanced practice providers, nurses, and nonclinical staff. Program availability in each of the 9 categories was high (>95% of hospitals). Program use was variable, with clinical work support programs used more frequently (28-50% of eligible HCP across categories) than individual employee support programs (6-13% of eligible HCP across categories). Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their stress and anxiety, and 12% were at elevated risk for PTSD. Program use did not significantly differ for HCP who reported symptoms of anxiety and/or stress compared to those who did not. Early in the pandemic, support programs were widely available to ED HCP, but program use was low. Future work will focus on identifying barriers and facilitators to use and specific programs most likely to be effective during periods of highest occupational stress.

Ameliorative role of melatonin against adrenaline induced oxidative stress mediated cardiac and hepatic tissue injuries through preserving pyridoxine metabolism in male Wistar rats: A mechanistic insight

Adrenaline (AD) is a naturally occurring catecholamine, synthesised in the adrenal medulla to prepare the organisms for a "fight or flight" response. Under stressful circumstances, the circulatory catecholamine undergoes auto-oxidation, resulting in the formation of free radicals. Chronic stress results in the depletion of micronutrient stores in the body. Pyridoxine, often known as vitamin B6, is an essential water-soluble vitamin that acts as a coenzyme in many metabolic processes. Therefore, our current investigation has prioritized the regulation of pyridoxine metabolism during the period of chronic stress and the precise role of melatonin, as a natural antioxidant, in preventing the alterations generated by adrenaline in cardiac and hepatic tissues. Adrenaline augmented the oxidative stress indices, leading to an imbalance in the antioxidative state resulting in changes in the levels of certain organ-specific serum markers, modifications in the levels of PL (pyridoxal), PLP (pyridoxal-5-phosphate), and the enzymes responsible for their metabolism and breakdown. The foregoing results were corroborated by the histochemical and histological examinations. Melatonin efficiently counteracted all these harmful changes. Besides, the current study demonstrates that both PLP and melatonin show efficacy in scavenging free radicals, including superoxide anion free radicals and hydroxyl radicals, in the chemical system. However, the in vitro studies demonstrated that when administered together, melatonin and PLP more effectively mitigate free radical generation than the individual molecule. These findings were further confirmed by the ITC binding study. These results suggest that a combination of melatonin and PLP could be a better therapeutic approach for the amelioration of stress induced oxidative damages in cardiac and hepatic tissues with an improved pyridoxine metabolism.

Does Bankruptcy Identify a Type Of Real Estate Agent or a Stress-Induced Change in Performance?

AbstractReal estate agent experience, characteristics, selling strategies, and the structure of incentives affect sales performance. This paper also considers how stressful events in private life, like bankruptcy and criminal records, affect productivity. The empirical approach accounts for the simultaneity of price and liquidity in search markets. Full sample and repeat sales analyses sort out the extent to which these events identify different types of agents versus temporary changes in behavior as well as specific responses in terms of choice of clients versus how those clients are served. The analysis pays particular attention to differences in listing and selling agents. Bankruptcy and crime reports are different types of events and have different effects on agents. The results indicate that bankruptcy (or crime report) signals a certain type of agent with particular business practices who also change their behavior during temporary periods of stress.

Dermatitis Caused by Stress in Quails and Measures to Combat Them

The research work was carried out in the vivarium of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of ASAU and in the Education-experimental Center for Quail Breeding on White texas breed quails in the period of temperature stress in the building and under the shed. When quail broods are kept under shed in June, July, August, temperature stress occurs among quails as a result of air temperature higher than 38-42°C, and as a result, large changes in homeostasis occur, as well as due to prolonged sunlight during the day, as in ornamental birds. Dermatitis disease also occurs among quail birds. Dermatitis disease is different — allergic, chemical, physical, etc. arises under the influence. The article shows ways to prevent dermatitis caused by temperature stress and strong sunlight. 100 grams of Anti Stress Forte WSP drug was added to 120 liters of water in order to prevent the formation of large changes in homeostasis and the formation of the photo-contact form of dermatitis on the skin of quails as a result of temperature stress during this period, as a result of the rise in temperature and the long duration of direct sunlight should be applied, in case of prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays, a curtain made of white polyethylene should be placed on the front part of the shed. While investigating the dermatitis disease caused by temperature stress and long-term exposure to sunlight, we determined the clinical-physiological condition and productivity of the mother quails.

Attachment insecurities, emotion dynamics and stress in intimate relationships during the transition to parenthood

BackgroundIn intimate relationships, which are characterized by emotional interdependence, partners act as attachment figures which serve emotion regulation functions. The experience of emotions as well as the strategies that partners use to regulate them and to respond to relational experiences, especially during stressful periods, differ greatly according to their attachment orientation. An important aspect in emotion dynamics is emotional inertia, which reflects the degree to which a person’s current affective state is resistant to change on a moment-to-moment basis. Inertia has been related to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, like suppression and rumination, preferentially used by highly anxious and avoidant individuals. The aim of this study is to examine associations between attachment orientations and reports on the experience of positive and negative affect, and their dynamics in daily life across the transition to parenthood.MethodsLongitudinal data from a sample of 152 mixed-gender couples collected across the transition to parenthood was analyzed. We predicted that individuals with a more insecure attachment would report more negative and less positive affect, and that their emotional experience would be more resistant to change over time. We explored effects when participants reported feeling stressed.ResultsThe data suggested that attachment anxiety was associated with less positive and more negative affect and that attachment avoidance was associated with more positive affect. Anxious individuals showed lower emotional inertia and not higher as we expected. Reported stress for anxious and avoidant individuals was significantly associated with more negative but not less positive affect.ConclusionsResults are discussed in the light of their impact on couples during stressful periods. Differences between anxiety and avoidance are found, emphasizing the importance of attachment insecurities on the experience of emotion. Furthermore, our findings on momentary fluctuating affect offer complementary insight into the emotional functioning of individuals with different attachment orientations.

The Leuven Prolonged Acute Stress Test (L-PAST): A novel paradigm to induce a subjective and glucocorticoid stress response for at least ninety minutes

Laboratory stress tests typically administer stress acutely, ranging from 3 to 15 minutes. However, everyday stressors usually last longer than ten minutes (e.g., examination stressors, work stressors, and social stressors. Moreover, in some studies, it may be relevant to induce stress for a longer period to affect certain psychological or physiological parameters. To this end, we developed a novel stress test that intends to induce psychosocial stress for 90 minutes. The Leuven Prolonged Acute Stress Test (L-PAST) combines physical (hand immersion in cold water), cognitive (mental arithmetic), and psychosocial (social evaluation and feelings of failure) stress elements of two well-known laboratory stress tests, the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) and the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (MIST). Fifty healthy women were subjected to both the L-PAST and a sham (control) test in a randomized and counterbalanced manner. The stress response was determined by salivary cortisol measurements and assessment of subjective stress ratings at regular time points during the time preceding the stress period (5 min), the stress period (90 min), and the recovery period (35 min). Cognitive reactivity to failure and subjective pain levels were also assessed at various time points. The childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and the perceived stress scale (PSS) were administered prior to the testing phase. As expected, linear mixed models revealed that the stress response was significantly higher during the L-PAST as indicated by a significant time point by condition interaction effect for both the cortisol response (F(10,450)=12.21, p < 0.0001, ηp2=0.11) and the subjective stress response (F(13,637)=13.98, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.12). Moreover, there was a significant time point by condition interaction effect for cognitive reactivity to failure (F(13,637) = 7.97, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.07) and subjective pain (F(13,637) = 38.52, p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.27), indicating that the levels were higher during the L-PAST at most stress induction time points. Lastly, higher CTQ scores were associated with higher subjective pain levels during the L-PAST (F(1,44)=6.05, p = 0.02). Collectively, our results confirm the efficacy of the L-PAST in inducing a prolonged subjective as well as cortisol stress response.

Evaluating Japan’s revised heat-health warning system in the face of recent escalating heat stress

In 2021, the Japanese government changed the exposure indicator of the national heat-health warning system (HHWS) from air temperature (T air) to Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (T WBG), reflecting the growing concerns about the escalating humid heat stress. However, a clear validation of the advantages of using heat stress indicators (HSIs) that combine T air and humidity in heat alerts and heat-health applications are still being explored. Here, by using the latest epidemiological data (2015–2019) before the COVID-19 pandemic, we examined the rationality of the revised HHWS for 47 prefectures in Japan. Specifically, we investigated the predictive power of different HSIs in modeling mortality and morbidity caused by different diseases (e.g. all causes, circulatory, respiratory, and heatstroke) and age groups. Our findings revealed substantial differences among the HSIs in identifying periods of intense heat stress, potentially leading to differences in the activation dates of the HHWS if various indicators were employed. While HSIs exhibited comparable performances in modeling daily mortality, our analysis demonstrates distinct advantages in using T WBG for daily morbidity predictions, and the quasi-Akaike Information Criterion of T WBG is much lower than the previously used T air. The merits of T WBG are consistent in modeling all causes, non-external, as well as heatstroke-related morbidity. Overall, this study underscores the practicality of incorporating HSIs in heat stress early warnings and provides critical insights for refining the HHWS to mitigate health impacts from heat stress under future climate change.

The supplementation of female dogs with live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079 acts as gut stabilizer at whelping and modulates immunometabolic phenotype of the puppies.

Time around parturition is a stressful period for both bitches and their puppies. The use of probiotics has been proposed, e.g., in pigs, to improve health status of sows, their reproductive performances and in turn, the health and performance of their progeny. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact, on both dams and puppies, of a supplementation of bitches with the live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SB-1079) during the second part of the gestation and the lactation period. A total of 36 bitches of medium and large-sized breeds were enrolled. They were divided into two groups, one of which received 1.3 × 109 colony forming units of live yeast per day. At dam's level, SB-1079 yeast shaped a different microbiota structure between the two groups just after whelping, impacted alpha diversity and some plasma metabolites related to energy metabolism. Regarding reproductive performances, SB-1079 improved gross energy of the colostrum (1.4 vs. 1.2 kcal of ME/g) as well as the concentration of protein in milk at Day 7 after parturition (10.4 vs. 7.6%). SB-1079 also reduced the odds of having low birth weight in the litter. At puppy's level, a modulation of immunometabolic phenotype is suggested by the observation of increased growth rates during the early pediatric period (i.e., between 21 and 56 days of life, 225 vs. 190%) and a decrease of the IL-8:IL-10 ratio after vaccination against rabies (4.2 vs. 16.9). Our findings suggest that SB-1079 supplementation during gestation and lactation has the potential to enhance health of bitches and in turn health of puppies through maternal programming.

Does losing family members in midlife matter for late-life mental and cognitive health? A longitudinal study of older Swedes spanning 30 years

Objectives Mental and cognitive health is crucial to ensure well-being in older age. However, prolonged periods of stress, grief, and bereavement might compromise mental health balance, leading to profound changes. This study investigated the sex-stratified associations between midlife bereavement experiences (e.g. sibling loss, spousal loss, and multiple losses) and late-life depression (LLD) and cognitive impairment. Method Linked data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey and the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were used. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to examine the associations between midlife bereavement and LLD (n = 1078) and cognitive impairment (n = 995), separately. Results Sibling loss and multiple losses in midlife were associated with lower odds of LLD, especially among women. Among men, sibling loss in midlife was associated with lower odds of cognitive impairment, while the experience of two losses among women suggested an increased (but non-significant) risk of cognitive impairment. Interaction analyses did not show significant effects between bereavement and gender on LLD and cognitive impairment. Conclusion Midlife bereavement might have gendered implications on LLD and cognitive impairment, but associations need to be confirmed by well-powered studies. Further research is warranted to elucidate the association between multiple midlife losses and reduced LLD risk.

Physiological mechanisms of cross-stress and memory in soybean plants subjected to water deficit and waterlogging

Defense priming is a strategy that enables plants to react faster, minimizing the damage suffered and allowing them to survive stress. Here, we investigated the physiological and morphological changes underpinning stress memory and adaptive capacity in soybean plants subjected to water deficit and/or waterlogging at two developmental stages. Our experiment was carried out in a greenhouse with seven treatments and four replicates: control (non-stressed plants), water deficit at R2; water deficit both at V4 and R2; water deficit in V4 and waterlogging in R2; waterlogging in R2; waterlogging in both V4 and R2; and waterlogging at V4 and water deficit at R2. Samples for biometric analyses, measurements of xylem water potential, leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and quantification of photosynthetic pigments were harvested on the last day of stress (R2) and four days after recovery. Primed and cross-primed plants showed improvements in leaf water potential and relative water content due to the greater water use efficiency. Together with the osmotic effects, these plants developed greater protection of the photosynthetic apparatus, showing a superior capacity to transfer energy between photosystems as well as to dissipate photon excess as heat. They also showed a greater ability to recover after periods of stress and maintained carotenoid levels. This study adds another piece of evidence that soybean plants have stress memory, important to maintain high productivity under a global climate change.

Use of an automatic fruit-zone cooling system to cope with multiple summer stresses in Sangiovese and Montepulciano grapes.

Grapevines are frequently subjected to heatwaves and limited water availability during ripening. These conditions can have consequences for the physiological health of the vines. Moreover, the situation is often exacerbated by intense solar radiation, resulting in reduced yield due to sunburn and a decline in quality. In light of these challenges, our study aimed to develop a fruit-zone cooling system designed to mitigate grape sunburn damage and improve the microclimate conditions within the vineyard. The system comprises a network of proximal sensors that collect microclimate data from the vineyard and an actuator that activates nebulizers when the temperature exceeds the threshold of 35°C. The research was conducted over two years (2022 and 2023) in Bologna (Italy) using potted Sangiovese and Montepulciano vines. These two vintages were characterized by high temperatures, with varying amounts of rainfall during the test period, significantly impacting the evaporative demand, which was notably higher in 2023. Starting from the veraison stage we compared three treatments: Irrigated control vines (WW); Control vines subjected to 50% water restriction during the month of August (WS); WS vines treated with nebulized water in the bunch area during the stress period (WS+FOG). The application of nebulized water effectively reduced the temperature of both the air around the clusters and the clusters themselves. As we expected, Montepulciano showed better single leaf assimilation rate and stomatal conductance under non-limiting water conditions than Sangiovese while their behavior was unaffected under water-scarce conditions. Importantly, for the first time, we demonstrated that nebulized water positively affected gas exchange in both grape varieties. In addition to this, the vines treated with the misting system exhibited higher productivity compared to WS vines without affecting technological maturity. In the 2023 vintage, the activation of the system prevented the ripening blockage that occurred in Montepulciano under water stress. Regarding the concentration of total anthocyanins, a significant increase in color was observed in WS+FOG treatment, suggesting a predominant role of microclimate on anthocyanin biosynthesis and reduction of oxidative phenomena. In conclusion, the fruit-zone cooling system proved to be an invaluable tool for mitigating the adverse effects of multiple summer stresses.

Earnings management with the absence of income tax avoidance motivation: evidence from pre-, during, and post- global financial crisis

PurposeThis study aims to examines both accrual and real-based earnings management (EM) behavior of listed corporations in tax-free countries during different economic situations. It also addresses the link between firm- and country-level determinants of accrual and real-based EM and explores economic conditions' influence on these determinants.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 1,608 firm-years, covers sixteen years (2004–2019), clustered into three periods according to the global financial crisis (GFC): four years prior (2004–2007), two years during (2008–2009), and ten years post the GFC (2010–2019). We employ the modified Jones model (performance-matched) developed by Kothari et al. (2005) to measure the accrual-based EM (positive and negative discretionary accrual EM) and the three levels model for Dechow et al. (1998) to measure the real-based EM (cash flow from operating, discretionary expenses and abnormal production cost).FindingsThe study finds a significant increase in EM practices in the listed corporations in tax-free countries during the economic downturn. These corporations are found to understate their earnings during the economic stress period. Simultaneously, the firm-level determinants of EM practices were at the same level of significance during different economic conditions in accrual-based EM. In contrast, the country-level EM determinants vary based on the economic conditions.Originality/valueFinancial reports' users gain a deep understanding of the quality of financial reports in the context of tax-free country. And, the study outcomes inspire policymakers to develop relevant legislation to mitigate financial reports' risk and adequately protect the financial reports' users.