Dyadic positive and negative religious coping among older Singaporean couples and marital satisfaction

Difficulties faced in life can affect marital relationships and such troubles may be dealt with in a multitude of ways, including coping religiously. The present study examined how religious coping, either in a positive or negative manner, may have an impact on marital satisfaction. Importantly, this association was studied dyadically in a sample of religiously diverse (Buddhists, 32.3%; Taoists, 17.6%; protestant Christians, 14.1%; and others who did not identify with a specific religion, 19.1%), married older Singaporean adults (N = 1928; 964 couples). Using actor-partner interdependence modeling, we found significant actor, partner, and combined actor-partner effects for positive and negative religious coping on marital satisfaction. Specifically, marital satisfaction was highest when both spouses reported high levels of positive religious coping and low levels of negative religious coping. Taken together, these findings suggest that it is the simultaneous act of either greater positive or lower negative religious coping by both spouses that is related to higher marital satisfaction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Protection of a rat tracheal epithelial cell line from paraquat toxicity by inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase

Transformed rat tracheal epithelial cells (U2) were found to be 3.6-fold more sensitive than lung fibroblasts (RLF) to paraquat. Although the toxic effects of paraquat are associated with the generation of very active superoxides, U2 cells contained higher levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase than RLF cells. On the other hand, the specific activities of both NADPH-cytochrome c reductase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6DP) were 3- to 4-fold higher in U2 cells than in RLF cells. Treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and epiandrosterone (EPI), G6PD inhibitors, significantly decreased the intracellular NADPH and protected U2 cells from paraquat toxicity. Since DHEA and EPI treatment did not affect the uptake of paraquat, our results suggest that paraquat sensitivity may depend on the redox cycling-associated activities of paraquat.