A pH-controlled fed-batch process can overcome inhibition by formate in NADH-dependent enzymatic reductions using formate dehydrogenase-catalyzed coenzyme regeneration

The NAD-dependent, formate dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation of formate anion into CO2 is known as the method for the regeneration of NADH in reductive enzymatic syntheses. Inhibition by formate and inactivation by alkaline pH-shift that occurs when oxidation of formate is carried out at pH approximately 7.0 may, however, hamper the efficient application of this NADH recycling reaction. Here, we have devised a fed-batch process using pH-controlled feeding of formic acid that can overcome enzyme inhibition and inactivation. The reaction pH is thus kept constant by addition of acid, and formate dehydrogenase is supplied continuously with substrate as required, but the concentration of formate is maintained at a constant, non- or weakly inhibitory level throughout the enzymatic conversion, thus enabling a particular NADH-dependent dehydrogenase to operate stably and at high reaction rates. For xylitol production from xylose using yeast xylose reductase (Ki,Formate 182 mM), a fed-batch conversion of 0.5M xylose yielded productivities of 2.8 g (L h)-1 that are three-fold improved when contrasted to a conventional batch reaction that employed equal initial concentrations of xylose and formate.

Observational trial of safe food handling behavior during food preparation using the example of Campylobacter spp

Campylobacter infections are one of the most prominent worldwide food-related diseases. The primary cause of these infections is reported to be improper food handling, in particular cross-contamination during domestic preparation of raw chicken products. In the present study, food handling behaviors in Austria were surveyed and monitored, with special emphasis on Campylobacter cross-contamination. Forty participants (25 mothers or fathers with at least one child ≤10 years of age and 15 elderly persons ≥60 years of age) were observed during the preparation of a chicken salad (chicken slices plus lettuce, tomato, and cucumber) using a direct structured observational scoring system. The raw chicken carcasses and the vegetable part of the salad were analyzed for Campylobacter. A questionnaire concerning knowledge, attitudes, and interests related to food safety issues was filled out by the participants. Only 57% of formerly identified important hygiene measures were used by the participants. Deficits were found in effective hand washing after contact with raw chicken meat, but proper changing and cleaning of the cutting board was noted. Campylobacter was present in 80% of raw chicken carcasses, albeit the contamination rate was generally lower than the limit of quantification (10 CFU/g). In the vegetable part of the prepared product, no Campylobacter was found. This finding could be due to the rather low Campylobacter contamination rate in the raw materials and the participants' use of some important food handling behaviors to prevent cross-contamination. However, if the initial contamination had been higher, the monitored deficits in safe food handling could lead to quantifiable risks, as indicated in other published studies. The results of the observational trial and the questionnaire indicated knowledge gaps in the food safety sector, suggesting that further education of the population is needed to prevent the onset of foodborne diseases.

Nature-based biopsychosocial resilience: An integrative theoretical framework for research on nature and health

Nature-based solutions including urban forests and wetlands can help communities cope better with climate change and other environmental stressors by enhancing social-ecological resilience. Natural ecosystems, settings, elements and affordances can also help individuals become more personally resilient to a variety of stressors, although the mechanisms underpinning individual-level nature-based resilience, and their relations to social-ecological resilience, are not well articulated. We propose 'nature-based biopsychosocial resilience theory' (NBRT) to address these gaps. Our framework begins by suggesting that individual-level resilience can refer to both: a) a person's set of adaptive resources; and b) the processes by which these resources are deployed. Drawing on existing nature-health perspectives, we argue that nature contact can support individuals build and maintain biological, psychological, and social (i.e. biopsychosocial) resilience-related resources. Together with nature-based social-ecological resilience, these biopsychosocial resilience resources can: i) reduce the risk of various stressors (preventive resilience); ii) enhance adaptive reactions to stressful circumstances (response resilience), and/or iii) facilitate more rapid and/or complete recovery from stress (recovery resilience). Reference to these three resilience processes supports integration across more familiar pathways involving harm reduction, capacity building, and restoration. Evidence in support of the theory, potential interventions to promote nature-based biopsychosocial resilience, and issues that require further consideration are discussed.

Dogmatism, dogmatism factors, and liberalism-conservatism

Dogmatism scores, dogmatism factor scores, and two indices of liberalism-conservatism were interrelated for 78 male students, 89 female students, 108 of their fathers, and 138 of their mothers. The six major dogmatism factors found in the literature were belief in one truth, belief in a cause, alienation, virtuous self-denial, self-proselytization, and authoritarianism; the content of the items measuring the factor usually called “alienation” suggests that it may instead measure “derogation of others.” The two indices of liberalism-conservatism were scores on a questionnaire and preference in the 1972 presidential election; neither was related to dogmatism in any of the samples, but Nixon supporters had more conservative attitudes than McGovern supporters in all four samples. Both indices of liberalism-conservatism were related to belief in one truth among the students; among the parents only the questionnaire scores were, and less than among the students. This difference between the groups of parents and students suggests that attitudes toward social issues may be more normative among the parent groups, mote personal among the student groups. In all four samples, the six dogmatism factors tended to have low positive intercorrelations, and every factor correlated significantly with total dogmatism. Total scores on the 15 items measuring the six factors correlated approximately .90 with total dogmatism in all four samples; these items may therefore be a theoretically meaningful brief dogmatism scale.

On different relationships between dogmatism and Machiavellianism among male and female college students

A brief dogmatism scale and the Kiddie Machiavellianism Scale were answered by 112 male and 83 female students. The men's Mach scores were higher than the women's. The correlation between dogmatism and Mach— was not significant in either sex; in contrast, the correlation between dogmatism and Mach+ was significant for both sexes, r being significantly greater for the women than for the men. Agreement response set therefore seemed to be involved in the correlations between these scales for both sexes, though more for the women than the men. Factor by factor correlations indicated that for the men, the main other overlap between these two scales was an unflattering view of people, as hypothesized by Christie and Geis; for the women, however, the overlap between the scales was more extensive. The interpretation of this sex difference suggested the possibility that women may be more Machiavellian than their scores suggest and may even be more Machiavellian than men. though their scores typically suggest the opposite.

Attitudes toward cheating: general and specific

College freshmen were given one of two questionnaires, which asked how justified cheating would be in each of 32 situations. In one questionnaire, the situational variables were the interest level of the course, the meaningfulness of the tests, their difficulty, the teaching of the professor, and whether he leaves or stays during tests. In the other questionnaire, the variables were the warmth of the professor, the frequency with which he discovers cheating, the meaningfulness of the tests, whether they are essay or objective, and the student's grade in the course. The extent to which a student said cheating was justified was hypothesized to be a compromise between a negative attitude toward cheating in general and the need to defend it because situational pressures result in the temptation to cheat. The data showed the predicted J-curve of conformity for “good” situations, as well as the predicted deviation from this curve for “bad” situations. In contrast to previous data, it was found that the women said cheating was justified as often as and to the same degree as the men.

In pursuit of a dogmatism factor: derogation or alienation?

159 high school students, 125 introductory psychology students, and 59 senior psychology majors answered a questionnaire measuring dogmatism and derogation of others. Derogation was correlated with total dogmatism among the high school and introductory psychology students, and among all groups with 2 of the 6 dogmatism factors measured, “alienation” and belief in one truth. rs were low. Agreement with the items expressing mainly “aloneness” was the same among groups, while agreement with the mainly “derogatory” items tended to decrease with age and/or exposure to psychology. The dogmatism factor of “alienation” should more accurately be called “derogation and aloneness,” since it seems to measure the related tendencies to derogate others and feel alone.

Assistance in living assures aging in place

Life care and other large retirement centers transfer failing residents to assisted living units or nursing beds at various points. North Hill, a life care center, keeps many of its residents in their apartments years longer, with every department contributing to a creative, cost-effective Assistance-in-Living home care program. This program could inspire home care agencies to contract their services to other such communities.

Sex differences in open-ended responses to Dogmatism Scale items

The open-ended responses of male and female college students to 11 items of the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale were content analyzed. Three statistically reliable sex differences were found. Since these could have occurred by chance, the Dogmatism Scale is hypothesized to measure the same factors in both sexes.

Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing

Nature exposure has numerous health benefits and might reduce self-reported acute pain. Given the multi-faceted and subjective quality of pain and methodological limitations of prior research, it is unclear whether the evidence indicates genuine analgesic effects or results from domain-general effects and subjective reporting biases. This preregistered neuroimaging study investigates how nature modulates nociception-related and domain-general brain responses to acute pain. Healthy participants (N = 49) receiving electrical shocks report lower pain when exposed to virtual nature compared to matched urban or indoor control settings. Multi-voxel signatures of pain-related brain activation patterns demonstrate that this subjective analgesic effect is associated with reductions in nociception-related rather than domain-general cognitive-emotional neural pain processing. Preregistered region-of-interest analyses corroborate these results, highlighting reduced activation of areas connected to somatosensory aspects of pain processing (thalamus, secondary somatosensory cortex, and posterior insula). These findings demonstrate that virtual nature exposure enables genuine analgesic effects through changes in nociceptive and somatosensory processing, advancing our understanding of how nature may be used to complement non-pharmacological pain treatment. That this analgesic effect can be achieved with easy-to-administer virtual nature exposure has important practical implications and opens novel avenues for research on the precise mechanisms by which nature impacts our mind and brain.