In order to investigate of the effects of rapid rotating shift work on physiological stress, the activities of urinary Na+, K+, Cl- were measured in 14 rotational shift nurses, during day shifts(8AM-4PM, n=4), evening shifts(4PM-12MN, n=5), and night shifts(12MN-8AM, n=5) in hospital twenty students attending nursing college a used as control group. Urine specimens were collected in 30 minutes before and after work on the second day of shift work. In day shift nurses, Na+ activity was 137mM at 8AM and increased to 206mM at 4PM, whereas K+ activity was 42mM at 8AM and no significant change at 4PM. Cl- activity was changed from 234mM to 344mM at 4PM at 8AM. In the evening shift, Na+ activity was 117mM at 4PM and 140mM at 12MN, K+ activity was 22mM and 32mM, respectively. Cl- activity was 169mM and changed to 270mM. During the night shift, Na+ activity was 128mM at 12MN and changed to 161mM at 8AM, K+ activity was 42mM at 12MN and 8AM, and Cl- activity was from 303mM and changed to 355mM. In general, the urinary ion activities seemed to increase after work, however there were no significant changes in ion activities except the Na+ increase in day shift. The mean of the activities of K+ and Cl- before and after work during the day and night shift were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.05). K+ activities were also higher than that of evening shift(P<0.05). However, there was no difference in Na+ activity among the control group and three shifts. There was a significant relationship among urinary Na+, Cl- and K+ in the control group and rotating shift nurses except between Na+ and K+ in shift. The relationship between Na+ and Cl- was low in shift work and there was no significant relationship between Na+ and K+ in shift, suggesting that the active regulation K+ and/or Na+ in response to stress upon the shift work disrupted the ratio of urinary Na+ to K+ and also lowered the relationship between K+ and Cl-. These results suggest that nurses working the day shift were overloaded and under stress, and the night shift interfered with the physiological rhythm of the nurses.
Humans ; Nursing ; Stress, Physiological

Introduction: Stress in the work place is a global major risk factor to worker’s health, which triggers the workers to be poorly motivated and less productive. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of job stress and its associated factors among Universiti Putra Malaysia staff. Methods: This is a cross sectional study involving 511 academic and non-academic staff of Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang. Probability proportionate to size was used for calculating the required sample size. Results: The overall prevalence of stress was 21.7% (21.0% among male and 23.0% among female). The variables found to be significantly associated with stress were: Job demand, coworker support, depression, anxiety, focus and venting of emotion and self-blame (p<0.05). The findings revealed that UPM staffs are exposed to a range of specific stressors such as work stressor: job demand, lack of social support such as co-worker support and supervisor support, psychological stressors such as depression and anxiety, coping such as focus and venting of emotion and self-blame. Work stressor such as job demand was the main predictor of stress (p value = 0.001). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of job stress was 21.7%. The predictors job stress were job demand, lack of support from co-worker and supervisor, depression, anxiety and use of avoidance focused coping.
Quality of Life ; Stress, Physiological

Heart ; physiology ; Humans ; Stress, Physiological

Humans ; Stress, Physiological ; Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy ; diagnosis ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo investigate the seasonal variation of total flavonoid content of Farfugium japonicum and its response to stress.

METHODSThe total flavonoids of Farfugium japonicum were determined by spectrophotometry in different seasons and under various stressful factors.

RESULTSThe total flavonoid content in Farfugium japonicum leaves was the highest, followed by the petiole, and rhizomes (P<0.05). The total flavonoid content in the leaves in December was higher than that in other months; that in the petiole and rhizome fluctuated in different seasons (P<0.05). As the light intensity enhanced, the total flavonoids in Farfugium japonicum leaves, petioles, rhizomes showed a downward trend. With the increase of water stress, the total flavonoid content in Farfugium japonicum leaves gradually increased, that in petiole first increased and then decreased,while that in rhizomes decreased (P<0.05). With the salt stress, the total flavonoid content in leaves, petioles and rhizomes of Farfugium japonicum showed a decreasing trend (P<0.05). With the increasing of temperature, the total flavonoid content in the leaves showed a gradually increasing trend; that in petiole first decreased and then increased,while that in the rhizomes first increased and then decreased (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe total flavonoids of Farfugium japonicum fluctuate with the change of seasons and that in different parts of the plant has different responses to ecological stressful factors.

The zero-stress state of the esophagus is the state in which the esophagus is stress-free. It is in close correlation with physiology and pathology of the esophagus. The purpose of the review is to describe briefly the basic theory of zero-stress state and its physiological and pathologic implications in the esophagus.
Esophagus ; physiology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Stress, Physiological

Perioperative patients usually suffer from metabolic response. This metabolic state is usually the result of some blend of response to partial starvation and to injury or specific diseases. Metabolic response to starvation and acute injury is inbuilt response to ensure maximal survival with a limited food intake. Yet, progressive loss of body tissue may have lethal consequences. Enhanced recovery after surgery is an optimized strategy of perioperative treatment based on variations of meta bolic state. It can reduce damage and acute injury, as well as facilitating early recovery after major surgery.
Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; Humans ; Stress, Physiological

To further study the mechanism of sprout tumble caused by drought,drought stress was simulating with 30% PEG 6000,physiological,and then the morphological changes of Pinellia ternata cells at different treatment time were detected. The results indicated that,along with the period of drought stress continued,the contents of chlorophyll and water potential were decreased,relative electrical conductivity,contents of soluble sugar and MDA increased. Sprout tumble of P. ternata first occurred on the fourth day during drought stress,large scale of sprout tumble appeared on the eighth day with about 73% of tumble rate. The nuclei exposed to drought stress for 2 days were flattened,lobed,invalidated or irregular in shape and significant showed the apoptotic morphological characteristics. Adenylate transferase( ANT) gene expressions were inhibited by drought,with the rapid increase of Caspase-3 enzyme activity,the cell death rate increased. All this proves that the essence of sprout tumble caused by drought is programmed cell death,which may be a self dormancy protection mechanism of P. ternata against adverse environment.
Apoptosis ; Droughts ; Pinellia ; cytology ; Stress, Physiological

Plants have a memory function for the environmental stress they have suffered. When they are subjected to repeated environmental stress, they can quickly and better activate the response and adaptation mechanism to environmental stress, thus realizing long-term stable reproduction. However, most of the relevant studies are applied to crops and Arabidopsis thaliana rather than medicinal plants about the improvement of plant growth status and the effect on phytoalexin biosynthesis. In this study, yeast extract(YE) was used as an elicitor to simulate biotic stress, and the changes in biomass and the content of some secondary metabolites were measured by giving repeated stresses to Sorbus aucuparia suspension cell(SASC). The results showed that the accumulation levels of biomass and some secondary metabolites in SASC subjected to repeated stress are significantly increased at some time points compared with single stress. A phenomenon that SASC can memorize biotic stress is confirmed in this study and influences phytoalexin accumulation in SASC. Furthermore, the work laid the groundwork for research into the transgenerational stress memory mechanism of medicinal plant.
Cells, Cultured ; Secondary Metabolism ; Sorbus ; Stress, Physiological

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are well associated with the desiccation tolerance in organisms. LEA proteins are categorized into at least seven groups by virtue of similarities in their deduced amino acid sequences. Most of the LEA proteins have the characteristics of high hydrophilicity and thermo-stability. The LEA proteins are in unstructured conformation in aqueous solution. However, they adopted amphiphilic alpha-helix structure during desiccation condition. LEA proteins are localized to the different organelles in the cells, i.e. cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and nucleus. The multi-functional capacity of LEA proteins are suggested, as protein stabilization, protection of enzyme activity, membrane association and stabilization, antioxidant function, metal-ion binding or DNA protection, etc. Here, we review the structural and functional characteristics of LEA proteins to provide a reference platform to understand their protective mechanisms during the adaptive response to desiccation in organisms.
Adaptation, Physiological ; Dehydration ; Desiccation ; Droughts ; Plant Physiological Phenomena ; Plant Proteins ; physiology ; Stress, Physiological