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Mounting evidence shows that nature contact is associated with affective benefits. However, the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects are not well understood. In this study, we examined whether more time spent in nature was associated with higher levels of positive affect in general, and lower levels of negative affect and rumination in general. We also conducted a cross-sectional mediation analysis to examine whether rumination mediated the association of nature contact with affect. Participants (N = 617) reported their average time spent in nature each week, as well as their general levels of positive and negative affect, and the degree to which they typically engaged in rumination in daily life. We then used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Our results support the hypothesis that nature contact is associated with general levels of affect, and that rumination mediates this association for negative affect, and marginally mediates this association for positive affect.

Nature contact has associations with emotional ill-being and well-being. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. We hypothesised that increased adaptive and decreased maladaptive emotion regulation strategies would be a pathway linking nature contact to ill-being and well-being. Using data from a survey of 600 U.S.-based adults administered online in 2022, we conducted structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. We found that (1) frequency of nature contact was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, (2) effective emotion regulation was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, and (3) the associations of higher frequency of nature contact with these benefits were partly explained via emotion regulation. Moreover, we found a nonlinear relationship for the associations of duration of nature contact with some outcomes, with a rise in benefits up to certain amounts of time, and a levelling off after these points. These findings support and extend previous work that demonstrates that the associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being may be partly explained by changes in emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs about the controllability and usefulness of emotions may influence successful emotion regulation across multiple emotional disorders and could thus be influential mechanisms in long-term mental health outcomes. However, to date there has been little empirical work in this area. Our aim was to fill this gap, by examining the links between emotion beliefs and common emotional disorder symptoms. Specifically, we examined whether emotion beliefs can account for significant variance in depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and explored which profiles of emotion beliefs might characterise each of these symptom categories. A sample of 948 Australian university students completed self-report measures of emotion beliefs and emotional disorder symptoms. A path analysis indicated that emotion beliefs accounted for a modest but significant 11%, 12%, and 9% of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, respectively (ps <.001). A latent profile analysis revealed six different profiles of combinations of emotion beliefs and emotional disorder symptom levels, collectively reinforcing the transdiagnostic relevance of emotion beliefs across each symptom category. Overall, our results indicate the importance of considering emotion beliefs in conceptualisations of depression, anxiety, and stress, and suggest that emotion beliefs may be a useful assessment and treatment target. What is already known about this topic: Ford and Gross's (2018, 2019) theoretical framework of emotion beliefs posits that believing positive and negative emotions are uncontrollable and useless is detrimental for emotion regulation efforts and mental health outcomes. Beliefs about emotions being uncontrollable are associated with increased emotional disorder symptoms. The limited research examining beliefs about the usefulness of emotions indicates that believing emotions are useless is also associated with increased emotional disorder symptoms. What this topic adds: This study is the first to comprehensively examine controllability and usefulness beliefs across the negative and positive valence domains. We systematically mapped the emotion belief profiles characterising depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and found profiles with stronger maladaptive emotion beliefs tended to have greater emotional disorder symptoms. We found that both belief categories across both valence domains are relevant to emotional disorder symptoms, but beliefs about the controllability of negative emotion were particularly important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have an increased risk of developing pneumonia and pulmonary diseases. Alveolar macrophages (AMs) are immune cells of the lower respiratory tract that are necessary for clearance of pathogens. However, alcohol causes AM oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage and dysfunction, and diminished phagocytic capacity, leading to lung injury and immune suppression. Methods: AMs were isolated by bronchoalveolar lavage from people with AUD and male and female C57BL/6J mice given chronic ethanol (20% w/v, 12 weeks) in drinking water. The peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ ligand, pioglitazone, was used to treat human AMs ex vivo (10 μM, 24 h) and mice in vivo by oral gavage (10 mg/kg/day). Levels of AM mitochondrial superoxide and hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 alpha (HIF‐1α) mRNA, a marker of oxidative stress, were measured by fluorescence microscopy and RT‐qPCR, respectively. Mouse AM phagocytic ability was determined by internalized Staphylococcus aureus, and mitochondrial capacity, dependency, and flexibility for glucose, long‐chain fatty acid, and glutamine oxidation were measured using an extracellular flux analyzer. In vitro studies used a murine AM cell line, MH‐S (±0.08% ethanol, 72 h) to investigate mitochondrial fuel oxidation and ATP‐linked respiration. Results: Pioglitazone treatment decreased mitochondrial superoxide in AMs from people with AUD and ethanol‐fed mice and HIF‐1α mRNA in ethanol‐fed mouse lungs. Pioglitazone also reversed mouse AM glutamine oxidation and glucose or long‐chain fatty acid flexibility to meet basal oxidation needs. In vitro, ethanol decreased the rate of AM mitochondrial and total ATP production, and pioglitazone improved changes in glucose and glutamine oxidation. Conclusions: Pioglitazone reversed chronic alcohol‐induced oxidative stress in human AM and mitochondrial substrate oxidation flexibility and superoxide levels in mouse AM. Decreased ethanol‐induced AM HIF‐1α mRNA with pioglitazone suggests that this pathway may be a focus for metabolic‐targeted therapeutics to improve morbidity and mortality in people with AUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems Engineering has demonstrated significant value and has become increasingly necessary. However, this has increased challenges in the quest to build next gen systems tailored to changing customer needs and evolving industry requirements. Many systems engineering practices have evolved catering to these challenges, leading to development of model‐based systems engineering approaches. This paper describes leveraging MBSE and systems thinking application in medical device industry to adapt with changing customer needs, comply with regulatory constraints and advance towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]