The effect of mindfulness training on executive function in youth with depression.

Youth depression is often associated with impairments in cognitive function, especially in executive function. This study examines the effect of an 8-session-long mindfulness training that can improve executive function in youth with depression. Sixty youths (age range 15-27 years) with depression were selected as participants and were randomized into a mindfulness training group (MTG) and a waitlist-control group (WCG). The MTG received an 8-week mindfulness training while the WCG received no intervention. Both groups performed the Stroop, N-back, and More-odd shifting tasks at baseline and after eight weeks to examine inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility of executive function, respectively. The results showed that mindfulness training significantly reduced the Stroop effect size for MTG (p < 0.001), but the effect on the switching cost was not statistically significant (p = 0.975). There was an age effect of mindfulness training on working memory. For young adults, mindfulness training improved accuracy on the N-back task (p < 0.01) and shortened reaction time, although this effect slightly exceeded the significance level (p = 0.075). However, mindfulness training failed to improve the working memory of adolescents with depression. In conclusion, mindfulness training improved inhibitory control in youth with depression. It also improved working memory in young adults with depression, but future studies with large samples are needed to validate the improvement in working memory.

The Effect of Work Connectivity Behavior After-Hours on Employee Psychological Distress: The Role of Leader Workaholism and Work-to-Family Conflict.

Background: The work connectivity behavior after-hours (WCBA) has become increasingly intense among Chinese employees in recent years, especially in the rapidly developed internet industry. This has made the after-hours work connectivity behavior, a popular topic in the organizational psychology field. Based on boundary theory, we explored the mechanism of after-hour work connectivity behavior on employees' psychological distress and identified the work-to-family conflict (WFC) as mediator. Besides, leader characteristics are essential environmental variables and always play as moderators, among which leader workaholism is prevalent in the internet industry. However, the impact of leader workaholism on employees' behavior is still inconsistent and even contradictory. Thus, this study further examines the moderating effect of leader workaholism between the after-hour work connectivity behavior and employees' psychological distress. Methods: We conducted a multitime, multisource questionnaire survey in Internet companies in China. Before collecting the data, all participants were assured that their responses would be confidential and used only for academic research. At time 1, the team leader rated his or her workaholism, and team members rated WCBA. At time 2 (3 weeks later), team members were asked to complete the questionnaire containing scales of WFC, psychological distress. The two rounds of data collection resulted in 211 matched team leader-team member responses. We performed a path analysis using Mplus 7.4. Results: Both the duration and frequency of WCBA can positively predict employees' psychological distress through WFC (the mediating effect = 0.628, 95% CI = [0.593, 0.663]). Specifically, WCBA can increase the level of WFC, which leads to the employees' psychological distress further. Leader workaholism can negatively moderate the relationship between WCBA and WFC, further moderating the mediating effect of WFC. Conclusions: Work-to-family conflict played as a mediator in the relationship between WCBA and employees' psychological distress. These results may be helpful to recognize the negative effect of WCBA and the role of leader workaholism in the relationship.

Quantitative proteomics reveals ecological fitness cost of multi-herbicide resistant barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.).

Barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) is one of the top 15 herbicide-resistant weeds around the world that interferes with rice growth, resulting in major losses of rice yield. Thus, multi-herbicide resistance in barnyardgrass presents a major threat, with the underlying mechanisms that contribute to resistance requiring elucidation. In an attempt to characterize this multi-herbicide resistance at the proteomic level, comparative analysis of resistant and susceptible barnyardgrasses was performed using iTRAQ, both with and without quinclorac, bispyribac-sodium and penoxsulam herbicidal treatment. A total of 1342 protein species were identified from 2248 unique peptides by searching the UniProt database and conducting data analysis. Approximately 904 protein species with 4774 Gene Ontology (GO) terms were grouped into the categories of biological process, cellular component and molecular function. Among these, 688 protein species were annotated into 1583 KEGG pathways, with 980 protein species relating to metabolism and 93 relating to environmental information processing. A total of 292 protein species showed more than a 1.2-fold change in abundance in the resistant biotype relative to the susceptible biotype. Furthermore, herbicide treatment resulted in 157 protein species that showed more than a 1.2-fold change in the resistant biotype. Moreover, physiological analyses demonstrated an ecological fitness cost in the resistant biotype. SIGNIFICANCE: While some studies have shown a fitness cost to be associated with an altered ecological interaction, our understanding of the fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance are limited. Herein, physiological and proteomic analysis demonstrates herbicide resistance associated ecological fitness cost and potential mechanisms of herbicide-resistance in resistant biotypes of E. crus-galli. The results presented herein have revealed differences in ecological adaptation between resistant and susceptible biotypes in E. crus-galli and provide a fundamental basis enabling the development of new strategies for weed control. Lastly, this is the first large-scale proteomics study to examine herbicide stress responses in different barnyardgrass biotypes.

Data for iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis of different biotypes in Echinochloa crus-galli with multi-herbicide treatment.

Barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) is one of the most troublesome herbicide-resistant weeds worldwide that interferes with rice growth and rice yield. Here we provide the data from a comparative proteomic analysis of leaves in resistant (R) and susceptible (S) biotypes of Echinochloa crus-galli both with and without multi-herbicide treatment in two independent biological experiments using iTRAQ. The distribution of length and number of peptides, mass and sequence coverage of proteins were presented, and the repeatability of the replicates was analyzed. 1342 differential accumulated proteins were identified from 2248 unique peptides by searching uniprot database and data analysis. These results are associated with the research article "Quantitative proteomics reveals ecological fitness cost of multi-herbicide resistant barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.)" (X. Yang, Z. Zhang, T. Gu, M. Dong, Q. Peng, L. Bai, Y Li, 2017) [1].