Title Participants Abstract "Indoor nature integration for stress recovery and healthy eating: A picture experiment with plants versus green color" "Nathalie Michels, Gillian Debra, Louise Mattheeuws, Alexander Hooyberg" "AimUrbanized environments may stimulate unhealthy food choices and stress. Several theories explain that exposure to green nature can counter these stress effects. Since we spend most time indoors, integrating nature in the interior could be a promising health promotion tool. Hence, we tested whether the beneficial effect of nature for stress recovery is also present in indoor settings via the use of plants or green colors, and whether it is applicable on eating behavior as a new outcome.MethodsThe 92 participants (18-30y, 16% men) were divided into four groups. Each viewed a 6-min slideshow with room pictures containing either green plants, green objects, greyscale plants or greyscale objects to allow distinction between color- and plant-effects. Group differences were tested for the perceived restorativeness scale, psychological recovery and eating behavior. To allow psychological recovery testing, participants were exposed to a stressor before the picture slideshow via the Trier Social Stress Test. The change of self-reports (stress, positive and negative affect) and psychophysiology (heart rate and vagal-induced heart rate variability RMSSD) post-slideshow versus pre-slideshow was checked. Eating behavior outcomes included change in hunger, craving, and food choice (for fruits, vegetables and snacks).ResultsFrom the four picture sets, the green plants pictures were reported as most mentally restorative and appeared most beneficial for post-stressor recovery of positive affect, but not for negative affect or stress recovery. The green plants group also had higher preference for vegetables and lower preference or craving for (unhealthy) snacks. Those significant group differences were mainly due to the presence of plants and only occasionally due to the green color.ConclusionIndoor green plant pictures were associated with higher mental restorativeness and healthier food choices. Integrating plants in the interior seems to be a relevant health promotion approach, while applying green colors seems less relevant." "Monitoring indoor exposure to combustion-derived particles using plants" "Katrien WITTERS, Michelle PLUSQUIN, Imran ASLAM, Marcel AMELOOT, B.J. Maarten ROEFFAERS, Eli SLENDERS, Jaco VANGRONSVELD, Tim NAWROT, Hannelore BOVE" "Indoor plants can be used to monitor atmospheric particulates. Here, we report the label-free detection of combustion-derived particles (CDPs) on plants as a monitoring tool for indoor pollution. First, we measured the indoor CDP deposition on Atlantic ivy leaves (Hedera hibernica) using two-photon femtosecond microscopy. Subsequently, to prove its effectiveness for using it as a monitoring tool, ivy plants were placed near five different indoor sources. CDP particle area and number were used as output metrics. CDP values ranged between a median particle area of 0.45 x 10² to 1.35 x 10^4 mm² , and a median particle number of 0.10 x 10² to 1.42 x 10³ particles for the indoor sources: control (greenhouse) < milling machine < indoor smokers < wood stove < gas stove < laser printer. Our findings demonstrate that Atlantic ivy, combined with label-free detection, can be effectively used in indoor atmospheric monitoring studies." "Phytoremediation of indoor air pollutants by ornamental potted plants" "Borislav Lazarov, Marianne Stranger" "Despite of the strong empirical proof-of-concept provided by several studies, to what extend the indoor plants really have an impact on IAQ is still under debate (Thomas et al., 2015; Waring, 2016). Unaddressed challenges exist for the practical use of potted plants to create meaningful air quality effect. The few existing in situ studies reveal inconsistencies in air quality improvement (Llewellyn and Dixon, 2011). The most recently published study of Cummings and Waring (2019) showed that the VOC removal ability of the potted plants is orders of magnitude lower than the removal rate already provided by the outdoor-toindoor exchange in typical building (~1/h). Similarly, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) and the French Environment & Energy Management Agency (ADEME) suggested ventilation and aeration as more efficient methods for remediation of indoor air pollutions than the phytoremediation by plants, because of the low efficiency and wide variety of influencing environment parameters of indoor air purification using plants (Ademe, 2011; Anses, 2017)." "Exposure to indoor ferromagnetic particulate matter monitored by strawberry plants and the occurrence of acute respiratory events in adults" "Lieve Van Dyck, Hayat Bentouhami, Kyra Koch, Roeland Samson, Joost Weyler" "Exposure assessment of air pollution in epidemiologic research remains a challenge. Previous studies showed that magnetic monitoring of strawberry leaves, based on Saturation Isothermal Remnant Magnetization (SIRM), is a valid tool for estimating the concentration of ambient particulate matter (PM). This study uses this assessment method for the first time in epidemiologic research to quantify indoor exposure to PM. In a nested case control study, we evaluated the association between 'waking up by cough' and indoor air pollution measured by SIRM of dust deposition on leaves of strawberry plants located in the bedroom in the general adult population. A multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the association between 'waking up by cough' and exposure to ferromagnetic particles of PM controlling for age, gender and smoking status. A cut-off of 10 mu A was decided to define exposure status (high versus low). Using logistic regression, a crude odds ratio (OR) of 1.80 (95% CI: 0.90-3.60) for 'waking up by cough' was found. This association remained approximately the same after controlling for age, gender and smoking status (adjusted OR: 1.76; 95% CI: 0.60-5.30). We found an association between exposure to ferromagnetic particles and 'waking up by cough' in adults; however, it was not statistically significant. This environmental exposure assessment method could be a valuable alternative for expensive personal exposure measurement devices." "Monitoring of drought stress and transpiration rate using proximal thermal and hyperspectral imaging in an indoor automated plant phenotyping platform" "Stien Mertens, Lennart Verbraeken, Heike Sprenger, Sam De Meyer, Kirin Demuynck, Bernard Cannoot, Julie Merchie, Jolien De Block, Jonathan T. Vogel, Wesley Bruce, Hilde Nelissen, Steven Maere, Dirk Inzé, Nathalie Wuyts" "Background: Thermography is a popular tool to assess plant water-use behavior, as plant temperature is influenced by transpiration rate, and is commonly used in field experiments to detect plant water deficit. Its application in indoor automated phenotyping platforms is still limited and mainly focuses on differences in plant temperature between genotypes or treatments, instead of estimating stomatal conductance or transpiration rate. In this study, the transferability of commonly used thermography analysis protocols from the field to greenhouse phenotyping platforms was evaluated. In addition, the added value of combining thermal infrared (TIR) with hyperspectral imaging to monitor drought effects on plant transpiration rate (E) was evaluated. Results: The sensitivity of commonly used TIR indices to detect drought-induced and genotypic differences in water status was investigated in eight maize inbred lines in the automated phenotyping platform PHENOVISION. Indices that normalized plant temperature for vapor pressure deficit and/or air temperature at the time of imaging were most sensitive to drought and could detect genotypic differences in the plants' water-use behavior. However, these indices were not strongly correlated to stomatal conductance and E. The canopy temperature depression index, the crop water stress index and the simplified stomatal conductance index were more suitable to monitor these traits, and were consequently used to develop empirical E prediction models by combining them with hyperspectral indices and/or environmental variables. Different modeling strategies were evaluated, including single index-based, machine learning and mechanistic models. Model comparison showed that combining multiple TIR indices in a random forest model can improve E prediction accuracy, and that the contribution of the hyperspectral data is limited when multiple indices are used. However, the empirical models trained on one genotype were not transferable to all eight inbred lines. Conclusion: Overall, this study demonstrates that existing TIR indices can be used to monitor drought stress and develop E prediction models in an indoor setup, as long as the indices normalize plant temperature for ambient air temperature or relative humidity." "A far-red-emitting NaMgLaTeO6:Mn4+ phosphor with perovskite structure for indoor plant growth" "Kai Li, Hongzhou Lian, Rik Van Deun, Mikhail G Brik" "Realizing a novel dazzling far-red-emitting phosphor NaLaCaTeO6:Mn4+with high quantum yield and luminescence thermal stabilityviathe ionic couple substitution of Na++ La3+for 2Ca2+in Ca3TeO6:Mn4+for indoor plant cultivation LEDs" "Kai Li, Rik Van Deun" "Indoor green can modify the indoor dust microbial communities" "Yinthe Dockx, Martin Taubel, Esmee M. Bijnens, Katrien Witters, Maria Valkonen, Balamuralikrishna Jayaprakash, Janneke Hogervorst, Tim S. Nawrot, Lidia Casas Ruiz" "Little is known about the potential role of indoor plants in shaping the indoor microbiota. Within the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort, we collected settled dust and performed 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing and qPCR measurements to characterize the indoor microbiota, including bacterial and fungal loads and Chao1 richness, Shannon, and Simpson diversity indices. For 155 households, we obtained information on the number of indoor plants. We performed linear regression models adjusted for several a priori chosen covariables. Overall, an increase in indoor plants and density was associated with increased microbial diversity, but not load. For example, we found an increase of 64 (95%CI:3;125) and 26 (95%CI:4;48) units of bacterial and fungal taxa richness, respectively, in households with more than three plants compared to no plants. Our results support the hypothesis that indoor plants can enrich indoor microbial diversity, while impacts on microbial loads are not obvious." "Plant parasitic cyst nematodes redirect host indole metabolism via NADPH oxidaseU+2010mediated ROS to promote infection" "Divykriti Chopra, M. Shamim Hasan, Christiane Matera, Oliver Chitambo, Badou Mendy, SinaU+2010Valerie Mahlitz, Ali Ahmad Naz, Shelly Szumski, Slawomir Janakowski, Miroslaw Sobczak, Axel Mithöfer, Tina Kyndt, Florian M. W. Grundler, Shahid Siddique" "The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor BIS2 is essential for monoterpenoid indole alkaloid production in the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus" "Alex Van Moerkercke, Priscille Steensma, Ivo Gariboldi, Javiera Espoz, Purin C Purnama, Fabian Schweizer, Karel Miettinen, Robin Vanden Bossche, Rebecca De Clercq, Johan Memelink, Alain Goossens"