The acceleration on decolorization of azo dyes by magnetic lignin-based materials via enhancing the extracellular electron transfer.

Two novel and eco-friendly redox mediators (RMs), magnetic oxidative vanillin (MOV) and magnetic oxidative syringaldehyde (MOS), both derived from lignin, were prepared to improve the decolorization of the methyl orange (MO) dye. The Decolorization Efficiency (DE) of MO in the batch experiments with MOV and MOS were increased by more than 60% and 22%, respectively, when compared to the control experiment without magnetic RMs. Moreover, the two magnetic RMs could maintain stable DE of MO in sequenced batch reactors (SBRs), and negligible leaching of the oxidized lignin monomers was observed under various environmental conditions. Density Function Theory (DFT) calculations were used to propose three potential biodegradation mechanisms for azo dyes, and the key intermediates were confirmed using high-performance liquid chromatography. This study proposed a feasible strategy for functional utilization of lignin resource, as well as a practical method for effectively treating azo dye-containing wastewater.

Inhibition of the INa/K and the activation of peak INa contribute to the arrhythmogenic effects of aconitine and mesaconitine in guinea pigs.

Aconitine (ACO), a main active ingredient of Aconitum, is well-known for its cardiotoxicity. However, the mechanisms of toxic action of ACO remain unclear. In the current study, we investigated the cardiac effects of ACO and mesaconitine (MACO), a structurally related analog of ACO identified in Aconitum with undocumented cardiotoxicity in guinea pigs. We showed that intravenous administration of ACO or MACO (25 µg/kg) to guinea pigs caused various types of arrhythmias in electrocardiogram (ECG) recording, including ventricular premature beats (VPB), atrioventricular blockade (AVB), ventricular tachycardia (VT), and ventricular fibrillation (VF). MACO displayed more potent arrhythmogenic effect than ACO. We conducted whole-cell patch-clamp recording in isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes, and observed that treatment with ACO (0.3, 3 µM) or MACO (0.1, 0.3 µM) depolarized the resting membrane potential (RMP) and reduced the action potential amplitude (APA) and durations (APDs) in a concentration-dependent manner. The ACO- and MACO-induced AP remodeling was largely abolished by an INa blocker tetrodotoxin (2 µM) and partly abolished by a specific Na+/K+ pump (NKP) blocker ouabain (0.1 µM). Furthermore, we observed that treatment with ACO or MACO attenuated NKP current (INa/K) and increased peak INa by accelerating the sodium channel activation with the EC50 of 8.36 ± 1.89 and 1.33 ± 0.16 µM, respectively. Incubation of ventricular myocytes with ACO or MACO concentration-dependently increased intracellular Na+ and Ca2+ concentrations. In conclusion, the current study demonstrates strong arrhythmogenic effects of ACO and MACO resulted from increasing the peak INa via accelerating sodium channel activation and inhibiting the INa/K. These results may help to improve our understanding of cardiotoxic mechanisms of ACO and MACO, and identify potential novel therapeutic targets for Aconitum poisoning.

The influence of tolfenpyrad on fitness, development, and reproduction in parents and offspring of Coccinella septempunctata.

Coccinella septempunctata (ladybird) is one of the foremost natural predators that feed on aphids. Thus, C. septempunctata serves as an effective biological control agent in integrated pest management (IPM) programs. To supplement the activity of biological control agents, IPM programs often incorporate chemical pesticides to bolster crop protection. To evaluate the effects of a potent insecticide, tolfenpyrad, on C. septempunctata, we tested the sublethal effects of tolfenpyrad on all developmental stages of the life cycle of C. septempunctata and its effects on the next generation. For sublethal testing of the parent generation, the LR50 of tolfenpyrad for C. septempunctata was determined to range from 1.04 to 8.43 g a.i. /hm2 within a set exposure period, while the hazard quotient (HQ) values were above our threshold value of 2 during the entire observation period. These data indicated a potential toxicity risk from tolfenpyrad exposure. The no observed effect application rates (NOERs) of tolfenpyrad on parents (F0) were determined for survival (0.485 g a.i. /hm2), developmental time of pupation (0.242 g a.i. /hm2), and fecundity (0.485 g a.i. /hm2). Application of sublethal doses to unexposed progeny (F1) of exposed parents, prolonged the L1 (1st instar of larvae) and L2 (2nd instar of larvae) stage, while the total longevity, intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (γ), net reproductive rate (R0), and mean generation time (T) were significantly reduced. These results demonstrated the negative influence of sublethal concentrations of tolfenpyrad on C. septempunctata and its persistent effects on subsequent generations.

Sparse Extended Redundancy Analysis: Variable Selection via the Exclusive LASSO.

Extended Redundancy Analysis is a statistical tool for exploring the directional relationships of multiple sets of exogenous variables on a set of endogenous variables. This approach posits that the endogenous and exogenous variables are related via latent components, each of which is extracted from a set of exogenous variables, that account for the maximum variation of the endogenous variables. However, it is often difficult to distinguish between the true variables that form the latent components and the false variables that do not, especially when the association between the true variables and the exogenous set is weak. To overcome this limitation, we propose a Sparse Extended Redundancy Analysis via the Exclusive LASSO that performs variable selection while maintaining model specification. We validate the performance of the proposed approach in a simulation study. Finally, the empirical utility of this approach is demonstrated through two examples-one on a study of youth academic achievement and the other on a text analysis of newspaper data.

PCSK9 induces endothelial cell autophagy by regulating the PI3K/ATK pathway in atherosclerotic coronary heart disease.

OBJECTIVE: Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arteries, and its pathogenesis is related to endothelial dysfunction. It has been found that the protein convertase subtilin/kexin9 type (PCSK9) plays an important role in AS, but its specific mechanism is still unclear. METHODS: In this study, we first cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with 50 or 100µg/ml oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) for 24 hours to establish a coronary atherosclerosis cell model. RESULTS: The results showed that ox-LDL induced HUVEC injury and autophagy and upregulated PCSK9 protein expression in HUVECs in a concentration-dependent manner. Silencing PCSK9 expression with siRNA inhibited ox-LDL-induced HUVEC endothelial dysfunction, inhibited the release of inflammatory factors, promoted HUVEC proliferation and inhibited apoptosis. In addition, ox-LDL increased the expression of LC3B-I and LC3B-II and decreased the expression of p62. However, these processes are reversed by sh-PCSK9. In addition, sh-PCSK9 can inhibit PI3K, AKT and mTOR phosphorylation and promote autophagy. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our research shows that silencing PCSK9 inhibits the PI3K/ATK/mTOR pathway to activate ox-LDL-induced autophagy in vascular endothelial cells, alleviating endothelial cell injury and inflammation.

Getting Over Past Mistakes: Prospective and Retrospective Regret in Older Adults.

OBJECTIVE: A considerable number of older people who hold powerful positions in governments and corporate are actively engaged in making decisions that have a far-reaching impact on the community. Some of them have to make decisions on behalf of others, and sometimes, the outcomes of their decisions for others are unfavorable. We experience retrospective regret when the obtained outcome turns out to be less attractive than the counterfactual one. We also actively make choices to avoid regretful outcomes if we prospectively anticipate the regret. In the current study, we investigated how older adults experience regret and how they make choices to avoid potential regret, in the context of making decisions for themselves and on behalf of others. METHOD: Sixty younger and 60 older participants performed a gambling task in which two types of regret were independently measured: prospective (planning to avoid regret during decision making) and retrospective (feeling of regret following the comparison of alternative outcomes). RESULTS: Our results showed that compared to younger adults, the older adults were less sensitive to regret-inducing outcomes, whereas they demonstrated comparable ability in using prospective regret to guide decisions, regardless of whether they made decisions for themselves or on behalf of others. DISCUSSION: Our findings indicate that although older adults experience blunted regret, their ability to avoid future regret to guide subsequent choices remains unimpaired. Our research has implications for understanding how older adults cope with regret.

Shallow-marine testate amoebae with internal structures from the Lower Devonian of China.

Testate amoebae, a polyphyletic protist group inhabiting a wide variety of extant ecosystems, have evolved as far back as early Neoproterozoic. However, their fossil record is discontinuous and biased toward empty shells. Here, we report an arcellinid testate amoeba species, Cangwuella ampulliformis gen. nov., sp. nov., from a shallow-marine community in the Early Devonian of Guangxi, southwestern China. With the aid of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray micro-tomography, we find that the shell of our testate amoeba contains some acetabuliform structures. Although such configuration does not match exactly with the known internal structures in extant testate amoebae, our fossils highlight the potential of exploring the ecological relationships between fossil testate amoebae and their associated organisms, and increase our knowledge on the diversity of testate amoebae in Early Devonian environments.

Hepatitis B surface antigen variants in voluntary blood donors in Nanjing, China.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is still one of the serious infectious risks for the blood transfusion safety in China. One plausible reason is the emergence of the variants in the major antigenic alpha determinant within the major hydrophilic region (MHR) of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), which have been assumed to evade the immune surveillance and pose a challenge to the disease diagnosis. It is well documented that some commercial ELISA kits could detect the wild-type but not the mutant viruses. The high prevalence of HBV in China also impaired the application of nucleic acid testing (NAT) in the improvement of blood security. Molecular epidemiological study of HBsAg variations in China is still limited. This study was designed to identify the prevalence of mutations in the HBsAg in voluntary blood donors in Nanjing, China. METHODS: A total of 20,326 blood units were enrolled in this study, 39 donors were positive for HBV S gene in the nested-PCR. Mutations in the major hydrophilic region (MHR; aa 99-169) were identified by direct sequencing of S region. RESULTS: Among of 20,326 blood units in the Red Cross Transfusion Center of Nanjing from October 2008 to April 2009, 296 samples (1.46%, 296/20,326) were HBsAg positive in the 2 successive rounds of the ELISA test. In these HBsAg positive units, HBV S gene could be successfully amplified from 39 donors (13.18%, 39/296) in the nested-PCR. Sequence analysis revealed that 32 strains (82.1%, 32/39) belong to genotype B, 7 strains (17.9%, 7/39) to genotype C. Besides well known G145R, widely dispersed variations in the MHR of S region, were observed in 20 samples of all the strains sequenced. CONCLUSIONS: HBV/B and HBV/C are dominant in Nanjing, China. The mutations in the MHR of HBsAg associated with disease diagnosis are common.

New insights into the South China Lower Devonian flora based on fossils from Hezhang, Guizhou Province.

The Early Devonian flora of South China is composed of many endemic members and has been studied mainly based on Yunnan materials. We in this study report a new Lower Devonian plant locality, recognize four sub-regions of the Early Devonian flora from South China and furthermore demonstrate these plants' distribution pattern and probable dispersal route. The new finds of plant fossils are from the Lower Devonian of Hezhang County, Guizhou Province, and include Zosterophyllopsida Demersatheca and Euphyllophytopsida Pauthecophyton. Demersatheca contigua, consisting of cylindrical strobili with four longitudinal rows of sporangia decussately arranged, shows great similarities to the plant from Yunnan and Guangxi localities. Pauthecophyton hezhangensis sp. nov. has distinct fertile units with grouped sporangia and each unit with two or three fusiform sporangia. The new locality belongs to the Guizhou sub-region and shares some taxa with the eastern Yunnan and Cathaysia sub-regional floras within South China, in which the shared plant members are distributed around the epicontinental sea. We suggest that the Guizhou sub-region might act as a bridge during plant dispersal from eastern Yunnan to Cathaysia Oldland in the Early Devonian. This article is part of the theme issue 'The impact of Chinese palaeontology on evolutionary research'.

Exosome-mediated aptamer S58 reduces fibrosis in a rat glaucoma filtration surgery model.

AIM: To confirm whether exosome-mediated delivery of aptamer S58 (Exo-S58) has a better antifibrotic effect than naked S58 in human conjunctival fibroblasts (HConFs) and a rat glaucoma filtration surgery (GFS) model. METHODS: To enhance the effective reaction time of aptamer S58 in vivo, we loaded aptamer S58 into exosomes derived from HEK293T cells by PEI transfection to determine the effect of Exo-S58 in HConFs and a rat GFS model. RESULTS: Exo-S58 can significantly reduce cell proliferation, migration and fibrosis in TGF-ß2-induced HConFs. In an in vivo experiment, Exo-S58 treatment prolonged filtering bleb retention and reduced fibrosis compared with naked S58 treatment in GFS rats. CONCLUSION: The exosomes are safe and valid carriers to deliver aptamers. Furthermore, Exo-S58 exhibited superior antifibrotic effect than naked S58 both in HConFs cells and rat GFS models.

2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate blocks electrical coupling and inhibits voltage-gated K+ channels in guinea pig arteriole cells.

2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) analogs are potentially better vascular gap junction blockers than others widely used, but they remain to be characterized. Using whole cell and intracellular recording techniques, we studied the actions of 2-APB and its potent analog diphenylborinic anhydride (DPBA) on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and endothelial cells in situ of or dissociated from arteriolar segments of the cochlear spiral modiolar artery, brain artery, and mesenteric artery. We found that both 2-APB and DPBA reversibly suppressed the input conductance (G(input)) of in situ VSMCs (IC(50) ≈ 4-8 µM). Complete electrical isolation of the recorded VSMC was achieved at 100 µM. A similar gap junction blockade was observed in endothelial cell tubules of the spiral modiolar artery. Similar to the action of 18ß-glycyrrhetinic acid (18ß-GA), 2-APB and DPBA depolarized VSMCs. In dissociated VSMCs, 2-APB and DPBA inhibited the delayed rectifier K(+) current (I(K)) with an IC(50) of ∼120 µM in the three vessels but with no significant effect on G(input) or the current-voltage relation between -140 and -40 mV. 2-APB inhibition of I(K) was more pronounced at potentials of ≤20 mV than at +40 mV and more marked on the fast component than on the slow component, which was mimicked by 4-aminopyridine but not by tetraethylammonium, nitrendipine, or charybdotoxin. In contrast, 18ß-GA caused a linear inhibition of I(K) between 0 to +40 mV, which was similar to the action of tetraethylammonium or charybdotoxin. Finally, the 2-APB-induced inhibition of electrical coupling and I(K) was not affected by the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor antagonist xestospongin C. We conclude that 2-APB analogs are a class of potent and reversible vascular gap junction blockers with a weak side effect of voltage-gated K(+) channel inhibition. They could be gap junction blockers superior to 18ß-GA only when Ca(2+)-actived K(+) channel inhibition by the latter is a concern but inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor and voltage-gated K(+) channel inhibitions are not.

Effects of Ginkgo biloba extracts on NMDA-activated currents in acutely isolated hippocampal neurons of the rat.

Ginkgo biloba extracts (GBE) have long been used as a traditional herbal medicine for treating central nervous system diseases and peripheral vascular diseases, but the underlying mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. Furthermore, traditional GBE is in the form of microsomes and only dissolves in organic solvents; its clinical applications have been greatly limited. Therefore, in the present study, nanometer GBE (nGBE) was prepared utilizing supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) upon CO(2) -supercritical fluid extraction (CO(2) -SPF). Using whole-cell patch clamp techniques, the effects of different preparations of GBE on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-activated currents (I(NMDA) ) from acutely isolated rat hippocampal neurons were investigated and the difference in protective potency between nGBE and mGBE evaluated. The results showed that the inward current activated by NMDA could be depressed by mGBE and nGBE. The inhibitory rates were 40% ± 17% and 64% ± 15%, and the half-inhibition concentrations (IC(50) ) were 0.0210 ± 0.0055 and 0.0262 ± 0.0038 mg/mL, respectively. In comparison, the modulatory effect of nGBE (dissolved in extracellular solution) on NMDA-activated current was significantly greater than that of mGBE (dissolved in DMSO) (p < 0.05). This indicated that the modulatory effects of GBE on NMDA-activated current may contribute to the neuroprotective effects of GBE and the modulatory effect of nGBE on NMDA-activated current was greater than that of mGBE.

[Effects of acute hypoxia on the electrophysiological properties of vascular smooth muscle cells of mesenteric artery in guinea pig].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of acute hypoxia on the electrophysiological properties of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) of mesenteric artery in guinea pig. METHODS: A segment of mesenteric artery (MA) (outer diameter < 100 µm) of guinea pig was digested with collagenase A and its adventitial connective tissue cleaned subsequently with fine tweezers. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were performed to study the effects of acute hypoxia on the whole-cell membrane current, resting membrane potential (RP), membrane input capacitance (C(input)), and membrane input resistance (R(input) or its reciprocal membrane input conductance G(input)) of VSMC embedded in arteriolar segment. RESULTS: Acute hypoxia induced an outward current with an amplitude of (76 ± 23) pA at holding potential -40 mV and hyperpolarized VSMC from a RP of (-22.5 ± 1.2) mV to (-42.0 ± 2.8) mV (P < 0.01). Acute hypoxia increased the outward current of VSMC in a voltage-dependent manner. And this enhancement was more pronounced at potentials from 0 to +40 mV. The whole-cell membrane current of VSMC induced by step commands (0, +20 and +40 mV) increased from (140 ± 18) pA to (660 ± 124) pA (P < 0.01), (282 ± 23) pA to (1120 ± 186) pA (P < 0.01) and (423 ± 40) pA to (1800 ± 275) pA (P < 0.01) respectively. In the presence of 1 mmol/L tetraethylammonium (TEA, a large conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channel blocker), the enhancement of VSMC membrane current by acute hypoxia was significantly reduced. Acute hypoxia increased the R(input) of VSMC in MA from (446 ± 55) MΩ to (2187 ± 290) MΩ (P < 0.01) and decreased the C(input) from (184.3 ± 75.0) pF to (17.6 ± 2.2) pF (P < 0.01). In the presence of 30 µmol/L 18ß-glycyrrhetinic acid (18ßGA, a gap junction blocker) and 10 mmol/L TEA, the effects of acute hypoxia on the membrane current of VSMCs were almost abolished. CONCLUSION: Acute hypoxia causes vascular hyperpolarization and vasodilation by activating large conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels of VSMC and inhibits gap junctions between VSMCs so as to improve microcirculation and localize hypoxia-induced damage.

[Transformation Characteristics of Dissolved Organic Matter During UV/Chlorine Treatment of Municipal Secondary Effluent].

As an emerging advanced oxidation technology, UV/chlorine treatment is capable of effectively oxidizing various organic pollutants. Till now, the transformation of dissolved effluent organic matter (dEfOM) in real wastewater during UV/chlorine treatment remains unclear. In this study, ultraviolet and fluorescence spectroscopy were combined with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to probe the transformation of dEfOM in two municipal secondary effluents during UV/chlorine treatment. Meanwhile, the newly formed chlorinated byproducts (Cl-BPs) are particularly concerned. Generally, aromatic compounds and fluorescent components could be readily removed after UV/chlorine treatment, and most of the dEfOM underwent transformation rather than mineralization. Protein-like components, which accounted for the largest proportion of fluorescent components, were subject to a preferential reaction. UV/chlorine treatment could result in the degradation of CHOS compounds and the formation of CHO compounds. During this process, unsaturated and reduced compounds of large molecules were preferentially removed, whereas saturated and oxidized compounds with low molecular weight were produced. Moreover, the concentrations of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids increased substantially after UV/chlorine treatment. In total, 255 and 133 Cl-BPs were detected in the respective effluents after UV/chlorine treatment. In addition, 12 and 43 possible precursor-Cl-BPs pairs were identified, respectively, based on electrophilic substitution and addition reactions by means of mass difference analysis. This study is expected to provide fundamental information for practical application of the UV/chlorine treatment process.

Trust in Robots: Challenges and Opportunities.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To assess the state-of-the-art in research on trust in robots and to examine if recent methodological advances can aid in the development of trustworthy robots. RECENT FINDINGS: While traditional work in trustworthy robotics has focused on studying the antecedents and consequences of trust in robots, recent work has gravitated towards the development of strategies for robots to actively gain, calibrate, and maintain the human user's trust. Among these works, there is emphasis on endowing robotic agents with reasoning capabilities (e.g., via probabilistic modeling). SUMMARY: The state-of-the-art in trust research provides roboticists with a large trove of tools to develop trustworthy robots. However, challenges remain when it comes to trust in real-world human-robot interaction (HRI) settings: there exist outstanding issues in trust measurement, guarantees on robot behavior (e.g., with respect to user privacy), and handling rich multidimensional data. We examine how recent advances in psychometrics, trustworthy systems, robot-ethics, and deep learning can provide resolution to each of these issues. In conclusion, we are of the opinion that these methodological advances could pave the way for the creation of truly autonomous, trustworthy social robots.

Dynamic molecular changes during the first week of human life follow a robust developmental trajectory.

Systems biology can unravel complex biology but has not been extensively applied to human newborns, a group highly vulnerable to a wide range of diseases. We optimized methods to extract transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, cytokine/chemokine, and single cell immune phenotyping data from <1 ml of blood, a volume readily obtained from newborns. Indexing to baseline and applying innovative integrative computational methods reveals dramatic changes along a remarkably stable developmental trajectory over the first week of life. This is most evident in changes of interferon and complement pathways, as well as neutrophil-associated signaling. Validated across two independent cohorts of newborns from West Africa and Australasia, a robust and common trajectory emerges, suggesting a purposeful rather than random developmental path. Systems biology and innovative data integration can provide fresh insights into the molecular ontogeny of the first week of life, a dynamic developmental phase that is key for health and disease.

ACh-induced depolarization in inner ear artery is generated by activation of a TRP-like non-selective cation conductance and inactivation of a potassium conductance.

Adequate cochlear blood supply by the spiral modiolar artery (SMA) is critical for normal hearing. ACh may play a role in neuroregulation of the SMA but several key issues including its membrane action mechanisms remain poorly understood. Besides its well-known endothelium-dependent hyperpolarizing action, ACh can induce a depolarization in vascular cells. Using intracellular and whole-cell recording techniques on cells in guinea pig in vitro SMA, we studied the ionic mechanism underlying the ACh-depolarization and found that: (1) ACh induced a DAMP-sensitive depolarization when intermediate conductance KCa channels were blocked by charybdotoxin or nitrendipine. The ACh-depolarization was associated with a decrease in input resistance (R(input)) in high membrane potential (V(m)) ( approximately -40 mV) cells but with no change or an increase in R input in low Vm ( approximately -75 mV) cells. ACh-depolarization was attenuated by background membrane depolarization from approximately -70 mV in the majority of cells; (2) ACh-induced inward current in smooth muscle cells embedded in a SMA segment often showed a U-shaped I/V curve, the reversal potential of its two arms being near EK and 0 mV, respectively; (3) ACh-depolarization was reduced by low Na+, zero K+ or 20mM K+ bath solutions; (4) ACh-depolarization was inhibited by La3+ in all cells tested, by 4-AP and flufenamic acid in low Vm cells, but was not sensitive to Cd2+, Ni2+, nifedipine, niflumic acid, DIDS, IAA94, linopirdine or amiloride. We conclude that ACh-induced vascular depolarization was generated mainly by activation of a TRP-like non-selective cation channel and by inactivation of an inward rectifier K+ channel.

Choosing for you: Diminished self-other discrepancies in financial decisions under risk in the elderly.

Many older adults hold powerful positions in governments and corporate boards throughout the world. Accordingly, older adults often have to make important financial decisions on behalf of others under risk. Although it is common to observe younger adults taking more risks when making financial decisions for others, it is unclear if older adults exhibit the same self-other discrepancies. Here, we conducted 2 studies (88 and 124 participants, respectively) to examine self-other discrepancies in financial decision making under risk in older adults. We focused on 3 aspects of financial decision making: loss aversion (a tendency to weight potential losses more strongly than potential gains), risk-aversion asymmetry (a tendency to be risk-averse for potential gains and risk-seeking for potential losses), and risk preferences separately in gain and loss domains. Using computational modeling and behavioral economics tasks, we found weaker self-other discrepancies in older adults (compared with younger adults) across all 3 aspects. We also replicated the age differences in self-other discrepancies in loss aversion across 2 largely nonoverlapping cohorts. Thus, it appears that when making financial decisions on behalf of others, older adults, relative to younger adults, have a stronger disposition to regard others' financial outcomes as important as their own. (PsycINFO Database Record

Generous to whom? The influence of oxytocin on social discounting.

Oxytocin is thought to play an essential role in pro-social behaviors, such as generosity and altruism, in humans. Yet, most research in humans that demonstrated the pro-social effect of oxytocin had participants interact with partners who were total strangers to them. In real life, however, people often interact with others varying in social relatedness with them (a concept known as social distance), ranging from their parents to total strangers. Here we employed the social-discounting framework to investigate whether the effect of oxytocin on prosociality depends on the social distance between the participants and their interaction partners. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment (n=172 participants), we measured the amount of money participants were willing to forgo to another person as a function of social distance. We found that oxytocin administration selectively enhanced amount of money forgone toward total strangers, as opposed to someone closer to participants, suggesting that social distance constrained the pro-social effect of oxytocin.

Characteristics of P2X purinoceptors in the membrane of rat trigeminal ganglion neurons.

The characteristics of purinoceptors in the membrane of rat trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons were studied by using whole- cell patch clamp technique. The results showed that most of neurons examined (78.9%, 142/180) were responsive to ATP in a concentration-dependent manner; the others (21.1%, 38/180) were ATP insensitive. Of the ATP-sensitive cells, the majority (95.1%, 135/142) responded to ATP with an inward current, a few (2.1%, 3/142) with an outward current, and the rest (2.8%, 4/142) with biphasic current. Small sized cells (<30 mum) responded to ATP with a rapid desensitizing inward current and were highly sensitive to vanilloid; the medium sized cells (30~40 mum) responded to ATP with slow desensitizing inward current and were not sensitive to vanilloid; while the majority of large sized cells (>40 mum) did not respond to ATP and vanilloid. The waveform of ATP-activated inward currents was related to the cell diameter. The I-V curves for both small and medium sized cells manifested obvious inward rectification. Furthermore, we studied the kinetic features of ATP-activated currents and the effects of P2 purinoceptor agonists and antagonists on I(ATP). The findings suggest that ATP receptor-ion channels are expressed differently among different types of rat TG neurons.