Children consider informants' explanation quality with their social dominance in seeking novel explanations.

Identifying high-quality causal explanations is key to scientific understanding. This research (N = 202; 50% girls; Mage: 5.82 years; 64% Asian, 33% White, and 3% multiracial; data collected from 2018 to 2024) examined how explanation circularity and informants' social dominance impact children's learning preferences for causal explanations. Raised in a culture valuing circular logic, Chinese children still preferred non-circular explanations and learning from informants providing non-circular explanations (d ≥ 0.50). When informants with non-circular explanations were subordinate to those with circular explanations, Chinese and American children preferred non-circular over circular explanations (d = 1.10), but did not prefer learning new information from either informant. Although children weigh explanation quality over informant dominance when seeking explanations for given questions, they consider both cues when evaluating informants' credibility.

The development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior: Protocol for Wave 1 data collection with children and parents by the Developing Belief Network.

The Developing Belief Network is a consortium of researchers studying human development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the interplay between general cognitive development and culturally specific processes of socialization and cultural transmission in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's first wave of data collection, which aims to explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior. This work is guided by three key research questions: (1) How do children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents? (2) How do children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity? (3) How are religious and supernatural beliefs transmitted within and between generations? The protocol is designed to address these questions via a set of nine tasks for children between the ages of 4 and 10 years, a comprehensive survey completed by their parents/caregivers, and a task designed to elicit conversations between children and caregivers. This study is being conducted in 39 distinct cultural-religious groups (to date), spanning 17 countries and 13 languages. In this manuscript, we provide detailed descriptions of all elements of this study protocol, give a brief overview of the ways in which this protocol has been adapted for use in diverse religious communities, and present the final, English-language study materials for 6 of the 39 cultural-religious groups who are currently being recruited for this study: Protestant Americans, Catholic Americans, American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and religiously unaffiliated Americans.

Resolution of insulin resistance, lactic acidosis, and decrease in mechanical support requirements in patients post orthotopic heart transplant with the use of long-acting insulin glargine.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the efficacy of using a long-acting insulin analog, along with the infusion of regular insulin, in achieving appropriate glycemic control and correcting lactic acidosis in patients post orthotopic heart transplant who demonstrate severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of two cohorts (IRB FLA 20-003) of patients post orthotopic heart transplant with severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance who were admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit and treated with (group 1) or without long-acting insulin analog (group 2) within the first 24 h of admission to the intensive care unit. Insulin resistance is defined as the requirement for intravenous regular insulin infusion of more than 20 units/h without the ability to achieve appropriate serum glucose level (120-180 mg /dL). Severe lactic acidosis is defined as arterial lactic acid of more than 10 mmol/L. The following parameters were investigated: time to correct lactic acidosis, duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation, the need for periprocedural mechanical circulatory support, and 28-day mortality. RESULTS: The 28-day mortality was zero in both groups. Two patients required periprocedural mechanical support in group one, and ten patients required mechanical support in group two (RR = 0.224, 95%, confidence interval 0.052-0.95, Z = 2.029, p = 0.042). Three patients required tracheostomy in group one, and four patients required tracheostomy in group two (RR 0.84, 95 confidence interval 0.20-3.48, Z = 0.23, P = 0.81). Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare time to correct lactic acidosis, with lactic acid resolution being faster in group one ([Formula: see text]1 = 19.7 h, SD ± 12.6 h [Formula: see text]2 = 29.3 h, SD ± 19.6 h, Z-value - 2.02, p-value 0.043). The duration of mechanical ventilation was less in group one ([Formula: see text]1 = 29 h, SD ± 12.7 h, [Formula: see text]2 = 55.1 h, SD ± 44.5 h, Z-value: - 1.92, p-value 0.05). CONCLUSION: Administration of low-dose long-acting insulin glargine led to the resolution of the lactic acidosis, insulin resistance, and decreased requirements for pressor and inotropic support, which led to decreased need for mechanical circulatory support.

Similarities and Differences in the Longitudinal Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms from Mid-Adolescence to Young Adulthood: the Intersectionality of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Levels of Depressive Symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Understanding similarities and differences between groups with intersecting social identities provides key information in research and practice to promote well-being. Building on the intersectionality literature indicating significant gender and racial/ethnic differences in depressive symptoms, the present study used quantile regression to systematically present the diversity in the development of depressive symptoms for individuals with intersecting gender, race/ethnicity, and levels of symptoms. METHODS: Information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79: Child and Young Adult study was employed. A detailed picture of depressive symptom trajectories from low to high quantiles was illustrated by depicting 13 quantile-specific trajectories using follow-up data from ages 15 to 40 in six gender-race/ethnicity groups: both genders of Black, Hispanic, and non-Black, non-Hispanic individuals. RESULTS: From low to high quantiles, Black and non-Black, non-Hispanic individuals showed mostly curved, and Hispanic individuals showed mostly flat trajectories. Across the six gender-race/ethnicity groups, the trajectories below 0.50 quantiles were similar in levels and shapes from mid-adolescence to young adulthood. The differences between the six gender-race/ethnicity groups widened, indicated by outspreading trajectories, especially at quantiles above 0.50. Furthermore, non-Black, non-Hispanic males and females showed especially fast-increasing patterns at quantiles above 0.75. Among those without or with only a high school degree, Black females and non-Black, non-Hispanic females tended to report similar levels of depressive symptoms higher than other groups at high quantiles. These unique longitudinal trajectory profiles cannot be captured by the mean trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: The intersectionality of gender, race/ethnicity, and quantile of symptoms on the development of depressive symptoms was identified. Further studying the mechanism explaining this diversity can help reduce mental health disparities.

Core Structure-Activity Relationship Studies of 5,7,20-O-Trimethylsilybins in Prostate Cancer Cell Models.

Silibinin, also known as silybin, is isolated from milk thistle (Silybum marianum). Silibinin has been demonstrated to be a good lead compound due to its potential to prevent and treat prostate cancer. Its moderate potency and poor pharmacokinetic profile hindered it from moving forward to therapeutic use. Our research group has been working on optimizing silibinin for the potential treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Our previous studies established 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins as promising lead compounds as they can selectively suppress androgen receptor (AR)-positive LNCaP cell proliferation. Encouraged by the promising data, the present study aims to investigate the relationships between the core structure of 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybin and their antiproliferative activities towards AR-positive (LNCaP) and AR-negative prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU145). The structure-activity relationships among the four different core structures (including flavanonol-type flavonolignan (silibinin), flavone-type flavonolignan (hydnocarpin D), chalcone-type flavonolignan, and taxifolin (a flavonolignan precursor) indicate that 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins are the most promising scaffold to selectively suppress AR-positive LNCaP prostate cancer cell proliferation. Further investigation on the antiproliferative potency of their optically enriched versions of the most promising 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins led to the conclusion that (10R,11R) derivatives (silybin A series) are more potent than (10S,11S) derivatives (silybin B series) in suppressing AR positive LNCaP cell proliferation.

Preference for talented naturals over hard workers emerges in childhood and shapes behavior.

Both talent and effort are considered essential sources of achievement, but past research suggests a preference for people who appear to achieve through talent. This research examined the potential naturalness preference in 306 Chinese children (Mage : 6.12 years; 164 girls) and 352 adults (Mage : 19.87 years; 182 women) in 2019. In Study 1, participants evaluated a natural or striver protagonist of equal achievement. Children attributed greater competence and warmth to naturals than strivers; adults exhibited this preference only when attributing competence. In Study 2, participants indicated their behavioral preferences between the two protagonists. Children, but not adults, interacted more with naturals than strivers. These findings indicate the naturalness preference emerges early (ds ≥ .27) but declines in strength over time.

Chimeric forecasting: combining probabilistic predictions from computational models and human judgment.

Forecasts of the trajectory of an infectious agent can help guide public health decision making. A traditional approach to forecasting fits a computational model to structured data and generates a predictive distribution. However, human judgment has access to the same data as computational models plus experience, intuition, and subjective data. We propose a chimeric ensemble-a combination of computational and human judgment forecasts-as a novel approach to predicting the trajectory of an infectious agent. Each month from January, 2021 to June, 2021 we asked two generalist crowds, using the same criteria as the COVID-19 Forecast Hub, to submit a predictive distribution over incident cases and deaths at the US national level either two or three weeks into the future and combined these human judgment forecasts with forecasts from computational models submitted to the COVID-19 Forecasthub into a chimeric ensemble. We find a chimeric ensemble compared to an ensemble including only computational models improves predictions of incident cases and shows similar performance for predictions of incident deaths. A chimeric ensemble is a flexible, supportive public health tool and shows promising results for predictions of the spread of an infectious agent.

The U.S. Travel Health Pharmacists' Role in a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era.

Background: Many countries have enforced strict regulations on travel since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019. However, with the development of several vaccines and tests to help identify it, international travel has mostly resumed in the United States (US). Community pharmacists have long been highly accessible to the public and are capable of providing travel health services and are in an optimal position to provide COVID-19 patient care services to those who are now starting to travel again. Objectives: (1) To discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the practice of travel health and pharmacist provided travel health services in the US and (2) to discuss the incorporation COVID-19 prevention measures, as well as telehealth and other technologies, into travel health care services. Methods: A literature review was undertaken utilizing the following search engines and internet websites: PubMed, Google Scholar, Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and the United States Department of Health and Human Services to identify published articles on pharmacist and pharmacy-based travel health services and patient care in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many country's entry requirements which may now include COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and/or masking requirements in country. Telehealth and other technological advancements may further aid the practice of travel health by increasing patient access to care. Conclusions: Community pharmacists should consider incorporating COVID-19 vaccination and testing services in their travel health practices in order to meet country-specific COVID-19 entry requirements. Further, pharmacists should consider utilizing telehealth and other technologies to increase access to care while further limiting the potential spread and impact of COVID-19.

Aggregating Human Judgment Probabilistic Predictions of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Transmission, Burden, and Preventive Measures.

Aggregated human judgment forecasts for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) targets of public health importance are accurate, often outperforming computational models. Our work shows that aggregated human judgment forecasts for infectious agents are timely, accurate, and adaptable, and can be used as a tool to aid public health decision making during outbreaks.

[Corrigendum] The cranberry flavonoids PAC DP­9 and quercetin aglycone induce cytotoxicity and cell cycle arrest and increase cisplatin sensitivity in ovarian cancer cells.

Following the publication of this article, an interested reader drew to the author's attention that, in Fig. 5D on p. 1931, the two rightmost panels appeared to have been inverted for the SKOV3 cell line (i.e., the 'Q­aglycone' and 'PAC DP­9' data panels appeared to have been included in this figure the wrong way around). The authors checked the figure, and realized that these panels had indeed erroneously been inverted during the assembly of the figure. The corrected version of Fig. 5 is shown on the next page. The authors regret that this error was not picked up upon before the paper was sent to press, and thank the Editor of International Journal of Oncology for allowing them the opportunity to publish this corrigendum. Furthermore, they regret any inconvenience caused to the readership. [International Journal of Oncology 46: 1924­1934, 2015; DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2015.2931].

Aggregating human judgment probabilistic predictions of COVID-19 transmission, burden, and preventative measures.

Aggregated human judgment forecasts for COVID-19 targets of public health importance are accurate, often outperforming computational models. Our work shows aggregated human judgment forecasts for infectious agents are timely, accurate, and adaptable, and can be used as tool to aid public health decision making during outbreaks.

Learning and Socializing Preferences in Hong Kong Chinese Children.

The impact of social group information on the learning and socializing preferences of Hong Kong Chinese children were examined. Specifically, the degree to which variability in racial out-group exposure affects children's use of race to make decisions about unfamiliar individuals (Chinese, White, Southeast Asian) was investigated. Participants (N = 212; Mage  = 60.51 months) chose functions for novel objects after informants demonstrated their use; indicated with which peer group member to socialize; and were measured on racial group recognition, preference, and identification. Overall, children preferred in-group members, though out-group exposure and the relative social status of out-groups mattered as well. At a young age, children's specific experiences with different races influence how they learn and befriend others across racial group lines.

The emergence of the empirical stance: Children's testing of counterintuitive claims.

Although children often believe an adult's claims, they may have opportunities to check these claims by gathering relevant empirical evidence themselves. Here, we examine whether children seize such opportunities, especially when the claim is counterintuitive. Chinese preschool and elementary schoolchildren were presented with five different-sized Russian dolls and asked to indicate the heaviest doll. Almost all children selected the biggest doll. Half of the children then heard a false, counterintuitive claim (i.e., smallest = heaviest). The remaining children heard a claim confirming their initial intuition (i.e., biggest = heaviest). Children in both age groups typically endorsed the experimenter's claim even when it was counterintuitive. However, during the experimenter's subsequent absence, elementary schoolchildren explored the dolls more if they had received counterintuitive rather than confirming testimony whereas preschool children rarely explored, no matter what testimony they had received. Thus, with increasing age, children seize opportunities to test counterintuitive claims. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are We Rational or Not? The Exploration of Voter Choices during the 2016 Presidential and Legislative Elections in Taiwan.

The decisions voters make-and whether those decisions are rational-have profound implications on the functionality of a democratic society. In this study, we delineated two criteria in evaluating voter rationality and weigh evidence of voter rationality versus irrationality. Furthermore, we compared models in two different elections in Taiwan to explore the reasons behind the irrational choices voters can make. Survey questions and an implicit association test (IAT) were administered prior to both elections among 197 voters in Taipei. These voters then reported their actual votes post-election. Model testing suggests that voters often are rational, but are more likely to make irrational choices in more important elections. Our findings indicate that voters generally aim to be diligent and to optimize their choices, even if they make less rational choices in the end. Further implications regarding elections and human rationality are discussed.

Using Novel Technology within a School-Based Setting to Increase Physical Activity: A Pilot Study in School-Age Children from a Low-Income, Urban Community.

BACKGROUND: Less than half of American children meet national physical activity (PA) recommendations. This study tested the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of using wearable PA monitors to increase PA in school-age children. METHODS: In Phase 1 of this study, conducted in 2014, 32 fifth-grade students enrolled in a low-resource middle school were given a waist-worn Fitbit Zip monitor for 4 weeks to test its feasibility (adherence) and acceptability. Adherence, wear time of ≥8 hours per day, was examined. Feedback was solicited from parents through structured interviews. In Phase 2, conducted in 2015, 42 sixth-grade students were assigned, by classroom, to one of three conditions (Fitbit + goal and incentive-based intervention, Fitbit only, or control) to test the feasibility of the wrist-worn Fitbit Charge and its preliminary effectiveness in increasing PA over 6 weeks. RESULTS: In Phase 1, average adherence was 64.1%. In Phase 2, it was 73.4% and 80.2% for participants in the Fitbit + intervention and Fitbit only groups, respectively (p = .07). After controlling for baseline values, weight status, and sex, there were no significant group differences in changes in MVPA or steps from baseline to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: While moderately acceptable, wearable PA monitors did not increase PA levels in this sample. They may be more effective within a coordinated school-based physical activity program.

A developmental perspective on the cultural evolution of prosocial religious beliefs.

Norenzayan et al. argue that prosocial religion develops through cultural evolution. Surprisingly, they give little attention to developmental accounts of prosocial religious beliefs. A consideration of the developmental literature supports some, but not all, of the authors' conclusions.

Voting Intention and Choices: Are Voters Always Rational and Deliberative?

Human rationality--the ability to behave in order to maximize the achievement of their presumed goals (i.e., their optimal choices)--is the foundation for democracy. Research evidence has suggested that voters may not make decisions after exhaustively processing relevant information; instead, our decision-making capacity may be restricted by our own biases and the environment. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which humans in a democratic society can be rational when making decisions in a serious, complex situation-voting in a local political election. We believe examining human rationality in a political election is important, because a well-functioning democracy rests largely upon the rational choices of individual voters. Previous research has shown that explicit political attitudes predict voting intention and choices (i.e., actual votes) in democratic societies, indicating that people are able to reason comprehensively when making voting decisions. Other work, though, has demonstrated that the attitudes of which we may not be aware, such as our implicit (e.g., subconscious) preferences, can predict voting choices, which may question the well-functioning democracy. In this study, we systematically examined predictors on voting intention and choices in the 2014 mayoral election in Taipei, Taiwan. Results indicate that explicit political party preferences had the largest impact on voting intention and choices. Moreover, implicit political party preferences interacted with explicit political party preferences in accounting for voting intention, and in turn predicted voting choices. Ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others were found to predict voting choices, but not voting intention. In sum, to the comfort of democracy, voters appeared to engage mainly explicit, controlled processes in making their decisions; but findings on ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others may suggest otherwise.

The influence of family unions and parenthood transitions on self-development.

The present study discusses the impact of union and parenthood transitions on individuals' self-esteem and sense of mastery development from midadolescence to young adulthood by using multilevel analyses with longitudinal data of 7,339 individuals between ages 15 and 38. The results show that, first, individuals in marital unions show significantly greater rates of growth in self-esteem and sense of mastery, compared with singles. Therefore, entering into marriage provides greater protections to individuals' self-esteem and sense of mastery. Second, the transition to parenthood brings significant decreases in levels and increases in rates of change in self-esteem and sense of mastery among new parents. The degree of the aforementioned changes differs by new parents' gender, union status, and living arrangement with the child at childbirth. Women are influenced more negatively than men. Living with the child at childbirth reduces the degree of decreases in self-esteem and sense of mastery, especially for mothers. In sum, from midadolescence to young adulthood, the development of individuals' self-esteem and sense of mastery is shaped by their union and parenthood transitions. Moreover, the context where these transitions take place, including the type of union and the living arrangement, moderates the degree of the impact. Our findings have important implications for research and practice in promoting the family transition experience.

Identifying and cultivating superforecasters as a method of improving probabilistic predictions.

Across a wide range of tasks, research has shown that people make poor probabilistic predictions of future events. Recently, the U.S. Intelligence Community sponsored a series of forecasting tournaments designed to explore the best strategies for generating accurate subjective probability estimates of geopolitical events. In this article, we describe the winning strategy: culling off top performers each year and assigning them into elite teams of superforecasters. Defying expectations of regression toward the mean 2 years in a row, superforecasters maintained high accuracy across hundreds of questions and a wide array of topics. We find support for four mutually reinforcing explanations of superforecaster performance: (a) cognitive abilities and styles, (b) task-specific skills, (c) motivation and commitment, and (d) enriched environments. These findings suggest that superforecasters are partly discovered and partly created-and that the high-performance incentives of tournaments highlight aspects of human judgment that would not come to light in laboratory paradigms focused on typical performance.

The cranberry flavonoids PAC DP-9 and quercetin aglycone induce cytotoxicity and cell cycle arrest and increase cisplatin sensitivity in ovarian cancer cells.

Cranberry flavonoids (flavonols and flavan-3-ols), in addition to their antioxidant properties, have been shown to possess potential in vitro activity against several cancers. However, the difficulty of isolating cranberry compounds has largely limited anticancer research to crude fractions without well-defined compound composition. In this study, individual cranberry flavonoids were isolated to the highest purity achieved so far using gravity and high performance column chromatography and LC-MS characterization. MTS assay indicated differential cell viability reduction of SKOV-3 and OVCAR-8 ovarian cancer cells treated with individual cranberry flavonoids. Treatment with quercetin aglycone and PAC DP-9, which exhibited the strongest activity, induced apoptosis, led to caspase-3 activation and PARP deactivation, and increased sensitivity to cisplatin. Furthermore, immunofluorescence microscopy and western blot study revealed reduced expression and activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in PAC DP-9 treated SKOV-3 cells. In addition, quercetin aglycone and PAC DP-9 deactivated MAPK-ERK pathway, induced downregulation of cyclin D1, DNA-PK, phospho-histone H3 and upregulation of p21, and arrested cell cycle progression. Overall, this study demonstrates promising in vitro cytotoxic and anti-proliferative properties of two newly characterized cranberry flavonoids, quercetin aglycone and PAC DP-9, against ovarian cancer cells.