Variance, norms and cooperative behavior in public goods games.

This study examines the relationship between the variance of others' contributions, social norms (empirical and normative expectations), and cooperative behavior using a classic linear public goods game. The following results are observed. First, the variance of a participant's group members' contributions had a negative impact on their contributions, empirical expectations, and normative expectations. Second, deviations from the mean, whether negative or positive, were deemed less socially appropriate. Third, while there was a strong relationship between variance, social norms, and cooperative behavior, the mediating effect of social norms was found to be insignificant. Finally, there were some notable findings regarding behavior type. Although free riders and cooperators exhibited distinct behavioral patterns, their normative expectations were similar. Free riders expected others to cooperate, but their empirical expectations were significantly lower than cooperators' expectations, which were aligned with their actual contributions. These findings contribute to research on the relationship between distribution heterogeneity, social norms and cooperative behavior. Furthermore, these findings provide valuable insights into management practices.

Confusion cannot explain cooperative behavior in public goods games.

Some scholars find that behavioral variation in the public goods game is explained by variations in participants' understanding of how to maximize payoff and that confusion leads to cooperation. Their findings lead them to question the common assumption in behavioral economics experiments that choices reflect motivations. We conduct two experiments, in which we minimize confusion by providing participants with increased training. We also introduce a question that specifically assesses participants' understanding of payoff maximization choices. Our experimental results show that the distribution of behavior types is significantly different when participants play with computers versus humans. A significant increase in contributions is also observed when participants play with humans compared to when they play with computers. Moreover, social norms may be the main motive for contributions when playing with computers. Our findings suggest that social preferences, rather than confusion, play a crucial role in determining contributions in public goods games when playing with humans. We therefore argue that the assumption in behavioral economics experiments that choices reveal motivations is indeed valid.

Association of TNF-α, IGF-1, and IGFBP-1 levels with the severity of osteopenia in mice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUNDS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) exhibits a close association with osteoporosis. This work aims to assess the potential effects of NAFLD on the progression of osteopenia in animal models. METHODS: Forty-eight C57BL/6 female mice were randomly divided to wild-type (WT) group and high-fat diet (HFD) group. The corresponding detections were performed after sacrifice at 16, 24 and 32 weeks, respectively. RESULTS: At 16 weeks, an remarkable increase in body weight and lipid aggregation in the hepatocytes of HFD group was observed compared to the WT group, while the bone structure parameters showed no significant difference. At 24 weeks, the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in NAFLD mice were significantly increased, while the level of osteoprotegerin mRNA in bone tissue was decreased, and the level of receptor activator of nuclear factor Kappa-B ligand mRNA was increased. Meanwhile, the function of osteoclasts was increased, and the bone microstructure parameters showed significant changes. At 32 weeks, in the HFD mice, the mRNA levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), runt-related transcription factor 2, and osterix mRNA were reduced, while the insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) level was increased. Simultaneously, the osteoblast function was decreased, and the differences of bone structure parameters were more significant, showing obvious osteoporosis. CONCLUSIONS: The bone loss in HFD mice is pronounced as NAFLD progresses, and the changes of the TNF-α, IL-6, IGF-1, and IGFBP-1 levels may play critical roles at the different stages of NAFLD in HFD.

A multi-subgroup predictive model based on clinical parameters and laboratory biomarkers to predict in-hospital outcomes of plasma exchange-centered artificial liver treatment in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

Background: Postoperative risk stratification is challenging in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) who undergo artificial liver treatment. This study characterizes patients' clinical parameters and laboratory biomarkers with different in-hospital outcomes. The purpose was to establish a multi-subgroup combined predictive model and analyze its predictive capability. Methods: We enrolled HBV-ACLF patients who received plasma exchange (PE)-centered artificial liver support system (ALSS) therapy from May 6, 2017, to April 6, 2022. There were 110 patients who died (the death group) and 110 propensity score-matched patients who achieved satisfactory outcomes (the survivor group). We compared baseline, before ALSS, after ALSS, and change ratios of laboratory biomarkers. Outcome prediction models were established by generalized estimating equations (GEE). The discrimination was assessed using receiver operating characteristic analyses. Calibration plots compared the mean predicted probability and the mean observed outcome. Results: We built a multi-subgroup predictive model (at admission; before ALSS; after ALSS; change ratio) to predict in-hospital outcomes of HBV-ACLF patients who received PE-centered ALSS. There were 110 patients with 363 ALSS sessions who survived and 110 who did not, and 363 ALSS sessions were analyzed. The univariate GEE models revealed that several parameters were independent risk factors. Clinical parameters and laboratory biomarkers were entered into the multivariate GEE model. The discriminative power of the multivariate GEE models was excellent, and calibration showed better agreement between the predicted and observed probabilities than the univariate models. Conclusions: The multi-subgroup combined predictive model generated accurate prognostic information for patients undergoing HBV-ACLF patients who received PE-centered ALSS.

Does the Power of Social Example Fade? Nudge Effect of Social Information on Individual's Donation Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model with Three-Wave Cross-Sectional Data.

Purpose: This study assesses how various social information influence individuals' money donation behaviors towards charitable funds against the COVID-19 pandemic at different stages of the pandemic. It also explores the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of self-control. Materials and Methods: This three-wave study was conducted with online survey experiments using convenience sampling at the pandemic's outbreak stage (April-June 2020), trough stage (February-March 2021), and resurgence stage (May 2022) in China. The nudge power of social information was measured by whether participants changed their initial money donation decisions after informed positive or negative social information. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) and self-control (Self-Control Scale). The final data set included 1371 participants from 26 provinces of mainland China. Stata medeff package and SPSS PROCESS were used to analyze the data. Results: Individuals' initial donation behaviors did not fluctuate along with the pandemic status, but the nudge effect of social information did. From outbreak stage to trough stage, the nudge power of positive social information significantly declined, but did not significantly change again at the resurgence stage. By contrast, the nudge power of negative social information did not significantly differ between outbreak and trough stage but did significantly increase at the resurgence stage. Social anxiety played a significant mediating role in the relationship between COVID-19 status and power of social information. Moreover, self-control moderated the direct effect of COVID-19 status on power of social information and the indirect effect via social anxiety. Conclusion: Our findings enrich research on the nudge power variation of social information on individuals' donation behaviors along with the pandemic status and its potential psychological influence factors. This study also helps guide organizations to better design and carry out social information nudge mechanism.

Esophageal variceal ligation plus sclerotherapy vs. ligation alone for the treatment of esophageal varices.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of esophageal variceal ligation (EVL) vs. EVL combined with endoscopic injection sclerosis (EIS) in the therapy of esophageal varices. Methods: Patients from January 2017 to August 2021 who received EVL alone (control group) or EVL plus EIS (intervention group) were enrolled in this retrospective study. Efficacy, including rebleeding (clinically hematemesis or melena, confirmed by endoscopy as esophagogastric varices bleeding), variceal recurrence rate (the presence of esophagogastric varices which is needed to be treated again) the number of sessions performed to complete eradication of varices, and safety (adverse events) were compared. The variceal recurrence-associated factors were derived by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The variceal recurrence and rebleeding rate in the intervention group showed significantly lower than the control group (2.6% vs 10.3%, P = 0.006 and 20.7% vs 37.5%, P = 0.029, P = 0.006, respectively, in the 12-month follow-up). The adverse events (fever, chest pain, swallowing, and esophageal stricture) showed no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Further research showed that the efficacy of the intervention group was better than the control group only achieved in prophylactically endoscopic treatment patients. The diameter of esophageal varices and gastric varices co-exist showed significant effects on variceal recurrence in intervention group [odds ratio (OR) = 15.856; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.709-160.143; P = 0.016 and OR = 4.5; 95% CI, 1.42-20.028; P = 0.021; respectively]. Conclusions: The intervention group may obtain lower recurrence, rebleeding rate, and fewer sessions performed to complete eradication of varices (number of sessions) and similar incidence of adverse events, especially for prophylactically treatment. Among the intervention group, the diameter of esophageal varices and gastric varices were closely associated with variceal recurrence.

Inter-brain synchronization is weakened by the introduction of external punishment.

Punishment is a popular institution to enforce social norms in human society. However, how the punishment institution impacts the inter-brain neural signatures of two-person social interactions is still an open question. By performing electroencephalography recording of brain activity in two interacting parties as they simultaneously played both the revised repeated ultimatum game (rrUG) and the revised repeated dictator game (rrDG), this study focused on exploring how the introduction of external punishment influences inter-brain synchronization between the two parties. The data showed a significant negative effect of external punishment on inter-brain synchronization, with greater inter-brain synchronization observed in the rrDG than in the rrUG. We proposed a possible mechanism underlying this result. In the rrDG, the similar moral motivation of both proposers and responders results in inter-brain synchronization between them. However, in the rrUG, the introduction of external punishment crowds out the intrinsic moral motivation of the proposers, thereby undermining the inter-brain synchronization. Moreover, we found a significant positive correlation between the rejection rate from responders for disadvantageous inequal offer and inter-brain synchronization in the rrDG. These findings contribute to understanding the negative effect of punishment institution and shed light on the inter-brain mechanism underlying social interaction.

Eliciting Psychological Ownership of Object by Marking Organizational Name: The Role of Belongingness.

Psychological ownership critically entails the need for home (a place in which to dwell or a place of belongingness). However, the question of how an individual's need for belongingness within an organization affects their psychological ownership of organization-linked objects remains unexplored. We first conducted a behavioral study to determine whether psychological ownership of object can be elicited by marking the object with the name of the subjects' organization. The participants in this behavioral study reported a higher level of psychological ownership when objects were marked with their own organization's name (i.e., in-organization objects) compared with objects marked with another organization's name (i.e., out-organization objects). Importantly, this effect was more pronounced among subjects who experienced a stronger sense of organizational belongingness. We subsequently conducted a second study to explore its underlying neural mechanism. Our findings indicated that participants with a higher level of perceived organizational belongingness exhibited a significantly larger amplitude of the P300 component of event-related potential in response to in-organization objects compared with their response to out-organization objects. However, no significant difference in the P300 component was found for participants who lacked a sense of organizational belongingness.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Changes the Nudging Effect of Social Information on Individuals' Blood Donation Intention.

The positive effect of social information on nudging prosocial behavior is context dependent. Understanding how sensitive intervention outcomes are to changes in the choice context is essential for policy design, especially in times of great uncertainty, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The present paper explores the effectiveness of social information in changing voluntary blood donation intention in two contexts: before and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. In addition to the dimension of context, information content and its source are also important. Using a survey administered to 1,116 participants, we conducted an intertemporal randomized-controlled experiment to systematically analyze how information can effectively nudge the intention to donate blood. Compared with content featuring blood donors' commendation information, blood users' demand information is found to have a stronger nudging effect. An official information source has a greater influence on participants' donation intention than an unofficial source. Furthermore, our analysis of two waves of experimental data (i.e., before and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic) shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has further enhanced the nudging effect of blood users' demand information and official information sources. These findings provide a theoretical basis and policy recommendations for relevant institutions to develop effective blood donation campaign strategies.

How Do Reference Points Influence the Representation of the N200 for Consumer Preference?

Recent studies have suggested that event-related brain potential (ERP) can represent consumer preference, and there is consensus that the N200 is the best indicator of consumer preference. Measurement of reference-dependent consumer preference, in turn, requires a reference point, but it remains largely unknown how reference points modulate the preference-related N200. We designed an experiment to investigate how reference points affect the N200 based on classical paradigms. In the single-reference condition, one product was displayed in each trial; in the conjoined-reference condition, a pair of products was displayed simultaneously. Our results showed that in the single-reference condition, low-preference products elicited more negative N200 than high-preference products, replicating previous results, but the N200 could not distinguish between low- and high-preference products when viewing two options of similar subjective value in the conjoined-reference condition. These findings suggest that reference points modulate the representation of the N200 on consumer preference. When only viewing one product, participants make a value judgment based on their expectations. However, when viewing two products simultaneously, both their expectation and the alternative product can serve as reference points, and whether the N200 can represent consumer preference depends on which reference point is dominant. In future research, reference points must be controlled when the N200 is used to explore value-related decision-making.

Genome sequencing of 320 Chinese children with epilepsy: a clinical and molecular study.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of genome sequencing in children with epilepsy, and to provide genome sequencing-based insights into the molecular genetic mechanisms of epilepsy to help establish accurate diagnoses, design appropriate treatments and assist in genetic counselling. We performed genome sequencing on 320 Chinese children with epilepsy, and interpreted single-nucleotide variants and copy number variants of all samples. The complete pedigree and clinical data of the probands were established and followed up. The clinical phenotypes, treatments, prognoses and genotypes of the patients were analysed. Age at seizure onset ranged from 1 day to 17 years, with a median of 4.3 years. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants were found in 117 of the 320 children (36.6%), of whom 93 (29.1%) had single-nucleotide variants, 22 (6.9%) had copy number variants and two had both single-nucleotide variants and copy number variants. Single-nucleotide variants were most frequently found in SCN1A (10/95, 10.5%), which is associated with Dravet syndrome, followed by PRRT2 (8/95, 8.4%), which is associated with benign familial infantile epilepsy, and TSC2 (7/95, 7.4%), which is associated with tuberous sclerosis. Among the copy number variants, there were three with a length <25 kilobases. The most common recurrent copy number variants were 17p13.3 deletions (5/24, 20.8%), 16p11.2 deletions (4/24, 16.7%), and 7q11.23 duplications (2/24, 8.3%), which are associated with epilepsy, developmental retardation and congenital abnormalities. Four particular 16p11.2 deletions and two 15q11.2 deletions were considered to be susceptibility factors contributing to neurodevelopmental disorders associated with epilepsy. The diagnostic yield was 75.0% in patients with seizure onset during the first postnatal month, and gradually decreased in patients with seizure onset at a later age. Forty-two patients (13.1%) were found to be specifically treatable for the underlying genetic cause identified by genome sequencing. Three of them received corresponding targeted therapies and demonstrated favourable prognoses. Genome sequencing provides complete genetic diagnosis, thus enabling individualized treatment and genetic counselling for the parents of the patients. Genome sequencing is expected to become the first choice of methods for genetic testing of patients with epilepsy.

The Contagion of Donation Behaviors Changes Along With the Abatement of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Intertemporal Survey Experiment.

We conducted an intertemporal online experiment to examine the contagion of others' positive and negative donation behaviors. We collected two sets of data during and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The participants donated to the charitable fund, "Against COVID-19, The China Charity Federation Is on the Move." We further investigated the mediating effect of social anxiety on the link between the contagion of donation behaviors and the changes in the COVID-19 situation. A total of 1022 participants (Mage = 22.68, 63.01% females) participated in the intertemporal online experiment and were considered in the statistical analyses. Our findings were as follows. First, the donation behaviors of others significantly changed these participants' initial donation decisions, with increased or decreased donation amounts being associated with a positive or negative donation behavior, respectively. Others' positive donation behavior was more likely to nudge these participants into changing their initial decisions (31.82%, Mean = 15.177, SD = 1.586) than negative donation behavior (18.28%, Mean = 12.122, SD = 1.908) during the peak of the pandemic. However, such difference disappeared after the peak because the contagion of positive donation behavior significantly decreased along with the abatement of the pandemic. Second, the participants' social anxiety decreased along with the abatement of the pandemic, and social anxiety completely mediated the relationship between the pandemic abatement and the decrease in the contagion of positive donation behaviors. These findings advance our understanding of the motivations and influence mechanism of individuals' donation decisions in the current pandemic situation and help make informed policy making decisions.

The COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior.

We conduct an online experiment before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in China with four sampling waves and test the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on trust behavior. We find that COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior. Belief in others' trustworthiness is one potential mechanism underlying the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on trust behavior.

Neural Dynamics of the Combined Discounting of Delay and Probability During the Evaluation of a Delayed Risky Reward.

Delay discounting and probability discounting are two important processes, but in daily life there are many more situations that involve delayed risky outcomes. Although neuroscience research has extensively investigated delay and probability discounting in isolation, little research has explored the neural correlates of the combined discounting of delay and probability. Using the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) technique, we designed a novel paradigm to investigate neural processes related to the combined discounting of delay and probability during the evaluation of a delayed risky reward. ERP results suggested distinct temporal dynamics for delay and probability processing during combined discounting. Both the early frontal P200 and the N2 reflected only probability, not delay, while the parietal P300 was sensitive to both probability and delay. Furthermore, the late positive potential (LPP) was sensitive to probability, but insensitive to delay. These results suggest that probability has a prolonged modulatory effect on reward evaluation in the information processing stream. These findings contribute to an understanding of the neural processes underlying the combined discounting of delay and probability. The limitation of this study is to only consider four delay and probability combinations. Future studies can explore the combined discounting of more probability and delay combinations to further test the robustness of the conclusion.

Development of a genomic DNA reference material panel for thalassemia genetic testing.

INTRODUCTION: Thalassemia is one of the most common autosomal recessive inherited diseases worldwide, and it is also highly prevalent and variable in southern China. Various types of genetic testing technologies have been developed for diagnosis and screening of thalassemia. Characterized genomic DNA reference materials (RMs) are necessary for assay development, validation, proficiency testing, and quality assurance. However, there are no publicly available RMs for thalassemia genetic testing as yet. METHODS: To address the need for the publicly available DNA RMs for thalassemia genetic testing, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control and the China National GeneBank established 32 new cell lines with three wild-type genotypes and 29 distinct genotypes of thalassemia which account for approximately 90% thalassemia carriers in China. The genomic DNA of 32 cell lines was characterized by four clinical genetic testing laboratories using different genetic testing methods and technology platforms. RESULTS: The genotyping results are concordant among four laboratories. In addition, the results of stability test demonstrated that the genotypes of these DNA samples are not influenced by preanalytical conditions such as long-term exposure to high-temperature (37°C) environment and repeated freeze-thawing. CONCLUSION: We developed the first national panel of 32 genomic DNA RMs which are renewable and publicly available for the quality assurance of various genetic testing methods and will facilitate research and development in thalassemia genetic testing.

Clinical significance and function of RDH16 as a tumor-suppressing gene in hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM: Our previous transcriptome sequencing analysis detected that retinol dehydrogenase 16 (RDH16) was dramatically downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). RDH16 belongs to the short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases super family, and its role in HCC remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the expression and function of RDH16 in HCC. METHODS: The mRNA and protein level of RDH16 in HCC samples were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry analyses, respectively. The role of RDH16 in HCC was determined by in vitro and in vivo functional studies. RESULTS: Downregulation of RDH16 has been detected in approximately 90% of primary HCCs, which was significantly associated with high serum alpha-fetoprotein level, tumor size, microsatellite formation, thrombus, and poor overall survival of HCC patients. Compared with non-tumor tissues, higher density of methylation was identified in HCC samples. In addition, RDH16 increases the level of retinoic acid and blocks the de novo synthesis of fatty acid in HCC cells. Functional study shows that ectopic expression of RDH16 in HCC cells suppresses cell growth, clonogenicity, and cell motility. CONCLUSIONS: RDH16 might be a prognostic biomarker and intervention point for new therapeutic strategies in HCC.

Transcranial direct current stimulation of the rLPFC shifts normative judgments in voluntary cooperation.

Normative judgment is a key capacity for human social norm compliance. Previous studies have revealed that the right lateral prefrontal cortex (rLPFC) is closely related to social norm compliance and that it has proven stimulation effects on behavior in voluntary and sanction-induced norm compliance, but not normative judgments. Nearly all these studies have been based on sanction-induced coordination cooperation, and a number of them have found that rLPFC has no effect on normative judgment with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). However, no research study exists regarding the effects of the normative judgment in voluntary cooperation. In this study, we used a linear asymmetric public good game to investigate the role of normative judgment in voluntary cooperation with tDCS on rLPFC. Participants were engaged in anonymous social interactions and made decisions with real financial consequences after being randomly assigned to receive either anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation of 15 min. Results suggest that compared with the sham group, anodal/cathodal tDCS influenced the behavior and normative judgment of participants in opposite directions. These outcomes provide a neural evidence for the rLPFC mechanism on normative judgment in voluntary cooperation.

Modulation of income redistribution decisions by anodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex.

One cause of the persistence of income inequality may be rooted in people's resistance to change the existing income distribution. Prior studies have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) may be associated with the decision making that influences income distribution. However, it is unclear whether the mPFC is involved in income redistribution tasks when third-party decision makers are unaffected by the outcome of the decision. In this study, we elucidate the neural mechanism underlying the tolerance of income inequality and the decision making that is related to income redistribution. By applying the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the mPFC, we investigate whether the change in the activation of the mPFC can influence a subject's inclination to expropriate a rich person's endowment and transfer it to a poor person. The main finding is that the anodal stimulation significantly reduced the subject's inclination to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, and lowered the rate of accepting options for redistribution. However, the willingness of income redistribution did not change following the cathodal stimulation compared with the sham condition. The effect of the anodal stimulation was constant across three types of initial inequality. The stimulation effect is likely caused by the subject's enhanced loss aversion or desire to reinforce social hierarchies.