Genetic basis of STEM occupational choice and regional economic performance: a UK biobank genome-wide association study.

BACKGROUND: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals are regarded as the highly skilled labor force that fosters economic productivity, enterprise innovation, and international competitiveness of a country. This study aims to understand the genetic predisposition to STEM occupations and investigate its associations with regional economic performance. We conducted a genome-wide association study on the occupational choice of STEM jobs based on a sample of 178,976 participants from the UK Biobank database. RESULTS: We identified two genetic loci significantly associated with participants' STEM job choices: rs10048736 on chromosome 2 and rs12903858 on chromosome 15. The SNP heritability of STEM occupations was estimated to be 4.2%. We also found phenotypic and genetic evidence of assortative mating in STEM occupations. At the local authority level, we found that the average polygenic score of STEM is significantly and robustly associated with several metrics of regional economic performance. CONCLUSIONS: The current study expands our knowledge of the genetic basis of occupational choice and potential regional disparities in socioeconomic developments.

Hepatitis B infection is associated with periodontitis: the national health and nutrition examination survey (2009-2014).

BACKGROUND: Current research has been inconclusive regarding whether hepatitis B infection is associated with an increased risk of periodontitis. This study aims to test the null hypothesis that no association exists between hepatitis B infection and an increased risk of periodontitis using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2009-2014). METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2009-2014) to assess the rate of the prevalence of periodontitis in patients with and without hepatitis B infection. Participants who had tested for hepatitis B and periodontitis were included. The included participants were divided into no/mild periodontitis and moderate/severe periodontitis groups according to their periodontal status. The association between hepatitis B infection and chronic periodontitis was evaluated by multivariable regression analyses adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, income-to-poverty ratio, smoking, alcohol, BMI, ALT, AST, creatinine, hypertension, and diabetes. RESULTS: A total of 5957 participants were included and divided into two groups: inactive periodontitis group (n = 3444) and active periodontitis group (n = 2513). The results showed that participants with hepatitis B had a higher risk of periodontitis. After adjusting for covariables, adults with hepatitis B infection were 38% more likely to have periodontitis compared to those without hepatitis B infection (95% Confidence Interval [CI]:1.085-1.754). CONCLUSIONS: In general, the results suggest that CHB is positively associated with the more severe periodontitis. These results suggest that people with hepatitis B infection should take good periodontal care measures to avoid the occurrence and development of periodontitis.

Does losing money truly hurt? The shared neural bases of monetary loss and pain.

Both monetary loss and pain have been studied for decades, but evidence supporting the relationship between them is still lacking. We conducted a meta-analysis to explore the overlapping brain regions between monetary loss and pain, including physical pain and social pain. Regardless of the type of pain experienced, activation of the anterior insula was a shared neural representation of monetary loss and pain. The network representation pattern of monetary loss was more similar to that of social pain than that of physical pain. In conclusion, our research provided evidence of the common neural correlates of monetary loss and pain.

The impact of economic freedom on COVID-19 pandemic control: the moderating role of equality.

BACKGROUND: The absence of pharmaceutical interventions made it particularly difficult to mitigate the first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The current study investigated how economic freedom and equality influenced the pandemic control process. METHODS: In Study 1, we assessed the effect of economic freedom and equality on COVID-19 pandemic control from nations worldwide. We collected the cumulative number of confirmed cases over time to perform logistic curve fitting and obtain the speed at which the first wave of the pandemic was controlled, and partial correlation analysis and representational similarity analysis (RSA) were performed to assess the similarity between economic freedom and the speed of pandemic control. In Study 2, an evolutionary game model in which economic freedom affects the speed of pandemic control through optimization of the allocation of available resources was developed. In Study 3, we used experimental manipulation to elucidate the psychological mechanism relating economic freedom and resource allocation. RESULTS: The economic freedom of nation could be used to positively predict the speed of pandemic control and the related similarity pattern. Equality was found to moderate the correlation and representational similarity between economic freedom and the speed of pandemic control. The evolutionary game model revealed a mechanism whereby economic freedom influences the speed of pandemic control through high resource availability. Furthermore, cooperation was found to be a possible psychological mechanism explaining how economic freedom increases resource availability. CONCLUSIONS: Economic freedom has a positive effect on the control of the COVID-19 pandemic only among highly egalitarian nations. New interventions are needed to help countries heighten economic freedom and equality as they continue to battle COVID-19 and other collective threats.

Thoughts of death affect reward learning by modulating salience network activity.

Thoughts of death substantially influence human behavior and psychological well-being. A large number of behavioral studies have shown evidence that asking individuals to think about death or mortality salience leads to significant changes of their behaviors. These findings support the well-known terror management theory to account for the psychological mechanisms of existential anxiety. However, despite increasing findings of mortality salience effects on human behavior, how the brain responds to reminders of mortality and changes the activity underlying subsequent behavior remains poorly understood. By scanning healthy adults (N = 80) of both sexes using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we showed that, relative to reading emotionally neutral sentences, reading sentences that evoke death-related thoughts decreased the salience network activity, reduced the connectivity between the cingulate cortex and other brain regions during a subsequent resting state, and dampened the speed of learning reward-related objects and cingulate responses to loss feedback during a subsequent reward learning task. In addition, the decreased resting-state cingulate connectivity mediated the association between salience network deactivations in response to reminders of mortality and suppressed cingulate responses to loss feedback. Finally, the suppressed cingulate responses to loss feedback further predicted the dampened speed of reward learning. Our findings demonstrate sequential modulations of the salience network activity by mortality salience, which provide a neural basis for understanding human behavior under mortality threat.

5-HTTLPR moderates the association between interdependence and brain responses to mortality threats.

While behavioral research suggests an association between cultural worldview and decreased anxiety of death, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Using functional MRI, we investigated whether and how the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), which has been associated with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, moderates the associations between a cultural trait (i.e., interdependence) and self-report of death anxiety/depression and between interdependence and brain responses to mortality threats. Long/long and short/short allele carriers of the 5-HTTLPR were scanned using fMRI while they performed a one-back task on death-related, death-unrelated negative, and neutral words. Participants' interdependence and death anxiety/depression were assessed using questionnaires after scanning. We found that participants who assessed themselves with greater interdependence reported lower death anxiety/depression and showed decreased neural response to death-related words in emotion-related brain regions including the anterior cingulate, putamen, and thalamus. However, these results were evident in long/long allele carriers of the 5-HTTLPR but not in short/short allele carriers who even showed positive associations between interdependence and neural activities in the anterior cingulate, putamen and thalamus in response to death-related words. Our findings suggest candidate mechanisms for explaining the complex relationship between genotype, cultural traits, and mental/neural responses to mortality threats. Hum Brain Mapp 38:6157-6171, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural Evolution in BaSn2F5X (X = Cl, Br, I): A Family of Alkaline Earth Metal Tin Mixed Halides.

As the first family of Sn-based alkaline earth metal mixed halides, three new compounds, BaSn2F5X (X = Cl, Br, and I), are synthesized by hydrothermal method. These compounds are crystallized in the centrosymmetric space groups of P21/c, P4/nmm, and Pmma for BaSn2F5Cl, BaSn2F5Br, and BaSn2F5I, respectively, and their microscopic frameworks are all composed of the fundamental structural unit [SnF4]2- and its derivatives ([SnF4Cl]3- and [SnF5]3- groups). Interestingly, the structures in BaSn2F5X are significantly changed from one-dimensional (1D) to two-dimensional (2D) and then to 1D motifs as X varies from Cl, Br, to I. Structural analysis combined with theoretical calculations reveals that the structural diversities are caused by the difference of ionic radius and electronegativity of X- anions as well as the orientation of the lone-pair electrons on Sn2+ cations. Moreover, the optical, electronic, and thermal properties for these three compounds are determined. This work provides a representative example to show how microscopic ions influence the structures, thus in favor of the design for new mixed halides, a type of important functional materials with many optoelectronic applications.

Structure and Characterization of a Zero-Dimensional Alkali Tin Dihalides Compound Cs3Sn3F2Cl7 with the [Sn2F2Cl4]2- Clusters.

A new perovskite stoichiometric alkali tin dihalides compound, Cs3Sn3F2Cl7, is synthesized by a hydrothermal method. This compound belongs to the monoclinic space group of P21/c with cell parameters of a = 9.5645(4) Å, b = 14.2057(7) Å, c = 13.5828(6) Å, and ß = 93.2450(10)°. Unlike the common perovskites in which octahedra are interconnected to be a three-dimensional network, Cs3Sn3F2Cl7 possesses a zero-dimensional structure consisting of Cs+ cations, isolated [SnCl3]- trigonal pyramids, and dimer structural units [Sn2F2Cl4]2-; the latter microscopic unit is found for the first time. The thermal stability and UV-vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in Cs3Sn3F2Cl7 are measured, and the electronic structure is calculated. Interestingly, the 5s2 lone-pair electrons on Sn2+ cations are stereochemically active, which results in a pretty good photocatalytic activity of the title compound.

Serotonin transporter polymorphism alters citalopram effects on human pain responses to physical pain.

Humans exhibit substantial inter-individual differences in pain perception, which contributes to variability in analgesic efficacy. Individual differences in pain sensitivity have been linked with variation in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as citalopram have been increasingly used as treatments for multiple pain conditions. We combined genotyping, pharmacological challenge, and neuroimaging during painful electrical stimulation to reveal how serotonin genetics and pharmacology interact to influence pain perception and its underlying neurobiological mechanisms. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled procedure, we acutely administrated citalopram (30mgpo) to short/short (s/s) and long/long (l/l) healthy male 5-HTTLPR homozygotes during functional MRI with painful and non-painful electrical stimulation. 5-HTTLPR genotype modulated citalopram effects on pain-related brain responses in the thalamus, cerebellum, anterior insula, midcingulate cortex and inferior frontal cortex. Specifically, citalopram significantly reduced pain-related brain responses in l/l but not in s/s homozygotes. Moreover, the interaction between 5-HTTLPR genotype and pain-related brain activity was a good predictor of the citalopram-induced reductions in pain reports. The genetic modulations of citalopram effects on brain-wide pain processing were paralleled by significant effects on the Neurological Pain Signature, a multivariate brain pattern validated to be sensitive and specific to physical pain. This work provides neurobiological mechanism by which genetic variation shapes brain responses to pain perception and treatment efficacy. These findings have important implications for the types of individuals for whom serotonergic treatments provide effective pain relief, which is critical for advancing personalized pain treatment.

Cs3W3PO13: A Tungsten Phosphate with One-Dimensional Zigzag Tunnels Exhibiting Strongly Anisotropic Thermal Expansion.

A new tungsten phosphate, Cs3W3PO13, is synthesized using the high-temperature flux method. Cs3W3PO13 crystallizes in the space group Pnma and contains one-dimensional zigzag tunnels, which are found for the first time in tungsten phosphate. This highly anisotropic structural feature results in a very strong anisotropic thermal expansion, with thermal expansion coefficients of 14.15 ± 1.11 and 0.72 ± 0.22 M K(-1) along the a and b axes, respectively, over the temperature range from 13 to 270 K. In addition, thermal analysis, UV-vis-near-IR diffuse reflectance, and first-principles electronic structure calculations on Cs3W3PO13 are performed.

Mortality salience enhances racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses to others' suffering.

Behavioral research suggests that mortality salience (MS) leads to increased in-group identification and in-group favoritism in prosocial behavior. What remains unknown is whether and how MS influences brain activity that mediates emotional resonance with in-group and out-group members and is associated with in-group favoritism in helping behavior. The current work investigated MS effects on empathic neural responses to racial in-group and out-group members' suffering. Experiments 1 and 2 respectively recorded event related potentials (ERPs) and blood oxygen level dependent signals to pain/neutral expressions of Asian and Caucasian faces from Chinese adults who had been primed with MS or negative affect (NA). Experiment 1 found that an early frontal/central activity (P2) was more strongly modulated by pain vs. neutral expressions of Asian than Caucasian faces, but this effect was not affected by MS vs. NA priming. However, MS relative to NA priming enhanced racial in-group bias in long-latency neural response to pain expressions over the central/parietal regions (P3). Experiment 2 found that MS vs. NA priming increased racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses to pain expression in the anterior and mid-cingulate cortex. Our findings indicate that reminding mortality enhances brain activity that differentiates between racial in-group and out-group members' emotional states and suggest a neural basis of in-group favoritism under mortality threat.

Oxytocin receptor gene and racial ingroup bias in empathy-related brain activity.

The human brain responds more strongly to racial ingroup than outgroup individuals' pain. This racial ingroup bias varies across individuals and has been attributed to social experiences. What remains unknown is whether the racial ingroup bias in brain activity is associated with a genetic polymorphism. We investigated genetic associations of racial ingroup bias in the brain activity to racial ingroup and outgroup faces that received painful or non-painful stimulations by scanning A/A and G/G homozygous of the oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism (OXTR rs53576) using functional MRI. We found that G/G compared to A/A individuals showed stronger activity in the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area (ACC/SMA) in response to racial ingroup members' pain, whereas A/A relative to G/G individuals exhibited greater activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in response to racial outgroup members' pain. Moreover, the racial ingroup bias in ACC/SMA activity positively predicted participants' racial ingroup bias in implicit attitudes and NAcc activity to racial outgroup individuals' pain negatively predicted participants' motivations to reduce racial outgroup members' pain. Our results suggest that the two variants of OXTR rs53576 are associated with racial ingroup bias in brain activities that are linked to implicit attitude and altruistic motivation, respectively.

Beryllium-free Rb3Al3B3O10F with reinforced interlayer bonding as a deep-ultraviolet nonlinear optical crystal.

A new beryllium-free borate Rb3Al3B3O10F has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It features a framework structure consisting of alveolate [Al3(BO3)3OF]∞ layers tightly bound via Al-O and Al-F bridged bonds, with the in-layer [BO3](3-) groups in nearly coplanar and aligned arrangement. This compound is transparent down to 200 nm and is phase-matchable with a powder second-harmonic generation efficiency of 1.2 times that of KH2PO4. Remarkably, it exhibits a strong interlayer bonding which is about one order larger than that of the benchmark KBe2BO3F2, thus no layering tendency was observed during the crystal growth. In addition, it is nonhygroscopic and thermally stable up to ∼1462 K. These attributes make Rb3Al3B3O10F a promising nonlinear optical crystal in the deep-ultraviolet region. First-principles calculations, combined with the anionic group theory, were adopted to rationalize the optical properties.

First-Principles Design of a Deep-Ultraviolet Nonlinear-Optical Crystal from KBe2BO3F2 to NH4Be2BO3F2.

KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF) is so far the sole nonlinear-optical (NLO) material that can be practically applied in the deep-ultraviolet (DUV) region. For the purpose of overcoming its layering tendency in crystal growth, herein a computer-assisted material design system is employed to design a new KBBF analogue, ammonia beryllium fluoroborate (NH4Be2BO3F2, ABBF). The first-principles calculations demonstrate that ABBF possesses NLO properties very close to those of KBBF, thus exhibiting good DUV NLO capability. Moreover, owing to the relatively strong chemical binding between layers, ABBF would have a better growth habit compared with KBBF. Upon synthesis, ABBF would be a very promising DUV NLO material.

K5Mo4O14F: A Novel Fluorinated Polyoxomolybdate and Its Structural Stability.

We successfully synthesized a novel fluorinated polyoxomolybdate, K5Mo4O14F, in which the unusual polyanion [Mo4O14F](5-) consists of face-sharing [Mo2O8F] bioctahedra linked with [MoO4] tetrahedra. This unique structural feature provides the very rare case that simultaneously violates Pauling's electrostatic valence (II) and atomic coordination (IV) rules, as well as the stable tendency governed by the polyhedral sharing (III) rule. The structural stability of K5Mo4O14F was confirmed from thermal experiments over a wide temperature range and further elucidated by first-principles calculations.

Tailored synthesis of a nonlinear optical phosphate with a short absorption edge.

A nonlinear optical phosphate Ba5P6O20 was rationally developed by a tailored synthetic approach based on the use of flexible [P3O10](5-) units. The phosphate exhibits a very short absorption edge of λ=167 nm, which is among the shortest known in phase-matchable phosphates. First-principles electronic structure analysis elucidated the origin of the changes in the optical properties, and specifically in the absorption edge, of the material. Such a tailored synthetic approach provides a new opportunity to design nonlinear optical materials with short absorption edges.

Deep-ultraviolet transparent phosphates RbBa2(PO3)5 and Rb2Ba3(P2O7)2 show nonlinear optical activity from condensation of [PO4](3-) units.

It is challenging to explore deep-ultraviolet (deep-UV) nonlinear optical (NLO) materials that can achieve a subtle balance between deep-UV transparency and high NLO activity. Known deep-UV NLO materials are almost exclusively limited to borates, except few newly discovered phosphates despite their small NLO activities. Here we report two asymmetric phosphates, RbBa2(PO3)5 (I) and Rb2Ba3(P2O7)2 (II), which feature [PO3]∞ chains and [P2O7](4-) dimers formed by condensation of [PO4](3-) units, respectively. Remarkably, I achieves the desired balance, with the shortest deep-UV absorption edge at 163 nm and the largest NLO activity of 1.4 × KDP (KH2PO4) in deep-UV NLO phosphates. According to first-principles calculations, the enhanced macroscopic SHG response of I can be attributed to the [PO3]∞ chains which exhibit significantly larger microscopic SHG coefficients as compared with the [P2O7](4-) dimers.

Ca3Na4LiBe4B10O24F: a new beryllium borate with a unique beryl borate ∞(2)[Be8B16O40F2] layer intrabridged by [B12O24] groups.

A novel beryllium borate, Ca3Na4LiBe4B10O24F, has been discovered. It possesses a unique ∞(2)[Be8B16O40F2] layer composed of two opposite parallel [Be4B4O12F]∞ layers bridged with [B12O24] polyborates. The linkage of [B12O24] to other structural units is first found in anhydrous borates. In the ∞(2)[Be8B16O40F2] layer, multiple tunnels are arranged along different directions resided by the alkali and alkaline-earth cations. The compound remains stable in an ambient atmosphere from room temperature to the melting point at 830 °C and melts incongruently.

ReBe2B5O11 (Re = Y, Gd): rare-earth beryllium borates as deep-ultraviolet nonlinear-optical materials.

Two novel rare-earth beryllium borates ReBe2B5O11 (Re = Y, Gd) have been discovered. These materials possess a unique structural feature with a platelike infinite ∞(2)[Be2B5O11]3­ superlayer, which is first found in beryllium borates. The superlayer can be seen as sandwich-shaped with ∞(1)[B4O8]4­ chains linking up with a ∞(2)[Be2BO5]3­ sublayer above and below via the B­O­Be bond. Each ∞(2)[Be2B5O11]3­ layer is further connected to the neighboring layer through Re3+ cations coordinating with O atoms. Both of these two crystals have very short cutoff wavelengths below 200 nm and exhibit relatively large nonlinear-optical (NLO) effects, indicating their promising applications as good deep-UV NLO crystals.

Repetition suppression between monetary loss and social pain.

The relationship between monetary loss and pain has been a recent research focus. Prior studies found similarities in the network representation patterns of monetary loss and pain, particularly social pain. However, the neural level evidence was lacking. To address this, we conducted an ERP experiment to investigate whether there is a repetitive suppression effect of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain, aiming to understand if they engage overlapping neuronal populations. The results revealed that FRN amplitudes showed repetitive suppression effects of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain. Our study suggests that monetary loss and social pain share common neural bases, indicating that they might involve shared neural modules related to cognitive conflict and affective appraisal.