The impact of family socioeconomic status on parental involvement and student engagement during COVID-19 in promoting academic achievement: A longitudinal study in Chinese children.

With a three-wave longitudinal design, the current study examined the impact of family socioeconomic status (SES) on parental involvement and student engagement in promoting children's academic achievement during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We recruited data from 246 mother-primary school student dyads, and the mean age of children at Wave 1 was 10.57 ± 0.97 years (range = 9-13 years). The academic achievement of these children was measured both before and after school closures. Family SES, parental involvement, and student engagement were assessed during the school closures. The results indicated that family SES could predict children's later academic achievement after accounting for their prior academic achievement and other demographics (i.e., the significant total effect in the model). Moreover, parental involvement and student engagement played chain-mediating roles in the effect of family SES on children's later academic achievement. Neither parent involvement nor student involvement alone mediated the relationships between family SES and subsequent academic achievement. Suggestions are provided to minimize the negative impact of low family SES on children's academic achievement during pandemics.

Dissociated contributions of working memory and inhibitory control to children's and adults' analogical reasoning: Analogical strategies matter.

This study investigated whether and how each component of working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC) is related to analogical reasoning. Specifically, the mediating roles of analogical strategies were examined and compared across children and adults. In total, 79 children (50 girls; M ± SD = 8.43 ± 0.59 years old) and 77 adults (35 female; 19.44 ± 0.82 years old) were administered tests of WM, IC, and analogical reasoning. In addition, participants' eye movement data during the analogical reasoning task were collected to classify the analogical strategies. The results showed that the semantic-constraint strategy completely mediated the relationship between WM (rather than IC) and analogical reasoning for children. However, for adults, the project-first strategy partially mediated the association between IC (rather than WM) and analogical reasoning. These findings reveal the dissociated roles of WM and IC in analogical reasoning through analogical strategies for children and adults and highlight the importance of analogical strategies.

Contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to numerical equivalence in 3- to 5-year-old children.

To investigate the contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to children's numerical equivalence, one hundred and one 3- to 5-year-olds were administered the dimensional change card sorting task, the day-night task and the give-a-number task. The numerical equivalence was assessed with the numerical matching task in three surface similarity conditions. Results showed that, in the high surface similarity condition, cognitive flexibility and label knowledge, rather than inhibition, were significant predictors of children's performance in numerical equivalence. In the low surface similarity and the cross-mapping conditions, only cognitive flexibility, rather than number label knowledge and inhibition, significantly explained the unique variance in numerical equivalence. Besides, cognitive flexibility explained more variation in numerical equivalence in the cross-mapping condition compared with the low surface similarity condition. These findings highlight different roles of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge in numerical equivalence in the three surface similarity conditions.

How does parental involvement matter for children's academic achievement during school closure in primary school?

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has infected over twenty million people across 200 countries. UNESCO claimed that more than 190 countries had implemented countrywide school closures, which resulted in preventing 1.6 billion students of their classroom learning opportunities. As children are unable to study in the classroom with teachers' supervision, the importance of parental engagement is amplified in children's learning at home. AIM: The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate how parental involvement contribute to children's academic achievement during school closure. SAMPLE: Two hundred and twenty-nine primary school children and their parents. METHOD: Children's academic achievement before (T1) and after school closure (T3), parental involvement (T2) and children's learning engagement (T2) during school closure were measured. RESULTS: After controlling for gender, age, grade and SES, children's learning engagement (T2) served as a full mediator of the association between parental involvement (T2) and children's academic achievement from T1 to T3. Moreover, parental psychological control (T2) moderated the association between parental involvement (T2) and children's learning engagement (T2). Specifically, the contribution of parental involvement to children's learning engagement became stronger for children whose parents had higher levels of psychological control. Higher Chinese parental psychological control did not always correlate to lower academic outcomes in the context of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the central roles of parental involvement and children's learning engagement in children's academic achievement during school closure caused by COVID-19.

How does working memory matter in young children's arithmetic skills: The mediating role of basic number processing.

The current study investigated whether and how each component of the working memory model was associated with kindergarten children's arithmetic performance. A total of 103 Chinese kindergarten children were administered tests of the visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, the central executive, and basic number processing (i.e., number line estimation, nonverbal numerosity estimation and numerical magnitude comparison). The results showed that among the three working memory components, the central executive accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in young children's arithmetic performance. In terms of basic number processing, number line estimation and numerical magnitude comparison had significant influences on young children's arithmetic performance. Furthermore, numerical magnitude comparison played a mediating role between the visuospatial sketchpad and early arithmetic skills. These findings highlight the importance of working memory and basic number processing in early arithmetic skills and reveal different pathways through which the three working memory components influence young children's arithmetic performance.

Bidirectional relationship between visual perception and mathematics performance in Chinese kindergartners.

In this longitudinal study, 64 kindergartners (mean age at T1 = 4.69 ± 0.33 years; 34 girls) were tested on visual perception skills (T2 and T3) and mathematics performance (T1 to T3) with 6-month intervals between the three testing waves. Cross-lagged path analysis showed a bidirectional relationship between visual perception and mathematics performance from T2 to T3. Specifically, children's visual perception at T2 significantly predicted their mathematics performance at T3 (B = 0.30, SE = 0.14, p = 0.03, ß = 0.19). Children's mathematics performance at T1 accounted for unique variance in visual perception at T2 (B = 0.79, SE = 0.11, p < 0.001, ß = 0.68) and visual perception at T3 (B = 0.27, SE = 0.12, p = 0.02, ß = 0.32). Their mathematics performance at T2 also significantly predicted visual perception at T3 (B = 0.21, SE = 0.10, p = 0.04, ß = 0.28). Totally, they explained 61% of the variance in mathematics performance and 39% of the variance in visual perception at T3. The results highlight the developmental courses as well as the reciprocal facilitations between visual perception and mathematics performance in the kindergarten period.

circCRKL suppresses the progression of prostate cancer cells by regulating the miR-141/KLF5 axis.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is a prevalent human malignancy in males. Circular RNA circCRKL (Hsa_circ_0001206) was reported to be lowly expressed in PCa tissues. However, the regulatory role of circCRKL in PCa is poorly defined. METHODS: Levels of circCRKL, microRNA-141 (miR-141), and Kruppel-like factor (KLF5) were measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Cell cycle progression, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were examined by Flow cytometry, Wound healing, and transwell assays. The underlying relationship between miR-141 and circCRKL or KLF5 was predicted by starBase, and then verified by a dual-luciferase reporter, RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP), and RNA pull-down assays. The protein level of KLF5 was assessed by western blot assay. The biological role of circCRKL was detected by a xenograft tumor model in vivo. RESULTS: CircCRKL and KLF5 were decreased, and miR-141 was increased in PCa tissues and cells. The functional analysis discovered that the overexpression of circCRKL repressed cell cycle progression, migration, invasion, and boosted apoptosis of PCa cells. Mechanically, circCRKL could positively regulate KLF5 expression by sponging miR-141. In addition, circCRKL upregulation could hinder PCa tumor growth in vivo. CONCLUSION: These findings revealed that circCRKL inhibited the progression of PCa through upregulating KLF5 expression by sponging miR-141, elucidating a novel regulatory pathway in PCa cells. Our research suggested an underlying circRNA-targeted therapy for PCa.

The role of inhibitory control in the development of analogical reasoning: From general to specific.

This study examined the role of inhibitory control in the development of analogical reasoning using inter-task priming paradigms. In Experiment 1, 25 seven-year-olds, 27 nine-year-olds, and 27 adults completed Stroop tasks, which activated general inhibitory control ability, before analogical reasoning tasks. Children and adults performed faster on analogical reasoning tasks when they were primed by Stroop tasks. This priming effect was found to be stronger in children than in adults. In Experiment 2, 25 seven-year-olds, 28 nine-year-olds, and 28 adults completed relative number matching tasks, a more task-relevant inhibitory control task, before analogical reasoning tasks. The children and adults performed faster on analogical reasoning tasks when primed by relative number matching tasks. The priming effect was greater in seven-year-olds than in nine-year-olds and was greater in nine-year-olds than in adults. Thus, inhibitory control, whether assessed with general or specific tasks, played a priming role in analogical reasoning.

The Role of Perceptual Interference, Semantic Interference, and Relational Integration in the Development of Analogical Reasoning.

This study aimed to examine the role of perceptual interference, semantic interference, and relational integration (RI) in the development of analogical reasoning, and to compare the interactive pattern of interference and RI in children and adults. In Experiment 1, we tested 31 3- and 4-year-olds, 27 5- and 6-year-olds, and 40 adults for perceptual interference and RI in analogical reasoning. Perceptual interference emerged when proper mapping between analogically matching objects was incoherent with their perceptual features. RI was evaluated via manipulation of the number of objects in an analogical scene. Significant main effects of perceptual interference and RI were found in children and adults. In Experiment 2, we tested 30 3- and 4-year-olds, 27 5- and 6-year-olds, and 40 adults for semantic interference and RI in analogical reasoning. Semantic interference emerged when proper mapping between analogically matching objects was incoherent with their categorical features. Results showed significant main effects of semantic interference and RI in children and adults. The results of both experiments suggested different mechanisms of interference and RI in children and adults. For children, interference and RI depended on shared cognitive sources. If one factor (i.e., interference resolution) needed more cognitive demand, there would be limited resources available for another factor (i.e., RI). Furthermore, for adults, the increased load of RI and interference on adults' analogical reasoning exceeded the sum of their respective singular effects. For 3- and 4-year-olds, the degree of perceptual interference was larger than the degree of semantic interference in the Binary Relation condition, whereas there was no significant difference between the degree of two types of interference in the Quaternary Relation condition. Moreover, for 5- and 6-year-olds, the degree of semantic interference was larger than the degree of perceptual interference in both relation conditions. For adults, there was no difference between the degree of two types of interference in both relation conditions. The article also discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this research.

rHGF interacts with rIGF-1 to activate the satellite cells in the striated urethral sphincter in rats: a promising treatment for urinary incontinence?

PURPOSE: There are multitudes of factors contributing to urinary incontinence (UI). Dysfunction of the urethral sphincter is one of the common variables. Fortunately, satellite cells, which have the characteristics of stem cells, exist in the striated urethral sphincter. The purpose of the study was to seek whether rHGF combined with rIGF-1 owns the ability to promote the activation, proliferation, and differentiation of satellite cells to potentially improve urinary incontinence. METHODS: The SD rats were randomly divided into four groups and injected with 10 µl rIGF-1, the concentration of which was 50 µg/ml into the urethral wall of the urethral sphincter. Meanwhile, three groups were additionally treated with 10 µl rHGF, the concentration of which was 20, 50, 100 µg/ml. The group injected only with rIGF-1 was used as a control. 30 days later, the urethral tissues were harvested and serially sectioned. Immunofluorescent staining and HE staining were used to detect the activation, proliferation, and differentiation condition of satellite cells. The real-time RT-PCR analysis was applied to explore the potential signaling pathways. RESULT: Anti-c-Met antibody-positive cells were discovered in the striated urethral sphincter. Positive expression of c-Met was relatively higher with the treatment of 100 µg/ml rHGF compared to other concentration of rHGF. A similar result was found in additional immunofluorescent staining. The number of newborn myofibers with central nuclei increased as the concentration of rHGF becoming higher. The mRNA expression of ERK1, ERK2 and AKT was comparatively higher with the injection of 50 µg/ml rHGF. CONCLUSION: There is supposed to be a synergistic effect between rHGF and rIGF-1 to promote satellite cell to activate, proliferate and differentiate into muscle cells. The urethral sphincter may be induced to renew by the injection of rHGF and rIGF-1 into the urethral wall. It can be used to develop a new therapy for UI.

Children's Non-symbolic and Symbolic Numerical Representations and Their Associations With Mathematical Ability.

Most empirical evidence supports the view that non-symbolic and symbolic representations are foundations for advanced mathematical ability. However, the detailed development trajectories of these two types of representations in childhood are not very clear, nor are the different effects of non-symbolic and symbolic representations on the development of mathematical ability. We assessed 253 4- to 8-year-old children's non-symbolic and symbolic numerical representations, mapping skills, and mathematical ability, aiming to investigate the developmental trajectories and associations between these skills. Our results showed non-symbolic numerical representation emerged earlier than the symbolic one. Four-year-olds were capable of non-symbolic comparisons but not symbolic comparisons; five-year-olds performed better at non-symbolic comparisons than symbolic comparisons. This performance difference disappeared at age 6. Children at age 6 or older were able to map between symbolic and non-symbolic quantities. However, as children learn more about the symbolic representation system, their advantage in non-symbolic representation disappeared. Path analyses revealed that a direct effect of children's symbolic numerical skills on their math performance, and an indirect effect of non-symbolic numerical skills on math performance via symbolic skills. These results suggest that symbolic numerical skills are a predominant factor affecting math performance in early childhood. However, the influences of symbolic and non-symbolic numerical skills on mathematical performance both declines with age.

The Association of Number and Space Under Different Tasks: Insight From a Process Perspective.

We investigated the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect in 240 adults using a parity judgment and a magnitude classification task. Eight numbers from 1 to 9 except 5 were randomly presented one at a time, half of the participants were asked to compare these number with the target number 5 in the magnitude classification task; the other half of the participants were asked to judge whether these numbers were even or odd. It was called a phase when all eight numbers were tested; there were in total 16 phases. Detailed analyses of the changes in response times across the range of numbers and the chronological trend of the SNARC effect size over 16 phases estimated by a curvilinear regression model were reported. This phase-to-phase design and analyses provide an insight into the process of the SNARC effect in different tasks. We found that the SNARC effect emerged earlier and stayed more stable in magnitude classification task than in the parity task during the time course. Furthermore, the size of SNARC effect increased with time in the magnitude classification task, whereas it fluctuated up and down over time in the parity task. These findings indicate that the association of the number and space is dynamic and the process of the SNARC effect varies across tasks.

Triptorelin relieves lower urinary tract symptoms in Chinese advanced prostate cancer patients: a multicenter, non-interventional, prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Although triptorelin is increasingly used in China for biochemical castration, its effects on primary prostate cancer symptoms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in Chinese prostate cancer patients and the effectiveness of triptorelin on LUTS. METHODS: In this 48-week multicenter, non-interventional, prospective study, we enrolled patients with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer. Patients received triptorelin (15 mg) intramuscularly at baseline and at weeks 12, 24, and 36 with symptom assessment using the International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS). The primary endpoints were the prevalence of LUTS at baseline per IPSS categories and the percentage of patients with moderate to severe LUTS (IPSS > 7) at baseline, having at least a 3-point reduction of IPSS score at week 48. RESULTS: A total of 398 patients were included; 211 (53.0%) and 160 (40.2%) among them had severe and moderate LUTS, respectively. Of the patients with IPSS scores available at baseline and at week 48 (n = 213), 81.2% achieved a reduction in IPSS of at least 3 points. Of the patients with moderate to severe LUTS at baseline and IPSS scores available at baseline and at week 48 (n = 194), 86.6% achieved a total IPSS reduction of at least 3 points. CONCLUSIONS: The vast majority of Chinese patients with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer scheduled to receive triptorelin as part of their standard treatment have severe or moderate LUTS. Triptorelin therapy resulted in sustained improvement of LUTS in these patients.

Physical similarity or numerical representation counts in same-different, numerical comparison, physical comparison, and priming tasks?

Recent studies have highlighted the fact that some tasks used to study symbolic number representations are confounded by judgments about physical similarity. Here, we investigated whether the contribution of physical similarity and numerical representation differed in the often-used symbolic same-different, numerical comparison, physical comparison, and priming tasks. Experiment 1 showed that subjective physical similarity was the best predictor of participants' performance in the same-different task, regardless of simultaneous or sequential presentation. Furthermore, the contribution of subjective physical similarity was larger in a simultaneous presentation than in a sequential presentation. Experiment 2 showed that only numerical representation was involved in numerical comparison. Experiment 3 showed that both subjective physical similarity and numerical representation contributed to participants' physical comparison performance. Finally, only numerical representation contributed to participants' performance in a priming task as revealed by Experiment 4. Taken together, the contribution of physical similarity and numerical representation depends on task demands. Performance primarily seems to rely on numerical properties in tasks that require explicit quantitative comparison judgments (physical or numerical), while physical stimulus properties exert an effect in the same-different task.

Children's Non-symbolic, Symbolic Addition and Their Mapping Capacity at 4-7 Years Old.

The study aimed to examine the developmental trajectories of non-symbolic and symbolic addition capacities in children and the mapping ability between these two. We assessed 106 4- to 7-year-old children and found that 4-year-olds were able to do non-symbolic addition but not symbolic addition. Five-year-olds and older were able to do symbolic addition and their performance in symbolic addition exceeded non-symbolic addition in grade 1 (approximate age 7). These results suggested non-symbolic addition ability emerges earlier and is less affected by formal mathematical education than symbolic addition. Meanwhile, we tested children's bi-directional mapping ability using a novel task and found that children were able to map between symbolic and non-symbolic representations of number at age 5. Their ability in mapping non-symbolic to symbolic number became more proficient in grade 1 (approximate age 7). This suggests children at age 7 have developed a relatively mature symbolic representation system.

Automatic non-symbolic numerosity processing in preschoolers.

There has recently been an increasing focus on the development of automatic processing of numerical magnitude. However, little effort has been made to explore automatic access to non-symbolic numerical magnitude in preschool children. In experiment 1, we used a non-symbolic physical size comparison task in 3- to 6-year-olds to examine developmental changes and the effect of ratio and counting principle knowledge. Results showed that the existence of automatic non-symbolic numerical processing began at age 3-4 years and size congruity effects tended to reduce with increasing age from 4 years old. The study also found that non-counting-principle knowers had a larger congruity effect, and in low ratio conditions the size congruity effect was more easily found. In addition, symbolic number comparison ability was negatively related to size congruity effect. In experiment 2, we explored the relationship between inhibition skill and size congruity effects, as well as interference and facilitatory components in children aged 4 years old. Results showed no correlation between inhibition skills and the size congruity effect and only interference effects were found. We also found a larger interference effect in low ratio conditions than in high ratio conditions.

The effect of working memory load on the SNARC effect: Maybe tasks have a word to say.

We investigated the effect of working memory load on the SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect under different number judgment tasks (parity judgment and magnitude comparison), using a novel dual task. Instead of exerting load over the whole block of number judgment trials, in this dual task, number judgment trials were inserted into each interstimulus interval of an n-back task, which served as the working memory load. We varied both load type (verbal and spatial) and amount (1-load, 2-load, and 3-load). The results indicated that the SNARC effect disappeared even under the 1-load condition for a parity judgment, regardless of the type of load. However, during the magnitude comparison task, the SNARC effect increased with increasing load amounts under spatial load conditions; under verbal load conditions, the SNARC effect decreased with increasing amounts of load, and disappeared during the 3-load task. The difference between the parity and magnitude tasks was not attributable to the interval stimuli or task switching. These findings confirm that different spatial-numerical associations for comparing numerical magnitudes and judgments of parity have different needs with respect to working memory resources.

Who Are You More Likely to Help? The Effects of Expected Outcomes and Regulatory Focus on Prosocial Performance.

Prosocial behavior refers to a broad category of actions that benefit other people or the society. Compared with other factors that affect prosocial performance, prosocial outcomes, consisting of prosocial gains and prosocial non-losses have received less attention up to now. In the current research, we explored the influences of different types of expected outcomes and regulatory focus on prosocial performance. Studies 1a and 1b examined the differences in prosocial performance elicited by prosocial gain (e.g., enhancing others' access to clean water) and prosocial non-loss outcomes (e.g., protecting others from suffering dirty water). We found that the expected prosocial non-loss outcomes induced greater prosocial performance compared with the expected prosocial gain outcomes. Studies 2a and 2b examined the effects of dispositional and situational regulatory focus on prosocial loss aversion. We found that differences in prosocial performance between two expected prosocial outcomes were reduced when promotion focus was primed; whereas a primed prevention focus did not significantly increase this difference. Additionally, participants displayed a greater prosocial loss aversion in the prevention focus condition than in the promotion focus condition. The reason for the non-significant interaction between regulatory focus and expected prosocial outcome was discussed.

Spatial Representation of Ordinal Information.

Right hand responds faster than left hand when shown larger numbers and vice-versa when shown smaller numbers (the SNARC effect). Accumulating evidence suggests that the SNARC effect may not be exclusive for numbers and can be extended to other ordinal sequences (e.g., months or letters in the alphabet) as well. In this study, we tested the SNARC effect with a non-numerically ordered sequence: the Chinese notations for the color spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet). Chinese color word sequence reserves relatively weak ordinal information, because each element color in the sequence normally appears in non-sequential contexts, making it ideal to test the spatial organization of sequential information that was stored in the long-term memory. This study found a reliable SNARC-like effect for Chinese color words (deciding whether the presented color word was before or after the reference color word "green"), suggesting that, without access to any quantitative information or exposure to any previous training, ordinal representation can still activate a sense of space. The results support that weak ordinal information without quantitative magnitude encoded in the long-term memory can activate spatial representation in a comparison task.

Feeling Better About Self After Receiving Negative Feedback: When the Sense That Ability Can Be Improved Is Activated.

Past studies suggest that managers and educators often consider negative feedback as a motivator for individuals to think about their shortcomings and improve their work, but delivering negative feedback does not always achieve desired results. The present study, based on incremental theory, employed an intervention method to activate the belief that a particular ability could be improved after negative feedback. Three experiments tested the intervention effect on negative self-relevant emotion. Study 1 indicated conveying suggestions for improving ability reduced negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback. Study 2 tested whether activating the sense of possible improvement in the ability could reduce negative self-relevant emotion. Results indicated activating the belief that ability could be improved reduced negative self-relevant emotion after failure, but delivering emotion management information alone did not yield the same effect. Study 3 extended the results by affirming the effort participants made in doing the test, and found the affirmation reduced negative self-relevant emotion. Collectively, the findings indicated focusing on the belief that the ability could be improved in the future can reduce negative self-relevant emotion after negative feedback.