The development of Tibetan children's racial bias in empathy: The mediating role of ethnic identity and wrongfulness of ethnic intergroup bias.

OBJECTIVES: Individuals often automatically have more empathy for same-race members. However, there are no studies on racial bias in empathy (RBE) among Tibetan school-aged children. The present study aimed to examine the development of RBEs, including racial bias in cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and behavioral empathy, in Tibetan school-aged children. METHOD: In Experiment 1 (N = 108, aged 7-12), ethnic identity was primed using Tibetan and Han names. Then negative and neutral events were applied to measure the RBEs of Tibetan children. In Experiment 2 (N = 148, aged 7-12), negative events were replaced by pain events. In Experiment 3 (N = 60, aged 7-12), Tibetan children's ethnic identity and the awareness of the wrongfulness of ethnic intergroup bias were added to examine the underlying mechanism. RESULT: Results found that RBEs increased among Tibetan children aged 7-10 and decreased among those aged 11-12, Moreover, we analyzed age as a continuous variable and found that 10 years old was the inflection point in the development of RBEs in Tibetan children. Importantly, children aged 11-12 years old realized more wrongfulness of ethnic intergroup bias than children aged 7-10. The ethnic identity of Tibetan children aged 7-10 mediated the relation between age group and RBEs. And the wrongfulness of ethnic intergroup bias mediated the link between age group and RBEs in Tibetan children aged 9-12. CONCLUSION: Our study sheds light on the development of RBEs in Tibetan school-aged children and highlights the importance of identifying the appropriate timing for intervening in prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Application of a Tele-Ultrasound Robot During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Feasibility Study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the accuracy of ultrasonic diagnosis using the tele-ultrasound robot in Leishen Shan Hospital. METHOD: Twenty-two patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia from Leishen Shan Hospital voluntarily participated in this study. Their thyroids, neck vessels, hepatobiliaries and kidneys were scanned by both a tele-ultrasound robot manufactured by Imabot Co., Ltd, Wuhan and conventional method. The ultrasound diagnosis of each patient was compared, and the ultrasound images obtained by the two methods were mixed together and double-blindly diagnosed by an experienced ultrasound radiologist. RESULTS: There were 44 positive lesions in 110 sites of 22 patients. Of which the two methods, 40 positive lesions were detected by the robotic method with 4 lesions missed (2 small polyps of gallbladder, 1 small hemangioma of liver and 1 small cyst of kidney) and 1 lesion misdiagnosed (normal carotid artery was misdiagnosed as carotid atherosclerotic plaque); 44 positive lesions were detected by conventional method with 1 small cyst of the liver was missed. There was no statistically significant difference in the accuracy rate between the robotic method and the conventional method using the chi-square test of the four-grid data (P>.05). CONCLUSION: The application of tele-ultrasound robot meets the standard of patient care during the pandemic. The method is feasible to provide adequate ultrasound information to diagnose common abdominal, vascular, superficial organ pathologies in patients with COVID-19 with acceptable accuracy compared with a conventional ultrasound scan.

How prosocial behaviors are maintained in China: The relationship between communist authority and prosociality.

Objective: Numerous studies have demonstrated that religious belief is associated with prosocial behavior. However, how do they maintain cooperation in societies with a predominating atheist population, such as China? Different primings (explicit, subliminal, implicit) and a quasi-experiment are used to examine the link between communist authority and prosocial behaviors among college students in China. Materials and methods: In Study 1 (N = 398), the subjects' communist authority in the university lab was primed by a communist-authority video. In Study 2 (N = 296), we compared the priming effects of communist authority and religion on prosocial intention. Study 3 (N = 311) investigated the priming effect of communist authority on prosocial behaviors by employing a scrambled sentence task in the university lab. A quasi-experiment was conducted in Study 4 (N = 313). Results: Results showed that communist-authority, a reminder of secular authorities, increased prosociality among college students. And empathy moderated the relationship between secular authorities and prosociality in Study 3 and Study 4. Discussion: Communist authority, a secular authority prime, has a positive effect on promoting prosocial behaviors. These results provided a feasible yet novel way to reveal the mechanism of the relationship between secular authorities and prosociality in China.

The Mediating Roles of Impulsiveness and Maladjustment in the Association of Psychological Resilience with Drug Addiction during Isolated Detoxification.

Background: Studies have shown that psychological resilience is a key factor in drug rehabilitation. To explore the feasibility of developing psychological resilience as an addiction treatment intervention, it is essential to explore the role that it plays in drug addiction. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychological resilience and drug addiction, as well as to examine the underlying mediational roles of maladjustment and impulsiveness in this association. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design that included a sample of 140 male drug addicts in compulsory isolation centers and used questionnaires and scales to ascertain their level of drug addiction, psychological resilience, maladjustment, impulsiveness, social support, and loneliness. Correlation and mediation effect analyses were performed to determine the roles of impulsiveness and maladjustment in the association of psychological resilience with drug addiction. Results: Psychological resilience was an inverse predictor of drug addiction. The results of the mediation effect analysis showed that maladjustment acted as a mediator between resilience and drug addiction and between impulsiveness and drug addiction. Furthermore, impulsiveness and maladjustment jointly mediated the relationship between psychological resilience and drug addiction. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of psychological resilience in maladjustment and impulsiveness for drug addicts and suggest that the role of psychological resilience in drug addiction needs to be further explored.

Downregulation of microRNA-9-5p promotes synaptic remodeling in the chronic phase after traumatic brain injury.

The level of microRNA-9-5p (miRNA-9-5p) in brain tissues is significantly changed in the chronic phase after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the effect of miRNA-9-5p on brain function after TBI has not been elucidated. In this study, we used a controlled cortical impact (CCI) model to induce TBI in Sprague-Dawley rats. Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), astrocytes, and neurons were extracted from immature Sprague-Dawley rats and cocultured to reconstruct the neurovascular unit (NVU) in vitro. The results showed that downregulation of miRNA-9-5p in the chronic phase contributed to neurological function recovery by promoting astrocyte proliferation and increasing the release of astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factors around injured brain tissues after TBI. A dual-luciferase reporter assay validated that miRNA-9-5p was a post-transcriptional modulator of thrombospondin 2 (Thbs-2), and downregulation of miRNA-9-5p promoted Thbs-2 expression in astrocytes. Furthermore, we verified that Thbs-2 can promote Notch pathway activation by directly binding to Jagged and Notch. Through in vitro experiments, we found that the expression of synaptic proteins and the number of synaptic bodies were increased in neurons in the NVU, which was constructed using astrocytes pretreated with miRNA-9-5p inhibitor. Moreover, we also found that downregulation of miRNA-9-5p promoted Thbs-2 expression in astrocytes, which activated the Notch/cylindromatosis/transforming growth factor-ß-activated kinase 1 pathway in neurons and promoted the expression of synaptic proteins, including post-synaptic density protein 95 and synaptotagmin. Based on these results, miRNA-9-5p may be a new promising prognostic marker and treatment target for TBI.

Risk Factors for Mortality in 220 Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A Single-Center, Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection occurred in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. To date, the analysis of fatal cases and the risk factors for death have rarely been reported. METHODS: In this study, 220 adult patients with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 were enrolled. Clinical characteristics, laboratory data, treatments, and complications were compared between 168 survivors and 52 nonsurvivors. Univariable analysis and multivariable logistic regression were used to investigate the risk factors for mortality. RESULTS: A total of 220 patients (168 were discharged and 52 died in the hospital) were enrolled in the study. The median age of all patients was 59.5 (47.0-69.0) years, and the median age of patients who died was significantly older than that of patients who survived (70.5 vs 56.0 years, respectively; P < .001). According to multivariate logistic regression, older age (odds ratio: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03-1.15; P = .001), initial Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score >2 (37.4, 9.4-148.0; P = .011), and respiratory rate >24 per minute (10.89, 1.47-80.67; P = .019) were independent risk factors for mortality. CONCLUSION: Clinical and laboratory parameters predicting poor prognosis including older age, baseline SOFA score >2, and respiratory rate >24 per minute were identified.

Rescuing infusion of miRNA-1 prevents cardiac remodeling in a heart-selective miRNA deficient mouse.

OBJECTIVE: The decreased expression of muscle-specific microRNA-1 (miR-1) has been found in many cardiovascular diseases and is considered to contribute to heart failure (HF). Here we investigated the role of miR-1 in myocardium protection by infusion of miR-1 in a cardiac global miRNA-deficient mouse. METHODS: We generated a cardiac-selective miRNA-deficient mouse by crossing Dicerflox/flox mice with mice expressing tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase under the control of a mouse αMHC promoter. When Dicer gene was removed following tamoxifen injection, the mice were treated with micrONTM mmu-miR-1a-3p agomir (agomir-1). The mice were subjected to echocardiography measurement, and the heart tissue specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Sirius red. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nickend labeling assay and Ki67 immunofluorescence were used to determine apoptosis and proliferation. RESULTS: Dicer deletion resulted in extensive decrease in cardiac miRNAs in the mice. In echocardiography, the mice developed rapid and dramatic left ventricular enlargement. In histology, apparent cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, myofiber disarray, ventricular fibrosis, inflammatory infiltration, and severe ventricular remodeling were exhibited. When the mice were treated with agomir-1, they did not show any significant abnormalities in heart structure and histology in response to Dicer ablation. CONCLUSION: The proper expression of miRNAs plays vital roles in the maintenance of heart histology and function. Among these miRNAs, miR-1 is critical to inhibit myocyte hypertrophy and extracellular matrix deposition, thereby preventing cardiac remodeling in cardiac-selective Dicer deficient mice.