Search

We examined hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal stress reactivity as an indicator of differential susceptibility in moderating the links between family socioeconomic status (SES) and executive function (EF) in three-year-old urban Chinese children. The participants included 77 children (36 girls) and their families. Family income, parents’ education, and level of occupation were reported by the mothers and aggregated into a composite index of family SES. We assessed the children’s biological reactivity by salivary cortisol responses to a mild stressor, which we calculated by the area under the curve with respect to increase. We measured EF skills with a series of laboratory tasks. The results revealed significant interactive effects of SES and cortisol reactivity on children’s cognitive inhibitory control. More specifically, SES was significantly related to cognitive inhibitory control for children with higher cortisol reactivity. Conversely, for children with lower cortisol reactivity, there were no significant correlations between SES and cognitive inhibitory control. Region of significance analyses indicated a moderating effect supporting the “bright side” of differential susceptibility, meaning that high cortisol reactive children were more likely to benefit from high levels of SES. The results also manifested a direct association between SES and children’s working memory, and this association was not dependent on the features of cortisol reactivity. SES did not relate to hot EF. The results highlight the SES disparity in different EF elements and may help in the development of targeted interventions.

This research aimed to examine the relations among harsh discipline (including psychological aggression and corporal punishment), parent-child attachment, and peer attachment. More specifically, two mediation models (one for psychological aggression, one for corporal punishment) were investigated in which father-child attachment and mother-child attachment were hypothesized to mediate the relations between both paternal and maternal harsh discipline and peer attachment. In addition, differences across gender of the mediation model were examined. Participants were 668 children in grades four to eight and both their parents in China. The Chinese version of Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) were used as the main assessment tools to measure parental use of harsh discipline, parent-child attachment, and peer attachment. Findings revealed that the direct path from neither fathers’ nor mothers’ harsh discipline to peer attachment was significant. Harsh discipline by one parent was indirectly related to peer attachment through the attachment between this parent and the child, but not through the attachment between his/her spouse and the child. In addition, the direct and indirect relations between harsh parental discipline and peer attachment did not differ across child gender. The findings provided an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with peer attachment and its mechanisms. In addition, the results also suggested the need for intervention programs aiming at improving children’s peer relationships to take the parenting and parent-child relationships into account.

Maize is an important crop in the world, nitrogen stress severely reduces maize yield. Although a large number of studies have identified the expression changes of microRNAs (miRNAs) under N stress in several species, the miRNAs expression patterns of N-deficient plants under N resupply remain unclear. The primary objective of this study was to identify miRNAs in response to nitrogen stress and understand relevant physiological changes in nitrogen-deficient maize after nitrogen resupply. Physiological parameters were measured to study relevant physiological changes under different nitrogen conditions. Small RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR analysis were performed to understand the response of miRNAs under different nitrogen conditions. The content of chlorophyll, soluble protein and nitrate nitrogen decreased than CK by 0.52, 0.49 and 0.82 times after N deficiency treatment and increased than ND by 0.52, 1.36 and 0.65 times after N resupply, respectively. Conversely, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) increased by 0.67 and 1.64 times than CK after N deficiency, respectively, and decreased by 0.09 and 0.35 times than ND after N resupply. A total of 226 known miRNAs were identified by sRNA sequencing; 106 miRNAs were differentially expressed between the control and N-deficient groups, and 103 were differentially expressed between the N-deficient and N-resupply groups (P

Studies have explored brain structural abnormalities in patients with primary insomnia (PI). However, most of them are based on volumetric measures, in a specific region of interest, and have small sample sizes. Here, we investigated changes in cortical morphology (thickness and volume) in PI using an advanced surface-based morphometric method. Sixty-seven patients with PI and 55 matched healthy controls were recruited for this study and underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. The reconstructed cortical surface was processed by Freesurfer 6.0. A general linear model was used to explore group differences in surface-based morphometric features. Furthermore, the association between these cortical features and clinical characteristics were assessed in the PI group. Compared to controls, PI patients showed cortical thickening in the left orbital frontal cortex (OFC), right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), left middle cingulate cortex (MCC), bilateral insula, left superior parietal lobule (SPL), and right fusiform area (FFA), and showed increased cortical volume in the left OFC, right rACC, bilateral rostral middle frontal gyrus, and right FFA. Cortical thickness in the right OFC and FFA was positively correlated with the severity of insomnia in the PI group, suggesting a right-lateralized relationship. This study was the first to explore multiple-scale cortical morphometric changes in a relatively large sample of PI patients. Our results suggest that hypertrophic cortical morphology may underlie the neuropathology of primary insomnia.

Although the research interest in parenting behaviors of Chinese parents has increased during the past two decades, there remains a lack of an adequate and comprehensive Chinese assessment tool for these parenting behaviors in early childhood. Drawn from two samples of Chinese mothers with young children (i.e., 1- to 4-year-olds), this research addressed this gap by examining the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a Chinese version of the Comprehensive Early Childhood Parenting Questionnaire (CECPAQ-CV). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a 5-factor model, consisting of 13 micro-dimensions of parenting behaviors, best fitted the data for Sample 1 (N1 = 2179) compared with 1-factor, 2-factor, and 4-factor models. This 5-factor model was further validated with the data for Sample 2 (N2 = 160). Reliability was good. The criterion validity of the CECPAQ-CV was supported by expected relations with maternal parenting stress and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The convergent and discriminant validity of the CECPAQ-CV was established with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale. The results indicate that the CECPAC-CV holds promise as a reliable and valid tool to measure important dimensions of early parenting in China.

Background Imported falciparum malaria from Africa has become a key public health challenge in Guizhou Province since 2012. Understanding the polymorphisms of molecular markers of drug resistance can guide selection of antimalarial drugs for the treatment of malaria. This study was aimed to analyze the polymorphisms of pfcrt, pfmdr1, and K13-propeller among imported falciparum malaria cases in Guizhou Province, China. Method Fifty-five imported falciparum malaria cases in Guizhou Province during 2012–2016 were included in this study. Their demographic information and filter paper blood samples were collected. Genomic DNA of Plasmodium falciparum was extracted from the blood samples, and polymorphisms of pfcrt, pfmdr1, and K13-propeller were analyzed with nested PCR amplification followed by sequencing. Data were analyzed with the SPSS17.0 software. Results The prevalence of pfcrt K76T, pfmdr1 N86Y, and pfmdr1 Y184F mutation was 56.6, 22.2, and 72.2%, respectively, in imported falciparum malaria cases in Guizhou Province. We detected two mutant haplotypes of pfcrt, IET and MNT, with IET being more commonly found (54.7%), and five mutant haplotypes of pfmdr1, of which NFD was the most frequent (53.7%). There were totally 10 combined haplotypes of pfcrt and pfmdr1, of which the haplotype IETNFD possessed a predominance of 28.8%. In addition, three nonsynonymous mutations (S459T, C469F, and V692L) and two synonymous mutations (R471R and V589V) were detected in K13-propeller, all having prevalence less than 6.0%. In particular, a candidate K13 resistance mutation, C469F, was identified for the first time from Democratic Republic of the Congo with the prevalence of 2.0%. Conclusions The high prevalence of IET haplotype of pfcrt and NFD haplotype of pfmdr1 suggests the presence of chloroquine, artemether/lumefantrine, and dihydroartemisinin/piperaquine resistance in these cases. Therefore cautions should be made to artemisinin therapy for P. falciparum in Africa. Continuous monitoring of anti-malarial drug efficacy in imported malaria cases is helpful for optimizing antimalarial drug therapy in Guizhou Province, China.

The current study examined the links between maternal life stress and subsequent toddler behavior problems and social competence, as well as the potential moderating effects of cool and hot inhibitory control (IC) in mainland China. Participants included 89 mothers and their infants (42 boys, 47 girls). Mothers completed self-report measure of maternal life stress when their children were 1 year of age (M = 1.18, SD = .07 at Time 1), and reported on their children’s social adjustment using the Chinese version of Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (CITSEA) at Time 1 and again a year later (M = 2.06, SD = .09 at Time 2). Toddler IC was assessed with laboratory tasks at Time 2. Structural equation modeling with a bootstrap resample of 1000 indicated that cool IC significantly moderated the longitudinal association between maternal life stress (T1) and latent construct of toddler behavior problems (T2), controlling for behavior problems at Time 1, child age and maternal age. Specifically, maternal life stress was associated with subsequent behavior problems only for toddlers who were low in cool IC. In comparison to the results of behavior problems, high levels of maternal life stress predicted subsequent low levels of social competence. Neither cool IC nor hot IC served as the moderator in the association between maternal life stress (T1) and toddler social competence (T2). These findings indicated that toddler cool IC may promote resilient adaptation and modify the links between maternal life stress and toddler behavior problems but not social competence.

A series of chiral fluorinated liquid-crystalline elastomers (LCEs) IP-VIP are prepared by 4-cyano-3-fluorophenyl 4′-(undec-10-enoyloxy)biphenyl-4-carboxylate, isosorbide bis(4-allyloxybenzoate) and 2,4,6,8-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane via Pt-catalyzed hydrosilylation. The chiral crosslinking moieties increase from IP to IVP. The elastomers IP, IIP, and IIIP containing low content of chiral crosslinking moieties display SC * liquid-crystalline phase, but IVP, VP, and VIP do not show SC * phase except for N* mesophase. The mesophase is testified according to typical diffractogram measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The layer spacings of the LCEs decrease from IP (d-spacing of 34.2 A) to VIP (d-spacing of 31.6 A) with increase of chiral crosslinking groups in the polymers systems. Moreover, the optical properties are performed by ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared spectrophotometry. VP and VIP containing the most chiral crosslinking moieties display maximum reflection in near infrared spectra in the measurement of optical properties, while IP, IIP, IIIP, and IVP do not show obvious maximum reflection. It is interesting that a specific reflection of circularly polarized light appears along with a changing mesophase due to high enough concentration of chiral crosslinking dopants for VP and VIP. All these results suggest that the chiral crosslinking moieties exert influence on the structures of these kinds of LCEs.