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Oxidative stress, an imbalance between reactive oxygen species and antioxidants, has been seen in the pathological states of many disorders such as ischemic diseases and cancers. Many natural compounds (NCs) have long been recognized to ameliorate oxidative stress due to their inherent antioxidant activities. The modulation of oxidative stress by NCs via activating the Nrf2 signaling pathway is summarized in the review. Three NCs, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, and curcumin, and the mechanisms of their cytoprotective effects are investigated in myocardial ischemia, cerebral ischemia, skin cancer, and prostate cancer. To promote the therapeutic performance of NCs with poor water solubility, the formulation approach, such as the nano drug delivery system, is elaborated as well in this review.

Over the last 15 years, researchers have been increasingly interested in understanding the nature and development of children's selective trust. Three meta-analyses were conducted on a total of 51 unique studies (88 experiments) to provide a quantitative overview of 3- to 6-year-old children's selective trust in an informant based on the informant's epistemic or social characteristics, and to examine the relation between age and children's selective trust decisions. The first and second meta-analyses found that children displayed medium-to-large pooled effects in favor of trusting the informant who was knowledgeable or the informant with positive social characteristics. Moderator analyses revealed that 4-year-olds were more likely to endorse knowledgeable informants than 3-year-olds. The third meta-analysis examined cases where two informants simultaneously differed in their epistemic and social characteristics. The results revealed that 3-year-old children did not selectively endorse informants who were more knowledgeable but had negative social characteristics over informants who were less knowledgeable but had positive social characteristics. However, 4- to 6-year-olds consistently prioritized epistemic cues over social characteristics when deciding who to trust. Together, these meta-analyses suggest that epistemic and social characteristics are both valuable to children when they evaluate the reliability of informants. Moreover, with age, children place greater value on epistemic characteristics when deciding whether to endorse an informant's testimony. Implications for the development of epistemic trust and the design of studies of children's selective trust are discussed.

The diurnal temperature range (DTR) is an important indicator of climate change, and it has decreased worldwide since the 1950s, particularly over arid and semiarid regions. This study analyses the effect of meteorological and anthropogenic factors on DTR variation to investigate the possible causes of DTR decreases in semiarid climates. The study region is located in northeast China, and the study period is from 1957 to 2006. There are three main results. First, the rate of decrease in the DTR is −1.24 K per 50 years. This decrease is mainly attributed to the increasing daily minimum temperature rate (Tmin, 2.24 K per 50 years), which is greater than the change in the daily maximum temperature (Tmax, 1.00 K per 50 years). Second, sunshine duration (SD) appears to be the most significant meteorological factor that determines the DTR through downward shortwave radiation (Rsw,d) and surface soil moisture (SM). The effect of Rsw,d is larger for Tmax than for Tmin; therefore, the decrease in Rsw,d results in a smaller increase in Tmax than in Tmin. On the other hand, the increase in SM can strengthen daytime latent heat release, and the increase in Tmax is then slowed because of the cooling effect of evaporation. The precipitation values and the leaf area index show a negative correlation with the DTR, whereas the cloud amount and the relative humidity appear not to be main causes of the DTR decrease in this region. Finally, atmospheric aerosols can reduce the SD by 0.27 h year–1 by decreasing atmospheric transparency, as indicated by an analysis of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Aerosol Index from 1979 to 2005. The decrease in direct solar radiation is the main cause of decreases in Rsw,d. These findings will provide references for DTR variation studies in similar climates.