Suicide method runs in families: a birth certificate cohort study of adolescent suicide in Taiwan

Suicide method used by adolescents was examined to determine if it was the same as that employed by their suicidal parents. Six hundred eighty adolescents completed suicide between 1997 and 2007, of whom 12 had parents who had previously died by suicide. The suicide method used by these adolescents was compared with that employed by their suicidal parent and that of a matched peer control adolescent with no exposure to parental suicide and living in the same area. In 10 of the 12 suicidal parent-adolescent dyads, the same suicide method was employed by parent and adolescent. Of seven adolescents whose age at parental suicide was 15 years or above, six used the same suicide method as their suicidal parent had. On the contrary, of 12 exposure-nonexposure suicidal adolescent dyads, the same method was used in only four. Adolescents exposed to parental suicide are more likely to use the suicide method employed by their suicidal parents than the method used by adolescent peers with no exposure to parental suicide.     

Ursolic acid attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced cognitive deficits in mouse brain through suppressing p38/NF-κB mediated inflammatory pathways

Evidence indicates that systemic administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces brain inflammation, ultimately resulting in cognitive deficits. Ursolic acid (UA), a plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoid, is well known to possess multiple biological functions, including antioxidant, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities. In the present study, we assessed the protective effect of UA against the LPS-induced cognitive deficits in mice. We found that UA significantly improved cognitive deficits of LPS-treated mice in open field, step-through passive avoidance and Morris water maze tasks. One potential mechanism of this action was attributed to the decreased production of pro-inflammatory markers including COX-2, iNOS, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-6 in LPS-treated mouse brain. Mechanistically, UA markedly inhibited LPS-induced IκBα phosphorylation and degradation, NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation and p38 activation in mouse brain, but did not affect the activation of TLR4, MyD88, ERK, JNK and Akt. Taken together, these results suggest that UA may be useful for mitigating inflammation-associated brain disorders by inhibiting pro-inflammatory factors production, at least in part, through blocking the p38/NF-κB signaling pathways.     

社会知觉视角下道德诉求方式如何提升劝捐效果

如何有效地引导个体“慷慨解囊”一直是理论和实践都关注的热点。基于道德基础理论和刻板印象内容模型, 研究考察了在不同社会知觉(温暖型vs.能力型)的劝捐主体中, 两种道德诉求方式(个体人道诉求vs.群体规范诉求)对劝捐效果的影响及其内在机制。3个实验的结果显示：温暖型(能力型)劝捐主体与个体人道诉求(群体规范诉求)更为契合, 更有利于提升劝捐效果; 温暖型劝捐主体进行个体人道诉求主要通过唤起个体的自我效能而提升劝捐效果, 而能力型劝捐主体进行群体规范诉求则主要通过增强个体的反应效能而提升劝捐效果。     

A Bayesian framework for the development of belief-desire reasoning: Estimating inhibitory power

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - A robust empirical finding in theory-of-mind (ToM) reasoning, as measured by standard false-belief tasks, is that children four years old or older succeed...     

Noise exclusion in spatial attention

Precue validity affects the performance of perceptual tasks. These spatial attention effects have been variously attributed to facilitation of processing, capacity allocation, or noise reduction. We used a new attention-plus-external (stimulus)-noise paradigm and model to identify the mechanisms of attention in cue-validity paradigms. A new phenomenon is reported: a large effect of location cue validity in an orientation identification task that specifically occurs when the stimulus is embedded in external (environmental or stimulus) noise. This result identifies the mechanism of the effect as external-noise exclusion, distinguished from stimulus enhancement that manifests itself only in noiseless stimulus environments.     

The glare effect does not give rise to a longer-lasting afterimage

The glare effect is an illusion in which a region appears self-luminous when flanked by gradients that decrease in luminance with distance from the region (Zavagno, 1999 Perception 28 835-838). This region also appears brighter than a surface of the same luminance. We investigated, using the paradigm of afterimages, whether a low-level mechanism at the level of the retina or LGN could account for this apparent brighter sensation. We first replicated the result from the literature that brighter and longer-lasting physical stimuli generate longer-lasting afterimages. We then compared the glare-effect stimuli with their counterpart controls, and found that the glare-effect stimuli did not give rise to longer-lasting afterimages. This suggests that the apparent brighter sensation of the glare effect is not due to a retinal or LGN mechanism, but must have a cortical origin.     

Motion-perception deficits and reading impairment: it's the noise, not the motion

We tested the hypothesis that deficits on sensory-processing tasks frequently associated with poor reading and dyslexia are the result of impairments in external-noise exclusion, rather than motion perception or magnocellular processing. We compared the motion-direction discrimination thresholds of adults and children with good or poor reading performance, using coherent-motion displays embedded in external noise. Both adults and children who were poor readers had higher thresholds than their respective peers in the presence of high external noise, but not in the presence of low external noise or when the signal was clearly demarcated. Adults' performance in high external noise correlated with their general reading ability, whereas children's performance correlated with their language and verbal abilities. The results support the hypothesis that noise-exclusion deficits impair reading and language development and suggest that the impact of such deficits on the development of reading skills changes with age.     

论原始及部派佛教的"六识"说

本文探讨与分析了原始及部派佛教的"六识"说,尤其从心识与五蕴、与十二处、与十八界、与心所、与其他诸法、与四缘的联系上,指出"六识"说存在的局限,而正是由于这些局限,才必然导致更为严密、周详,尤其非心理主义的唯识学的"八识"说的出现.