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.     

Longitudinal Changes in Acculturation for Immigrant Women from the Former Soviet Union

Most research on immigrant acculturation has been conducted with cross-sectional samples, using statistical designs that may not capture different trajectories for the components that contribute to this complex concept. The purpose of this study was to examine change over time in acculturation for 226 women from the former Soviet Union who had lived in the US fewer than eight years when recruited. Using self-report data from four annual waves, growth trajectories were examined in four components of acculturation (American behavior, Russian behavior, English language proficiency, and cultural generativity). Results indicate that these components changed at varying rates. Acculturation is a process with multiple distinct components which should be measured separately to obtain a full profile of change over time.     

Money and fame: vividness effects in the National Basketball Association

In his widely reprinted paper “On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B,” Kerr argued that vividness was one of the major reasons for distorted rewards. Using both archival and survey data, the present paper directly tests Kerr's proposal by investigating whether, how, and why highly visible behaviors are over‐rewarded and less visible, but similarly (or more) important behaviors are under‐rewarded. The National Basketball Association (NBA) was chosen as the domain of this study because scoring is particularly vivid, even though both non‐scoring and scoring performances are critical for winning games. Findings from four studies demonstrated that the scoring performance of NBA players was weighed more heavily than their non‐scoring performance. Scorers were rewarded with higher salaries and received more support in the NBA All‐Star balloting than defenders, even though they might not necessarily make more contribution than their teammates. This pattern of findings suggests that the vividness effect may lead to pronounced differences in people's judgments, especially when they face abundant real‐world information with similar validity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Flexibility of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gua</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Yao</Emphasis>—Based on an interpretation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Yizhuan</Emphasis>

In Yizhuan’s interpretation of The Book of Changes, the book’s fundamental concepts, xiang 象 (images) and ci 辞 (words), play different roles. Concepts, including yin and yang, firmness and gentleness, sancai 三才 (three fundamentals), and the wuxing 五行 (five active elements), are used to interpret The Book of Changes through the interpretation of images, while the core Confucian values, such as benevolence and righteousness, are used to interpret The Book of Changes because of their connection with words of gua and yao. In order to expand the meaning of the words of gua and yao, Yizhuan sometimes connects words with images; in other occasions, however, it simply takes these words as independent guides. The Confucian scholars who wrote Yizhuan, therefore, not only revered the classic, but also used it to send their own message. Out of reverence, they “shu 述 (recited)”; in using it, they “zuo 作 (created)”. The combination of recitation and creation made the words of gua and yao very flexible in the process of interpretation, while the interpretation changed the meaning of the classic to a great extent.     

大地式的存在——海德格尔哲学中的身体问题初探

“海德格尔哲学中的身体问题”所问及的与其说是海德格尔关于身体的看法,不如说仅仅是一个疑问：“为什么海德格尔的主要著作中缺乏关于身体的研究？”本文将首先对这个极具争议性问题的研究现状作一个全面的评述,并指出当前研究中的最大问题就是身体主题总是不自觉地被现成化了。在这种背景下,本文试图另辟蹊径,不仅仅是去定位海德格尔对身体问题的论述,更是要随同海德格尔一起去揭示身体现象。本文最终表明,身体现象与世界现象处于动态的相互促进的结构中,从这个角度上看,身体维度凭借其大地式的特质成为海德格尔哲学中的一个关键枢纽,其中隐含着重大的思想契机。     

《管子》俭侈消费观探析

消费观念是人们对待其可支配收入的指导思想和态度以及对商品价值追求的取向。消费观念的形成既是民族文化长期积淀的结果,又是社会现实的直接反映。《管子》的俭侈消费思想内容丰富,见解独到,是我国传统文化的精髓。《管子》关于正常条件下应当节俭,一定条件下应当扩大消费的观点、关于俭侈都不能过度的观点、关于消费反作用于生产的观点,不仅具有历史影响,而且具有重大的现实意义。     

客体特征统计属性表征机制的特异性

通过两个实验就视觉系统能否像计算平均数那样高效地计算其他统计量的问题进行了探讨。实验—保持—组圆的平均大小不变而改变众数,考察平均数估计是否受众数变化的影响;实验二采用与实验一相同的刺激,直接考察被试估计众数的绩效。结果发现：（1）对平均数的估计不受总体众数变化的影响;（2）对众数的估计往往不如对平均数的估计准确,估计值受平均数变化的影响;（3）在估计众数的任务中,被试成绩受总体极大值的影响。上述结果表明,视觉系统不存在针对众数的自动化加工机制。根据本实验的结果可以进一步推测,视觉系统并非对所有统计量都可做高效加工,而可能存在针对平均数的特异加工机制。     

汉字材料的性质对视觉短时记忆广度影响的实验研究

汉字材料的熟悉性和复杂性对视觉短时记忆（ＶＳＴＭ）广度的影响研究存在分析。本研究在实验设计上区分了汉语字词的熟悉性和复杂性维度,探讨了它们对ＶＳＴＭ广义的不同影响程度,结果表明：（１）材料的熟悉性是影响汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ广度的最重要因素,材料的复杂性影响不大;（２）在材料熟悉程度一致,被试在１１－２０岁年龄范围条件下,汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ广义将保持相对恒定（３）在承认“组块假说”的前提,汉语字词ＶＳＴＭ     

Attachment experience and cortisol recovery from romantic conflict among young Chinese couples: A dyadic analysis

Using a sample of young adults, the present study investigated how the participants' attachment to romantic partners was related to that with their parents and peers and how this specific attachment experience was associated with their physiological stress response. We examined 121 pairs of young Chinese (N = 242) heterosexual couples (men's age: 22.26 ± 2.40; women's age: 21.62 ± 2.22) and their attachment to parents, peers, and romantic partners as well as their cortisol recovery from romantic conflict. Robust actor–partner interdependence mediation models showed that women's insecure parental and peer attachment was associated with blunted cortisol recovery from romantic stress through their fearful attachment with romantic partners, whereas men's insecure parental and peer attachment was associated with their partners' adaptive cortisol recovery from romantic stress through their fearful romantic attachment. These findings suggested that women's hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal-axis functioning seemed to be more strongly associated with their own and their partners' attachment relationships compared to men.     

Investigating behavior inhibition in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Evidence from eye movements

We investigated the role of inhibition failure in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) through an eye tracking experiment. Twenty-five subjects with OCD were recruited, as well as 25 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and 25 healthy controls. A 3 (group: OCD group, GAD group and control group) × 2 (target eccentricity: far and near) × 2 (saccade task: prosaccade and antisaccade) mixed design was used, with all participants completing two sets of tasks involving both prosaccade (eye movement towards a target) and antisaccade (eye movement away from a target). The main outcome was the eye movement index, including the saccade latency (the time interval from the onset of the target screen to the first saccade) and the error rate of saccade direction. The antisaccade latency and antisaccade error rates for OCDs were much higher than those for GADs and healthy controls. OCDs had longer latency and error rates for antisaccades than for prosaccades, and for far-eccentricity rather than near-eccentricity stimuli. These results suggest that OCDs experience difficulty with behavior inhibition, and that they have higher visual sensitivity to peripheral stimuli. In particular, they show greatest difficulty in inhibiting behavior directed towards peripheral stimuli.