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How do essentialist beliefs about categories arise? We hypothesize that such beliefs are transmitted via language. We subject large language models (LLMs) to vignettes from the literature on essentialist categorization and find that they align well with people when the studies manipulated teleological information – information about what something is for. We examine whether in a classic test of essentialist categorization – the transformation task – LLMs prioritize teleological properties over information about what something looks like, or is made of. Experiments 1 and 2 find that telos and what something is made of matter more than appearance. Experiment 3 manipulates all three factors and finds that what something is for matters more than what it’s made of. Overall, these studies suggest that language alone may be sufficient to give rise to essentialist beliefs, and that information about what something is for matters more.

Generic statements, such as ``Bees are striped'' are thought to be a central vehicle by which essentialist beliefs are transmitted. But work on generics and essentialism almost never focuses on the type of properties mentioned in generic statements. We test the hypothesis that teleological properties, what something is for, affect categorization judgments more strongly than behavioral, biological, or social properties. In Experiment 1, participants categorized properties as being either behavioral, biological, social, or teleological. In Experiment 2, we used the top four properties from each group to describe a generic noun or a specific individual. Participants then categorized creatures that had one of their properties transformed. We found that changes to teleological properties had the strongest impact on categorization judgments. In Experiment 3, we also found that teleological properties mattered more in an induction task. We suggest that teleological properties play this privileged role in categorization because they are treated as essential properties.

As a frontier method for adjusting the electronic and geometric configurations of metal sites, lattice strain engineering plays a key role in regulating the interaction between catalytic surface and adsorbed molecules. Here, the research progress of strain effects in electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR) is reviewed. Starting from the basic principles of strain effects in the CO2RR, the advanced in situ characterization techniques are summarized. The key effect of strain on the structure–activity relationship in CO2RR is comprehensively discussed. Subsequently, the electrocatalysts with different properties rich in strain are classified, including core–shell structure catalysts, alloys, transition metal compounds, and single‐atom catalysts. Finally, the obstacles encountered in the practical application of strain effect are proposed, and the future research direction of this emerging field is prospected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin (DEAMC) has been identified as a potent antiandrogenic compound in the surface water; however, little is known about the antiandrogenic potentials of other synthetic coumarins and their occurrence in the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, for the first time, we observed that 7-dimethylamino-4-methylcoumarin (DAMC) elicited androgen receptor (AR) antagonistic activity with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 1.46 µM, which is 14.3 times more potent than that observed for DEAMC (IC50 = 20.92 µM). We further collected abiotic (water and sediment) and biotic (plant, plankton, and fish) samples (n = 208) from a subtropical freshwater ecosystem, the Dongjiang River basin, in southern China, and determined the concentrations of the two coumarins in these samples. Overall, DAMC was the predominant compound found in the sediment, plant, algae, zooplankton, and fish muscle samples, with median concentrations at 0.189, 0.421, 0.832, 0.798, and 0.335 ng/g dry wt. (DW), respectively, although it was not detected in any surface water sample. For DEAMC, the median concentrations observed in the surface water, sediment, plant, algae, zooplankton, and fish muscle samples were 0.105 ng/L, 0.012, 0.051, 0.009, 0.008, and 0.181 ng/g DW, respectively. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) values of DAMC and DEAMC in the algae, zooplankton, and fish muscle exceeded 5000 L/kg, suggesting that the two coumarins may have significant bioaccumulation potentials in aquatic biota. Additionally, the mean daily intake (EDI) of coumarins through fish consumption was estimated as 0.19 ng/kg BW/day for male toddlers. This is the first field study to illustrate the antiandrogenic potential of DAMC and document the widespread occurrence of the two synthetic coumarins in aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the relationship between C‐reactive protein (CRP) and knee pain, and further explore whether this association is mediated by obesity. Methods: The population was derived from 1999 to 2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between CRP and knee pain in three different models, and the linear trend was analyzed. A restricted cubic spline model to assess the nonlinear dose−response relationship between CRP and knee pain. Mediation analyses were used to assess the potential mediating role of obesity. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were performed to ensure robustness. Results: Compared with adults with lower CRP (first quartile), those with higher CRP had higher risks of knee pain (odds ratio 1.39, 95% confidence interval 1.12−1.72 in third quartile; 1.56, 1.25−1.95 in fourth quartile) after adjusting for covariates (except body mass index [BMI]), and the proportion mediated by BMI was 76.10% (p <.001). BMI and CRP were linear dose−response correlated with knee pain. The odds ratio for those with obesity compared with normal to knee pain was 2.27 (1.42−3.65) in the first quartile of CRP, 1.99 (1.38−2.86) in the second, 2.15 (1.38−3.33) in the third, and 2.92 (1.72−4.97) in the fourth. Conclusion: Obesity mediated the systemic inflammation results in knee pain in US adults. Moreover, higher BMI was associated with higher knee pain risk in different degree CRP subgroups, supporting an important role of weight loss in reducing knee pain caused by systemic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]