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This study investigates the impact of theory of mind, anticipated emotions before actual behavior, and consequential emotions following the behavior on sharing and allocation behavior in 4–6-year-old children. In Experiment 1, 95 children were randomly assigned to three conditions (external emotion expectancy condition, internal emotion expectancy condition, and control condition) to explore the role of cognition and emotions in children’s sharing and allocation behaviors. Experiment 2 employed a dictator game to further validate the influence of theory of mind and consequential emotions on behavior. The findings indicated that both anticipated and consequential emotions influence sharing behavior, but neither serves as a key predictor of allocation behavior. Theory of mind influences children’s sharing behavior and is related to the fairness of allocation. Children with higher levels of theory of mind tend to rate consequential emotions more positively, while those with lower ratings of consequential emotions are more likely to reconsider sharing after reflection. Notably, theory of mind and emotional factors demonstrate distinct motivational effects on children’s prosocial sharing and resource allocation, with negative emotions exhibiting a more pronounced impact on decision-making processes.

Abstract During the past decade, cognitive neuroscience has been calling for population diversity to address the challenge of validity and generalizability, ushering in a new era of population neuroscience. The developing Chinese Color Nest Project (devCCNP, 2013–2022), the first ten-year stage of the lifespan CCNP (2013–2032), is a two-stages project focusing on brain-mind development. The project aims to create and share a large-scale, longitudinal and multimodal dataset of typically developing children and adolescents (ages 6.0–17.9 at enrolment) in the Chinese population. The devCCNP houses not only phenotypes measured by demographic, biophysical, psychological and behavioural, cognitive, affective, and ocular-tracking assessments but also neurotypes measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain morphometry, resting-state function, naturalistic viewing function and diffusion structure. This Data Descriptor introduces the first data release of devCCNP including a total of 864 visits from 479 participants. Herein, we provided details of the experimental design, sampling strategies, and technical validation of the devCCNP resource. We demonstrate and discuss the potential of a multicohort longitudinal design to depict normative brain growth curves from the perspective of developmental population neuroscience. The devCCNP resource is shared as part of the “Chinese Data-sharing Warehouse for In-vivo Imaging Brain” in the Chinese Color Nest Project (CCNP) – Lifespan Brain-Mind Development Data Community ( https://ccnp.scidb.cn ) at the Science Data Bank.

Whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) has been widely used as the main roughage for ruminant, which promoted the utilization of corn stover for animal feed production. However, rigid cell wall structure of corn stover limits the fiber digestion and nutrients adsorption of WPCS. This study investigated the effect of adding cellulase on improving the fermentation quality of WPCS ensiling with a Bacillus complex inoculant. With the Bacillus (BA), the lactic acid accumulation in the WPCS was significantly higher than that in control (CK). The additive cellulase (BC) increased the lactic acid content to the highest of 8.2% DW at 60 days, which was significantly higher than that in the CK and BA groups, and it reduced the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents from 42.5 to 31.7% DW and 28.4 to 20.3% DW, respectively, which were significantly lower than that in the CK and BA groups. The crude protein and starch were not obviously lost. Dynamic microbial community analysis showed that the Bacillus inoculant promoted the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation, because higher abundance of Lactobacillus as the dominant bacteria was observed in BA group. Although the addition of cellulase slowed the Lactobacillus fermentation, it increased the bacterial community, where potential lignocellulolytic microorganisms and more functional enzymes were observed, thus leading to the significant degradation of NDF and ADF. The results revealed the mechanism behind the degradation of NDF and ADF in corn stover, and also suggested the potential of cellulase for improving the nutritional quality of WPCS.

Shoot branching is inhibited by a low red/far-red ratio (R/FR). Prior studies have shown that the R/FR suppressed Arabidopsis thaliana branching by promotes bud abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation directly. Given that wheat tiller buds are wrapped in leaf sheaths and may not respond rapidly to a R/FR, systemic cytokinin (CTK) may be more critical. Here, systemic hormonal signals including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins (GA) and CTK and bud ABA signals in wheat were tested under a low R/FR. The results showed that a low R/FR reduced the percentage of tiller occurrence of tiller IV and the tiller number per plant. The low R/FR did not rapidly induced ABA accumulation in the tiller IV because of the protection of the leaf sheath and had little effect on IAA content and signaling in the tiller nodes. The significant change in the CTK levels was observed earlier than those of other hormone (ABA, IAA and GA) and exogenous cytokinin restored the CTK levels and tiller number per plant under low R/FR conditions. Further analysis revealed that the decrease in cytokinin levels was mainly associated with upregulation of cytokinin degradation genes (TaCKX5, TaCKX11) in tiller nodes. In addition, exposure to a decreased R/FR upregulated the expression of GA biosynthesis genes (TaGA20ox1, TaGA3ox2), resulting in elevated GA levels, which might further promote CTK degradation in tiller nodes and inhibit tillering. Therefore, our results provide evidence that the enhancement of cytokinin degradation is a novel mechanism underlying the wheat tillering response to a low R/FR.

Microalgae, which accumulate considerable carbohydrates, are a potential source of glucose for biofuel fermentation. In this study, we investigated the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of wet microalgal biomass compared with freeze-dried and oven-dried biomasses, both with and without an acidic pretreatment. With the dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment followed by amy (α-amylase and amyloglucosidase) and cellulase hydrolysis, approximately 95.4% of the glucose was recovered; however, 88.5% was released by the pretreatment with 2% (w/v) sulfuric acid, which indicates the potential of the acids for direct saccharification process. There were no considerable differences in the glucose yields among the three kinds of materials. In the direct amy hydrolysis without any pretreatment, a 78.7% glucose yield was obtained, and the addition of cellulase had no significant effect on the hydrolysis to glucose. Compared with the oven-dried biomass, the wet biomass produced a substantially higher glucose yield, which is possibly because the cross-linked cells of the oven-dried biomass prevented the accessibility of the enzymes. According to the results, the fresh microalgal biomass without cell disruption can be directly used for enzymatic hydrolysis to produce glucose. The enzymatic hydrolysate of the wet microalgal biomass was successfully used for acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation, which produced 7.2 g/L of ABE, indicating the application potential of wet microalgae in the bioalcohol fuel fermentation process.

It has been documented that Helicobacter hepaticus (H. hepaticus) infection is linked to chronic hepatitis and fibrosis in male BALB/c mice. However, the mechanism underlying the mice model of H. hepaticus–induced hepatocellular carcinoma is not fully known. In this study, male BALB/c mice were infected with H. hepaticus for 3, 6, 12, and 18 months. H. hepaticus colonization, histopathology, expression of proinflammatory cytokines, key signaling pathways, and protein downstream high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in the liver were examined. Our data suggested that the H. hepaticus colonization level in the colon and liver progressively increased over the duration of the infection. H. hepaticus–induced hepatic inflammation and fibrosis were aggravated during the infection, and hepatic preneoplasia developed in the liver of infected mice at 12 and 18 months post-inoculation (MPI). H. hepaticus infection increased the levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in the infected mice. In addition, the mRNA levels of IL-6, Tnf-α, Tgf-β, and HMGB1 were significantly elevated in the liver of H. hepaticus–infected mice from 3 to 18 MPI as compared to the controls. In addition, Ki67 was increased throughout the duration of the infection. Furthermore, HMGB1 protein was activated and translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm in the hepatocytes and activated the proteins of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) [extracellular regulated protein kinases 1/2 (Erk1/2) and mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 (p38)] upon H. hepaticus infection. In conclusions, these data demonstrated that male BALB/c mice infected with H. hepaticus are prone to suffering hepatitis and developing into hepatic preneoplasia. To verify the effect of HMGB1 in the progression of liver preneoplasia, mice were infected by H. hepaticus for 2 months before additional HMGB1 recombinant adenovirus treatment. All mice were sacrificed at 4 MPI, and the sera and liver tissues from all of the mice were collected. Immunology and histopathology evaluation showed that HMGB1 knockdown attenuated the H. hepaticus–induced hepatic and fibrosis at 4 MPI. Therefore, we showed that H. hepaticus–induced liver preneoplasia is closely correlated with the activation and accumulation of HMGB1.

This research investigated the psychometric properties of the Prosociality Scale and its cross-cultural validation and generalizability across five different western and non-western countries (China, Chile, Italy, Spain, and the United States). The scale was designed to measure individual differences in a global tendency to behave in prosocial ways during late adolescence and adulthood. Study 1 was designed to identify the best factorial structure of the Prosociality Scale and Study 2 tested the model’s equivalence across five countries (N = 1,630 young adults coming from China, Chile, Italy, Spain and the United States; general Mage = 21.34; SD = 3.34). Findings supported a bifactor model in which prosocial responding was characterized by a general latent factor (i.e., prosociality) and two other specific factors (prosocial actions and prosocial feelings). New evidence of construct validity of the Prosociality Scale was provided.

It has been well documented that cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) from Helicobacter hepaticus (H. hepaticus), Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) and other Gram-negative intestinal pathogens is linked to the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the mechanisms underlying the progression of H. hepaticus induced colitis remains unclear. In this study, male B6.129P2-IL10tm1Cgn/J mice were infected by H. hepaticus and ΔCdtB H. hepaticus for 6, 12, 18, and 24 weeks. Histopathology, H. hepaticus colonization levels, expression of inflammatory cytokines, signaling pathways, and content of NO in proximal colon were examined. We found that Cytolethal distending toxin subunit B (CdtB) deletion had no influence on colonization ability of H. hepaticus in colon of B6.129P2-IL10tm1cgn/J mice, and there was no significant difference in abundance of colonic H. hepaticus over infection duration. H. hepaticus aggravated rectocele and proximal colonic inflammation, especially at 24 WPI, while ΔCdtB H. hepaticus could not cause significant symptom. Furthermore, mRNA levels of Il-6, Tnf-α, Il-1β, and iNOS significantly increased in the proximal colon of H. hepaticus-infected mice compared to ΔCdtB H. hepaticus infected group from 12 WPI to 24 WPI. In addition, the elevated content of NO and activated Stat3 and Jak2 in colon were observed in H. hepaticus infected mice. These data demonstrated that CdtB promote colitis development in male B6.129P2-IL10tm1Cgn/J mice by induction of inflammatory response and activation of Jak-Stat signaling pathway.

First possession is a common heuristic people use to solve property conflicts. Previous studies examined whether young children judged ownership based on the first possession heuristic and its stability when conflicting with other cues such as labor, but few focused on the effects in the discovery context. In this study, we used two discovery stories which indicate the discovered object was not owned by anyone beforehand and investigated ownership reasoning with the first possession heuristic in Chinese 3- to 6-year-old preschoolers. By pitting the first possession cue against the labor cue, we investigated the stability of the first possession heuristic in young children's ownership reasoning. The results showed that in the condition where there was only the first possession cue, both the younger and older groups used the first possession heuristic to reason about ownership. However, in the labor condition, 5- and 6-year-olds ceased to support the first possessor and turned to assign objects to the laborer, whereas 3-year-old children still insisted on the first possession heuristic (Study 1 and Study 2). Children across four age groups did not assign ownership to the person who just played with the object but did not modify it (Study 2). The results demonstrate that Chinese preschoolers understand the role of first possession in ownership assignment at an early age in the discovery context but the elderly preschoolers do not rely on the first possession cue when there are conflicting cues such as labor.

Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), a probiotic bacterium and feeding additive, is widely used for heterologous antigen expression and protective immunisation. Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) invades swine via mucosal tissue. To enhance the mucosal immune response to PEDV, we modified B. subtilis to express a PEDV antigen and used it as a mucosal vaccine delivery system. Initially, we constructed a recombinant B. subtilis strain (B.s-RCL) that expressed the PEDV spike protein and L-Lectin-β-GF, with the goal of inducing mucosal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and anti-PEDV serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) production, as well as to increase the number of microfold cells (M cells). Following the oral administration of B.s-RCL to mice, the small intestinal PEDV-specific sIgA expression levels significantly increased, as well as the increased number of B.s-RCL adhered to M cells. Moreover, we found that mice administered B.s-RCL exhibited markedly higher percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen compared to the control mice. Furthermore, we found that intestinal mucosa sIgA and serum anti-PEDV IgG levels were higher in mice orally immunised with B.s-RCL, suggesting that the mice could be more resistant to PEDV. In this study, we developed a novel oral vaccine to prevent porcine diarrhoea epidemics.

Previous studies have explored children’s intergroup resource allocation in the context of preexisting intergroup resource inequality. However, resource inequality between social groups often originates from different factors. This study explored the role of the origins of resource inequality on children’s intergroup resource allocations. In experiment 1, when there was no explicit origin of the intergroup inequality, children of different ages mainly allocated resources in an equal way and 5- to 6-year-olds showed ingroup bias. In experiment 2, we examined the influence of different origins of intergroup inequality and found that 5- to 6-year-olds perpetuated intergroup inequality when resource inequality was based on either a structural (regional disparity) or an internal factor (difference in performance). However, 10- to 11-year-olds rectified inequality or allocated equally when intergroup inequality was based on regional disparity and perpetuated resource inequality when intergroup inequality was based on performance difference. The origins of inequality appear to play an important role in children’s intergroup resource allocations, and older children can distinguish different origins of intergroup inequality in resource allocation.

This paper mainly investigates the area-dependent gain and noise characteristics of mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) Hg _0.7 Cd _0.3 Te planarelectron avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) operated at 80 K. The 10- μ m-radius diode exhibits low dark current in the magnitude of 10 ^–13 A below −5.5 V, high gain up to 1270 at −10 V, and low excess noise factor between 1 and 1.2. The optimal performances are compromised by tunneling current, which should be further suppressed. Studies on variable-area diodes show that larger diodes have a reduced gain due to a smaller contribution from edge gain, as well as an increased 1/ f noise and corner frequency due to higher defect density. From the gain and noise perspectives, HgCdTe e-APDs with smaller junction areas are more suitable for focal plane array (FPA) applications.

The mathematical abilities of children with autism spectrum condition have been understudied. Magnitude representation is a fundamental numerical ability that emerges early in development and is linked to children's learning of formal mathematics. It remains unclear about whether children with autism spectrum condition differ from their peers without autism spectrum condition in the precision of magnitude representations. This study recruited preschool-aged children with autism spectrum condition (N = 70; 64 boys, M[subscript age] = 5.20 years) and without autism spectrum condition (N = 117; 63 boys, M[subscript age] = 5.11 years), and tested their precision of magnitude representation with an approximate number comparison task (dot comparison). Children with autism spectrum condition exhibited the lower numerical comparison accuracy (i.e. the weaker magnitude representation) than their peers without autism spectrum condition, regardless of the congruency between numerosity and surface area of dots. Moreover, the lower numerical comparison accuracy was observed even controlling for multiple general cognitive abilities (working memory, inhibitory control, and nonverbal intelligence) and language abilities. In addition, the variability of the comparison accuracy was larger in children with autism spectrum condition than without autism spectrum condition. These findings suggest that children with autism spectrum condition are at risk of weaker magnitude representation from an early age, emphasizing the need for specialized mathematics education or interventions to support their learning.

This study aimed to examine whether Chinese preschoolers understand that ownership can be transferred in different contexts. The study participants were 3- to 5-year-old Chinese children (n = 96) and adults (n = 34). With four scenarios that contained different transfer types (giving, stealing, losing, and abandoning), participants were asked four questions about ownership. The results indicated that preschoolers’ ability to distinguish legitimate ownership transfers from illegitimate ownership transfers improved with age. Three-year-olds understood that ownership cannot be transferred in a stealing context, but the appropriate understanding of ownership was not attained until 4 years old in a giving context and 5 years old in losing and abandoning contexts, which is similar to the adults’ performance. In addition to the first possessor bias (a tendency to judge the first possessor as the owner) found in previous studies, 3-year-olds also displayed a loan bias (a tendency to believe everything that is transferred should be returned) in the study. The findings suggest that the developmental trajectories of preschoolers’ understanding of ownership transfers varied across different contexts, which may relate to children’s ability to consider the role of intent in determining ownership and parents’ disciplinary behavior. Both cross-cultural similarities and differences are discussed.

The present study examined the relations between preschoolers’ television exposure and executive functions (EF). One hundred and nineteen 3- to 6-year-old children and their parents participated. Parents filled in a questionnaire regarding children’s television viewing time, television content and parental mediation behaviors about their child’s television viewing. The children were asked to finish six EF tasks, including the backward digit span task, the spatial span task, the boy–girl Stroop, the Simon task, the flanker task and the Tower of Hanoi task that assessed working memory, inhibition and planning, respectively. Children’s vocabulary was tested using Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and included as control variables in addition to socioeconomic status of the participated families. The results showed that television viewing time and child-directed educational programs were positively associated with EF. In addition, television content fully mediated the effect of television viewing time on EF and parental restrictive approach strategies moderated the effect of television viewing time on EF.

There are two forms of unfairness widely studied in resource allocation settings: disadvantageous inequity (DI) in which one receives less than the partner and advantageous inequity (AI) in which one receives more than the other. We investigated children’s aversion to AI and DI in a procedural justice context. Children of 4-, 6-, and 8- years old were asked to spin a wheel (procedure) to decide how to allocate two different rewards with others. In each condition, they chose between a fair procedure providing equal chances for the two parties to get the bigger reward, and an unfair procedure (either a disadvantageous procedure in the DI condition, or an advantageous procedure in the AI condition). Results showed that children in the two younger age groups had a preference for the unfair procedure that would maximize their own profit in AI, but a greater aversion to the unfair procedure that would disadvantage them in DI. Eight-year-olds, however, had a greater preference for the fair procedure in AI than the 6-year-olds. In addition, the discrepancy between aversion to AI and DI disappeared in the 8-year-olds. The findings indicate children’s development of other-oriented concerns such as fairness concern and altruism in procedural justice, consistent with previous findings in distributive justice.

Probiotics are essential for the prevention of virus invasion and the maintenance of the immune balance. However, the mechanism of competition between probiotics and virus are unknown. The objectives of this study were to isolate the surface layer (S-layer) protein from L. acidophilus ATCC 4356 as a new antiviral material, to evaluate the stimulatory effects of the S-layer protein on mouse dendritic cells (DCs) and to verify its ability to inhibit the invasion of H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) in DCs. We found that the S-layer protein induced DCs activation and up-regulated the IL-10 secretion. The invasion and replication of the H9N2 virus in mouse DCs was successfully demonstrated. However, the invasion of H9N2 virus into DCs could be inhibited by treatment with the S-layer protein prior to infection, which was verified by the reduced hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) mRNA expression, and nucleoprotein (NP) protein expression in the DCs. Furthermore, treatment with the S-layer protein increases the Mx1, Isg15, and Ddx58 mRNA expressions, and remits the inflammatory process to inhibit H9N2 AIV infection. In conclusion, the S-layer protein stimulates the activation of mouse DCs, inhibits H9N2 virus invasion of DCs, and stimulates the IFN-I signalling pathway. Thus, the S-layer protein from Lactobacillus is a promising biological antiviral material for AIV prevention.

Fairness is one of the most important foundations of morality and may have played a key role in the evolution of cooperation in humans. As an important type of fairness concern, inequity aversion is the preference for fairness and the resistance to inequitable outcomes. To examine the early development of fairness preference in young children, sixty 2- and 3-year-old children were recruited to examine young children’s preferences for fairness using a forced choice paradigm. We tested how toddlers acted when they took charge of distributing resources (two candies) to themselves and others and when they were the recipients of both other-advantageous distribution and self-advantageous distribution. Different alternative options were paired with the same fair option in the two conditions. In the other-advantageous condition, children had fewer resources in the alternative options than others, whereas their resources in the alternative options were greater than others’ in the self-advantageous condition. The results showed that more children displayed fairness preferences when they distributed resources between two friends than when they distributed resources between a friend and themselves. In both scenarios, three-year-old children were more likely to demonstrate fairness than 2-year-old children. The findings suggest that inequity aversion develops in young children and increases with age over the course of early childhood. When they were recipients, there was a trend in young children’s preference for fairness in the other-advantageous condition compared with the self-advantageous condition. This suggests that children might tend to be more likely to display inequity aversion when they are in a disadvantageous position.

Pictorial stimuli standardized for Chinese children are still absent although it is needed in order to test the development of children's cognitive functions. This study presents normative measures for Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures, viewed by 4- and 6-year old Chinese children. Name agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity were obtained for each age group. The data indicate substantial differences between young and older children in name agreement based on expected name, familiarity and visual complexity. The correlation pattern of the variables collected in the present study were consistent with children's norms in other languages and norms of Chinese adults, while there are cross-age and cross-culture differences in specific variables. The obtained measures represent a useful tool for further research on Chinese children's pictorial processing and constitute the first picture normative study for children in this language.

This study aimed to examine how family income and social distance influence young rural Chinese children's altruistic behavior in the dictator game (DG). A total of 469 four-year-old children from eight rural areas in China, including many children left behind by parents who had migrated to urban areas for work, played the DG. Stickers comprised the resource, while recipients in the game were assumed to be either their friends or strangers, with the social distance (i.e., strangers compared to friends) as a between-subjects variable. Children donated significantly more stickers to their friends than to strangers. Moreover, children from lower income families donated more stickers than children from higher income families. However, no gender and parental migrant status differences in children's prosocial behaviors were evident in this sample. Findings of this study suggest that children's altruistic behaviours to peers are influenced by family characteristics since preschool age. The probable influence of local socialization practices on development and the possible adaptive significance were discussed.

Can traces of rapid socio-economic changes within a society be reflected in experimental games? The post-Mao reforms in China provide a unique natural quasi-experiment to study people from the same society who were raised with radically different values about distribution of wealth and altruistic behavior. We tested whether the size of offers in the ultimatum and dictator games are an increasing function of the number of years Chinese citizens experienced of the Mao era ("planned economy"). For the cohort that lived throughout the entire Mao era, we found that mean offers in the two games were substantially higher than what is typically offered in laboratory studies. These offers were also higher than those of two younger Chinese cohorts. In general, the amount offered decreased with less time spent under Mao, while in the oldest group in which every member spent the same amount of time under Mao, the younger members tended to offer more, suggesting an additional effect of early education under Mao and contradicting the alternative hypothesis that generosity increases with age. These results suggest that some of the observed individual differences in the offers made in experimental games can be traced back to the values of the socio-economic era in which individuals grew up.

Glucose transport, mediated by glucose transporters, is necessary for mammary gland development and lactation. GLUT1 and GLUT12 could both be expressed in the pregnant and lactating mammary gland to participate in the glucose uptake process. In this study, the goat GLUT1 and GLUT12 genes were cloned from Saanen dairy goats and transfected into goat mammary gland epithelial cells to assess their biological functions and distributions. The results showed that both goat GLUT1 and GLUT12 had 12 predicted membrane-spanning helices. Goat GLUT1 and GLUT12 each influenced the mRNA expression of the other transporter and increased the glucose consumption and lactose yield in GLUT1- and GLUT12-transfected goat mammary gland epithelial cells, respectively. The overexpression of GLUT1 or GLUT12 also increased the expression of amino acid transporters SLC1A5, SLC3A2 and SLC7A5 and affected genes expressions in GMGE cells. Using immunofluorescence staining, GLUT1 was detected throughout the cytoplasm and localized to the Golgi apparatus around the nuclear membrane, whereas GLUT12 was mainly distributed in the perinuclear region and cytoplasm. This study contributes to the understanding of how GLUT1 and GLUT12 cooperate in the incorporation of nutrient uptake into mammary gland epithelial cells and the promotion of milk synthesis in the goat mammary gland during lactation.