Children’s expressions of gratitude and their relations with parental values and parenting: insights from China and the United States

Gratitude, referring to a dispositional trait to appropriately show gratefulness to a benefactor for a gift or help received (Tudge, Freitas, & O’Brien, 2015), has been viewed as a moral virtue by philosophers and psychologists (e.g., Carr, Morgan, & Gulliford, 2015; McConnell, 1993, 2016). According to Tudge and colleagues, gratitude, as a moral virtue occurs when the beneficiary recognizes that a benefit is freely and intentionally provided by a benefactor, and the beneficiary autonomously repay the benefactor with something that the benefactor wants or needs if an opportunity presents itself. Gratitude, like any virtue, is not innate. Possessing virtuous gratitude requires one to understand the motivation and intentionality behind the benefits, knowing what might be the appropriate responses in a given situation, and to be able to think and act autonomously (Morgan & Gulliford, 2018; Tudge, Freitas, & O’Brien, 2015). To acquire these sociocognitive abilities and experiences, actively engaging in increasingly complex and relevant practices is necessary. Through these practices, one also gradually internalizes standards that are morally required and highly valued by the cultural group to which he/she belongs. Therefore, the development of virtuous gratitude is driven by the synergistic effects of different factors, such as sociocognitive abilities, cultural values, and everyday interactions between parents and children. The purpose of the present study is to have a better understanding of children’s expressions of gratitude and their relations with parental values and parenting in China and the United States. First, the present research investigated the expression of gratitude among 520 Chinese youth (M = 10.60 years, SD = 2.09; 56.0% female) and 489 North American youth (M = 10.28 years, SD = 2.11; 53.8% female). Consistent with what I had expected, Chinese children were less likely to express concrete gratitude, and more likely to express connective gratitude than were the North American children. Additionally, different age-related patterns of expressions of verbal, concrete, and connective gratitude were found. Across societies, older children were more likely to express connective gratitude and less likely to express concrete gratitude than were their younger counterparts. Beyond that, I examined the association between parental values for their children and children’s expressions of gratitude. However, results did not support the hypothesis that parents’ values of autonomy and relatedness would be associated with children’s expressions of connective gratitude. Findings indicated that parental values and gratitude expression were related in different ways in the Chinese and the U.S. sample. Parental values of separateness negatively predicted expression of concrete gratitude among Chinese participants, whereas in the U.S. sample, separated values were negatively associated with connective gratitude. Furthermore, by interviewing 29 North American and 19 Chinese families, I identified strategies that parents used to promote gratitude in China and the United States. In line with what had been predicted, results indicated that both the Chinese and the U.S. parents used various kinds of strategies, including role modeling, discussion about gratitude, and reinforcing gratitude expression behaviors. Moreover, Chinese parents emphasized the importance of expressing gratitude to family and relatives and regarded expressing gratefulness to family members as an effective strategy to foster gratitude in children. Additionally, I explored the relation between children’s expressions of gratitude and their wishes. Consistent with the hypothesis, findings of the present study suggested that children’s social-oriented wishes were significantly associated with connective gratitude for both the Chinese and the U.S. children. Finally, a positive relation between connective gratitude and preferences to give to charity has been found among Chinese children. However, no significant relations between gratitude and spending preferences were found among the North American youth. Findings of the present study provide important educational implications for educators and practitioners aiming to develop effective intervention programs for character development. This study also greatly advances the understanding of the ways in which culture influences the development of virtuous gratitude

A comparative study on different metal loaded soybean milk by-product 'okara' for biosorption of phosphorus from aqueous solution

Cationization of agricultural by-products using metal salts is widely used to activate their phosphorous capture ability. This study developed three kinds of new metal loaded soybean milk by-product 'okara' for phosphorus biosorption. A comparative study among these biosorbents was carried out with respect to their performances in terms of affinity, stability and reusability. Zirconium loaded okara (ZLO) was found to have the highest affinity towards PO43- anions (47.88mg/g), followed by iron/zirconium loaded okara - IZLO (40.96mg/g) and iron loaded okara - ILO (16.39mg/g). ZLO was successfully desorbed with 0.2M NaOH and activated with 0.1 HCl prior to the next cycle. After five consecutive cycles, the efficiency of both adsorption and desorption of ZLO remained about 85% whilst no Zr(IV) leakage was observed. Conversely, IZLO and ILO suffered from vital short comings such as high metal release and/or sharp reduction in PO43- sequestering capability after multi operation cycles. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

In Vivo Blood Glucose Quantification Using Raman Spectroscopy

We here propose a novel Raman spectroscopy method that permits the noninvasive measurement of blood glucose concentration. To reduce the effects of the strong background signals produced by surrounding tissue and to obtain the fingerprint Raman lines formed by blood analytes, a laser was focused on the blood in vessels in the skin. The Raman spectra were collected transcutaneously. Characteristic peaks of glucose (1125 cm(-1)) and hemoglobin (1549 cm(-1)) were observed. Hemoglobin concentration served as an internal standard, and the ratio of the peaks that appeared at 1125 cm(-1) and 1549 cm(-1) peaks was used to calculate the concentration of blood glucose. We studied three mouse subjects whose blood glucose levels became elevated over a period of 2 hours using a glucose test assay. During the test, 25 Raman spectra were collected transcutaneously and glucose reference values were provided by a blood glucose meter. Results clearly showed the relationship between Raman intensity and concentration. The release curves were approximately linear with a correlation coefficient of 0.91. This noninvasive methodology may be useful for the study of blood glucose in vivo

Automatic quantitative analysis of morphology of apoptotic HL-60 cells

Morphological identification is a widespread procedure to assess the presence of apoptosis by visual inspection of the morphological characteristics or the fluorescence images. The procedure is lengthy and results are observer dependent. A quantitative automatic analysis is objective and would greatly help the routine work. We developed an image processing and segmentation method which combined the Otsu thresholding and morphological operators for apoptosis study. An automatic determination method of apoptotic stages of HL-60 cells with fluorescence images was developed. Comparison was made between normal cells, early apoptotic cells and late apoptotic cells about their geometric parameters which were defined to describe the features of cell morphology. The results demonstrated that the parameters we chose are very representative of the morphological characteristics of apoptotic cells. Significant differences exist between the cells in different stages, and automatic quantification of the differences can be achieved

Visual short-term memory impairments in presymptomatic familial Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal observational study

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) deficits including VSTM binding have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) from preclinical to dementia stages, cross-sectionally. Yet, longitudinal investigations are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate VSTM function longitudinally and in relation to expected symptom onset in a cohort of familial Alzheimer's disease. Ninety-nine individuals (23 presymptomatic; 9 symptomatic and 67 controls) were included in an extension cross-sectional study and a sub-sample of 48 (23 presymptomatic carriers, 6 symptomatic and 19 controls), attending two to five visits with a median interval of 1.3 years, included in the longitudinal study. Participants completed the "What was where?" relational binding task (which measures memory for object identification, localisation and object-location binding under different conditions of memory load and delay), neuropsychology assessments and genetic testing. Compared to controls, presymptomatic carriers within 8.5 years of estimated symptom onset showed a faster rate of decline in localisation performance in long-delay conditions (4 seconds) and in traditional neuropsychology measures of verbal episodic memory. This study represents the first longitudinal VSTM investigation and shows that changes in memory resolution may be sensitive to tracking cognitive decline in preclinical AD at least as early as changes in the more traditional verbal episodic memory tasks

Whole-genome association analysis of treatment response in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Up to 30% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit an inadequate response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs). To date, genetic predictors of OCD treatment response have not been systematically investigated using genome-wide association study (GWAS). To identify specific genetic variations potentially influencing SRI response, we conducted a GWAS study in 804 OCD patients with information on SRI response. SRI response was classified as 'response' (n=514) or 'non-response' (n=290), based on self-report. We used the more powerful Quasi-Likelihood Score Test (the MQLS test) to conduct a genome-wide association test correcting for relatedness, and then used an adjusted logistic model to evaluate the effect size of the variants in probands. The top single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was rs17162912 (P=1.76 × 10(-8)), which is near the DISP1 gene on 1q41-q42, a microdeletion region implicated in neurological development. The other six SNPs showing suggestive evidence of association (P<10(-5)) were rs9303380, rs12437601, rs16988159, rs7676822, rs1911877 and rs723815. Among them, two SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium, rs7676822 and rs1911877, located near the PCDH10 gene, gave P-values of 2.86 × 10(-6) and 8.41 × 10(-6), respectively. The other 35 variations with signals of potential significance (P<10(-4)) involve multiple genes expressed in the brain, including GRIN2B, PCDH10 and GPC6. Our enrichment analysis indicated suggestive roles of genes in the glutamatergic neurotransmission system (false discovery rate (FDR)=0.0097) and the serotonergic system (FDR=0.0213). Although the results presented may provide new insights into genetic mechanisms underlying treatment response in OCD, studies with larger sample sizes and detailed information on drug dosage and treatment duration are needed

Genome-wide association study in obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from the OCGAS.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by intrusive thoughts and urges and repetitive, intentional behaviors that cause significant distress and impair functioning. The OCD Collaborative Genetics Association Study (OCGAS) is comprised of comprehensively assessed OCD patients with an early age of OCD onset. After application of a stringent quality control protocol, a total of 1065 families (containing 1406 patients with OCD), combined with population-based samples (resulting in a total sample of 5061 individuals), were studied. An integrative analyses pipeline was utilized, involving association testing at single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene levels (via a hybrid approach that allowed for combined analyses of the family- and population-based data). The smallest P-value was observed for a marker on chromosome 9 (near PTPRD, P=4.13 × 10(-)(7)). Pre-synaptic PTPRD promotes the differentiation of glutamatergic synapses and interacts with SLITRK3. Together, both proteins selectively regulate the development of inhibitory GABAergic synapses. Although no SNPs were identified as associated with OCD at genome-wide significance level, follow-up analyses of genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals from a previously published OCD study identified significant enrichment (P=0.0176). Secondary analyses of high-confidence interaction partners of DLGAP1 and GRIK2 (both showing evidence for association in our follow-up and the original GWAS study) revealed a trend of association (P=0.075) for a set of genes such as NEUROD6, SV2A, GRIA4, SLC1A2 and PTPRD. Analyses at the gene level revealed association of IQCK and C16orf88 (both P<1 × 10(-)(6), experiment-wide significant), as well as OFCC1 (P=6.29 × 10(-)(5)). The suggestive findings in this study await replication in larger samples

Clinical phenotype and genetic associations in autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer's disease: a case series

Background - The causes of phenotypic heterogeneity in familial Alzheimer’s disease with autosomal dominant inheritance are not well understood. We aimed to characterise clinical phenotypes and genetic associations with APP and PSEN1 mutations in symptomatic autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer’s disease (ADAD). Methods - We retrospectively analysed genotypic and phenotypic data (age at symptom onset, initial cognitive or behavioural symptoms, and presence of myoclonus, seizures, pyramidal signs, extrapyramidal signs, and cerebellar signs) from all individuals with ADAD due to APP or PSEN1 mutations seen at the Dementia Research Centre in London, UK. We examined the frequency of presenting symptoms and additional neurological features, investigated associations with age at symptom onset, APOE genotype, and mutation position, and explored phenotypic differences between APP and PSEN1 mutation carriers. The proportion of individuals presenting with various symptoms was analysed with descriptive statistics, stratified by mutation type. Findings - Between July 1, 1987, and Oct 31, 2015, age at onset was recorded for 213 patients (168 with PSEN1 mutations and 45 with APP mutations), with detailed history and neurological examination findings available for 121 (85 with PSEN1 mutations and 36 with APP mutations). We identified 38 different PSEN1 mutations (four novel) and six APP mutations (one novel). Age at onset differed by mutation, with a younger onset for individuals with PSEN1 mutations than for those with APP mutations (mean age 43·6 years [SD 7·2] vs 50·4 years [SD 5·2], respectively, p<0·0001); within the PSEN1 group, 72% of age at onset variance was explained by the specific mutation. A cluster of five mutations with particularly early onset (mean age at onset <40 years) involving PSEN1’s first hydrophilic loop suggests critical functional importance of this region. 71 (84%) individuals with PSEN1 mutations and 35 (97%) with APP mutations presented with amnestic symptoms, making atypical cognitive presentations significantly more common in PSEN1 mutation carriers (n=14; p=0·037). Myoclonus and seizures were the most common additional neurological features; individuals with myoclonus (40 [47%] with PSEN1 mutations and 12 [33%] with APP mutations) were significantly more likely to develop seizures (p=0·001 for PSEN1; p=0·036 for APP), which affected around a quarter of the patients in each group (20 [24%] and nine [25%], respectively). A number of patients with PSEN1 mutations had pyramidal (21 [25%]), extrapyramidal (12 [14%]), or cerebellar (three [4%]) signs. Interpretation - ADAD phenotypes are heterogeneous, with both age at onset and clinical features being influenced by mutation position as well as causative gene. This highlights the importance of considering genetic testing in young patients with dementia and additional neurological features in order to appropriately diagnose and treat their symptoms, and of examining different mutation types separately in future research. Funding - Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research

Intervention effects of Ganoderma lucidum spores on epileptiform discharge hippocampal neurons and expression of Neurotrophin-4 and N-Cadherin

Epilepsy can cause cerebral transient dysfunctions. Ganoderma lucidum spores (GLS), a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, has shown some antiepileptic effects in our previous studies. This was the first study of the effects of GLS on cultured primary hippocampal neurons, treated with Mg2+ free medium. This in vitro model of epileptiform discharge hippocampal neurons allowed us to investigate the anti-epileptic effects and mechanism of GLS activity. Primary hippocampal neurons from <1 day old rats were cultured and their morphologies observed under fluorescence microscope. Neurons were confirmed by immunofluorescent staining of neuron specific enolase (NSE). Sterile method for GLS generation was investigated and serial dilutions of GLS were used to test the maximum non-toxic concentration of GLS on hippocampal neurons. The optimized concentration of GLS of 0.122 mg/ml was identified and used for subsequent analysis. Using the in vitro model, hippocampal neurons were divided into 4 groups for subsequent treatment i) control, ii) model (incubated with Mg2+ free medium for 3 hours), iii) GLS group I (incubated with Mg2+ free medium containing GLS for 3 hours and replaced with normal medium and incubated for 6 hours) and iv) GLS group II (neurons incubated with Mg2+ free medium for 3 hours then replaced with a normal medium containing GLS for 6 hours). Neurotrophin-4 and N-Cadherin protein expression were detected using Western blot. The results showed that the number of normal hippocampal neurons increased and the morphologies of hippocampal neurons were well preserved after GLS treatment. Furthermore, the expression of neurotrophin-4 was significantly increased while the expression of N-Cadherin was decreased in the GLS treated group compared with the model group. This data indicates that GLS may protect hippocampal neurons by promoting neurotrophin-4 expression and inhibiting N-Cadherin expression

Genetic analysis of a major international collection of cultivated apple varieties reveals previously unknown historic heteroploid and inbred relationships

Domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) is a major global crop and the genetic diversity held within the pool of cultivated varieties is important for the development of future cultivars. The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity held within the domesticated form, through the analysis of a major international germplasm collection of cultivated varieties, the UK National Fruit Collection, consisting of over 2,000 selections of named cultivars and seedling varieties. We utilised Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers to assess the genetic diversity within the collection. Clustering attempts, using the software STRUCTURE revealed that the accessions formed a complex and historically admixed group for which clear clustering was challenging. Comparison of accessions using the Jaccard similarity coefficient allowed us to identify clonal and duplicate material as well as revealing pairs and groups that appeared more closely related than a standard parent-offspring or full-sibling relations. From further investigation, we were able to propose a number of new pedigrees, which revealed that some historically important cultivars were more closely related than previously documented and that some of them were partially inbred. We were also able to elucidate a number of parent-offspring relationships that had resulted in a number of important polyploid cultivars. This included reuniting polyploid cultivars that in some cases dated as far back as the 18th century, with diploid parents that potentially date back as far as the 13th century