Can the Testing Effect for General Knowledge Facts Be Influenced by Distraction due to Divided Attention or Experimentally Induced Anxious Mood?

Studies on testing effect have showed that a practice test on study materials leads to better performance in a final test than restudying the materials for the same amount of time. Two experiments were conducted to test how distraction, as triggered by divided attention or experimentally induced anxious mood in the practice phase, could modulate the benefit of testing (vs. restudying) on the learning of interesting and boring general knowledge facts. Two individual difference factors (trait test anxiety and working memory (WM) capacity) were measured. Under divided attention, participants restudied or recalled the missing information in visually presented general knowledge facts, while judging whether auditorily presented items were from a pre-specified category. To experimentally induce anxious mood, we instructed participants to view and interpret negative pictures with anxious music background before and during the practice phase. Immediate and two-day delayed tests were given. Regardless of item type (interesting or boring) or retention interval, the testing effect was not significantly affected by divided (vs. full) attention or anxious (vs. neutral) mood. These results remained unchanged after taking into account the influences of participants’ trait test anxiety and WM capacity. However, when analyses were restricted to the study materials that had been learnt in the divided attention condition while participants accurately responded to the concurrent distracting task, the testing effect was stronger in the divided attention condition than in the full attention condition. Contrary to previous studies (e.g., Tse and Pu, 2012), there was no WM capacity × trait test anxiety interaction in the overall testing effect. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Singapore’s LIFE program: Actuarial framework, longevity risk and impact of annuity fund return

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

Enhancing Singapore’s pension scheme: A blueprint for further flexibility

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

The impact of compassion from others and self-compassion on psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life among university students

Objectives: Research shows that compassion from others and from the self may enable university students to face, overcome, and bounce back from adversity and generate a greater sense of thriving and meaning in life. However, the underlying processes are largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine the associations of compassion with psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life among university students and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations. Methods: A total of 536 Hong Kong university students completed questionnaires measuring their experiences of compassion from others, self-compassion, resilience, psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life. Results: Serial mediation analyses showed that compassion from others was associated positively with self-compassion, which was, in turn, linked to greater resilience and consequently lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of flourishing and meaning in life. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the associations of compassion from others and self-compassion with the well-being and life meaning of university students. The findings highlight the importance of being open and receptive to love and kindness from others. The findings also point to the importance of developing a caring attitude toward oneself

Lupus nephritis in Chinese children--a territory-wide cohort study in Hong Kong

We report a multicenter study of Chinese children in Hong Kong with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) nephritis. Children were included if: they fulfilled the ACR criteria, had significant proteinuria or casturia, were Chinese and younger than 19 years and had been diagnosed with SLE between January 1990 and December 2003. Investigators in each center retrieved data on clinical features, biopsy reports, treatment and outcome of these patients. There were 128 patients (eight boys, 120 girls; mean age: 11.9+/-2.8 years). About 50% presented with multisystem illness and 40% with nephritic/nephrotic symptoms. Negative anti-dsDNA antibodies were found in 6% of the patients. Renal biopsy revealed WHO Class II, III, IV and V nephritis in 13 (10%), 22 (17%), 69 (54%) and 13 (10%) patients, respectively. The clinical severity of the nephritis did not accurately predict renal biopsy findings. The follow-up period ranged from 1 to 16.5 years (mean+/-SD: 5.76+/-3.61 years). During the study five patients died (two from lupus flare, one from cardiomyopathy, two from infections). Four patients had endstage renal failure (ESRF) (one died during a lupus flare). All deaths and end-stage renal failure occurred in the Class IV nephritis group. Chronic organ damage was infrequent in the survivors. The actuarial patient survival rates at 5, 10 and 15 years of age were 95.3, 91.8, and 91.8%, respectively. For Class IV nephritis patients, the survival rates without ESRF at 5, 10, and 15 years were 91.5, 82.3 and 76%, respectively. The survival and chronic morbidity rates of the Chinese SLE children in the present study are comparable to those of other published studies.postprin

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Enantiopure Aromatic Saddles Bearing the Fenestrindane Core

Wong W-S, Tse H-W, Cheung E, Kuck D, Chow H-F. Enantiopure Aromatic Saddles Bearing the Fenestrindane Core. JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 2019;84(2):869-878.The synthesis of enantiomerically pure, configurationally stable fenestrindane-based polyaromatic compounds with saddle-like structures is reported. Seven racemic fenestrane synthetic precursors were first screened by chiral HPLC for resolvability into enantiomers. Among the three resolvable precursors, a tribenzofenestrene derivative was resolved on a semipreparative scale, and the absolute configuration of the more slowly eluting enantiomer was established by X-ray crystallography. The enantiopure tribenzofenestrenes were then separately converted, in six steps, to the saddle-shaped fenestrindane derivatives in optically pure form. The two enantiomeric pairs of saddles were characterized by H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. All new compounds reported herein represent the first enantiopure non-natural carbocyclic fenestranes isolated to date

Effects of posture on heart rate variability in non-frail and prefrail individuals: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Frailty is an aging-related syndrome leading to high mortality in older adults. Without effective assessment and prevention of frailty, the incidence of frailty and relevant adverse outcomes will increase by 2050 as worldwide populations age. Although evidence suggested heart rate variability (HRV) is a potential measure of frailty, the role of HRV in frailty assessment remains unclear because of controversial findings. This study examined the effects of posture on HRV parameters in non-frail and prefrail individuals to understand the role of HRV in assessing frailty. Methods Forty-six participants aged ≥ 50 years were recruited between April and August 2022. Frailty was defined using Fried’s criteria. HRV was measured in standing, sitting, and lying postures, respectively, using a Polar Watch, and analyzed using Kubios HRV Standard 3.5.0 (Kubios). The five most commonly used parameters were examined, including standard deviations of all normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN), root mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), and LF/HF. Independent t-tests and Mann–Whitney tests were used for inter-group comparisons. Friedman tests were used for intra-group comparisons across postures. Results The non-frail group showed significant differences in HRV parameters across postures (all p  0.05). The differences in the non-frail group included higher RMSSD and HF in the lying posture compared to those in the standing posture (29.54 vs 21.99 p = 0.003, 210.34 vs 96.34 p = 0.001, respectively), and higher LF and LF/HF in the sitting posture compared to those in the lying posture (248.40 vs 136.29 P = 0.024, 1.26 vs 0.77 p = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions The effects of posture on HRV were blunted in the prefrail group, which suggests an impaired cardiac autonomic functioning. Measuring the effects of posture on HRV parameters may contribute to frailty assessment. However, further evidence from larger cohorts and including additional HRV parameters is needed

Different mechanisms of risperidone result in improved interpersonal trust, social engagement and cooperative behavior in patients with schizophrenia compared to trifluoperazine

Aim: Atypical antipsychotic treatment (e.g. risperidone) has been found to improve social functioning more than standard antipsychotic treatment. However, it is unclear which specific social behaviors are implicated in this improvement. The current study employed an interactive puzzle game to examine how social behaviors contribute to the improvement of social functioning by comparing patients receiving risperidone with those receiving trifluoperazine

Nonplanar Nanographenes Based on Tribenzotriquinacene or Fenestrindane Core

Ng C-F, Wong Wai-Shing WW-S, Ip H-W, et al. Nonplanar Nanographenes Based on Tribenzotriquinacene or Fenestrindane Core. Chinese Journal of Organic Chemistry . 2020;40(10):3017-3025.Our recent research efforts on the synthesis of nonplariar nanographenes bearing tribeivotriquinacene or fenestrindane skeleton are stiirirnarizedWizard hat-shaped or saddle-shaped nanographenes could be prepared using a non-classical Scholl-type cycloheptatriene formation or 19-membered ring macrocyclization, The key to the success of these transformation relies on the proper installation of the electron rich aryl functional groups in the bay areas of these molecular motifs, The three-dimensional structures of some of the nanographenes were determined by X-ray cryistallography. Furthermore, these carbon-rich n-conjugated molecules are also showed to have interesting photophysical, self-assoication and host-guest complexation properties