Core knowledge systems play an important role in theories of cognitive development. However, recent studies suggest that fundamental principles of the object and agent systems can be revised by adults and preschoolers, when given small amounts of counterevidence. We argue that not all core knowledge systems are created equal, and they may be subject to revision throughout development.

Hydroxymetal-clay complexes, which contain reactive surface hydroxyl groups, have a strong affinity for both heavy-metal cations and oxyanions and hence can serve as efficient sorbents for ionic contaminants. The co-sorptive behavior of heavy-metal cations and oxyanions on the surface of hydroxymetal-clay complexes is not well understood, however. The objective of the present investigation was to help bridge that gap by determining the feasibility of co-sorbing Cd cations and phosphate from aqueous solution to a hydroxyiron-montmorillonite complex (HyFe-mont). A montmorillonite-rich clay from Inner Mongolia, China, was the starting material. The results showed that Cd and phosphate could be sorbed, simultaneously and synergistically, to HyFe-mont without a change in solution pH. Similarly, when phosphate was sorbed before Cd, the sorption capacities were comparable to those obtained in the simultaneous sorption experiment, and the solution pH did not change.When Cd was pre-sorbed, however, the subsequent sorption of both Cd and phosphate decreased as did solution pH. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated that the binding energies of P2p, Cd3/2, and Cd5/2 were of similar magnitude for both the simultaneous sorption system and the phosphate pre-sorbed system. In addition, the single Cd and Cd pre-sorbed systems had similar Cd3/2 and Cd5/2 binding energies. The combined sorption and XPS results suggested that sorbed phosphate and Cd formed P-bridged ternary complexes on the HyFe-mont surface, contributing to the synergistic uptake of the contaminants in the simultaneous sorption system.

Hydrophobicity, high viscosity, and dispersion are important properties for organo-montmorillonites, and all organo-montmorillonite configurations have yet to be fully characterized with respect to this property. High-viscosity montmorillonite (Mnt) is useful in gels and as an adsorber. The current study focused on modifying Mnt using organic cations and anions of various chain lengths in batch experiments with various concentrations and ratios. The viscosity of organic Mnt reached up to 395 mP.s. Molecular dynamics simulations and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to identify the conditions and arrangement of organic cations and anions in the Mnt interlayer area. The intercalation mechanism of organic cations and anions was also determined, providing a theoretical basis for the preparation of high-viscosity Mnt.

The aim was to assess epidemiological characteristics of the most recent consumption patterns of meat, vegetable, and fruit among representative urban and rural residents aged 60+ years in regional China. In this cross-sectional survey conducted in mid-2018, participants aged 60+ years were randomly chosen from urban and rural communities in Nanjing municipality of China. Meat, vegetable, and fruit intake were assessed with a validated food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied to compute odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) to investigate the association of socio-demographic characteristics with a likelihood of meeting intake recommendation. Among the 20 867 participants, 49⋅5 % were men and 45⋅0 % urban elders, and 6⋅5 % aged 80+ years. The mean values of consumption frequency of red meat, white meat, vegetable, and fruit were 2⋅99 ± 2⋅28, 1⋅37 ± 1⋅13, 5⋅24 ± 6⋅43, and 2⋅64 ± 2⋅91 times/week, respectively, among overall participants. Moreover, there were 14⋅9, 23⋅7, and 12⋅1 % of participants meeting intake recommendations of meat, vegetable, and fruit, separately, in this study. After adjustment for potential confounders, age, gender, residence area, and educational attainment each was associated with the likelihood of meeting intake recommendation of meat, vegetable, or fruit. The consumption frequency and proportion of participants meeting intake recommendations of meat, vegetable, or fruit were not high among elders in regional China. Socio-demographic characteristics were associated with intake recommendations of meat, vegetables, and fruit. It has public health implications that participants’ socio-demographic attributes shall be considered for precision intervention on meat, vegetable, and fruit consumption in healthy eating campaigns among elders in China.

Abnormalities in the zona pellucida (ZP) adversely affect oocyte maturation, embryo development and pregnancy outcomes. However, the assessment of severity is challenging. To evaluate the effects of different degrees of ZP abnormalities on embryo development and clinical outcomes, in total, 590 retrieval cycles were scored and divided into four categories (control, mild, moderate and severe) based on three parameters: perivitelline space, percentage of immature oocytes and percentage of oocytes with abnormal morphology. As the severity of abnormal ZP increased, both the number of retrieved oocytes and mature oocytes decreased. The fertilization rate did not differ significantly among groups. The rates of embryo cleavage and day-3 high-quality embryos in the mild group and the moderate group did not vary significantly between the two groups but were significantly higher than those in the severe group. The blastulation rates of the abnormal ZP groups were similar; however, they were lower than those of the control group. Moreover, the cycle cancellation rate of the severe abnormal ZP group was as high as 66.20%, which was significantly higher than that of the other three groups. Although the rates of cumulative clinical pregnancy and live births were lower than those in the control group, they were comparable among the abnormal ZP groups. There were no differences in the neonatal outcomes of the different groups. Together, ZP abnormalities show various degrees of severity, and in all patients regardless of the degree of ZP abnormalities who achieve available embryos, there will be an opportunity to eventually give birth.

Object individuation provides a test case for the claim that infants already have a prelinguistic language-of-thought (LOT). By 12 months, infants represent several sortal-kinds: Object, agent, animate, and perhaps artifact. Infants have also encountered many words for object kinds, animals, people, and artifacts, therefore it remains a viable hypothesis that language learning may play a causal role in the acquisition of sortal-kinds, contra Quilty-Dunn et al.

Coastal eutrophication and hypoxia remain a persistent environmental crisis despite the great efforts to reduce nutrient loading and mitigate associated environmental damages. Symptoms of this crisis have appeared to spread rapidly, reaching developing countries in Asia with emergences in Southern America and Africa. The pace of changes and the underlying drivers remain not so clear. To address the gap, we review the up-to-date status and mechanisms of eutrophication and hypoxia in global coastal oceans, upon which we examine the trajectories of changes over the 40 years or longer in six model coastal systems with varying socio-economic development statuses and different levels and histories of eutrophication. Although these coastal systems share common features of eutrophication, site-specific characteristics are also substantial, depending on the regional environmental setting and level of social-economic development along with policy implementation and management. Nevertheless, ecosystem recovery generally needs greater reduction in pressures compared to that initiated degradation and becomes less feasible to achieve past norms with a longer time anthropogenic pressures on the ecosystems. While the qualitative causality between drivers and consequences is well established, quantitative attribution of these drivers to eutrophication and hypoxia remains difficult especially when we consider the social economic drivers because the changes in coastal ecosystems are subject to multiple influences and the cause–effect relationship is often non-linear. Such relationships are further complicated by climate changes that have been accelerating over the past few decades. The knowledge gaps that limit our quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the human-coastal ocean nexus are identified, which is essential for science-based policy making. Recognizing lessons from past management practices, we advocate for a better, more efficient indexing system of coastal eutrophication and an advanced regional earth system modeling framework with optimal modules of human dimensions to facilitate the development and evaluation of effective policy and restoration actions.

Schistosomiasis has been subjected to extensive control efforts in the People's Republic of China (China) which aims to eliminate the disease by 2030. We describe baseline results of a longitudinal cohort study undertaken in the Dongting and Poyang lakes areas of central China designed to determine the prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum in humans, animals (goats and bovines) and Oncomelania snails utilizing molecular diagnostics procedures. Data from the Chinese National Schistosomiasis Control Programme (CNSCP) were compared with the molecular results obtained.

Sixteen villages from Hunan and Jiangxi provinces were surveyed; animals were only found in Hunan. The prevalence of schistosomiasis in humans was 1.8% in Jiangxi and 8.0% in Hunan determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), while 18.3% of animals were positive by digital droplet PCR. The CNSCP data indicated that all villages harboured S. japonicum-infected individuals, detected serologically by indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA), but very few, if any, of these were subsequently positive by Kato-Katz (KK).

Based on the outcome of the IHA and KK results, the CNSCP incorporates targeted human praziquantel chemotherapy but this approach can miss some infections as evidenced by the results reported here. Sensitive molecular diagnostics can play a key role in the elimination of schistosomiasis in China and inform control measures allowing for a more systematic approach to treatment.

This study analyzed the effects of the day of trophectoderm (TE) biopsy and blastocyst grade on clinical and neonatal outcomes. The results showed that the implantation and live birth rates of day 5 (D5) TE biopsy were significantly higher compared with those of D6 TE biopsy. The miscarriage rate of the former was lower than that of the latter, but there was no statistically significant difference. Higher quality blastocysts can achieve better implantation and live birth rates. Among good quality blastocysts, the implantation and live birth rates of D5 and D6 TE biopsy were not significantly different. Among fair quality and poor quality blastocysts, the implantation and live birth rates of D5 TE biopsy were significantly higher compared with those of D6 TE biopsy. Neither blastocyst grade nor the day of TE biopsy significantly affected the miscarriage rate. Neonatal outcomes, including newborn sex, gestational age, preterm birth, birth weight and low birth weight in the D5 and D6 TE biopsies were not significantly different. Both blastocyst grade and the day of TE biopsy must be considered at the same time when performing preimplantation genetic testing–frozen embryo transfer.

The South Qinling block, a segment of the Yangtze craton involved in the Qinling–Dabie orogen, is critical for understanding the tectonic evolution of eastern China. However, the tectonic setting of the South Qinling block and the northern margin of the Yangtze block during middle Neoproterozoic time has long been the subject of debate, with two distinctly different models (continental rift or volcanic arc) proposed. Here, a comprehensive study of zircon U–Pb geochronology and geochemistry has been carried out on the Chengwan granitic pluton from the Suizao terrane in the South Qinling block. The granites are monzogranite and syenogranite in lithology, and are mainly composed of potash feldspar, quartz, plagioclase and biotite. This suite has long been regarded as a Palaeozoic magmatic pluton, but zircon U–Pb ages of 809 ± 9 Ma and 816 ± 4 Ma are obtained in this study. The granites are metaluminous to strongly peraluminous with high alkali contents, and exhibit highly fractionated features, including high SiO2, low Zr/Hf ratios, rare earth element tetrad effects and enrichment of K and Rb. They show Hf–Nd isotopic decoupling, which may be genetically related to their petrogenetic process. Based on the geochemical features and the positive εHf(t) values of the zircons, it is indicated that the granites may have been derived from partial melting of juvenile tonalitic rocks by biotite breakdown under fluid-absent conditions. The Chengwan granite geochemically belongs to the A2-subtype granites, suggesting that it might have formed in a post-orogenic tectonic setting. The highly fractionated A-type granite in this study may represent extensional collapse shortly after the collisional events in the South Qinling block, and thus indicate a tectonic regime switch, from compression to extension, as early as middle Neoproterozoic time. Integrating our new data with documented magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary events during middle Neoproterozoic time in the region may support a continental rift model, and argues against arc models.

A12-week experiment was conducted to evaluate the influences of thiamine ongrowth performance, and intestinal mitochondrial biogenesis and function of Megalobramaamblycephala fed a high-carbohydrate (HC) diet. Fish (24·73 (sem 0·45) g) were randomly assigned to one of four diets: two carbohydrate (CHO) levels (30 and 45 %) and two thiamine levels (0 and 1·5 mg/kg). HC diets significantly decreased DGC, GRMBW, FIMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, lipase, Na+, K+-ATPase, CK, complexes I, III and IV, intestinal ML, number of mitochondrial per field, ΔΨm, the P-AMPK: T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, mitochondrial transcription factor A, Opa-1, ND-1 and COX-1 and 2, while the opposite was true for ATP, AMP and reactive oxygen species, and the transcriptions of dynamin-related protein-1, fission-1 and mitochondrial fission factor. Dietarythiamine concentrations significantly increased DGC, GRMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, Na+, K+-ATPase, CK, complexes I and IV, intestinal ML, number of mitochondrial per field, ΔΨm, the P-AMPK:T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, Opa-1, ND-1, COX-1 and 2, SGLT-1 and GLUT-2. Furthermore, a significant interaction between dietary CHO and thiamine was observed in DGC, GRMBW, intestinal activities of amylase, CK, complexes I and IV, ΔΨm, the AMP:ATP ratio, the P-AMPK:T-AMPK ratio, PGC-1β protein expression as well as the transcriptions of AMPKα1, AMPKα2, PGC-1β, Opa-1, COX-1 and 2, SGLT-1 and GLUT-2. Overall, thiamine supplementation improved growth performance, and intestinal mitochondrial biogenesis and function of M. amblycephala fed HC diets.

The effects of resistant starch on glycaemic control are controversial. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of results from nineteen randomised controlled trials (RCT) was performed to illustrate the effects of resistant starch on glycaemic control. A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane electronic databases for related publications from inception to 6 April 2020. Key inclusion criteria were: RCT; resistant starch as intervention substances and reporting glucose- and insulin-related endpoints. Exclusion criteria were: using type I resistant starch or a mixture of resistant starch and other functional food ingredients as intervention; using substances other than digestible starch as controls. The effect of resistant starch on fasting plasma glucose was significant (effect size (ES) –0·09 (95 % CI –0·13, −0·04) mmol/l, P = 0·001) compared with digestible starch. Subgroup analyses revealed that the ES was larger when the dosage of resistant starch was more than 28 g/d (ES –0·16 (95 % CI –0·24, –0·08) mmol/l, P < 0·001) or the intervention period was more than 8 weeks (ES –0·12 (95 % CI –0·18, –0·06) mmol/l, P < 0·001). The effect on homoeostatic model assessment (HOMA)-insulin resistance (IR) was significant (ES –0·33 (95 % CI –0·51, –0·14), P = 0·001). However, the effects on other insulin-related endpoints were not significant, including fasting plasma insulin, four endpoints from the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (insulin sensitivity index, acute insulin response, disposition index and glucose effectiveness) and HOMA-β. The current study indicated moderate effects of resistant starch on improving glycaemic control.

This paper studies asymptotic properties of a posterior probability density and Bayesian estimators of spatial econometric models in the classical statistical framework. We focus on the high-order spatial autoregressive model with spatial autoregressive disturbance terms, due to a computational advantage of Bayesian estimation. We also study the asymptotic properties of Bayesian estimation of the spatial autoregressive Tobit model, as an example of nonlinear spatial models. Simulation studies show that even when the sample size is small or moderate, the posterior distribution of parameters is well approximated by a normal distribution, and Bayesian estimators have satisfactory performance, as classical large sample theory predicts.