Andrographolide promotes hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial memory in the APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

In Alzheimer´s disease (AD) there is a reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis that has been associated to cognitive deficits. Previously we showed that Andrographolide (ANDRO), the main bioactive component of Andrographis paniculate, induces proliferation in the hippocampus of the APPswe/PSEN1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) mouse model of AD as assessed by staining with the mitotic marker Ki67. Here, we further characterized the effect of ANDRO on hippocampal neurogenesis in APP/PS1 mice and evaluated the contribution of this process to the cognitive effect of ANDRO. Treatment of 8-month-old APP/PS1 mice with ANDRO for 4 weeks increased proliferation in the dentate gyrus as evaluated by BrdU incorporation. Although ANDRO had no effect on neuronal differentiation of newborn cells, it strongly increased neural progenitors, neuroblasts and newborn immature neurons, cell populations that were decreased in APP/PS1 mice compared to age-matched wild-type mice. ANDRO had no effect on migration or in total dendritic length, arborization and orientation of immature neurons, suggesting no effects on early morphological development of newborn neurons. Finally, ANDRO treatment improved the performance of APP/PS1 mice in the object location memory task. This effect was not completely prevented by co-treatment with the anti-mitotic drug TMZ, suggesting that other effects of ANDRO in addition to the increase in neurogenesis might underlie the observed cognitive improvement. Altogether, our data indicate that in APP/PS1 mice ANDRO stimulates neurogenesis in the hippocampus by inducing proliferation of neural precursor cells and improves spatial memory performance.

Metaphor Power of Military Doctrines in Russian, Chinese and American English

Metaphor in modern linguistics is understood not only as a means of decorating speech, but also as a means of structuring, transforming and creating new knowledge, evoking emotions, influencing the perception. The article aims to estimate the potential speech impact of the military doctrines’ texts with the help of the metaphor power quantitative index. The methodology is based on calculating the indices of metaphor density (MDI), intensity (MII) and functionality of metaphors in the text (MfPI). The theoretical basis of the research is the conceptual metaphor theory by J. Lakoff and M. Johnson, as well as ideas about the metaphor power and the potential persuasiveness of metaphors in the text and discourse, most fully presented in the works on meta-analysis of the metaphor speech impact by P. Sopory and S. van Stee. Thus, we assume that the higher the density of metaphors in the text, the higher is the per-suasiveness of the given speech message. Metaphors of different intensity are based on two different cognitive mechanisms, namely, categorization and comparison, and affect the recipient in different ways, since they are perceived differently by him. Conventional metaphors tend to have a so-called cognitive effect, and new “creative” metaphors, in turn, may have a considerable emotional impact. Different types of metaphors also have different functions: orientational metaphors perform a descriptive function, ontological metaphors are used to explain (translate) complex objects and phenomena, identifying them in the mind of recipients, structural metaphors serve the purpose of restructuring the signified (le signifié in terms of Saussure) of an object or phenomenon, changing the recipient’s point of view on the subject. The material under study includes the latest published doctrinal military documents – the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2014), the White Paper “China’s Defense in the New Era” (2019), and a Summary of the US National Defense Strategy (2020). The empiric results of the study show that the metaphor power of the Chinese text in comparison with American English and Russian is higher in terms of the density and intensity of the metaphors used, which indicates the intention to make the White Paper more convincing and emotionally affecting. “The US National Defense Strategy” is less saturated with novel metaphors, but at the same time it uses a greater number of structural metaphors, which indicates the intention to produce a cognitive declarative impact rather than emotional effect. The text of the Russian Military Doctrine has the lowest indices of the density and intensity of metaphors; the number of structural metaphors found in it was also the smallest, which leads us to conclude that this document highlights the informative function, having the identifying nature. The method of metaphor power analysis proposed and tested in this study allows us to single out two different types of speech impact – emotional and cognitive –, as well as makes it possible to express quantitatively their degree. In addition, the values of the metaphorical indices can be used to specify the genre and style of texts under study.

The Drama in the Sentence: Sequence as a Crucial Challenge for Literary Translation from and to Korean

In translation, carefully-crafted sentences are exposed to myriad dangers. This is because translators tend to prioritize syntactical fidelity at the expense of sequence, that is, the order of elements insofar as this relates to calculated progression, gradual disclosure of information, and cumulative development of meaning. But if sequence is turned around for the sake of fluency (conforming to the target language’s ostensibly “natural” word order), the reader’s experience changes as well. Through a set of examples drawn from English translations of Korean fiction, this article demonstrates that the common disregard for sequence is tantamount to a neglect of drama and suspense, of narrative perspectivation, of rhetorical sophistication and cognitive effect. But we also see that by favoring functional equivalence over imitation of grammatical dependencies, it is perfectly possible to allow the reader to process all information at a pace that is analogous to that of the original. Our findings provide insights that are of significance for other language pairings as well.

Evaluating The Connection of Behavioral Biases and Investment Decisions of Equity Market Investors Using SEM Approach

Objective: The key objective of the paper is to study the magnitude of the disparity in actions between stock holders for short-term and long-term. Methods: Investor traits and how the judgement on investments and behavioral bias are interconnected are contrasted by using a systemic model, as well as to compare relative behavioral bias variations including Framing Bias, Endowment Bias, Representative Bias, Cognitive Dissonance Bias, Self-Control Bias and Overconfidence Bias. Distinguishing evidence of behavioral characteristics that are normally related to investment venture helps to provide assessments and confine trading techniques. Results: Between July 2020 and August 2020, the cognitive effect of investor decision-making is contrasted via test review of 300 substantive responders from deliberate Indian stock market investors. Taking into account the structural equation modelling (SEM), a route study is carried out of the manner in which stock investment and proposed behavioral inclinations are concomitant. Conclusions: Observational outcomes suggest that the systemic path model deliberately correlates with the survey content, demonstrating the influence of behavioral discrimination in decision-making for individual investments. Our results also indicate that short-term and long-term investors’ behavioral patterns vary substantially.

Resonance in dialogue: the interplay between intersubjective motivations and cognitive facilitation

abstract Dialogic resonance, when speakers reproduce constructions from prior turns, is a compelling type of coordination in everyday conversation. This study takes its starting point in resonance in stance-taking sequences with the aim to account for the interplay between intersubjective motivations and cognitive facilitation in resonance production. It analyzes stance-taking sequences in the London–Lund Corpus 2, determining (i) the type of stance alignment (agreement or disagreement), and (ii) the time lapse between the stance-taking turns. The main findings are, firstly, that resonance is more likely than non-resonance to be used by speakers who express disagreement than agreement, which we interpret as a mitigating function of resonance, and, secondly, that the turn transitions are faster in resonating sequences due to cognitive activation in the prior turn. We propose that the face-saving intersubjective motivation of resonance combines with its facilitating cognitive effect to promote appeasing communication.