A Cross-Cultural Study on the Effects of Envy-Evoking Ads

Ads often feature celebrities or others similar to the target viewer and thereby evoke envy. Envy occurs when people make an upward social comparison, and evoked envy can be either benign or malicious. The authors propose that people with different self-construals feel different degrees of benign and malicious envy depending on who is being envied: a celebrity or a similar other. Three studies were conducted comparing Americans to Koreans (Study 1), Americans to the Chinese (Study 2), and Koreans with different self-construals (Study 3). The results showed that people with high independence showed less benign envy toward the celebrity ad than toward the similar others ad, while people with low independence showed the opposite pattern. People with high interdependence showed less malicious envy toward the celebrity ad than toward the similar others ad, while people with low interdependence showed the opposite pattern.

Rating Potential Land Use Taking Ecosystem Service into Account—How to Manage Trade-Offs

Rating the potential land use for crop production and/or ranching is typically a process where production gains counterbalance environmental losses. Whereas the production gains are often easy to verify, the environmental losses may render visibility through the changes in the ecosystem service, such as water and habitat quality, carbon storage, etc., thus, leaving the decision maker with a multi-criteria problem. The present study demonstrates how partial-order methodology constitutes an advantageous tool for rating/ranking land use that takes trade-offs into account. It is demonstrated that not only the optimal choice of area, on an average basis, e.g., for crop production, is disclosed, but also the relative importance of the included indicators (production gains, ecosystem losses). A short introduction is given, applying data from a recent Chinese study looking for the optimal monoculture as a function of ecosystem tradeoffs. A more elaborate system applying data from the esgame was used, disclosing the most beneficial area for crop production and for ranching, as well as the relative indicators’ importance. The study further demonstrates that a single composite indicator obtained by simple aggregation of indicator values as a ranking tool may lead to a result where gains are optimized; however, this comes at the expense of the environment.

Using Buck's Fascia as an Integral Covering in Urethroplasty to Restore the Anatomical Structure of the Penis in One-Stage Hypospadias Repair: A Multicenter Chinese Study Comprising 1,386 Surgeries

Objectives: The objective of the study is to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of urethroplasty with a Buck's fascia integral-covering technique (BFIC) to wrap and restore the normal anatomical structure of the penis in one-stage hypospadias surgery.Methods: One-stage surgeries for hypospadias management were performed using BFIC from January 2016 to September 2020 at four high-volume medical centers in China. The technique integrates Buck's fascia with glans wings to mobilize and wrap the urethra and restore penile anatomical relationships. The clinical data, postoperative follow-up data, and complications were recorded, and the results were analyzed.Results: A total of 1,386 patients were included in the study: 1,260 cases of primary hypospadias and 126 cases of re-operations; distal in 382 cases (27.6%), mid-shaft in 639 (46.1%), proximal in 365 (26.3%); tubularized incised plate (TIP) in 748 cases, inlay-graft in 124, onlay-graft in 49, Mathieu in 28, free-tube graft urethroplasty in 406, and 31 of hybrid procedures. One thousand one hundred forty-two patients (82.4%) were found to have penile curvature (>10°) after artificial erection and all corrected by dorsal plication/s or transection of the urethra plate (UP) simultaneously. The median followed-up time was 27 months (6–62). A total of 143 (10.3%) complications were recorded: 114 (9.0%) in the primary operations and 29 (23%) in the re-operations, 15 (3.9%) in distal hypospadias, 61 (9.5%) in mid-shaft, and 67 (18.4%) in proximal. The complication rate in UP preservation and transection was 10.1 and 10.8%, respectively. Of all case complications, there were 73 (5.2%) of fistula, 10 (0.6%) of dehiscence, 22 (1.6%) of meatal stenosis, 21 (1.5%) of stricture, 6 (0.7%) of diverticulum, and resident curvature in 11 cases (1.2%). The overall complication rate in TIP and free-tube procedure was 9.8 and 9.9%, respectively, and fistula occurred in primary TIP of 33 cases (4.9%).Conclusions: Buck's fascia with the glans can be used as an integral covering technique in one-stage distal to proximal hypospadias and primary or re-operative hypospadias repair. It is safe, feasible, and effective for the repair of hypospadias.

Intrinsic Capacity: Validation of a New WHO Concept for Healthy Ageing in a Longitudinal Chinese Study

Background The World Health Organization has proposed a model of healthy aging built around the concept of functional ability, comprising an individual’s intrinsic capacity, the physical and social environment they occupy, and interactions between the two. However, these constructs have been poorly defined. We examined the structure of intrinsic capacity in a representative sample of the Chinese population aged 60 years and over and assessed its value in predicting declining performance in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and activities of daily living (ADLs) using similar methods to a construct validation previously undertaken in an English cohort. Methods De-identified data were accessed on 7643 participants of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011 and 2013 waves. Incrementally related structural equation modelling was applied, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis. Multiple linear regression tested construct validity, and simple and serial mediation models assessed predictive validity. Results Factor loadings for the models showed a clear structure for intrinsic capacity: one general factor with five subfactors - locomotor, cognitive, psychological and sensory capacities, and vitality (reflecting underlying physiologic changes). Intrinsic capacity predicted declining performance in both IADLs (Standardized Coefficient (SE) -0.324 (0.02), p<0.001) and ADLs (-0.227 (0.03), p<0.001), after accounting for age, sex, education, wealth and number of chronic diseases. Each characteristic was associated with intrinsic capacity, providing strong construct validity. Conclusions Assessment of intrinsic capacity provides valuable information on an individual’s subsequent functioning beyond that afforded by age, other personal factors and multimorbidity.

Multiculturalism, Culture Mixing, and Prejudice: Effects of Priming Chinese Diversity Models Among Hong Kong University Students

In two studies, we investigated how Hong Kong university students reacted to descriptions of China as multicultural vs. assimilatory, examining effects on emotions, prejudice toward Mainland Chinese, attitudes toward Hong Kong/China culture mixing, and cultural identities. Study 1 compared a multicultural priming condition to a control condition and found that the multiculturalism prime significantly reduced desire to socially distance from Mainland Chinese. Study 2 compared multiculturalism, assimilation, or control primes’ effects, and found that the multiculturalism prime, through increased positive emotions, indirectly reduced social distancing from Mainland Chinese and disgust toward culture mixing, and increased Chinese ethnic identity and multicultural identity styles; the assimilation prime had the opposite indirect effects through increasing negative emotions. Results show new evidence of the importance of emotion in how non-immigrant regional groups, who are both minority and majority culture members, react to different diversity models. Multicultural frames increased positive emotions, with downstream positive effects on both intergroup attitudes and integrated identities.

Post-Acute-COVID-19-Illness Pulmonary Sequelae

Pulmonary function abnormalities in post-acute-COVID-19-illness survivors could be due to a decrease in both diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon dioxide (DLCO) and transfer coefficient of the lung for carbon monoxide (KCO) [1]. Alveolar-capillary damage, microvascular pathological lesions, or anemia can contribute to reduction of the KCO [1]. Post-acute-COVID-19-illness pulmonary fibrosis and post-acute-MERS-associated pulmonary fibrosis were highly associated with old aging ranging from 60- to 70-years age group (13 out of 30 (43.3 %)), demonstrated by Wong et al and Das et al [2, 3]. Post-acute-COVID-19-illness pulmonary fibrosis was 1.3 times more predominant in males, compared to females, possibly explained by the effect of androgen that promotes the transcription of transmembrane protease serine 2 gene, and was much higher incidence in cigarette smoker (18 of 30 patients (60 %)), compared to non-smoking patients [4, 5]. This gene impairs hose’s antibody response and facilitates the fusion of the virus-hose cells [4]. Dyspnea, the most common persistent symptom of the pulmonary sequelae ranged from 42 % to 66 % prevalence at 60-100 days of following-up [6-9], supported by the result of lower median 6-minutes walking distance comparing to the normal reference values in one-fourth of the patients at 6 months in the post-acute-COVID-19-illlness Chinese study that was similar to the prevalence in SARS and MERS survivors [10, 11].

Expert Consensus on Clinical Application of Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion: Results From a Modified Delphi Study

Study Design: Modified Delphi study. Objective: The objective of this study was to establish expert consensus on the application of lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) by using the modified Delphi study. Methods: From June 2019 to March 2020, Members of the Chinese Study Group for Lateral Lumbar Spine Surgery were selected to collect expert feedback using the modified Delphi method where 65 spine surgeons from all over China agreed to participate. Four rounds were performed: 1 face-to-face meeting and 3 subsequent survey rounds. The consensus was achieved with ≥a 70.0% agreement for each question. The recommendation of grade A was defined as ≥90.0% of the agreement for each question. The recommendation of grade B was defined as 80.0-89.9% of the agreement for each question. The recommendation of grade C was defined as 70.0-79.9% of the agreement for each question. Results: A total of 65 experts formed a panelist group, and the number of questionnaires collected was 63, 59, and 62 in the 3 rounds. In total, 5 sections, 71 questions, and 382 items achieved consensus after the Delphi rounds including summary; preoperative evaluation; application at the lumbar spinal stenosis, lumbar disc herniation, lumbar spondylolisthesis, adult degenerative scoliosis, postoperative adjacent segmental degeneration, and revision surgery; complications; and postoperative follow-up evaluation of LLIF. Conclusion: The modified Delphi method was utilized to ascertain an expert consensus from the Chinese Study Group for Lateral Lumbar Spine Surgery to inform clinical decision-making in the application of LLIF. The salient grade A recommendations of the survey are enumerated.