The relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability in adults: the moderating role of dots number

Background It has been proposed that numerosity perception is the cognitive underpinning of mathematics ability. However, the existence of the association between numerosity perception and mathematics ability is still under debate, especially in adults. The present study examined the relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability and the moderating role of dots number (i.e., the numerosity of items in dot set) in adults. Methods Sixty-four adult participants from Anshun University completed behavioral measures that tested numerosity perception of small numbers and large numbers, mathematics ability, inhibition ability, visual-spatial memory, and set-switching ability. Results We found that numerosity perception of small numbers correlated significantly with mathematics ability after controlling the influence of inhibition ability, visual-spatial memory, and set-switching ability, but numerosity perception of large numbers was not related to mathematics ability in adults. Conclusions These findings suggest that the dots number moderates the relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability in adults and may contribute to explaining the contradictory findings in the previous literature about the link between numerosity perception and mathematics ability.

Performance of waterborne polyurethane based on N-tert-butyldiethanolamine in corrosion inhibition

The design of bifunctional inhibitors effectively preventing hydrate formation and corrosion is a relevant issue for the oil and gas industry. In this work, we expanded the study of the corrosion inhibition effectiveness for waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) obtained earlier and shown to be promising inhibitors. The corrosion inhibition ability of WPUs was assessed using weight-loss and electrochemical methods. Commercial corrosion inhibitor Armohib CI-28 was taken as a reference sample. The data obtained showed that the tert-Bu-WPU sample is able to effectively inhibit acid and carbon dioxide corrosion at room temperature; however, with an increase in temperature, its efficiency decreases more intensively than for a commercial inhibitor. In general, waterborne polyurethanes are promising alternatives to commercial reagents due to their multifunctionality.

Accommodating Heterogeneity: The Interaction of Instructional Scaffolding with Student Preconditions in the Learning of Hypothesis-Based Reasoning

Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children’s individual needs. We examine whether a scaffold that is static yet tailored to the context, in which the teacher explicitly models the reasoning process, manages to meet students’ individual cognitive preconditions for learning this skill. Within an inquiry-based learning setting, N = 143 third-graders underwent either an experimental condition in which they received the explicit scaffold, or a control condition in which they did not receive this specific scaffold. Employing a latent transition analysis and a general additive model, it is examined how the additional scaffold interacted with students’ prior knowledge, inhibition ability, and logical reasoning as judged by their own teachers. It is found that the additional scaffolds managed to meet the needs of students with little prior knowledge; under the control condition, students with little prior knowledge showed decreased learning achievement, whereas under the experimental condition, students with differing prior knowledge learned to comparable extent and on a higher level. The scaffolds also almost fully diminished a disadvantage for students with lower logical reasoning, and supported students with high inhibition ability in mastering the most difficult aspect of reasoning based on irrelevant evidence. Implications for science education are discussed.

Synthesis of Isatin Derivatives Using Silver Nanoparticles as Green Catalyst: Study of Molecular Docking Interactions in SARS-CoV-2 3c-Like Protease and Determination of Cytotoxic Activities of the Compounds

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). As isatin-containing compounds exhibit several remarkable biological activities, isatin derivatives were prepared to combat the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 that is gripping the world. Herein, the synthesis of novel isatin derivatives has been reported. The cytotoxic activities of the compounds were determined using cancer cell (MCF-7) and normal cell (MCF-10A and MRC-5) lines. In silico molecular docking experiments were conducted using AutoDock Vina. We have successfully predicted the binding energies and the number of hydrogen bonds present. We have also identified the residues involved in hydrogen bond formation. The target compounds were synthesized using Schiff base following cyclization and Knoevenagel condensation reactions. We have focused on the recyclable synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the extracts obtained from Dipteryx odorata. The extracts were used to reduce silver ions for the production of AgNPs. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited excellent catalytic activities during the synthesis of isatin derivatives in ethanol. The formation of the target isatin derivatives has been confirmed using the Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy, 13C NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis techniques. Compound 3e was found to be the most active compound when tested against the MCF-7 cancer cell line ( I C 50 = 20.5 μ M ). The activity was comparable to the activities of standard doxorubicin and other compounds. In silico molecular docking experiments were conducted to study the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 (PDB ID: 6LU7). Compound 3c exhibited high binding ability (−9.4 kcal/mol). The inhibition ability was studied using hydroxychloroquine as a standard. Results from docking studies revealed that the inhibition ability of compound 3c was higher than the inhibition abilities exhibited by other compounds. The synthesized compound 3e is a potential antiviral drug that can be used for treating the COVID-19 disease.

Inhibition of Kallikrein-related peptidases 7 restrains pancreatic tumor growth through induction of ferroptosis

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal malignancies with extremely poor prognosis, and KLK7 was considered as a potential therapeutic target. In this study, we analyzed the expression of KLK7 in TCGA and GTEx databases and found that KLK7 had a negative correlation to long-term survival rate (>1.5 years) of pancreatic cancer patients. Compound 42 is a coumarinic derivative, a suicide substrate inhibitor of KLK7, which has been proved to inhibit the proliferation of PANC-1 cells in vitro effectively in our previous study. In this study, we further investigated the inhibition ability of Compound 42 in tumor formation and development in CDX and PDX tumor models of pancreatic cancer subsequently. Besides, we studied the inhibitory mechanism of Compound 42 and the result showed that Compound 42 arrested the pancreatic cancer cell cycle in G0/G1 phase and induced ferroptosis through down-regulation of GPX4 protein level and accumulation of iron ion. Thus, these experiments demonstrate that Compound 42, suppressing pancreatic cancer in vivo, is expected to become a novel drug for pancreatic cancer treatment.

FOXO3 regulates Smad3 and Smad7 through SPON1 circular RNA to inhibit idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Forkhead box protein O3 (FOXO3) has good inhibition ability toward fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix, especially for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. How FOXO3 regulates pulmonary fibrosis remains unclear. In this study, we reported that FOXO3 had binding sequences with F-spondin 1 (SPON1) promoter, which can activate its transcription and selectively promote the expression of SPON1 circRNA (circSPON1) but not mRNA expression. We further demonstrated that circSPON1 was involved in the extracellular matrix deposition of HFL1. In the cytoplasm, circSPON1 directly interacted with TGF-β-induced Smad3 and inhibited the activation of fibroblasts by inhibiting nuclear translocation. Moreover, circSPON1 bound to miR-942-5p and miR-520f-3p that interfered with Smad7 mRNA and promoted Smad7 expression. This study revealed the mechanism of FOXO3 in the occurrence and development of pulmonary fibrosis. Potential therapeutic targets and new insights into the diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis based on circRNA were also provided.

Verbal Response Inhibition in Adults Who Stutter

Purpose Adults who stutter (AWS) often attempt, with varying degrees of success, to suppress their stuttered speech. The ability to effectively suppress motoric behavior after initiation relies on executive functions such as nonselective inhibition. Although previous studies found that AWS were slower to inhibit manual, button-press response than adults who do not stutter (AWNS), research has yet to confirm a consistent relationship between manual and verbal inhibition. No study has examined verbal inhibition ability in AWS. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to compare verbal response inhibition between AWS and AWNS, and compare verbal response inhibition to both the overt stuttering and the lived experience of stuttering. Method Thirty-four adults (17 AWNS, 17 AWS) completed one manual and three verbal stop-signal tasks. AWS were assessed for stuttering severity (Stuttering Severity Instrument–Fourth Edition: SSI-4) and experience with stuttering (Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience With Stuttering [OASES]). Results Results indicate no correlation between manual and verbal inhibition for either group. Generalized linear mixed-model analyses suggested no significant group differences in manual or verbal inhibition. Manual and verbal inhibition did not predict SSI-4 in AWS. However, verbal inhibition was uniquely associated with OASES scores. Conclusion Although underlying manual and verbal inhibition was comparable between AWS and AWNS, verbal inhibition may be linked to the adverse experience of stuttering rather than the overt symptoms of stuttering severity. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15145185

Inhalable nanocatchers for SARS-CoV-2 inhibition

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)–like coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), presents an urgent health crisis. More recently, an increasing number of mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been identified globally. Such mutations, especially those on the spike glycoprotein to render its higher binding affinity to human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2) receptors, not only resulted in higher transmission of SARS-CoV-2 but also raised serious concerns regarding the efficacies of vaccines against mutated viruses. Since ACE2 is the virus-binding protein on human cells regardless of viral mutations, we design hACE2-containing nanocatchers (NCs) as the competitor with host cells for virus binding to protect cells from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The hACE2-containing NCs, derived from the cellular membrane of genetically engineered cells stably expressing hACE2, exhibited excellent neutralization ability against pseudoviruses of both wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and the D614G variant. To prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections in the lung, the most vulnerable organ for COVID-19, we develop an inhalable formulation by mixing hACE2-containing NCs with mucoadhesive excipient hyaluronic acid, the latter of which could significantly prolong the retention of NCs in the lung after inhalation. Excitingly, inhalation of our formulation could lead to potent pseudovirus inhibition ability in hACE2-expressing mouse model, without imposing any appreciable side effects. Importantly, our inhalable hACE2-containing NCs in the lyophilized formulation would allow long-term storage, facilitating their future clinical use. Thus, this work may provide an alternative tactic to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infections even with different mutations, exhibiting great potential for treatment of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.

Short-Term Touch-Screen Video Game Playing Improves the Inhibition Ability

There is mixed evidence regarding whether video games affect executive function. The inconsistent results in this area may have to do with researchers’ conceptualizations of executive function as a unified construct or as a set of independent skills. In the current study, 120 university students were randomly assigned to play a video game or to watch a screen record of the video game. They then completed a series of behavioral tasks to assess the shifting, updating and inhibiting subcomponents of executive function. Scores on these tasks were also used as indicators of a component-general latent variable. Results based on analysis of covariance showed that, as predicted, the inhibition subcomponent, but not the updating or the shifting subcomponent, was significantly enhanced after gaming. The component-general executive function was not enhanced after gaming once the results were controlled for other subcomponents. The results were unrelated to participants’ self-reported positive and negative affect. The findings add key evidence to the literature on executive function and potentially contribute to the therapeutic use of video games to maintain executive function in the aged population.