In a provocative article, Heine et al. concluded that self‐esteem needs are less important in collectivistic, East Asian countries than in individualistic, Western ones. Their conclusion was based, in part, on evidence that: (i) self‐esteem scores are less positively biased in Japan than in Western countries; and that (ii) low self‐esteem is less predictive of psychological distress in Japan than in Western countries. The present research examined whether these cultural differences occur in another collectivistic culture: The People's Republic of China. Two meta‐analyses were conducted. Study 1 found that, for young and old alike, self‐esteem was positively biased, with most participants reporting high levels of self‐esteem. Study 2 found that low self‐esteem in China is associated with three indicators of psychological distress: depression, anxiety and low subjective well‐being. These findings are consistent with results in Western samples and suggest that high self‐esteem may indeed be a universal psychological imperative.

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a common chronic lung disease in premature infants and hyperoxia exposure is a major cause. In hyperoxic lung injury animal model, alveolar simplification and proinflammatory cells infiltration are the main pathophysiologic changes. Caffeine is a drug used to treat apnea in premature infants. Early use of caffeine can decrease the rate and the severity of BPD while the mechanisms are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine on inflammation and lung development in neonatal mice with hyperoxic lung injury and to explore the possible mechanism. Methods: Following 14 d of 75% oxygen exposure in newborn mouse, the BPD model was established. Caffeine at a dose of 1 g/L was added in drinking water to nursing mouse. We measured the concentration of caffeine in serum and oxidative stress in lung by commercially available kits. Adenosine 2A receptor (A 2A R) expression and lung inflammation were measured by Immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Apoptosis and surfactant protein-C (SFTPC) levels were measured by immunofluorescence. The inflammasome and NF-κB pathway proteins were assessed by western blotting. Results: We found that the caffeine concentration in plasma at present dose significantly decreased the expression of A 2A R protein in mice lung. Caffeine treatment significantly reduced oxidative stress, improved weight gain, promoted alveolar development, attenuated inflammatory infiltration and lung injury in hyperoxia-induced lung injury mice. Moreover, caffeine decreased the cell apoptosis in lung tissues, especially the Type II alveolar epithelial cell. The expression of NLRP3 inflammasome protein and NF-κB pathway were significantly inhibited by caffeine treatment. Conclusion: Caffeine treatment can protect hyperoxia-induced mice lung from oxidative injury by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome and NF-κB pathway.

Inorganic hierarchical nanostructures have remarkable potential applications in environmental metal remediation; however, their applications usually suffer from low capacity, high cost, and difficulties in the recycling of adsorbents. We previously reported a facile strategy to synthesize acid-insoluble calcium silicate hydrates (CSH) from oyster shells, a representative kind of biowaste. However, little is known of the structure, size, and morphology of the as-prepared CSH, which hampers the improvement of their adsorption capacities. In this work, systematic investigation of the structures of as-generated CSH demonstrate that they have a hierarchically porous structure composed of thin nano-sheets, where each nano-sheet is assembled by nano-fibers with width of around ten nanometers. The hierarchical nanostructures with pore size of ∼12 nm provide a significant amount of active sites to graft polyethyleneimine (PEI), which enables the efficient extraction of both Cu(ii) cations and Cr(vi) anions from the aqueous solution. Batch experiments further indicate that the PEI-modified PCSH exhibit a maximum adsorption capacity of 203 and 256 mg g(-1) for Cu(ii) and Cr(vi), respectively, much higher than that of CSH, OS and many other adsorbents in literature. The adsorption of Cu(ii) and Cr(vi) proved to be spontaneous and exothermic. Combining the pH-dependent experiments with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the underlying mechanism is discussed. PCSH derived from OS biowaste maintains an efficient extraction ability toward Cu(ii) and Cr(vi) after five adsorption-desorption cycles. It is also applicable for treating various kinds of heavy metal ions and organic pollutants, showing potentially wide applications in water treatment.