What are the neural mechanisms underlying beauty based on objective parameters and beauty based on subjective social construction? This study scanned participants with fMRI while they performed aesthetic judgments on concrete pictographs and abstract oracle bone scripts. Behavioral results showed both pictographs and oracle bone scripts were judged to be more beautiful when they referred to beautiful objects and positive social meanings, respectively. Imaging results revealed regions associated with perceptual, cognitive, emotional and reward processing were commonly activated both in beautiful judgments of pictographs and oracle bone scripts. Moreover, stronger activations of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and motor-related areas were found in beautiful judgments of pictographs, whereas beautiful judgments of oracle bone scripts were associated with putamen activity, implying stronger aesthetic experience and embodied approaching for beauty were elicited by the pictographs. In contrast, only visual processing areas were activated in the judgments of ugly pictographs and negative oracle bone scripts. Results provide evidence that the sense of beauty is triggered by two processes: one based on the objective parameters of stimuli (embodied natural beauty) and the other based on the subjective social construction (social endowed beauty).

Suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) is an important intracellular protein that inhibits cytokine signaling in numerous cell types and has been implicated in several inflammatory diseases. However, the expression and function of SOCS3 in osteoblasts are not known. In this study, we demonstrated that SOCS3 expression was transiently induced by LPS in osteoblasts, and apparently contributed to the inhibition of IL-6 induction by LPS treatment. We found that tyrosine 204 of the SOCS box, the SH2 domain, and the N-terminal kinase inhibitory region (KIR) of SOCS3 were all involved in its IL-6 inhibition. Furthermore, we demonstrated that CCAAT/enhancerbinding protein (C/EBP) ␤ was activated by LPS (increased DNA binding activity), and played a key role in LPS-induced IL-6 expression in osteoblasts. We further provided the evidence that SOCS3 functioned as a negative regulator for LPS response in osteoblasts by suppressing C/EBP␤ DNA binding activity. In addition, tyrosine 204 of the SOCS box, the SH2 domain, and the N-terminal kinase inhibitory region (KIR) of SOCS3 were all required for its C/EBP␤ inhibition. These findings suggest that SOCS3 by interfering with C/EBP␤ activation may have an important regulatory role during bone-associated inflammatory responses. SOCS3 belongs to the family of suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS)2 proteins, which is induced by a number of mediators, including LPS, TNF-␣, as well as IL-6 and IL-10 (1-3). SOCS3 has been shown to function as a proinflammatory mediator by suppressing IL-6-gp130 signaling, interfering with its ability to inhibit LPS signaling (4, 5). For example, mice lacking SOCS3 in macrophages and neutrophils are resistant to LPS-induced shock (4). In contrast, accumulating data suggest that SOCS3 may suppress inflammatory responses (6). Thus, the function of SOCS3 during inflammation seems to be dependent on the particular disease model used and cell type studied. Moreover, the precise role of SOCS3 in LPS responses remains enigmatic.The stimulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 by LPS plays a critical role in innate immune responses in mammals. Although most studies on LPS-induced inflammation and the ensuing tissue destruction have been focused on immune systems, recent studies demonstrate that osteoblasts also express functional TLR4, which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of LPS-mediated bone disorders (2,7,8). For example, LPS stimulates osteoblasts to secrete receptor activator of NF-B ligand (RANKL), IL-6, IL-1, TNF-␣, GM-CSF, and PGE 2 , each of which seems to to be involved in LPS-mediated bone resorption (9). Among these proinflammatory mediators, IL-6 regulation in bone is extremely important for tissue homeostasis. Inappropriate expression of IL-6 has been suggested to have an impact on the increase in bone resorption observed in several bone inflammatory diseases (10, 11). Stimulation of IL-6 mRNA synthesis by LPS in human osteoblasts has been suggested to occur through CD14, p38 MAPK, and MEK (12). Several transcription factors s...

Previous research has focused primarily on corporal punishment as a cause and adolescents' physical aggression as an outcome. However, there is a large gap in knowledge of the potentially bidirectional association and explanatory mechanism underlying the association between corporal punishment and physical aggression. The current study, using a longitudinal design across three time points (the fall semester of 7th grade, the fall of 8th grade, and the fall of 9th grade), aimed to a) examine the reciprocal processes between corporal punishment and physical aggression, and b) explore whether deviant peer affiliation may explain such reciprocal connections. Only adolescents participating in all the three time points were included in this study, resulting in a final sample of 342 adolescents (175 boys, 167 girls) who completed questionnaires regarding corporal punishment, deviant peer affiliation, and aggression. Gender, age and socioeconomic status were controlled for in the analyses. Autoregressive cross-lagged models showed that the results did not support the direct reciprocal effect between corporal punishment and physical aggression among Chinese adolescents. A direct longitudinal link from corporal punishment to physical aggression was found, however, the inverse association was not significant. Moreover, regarding the longitudinal underlying process, in one direction, corporal punishment at 7th grade predicted higher levels of deviant peer affiliation at 8th grade. In turn, higher deviant peer affiliation at 8th grade predicted increased physical aggression at 9th grade. At the same time, in the other direction, adolescent physical aggression at 7th grade significantly predicted deviant peer affiliation at 8th grade. In turn, higher deviant peer affiliation at 8th grade predicted decreased corporal punishment at 9th grade. Identifying the direct and underlying reciprocal processes between corporal punishment and adolescent physical aggression has important implications for an integrative framework of theory and prevention.