Unpleasant Nights at The Museum

A slew of scandals involving the Palace Museum has drawn attention to the plight of China’s public museums The curator of Beijing’s Palace Museum,Zheng Xinmiao,has been a largely low-profile figure,and his name only became known to most average Chinese citizens after the Xinhua News Agency released an interview with him in August,in which Zheng apologized for a string of mishaps in the institution that houses the largest collection of China’s national treasures.

Contributions of aversive environmental stress to migraine chronification:Research update of migraine pathophysiology

Clinical studies have suggested that internal and/or external aversive cues may produce a negative affective-motivational component whereby maladaptive responses(plasticity)of dural afferent neurons are initiated contributing to migraine chronification.However,pathophysiological processes and neural circuitry involved in aversion(unpleasantness)-producing migraine chronification are still evolving.An interdisciplinary team conducted this narrative review aimed at reviewing neuronal plasticity for developing migraine chronicity and its relevant neurocircuits and providing the most cutting-edge information on neuronal mechanisms involved in the processing of affective aspects of pain and the role of unpleasantness evoked by internal and/or external cues in facilitating the chronification process of migraine headache.Thus,information presented in this review promotes the understanding of the pathophysiology of chronic migraine and contribution of unpleasantness(aversion)to migraine chronification.We hope that it will bring clinicians’attention to how the maladaptive neuroplasticity of the emotion brain in the aversive environment produces a significant impact on the chronification of migraine headache,which will in turn lead to new therapeutic strategies for this type of pain.

The influence of core affect on cyclo-ergometer endurance performance:Effects on performance outcomes and perceived exertion

Background:Core affect is defined as the most general affective construct consciously accessible that is experienced constantly.It can be experienced as free-floating(mood)or related to prototypical emotional episodes.The aim of this study was to examine the influence of pleasant and unpleasant core affect on cyclo-ergometer endurance performance.Specifically,we considered the influence of pleasant and unpleasant core affect on performance outcomes(i.e.,time to task completion)and rate of perceived exertion(RPE;Borg Scale,category ratio-10)collected during the task.Methods:Thirty-one participants aged 20-28 years were recruited.Core affect was randomly elicited by 2 sets of pleasant and unpleasant pictures chosen from the international affective picture system.Pictures were displayed to participants during a cyclo-ergometer performance in 2 days in a counterbalanced order.RPE was collected every minute to detect volunteers’exhaustion.Results:The study sample was split into 2 groups.Group 1 comprised participants who performed better with pleasant core affect,whereas Group 2 included participants who performed better with unpleasant core affect.Mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance revealed a significant 2(group)×2(condition)×5(isotime)interaction(p=0.002,ηp^2=0.158).Post hoc comparisons showed that participants who obtained better performance with pleasant core affect(pleasant pictures;Group 1)reported lower RPE values at 75%of time to exhaustion in a pleasant core affect condition compared to an unpleasant core affect condition.On the other hand,participants who obtained better performance with unpleasant core affect(unpleasant pictures;Group 2)reported lower RPE values at 75%and 100%of time to exhaustion in an unpleasant core affect condition.Conclusion:Findings suggest differential effects of pleasant and unpleasant core affect on performance.Moreover,core affect was found to influence perceived exertion and performance according to participants’preferences for pleasant or unpleasant core affect.

Chemical characterization of smoke from the production process of wood-plastic composites

The chemical composition of unpleasant smell, emitted from the production process of wood-plastic composites using Manchurian ash sawdust （Fraxinus mandschurica Rupr.） and polypropylene powder as the raw material, was investigated. Wood sawdust and polypropylene powder were subjected to heat treatment to 290℃ during 8 min （the conditions were similar to those employed on an industrial scale）. The emitted compounds were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry （GC-MS）. The analytical results showed that the unpleasant smell was emitted from the pyrogenation of wood sawdust rather than from the polypropylene powder. Nine types of compounds （hydrocarbons, ethers, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, acids and their derivatives, furan and its derivatives, and nitrogen-containing compounds） were collected in the gas phase during heating. Among those 126 components detected by GC-MS, 112 compounds were identified.

Neuroscience and architecture:What does the brain tell to an emotional experience of architecture via a functional MR study?

Environment psychologically affects individuals.According to the base of cognitive psychology,there is a direct relationship between human behavior,environment,and emotional process.Assuming that pleasantness and unpleasantness are associated with peripheral nervous system activation,the current study aims to explore if the pleasant or unpleasant architectural places can stimulate the brain regions engaged in emotions or not.As the main contribution,we used functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI)measuring blood oxygenation level-dependent(BOLD)changes to effectively detect the brain’s region that mainly responds to the emotional-perceptual processes.Based on the results of examining the emotional assessment model of “Pleasure-Arousal”applied to 140 students,30 most-rated images representing 15 pleasant and 15 unpleasant places were shown to 32 participants in a 1.5-T MRI scanner.After applying standard preprocessing steps(re-alignment,slice-timing,coregistration,segmentation,normalization,and smoothing)to functional MR images,first-level analysis was applied to each subject.The results were evaluated using statistical corrections at different levels for female and male participants with the second-level analysis.In conclusion,it has been shown that there is a significant linkage between environmental experience and brain activation so that the architectural qualities can change blood flow in specific brain regions.

Learn to smile

【题目要求】你们学校将于5月末举办一次英语征文比赛。请你结合所学内容,以“Learn to smile”为题写一篇100词左右的英语作文。【学生习作】 Learn to smile Smile is an attitude to life. Life is al-ways kind of unpleasant. Such as failing in an exam, being misunderstood by your friends. These unpleasant things may make you feel sad. Then what will you do?