The action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) a benchmark finding for embodiment - A meta-analysis

The embodied account of language comprehension has been one of the most influentialtheoretical developments in the recent decades addressing the question how humanscomprehend and represent language. To examine its assumptions, many studies havemade use of behavioral paradigms involving basic compatibility effects. Theaction–sentence compatibility effect (ACE) is one of the most influential of thesecompatibility effects and is the most widely cited evidence for the assumptions of theembodied account of language comprehension. However, recently there have beendifficulties to extend or even to reliably replicate the ACE. The conflicting findingsconcerning the ACE and its extensions lead to the discussion whether the ACE isindeed a reliable effect or whether it might be the product of publication bias or otherdistorting research practices. In a first step we conducted a meta-analysis using arandom-effects model. This analysis revealed a small but significant effect size of theACE (d = .129, p = .007). A second meta-analytic approach supports these findings ofthe existence of an ACE (Fisher’s method: χ2 = 124.379, p < .001). Furthermore, thetask-parameter Delay occurred as a factor of interest in whether the ACE appears withpositive or negative effect direction. This meta-analysis further assessed for potentialpublication bias and suggests that there is bias in the ACE literature.

Seasonal variation of the effect of extremely diluted agitated gibberellic acid (10-30) on wheat stalk growth - a multi researcher study

Control experiments were performed at different seasons of the year as a follow-up to pilot experiments [1] where a homeopathic high dilution of gibberellic acid had influenced growth in a wheat bio assay (7 days). Grains of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum, Capo variety) were observed under the influence of extremely diluted gibberellic acid (10-30) prepared by stepwise dilution and agitation according to a protocol derived from homeopathy (“G30x”). Analogously prepared water was used for control (“W30x”). Following up on 5 pilot experiments (4 in autumn 2007, 1 in spring 2008), 10 experiments were performed (5 in autumn 2008 or 2009 and 5 in winter 2009 or 2010) with a total of 9 experiments in autumn season (5 researchers, about 9,000 grains), and 6 in winter/spring (4 researchers, about 6,000 grains). Germination rates after 7 days were slightly higher for the autumn experiments (96.1%) than for the winter/spring experiments (94.8%) (p > 0,05), with a non significant trend of more seedlings having germinated in the verum group in the autumn experiments (p > 0,05). All of the 9 autumn experiments (i.e. pilot as well as repetition experiments) showed less stalk growth in the verum group (statistically significant with p < 0.01 in 4, with p < 0.05 in 3 cases, trend in 2 cases). Mean stalk lengths (mm) were 46.97 + 20.50 for the verum group and 50.66 + 19.77 for control (mean + S.D.) at grain level (N = 4,440 per group) and + 3.87 and + 3.38 (+ S.D.) respectively at dish level (217 cohorts of 20 or 25 grains per treatment group). In other words, verum stalk length (92.72%) was 7.28% smaller than control stalk length (100%). The effect size (D means : S.D.), calculated on the basis of dishes, was high (d = 1.02). In contrast, no reliable effect was found in experiments performed in winter/spring (less stalk growth in the verum group in one case, no difference in 2 cases, and more growth in 3 cases). Overall verum stalk length (103.64%) was slightly greater than control stalk length (100%). The effect size, however, was small (d = 0.45). The new data are in line with the 2007 findings, i.e. confirm that gibberellic acid 30x does influence stalk growth.

Seasonal variation of the effect of extremely diluted agitated gibberellic acid (10-30) on wheat seedling development

Objective: Performing a study on a wheat growth bio assay with a homeopathic dilution of gibberellic acid at different seasons of the year. Methods: Grains of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum, Capo variety) were observed under the influence of extremely diluted gibberellic acid (10-30, 30x). Analogously prepared water was used for control. 15 experiments were performed, 9 in autumn season (5 researchers, 4,440 grains per group), and 6 in winter / spring (4 researchers, with 3,140 grains per group). Results: All 9 autumn experiments showed less stalk growth in the verum group (p > 0.01 in 4 cases, p > 0.05 in 3, trend in 2 cases). Mean stalk lengths (mm) were 46.97 + 20.50 for verum and 50.66 + 19.77 for control at grain level (N = 4,440 per group) and + 3.87 and + 3.38 respectively at dish level (217 cohorts of 20 or 25 grains per treatment group). Verum stalk length (92.72%) was 7.28% smaller than control stalk length (100%). In contrast, no reliable effect was found in experiments performed in winter / spring (less stalk growth in 1 case, no difference in 1, more growth in 3 cases). Overall verum stalk length (103.64%) was 3.64% slightly greater than control stalk length (100%). Data were found to be homogeneous within the control groups as well as within the verum groups. Conclusion: Results suggest that especially in the experiments performed in autumn, there was an influence of gibberellic acid 30x on wheat seedling development. The effect size is small when calculation is done on the basis of grains (d = 0.18) but high when done on the basis of dishes (d = 1.02). In contrast, no reliable effect was found in experiments performed in winter / spring. Further experiments should thus be performed in the autumn season.

Herbal Medicine for Cervicogenic Dizziness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Herbal medicines (HMs) have been widely used in the treatment of cervicogenic dizziness (CGD) based on their empirical effectiveness and safety. Herein, we reviewed and evaluated the clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of HM for CGD. Methods: Among the relevant studies published up to December 2019 in 11 electronic databases, only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included. The studies’ methodological quality was assessed using the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials, and the strength of evidence for the main findings was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach. Results: All 17 included RCTs with 1,797 participants were conducted with six types of modified HM prescriptions and three types of active controls. More than half of the included studies were of low quality because of the high risk of bias due to deviations from the intended intervention. HMs plus active controls were more effective in CGD treatment than active controls alone. HMs plus antivertigo drugs, HMs plus manual therapy, and HMs plus acupuncture therapy were all effective in CGD treatment, with HMs plus antivertigo drugs showing the most reliable effect. All HM prescriptions were effective for specific patterns of CGD when administered with active controls, with Banxia Baizhu Tianma tang and Dingxuan tang demonstrating the most reliable effect. No serious adverse events were reported in all included studies. Conclusions: The current evidence suggests that HMs may enhance the treatment effect on CGD when combined with other treatments without serious adverse events. Further high-quality evidence is needed to draw a definite conclusion.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42020199222), and the Research Registry (Review Registry Unique Identifying Number: reviewregistry1036)

DEPENDENCE OF DAIRY PRODUCTIVITY COWS OF UKRAINIAN RED-AND-WHITE DAIRY BREED ON GENOTYPIC AND PARATYPIC FACTORS

Researches to study the milk productivity dependence of Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy cows on genotypic and paratypic factors were conducted in the breeding farm PAE "Piskivske" Bakhmach district of Chernihiv region. The most representative five genotypic groups of animals divided by the conditional share of heredity of Holstein breed were studied: I - livestock with a share of blood 50.01-56.25; II - 56.26-62.50; III - 62.51-75.00 and IV - 75.01-87.50; V - 87.51% and <. By comparing different genotype groups of cows installed dependence of yield amount on conditional share of inheritance Holstein breed. With the growth conditional proportion of Holstein blood, milk yield increased during the evaluated first three and higher lactations. The high and reliable effect was found on the yield amount of cows firstborn by factors of birth ( = 0.329) and calving ( = 0.336). The share of birth and calving season influence on milk yield although insignificant but reliable and amounted to 3.7 and 5.3%, respectively. The value of milk yield of cows firstborn in the controlled herd greatly depended on the sire genotype ( = 0.315), cow's conditional blood by Holstein breed ( = 0.264), father breeding value ( = 0.335) and mother cow's father ( = 0.340), paternal ( = 0.163) and maternal line ( = 0.089). According to research results was substantiated expediency of monitoring selection information, identification and use of animal-specific patterns of leading traits development of milk productivity depending on the geno- and paratypic factors influence in the selection process of pedigree herd formation.

Does contingent biofeedback improve cardiac interoception? A preregistered replication of Meyerholz, Irzinger, Withöft, Gerlach, and Pohl (2019) using the heartbeat discrimination task in a randomised control trial

Meyerholz, Irzinger, Withöft, Gerlach, and Pohl (2019) reported on a comparably large effect (d = 1.21) of a contingent biofeedback procedure on cardiac accuracy as assessed by the heartbeat tracking task. However, this task has recently been criticized as a measure of interoceptive accuracy. We aimed to replicate this finding by using the well-validated heartbeat discrimination task and to compare the biofeedback with a deep breathing and a control condition (viewing a film clip). The trial was preregistered at open science framework (https://osf.io/9fxn6). Overall, 93 participants were randomized to one of the three conditions and the heartbeat discrimination task was presented prior and after the 20-minutes training sessions. The study had a power of .86 to detect a medium-sized effect in the biofeedback group and a power of .96 to detect a medium-sized interaction of intervention group and time. A general tendency for improvement in heartbeat detection accuracy was found across intervention groups (d = 0.19, p = .08); however, groups did not differ significantly. In particular, there was no significant interaction of intervention group and time (f = .00, p = .98) and no reliable effect for the biofeedback group (d = 0.15, p = .42). One limitation is that a different, but well-validated task was used to quantify interoceptive accuracy. This study suggests that biofeedback might not improve interoceptive accuracy in the cardiac domain, but effects seem to depend on the specific task applied.

Prestige Does Not Affect the Cultural Transmission of Novel Controversial Arguments in an Online Transmission Chain Experiment

Cultural evolutionary theories define prestige as social rank that is freely conferred on individuals possessing superior knowledge or skill, in order to gain opportunities to learn from such individuals. Consequently, information provided by prestigious individuals should be more memorable, and hence more likely to be culturally transmitted, than information from non-prestigious sources, particularly for novel, controversial arguments about which preexisting opinions are absent or weak. It has also been argued that this effect extends beyond the prestigious individual’s relevant domain of expertise. We tested whether the prestige and relevance of the sources of novel, controversial arguments affected the transmission of those arguments, independently of their content. In a four-generation linear transmission chain experiment, British participants (N = 192) recruited online read two conflicting arguments in favour of or against the replacement of textbooks by computer tablets in schools. Each of the two conflicting arguments was associated with one of three sources with different levels of prestige and relevance (high prestige, high relevance; high prestige, low relevance; low prestige, low relevance). Participants recalled the pro-tablets and anti-tablets arguments associated with each source and their recall was then passed to the next participant within their chain. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find a reliable effect of either the prestige or relevance of the sources of information on transmission fidelity. We discuss whether the lack of a reliable effect of prestige on recall might be a consequence of differences between how prestige operates in this experiment and in everyday life.

Influence of the specialty of respondents on the effect of using chewing gum when solving a mathematical test

The paper presents the results of studies of the influence of the specialty of students on the effect of using chewing gum when solving a mathematical test. It is shown that in respondents studying in specialties for which the disciplines of the physics and mathematics cycle are basic and are taught in a large volume of credit points, the use of chewing gum in solving test tasks in mathematics has a negative effect. In respondents for whom the basis of the specialty is subjects of the natural science cycle, and physical and mathematical disciplines are taught to a lesser extent, chewing gum does not have a reliable effect on the result.

New local treatment for photoaging using a formulation containing piroxicam 0.8% and sunscreen

Objective Skin aging is a complex process influenced by several factors that cause DNA damage and alter the extracellular matrix. The anti-inflammatory drug piroxicam can counteract photocarcinogenesis and photoaging by blocking cyclooxygenases-1 and 2, matrix metalloproteinases, and ornithine decarboxylase, and inducing apoptosis. Methods We conducted an open observational study in 50 adults with moderate to severe signs of photoaging treated with a new local formulation of piroxicam 0.8% plus sunscreen for 16 weeks. Photoaging was assessed using a validated dermoscopic photoaging scale. Each patient’s own perception of their skin quality was assessed using a graphic scale. Results The new formulation demonstrated a reliable effect on photoaging after 16 weeks, based on improved median dermoscopic photoaging and skin-quality scores. No patients experienced any adverse effects. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence for the safe and effective use of a local piroxicam formulation for the treatment of moderate to severe photoaging.

Prestige does not affect the cultural transmission of novel controversial arguments in an online transmission chain experiment

Cultural evolutionary theories define prestige as social rank that is freely conferred on individuals possessing superior knowledge or skill, in order to gain opportunities to learn from such individuals. Consequently, information provided by prestigious individuals should be more memorable, and hence more likely to be culturally transmitted, than information from non-prestigious sources, particularly for novel, controversial arguments about which pre-existing opinions are absent or weak. It has also been argued that this effect extends beyond the prestigious individual’s relevant domain of expertise. We tested whether the prestige and relevance of the sources of novel, controversial arguments affected the transmission of those arguments, independently of their content. In a four-generation linear transmission chain experiment, British participants (N=192) recruited online read two conflicting arguments in favour of or against the replacement of textbooks by computer tablets in schools. Each of the two conflicting arguments was associated with one of three sources with different levels of prestige and relevance (high prestige, high relevance; high prestige, low relevance; low prestige, low relevance). Participants recalled the pro-tablets and anti-tablets arguments associated with each source and their recall was then passed to the next participant within their chain. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find a reliable effect of either the prestige or relevance of the sources of information on transmission fidelity. We discuss whether the lack of a reliable effect of prestige on recall might be a consequence of differences between how prestige operates in this experiment and in everyday life.