The Cultural Recreation of the Traditional Working and Living Appliances in Tibetan and Qiang Culture

Confronting the contradiction of the global trend of cultural homogenization and the appeals for the independence of national culture, this paper put forwards the new design concept of “Green Humanity”. Guided by the “green humanity” philosophy, our research on the living and working appliances typical of Tibetan and Qiang people, and on the practice of the localization strategy of cultural recreation of Tibetan and Qiang culture would make our national culture more and more prosperous. It is a conscious measure to make use of design strategy, but for the local people who use the improved appliances, the process of “using” would be an unconscious heritage of culture, a process of evolution in a quiet way more beneficial to the natural heritage of culture

A Clinical Analysis of Risk Factors for Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients with Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common and severe complication of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM). The aim of our study was to identify risk factors for ILD by evaluating both clinical and biochemical features in IIM patients with or without ILD. From January 2008 to December 2011, medical records of 134 IIM patients in our rheumatology unit were reviewed. The patients were divided into ILD group (83 patients) and non-ILD group (51 patients). The clinical features and laboratory findings were compared. The univariable analyses indicated that arthritis/arthralgia (54.2% versus 17.6%, P<0.05), Mechanic’s hand (16.9% versus 2.0%, P<0.05), Raynaud’s phenomenon (36.1% versus 2.0%, P<0.05), heliotrope rash (44.6% versus 19.6%, P<0.05), fever (43.4% versus 21.6%, P<0.05), elevated ESR (60.2% versus 35.3%, P<0.05), elevated CRP (55.4% versus 31.4%, P<0.05), or anti-Jo-1 antibody (20.5% versus 5.9%, P<0.05) were risk factors for developing ILD in IIM. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression analysis that showed arthritis/arthralgia (OR 7.1, 95% CI 2.8–18.1), Raynaud’s phenomenon (OR 29.1, 95% CI 3.6–233.7), and amyopathic dermatomyositis (ADM) (OR 20.2, 95% CI 2.4–171.2) were the independent risk factors for developing ILD in IIM

Purification of the recombinant enhanced green fluorescent protein from Escherichia coli using alcohol + salt aqueous two-phase systems

The enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) is widely used as a marker in life science. Currently, purifications of the EGFP mostly involve chromatographic methods, which are multistep, time-consuming and costly. In the present study, the recombinant EGFP expressed in Escherichia coli was purified using an economic aqueous two-phase system (ATPS). Short-chain aliphatic alcohol and organic salt were chosen as the phase-forming components owing to their recyclability and biodegradability, respectively. The partition behaviour of EGFP was evaluated under the varying conditions of ATPS, including types and concentrations of phase-forming components, feedstock concentration, and pH. In an optimal primary 2-g ATPS comprising 1-propanol and tripotassium citrate, a high recovery of EGFP (i.e., 92.1%) was attained in the salt-rich bottom phase. To facilitate the easy recovery of purified EGFP, a secondary ATPS was used to back extract the EGFP to a new top ethanol-rich top phase, and the ethanol was removed from the purified EGFP via evaporation. The 1-propanol and ethanol used in the primary and secondary ATPSs (i.e. 20-g system) were successfully recycled in three successive rounds of EGFP purification, yielding the average EGFP purification factor of 11.34 and 75.7% of EGFP yield. The purification of EGFP using the two stages of alcohol + salt ATPSs is efficient in terms of operation time, cost and process scalability

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 activation is associated with bladder cancer cell growth and survival

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Constitutive activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) signaling pathway plays an important role in several human cancers. Activation of Stat3 is dependent on the phosphorylation at the tyrosine residue 705 by upstream kinases and subsequent nuclear translocation after dimerization. It remains unclear whether oncogenic Stat3 signaling pathway is involved in the oncogenesis of bladder cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that elevated Stat3 phosphorylation in 19 of 100 (19%) bladder cancer tissues as well as bladder cancer cell lines, WH, UMUC-3 and 253J. To explore whether Stat3 activation is associated with cell growth and survival of bladder cancer, we targeted the Stat3 signaling pathway in bladder cancer cells using an adenovirus-mediated dominant-negative Stat3 (Y705F) and a small molecule compound, STA-21. Both prohibited cell growth and induction of apoptosis in these bladder cancer cell lines but not in normal bladder smooth muscle cell (BdSMC). The survival inhibition might be mediated through apoptotic caspase 3, 8 and 9 pathways. Moreover, down-regulation of anti-apoptotic genes (Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and survivin) and a cell cycle regulating gene (cyclin D1) was associated with the cell growth inhibition and apoptosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicated that activation of Stat3 is crucial for bladder cancer cell growth and survival. Therefore, interference of Stat3 signaling pathway emerges as a potential therapeutic approach for bladder cancer.</p

HIV-1 Transmission among Injecting Drug Users is Principally Derived from Local Circulating Strains in Guangxi, China

OBJECTIVE: The mode of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission METHODS: We performed a molecular epidemiological investigation of infections across Guangxi from 2009 to 2019. Phylogenetic and Bayesian time-geographic analyses of HIV-1 sequences were performed to confirm the characteristics of transmission between IDUs in combination with epidemiological data. RESULTS: Among the 535 subjects, CRF08_BC (57.4%), CRF01_AE (28.4%), and CRF07_BC (10.7%) were the top 3 HIV strains; 72.6% of infections were linked to other provinces in the transmission network; 93.6% of sequence-transmitted strains were locally endemic, with the rest coming from other provinces, predominantly Guangdong and Yunnan; 92.1% of the HIV transmission among people who inject drugs tended to be transmitted between HIV-positive IDUs. CONCLUSION: HIV recombinants were high diversity, and circulating local strains were the transmission sources among IDUs in Guangxi. However, there were still cases of IDUs linked to other provinces. Coverage of traditional prevention strategies should be expanded, and inter-provincial collaboration between Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces should be strengthened

Analogy making and the structure of implied volatility skew

An analogy based option pricing model is put forward. If option prices are determined in accordance with the analogy model, and the Black Scholes model is used to back-out implied volatility, then the implied volatility skew arises, which flattens as time to expiry increases. The analogy based stochastic volatility and the analogy based jump diffusion models are also put forward. The analogy based stochastic volatility model generates the skew even when there is no correlation between the stock price and volatility processes, whereas, the analogy based jump diffusion model does not require asymmetric jumps for generating the skew