On a Generalization of Martins’ Inequality

 Let be an increasing nonconstant sequence of positive real numbers. Under certain conditions on this sequence we prove the following inequalityPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42453/1/31380179.pd

The politics of Chinese trade and the Asian financial crises : questioning the wisdom of export-led growth

Between 1987 and 1996 Chinese exports increased by an average of 14% each year. During this decade, export growth became a crucial determinant of overall economic growth. However, as a consequence of the East Asian financial crises, Chinese export growth slowed, threatening the successful implementation of plans to restructure the domestic Chinese economy. This paper traces the reasons for the rapid growth and subsequent slowing of Chinese exports, and asks whether the strategy provides a solid basis for the long term development of the Chinese economy. In particular, the paper focuses on the role and significance of the processing trade in boosting Chinese exports. The high proportion of imported components in processed exports questions whether China is really benefiting as much from export growth as aggregate trade figures seem to suggest

Acupuncture Attenuates Anxiety-Like Behavior by Normalizing Amygdaloid Catecholamines during Ethanol Withdrawal in Rats

Previously, we demonstrated acupuncture at acupoint HT7 (Shen-Men) attenuated ethanol withdrawal syndrome by normalizing the dopamine release in nucleus accumbens shell. In the present study, we investigated the effect of acupuncture on anxiety-like behavior in rats and its relevant mechanism by studying neuro-endocrine parameters during ethanol withdrawal. Rats were treated with 3 g kg−1day−1 of ethanol (20%, w/v) or saline by intraperitoneal injections for 28 days. The rats undergoing ethanol withdrawal exhibited anxiety-like behavior 72 h after the last dose of ethanol characterized by the decrease of time spent in the open arms of the elevated plus maze compared with the saline-treated rats (P < .05). Radioimmunoassay exhibited there were notably increased concentrations of plasma corticosterone in ethanol-withdrawn rats compared with saline-treated rats (P < .05). Additionally, high performance liquid chromatography analysis also showed the levels of norepinephrine and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylglycol were markedly increased while the levels of dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid were significantly decreased in the central nucleus of the amygdala of ethanol-withdrawn rats compared with saline-treated rats (P < .01). Acupuncture groups were treated with acupuncture at acupoint HT7 or PC6 (Nei-Guan). Acupuncture at HT7 but not PC6 greatly attenuated the anxiety-like behavior during ethanol withdrawal as evidenced by significant increases in the percentage of time spent in open arms (P < .05). In the meantime, acupuncture at HT7 also markedly inhibited the alterations of neuro-endocrine parameters induced by ethanol withdrawal (P < .05). These results suggest that acupuncture may attenuate anxiety-like behavior during ethanol withdrawal through regulation of neuro-endocrine system

Molecular landscape of IDH-mutant primary astrocytoma Grade IV/glioblastomas

WHO 2016 classified glioblastomas into IDH-mutant and IDH-wildtype with the former having a better prognosis but there was no study on IDH-mutant primary glioblastomas only, as previous series included secondary glioblastomas. We recruited a series of 67 IDH-mutant primary glioblastomas/astrocytoma IV without a prior low-grade astrocytoma and examined them using DNA-methylation profiling, targeted sequencing, RNA sequencing and TERT promoter sequencing, and correlated the molecular findings with clinical parameters. The median OS of 39.4 months of 64 cases and PFS of 25.9 months of 57 cases were better than the survival data of IDH-wildtype glioblastomas and IDH-mutant secondary glioblastomas retrieved from datasets. The molecular features often seen in glioblastomas, such as EGFR amplification, combined +7/-10, and TERT promoter mutations were only observed in 6/53 (11.3%), 4/53 (7.5%), and 2/67 (3.0%) cases, respectively, and gene fusions were found only in two cases. The main mechanism for telomere maintenance appeared to be alternative lengthening of telomeres as ATRX mutation was found in 34/53 (64.2%) cases. In t-SNE analyses of DNA-methylation profiles, with an exceptional of one case, a majority of our cases clustered to IDH-mutant high-grade astrocytoma subclass (40/53; 75.5%) and the rest to IDH-mutant astrocytoma subclass (12/53; 22.6%). The latter was also enriched with G-CIMP high cases (12/12; 100%). G-CIMP-high status and MGMT promoter methylation were independent good prognosticators for OS (p = 0.022 and p = 0.002, respectively) and TP53 mutation was an independent poor prognosticator (p = 0.013) when correlated with other clinical parameters. Homozygous deletion of CDKN2A/B was not correlated with OS (p = 0.197) and PFS (p = 0.278). PDGFRA amplification or mutation was found in 16/59 (27.1%) of cases and was correlated with G-CIMP-low status (p = 0.010). Aside from the three well-known pathways of pathogenesis in glioblastomas, chromatin modifying and mismatch repair pathways were common aberrations (88.7% and 20.8%, respectively), the former due to high frequency of ATRX involvement. We conclude that IDH-mutant primary glioblastomas have better prognosis than secondary glioblastomas and have major molecular differences from other commoner glioblastomas. G-CIMP subgroups, MGMT promoter methylation, and TP53 mutation are useful prognostic adjuncts