Location patterns of urban industry in Shanghai and implications for sustainability

China’s economy has undergone rapid transition and industrial restructuring. The term “urban industry” describes a particular type of industry within Chinese cities experiencing restructuring. Given the high percentage of industrial firms that have either closed or relocated from city centres to the urban fringe and beyond, emergent global cities such as Shanghai, are implementing strategies for local economic and urban development, which involve urban industrial upgrading numerous firms in the city centre and urban fringe. This study aims to analyze the location patterns of seven urban industrial sectors within the Shanghai urban region using 2008 micro-geography data. To avoid Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) issue, four distance-based measures including nearest neighbourhood analysis, Kernel density estimation, K-function and co-location quotient have been extensively applied to analyze and compare the concentration and co-location between the seven sectors. The results reveal disparate patterns varying with distance and interesting co-location as well. The results are as follows: the city centre and the urban fringe have the highest intensity of urban industrial firms, but the zones with 20–30 km from the city centre is a watershed for most categories; the degree of concentration varies with distance, weaker at shorter distance, increasing up to the maximum distance of 30 km and then decreasing until 50 km; for all urban industries, there are three types of patterns, mixture of clustered, random and dispersed distribution at a varied range of distances. Consequently, this paper argues that the location pattern of urban industry reflects the stage-specific industrial restructuring and spatial transformation, conditioned by sustainability objectives

Gene Therapy in a Humanized Mouse Model of Familial Hypercholesterolemia Leads to Marked Regression of Atherosclerosis

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal codominant disorder caused by mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene. Homozygous FH patients (hoFH) have severe hypercholesterolemia leading to life threatening atherosclerosis in childhood and adolescence. Mice with germ line interruptions in the Ldlr and Apobec1 genes (Ldlr(-/-)Apobec1(-/-)) simulate metabolic and clinical aspects of hoFH, including atherogenesis on a chow diet.In this study, vectors based on adeno-associated virus 8 (AAV8) were used to deliver the gene for mouse Ldlr (mLDLR) to the livers of Ldlr(-/-)Apobec1(-/-) mice. A single intravenous injection of AAV8.mLDLR was found to significantly reduce plasma cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol levels in chow-fed animals at doses as low as 3×10(9) genome copies/mouse. Whereas Ldlr(-/-)Apobec1(-/-) mice fed a western-type diet and injected with a control AAV8.null vector experienced a further 65% progression in atherosclerosis over 2 months compared with baseline mice, Ldlr(-/-)Apobec1(-/-) mice treated with AAV8.mLDLR realized an 87% regression of atherosclerotic lesions after 3 months compared to baseline mice. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed a substantial remodeling of atherosclerotic lesions.Collectively, the results presented herein suggest that AAV8-based gene therapy for FH may be feasible and support further development of this approach. The pre-clinical data from these studies will enable for the effective translation of gene therapy into the clinic for treatment of FH

Using Accelerometry and Wearable GPS Units to Measure Trail Users’ Physical Activity: Preliminary Findings

In recent years, there has been a growing body of public health research examining the role of community trails and paths in the promotion and maintenance of physical activity. However, little is known about how much activity occurs on trails, the impact of community trails on overall physical activity levels or about the relationships between specific trail characteristics and utilization. The integration of activity measurements technologies, specifically accelerometers and wearable global positioning system (GPS) units that can track spatial patterns of activity, provide a unique opportunity to study some of these issues. The current transdisciplinarystudy builds on a previous Active Living Research project that developed and evaluated objective geographic information system (GIS) measures of trail characteristics. This will be accomplished by objectively measuring activity of users with two devices and linking activity data to detailed environmental data on trails