Government Conduct: The Guiding Force for Developing National Soft Power

Only the conduct of a government that strives to serve the people that empowered it can produce governmental soft power. The soft power of a government constitutes the guiding and consolidating force for the soft power of a country. In order to give full play to these forces, great attention should be paid to the dynamic composition of soft power. In the structural system of governmental soft power, the character of the head of state is the soul while universal values constitute the soil; the concept of “small government large people” becomes the practical norm; the construction of extensive social credibility is the approach that generates governmental soft power; the moral guidance of government conduct is the fundamental way to release the function of governmental soft power; constitutional politics forms the institutional cornerstone where governmental soft power can be created and developed.Key words: Governmental soft power; The character of the head of state; Universal values; Government credibility; Moral guidance of government conduc

Vertical distribution of Fe, P and correlation with organic carbon in coastal sediments of Yellow Sea, Eastern China

The coastal zone is considered as a major carbon pool. Iron minerals and phosphates are vital factors affecting the amounts and occurrence of total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments. However, coupling mechanisms of iron (Fe) and phosphorous (P) in the source-sink transition of TOC in coastal sediments is poorly understood. This study characterized the distribution of Fe, P and TOC contents of three independent 170 cm sediment cores sampled from a coastal aquaculture area in the eastern Jiangsu Province, and quantified the correlations among Fe, P, median grain diameter (Dx(50)), and TOC. The results showed total phosphorus (TP) content ranges in a scope of 337.4-578.0 mg/kg, and many depths recorded moderate P eutrophication. Inorganic phosphorus (DA + IP) and biogenic apatite were the primary components of TP, accounting for 25.19–55.00 and 26.71–49.62%, respectively. The Fe contents varied from 987.9 mg/kg to 2900.7 mg/kg, in which oxidized iron (Feox) accounted for about 62.2–79.4%. In the vertical profile, the TOC was positively correlated with the contents of low-crystallinity Fe-bearing carbonates (Fecarb), high crystallinity pyrite (FePy), iron-bound phosphorus (PCDB), manganeses (Mn), and nitrogen (N), while it was negatively correlated with DA + IP, organic phosphorus (OP), and Dx(50). Based on the the partial least squares (PLS) model, we proposed that the higher FePy, Mn, magnetite (FeMag), Fecarb, PCDB, amorphous exchangeable Fe (Ex-Fe), and authigenic apatite phosphorus (Bio-P) in sediments represent the high capacity for TOC sink, whereas, higher DA + IP, and OP indicate a TOC conversion to the source. The non-siginificat indication of Feox on TOC source-sink is due to its surplus and strong reactivity relative to TOC content. These revealed correlations provide a theoretical reference for understanding and regulating the burial rate and storage of TOC by changing the input of Fe minerals and P components into coastal sediments

Effect of early oxygen therapy and antiviral treatment on disease progression in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective study of medical charts in China.

BackgroundUntil now, no antiviral treatment has been proven to be effective for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The timing of oxygen therapy was considered to have a great influence on the symptomatic relief of hypoxemia and seeking medical intervention, especially in situations with insufficient medical resources, but the evidence on the timing of oxygen therapy is limited.Methods and findingsMedical charts review was carried out to collect the data of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection confirmed in Tongji hospital, Wuhan from 30th December 2019 to 8th March 2020. In this study, the appropriate timing of oxygen therapy and risk factors associated with severe and fatal illness were identified and the effectiveness of antivirus on disease progression was assessed. Among 1362 patients, the prevalence of hypoxia symptoms was significantly higher in those patients with severe and fatal illness than in those with less severe disease. The onset of hypoxia symptoms was most common in the second to third week after symptom onset, and patients with critical and fatal illness experienced these symptoms earlier than those with mild and severe illness. In multivariable analyses, the risk of death increased significantly when oxygen therapy was started more than 2 days after hypoxia symptoms onset among critical patients (OR, 1.92; 95%CI, 1.20 to 3.10). Compared to the critically ill patients without IFN-a, the patients who were treated with IFN-a had a lower mortality (OR, 0.60; 95%CI, 0.39 to 0.91).ConclusionsEarly initiation of oxygen therapy was associated with lower mortality among critical patients. This study highlighted the importance of early oxygen therapy after the onset of hypoxia symptoms. Our results also lend support to potentially beneficial effects of IFNα on critical illness

DataSheet_1_Vertical distribution of Fe, P and correlation with organic carbon in coastal sediments of Yellow Sea, Eastern China.pdf

The coastal zone is considered as a major carbon pool. Iron minerals and phosphates are vital factors affecting the amounts and occurrence of total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments. However, coupling mechanisms of iron (Fe) and phosphorous (P) in the source-sink transition of TOC in coastal sediments is poorly understood. This study characterized the distribution of Fe, P and TOC contents of three independent 170 cm sediment cores sampled from a coastal aquaculture area in the eastern Jiangsu Province, and quantified the correlations among Fe, P, median grain diameter (Dx(50)), and TOC. The results showed total phosphorus (TP) content ranges in a scope of 337.4-578.0 mg/kg, and many depths recorded moderate P eutrophication. Inorganic phosphorus (DA + IP) and biogenic apatite were the primary components of TP, accounting for 25.19–55.00 and 26.71–49.62%, respectively. The Fe contents varied from 987.9 mg/kg to 2900.7 mg/kg, in which oxidized iron (Feox) accounted for about 62.2–79.4%. In the vertical profile, the TOC was positively correlated with the contents of low-crystallinity Fe-bearing carbonates (Fecarb), high crystallinity pyrite (FePy), iron-bound phosphorus (PCDB), manganeses (Mn), and nitrogen (N), while it was negatively correlated with DA + IP, organic phosphorus (OP), and Dx(50). Based on the the partial least squares (PLS) model, we proposed that the higher FePy, Mn, magnetite (FeMag), Fecarb, PCDB, amorphous exchangeable Fe (Ex-Fe), and authigenic apatite phosphorus (Bio-P) in sediments represent the high capacity for TOC sink, whereas, higher DA + IP, and OP indicate a TOC conversion to the source. The non-siginificat indication of Feox on TOC source-sink is due to its surplus and strong reactivity relative to TOC content. These revealed correlations provide a theoretical reference for understanding and regulating the burial rate and storage of TOC by changing the input of Fe minerals and P components into coastal sediments.</p

Genome-wide mapping of DNase hypersensitive sites using massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS)

A major goal in genomics is to understand how genes are regulated in different tissues, stages of development, diseases, and species. Mapping DNase I hypersensitive (HS) sites within nuclear chromatin is a powerful and well-established method of identifying many different types of regulatory elements, but in the past it has been limited to analysis of single loci. We have recently described a protocol to generate a genome-wide library of DNase HS sites. Here, we report high-throughput analysis, using massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS), of 230,000 tags from a DNase library generated from quiescent human CD4(+) T cells. Of the tags that uniquely map to the genome, we identified 14,190 clusters of sequences that group within close proximity to each other. By using a real-time PCR strategy, we determined that the majority of these clusters represent valid DNase HS sites. Approximately 80% of these DNase HS sites uniquely map within one or more annotated regions of the genome believed to contain regulatory elements, including regions 2 kb upstream of genes, CpG islands, and highly conserved sequences. Most DNase HS sites identified in CD4(+) T cells are also HS in CD8(+) T cells, B cells, hepatocytes, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and HeLa cells. However, ∼10% of the DNase HS sites are lymphocyte specific, indicating that this procedure can identify gene regulatory elements that control cell type specificity. This strategy, which can be applied to any cell line or tissue, will enable a better understanding of how chromatin structure dictates cell function and fate