Urban education differentiation and its socio-economic consequences: An internet–survey-based structural equations modeling analysis of new white collar workers in Nanjing, China

Increasing education differentiation and its social consequences, that is, the way in which urban education stratification has shaped the socio-economic outcomes, are an understudied area of research on China’s higher education and its relation with social stratification and social mobility. This article examines this relationship by focusing on a specific social group whom we term as “new white collar workers” (NWCWs) in China. Our research reveals a strong correlation between the individuals’ position in a stratified educational system on the one hand, and their professional development trajectory, income and social status differentiation on the other. The article argues that educational differentiation has considerably contributed to the varied pathways and profiles of the NWCWs with regard to career development, income levels and living conditions, and that in the market-reform era, young people’s education attainment and social advancement have become increasingly determined by their family background, especially parental wealth. The policy implications of the research are discussed

Working with the homeless: The case of a non-profit organisation in Shanghai

This article addresses a two-pronged objective, namely to bring to the fore a much neglected social issue of homelessness, and to explore the dynamics of state-society relations in contemporary China, through a case study of a non-profit organisation (NPO) working with the homeless in Shanghai. It shows that the largely invisible homelessness in Chinese cities was substantially due to exclusionary institutions, such as the combined household registration and 'detention and deportation' systems. Official policy has become much more supportive since 2003 when the latter was replaced with government-run shelters, but we argue that the NPO case demonstrates the potential for enhanced longer-term support and enabling active citizenship for homeless people. By analysing the ways in which the NPO offers services through collaboration and partnership with the public (and private) actors, we also argue that the transformations in postreform China and the changes within the state and civil society have significantly blurred their boundaries, rendering state-society relations much more complex, dynamic, fluid and mutually embedded

Anti-Tumor Effect of Cactus Polysaccharides on Lung Squamous Carcinoma Cells (SK-MES-1)

Background: Cactus polysaccharides are the active components of Opuntia dillenii which have been used extensively in folk medicine. In thisstudy, we investigate the anti-tumor effect of cactus polysaccharides on lung squamous carcinoma cells SK-MES-1.Materials and Methods: The inhibitory effect of Cactus polysaccharides on lung squamous carcinoma cells were detected by MTT assay. Cellcycle was determined by flow cytometry and cell apoptosis was determined by AnnexinV assay. Western-blotting was applied to detect P53 andPTEN protein expression in the cells treated with cactus polysaccharides.Results: Results showed that different concentrations of wild cactus polysaccharides prevent SK-MES-1 cells growth and induces S phase arrest.The data also revealed that cactus polysaccharides cause apoptosis in SK-MES-1 cells determined by Annexin-V assay. Furthermore, cactuspolysaccharides induced growth arrest and apoptosis may be due to the increase of P53 and phosphatase and tension homolog deleted onchromosome ten (PTEN) protein.Conclusion: Cactus polysaccharides have anti-tumor activity on lung squamous carcinoma cells.Key words: Cactus polysaccharides, Lung squamous carcinoma, Anti-tumor effect, P53, PTEN Abbreviations: PTEN :phosphatase and tension homolog deleted on chromosome ten; NSCLC: Non-small-cell lung cancer; FBS :Phosphate buffered saline; MTT:3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide; PBS: Phosphate buffered saline; DMSO:Dimethyl sulfoxide; PI: Propidium iodide

Development of a Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Agent with Activity Against Herpesvirus Replication and Gene Expression

Purpose: To evaluate the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of peptide H9 (H9) in vitro in order to gain insight into its underlying molecular mechanisms.Method: Antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was determined using thiazolyl blue (MTT) assay. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was employed to assay H9 antiviral activity against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The inhibitory effect of H9 on the replication of these viral genes including early genes was assayed by real time-Ppolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot.Results: H9 possessed significant inhibitory effect on the four different herpesviruses with 50 % inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 1.21 ng/mL (HSV-1). AD169 infection was strongly inhibited with an EC50 value of 0.46 ng/ml. The anti-herpesviral activity of H9 was dose-dependent. The peptide acted primarily during the early stage of infection by detection of the early genes.Conclusion: The results demonstrate that H9 can inhibit the infection of HSV-1, EBV and HCMV. Furthermore, H9 has a broad-spectrum anti-herpesviral effect in vitro based on targeted killing of infected cells expressing genes.Keywords: Antagonist, Trapping receptor/ligand, Broad-spectrum, Anti-herpesvirus, H9 peptide, Gene expressio

Nanoparticle Delivery Platforms for RNAi Therapeutics Targeting COVID-19 Disease in the Respiratory Tract.

Since December 2019, a pandemic of COVID-19 disease, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly spread across the globe. At present, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued emergency approval for the use of some antiviral drugs. However, these drugs still have limitations in the specific treatment of COVID-19, and as such, new treatment strategies urgently need to be developed. RNA-interference-based gene therapy provides a tractable target for antiviral treatment. Ensuring cell-specific targeted delivery is important to the success of gene therapy. The use of nanoparticles (NPs) as carriers for the delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNAs) to specific tissues or organs of the human body could play a crucial role in the specific therapy of severe respiratory infections, such as COVID-19. In this review, we describe a variety of novel nanocarriers, such as lipid NPs, star polymer NPs, and glycogen NPs, and summarize the pre-clinical/clinical progress of these nanoparticle platforms in siRNA delivery. We also discuss the application of various NP-capsulated siRNA as therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2 infection, the challenges with targeting these therapeutics to local delivery in the lung, and various inhalation devices used for therapeutic administration. We also discuss currently available animal models that are used for preclinical assessment of RNA-interference-based gene therapy. Advances in this field have the potential for antiviral treatments of COVID-19 disease and could be adapted to treat a range of respiratory diseases

Oncogenic role of clusterin overexpression in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression

Aim: To investigate the expression pattern of clusterin in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma-metastasis series, and to explore the potential role of clustelin in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression. Methods: A colorectal carcinoma (CRC)-tissue microarray (TMA), which contained 85 advanced CRCs including 43 cases of Dukes B, 21 of Dukes C and 21 of Dukes D tumors, were used for assessing the expression of clusterin (clone 41D) and tumor cell apoptotic index (AI) by immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assay, respectively. Moreover the potential correlation of clusterin expression with the patient's clinical-pathological features were also examined. Results: The positive staining of clusterin in different colorectal tissues was primarily a cytoplasmic pattern. Cytoplasmic overexpression of clusterin was detected in none of the normal colorectal mucosa, 17% of the adenomas, 46% of the primary CRCs, and 57% of the CRC metastatic lesions. In addition, a significant positive correlation between overexpression of clusterin and advanced clinical (Dukes) stage was observed (P<0.01). Overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs was inversely correlated with tumor apoptotic index (P<0.01), indicating the anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs. Conclusion: These data suggests that overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin might be involved in the tumorigenesis and/or progression of CRCs. The anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin may be responsible, at least in part, for the development and biologically aggressive behavior of CRC. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Interrogating Institutionalized Establishments: Urban-Rural Inequalities in China’s Higher Education

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A genetic contribution from the Far East into Ashkenazi Jews via the ancient Silk Road

Contemporary Jews retain a genetic imprint from their Near Eastern ancestry, but obtained substantial genetic components from their neighboring populations during their history. Whether they received any genetic contribution from the Far East remains unknown, but frequent communication with the Chinese has been observed since the Silk Road period. To address this issue, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation from 55,595 Eurasians are analyzed. The existence of some eastern Eurasian haplotypes in eastern Ashkenazi Jews supports an East Asian genetic contribution, likely from Chinese. Further evidence indicates that this connection can be attributed to a gene flow event that occurred less than 1.4 kilo-years ago (kya), which falls within the time frame of the Silk Road scenario and fits well with historical records and archaeological discoveries. This observed genetic contribution from Chinese to Ashkenazi Jews demonstrates that the historical exchange between Ashkenazim and the Far East was not confined to the cultural sphere but also extended to an exchange of genes

Design, synthesis of 4-hydroxyl-α-cyanocinnmaic acid derived compounds and their applications in chiral recognition of amino acids by mass spectrometry

2012-2013 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe