Can Growth Compensate Inequality and Risk?---a welfare analysis for Chinese households

It has been widely observed that China's break-neck growth has not been equally shared between rural and urban areas, with urban households' enjoying a much larger proportion. To further test whether regional inequality exists within urban areas, we measure urban households vulnerability in a risky environment and decompose this measure to quantify China aggregate risks, province-level risks and idiosyncratic risks faced by households situated in 31 provinces. Besides, under this framework of analysis, we are able to make welfare comparisons between growth, inequality and different risks. We find that inequality has very big negative effect on households' welfare, while growth is able to compensate nearly half of it; households seem to be able to smooth consumption against risk in both province and individual level, but unable to do so against China shocks, which affect all the households simultaneously.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Risk and Uncertainty,

The rational design of polymeric EUV resist materials by QSPR modelling

We present the initial results of the development of a qualitative structure property relationship (QSPR) model to guide in the design and synthesis of high-sensitivity, non-CAR materials for EUV lithography. The model was developed using the fragmentation data of low molecular weight species at 70 eV using a mass spectrometer (MS) with an electron ionization source as the input parameter. The preliminary model has highlighted a number of structural elements which will be important in the future design of resists, however, limitations with the current set of input data for molecules which fragment readily have been identified and these are currently being addressed. Additionally, a correlation between gamma (1 MeV) and EUV (92 eV) radiolysis of selected polymers has been established and it is proposed that the higher energy (1 MeV) irradiation source is a suitable model process for EUV and can, therefore, be used in the future screening of polymeric materials

Green tea increases anti-inflammatory tristetraprolin and decreases pro-inflammatory tumor necrosis factor mRNA levels in rats

BACKGROUND: Tristetraprolin (TTP/ZFP36) family proteins have anti-inflammatory activity by binding to and destabilizing pro-inflammatory mRNAs such as Tnf mRNA, and represent a potential therapeutic target for inflammation-related diseases. Tea has anti-inflammatory properties but the molecular mechanisms have not been completely elucidated. We hypothesized that TTP and/or its homologues might contribute to the beneficial effects of tea as an anti-inflammatory product. METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR was used to investigate the effects of green tea (0, 1, and 2 g solid extract/kg diet) on the expression of Ttp family genes (Ttp/Tis11/Zfp36, Zfp36l1/Tis11b, Zfp36l2/Tis11d, Zfp36l3), pro-inflammatory genes (Tnf, Csf2/Gm-csf, Ptgs2/Cox2), and Elavl1/Hua/Hur and Vegf genes in liver and muscle of rats fed a high-fructose diet known to induce insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation, and TNF-alpha levels. RESULTS: Ttp and Zfp36l1 mRNAs were the major forms in both liver and skeletal muscle. Ttp, Zfp36l1, and Zfp36l2 mRNA levels were more abundant in the liver than those in the muscle. Csf2/Gm-csf and Zfp36l3 mRNAs were undetectable in both tissues. Tea (1 g solid extract/kg diet) increased Ttp mRNA levels by 50–140% but Tnf mRNA levels decreased by 30% in both tissues, and Ptgs2/Cox2 mRNA levels decreased by 40% in the muscle. Tea (2 g solid extract/kg diet) increased Elavl1/Hua/Hur mRNA levels by 40% in the liver but did not affect any of the other mRNA levels in liver or muscle. CONCLUSION: These results show that tea can modulate Ttp mRNA levels in animals and suggest that a post-transcriptional mechanism through TTP could partially account for tea's anti-inflammatory properties. The results also suggest that drinking adequate amounts of green tea may play a role in the prevention of inflammation-related diseases

Polarized retinal pigment epithelium generates electrical signals that diminish with age and regulate retinal pathology

Fight for Sight. Grant Numbers: 1712/13, 1361/1362 NHS Grampian Endowments, Friends of ANCHOR, Action Medical Research. Grant Number: GN2299Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Live birth after fresh embryo transfer vs elective embryo cryopreservation/frozen embryo transfer in women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing IVF (FreFro-PCOS): study protocol for a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients are at increased risk of pregnancy complications, which may impair pregnancy outcome. Transfer of fresh embryos after superovulation may lead to abnormal implantation and placentation and further increase risk for pregnancy loss and complications. Some preliminary data suggest that elective embryo cryopreservation followed by frozen–thawed embryo transfer into a hormonally primed endometrium could result in a higher clinical pregnancy rate than that achieved by fresh embryo transfer. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial (1:1 treatment ratio of fresh vs. elective frozen embryo transfers).. A total of 1,180 infertile PCOS patients undergoing the first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection will be enrolled and randomized into two parallel groups. Participants in group A will undergo fresh embryo transfer on day 3 after oocyte retrieval, and participants in group B will undergo elective embryo cryopreservation after oocyte retrieval and frozen–thawed embryo transfer in programmed cycles. The primary outcome is the live birth rate. Our study is powered at 80 to detect an absolute difference of 10 at the significance level of 0.01 based on a two-sided test. DISCUSSION: We hypothesize that elective embryo cryopreservation and frozen–thawed embryo transfer will reduce the incidence of pregnancy complications and increase the live birth rate in PCOS patients who need IVF to achieve pregnancy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0184152

Expression of tung tree diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 in E. coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) catalyze the final and rate-limiting step of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in eukaryotic organisms. Database search has identified at least 59 DGAT1 sequences from 48 organisms, but the expression of any DGAT1 as a full-length protein in <it>E. coli </it>had not been reported because DGAT1s are integral membrane proteins and difficult to express and purify. The objective of this study was to establish a procedure for expressing full-length DGAT1 in <it>E. coli</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An expression plasmid containing the open reading frame for tung tree (<it>Vernicia fordii</it>) DGAT1 fused to maltose binding protein and poly-histidine affinity tags was constructed and expressed in <it>E. coli </it>BL21(DE3). Immunoblotting showed that the recombinant DGAT1 (rDGAT1) was expressed, but mostly targeted to the membranes and insoluble fractions. Extensive degradation also occurred. Nonetheless, the fusion protein was partially purified from the soluble fraction by Ni-NTA and amylose resin affinity chromatography. Multiple proteins co-purified with DGAT1 fusion protein. These fractions appeared yellow in color and contained fatty acids. The rDGAT1 was solubilized from the insoluble fraction by seven detergents and urea, with SDS and Triton X-100 being the most effective detergents. The solubilized rDGAT1 was partially purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. PreScission protease digestion confirmed the identity of rDGAT1 and showed extensive precipitation following Ni-NTA affinity purification.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study reports the first procedure for expressing full-length DGAT1 from any species using a bacterial expression system. The results suggest that recombinant DGAT1 is degraded extensively from the carboxyl terminus and associated with other proteins, lipids, and membranes.</p

Cytosolic and Nucleosolic Calcium Signaling in Response to Osmotic and Salt Stresses Are Independent of Each Other in Roots of Arabidopsis Seedlings

Calcium acts as a universal second messenger in both developmental processes and responses to environmental stresses. Previous research has shown that a number of stimuli can induce [Ca2+] increases in both the cytoplasm and nucleus in plants. However, the relationship between cytosolic and nucleosolic calcium signaling remains obscure. Here, we generated transgenic plants containing a fusion protein, comprising rat parvalbumin (PV) with either a nuclear export sequence (PV-NES) or a nuclear localization sequence (NLS-PV), to selectively buffer the cytosolic or nucleosolic calcium. Firstly, we found that the osmotic stress-induced cytosolic [Ca2+] increase (OICIcyt) and the salt stress-induced cytosolic [Ca2+] increase (SICIcyt) were impaired in the PV-NES lines compared with the Arabidopsis wildtype (WT). Similarly, the osmotic stress-induced nucleosolic [Ca2+] increase (OICInuc) and salt stress-induced nucleosolic [Ca2+] increase (SICInuc) were also disrupted in the NLS-PV lines. These results indicate that PV can effectively buffer the increase of [Ca2+] in response to various stimuli in Arabidopsis. However, the OICIcyt and SICIcyt in the NLS-PV plants were similar to those in the WT, and the OICInuc and SICInuc in the PV-NES plants were also same as those in the WT, suggesting that the cytosolic and nucleosolic calcium dynamics are mutually independent. Furthermore, we found that osmotic stress- and salt stress-inhibited root growth was reduced dramatically in the PV-NES and NLS-PV lines, while the osmotic stress-induced increase of the lateral root primordia was higher in the PV-NES plants than either the WT or NLS-PV plants. In addition, several stress-responsive genes, namely CML37, DREB2A, MYB2, RD29A, and RD29B, displayed diverse expression patterns in response to osmotic and salt stress in the PV-NES and NLS-PV lines when compared with the WT. Together, these results imply that the cytosolic and nucleosolic calcium signaling coexist to play the pivotal roles in the growth and development of plants and their responses to environment stresses