Chinese tea ceremony spirit revival

The history of tea dates back to ancient China, almost 5,000 years ago, though at this point tea is well-integrated into the history and civilization of various countries throughout the world. However, China, as the birthplace of the tea ceremony, has lost widespread understanding of the traditions they innovated. For example, the Sencha method that once flourished in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the whisked tea method in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has already been entirely lost. Today the brewing tea methods passed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are nearly lost. The Chinese traditional tea ceremony is facing unprecedented challenges since the national transition to a free market economy, which ushered in foreign traditions and a focus on profitability. A further challenge in the survival of these traditions into modernity, in ancient times, the Chinese tea ceremony was usually performed in a natural environment away from the urban area, but for the generation living in modern cities built with steel and concrete nature is distant. The traditional Chinese tea ceremony that advocates people to establish a special harmonious relationship with nature both in physical and spiritual aspects has become an unattainable dream for most city dwellers. So, what can be done to revive the Chinese tea ceremony in our modern city environment? In the context of urban daily life throughout the world, separate from nature and full of stressors, I want to use the capabilities of space to tell the story of this vital tool to connect humans with nature and each other. This connection is expressed through the five ideological realms of Chinese tea ceremony. There are two parts of the design proposal. Based on Lu Yu\u27s book The Classic of Tea, which focuses on the tea ceremony during the Tang Dynasty and other articles on tea ceremony culture from both the Ming and Qing Dynasties, combined with the depiction of tearoom arrangement in ancient paintings, this thesis will reveal a blueprint for the physical setting necessary for Chinese tea ceremony culture to survive. The next goal of the design is to apply this blueprint throughout modern urban space, so that the ancient culture can not only enter Chinese people\u27s lives again, but also people who live in other countries. In this way the world will understand the Chinese tea ceremony culture more accurately, and the spirit of this important tradition can be passed on

Genomewide Analysis of Carotenoid Cleavage Dioxygenases in Unicellular and Filamentous Cyanobacteria

Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs) are a group of enzymes that catalyze the oxidative cleavage steps from carotenoids to various carotenoid cleavage products. Some ccd genes have been identified and encoded enzymes functionally characterized in many higher plants, but little in cyanobacteria. We performed a comparative analysis of ccd sequences and explored their distribution, classification, phylogeny, evolution, and structure among 37 cyanobacteria. Totally 61 putative ccd sequences were identified, which are abundant in Acaryochloris marina MBIC 11017, filamentous N2-fixing cyanobacteria, and unicellular cyanobacterial Cyanothece. According to phylogenetic trees of 16S rDNA and CCD, nced and ccd8 genes occur later than the divergence of ccd7, apco, and ccd1. All CCD enzymes share conserved basic structure domains constituted by a single loop formed with seven β-strands and one helix. In this paper, a general framework of sequence-function-evolution connection for the ccd has been revealed, which may provide new insight for functional investigation

Diagnostic Value of Transbronchial Needle Aspiration and Endobronchial Ultrasoundguided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration for Hilar and Mediastinal Lymph Nodes in Lung Cancer Patients

Background and objective Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and endobronchial ultrasoundguided TBNA (EBUS-TBNA) have been applied to the diagnosis for mediastinal lymph nodes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical value and safety of TBNA and EBUS-TBNA on hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes of lung cancer patients. Methods Two hundred fifty patients with suspected lung cancer were enrolled. All petients with hilar and/or mediastinal lymphoadenopathy found by CT scan received TBNA, biopsy and brushing. EBUS-TBNA was performed in 15 patients among them. Results Lung cancer were confirmed in 180 patients by TBNA, biopsy and brushing. The positive rates were 82.86%, 51.24% and 45.45%. Fifteen patients after EBUS-TBNA had a positive rate of 91.67%. Conclusion TBNA and EBUS-TBNA were proved to be safe procedure with a high yield for the diagnosis of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer patients

Fault estimation for time-varying systems with Round-Robin protocol

summary:This paper is concerned with the design problem of finite-horizon $H_\infty$ fault estimator for a class of nonlinear time-varying systems with Round-Robin protocol scheduling. The faults are assumed to occur in a random way governed by a Bernoulli distributed white sequence. The communication between the sensor nodes and fault estimators is implemented via a shared network. In order to prevent the data from collisions, a Round-Robin protocol is utilized to orchestrate the transmission of sensor nodes. By means of the stochastic analysis technique and the completing squares method, a necessary and sufficient condition is established for the existence of fault estimator ensuring that the estimation error dynamics satisfies the prescribed $H_\infty$ constraint. The time-varying parameters of fault estimator are obtained by recursively solving a set of coupled backward Riccati difference equations. A simulation example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design scheme of the fault estimator

A New Anthracene Derivative from Marine Streptomyces sp. W007 Exhibiting Highly and Selectively Cytotoxic Activities

A new anthracene derivative, 3-hydroxy-1-keto-3-methyl-8-methoxy-1,2,3, 4-tetrahydro-benz[α]anthracene, was isolated from the marine strain Streptomyces sp. W007, and its structure was established by spectroscopic analysis including mass spectra, 1D- and 2D-NMR (1H–1H COSY, HMBC, HSQC and NOESY) experiments. 3-hydroxy-1-keto-3-methyl-8-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-benz[α]anthracene showed cytotoxicity against human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549

Association between life’s essential 8 and periodontitis: a study based on NHANES 2009–2014

BackgroundThis research aims to investigate the relationship between Life’s Essentials 8 (LE8), the American Heart Association’s latest indicator, and periodontitis. The purpose is to provide guidance on preventative measures.MethodsData for our investigation were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009–2014, with a total of 8,784 participants eligible. LE8 scores were compiled from 8 index scores (the score for each component of diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep duration, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure). Periodontitis was classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Periodontology (CDC/AAP). The study utilized multivariable logistic analyses to investigate the potential correlation.ResultsAfter controlling for all covariates, LE8 was discovered to have a significant negative correlation with periodontitis prevalence [0.91 (0.88, 0.94)]. This trend continued to hold statistical significance even after converting LE8 into a categorical variable. Furthermore, a noteworthy adverse correlation was discovered across both genders, specifically males [0.35 (0.22, 0.55)] and females [0.39 (0.25, 0.60)], as well as for the majority of categorical classifications, namely ethnicity, age, education level, and marital status. However, only the age subgroups displayed some degree of significant difference from each other.ConclusionLife’s essential 8 was negatively associated with periodontitis, but more prospective trails are needed to confirm our findings