Sustainable Developmental Evaluation of Foreign Trade Based on Emergy Analysis Method in Shenzhen City, China

The foreign trade sustainable development index system of Shenzhen City, including the three subsystems of environment, economy, and society, was constructed based on the theory of emergy analysis. The sustainable development of foreign trade in Shenzhen City from 2009 to 2016 was evaluated, and a detailed analysis of changes in the emergy of light and heavy industries was performed. The results showed that the scale of economy has been expanding, and the total volume of imports and exports has turned from a rise to a decline in 2013. The status of sustainable development is not optimistic. The transaction volume of energy is reduced, and the quality of people’s living environment is declining. The sustainable development of Shenzhen City is not perfect, but it is in a phase of gradual optimization. Moreover, the proportion of heavy industry in import and export trade is significantly higher than that of light industry, which has caused the outflow of energy to a certain extent. Therefore, to improve the level of foreign trade sustainable development, the efficiency of resource utilization must be improved. The import of energy products must be increased, the ability to cope with external interference must be strengthened, and the foreign trade industrial structure must be adjusted

Cross-sectoral urban energy–water–land nexus framework within a multiscale economy: The case of Chinese megacities

Energy, water, and land (EWL) are finite critical resources that should be appropriately managed for sustainable urban development. They are intertwined with each other in the urban system. Previous studies lacked a general framework and a deeply cross-sectoral analysis that simultaneously considered all the sectors within the urban economic system of multiple resources. This study introduced an urban ternary multidimensional nexus (UTMDN) framework for modelling complex urban EWL nexus, connecting in- and trans-boundary interactions by the environmental extended multiscale input–output (EE-MSIO) model. We applied this approach to a comparative study of four Chinese megacities in different economic sectors. Results showed that the top-consuming sectors were heterogeneous on EWL and that the impacts of urban consumption-oriented behaviour extended beyond the urban boundaries. In particular, the sectors of construction, electricity, gas & water, and others were the main consumption-based energy consumers. The agriculture and food sectors were the major consumption-based water and land consumers. These sectors mostly relied on domestic imports for the four megacities. By contrast, Chongqing's embodied water and land flows in the agriculture sector relied more on local (in-boundary) supply. The obtained results proved that this framework could constitute a solid foundation for assessing the cross-sectoral, in- and trans-boundary EWL nexus of critical sectors centred on cities. These sectoral-based analyses can support industrial restructuring and collaborative management of EWL resources for future urban development plans

Aberrant Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Derived from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells of a Retinitis Pigmentosa Patient with the PRPF6 Mutation

Pre-mRNA processing factors (PRPFs) are vital components of the spliceosome and are involved in the physiological process necessary for pre-mRNA splicing to mature mRNA. As an important member, PRPF6 mutation resulting in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) is not common. Recently, we reported the establishment of an induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs; CSUASOi004-A) model by reprogramming the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a PRPF6-related adRP patient, which could recapitulate a consistent disease-specific genotype. In this study, a disease model of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells was generated from the iPSCs of this patient to further investigate the underlying molecular and pathological mechanisms. The results showed the irregular morphology, disorganized apical microvilli and reduced expressions of RPE-specific genes in the patient’s iPSC-derived RPE cells. In addition, RPE cells carrying the PRPF6 mutation displayed a decrease in the phagocytosis of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled photoreceptor outer segments and exhibited impaired cell polarity and barrier function. This study will benefit the understanding of PRPF6-related RPE cells and future cell therapy