Assessing the Impacts of China’s Accession to the WTO

Màster Oficial d'Internacionalització, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor: Dr. Marta Abegón NovellaThis paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of China's accession to the WTO after 22 years, from the perspective of political, economic, and social impacts. The findings of this paper demonstrate that China's accession has had a generally positive impact on its politics and economy. China's international standing has been increasing due to its growing economy. With the rapid growth in trade flow, China has experienced continuous trade surpluses. The labor-intensive manufacturing industry has experienced significant growth, particularly in electronics, textiles, and clothing. Although the automotive and agriculture industries have struggled to compete with international enterprises. However, the social impact that WTO accession has brought to the country was generally negative. Income inequality and educational attainment in China remain concerns post-accession. These findings can inform relevant policymakers and stakeholders in developing appropriate measures for the future

Adaptive Excitation Control for the Underactuated Biped Robot

AbstractA control method to make the chaotic gait converge to a stable cycle gait is proposed for the biped robot with knees. This control method is called adaptive excitation control. It is based on the principle of bionics and the principle of self-excited. The control law is a combination of sinusoidal input and sensory feedback control. The control torque is only inputted into the robot's hip. Therefore, the walking process is low energy consuming. Simulation results show that the control method proposed in this paper is effective. It can enlarge the basin of attraction of limit cycle and increase the gait stability

Adherence to anti-tuberculosis treatment among pulmonary tuberculosis patients: a qualitative and quantitative study

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) patients have difficulty following a long-term treatment regimen. Efforts to improve treatment outcomes require better understanding of adherence as a complex behavioral issue and of the particular barriers to and facilitators of patient adherence. METHODS: This study was carried out in Jiangsu Province of China with both quantitative and qualitative approaches. For the quantitative study, 780 sputum-smear positive TB patients consecutively registered since 2006 in 13 counties (districts) were queried with a structured questionnaire. Patients who had missed 10% of their total prescribed doses of TB drugs were deemed as non-adherent. Risks for non-adherence were estimated by computing odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) using a logistic regression model. We also invited 20 TB patients and 10 local health workers for in-depth interviews. We then used content analysis based on this qualitative study to explore factors associated with non-adherence. RESULTS: The proportion of non-adherence among 670 patients was 12.2%. Univariate analysis showed that patients, who were illiterate, divorced/widowed, lacked health insurance and were migrants, were more likely to be non-adherent. The crude ORs(95%CIs) were 2.38(1.37-4.13), 2.42(1.30-4.52), 1.89(1.07-3.32) and 1.98(1.03-3.83), respectively. The risk of non-adherence was lower among patients whose treatment was given under direct observation by village doctors or regular home visits by health workers, with ORs (95% CIs) of 0.19(0.10-0.36) and 0.23(0.10-0.51), respectively. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with non-adherence included illiteracy (OR: 2.42; 95% CI: 1.25-4.67) and direct observation by village doctors (OR: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.11-0.45). The in-depth interviews indicated that financial burdens and extra medical expenditures, adverse drug reactions, and social stigma were additional potential factors accounted for non-adherence. CONCLUSION: More importance should be given to treatment adherence under the current TB control program. Heavy financial burdens, lack of social support, adverse drug reactions and personal factors are associated with non-adherence. Direct observation and regular home visits by health workers appear to reduce the risk of non-adherence. More patient-centered interventions and greater attention to structural barriers are needed to improve treatment adherence

Expression and characterization of recombinant thermostable alkaline phosphatase from a novel thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus XM

A gene (tap) encoding a thermostable alkaline phosphatase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus XM was cloned and sequenced. It is 1506 bp long and encodes a protein of 501 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 54.7 kDa. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with other alkaline phosphatases showed that the regions in the vicinity of the phosphorylation site and metal binding sites are highly conserved. The recombinant thermostable alkaline phosphatase was expressed as a His(6)-tagged fusion protein in Escherichia coli and its enzymatic properties were characterized after purification. The pH and temperature optima for the recombinant thermostable alkaline phosphatases activity were pH 12 and 75 degrees C. As expected, the enzyme displayed high thermostability, retaining more than 50% activity after incubating for 6 h at 80 degrees C. Its catalytic function was accelerated in the presence of 0.1 mM Co2+, Fe2+, Mg2+, or Mn2+ but was strongly inhibited by 2.0 mM Fe2+. Under optimal conditions, the Michaelis constant (K-m) for cleavage of p-nitrophenyl-phosphate was 0.034 mM. Although it has much in common with other alkaline phosphatases, the recombinant thermostable alkaline phosphatase possesses some unique features, such as high optimal pH and good thermostability

Overexpression of lncRNA-MEG3 inhibits endometrial cell proliferation and invasion via miR-21–5p/DNMT3B/Twist

Recent studies have found that lncRNA-MEG3(MEG3) plays an important role in the development of EMs (Endometriosis), but the specific mechanism needs to be further explored. This study aimed to investigate the effect of MEG3 on the proliferation, invasion of EMs cells. The authors used RT-qPCR to detect the expression of MEG3 and miR-21–5p in EMs tissues and hESCs cells, MTT and Transwell to detect cell proliferation and invasion, western blotting assay to detect the expression of DNMT3B and Twist, MSP to detect the methylation of Twist. The present study's detection results showed that MEG3 was lowly expressed in EMs tissues and hESCs cells, and overexpression of MEG3 could down-regulate miR-21–5p and inhibit endometrial cell proliferation and invasion. In addition, overexpression of MEG3 upregulated the expression of DNMT3B and promoted the methylation of TWIST. In conclusion, the present findings suggest that MEG3 is downregulated in EMs tissues, and overexpression of MEG3 can promote the activity of DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B by downregulating miR-21–5p, thereby promoting the methylation of Twist, downregulating Twist level to inhibits hESCs cells proliferation and invasion

Proteomic analysis of the major envelope and nucleocapsid proteins of white spot syndrome virus

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) virions were purified from the tissues of infected Procambarus clarkii (crayfish) isolates. Pure WSSV preparations were subjected to Triton X-100 treatment to separate into the envelope and nucleocapsid fractions, which were subsequently separated by 12% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The major envelope and nucleocapsid proteins were identified by either matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry or defined antibody. A total of 30 structural proteins of WSSV were identified in this study; 22 of these were detected in the envelope fraction, 7 in the nucleocapsid fraction, and 1 in both the envelope and the nucleocapsid fractions. With the aid of specific antibodies, the localizations of eight proteins were further studied. The analysis of posttranslational modifications revealed that none of the WSSV structural proteins was glycosylated and that VP28 and VP19 were threonine phosphorylated. In addition, far-Western and coimmunoprecipitation experiments showed that VP28 interacted with both VP26 and VP24. In summary, the data obtained in this study should provide an important reference for future molecular studies of WSSV morphogenesis