從《聊齋誌異．青蛙神》看文學對蛙神話的吸收、轉化與以意創造

中國蛙神話並不限於中原地區及南方地區，藏族地區、北方少數民族也流傳著各種形態的蛙神話及其變體、變異的民間文學作品128。在考古的發現中， 彩陶蛙紋的分佈地區廣泛，從中原綿延至西北，如：河南省澠池縣的仰韶村、 陝縣的廟底溝、陝西省華陰縣的西關堡、臨潼縣的姜寨、甘肅省的馬家窯、青海省樂都縣的柳灣等129，可見中國的蛙崇拜出現很早，且出現於不同的地區。 文學創作雖然為文學家天馬行空的想像，但也往往能表現當時社會的一些文化、習俗，故本文欲借《聊齋誌異‧青蛙神》討論文學作品對蛙神話的吸收、 轉化與以意創造

A Model to Induce Low Temperature Trauma for in vitro Astrogliosis Study*

Astrogliosis is an inevitable and rapid response of astrocytes to physical, chemical and pathological injuries. To study astrogliosis, we developed a reproducible in vitro model in which low temperature injury to cultured astrocytes could be induced by placing the culture dish onto a copper pipe pre-cooled by liquid nitrogen. Using this model, the relationship between the temperature decline and the severity of cellular damage was analyzed. An increase in the expression of some known injury-related proteins, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), immediate early response genes (IEGs), and heat shock proteins 70 (HSP70), was demonstrated in astrocytes after low temperature trauma. With the use of this low temperature trauma model, the flexibility in the temperature control and injury area may allow researchers to evaluate cryotherapy and cryosurgery, which could be applicable to future development of quality health care

Injury induced expression of cytokines in cultured astrocyte

Mechanical trauma and cerebral ischemia are two major types of injury in the central nervous system. After sujected to these injuries, brain would develop immune response. It is known that the proinflammatory cytokines - interleukin 1 (IL- lα), tumour necrosis factor a (TNFα), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interferon γ (IFNγ) are responsible for triggering immune response. Due to the presence of the blood brain barrier, resident brain cells were thought to be the early sources of these cytokines. Therefore, the expression of these cytokines in astrocyte, one of the major cell types in brain, was studied under either mechanical or ischemic injury. Because of the complexity of the brain, two in vitro injury models were created using confluent primary cultures of astrocyte. One was the scratch wound model and the other was the anaerobic chamber induced ischemic model. In the scratch wound model, cells along the scratch showed positive staining to IL- lα TNF[alpha][alpha] and IL-6 antibodies. No cells could be stained by IFNγ antibody. By using double immunostaining, astrocyte was shown to express IL-lα and IL-6. As the cytokines are secretory proteins, the changes in the levels of these cytokines in the culture media were also measured. The levels of these cytokines increased with time after scratch. In the ischemic model, the gene expressions of IL-lα, TNF[alpha][alpha] and IL-6 were enhanced. Also, all of the proinflammatory cytokines increased in the media of the cultured astrocyte under ischemic injury. This study provided information on the expressions of the proinflammatory cytokines after mechanical injury and ischemic injury. This information would help to understand the development of brain immune response after injury

Development of multiplex nucleic acid sequence-based amplification for detection of human respiratory tract viruses

b s t r a c t A group of common lower respiratory tract infections, influenza A, influenza B, human parainfluenza virus 1-4 (HPIV1-4), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rubella virus (RV) and Coxsackie virus (CSV), were selected for the development of a multiplex nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) assay. Quantifiable measurement utilizing an enzyme-linked oligonucleotide capture (EOC) optical detection method, which was described previously, alleviated the requirement of specialized instrumentation that is commonly used in other molecular techniques. Multiplex NASBA-EOC provided rapid and specific detection of a single virus from a multiplexed group, reducing laboratory testing time and enabling high throughput screening. The uniquely designed primers and probes proved to be highly sensitive and specific, exemplifying the robustness of the multiplex NASBA-EOC technique

Amethod to detect major serotypes of foot-and-mouth disease virus,”

Abstract Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) is an isothermal technique that allows the rapid amplification of specific regions of nucleic acid obtained from a diverse range of sources. It is especially suitable for amplifying RNA sequences. A rapid and specific NASBA technique was developed, allowing the detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus genetic material in a range of sample material, including preserved skin biopsy material from infected animals, vaccines prepared from denatured cell-free material, and cell-free antigen-based detection kits. A single pair of DNA oligonucleotide primers was able to amplify examples of all major FMD virus subtypes. The amplified viral RNA was detected by electrochemiluminescence. The method was at least as sensitive as existing cell-free antigen detection methods.

Population-Wide Genetic Risk Prediction of Complex Diseases: A Pilot Feasibility Study in Macau Population for Precision Public Healthcare Planning

Abstract The genetic bases of many common diseases have been identified through genome-wide association studies in the past decade. However, the application of this approach on public healthcare planning has not been well established. Using Macau with population of around 650,000 as a basis, we conducted a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of population genomic research and its potential on public health decisions. By performing genome-wide SNP genotyping of over a thousand Macau individuals, we evaluated the population genetic risk profiles of 47 non-communicable diseases and traits, as well as two traits associated with influenza infection. We found that for most of the diseases, the genetic risks of Macau population were different from those of Caucasian, but with similar profile with mainland Chinese. We also identified a panel of diseases that Macau population may have a high or elevated genetic risks. This pilot study showed that (1) population genomic study is feasible in Asian regions like Macau; (2) Macau may have different profile of population-based genetic risks than Caucasians, (3) the different prevalence of genetic risk profile indicates the importance of Asian-specific studies for Asian populations; and (4) the results generated may have an impact for going forward healthcare planning