China's Economic Diplomacy and Sino-EU Relations

La cooperación económica y las relaciones comerciales son la base en las relaciones UE-China. Desde hace varias décadas, su cooperación en la economía y en el comercio se desarrolló mucho más rápidamente que sus relaciones políticas. El diálogo a distintos niveles de una amplia gama de asuntos ayuda a institucionalizar las relaciones bilaterales, a regularizar el intercambio bilateral y a fortalecer la comunicación y el mutuo entendimiento. La UE se mantiene como primer socio comercial de China y a su vez China es el segundo de la UE. La diplomacia económica constituye una parte importante en las relaciones Sino-europeas. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, junto con el ascenso de China y la crisis del euro, hay nuevos retos para estas relaciones económicas bilaterales y comerciales. La diplomacia económica de China debe ser revisada para hacer frente a los cambios y a los desafíos. Este documento se compone de las siguientes partes: después de revisar las relaciones UE-China, se definirá la diplomacia económica de China y sus características y analizará cuatro casos de diplomacia económica de China en sus relaciones con la UE. En las conclusiones se analizarán los retos para esta colaboración.Economic cooperation and trade relations are the cornerstones in EU-China relations. For several decades, their cooperation in economy and trade developed much more rapidly than their political relations. Dialogue at different levels covering a broad range of issues help institutionalize bilateral ties, regularize bilateral exchange and strengthen communication and mutual understanding. The EU stays as China’s largest trading partner and China the EU’s second largest trading partner. Economic diplomacy serves as an important part in Sino-EU relations. Yet, in recent years, along with China’s rise and the euro crisis, there are new challenges to bilateral economic and trade relations. China’s economic diplomacy needs to be revised in order to deal with the changes and meet the challenges. This paper will be composed of the following parts: after a review of EU-China relations, it will define China’s economic diplomacy and its features and analyse four cases of China’s economic diplomacy in its relations with the EU. In the conclusion, it will examine the challenges for the partnership

Northeast Asia Security and China's Role

The Mongolian Journal of International Affairs; Number 11, 2004, Page 55-74 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjia.v0i11.10

Spectroscopic analysis of 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium ionic liquids: cation-anion interactions

In this study, four 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium ionic liquids are analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, together with three 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids. A reliable fitting model for the carbon 1s region of 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium ionic liquids is modified according to estab- lished models. The effect of the anion on the electronic environment of the cation is explored based upon the comparison between measured binding energies of nitrogen 1s and the hydrogen bond acceptor abil- ity. The effect of the cation on the cation-anion interaction is also demonstrated by carefully comparing the hydrogen bond donating ability of different cations, with a definite anion

ELAC2/RNaseZ-linked cardiac hypertrophy in Drosophila melanogaster

A severe form of infantile cardiomyopathy (CM) has been linked to mutations in ELAC2, a highly conserved human gene. It encodes Zinc phosphodiesterase ELAC protein 2 (ELAC2), which plays an essential role in the production of mature tRNAs. To establish a causal connection between ELAC2 variants and CM, here we used the Drosophila melanogaster model organism, which carries the ELAC2 homolog RNaseZ. Even though RNaseZ and ELAC2 have diverged in some of their biological functions, our study demonstrates the use of the fly model to study the mechanism of ELAC2-related pathology. We established transgenic lines harboring RNaseZ with CM-linked mutations in the background of endogenous RNaseZ knockout. Importantly, we found that the phenotype of these flies is consistent with the pathological features in human patients. Specifically, expression of CM-linked variants in flies caused heart hypertrophy and led to reduction in cardiac contractility associated with a rare form of CM. This study provides first experimental evidence for the pathogenicity of CM-causing mutations in the ELAC2 protein, and the foundation to improve our understanding and diagnosis of this rare infantile disease. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper

FlyNet 2.0: Drosophila heart 3D (2D + time) segmentation in optical coherence microscopy images using a convolutional long short-term memory neural network

A custom convolutional neural network (CNN) integrated with convolutional long short-term memory (LSTM) achieves accurate 3D (2D + time) segmentation in cross-sectional videos of the Drosophila heart acquired by an optical coherence microscopy (OCM) system. While our previous FlyNet 1.0 model utilized regular CNNs to extract 2D spatial information from individual video frames, convolutional LSTM, FlyNet 2.0, utilizes both spatial and temporal information to improve segmentation performance further. To train and test FlyNet 2.0, we used 100 datasets including 500,000 fly heart OCM images. OCM videos in three developmental stages and two heartbeat situations were segmented achieving an intersection over union (IOU) accuracy of 92%. This increased segmentation accuracy allows morphological and dynamic cardiac parameters to be better quantified

Global epidemiology of clonorchiasis and its relation with cholangiocarcinoma

Human beings are infected through ingestion of raw or undercooked fish, which contains the metacercariae of liver flukes. This paper reviews the epidemiological status and characteristics of clonorchiasis at global level and the relationship between Clonorchis sinensis infection and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Liver flukes are a polyphyletic group of trematodes, including Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini and Opisthorchis felineus. Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a cancer of the bile ducts. The epidemiology of clonorchiasis is characterized by a rising trend in prevalence, variability among sex and age, as well as endemicity in different regions. Accurate evaluation of prevalence is necessary to promote adoption of suitable interventions

The efficacy of mitochondrial targeting antiresistant epirubicin liposomes in treating resistant leukemia in animals

Ying Men*, Xiao-Xing Wang*, Ruo-Jing Li, Yan Zhang, Wei Tian, Hong-Juan Yao, Rui-Jun Ju, Xue Ying, Jia Zhou, Nan Li, Liang Zhang, Yang Yu, Wan-Liang LuState Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this manuscriptBackground: Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancers can be circumvented by inducing programmed cell death, which is known as apoptosis. Mitochondria play a crucial role in apoptosis. Mitochondria-specific therapy would provide an efficient strategy for treating resistant cancers.Design and methods: A strategy was proposed here to overcome MDR by designing cancer mitochondria-specific drug-loaded liposomes, namely, antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes, aimed at treating resistant leukemia by targeting mitochondria. Evaluations were performed on human chronic leukemia K562, MDR K562/ADR cells, and female BALB/c nude mice xenografted with MDR K562/ADR cells. The liposomes were characterized through assays of cytotoxicity, mitochondrial targeting, caspase-9 and caspase-3, antitumor activities, and TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling) analysis.Results: The average size of antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes was in the range of 105–115 nm. Antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes were effective in inhibiting proliferation of MDR K562/ADR cells in vitro and selectively accumulated into the mitochondria. Caspase-9 and caspase-3 activity was increased after applying antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes. In xenografted resistant MDR K562/ADR tumor in nude mice, antiresistant tumor effect of antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes was evidently observed. Apoptotic inducing effects by antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes were noticeably evidenced via mitochondrial pathway.Conclusions: Antiresistant epirubicin mitosomes had significant inhibitory effect against resistant leukemia in vitro and in vivo, hence providing a promising strategy for improving therapeutic efficacy in resistant human leukemia.Keywords: mitosomes, mitochondria signaling pathway, nude mic

Disability Weight of Clonorchis sinensis Infection: Captured from Community Study and Model Simulation

Clonorchiasis is caused by eating incompletely cooked fishery product which carries the larval of Clonorchis sinensis. Millions of people are estimated to suffer in Southeast Asia. However, it is still among the most neglected tropical diseases due to the lack of clear evaluation, of which no disease burden available is one important reason. Our study is the first attempt to estimate the disability of C. sinensis infection, which reflects the average loss of life value due to some conditions and is crucial for calculating disease burden in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). After obtaining the probability and disability of single sequelae caused by C. sinensis infection through community investigation and literatures reviewing respectively, the overall disability was captured through model simulation. It was showed the overall disability of the male was higher than that of the female, positive correlation occurred between disability and infection intensity, and gallstone took the major attributable proportion. Thus, C. sinensis infection can cause apparent disability. The disability captured here may promote the further studies and benefit the final estimation of disease burden, which will promote health awareness and implementation of intervention