The Evolution and Prospect of Deliberative Democracy in Chinese Constitutional Arrangement

As the specific form of socialist democratic politics in the People’s Republic of China (simplified as PRC hereinafter), the generation and practice of consultative democracy are due to the reality and necessity of culture, history and logic. The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (simplified as CPPCC hereinafter) is the major channel of consultative democracy, and the logical starting point of the power system in PRC, too. Consultative democracy not only promotes the democratic transition of CPPCC in the new times, but also updates the concept of constitutional implementation. Interests’ curing currently is the huge obstacle to prevent the reform. As an important part of comprehensively further reform, the development of PRC’s constitution must make a positive response to this to perfect consultative democracy and the relevant systems of constitutional implementation

Transcriptional Activation of OsDERF1 in OsERF3 and OsAP2-39 Negatively Modulates Ethylene Synthesis and Drought Tolerance in Rice

The phytohormone ethylene is a key signaling molecule that regulates a variety of developmental processes and stress responses in plants. Transcriptional modulation is a pivotal process controlling ethylene synthesis, which further triggers the expression of stress-related genes and plant adaptation to stresses; however, it is unclear how this process is transcriptionally modulated in rice. In the present research, we report the transcriptional regulation of a novel rice ethylene response factor (ERF) in ethylene synthesis and drought tolerance. Through analysis of transcriptional data, one of the drought-responsive ERF genes, OsDERF1, was identified for its activation in response to drought, ethylene and abscisic acid. Transgenic plants overexpressing OsDERF1 (OE) led to reduced tolerance to drought stress in rice at seedling stage, while knockdown of OsDERF1 (RI) expression conferred enhanced tolerance at seedling and tillering stages. This regulation was supported by negative modulation in osmotic adjustment response. To elucidate the molecular basis of drought tolerance, we identified the target genes of OsDERF1 using the Affymetrix GeneChip, including the activation of cluster stress-related negative regulators such as ERF repressors. Biochemical and molecular approaches showed that OsDERF1 at least directly interacted with the GCC box in the promoters of ERF repressors OsERF3 and OsAP2-39. Further investigations showed that OE seedlings had reduced expression (while RI lines showed enhanced expression) of ethylene synthesis genes, thereby resulting in changes in ethylene production. Moreover, overexpression of OsERF3/OsAP2-39 suppressed ethylene synthesis. In addition, application of ACC recovered the drought-sensitive phenotype in the lines overexpressing OsERF3, showing that ethylene production contributed to drought response in rice. Thus our data reveal that a novel ERF transcriptional cascade modulates drought response through controlling the ethylene synthesis, deepening our understanding of the regulation of ERF proteins in ethylene related drought response

Clinical and genetic findings in Chinese families with congenital ectopia lentis

Abstract Background Congenital ectopia lentis (EL) refers to the congenital dysplasia or weakness of the lens suspensory ligament, resulting in an abnormal position of the crystalline lens, which can appear as isolated EL or as an ocular manifestation of a syndrome, such as the Marfan syndrome. The fibrillin‐1 protein encoded by the FBN1 gene is an essential component of the lens zonules. Mutations in FBN1 are the leading causes of congenital EL and Marfan syndrome. Owing to the complexity and individual heterogeneity of FBN1 gene mutations, the correlation between FBN1 mutation characteristics and various clinical phenotypes remains unclear. Methods This study describes the clinical characteristics and identifies possible causative genes in eight families with Marfan syndrome or isolated EL using Sanger and whole‐exome sequencing. Results Eight FBN1 mutations were identified in these families, of which three (c.5065G > C, c.1600 T > A, and c.2210G > C) are reported for the first time. Based on in silico analyses, we hypothesized that these mutations may be pathogenic by affecting the fibrillin‐1 protein structure and function. Conclusion These findings expand the number of known mutations involved in EL and provide a reference for the research on their genotype and phenotype associations

Mo-Doped Cu₂S Multilayer Nanosheets Grown In Situ on Copper Foam for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Metal sulfide electrocatalyst is developed as a cost-effective and promising candidate for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we report a novel Mo-doped Cu2S self-supported electrocatalyst grown in situ on three-dimensional copper foam via a facile sulfurization treatment method. Interestingly, Mo-Cu2S nanosheet structure increases the electrochemically active area, and the large fleecy multilayer flower structure assembled by small nanosheet facilitates the flow of electrolyte in and out. More broadly, the introduction of Mo can adjust the electronic structure, significantly increase the volmer step rate, and accelerate the reaction kinetics. As compared to the pure Cu2S self-supported electrocatalyst, the Mo-Cu2S/CF show much better alkaline HER performance with lower overpotential (18 mV at 10 mA cm−2, 322 mV at 100 mA cm−2) and long-term durability. Our work constructs a novel copper based in-situ metal sulfide electrocatalysts and provides a new idea to adjust the morphology and electronic structure by doping for promoting HER performance

Well-Defined Ultrasmall V-NiP₂ Nanoparticles Anchored g-C₃N₄ Nanosheets as Highly Efficient Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysts for H₂ Evolution

Exploring low-cost and highly active, cost-effective cocatalysts is of great significance to improve the hydrogen evolution performance of semiconductor photocatalysts. Herein, a novel ultrasmall V-doped NiP2 nanoparticle, as an efficient cocatalyst, is reported to largely upgrade the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of g-C3N4 nanosheets under visible-light irradiation. Experimental results demonstrate that V-NiP2 cocatalyst can enhance the visible-light absorption ability, facilitate the separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs and boost the transfer ability of electrons of g-C3N4. Moreover, the V-NiP2/g-C3N4 hybrid exhibits prominent photocatalytic HER activity 17 times higher than the pristine g-C3N4 counterpart, even outperforming the 1 wt.% platinum-loaded g-C3N4. This work displays that noble-metal-free V-NiP2 cocatalyst can serve as a promising and efficient alternative to Pt for high-efficiency photocatalytic H2 evolution

Unveiling the relationships between (010) facets-orientation growth and photocatalytic activity in W18O49 nanowires

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Crystal facets-orientation growth plays a crucial role in determining photocatalytic performance. Herein, a series of (010) facets-oriented W18O49 nanowires were controllably synthesized by a facile solvothermal alcoholysis method using octadecylamine as the crystal growth capping agent in order to regulate the specific growth behavior and unveil its correlation with photocatalytic performance. The properties of the prepared W18O49 nanowires, such as surface oxygen vacancies, light absorption and the band gap size, as well as the surface charge carriers separation rate, could be well-modulated via tailoring the preferred orientation growth. The W18O49 nanowire with the strongest (010)-faceted orientation demonstrated the best photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange under ultraviolet light irradiation (up to 100% within 15 min) and visible light irradiation (up to 91% within 95 min). These interesting findings not only help us to gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the preferred orientation growth and the photocatalytic performance but also have the potential to open up an innovative route/protocols for the preparation of crystal facets-oriented metal oxides for highly efficient photocatalysis

Experimental study on hydrate saturation evaluation based on complex electrical conductivity of porous media

The hydrate saturation is a critical parameter in the evaluation of gas hydrate reservoirs. The complex characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments pose challenges to the reliability of conventional geophysical techniques for hydrate saturation evaluation. In this paper, we present a study on developing a novel approach to characterize the electrical properties of hydrate-bearing porous media and to evaluate the hydrate saturation quantitatively based on parameters of the complex electrical conductivity. In the laboratory experiments we prepared samples with the tetrahydrofuran hydrate forming in sands to simulate the hydrate-bearing sediments and for measuring the complex conductivity at frequencies from 20 Hz to 100 kHz. The frequency-dispersion characteristics of complex conductivity of the hydrate-bearing samples with different saturations were analyzed, and then three types of hydrate-saturation evaluation models, denoted as the conductance-based, polarization-based and fusion models, were developed based on the in-phase conductivity, frequency-dispersion characteristic parameters of the phase angle and the combination of those two, respectively. A critical frequency (fc = 2 kHz) can be identified, where both the phase angle and imaginary component of the complex conductivity reach their minima. The Archie's formula shows its capability to model the relationship between the in-phase conductivity and hydrate saturation (i.e., conductance-based model), but the frequency higher than fc is preferred because stable Archie parameters can only be obtained in that frequency range. Linear correlations between the hydrate saturation and frequency-dispersion characteristic parameters (i.e., the logarithms of FE (frequency effect) and slope of the relation between FE and FR (frequency ratio) of the phase angle can be obtained, serving as the polarization-based models in the frequency range higher than fc. The fusion model performs the best in the perspective of low errors and high reliability for predicting the hydrate saturation, because more parameters of the complex conductivity and underlying physics of the conductance and polarization have been incorporated. In the frequency range lower than fc in contrast to that of the phase angle, the quadrature conductivity shows remarkable frequency-dispersion characteristics with the variation of the hydrate saturation, showing the great potential for developing new saturation-evaluation models in future

An optimized LC-MS/MS method for determination of HYNIC-3PRGD

HYNIC-3PRGD2 is used to prepare a new 99mTc-radiolabeled tracer. HYNIC-3PRGD2, which has a high binding affinity for the integrin αvβ3due to its special structure, has become a promising tumor imaging agent for diagnosis and monitor of the clinical response to therapeutic effects of anti-tumor agents. Here, we developed and validated a method for determination of HYNIC-3PRGD2 concentration in rat plasma using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system. Following sample extraction by methanol precipitation, satisfactory separation through chromatography was achieved on an hydrophilic reverse-phase C18 column AQ (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 2.7 μm) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL·min-1 with an gradient elution using mobile phase consisting of ultrapure water and acetonitrile fortified with 0.1% formic acid respectively. The calibration curve was developed over a linear range of 3.125-100 ng·mL-1 with the lower limit of quantification of 3.125 ng·mL-1. The HYNIC-3PRGD2 and its internal standard c(RGDfK)(RK5) were detected and quantified with the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode on a triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer. This method was successfully validated and applied for pharmacokinetic evaluation of HYNIC-3PRGD2 during pre-clinical experiments