Affirmative action in education and Black Economic Empowerment in the workplace in South Africa since 1994: policies, strengths and limitations

This paper explains the concepts of Affirmative Action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and the policies developed in post-Apartheid South Africa. It compares it to similar policies adopted in different contexts in Malaysia, India and the U.S.A. It explains and critiques the South African policies on AA and BEE, its history since 1994 and how class has replaced race as the determinant of who succeeds in education and the workplace. It analyses why these policies were essential to address the massive racial divide in education and the workplace at the arrival of democracy in 1994, but also why it has been controversial and racially divisive. The strengths and limitations of these policies are juxtaposed, the way it has benefitted the black and white elites, bolstered the black middle-class but has had little success in addressing the education and job futures of poor, working class black citizens in South Africa. The views of a number of key social analysts in the field are stated to explain the moral, racial, divisive aspects of AA in relation to the international experience and how South Africa is grappling with limited success to bridge the divide between the rich and poor

Table_1_The presence of autoantibodies is associated with improved overall survival in lung cancer patients.docx

ObjectiveAutoantibodies have been reported to be associated with cancers. As a biomarker, autoantibodies have been widely used in the early screening of lung cancer. However, the correlation between autoantibodies and the prognosis of lung cancer patients is poorly understood, especially in the Asian population. This retrospective study investigated the association between the presence of autoantibodies and outcomes in patients with lung cancer.MethodsA total of 264 patients diagnosed with lung cancer were tested for autoantibodies in Henan Provincial People’s Hospital from January 2017 to June 2022. The general clinical data of these patients were collected, and after screening out those who met the exclusion criteria, 151 patients were finally included in the study. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the effect of autoantibodies on the outcomes of patients with lung cancer. The Kaplan-Meier curve was used to analyze the relationship between autoantibodies and the overall survival of patients with lung cancer.ResultsCompared to lung cancer patients without autoantibodies, those with autoantibodies had an associated reduced risk of death (HRs: 0.45, 95% CIs 0.27~0.77), independent of gender, age, smoking history, pathological type, and pathological stage of lung cancer. Additionally, the association was found to be more significant by subgroup analysis in male patients, younger patients, and patients with small cell lung cancer. Furthermore, lung cancer patients with autoantibodies had significantly longer survival time than those without autoantibodies.ConclusionThe presence of autoantibodies is an independent indicator of good prognosis in patients with lung cancer, providing a new biomarker for prognostic evaluation in patients with lung cancer.</p

Additional file 3: Figure S1. of Exosomal transfer of tumor-associated macrophage-derived miR-21 confers cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells

Co-cultivation with M2 polarized macrophages enhances the resistance of MGC-803 cells to cisplatin.a FACS analyses of CD68, CD80, CD163, and CD206 in Un-Mac or M2-polarized macrophages from human peripheral blood monocytes. b Cell viability assay of MGC-803 treated with various concentrations of DDP for 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h. c Flow cytometric analyses of apoptotic cells. MGC-803 cells were cultured alone or co-cultured with unactivated (Un-Mac) or M2 polarized macrophages, and then exposed to DDP for 48 h. The quantitative data are presented as the mean ± SD of triplicate experiments. (ns p > 0.05, ***p < 0.001). (TIF 2027 kb

Additional file 4: Figure S2. of Exosomal transfer of tumor-associated macrophage-derived miR-21 confers cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells

M2-exos induce the resistance of MGC-803 cells to DDP in vitro.a Cell viability was assessed by CCK-8 assays. M2-derived conditioned medium (CM) or exosomes (M2-Exo) attenuated DDP-induced cell suppression. MGC-803 cells were pretreated with M2-derived CM or exosomes, and then exposed to DDP for 48 h. b Flow cytometric analyses of apoptotic cells. MGC-803 cells were exposed to DDP alone or DDP and M2-Exo for 48 h. The quantitative data are presented as the mean ± SD of triplicate experiments. (***p < 0.001). (TIF 739 kb

<i>Aedes albopictus</i> small RNA sequences match known <i>Aedes aegypti</i> pre-miRNAs.

<p>Two examples are shown for <b><i>miR-375</i></b> (<b>A</b>) and <i>miR-92b</i> (<b>B</b>). The portions of the pre-miRNA sequences (<b><i>aae-miR-375 pre-miRNA</i></b><b> and </b><b><i>aae-miR-92b pre-miRNA</i></b>) from <i>Ae. aegypti</i> with similarity to the <i>Ae. albopictus</i> reads are shown at the bottom of each image. Nucleotides in blue are those that contribute to the secondary structure of the pre-miRNA hairpin. Abbreviations: <b>nt</b>, length of small RNA read in nucleotides; <b>S</b>, sample from which the small RNAs were sequenced; <b>M</b>, adult male; <b>F</b>, adult female; <b>L</b>, larvae; <b>E</b>, embryos; <b>B</b>, blood-fed female; <b>N</b>, number of reads in each sample that showed the exact sequence; %, percentage of sequence identity between the <i>Ae. albopictus</i> small RNA read and the <i>Ae. aegypti</i> pre-miRNA. Nucleotides in red indicate sequence differences between <i>Ae. albopictus</i> and <i>Ae. aegypti</i> in the miRNA*. The 5′- to 3′-orientation of the sequences is listed from left to right in the image.</p

Additional file 5: Figure S3. of Exosomal transfer of tumor-associated macrophage-derived miR-21 confers cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells

miR-21 enhances chemoresistance and decreases apoptosis in MGC-803 cells.aqRT-PCR detection of miR-21 in MFC and MGC-803 transfected with miR-21 mimics or miR-NC or without transfection (ctrl). (*** p < 0.001).b Cell viability assay of MGC-803 cells treated with DDP after transfected with miR-21 mimics or miR-NC or without transfection (ctrl). (nsp > 0.05,*** p < 0.001). c Cell apoptosis assay of MGC-803 cells treated with DDP after transfected with miR-21 mimics or miR-NC or without transfection (ctrl). The quantitative data are presented as the mean ± SD of triplicate experiments. (nsp > 0.05, ***p < 0.001). (TIF 1386 kb

Hierarchical clustering of miRNA expression.

<p>Normalized expression profiles of 215 miRNA/miRNA*s from six different developmental stages were clustered. Stages are in columns and miRNAs in rows. Red indicates that a gene is represented highly at the stage, whereas green indicates the opposite. miRNAs with similar expression patterns cluster together. There are five Clusters (1–5) with variable numbers of sub-clusters. Abbreviations: <b>E</b>, embryos; <b>L</b>, larvae; <b>P</b>, pupae; <b>M</b>, adult males; <b>F</b>, adult females and <b>B</b>, blood-fed adult females.</p

Novel miRNAs discovered in <i>Aedes albopictus</i>.

1<p>The nomenclature of the novel miRNAs is provisional pending further characterization. “–1”, and “–2” suffixes refer to different pre-miRNA secondary structures that produce the same mature miRNA. “Mosquito-specific” are those miRNAs found to date only in mosquitoes. “Culicinae-specific” are those miRNAs found to date only in <i>Aedes</i> and <i>Culex</i> species. “Aedes-specific” are those miRNAs found to date only in <i>Ae. albopictus</i> and <i>Ae. aegypti</i>.</p>2<p>Contig number in <i>Aedes aegypti</i> assembly version AaegL1.</p>3<p>location in contig of first nucleotide.</p>4<p>location in contig of last nucleotide.</p>5<p>5′–3′ orientation in contig (+, positive strand; –, negative strand).</p>6<p>Shown are the most abundant variants and the longest variants in parentheses.</p>7<p>“*” means “star miRNA”.</p

Additional file 6: Figure S4. of Exosomal transfer of tumor-associated macrophage-derived miR-21 confers cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells

qRT-PCR detection of ABCB1, ABCC1, ABCC2, ABCC3, ABCC4, ABCC5, ABCC6, ABCG2 mRNA expression in MFC cells transfected with miR-21 mimics or miR-NC or without transfection. GAPDH was used as an internal control. (TIF 660 kb

<i>Aedes albopictus</i> small RNA sequences match novel <i>Aedes aegypti</i> pre-miRNAs.

<p>Two <i>Ae. albopictus</i> miRNAs, <b><i>aal-miR-new2</i></b> (<b>A</b>) and <b><i>aal-miR-new10</i></b> (<b>B</b>), led to the discovery of novel miRNA genes in <i>Ae. aegypti</i>, designated here as <b><i>aaePre-miR-new2</i></b> and <b><i>aaePre-miR-new10</i></b>, respectively. Only the most abundant reads from the <i>Ae. albopictus</i> samples are listed here. All notations are identical to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0067638#pone-0067638-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>.</p