A Bridge Between Two Worlds: a Cultural Interpretation of Dragonwings

Living in the dual worlds of his life as a Chinese American and in places such as Chinatown, Laurence Yep felt that he was culturally alienated and that he did not have a culture of his own. With the driving wish to find out about Chinese culture―his culture, he finished his best known novel Dragonwings after six years of research on Chinese culture. Based on the true story of Fung Joe Guey, a Chinese American who built and flew an airplane in the Oakland hills in 1909, Dragonwings tells the story of Moon Shadow, who comes to San Francisco to join his unknown father, Windrider, who cherishes the dream of flying. To pursue the dream, Moon Shadow and his father have to move out of Chinatown. After enduring a sea of misunderstanding, cruelty and poverty, Windrider finally realizes his flying dream with the support and aid of his beloved son and his fellowmen, as well as his American friends. Trying to show the process from misinterpretation and misunderstanding to mutual understanding and the possibilities of cultural exchange and cultural fusion between two different cultures, we will discuss how the Chinese culture is rediscovered by a Chinese American and how cultural misunderstanding leads to an unbalanced world and how tolerance and understanding restore the world into a harmonious one. This paper attempts to demonstrate, through the analysis of Dragonwings, the author’s exploration of Chinese culture, cultural exchange and human nature transcending cultural differences. Key words: Dragonwings, Laurence Yep, cultural exchange Abstrait: En vivant dans le monde dual de sa vie comme Américain chinois et aux endroits comme la Cité chinoise, Laurence Yep trouve qu’il était aliéné culturellement et qu’il n’avait pas de culture de sa ville. Avec l’espoir violent à découvrir la culture chinoise----sa culture, il a achevé son roman bien connu Dragon-ailes après une recherche de six années sur la culture chinoise. Basé sur l’histoire vraie de Fung Joe Guey , un Américain Chinois qui a fabriqué et manié un avion dans les Montagnes Oakland en 1909, Dragon-ailes raconte le conte de Ombre de lune, qui vient à San Francisco pour rejoindre son père inconnu , Windrider, qui a le rêve de voler .Poursuivant le rêve, Ombre Lunaire et son père sont obligés de bouger de la Cité chinoise. Après avoir enduré une mer d’incompréhension , de cruauté et de pauvreté, Windrider a finalement réalizé son rêve de voler avec l’aide de son fils et ses compagnons, ainsi que ses amis américains. Essayant de montrer le processus de malinterprétation et de incompréhension à compréhension mutuelle et les possibilités d’échange et de fusion culturels entre deux cultures différentes, nous discuterons comment la culture chinoise est redécouverte par un Américian chinois et comment l’incompréhension culturelle conduit à un monde inégal et comment la tolérance et la compréhension reconstruisent le monde à celui d’harmonique. Ce papier tente de démontrer , à travers l’analyse de Dragon-ailes , l’exploration de l’auteur de la culture chinoise , de l’échange culturel et des différences transcendantes naturelles de la nature humaine. Mots clefs: Dragon-ailes, Laurence Yep, échange culture

Spindle oscillations are generated in the dorsal thalamus and modulated by the thalamic reticular nucleus

Spindle waves occur during the early stage of slow wave sleep and are thought to arise in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), causing inhibitory postsynaptic potential spindle-like oscillations in the dorsal thalamus that are propagated to the cortex. We have found that thalamocortical neurons exhibit membrane oscillations that have spindle frequencies, consist of excitatory postsynaptic potentials, and co-occur with electroencephalographic spindles. TRN lesioning prolonged oscillations in the medial geniculate body (MGB) and auditory cortex (AC). Injection of GABA~A~ antagonist into the MGB decreased oscillation frequency, while injection of GABA~B~ antagonist increased spindle oscillations in the MGB and cortex. Thus, spindles originate in the dorsal thalamus and TRN inhibitory inputs modulate this process, with fast inhibition facilitating the internal frequency and slow inhibition limiting spindle occurrence

How do gall-forming social aphids keep their closed nest clean?

Interactive technology assessment (iTA) provides an answer to the ethical problem of normative bias in evaluation research. This normative bias develops when relevant perspectives on the evaluand (the thing being evaluated) are neglected. In iTA this bias is overcome by incorporating different perspectives into the assessment. As a consequence, justification of decisions based on the assessment is provided by stakeholders having achieved agreement. In this article, agreement is identified with wide reflective equilibrium to show that it indeed has the potential of justifying decisions. We work out several conditions for this agreement to be achievable and just

Burkholderia insecticola sp. nov., a gut symbiotic bacterium of the bean bug Riptortus pedestris

A Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming, motile bacterium, designated strain RPE64(T), was isolated from the gut symbiotic organ of the bean bug Riptortus pedestris, collected in Tsukuba, Japan, in 2007. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that this strain belongs to the Burkholderia glathei Glade, exhibiting the highest sequence similarity to Burkholderia peredens LMG 29314(T) (100%), Burkholderia turbans LMG 29316(T) (99.52%) and Burkholderia ptereochthonis LMG 29326(T) (99.04 %). Phylogenomic analyses based on 107 single-copy core genes and Genome BLAST Distance Phylogeny confirmed B. peredens LMG 29314(T), B. ptereochthonis LMG 29326(T) and several uncultivated, endophytic Burkholderia species as its nearest phylogenetic neighbours. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization experiments unambiguously demonstrated that strain RPE64(T) represents a novel species in this lineage. The G+C content of its genome was 63.2 mol%. The isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone 8 and the predominant fatty acid components were C-16:0, C-18:1 omega 7c and C-17:0 cyclo. The absence of nitrate reduction and the capacity to grow at pH 8 clearly differentiated strain RPE64(T) from related Burkholderia species. Based on these genotypic and phenotypic characteristics, strain RPE64(T) is classified as representing a novel species of the genus Burkholderia, for which the name Burkholderia insecticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RPE64(T) (=NCIMB 15023(T)=JCM 31142(T))

GLUT3 as an Intersection of Glycerophospholipid Metabolism and the Innate Immune Response to Candida albicans

Immune cells can optimize the management of metabolic resources to balance their energy requirements in order to regulate immune responses. The interconnection between immunometabolism and fungal infections is becoming increasingly apparent. Using proteome and metabolome assays, we found that stimulation of primary human monocytes by Candida albicans was accompanied by upregulation of glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) and activation of the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway. Upregulated GLUT3 expression has been preliminarily confirmed in monocytes from patients with C. albicans bloodstream infection. Our findings support the importance of GLUT3 in the complex network of glycerophospholipid metabolism and the innate immune responses against C. albicans. In summary, this study might contribute to decipher the regulatory mechanism between the monocyte metabolic reprogramming and innate immune response and reveal potential targets for the antifungal treatments

Gut microbiota and its metabolic products in acute respiratory distress syndrome

The prevalence rate of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is estimated at approximately 10% in critically ill patients worldwide, with the mortality rate ranging from 17% to 39%. Currently, ARDS mortality is usually higher in patients with COVID-19, giving another challenge for ARDS treatment. However, the treatment efficacy for ARDS is far from satisfactory. The relationship between the gut microbiota and ARDS has been substantiated by relevant scientific studies. ARDS not only changes the distribution of gut microbiota, but also influences intestinal mucosal barrier through the alteration of gut microbiota. The modulation of gut microbiota can impact the onset and progression of ARDS by triggering dysfunctions in inflammatory response and immune cells, oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis, and ferroptosis mechanisms. Meanwhile, ARDS may also influence the distribution of metabolic products of gut microbiota. In this review, we focus on the impact of ARDS on gut microbiota and how the alteration of gut microbiota further influences the immune function, cellular functions and related signaling pathways during ARDS. The roles of gut microbiota-derived metabolites in the development and occurrence of ARDS are also discussed

Effects of high glucose on expression of OPG and RANKL in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells

AbstractObjectiveTo explore effect of high glucose on expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of NF– κ B ligand (RANKE) in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells.MethodsSD rats were intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin, OPG and RANKL expression in rat thoracic aortas were detected by immunohistochemical staining. In cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) (A7r5), qRT–PCR and Western blot analysis were used to examine the mRNA and protein levels of OPG and RANKL.ResultsOur results demonstrated that OPG expression was increased in hyperglycemic rat aortic VSMCs, while RANKL expression was decreased. Besides, in vitro experiments high glucose induced OPG expression, but depressed RANKL expression by dose– and time–dependent manner in cultured A7r5.ConclusionsOur findings suggested that high glucose could promote the expression of OPG, and inhibit the expression of RANKL in VSMCs, which may be partly be the molecular mechanism of diabetic vascular calcification

Exaggeration and cooption of innate immunity for social defense

Social insects often exhibit striking altruistic behaviors, of which the most spectacular ones may be self-destructive defensive behaviors called autothysis, “self-explosion,” or “suicidal bombing.” In the social aphid Nipponaphis monzeni, when enemies damage their plant-made nest called the gall, soldier nymphs erupt to discharge a large amount of body fluid, mix the secretion with their legs, and skillfully plaster it over the plant injury. Dozens of soldiers come out, erupt, mix, and plaster, and the gall breach is promptly sealed with the coagulated body fluid. What molecular and cellular mechanisms underlie the self-sacrificing nest repair with body fluid for the insect society? Here we demonstrate that the body cavity of soldier nymphs is full of highly differentiated large hemocytes that contain huge amounts of lipid droplets and phenoloxidase (PO), whereas their hemolymph accumulates huge amounts of tyrosine and a unique repeat-containing protein (RCP). Upon breakage of the gall, soldiers gather around the breach and massively discharge the body fluid. The large hemocytes rupture and release lipid droplets, which promptly form a lipidic clot, and, concurrently, activated PO converts tyrosine to reactive quinones, which cross-link RCP and other macromolecules to physically reinforce the clot to seal the gall breach. Here, soldiers’ humoral and cellular immune mechanisms for wound sealing are extremely up-regulated and utilized for colony defense, which provides a striking case of direct evolutionary connection between individual immunity and social immunity and highlights the importance of exaggeration and cooption of preexisting traits to create evolutionary novelties