Governance Model and Rents Allocation in Asymmetrical Power Relations: The Case of Notebook Computer Industry

International subcontracting relationships are often characterized by considerable power asymmetries. The actors in global value chain obtained different profits. Different governance dominant modes reflect different roles of countries and enterprises played in the global value chains and result in different industrial international competitiveness in the end Through a relation model of upstream and downstream nodes and a case study of notebook computer industry, the paper identified the status of actors and the market structures in different value nodes influences the rents distribution among global value chains. The leader firms in the global value chains that possess status advantages and market power account for income growing gap between developed and developing countries

Two variants on T2DM susceptible gene HHEX are associated with CRC risk in a Chinese population

Increasing amounts of evidence has demonstrated that T2DM (Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus) patients have increased susceptibility to CRC (colorectal cancer). As HHEX is a recognized susceptibility gene in T2DM, this work was focused on two SNPs in HHEX, rs1111875 and rs7923837, to study their association with CRC. T2DM patients without CRC (T2DM-only, n=300), T2DM with CRC (T2DM/CRC, n=135), cancer-free controls (Control, n=570), and CRC without T2DM (CRC-only, n=642) cases were enrolled. DNA samples were extracted from the peripheral blood leukocytes of the patients and sequenced by direct sequencing. The χ(2) test was used to compare categorical data. We found that in T2DM patients, rs1111875 but not the rs7923837 in HHEX gene was associated with the occurrence of CRC (p= 0.006). for rs1111875, TC/CC patients had an increased risk of CRC (p=0.019, OR=1.592, 95%CI=1.046-2.423). Moreover, our results also indicated that the two variants of HEEX gene could be risk factors for CRC in general population, independent on T2DM (p< 0.001 for rs1111875, p=0.001 for rs7923837). For rs1111875, increased risk of CRC was observed in TC or TC/CC than CC individuals (p<0.001, OR= 1.780, 95%CI= 1.385-2.287; p<0.001, OR= 1.695, 95%CI= 1.335-2.152). For rs7923837, increased CRC risk was observed in AG, GG, and AG/GG than AA individuals (p< 0.001, OR= 1.520, 95%CI= 1.200-1.924; p=0.036, OR= 1.739, 95%CI= 0.989-3.058; p< 0.001, OR= 1.540, 95%CI= 1.225-1.936). This finding highlights the potentially functional alteration with HHEX rs1111875 and rs7923837 polymorphisms may increase CRC susceptibility. Risk effects and the functional impact of these polymorphisms need further validation

A generic theory for Majorana zero modes in 2D superconductors

It is well known that non-Abelian Majorana zero modes (MZM) harbor at vortex cores in a $p_{x}+\text{i}p_{y}$ topological superconductor, which can be realized in a 2D spin-orbit coupled system with a single Fermi surface and by proximity coupling to an $s$-wave superconductor. Here we show that existence of non-Abelian MZMs is unrelated to the bulk topology of a 2D superconductor, and propose that such exotic modes can be resulted in much broader range of superconductors, being topological or trivial. For a generic 2D system with multiple Fermi surfaces and gapped out by superconducting pairings, we show that at least a single MZM survives if there are only odd number of Fermi surfaces of which the corresponding superconducting orders have vortices, and such MZM is protected by an emergent Chern-Simons invariant, irrespective of the bulk topology of the superconductor. This result may enrich new experimental schemes for realizing non-Aelian MZMs. In particular, we propose a minimal scheme to realize the MZMs in a 2D superconducting Dirac semimetal with trivial bulk topology, which can be well achieved based on the recent cold atom experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, plus Supplementary Materia

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

Imaging features of ALK-positive histiocytosis with neurological involvement: a case report and literature review

BackgroundALK-positive histiocytosis is an exceptionally rare neoplasm of histiocytes that predominantly involves the nervous system and can also affect the skin and other parts of the body. Previous relevant literature has provided limited information regarding the imaging manifestations of this disease with neurological involvement.MethodsWe reported a case of ALK-positive histiocytosis with multisystem involvement. Together with a comprehensive literature review, the imaging characteristics of this disease in the nervous system were summarized.ResultsA 3-year-old girl with abdominal pain and ambulation difficulty checked in at the Department of Pediatric Neurology. The initial diagnosis was “acute cerebellitis with ataxia” based on the elevated protein level in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). However, despite 3 months of treatment, her condition deteriorated. MRI showed an oval-shaped, intradural extramedullary nodule at the T6–T7 level. The patient was ultimately diagnosed as ALK-positive histiocytosis, accompanied by cauda equina and skin involvement. The literature review showed a total of 23 patients who had involvement of the nervous system and provided imaging descriptions. Together with our case, the imaging features were summarized as follows: iso-dense or slightly hyperdense on computed tomography (CT), isointense or iso-hypointense on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), moderate homogeneous enhancement with mildly/markedly punctate enhancement or/and smooth ring enhancement on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), restricted diffusion on diffuse weighted imaging (DWI), and elevated fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).ConclusionThe multimodal imaging findings of ALK-positive histiocytosis exhibit distinct characteristics, familiarity with which will enhance radiologists’ expertise and facilitate accurate diagnosis of this disease

Parallel session 4 :Teaching and learning innovations

Presented Titles: Higher Education and COVID-19: Is Hybrid Teaching/Learning the Solution? [Author: Francis Arthur-Holmes] Technology-enabled Teaching and Learning in COVID-19: Implication for Professional Development in Hong Kong’s Post-secondary Colleges [Authors: Beatrice Yan-yan Dang; Hayes Hei-hang Tang; Joanna WY Yeung] Hybrid Learning: Online Learning in a Residential Environment [Authors: Ying Xiong; Jingduo Bi] Hybrid Education and Collaborative Learning: A Natural Experiment During COVID-19 [Authors: Luyao Zhang; Ying Xiong; Jiaxin Wu] Catching Teachers Off Guard from Remote Learning: An Implication of Innovative Teaching Training in Hong Kong [Authors: Derek Wai-sun Chun; Siu-ho Yau; Wai-man Chan

Lysine-5 Acetylation Negatively Regulates Lactate Dehydrogenase A and Is Decreased in Pancreatic Cancer

SummaryTumor cells commonly have increased glucose uptake and lactate accumulation. Lactate is produced from pyruvate by lactate dehydrogenase A (LDH-A), which is frequently overexpressed in tumor cells and is important for cell growth. Elevated transcription by c-Myc or HIF1α may contribute to increased LDH-A in some cancer types. Here, we show that LDH-A is acetylated at lysine 5 (K5) and that this acetylation inhibits LDH-A activity. Furthermore, the K5-acetylated LDH-A is recognized by the HSC70 chaperone and delivered to lysosomes for degradation. Replacement of endogenous LDH-A with an acetylation mimetic mutant decreases cell proliferation and migration. Importantly, K5 acetylation of LDH-A is reduced in human pancreatic cancers. Our study reveals a mechanism of LDH-A upregulation in pancreatic cancers

Label-free microfluidic paper-based electrochemical aptasensor for ultrasensitive and simultaneous multiplexed detection of cancer biomarkers

Simultaneous detection of multiple tumor biomarkers in body fluids could facilitate early diagnosis of lung cancer, so as to provide scientific reference for clinical treatment. This paper depicted a multi-parameter paper-based electrochemical aptasensor for simultaneous detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in a clinical sample with high sensitivity and specificity. The paper-based device was fabricated through wax printing and screen-printing, which enabled functions of sample filtration and sample auto injection. Amino functional graphene (NG)-Thionin (THI)- gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and Prussian blue (PB)- poly (3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)- AuNPs nanocomposites were synthesized respectively. They were used to modify the working electrodes not only for promoting the electron transfer rate, but also for immobilization of the CEA and NSE aptamers. A label-free electrochemical method was adopted, enabling a rapid simple point-of-care testing. Experimental results showed that the proposed multi-parameter aptasensor exhibited good linearity in ranges of 0.01-500 ng mL for CEA (R  = 0.989) and 0.05-500 ng mL for NSE (R  = 0.944), respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was 2 pg mL for CEA and 10 pg mL for NSE. In addition, the device was evaluated using clinical serum samples and received a good correlation with large electrochemical luminescence (ECL) equipment, which would offer a new platform for early cancer diagnostics, especially in those resource-limit areas