Cultural Values in Chinese Children's Animation: A Content Analysis of The Legend of Nezha

Permissions were not obtained for sharing the full text of this article.This study examined the dominant cultural value themes in The Legend of Nezha, a 52-episode Chinese award winning television animation series for children. Two contextual factors, the image and sex of the characters who endorsed the value themes in the scenes (N = 963), were also examined. Content analysis results showed that the traditional values (e.g., Hierarchy, Friendship, Wisdom, Perseverance, Collectivism, Humanitarianism, Family, and Nature) were more prevalent than the nontraditional themes (e.g., Self-interest, Pleasure, Equality, Beauty/youth, and Romanticism). In addition, the traditional values (except hierarchy) were more frequently associated with positive characters than with negative ones; the nontraditional value themes (except equality) were more frequently associated with negative characters than with positive ones. Furthermore, some values such as hierarchy, perseverance, harmony/collectivism and equality were more endorsed by male characters than by female characters; some values such as family, beauty/youth, and self-interest were endorsed more by female characters than by male characters. Altogether, these findings have indicated that some fundamental traditional Chinese values still dominate the mainstream culture albeit certain nontraditional values (e.g., self-interest, pleasure, and romanticism) are gaining their prominence in an age of modernization and globalization

Poly[μ2-aqua-aqua­(μ3-1H-benzimidazole-5,6-dicarboxyl­ato-κ3 N 3:O 5:O 5′)manganese(II)]

In the title complex, [Mn(C9H4N2O4)(H2O)2]n, the MnII atom is in a distorted octa­hedral coordination completed by one N atom from one 1H-benzimidazole-5,6-dicarboxyl­ate ligand, two O atoms from two different 1H-benzimidazole-5,6-dicarboxyl­ate ligands, and three O atoms from three water mol­ecules. Two bridging water mol­ecules and two bridging carboxyl­ate groups from a 1H-benzimidazole-5,6-dicarboxyl­ate ligand connect two MnII ions into a dimeric structure. In the crystal, extensive inter­molecular O—H⋯O, N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding forms a three-dimensional network

Novel Brønsted-acidic ionic liquids based on benzothiazolium cations as catalysts for esterification reactions

Three novel Brønsted-acidic ionic liquids based on benzothiazolium cations were prepared, which served as catalysts for the synthesis of benzoic esters. All three gave good yields of the target esters in esterification reactions. Moreover, they combine the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous solid catalysts in esterification reactions, which enabled them to serve as homogeneous catalysts to catalyze the reactions and be conveniently recovered by simple filtration after the reactions. They could be reused several times without noticeable decrease in efficiency

The Traditional Chinese Medicine and Relevant Treatment for the Efficacy and Safety of Atopic Dermatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background. Atopic dermatitis (AD) has become a common skin disease that requires systematic and comprehensive treatment to achieve adequate clinical control. Traditional Chinese medicines and related treatments have shown clinical effects for AD in many studies. But the systematic reviews and meta-analyses for them are lacking. Objective. The systematic review and meta-analysis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement were conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicines and related treatments for AD treatment. Methods. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched based on standardized searching rules in eight medical databases from the inception up to December 2016 and a total of 24 articles with 1,618 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Results. The results revealed that traditional Chinese medicines and related treatments did not show statistical differences in clinical effectiveness, SCORAD amelioration, and SSRI amelioration for AD treatment compared with control group. However, EASI amelioration of traditional Chinese medicines and related treatments for AD was superior to control group. Conclusion. We need to make conclusion cautiously for the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine and related treatment on AD therapy. More standard, multicenter, double-blind randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of traditional Chinese medicine and related treatment for AD were required to be conducted for more clinical evidences providing in the future

Classification of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndromes in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B by SELDI-Based ProteinChip Analysis

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, also called ZHENG, is the basis concept of TCM theory. It plays an important role in TCM practice. There are excess and deficiency syndromes in TCM syndrome. They are the common syndromes in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Here we aim to explore serum protein profiles and potential biomarkers for classification of TCM syndromes in CHB patients. 24 healthy controls and two cohorts of CHB patients of excess syndrome (n = 25) or deficiency syndrome (n = 19) were involved in this study. Protein profiles were obtained by surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF/MS) and multiple analyses were performed. Based on SELDI ProteinChip data, healthy controls and CHB patients or excess and deficiency syndromes in CHB patients were obviously differentiated by orthogonal partial least square (OPLS) analysis. Two significant serum proteins (m/z 4187 and m/z 5032) for classifying excess and deficiency syndromes were found. Moreover, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.887 for classifying excess and nonexcess syndrome, and 0.700 for classifying deficiency and nondeficiency syndrome, respectively. Therefore, the present study provided the possibility of TCM syndrome classification in CHB patients using a universally acceptable scientific approach

Revealing the mystery of the double charm tetraquark in pppp collision

A novel approach is proposed to probe the nature of the double charm tetraquark through the measurement of production asymmetry between $T_{\bar{c}\bar{c}}^-$ and $T_{cc}^+$ in $pp$ collisions. When comparing two theoretical pictures, the compact tetraquark and molecular pictures, we find that the compact tetraquark picture exhibits a significantly larger production asymmetry and an order of magnitude lower total cross section compared to the molecular picture, enabling the unambiguous determination of the tetraquark's internal structure. Additionally, distinctive differences in the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) and rapidity ($y$) distributions of $T_{\bar{c}\bar{c}}^-$ and $T_{cc}^+$ cross sections emerge, particularly at $p_\mathrm{T}\approx 2~\mathrm{GeV}$ and $y\approx \pm 6$. The difference between particles and antiparticles in a large rapidity region is attributed to the behavior of the residual $ud$ diquarks within the proton. Our work extends to the exploration of other double heavy tetraquark candidates, offering a versatile approach to advance our understanding of exotic hadronic states in particle physics.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is a marker for aggressive salivary gland carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is associated with tumorigenesis and progression in diverse human cancers. The present study was aimed to investigate the clinical and prognostic significance of AEG-1 in salivary gland carcinomas (SGC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Real-time PCR and western blot analyses were employed to examine AEG-1 expression in two normal salivary gland tissues, eight SGC tissues of various clinical stages, and five pairs of primary SGC and adjacent salivary gland tissues from the same patient. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to examine AEG-1 protein expression in paraffin-embedded tissues from 141 SGC patients. Statistical analyses was applies to evaluate the diagnostic value and associations of AEG-1 expression with clinical parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AEG-1 expression was evidently up-regulated in SGC tissues compared with that in the normal salivary gland tissues and in matched adjacent salivary gland tissues. AEG-1 protein level was positively correlated with clinical stage (<it>P </it>< 0.001), T classification (<it>P </it>= 0.008), N classification (<it>P </it>= 0.008) and M classifications (<it>P </it>= 0.006). Patients with higher AEG-1 expression had shorter overall survival time, whereas those with lower tumor AEG-1 expression had longer survival time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that AEG-1 expression is associated with SGC progression and may represent a novel and valuable predictor for prognostic evaluation of SGC patients.</p

Serum cytokine profiling analysis for zheng differentiation in chronic hepatitis B

Approval document of the research protocol by the Medical Ethics Committee of Shuguang Hospital

Cultural values and aging in Chinese television commercials

http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.2.06zhaThis study examined commercials (N = 141) featuring older adult(s) shown on three Chinese TV stations (i.e., national, provincial, and local) in the fall of 2005 to uncover the dominant value themes, the major product categories, and the association between value themes and product categories. Content analysis results revealed that three dominant value themes (i.e., health/life, product effectiveness, and family) appeared frequently in the Chinese television commercials featuring older adults, in which some major product categories such as food/drink, food/health supplements, and medicine were promoted. Results also indicated that the value of health/life was presented frequently in commercials for medicine and food/health supplements and that the family value appeared frequently in food/drinks commercials. Altogether these results demonstrated the importance of health and a lack of emphasis of modern values in Chinese television commercials which feature older adults, indicating a mixed view of aging (i.e., passive and negative). Findings are discussed in the context of the Chinese culture, aging, and television advertising