Advantages and dynamics of urban agglomeration development on Yangtze River Delta

National Natural Science Foundation of China 40971101 40901087Urban agglomeration on Yangtze River Delta (UA-YRD) had some advantages in the aspects of water, land, ecological environment, location and transportation. Relying on the resource-environment bases and other advantages, UA-YRD has achieved great development. Based on index system and model of comprehensive evaluation, the paper calculates the development level of UA-YRD since 1978. The result shows that from 1978 to 2007, the development level increased year by year at an annual rate of 0.0333, and the process of development could be divided into three stages, i.e. low-speed development stage (1978-1991), rapid development stage (1991-2000), and high-speed development stage (2000-2007). The speeds are 0.0083, 0.0356 and 0.0766, respectively. During the 30-year development, foreign economic activity has the greatest effect on development, followed by transportation, industrial economic activity and telecommunication (in order). Additionally, different driving forces have different effects in different stages. The paper suggests that more attention should be paid to the high-speed development stage and the important driving forces to drive its development. At the same time, the limitation of resource and environment should not be neglected and a long effective mechanism needs to be established to sustain harmonious development among the UA development, resource utilization and environmental protection. Some comparative studies should be carried out urgently to support and promote sustainable development of UA effectively, especially towards evolution, driving forces and braking forces

Optical properties of diffused AlGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells and their applications in high power laser

We will present results for an Al0.24Ga0.76As/GaAs diffused multiple quantum well with five periods of 100/100Å thick welVbarrier layers grown in between Al0.24Ga0.76As guiding layers and cladded on top by a 1µm thick p-Al0.44Ga0.56As layer and on the bottom by an n-Al0.44Ga0.56As layer of equal thickness, on a n+-GaAs buffer layer and n+-GaAs substrate. Vacancy enhanced QW diffusion is employed where a 2000Å thick layer of Si02 is deposited on top of the diffused multiple quantum well structure. Photoluminescence measurement and photovoltage measurement at room temperature show that after rapid thermal annealing for 30 sec at 1000 °C to 1040 °C, a bandgap shift of 30 nm is obtained for the exciton edge. Further, this technique is applied to a ridge waveguide laser structure to make two windows for high power output up to 36 mW. This device shows that the diffusion process may have practical applications.published_or_final_versio

Self-rated health in middle-aged and elderly Chinese : distribution, determinants and associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) has been demonstrated to be an accurate reflection of a person's health and a valid predictor of incident mortality and chronic morbidity. We aimed to evaluate the distribution and factors associated with SRH and its association with biomarkers of cardio-metabolic diseases among middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Methods: Survey of 1,458 men and 1,831 women aged 50 to 70 years, conducted in one urban and two rural areas of Beijing and Shanghai in 2005. SRH status was measured and categorized as good (very good and good) vs. not good (fair, poor and very poor). Determinants of SRH and associations with biomarkers of cardio-metabolic diseases were evaluated using logistic regression. Results: Thirty two percent of participants reported good SRH. Males and rural residents tended to report good SRH. After adjusting for potential confounders, residence, physical activity, employment status, sleep quality and presence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression were the main determinants of SRH. Those free from cardiovascular disease (OR 3.68; 95%CI 2.39; 5.66), rural residents (OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.47; 2.43), non-depressed participants (OR 2.50; 95% CI 1.67; 3.73) and those with good sleep quality (OR 2.95; 95% CI 2.22; 3.91) had almost twice or over the chance of reporting good SRH compared to their counterparts. There were significant associations -and trend- between SRH and levels of inflammatory markers, insulin levels and insulin resistance. Conclusion: Only one third of middle-aged and elderly Chinese assessed their health status as good or very good. Although further longitudinal studies are required to confirm our findings, interventions targeting social inequalities, lifestyle patterns might not only contribute to prevent chronic morbidity but as well to improve populations' perceived health

Systemic treatment with pulsed electromagnetic fields do not affect bone microarchitecture in osteoporotic rats

Purpose: Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) are currently used in the treatment of spinal fusions and non-unions. There are indications that PEMF might also be effective in the treatment of osteoporosis. In this study we examined whether whole-body PEMF treatment affects the bone microarchitecture in an osteoporotic rat model. Methods: Twenty-week-old female rats were ovariectomised (n020). Four different PEMF treatment protocols based on previous experimental studies and based on clinically used PEMF signals were examined (2 h/day, 5 days/week). A control group did not receive PEMF. At zero, three and six weeks cancellous and cortical bone architectural changes at the proximal tibia were evaluated using in vivo microCT scanning. Results: PEMF treatment did not induce any changes in cancellous or cortical bone compared to untreated controls. Conclusions: Although previous studies have shown strong effects of PEMF in osteoporosis we were unable to demonstrate this in any of the treatment protocols. Using in vivo microCT scanning we were able to identify small bone changes in time. Subtle differences in the experimental setup might explain the differences in study outcomes in the literature. Since PEMF treatment is safe, future experimental studies on the effect of PEMF on bone can better be performed directly on humans, eliminating the potential translation issues between animals and humans. In this study we found no support for the use of PEMF in the treatment of osteoporosis

The Genome of Ganderma lucidum Provide Insights into Triterpense Biosynthesis and Wood Degradation

BACKGROUND: Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi or Ling Zhi) is one of the most famous Traditional Chinese Medicines and has been widely used in the treatment of various human diseases in Asia countries. It is also a fungus with strong wood degradation ability with potential in bioenergy production. However, genes, pathways and mechanisms of these functions are still unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The genome of G. lucidum was sequenced and assembled into a 39.9 megabases (Mb) draft genome, which encoded 12,080 protein-coding genes and ∼83% of them were similar to public sequences. We performed comprehensive annotation for G. lucidum genes and made comparisons with genes in other fungi genomes. Genes in the biosynthesis of the main G. lucidum active ingredients, ganoderic acids (GAs), were characterized. Among the GAs synthases, we identified a fusion gene, the N and C terminal of which are homologous to two different enzymes. Moreover, the fusion gene was only found in basidiomycetes. As a white rot fungus with wood degradation ability, abundant carbohydrate-active enzymes and ligninolytic enzymes were identified in the G. lucidum genome and were compared with other fungi. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The genome sequence and well annotation of G. lucidum will provide new insights in function analyses including its medicinal mechanism. The characterization of genes in the triterpene biosynthesis and wood degradation will facilitate bio-engineering research in the production of its active ingredients and bioenergy

A Latent Variable Partial Least Squares Path Modeling Approach to Regional Association and Polygenic Effect with Applications to a Human Obesity Study

Genetic association studies are now routinely used to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked with human diseases or traits through single SNP-single trait tests. Here we introduced partial least squares path modeling (PLSPM) for association between single or multiple SNPs and a latent trait that can involve single or multiple correlated measurement(s). Furthermore, the framework naturally provides estimators of polygenic effect by appropriately weighting trait-attributing alleles. We conducted computer simulations to assess the performance via multiple SNPs and human obesity-related traits as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumferences. Our results showed that the associate statistics had type I error rates close to nominal level and were powerful for a range of effect and sample sizes. When applied to 12 candidate regions in data (N = 2,417) from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk study, a region in FTO was found to have stronger association (rs7204609∼rs9939881 at the first intron P = 4.29×10−7) than single SNP analysis (all with P>10−4) and a latent quantitative phenotype was obtained using a subset sample of EPIC-Norfolk (N = 12,559). We believe our method is appropriate for assessment of regional association and polygenic effect on a single or multiple traits

Temporal and Tissue Specific Regulation of RP-Associated Splicing Factor Genes PRPF3, PRPF31 and PRPC8—Implications in the Pathogenesis of RP

Genetic mutations in several ubiquitously expressed RNA splicing genes such as PRPF3, PRP31 and PRPC8, have been found to cause retina-specific diseases in humans. To understand this intriguing phenomenon, most studies have been focused on testing two major hypotheses. One hypothesis assumes that these mutations interrupt retina-specific interactions that are important for RNA splicing, implying that there are specific components in the retina interacting with these splicing factors. The second hypothesis suggests that these mutations have only a mild effect on the protein function and thus affect only the metabolically highly active cells such as retinal photoreceptors.We examined the second hypothesis using the PRPF3 gene as an example. We analyzed the spatial and temporal expression of the PRPF3 gene in mice and found that it is highly expressed in retinal cells relative to other tissues and its expression is developmentally regulated. In addition, we also found that PRP31 and PRPC8 as well as snRNAs are highly expressed in retinal cells.Our data suggest that the retina requires a relatively high level of RNA splicing activity for optimal tissue-specific physiological function. Because the RP18 mutation has neither a debilitating nor acute effect on protein function, we suggest that retinal degeneration is the accumulative effect of decades of suboptimal RNA splicing due to the mildly impaired protein

The Association of Depressive Symptoms with Inflammatory Factors and Adipokines in Middle-Aged and Older Chinese

Studies in Western populations find that depression is associated with inflammation and obesity. The present study aimed to evaluate the relation of depressive symptoms with inflammatory factors and adipose-derived adipokines in middle-aged and older Chinese.Data were from 3289 community residents aged 50-70 from Beijing and Shanghai who participated in the Nutrition and Health of Aging Population in China project. Depressive symptoms were defined as a Center for Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale (CES-D) score of 16 or higher. Plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), adiponectin, resistin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) were measured. Of the 3289 participants, 312 (9.5%) suffered from current depressive symptoms. IL-6 level was higher in participants with depressive symptoms compared to their counterparts in the crude analyses (1.17 vs. 1.05 pg/mL, p = 0.023) and this association lost statistical significance after multiple adjustments (1.13 vs. 1.10 pg/mL, p = 0.520). Depressive symptoms were not associated with increased mean levels of any other inflammatory factors or adipokines in the unadjusted or adjusted analyses.We found no evidence that depressive symptoms were associated with inflammatory factors and adipokines in the middle-aged and older Chinese populations. Prospective studies and studies in clinically diagnosed patients are needed to confirm our results and clarify the relation of depression with inflammatory factors and adipokines