省级财政支出效率空间溢出效应研究：基于超效率DEA和GSM模型

Knowledge, equipped by labors and technologies, has significant spatial spillover effects on spurring economic growth. This paper by utilizing super-efficiency DEA model evaluates relative efficiency of fiscal expenditure of 31 local governments from 2007 to 2013, and, by employing GSM model, testifies if there is any kind of spatial effect as well as their type. Super-efficiency DEA results show that: fiscal spending of local governments are generally efficient; fiscal efficiency in western China and boundary provinces are higher, that in eastern China and coast provinces are relatively ineffective yet; there exists distinct effect of regional agglomeration. And GSM model manifests that: fiscal efficiency of local governments is without spatial spillover effect; its velocity in 2007 and 2008 is with the positive effect, while it disappears from 2009 to 2013

Safety and efficacy of ex vivo expanded CD34 stem cells in murine and primate models

Background: Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation has been widely applied to the treatment of malignant blood diseases. However, limited number of functional HSCs hinders successful transplantation. The purpose of our current study is to develop a new and cost-efficient medium formulation that could greatly enhance the expansion of HSCs while retaining their long-term repopulation and hematopoietic properties for effective clinical transplantation. Methods: Enriched human CD34(+) cells and mobilized nonhuman primate peripheral blood CD34(+) cells were expanded with a new, cost-efficient expansion medium formulation, named hematopoietic expansion medium (HEM), consisting of various cytokines and nutritional supplements. The long-term repopulation potential and hematologic-lineage differentiation ability of expanded human cells were studied in the non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mouse model. Furthermore, the efficacy and safety studies were performed by autologous transplantation of expanded primate cells in the nonhuman primate model. Results: HEM could effectively expand human CD34(+) cells by up to 129 fold within 9 days. Expanded HSCs retained long-term repopulation potential and hematologic-lineage differentiation ability, as indicated by (1) maintenance (over unexpanded HSCs) of immunophenotypes of CD38(-)CD90(+)CD45RA(-)CD49f(+) in CD34(+) cells after expansion; (2) significant presence of multiple human hematopoietic lineages in mouse peripheral blood and bone marrow following primary transplantation; (3) enrichment (over unexpanded HSCs) in SCID-repopulating cell frequency measured by limiting dilution analysis; and (4) preservation of both myeloid and lymphoid potential among human leukocytes from mouse bone marrow in week 24 after primary transplantation or secondary transplantation. Moreover, the results of autologous transplantation in nonhuman primates demonstrated that HEM-expanded CD34(+) cells could enhance hematological recovery after myelo-suppression. All primates transplanted with the expanded autologous CD34(+) cells survived for over 18 months without any noticeable abnormalities. Conclusions: Together, these findings demonstrate promising potential for the utility of HEM to improve expansion of HSCs for clinical application.State Scientific Key Projects for New Drug Research and Development [2011ZX09102-010-04, 2011ZX09401-027]; International Cooperation and Exchange Program, China [2013DFA30830]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Allied Industry Approaches to Alter Intramuscular Fat Content and Composition in Beef Animals

Biochemical and biophysical research tools are used to define the developmental dynamics of numerous cell lineages from a variety of tissues relevant to meat quality. With respect to the adipose cell lineage, much of our present understanding of adipogenesis and lipid metabolism was initially determined through the use of these methods, even though the in vitro or molecular environments are far removed from the tissues of meat animals. This concise review focuses on recent cellular and molecular biology-related research with adipocytes, and how the research might be extended to the endpoint of altering red meat quality. Moreover, economic and policy impacts of such in animal production regimens is discussed. These issues are important, not only with respect to palatability, but also to offer enhanced health benefits to the consumer by altering content of bioactive components in adipocytes

Are serum levels of inflammatory markers associated with the severity of symptoms of bipolar disorder?

BackgroundTo explore the relationship between serum levels of inflammatory markers and symptomatic severity of bipolar disorder (BD).Materials and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 126 BD patients with current depressive episode (BDD), 102 BD patients with current mixed or (hypo)manic episode (BDM) and 94 healthy controls (HC). All participants were drug-naïve and had no current active physical illness associated with inflammatory response or history of substance abuse. Fasting serum levels of CRP, leptin (LEP), adiponectin (ADP), visfatin (VIS), TNF-α, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Symptomatic severity of BD was assessed with HAMD-17 and YMRS. Generalized linear model was used to determine the association between the serum levels of inflammatory markers and symptomatic severity of BD.ResultsThe serum levels of IL-6, IL-10 and IL-17, and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio were significantly lower in mild BDD than in HC. In moderate BDD, the serum levels of MCP, IL-6 and IL-17 were significantly lower than in HC. In severe BDD, the serum level of ADP, MCP-1, IL-10 and IL-17and the IL-17/IL-10 ratio were significantly lower than in HC. The serum levels of TNF-α and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio were significantly higher in mild BDM than in HC. In moderate BDM, the serum level of VIS, IL-2, and IL-17 were significantly higher than in HC, but the IL-6/IL-10 ratio was significantly lower than in control. In severe BDM, the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-17 and the ratios of IL-6/IL-10 and IL-17/IL-10 were significantly lower than in HC, but the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher than in HC.ConclusionIn BDD, immune-inhibition is persistently predominant, while in mild-to-moderate BDM, immune system is activated but inhibited in severe BDM. The dynamic change of serum inflammatory markers suggests that alteration of peripheral inflammatory markers in BD is state-dependent instead of trait-marked

An M2e-based multiple antigenic peptide vaccine protects mice from lethal challenge with divergent H5N1 influenza viruses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A growing concern has raised regarding the pandemic potential of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop an effective and safe vaccine against the divergent H5N1 influenza viruses. In the present study, we designed a tetra-branched multiple antigenic peptide (MAP)-based vaccine, designated M2e-MAP, which contains the sequence overlapping the highly conserved extracellular domain of matrix protein 2 (M2e) of a HPAI H5N1 virus, and investigated its immune responses and cross-protection against different clades of H5N1 viruses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed that M2e-MAP vaccine induced strong M2e-specific IgG antibody responses following 3-dose immunization of mice with M2e-MAP in the presence of Freunds' or aluminium (alum) adjuvant. M2e-MAP vaccination limited viral replication and attenuated histopathological damage in the challenged mouse lungs. The M2e-MAP-based vaccine protected immunized mice against both clade1: VN/1194 and clade2.3.4: SZ/406H H5N1 virus challenge, being able to counteract weight lost and elevate survival rate following lethal challenge of H5N1 viruses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that M2e-MAP presenting M2e of H5N1 virus has a great potential to be developed into an effective subunit vaccine for the prevention of infection by a broad spectrum of HPAI H5N1 viruses.</p

Measurement Invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 Across Gender in a Sample of Chinese University Students

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) has three 7-item subscales (depression, anxiety, and stress). The current study aims assess the gender-based measurement invariance of the DASS-21 questionnaire in a Chinese university student sample from five different cities. The sample was composed of 13208 participants (62.3% female, mean age of 19.7 years, and SD age = 1.8). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full measurement invariance for the three subscales. The findings support the measurement invariance of DASS-21 scores across gender. Future research on the DASS should include additional validation across ethnicities and testing of all versions of the DASS

PTIGS-IdIt, a system for species identification by DNA sequences of the psbA-trnH intergenic spacer region

Abstract Background DNA barcoding technology, which uses a short piece of DNA sequence to identify species, has wide ranges of applications. Until today, a universal DNA barcode marker for plants remains elusive. The rbcL and matK regions have been proposed as the “core barcode” for plants and the ITS2 and psbA-trnH intergenic spacer (PTIGS) regions were later added as supplemental barcodes. The use of PTIGS region as a supplemental barcode has been limited by the lack of computational tools that can handle significant insertions and deletions in the PTIGS sequences. Here, we compared the most commonly used alignment-based and alignment-free methods and developed a web server to allow the biologists to carry out PTIGS-based DNA barcoding analyses. Results First, we compared several alignment-based methods such as BLAST and those calculating P distance and Edit distance, alignment-free methods Di-Nucleotide Frequency Profile (DNFP) and their combinations. We found that the DNFP and Edit-distance methods increased the identification success rate to ~80%, 20% higher than the most commonly used BLAST method. Second, the combined methods showed overall better success rate and performance. Last, we have developed a web server that allows (1) retrieving various sub-regions and the consensus sequences of PTIGS, (2) annotating novel PTIGS sequences, (3) determining species identity by PTIGS sequences using eight methods, and (4) examining identification efficiency and performance of the eight methods for various taxonomy groups. Conclusions The Edit distance and the DNFP methods have the highest discrimination powers. Hybrid methods can be used to achieve significant improvement in performance. These methods can be extended to applications using the core barcodes and the other supplemental DNA barcode ITS2. To our knowledge, the web server developed here is the only one that allows species determination based on PTIGS sequences. The web server can be accessed at http://psba-trnh-plantidit.dnsalias.org

Ribosome stalk assembly requires the dual-specificity phosphatase Yvh1 for the exchange of Mrt4 with P0

The step by step assembly process from preribosome in the nucleus to translation-competent 60S ribosome subunit in the cytoplasm is revealed (also see Kemmler et al. in this issue)