Clinical and Epidemiologic Research Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Pterygium in Rural Adult Chinese Populations of the Bai Nationality in Dali: The Yunnan Minority Eye Study

PURPOSE. The purpose of the study was to describe the prevalence, severity, and associated risk factors for pterygium in a population-based sample of rural residents of the Bai minority population in rural Dali, China. METHODS. A population-based survey of Chinese Bai Nationality aged ‡50 years from randomly selected block groups in southwestern China was conducted. A clinical examination by experienced ophthalmologists was carried out, and the presence of pterygium was diagnosed at the examination. Pterygium was graded clinically by slit lamp examination. Questionnaires were conducted on risk factors. RESULTS. From a total of 2742 eligible subjects, 2133 (77.8%) were examined. CONCLUSIONS. The prevalence of pterygium in Dali is 39.0% among Chinese Bai aged 50 years and older. Independent associations with increasing age (>59 years), female sex, lack of education, and occupations linked to outdoor work suggest a multifactorial cause of this condition. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:6617-6621

Modulating gut microbiota and metabolites with dietary fiber oat β-glucan interventions to improve growth performance and intestinal function in weaned rabbits

The effect of oat β-glucan on intestinal function and growth performance of weaned rabbits were explored by multi-omics integrative analyses in the present study. New Zealand White rabbits fed oat β-glucan [200 mg/kg body weight (BW)] for 4 weeks, and serum markers, colon histological alterations, colonic microbiome, colonic metabolome, and serum metabolome were measured. The results revealed that oat β-glucan increased BW, average daily gain (ADG), average daily food intake (ADFI), and decreased serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contents, but did not affect colonic microstructure. Microbiota community analysis showed oat β-glucan modulated gut microbial composition and structure, increased the abundances of beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus, Prevotellaceae_UCG-001, Pediococcus, Bacillus, etc. Oat β-glucan also increased intestinal propionic acid, valeric acid, and butyric acid concentrations, decreased lysine and aromatic amino acid (AAA) derivative contents. Serum metabolite analysis revealed that oat β-glucan altered host carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. These results suggested that oat β-glucan could inhibit systemic inflammation and protect intestinal function by regulating gut microbiota and related metabolites, which further helps to improve growth performance in weaned rabbits

Human Remains from the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition of Southwest China Suggest a Complex Evolutionary History for East Asians

BACKGROUND: Later Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia remains poorly understood owing to a scarcity of well described, reliably classified and accurately dated fossils. Southwest China has been identified from genetic research as a hotspot of human diversity, containing ancient mtDNA and Y-DNA lineages, and has yielded a number of human remains thought to derive from Pleistocene deposits. We have prepared, reconstructed, described and dated a new partial skull from a consolidated sediment block collected in 1979 from the site of Longlin Cave (Guangxi Province). We also undertook new excavations at Maludong (Yunnan Province) to clarify the stratigraphy and dating of a large sample of mostly undescribed human remains from the site. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We undertook a detailed comparison of cranial, including a virtual endocast for the Maludong calotte, mandibular and dental remains from these two localities. Both samples probably derive from the same population, exhibiting an unusual mixture of modern human traits, characters probably plesiomorphic for later Homo, and some unusual features. We dated charcoal with AMS radiocarbon dating and speleothem with the Uranium-series technique and the results show both samples to be from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: ∼14.3-11.5 ka. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our analysis suggests two plausible explanations for the morphology sampled at Longlin Cave and Maludong. First, it may represent a late-surviving archaic population, perhaps paralleling the situation seen in North Africa as indicated by remains from Dar-es-Soltane and Temara, and maybe also in southern China at Zhirendong. Alternatively, East Asia may have been colonised during multiple waves during the Pleistocene, with the Longlin-Maludong morphology possibly reflecting deep population substructure in Africa prior to modern humans dispersing into Eurasia

Mainstream Culture Refocused

Serialized television drama (dianshiju), perhaps the most popular and influential cultural form in China, offers a wide, penetrating look at the tensions and contradictions of the post-revolutionary and pro-market period. Zhong Xueping's timely new work argues for recognizing the complexity of dianshiju's melodramatic mode and its various subgenres, in effect "refocusing" mainstream Chinese culture. Mainstream Culture Refocused explores the manifestations, in dianshiju, of issues of history and tradition; the cultural and ideological issues surrounding the notion of youth; and how women's emotions are represented in relation to their desire for "happiness." Song lyrics from music composed for television dramas are considered as "popular poetics" that express nostalgia and uncertainty, mirroring the social contradictions of the reform era

Mainstream Culture Refocused: Television Drama, Society, and the Production of Meaning in Reform-Era China

Serialized television drama (dianshiju), perhaps the most popular and influential cultural form in China over the past three decades, offers a wide and penetrating look at the tensions and contradictions of the post-revolutionary and pro-market period. Zhong Xueping’s timely new work draws attention to the multiple cultural and historical legacies that coexist and challenge each other within this dominant form of story telling. Although scholars tend to focus their attention on elite cultural trends and avant garde movements in literature and film, Zhong argues for recognizing the complexity of dianshiju’s melodramatic mode and its various subgenres, in effect "refocusing" mainstream Chinese culture. Mainstream Culture Refocused opens with an examination of television as a narrative motif in three contemporary Chinese art-house films. Zhong then turns her attention to dianshiju’s most important subgenres. "Emperor dramas" highlight the link between popular culture’s obsession with emperors and modern Chinese intellectuals’ preoccupation with issues of history and tradition and how they relate to modernity. In her exploration of the "anti-corruption" subgenre, Zhong considers three representative dramas, exploring their diverse plots and emphases. "Youth dramas’" rich array of representations reveal the numerous social, economic, cultural, and ideological issues surrounding the notion of youth and its changing meanings. The chapter on the "family-marriage" subgenre analyzes the ways in which women’s emotions are represented in relation to their desire for "happiness." Song lyrics from music composed for television dramas are considered as "popular poetics." Their sentiments range between nostalgia and uncertainty, mirroring the social contradictions of the reform era. The Epilogue returns to the relationship between intellectuals and the production of mainstream cultural meaning in the context of China’s post-revolutionary social, economic, and cultural transformation. Provocative and insightful, Mainstream Culture Refocused will appeal to scholars and students in studies of modern China generally and of contemporary Chinese media and popular culture specifically.Knowledge Unlatche

A critical introduction to Mao : [book review]

Non UBCUnreviewedUnknow

Mainstream Culture Refocused

Serialized television drama (dianshiju), perhaps the most popular and influential cultural form in China, offers a wide, penetrating look at the tensions and contradictions of the post-revolutionary and pro-market period. Zhong Xueping's timely new work argues for recognizing the complexity of dianshiju's melodramatic mode and its various subgenres, in effect "refocusing" mainstream Chinese culture. Mainstream Culture Refocused explores the manifestations, in dianshiju, of issues of history and tradition; the cultural and ideological issues surrounding the notion of youth; and how women's emotions are represented in relation to their desire for "happiness." Song lyrics from music composed for television dramas are considered as "popular poetics" that express nostalgia and uncertainty, mirroring the social contradictions of the reform era