Countryside dilemmas. The renovation and preservation of rural heritage

LAUREA MAGISTRALESotto l'influenza delle politiche di protezione del patrimonio e dello sviluppo turistico, il villaggio di Wengding è diventato gradualmente un "villaggio vuoto" e i conflitti tra persone e spazio, residenti e turisti si stanno intensificando. Intendiamo esplorare come i villaggi tradizionali ottimizzino il loro spazio nel contesto della protezione del patrimonio. Più interessante è se possiamo usare una strategia mirco per conciliare le contraddizioni tra persone e spazio, residenti e turisti. La pianificazione e lo sviluppo dei villaggi di Wengding si concentra su 4 diverse scale ( XL, L, M e S ). Dopo aver analizzato le sfide affrontate attraverso la scala Regionale e Rurale-Urbana, una pianificazione paesaggistica su larga scala sarà introdotta nell'area della valle per ricollegare i 3 paesi. seguito da un intervento architettonico in ultima scala per fornire spazi alla comunità e ai turisti, offrendo anche una connessione in un approccio regionale alla collina.Under the influence of heritage protection policies and tourism development, the viillage of Wengding has gradually become an "empty village", and the conflicts between people and space, residents and tourists are intensifying. We intend to explore how traditional villages optimize their space in the context of heritage protection. More interesting is whether we can use an mirco strategy to reconcile the contradictions between people and space, residents and tourists. The planning and development of Wengding villages focus on 4 different scales ( XL, L, M and S ). After analysing the facing challenges though Regional and Rural-Urban scales, a large scale landscape planing be introduced into valley area to re-links the 3 village. followed up with a Architectural intervention in last scale to providing spaces to the community and tourists, also offering a connection in a regional approach to the hillside

A Review of Studies on the Treatment of Premature Ejaculation with Traditional Chinese Medicine

by combing the literature and analyzing the current status of traditional chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for premature ejaculation (PE), the strengths and shortcomings of the existing studies were identified. building upon this assessment, we put forward a prospect for the establishment of TCM-specific strategies for PE, including more targeted and individualized comprehensive diagnosis and treatment approaches for PE, the establishment of a TCM hierarchical management program, and the exploration of the most effective entry points for collaborative treatment of PE using both TCM and Western medicine. Indeed, integrating therapeutical strategies from the two perspectives in a multifaceted and complex symptom such as PE, would enhance the possibility of success, possibly also reducing side effects. moreover, with the help of well-established and new scientific and technological tools, we can explore the key links and targets in treating PE by TCM. at the same time, the mechanism of TCM treatment for PE could and should be examined in depth to lay the foundation for widespread clinical application. Finally, we suggest conducting multicenter, nationwide standardized clinical studies on treating PE with TCM. these studies should employ high-quality randomized controlled trial designs to obtain robust evidence-based medical data

CloudBrain-MRS: An Intelligent Cloud Computing Platform for in vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Preprocessing, Quantification, and Analysis

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is an important clinical imaging method for diagnosis of diseases. MRS spectrum is used to observe the signal intensity of metabolites or further infer their concentrations. Although the magnetic resonance vendors commonly provide basic functions of spectra plots and metabolite quantification, the widespread clinical research of MRS is still limited due to the lack of easy-to-use processing software or platform. To address this issue, we have developed CloudBrain-MRS, a cloud-based online platform that provides powerful hardware and advanced algorithms. The platform can be accessed simply through a web browser, without the need of any program installation on the user side. CloudBrain-MRS also integrates the classic LCModel and advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and supports batch preprocessing, quantification, and analysis of MRS data from different vendors. Additionally, the platform offers useful functions: 1) Automatically statistical analysis to find biomarkers for diseases; 2) Consistency verification between the classic and artificial intelligence quantification algorithms; 3) Colorful three-dimensional visualization for easy observation of individual metabolite spectrum. Last, both healthy and mild cognitive impairment patient data are used to demonstrate the functions of the platform. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first cloud computing platform for in vivo MRS with artificial intelligence processing. We have shared our cloud platform at MRSHub, providing free access and service for two years. Please visit https://mrshub.org/software_all/#CloudBrain-MRS or https://csrc.xmu.edu.cn/CloudBrain.html.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Lipid Membrane-Wrapped Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 for Synergistic Chemotherapy and Photothermal Therapy to Target Prostate Cancer

Endocrine therapy is often used for advanced prostate cancer. However, with cancer progress, prostate cancer gradually resistant to hormone which lead to serious threatens to life of patients. Herein, a multifunctional synergistic core–shell nanoplatform is reported for improving the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy for advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, and reducing the risk of leakage of chemotherapy drugs. Particularly, Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is chosen as inner core to load doxorubicin, and the of liposomes which are embedded with IR780 iodide are used as outer shell, and further modified with target ligand that binds to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone receptor. The prepared nanocarrier exhibit satisfactory photothermal effect under near infrared laser irradiation, and the temperature increases to 60.8 °C within 6 min. Meanwhile, the elevated temperature accelerates the degradation of lipid shell, releasing ZIF-8 core to acidic microenvironment of tumor, and resulting in the release of doxorubicin. Moreover, in vivo and in vitro studies have shown the ZIF-D@ALIP core–shell nanoparticles can achieve targeted drug delivery, pH and NIR dual stimuli-responsive drug release, as well as chemotherapy and photothermal therapy synergistically on the tumor site. In addition, the problem of premature leakage and changes in the physicochemical properties of anticancer drugs are avoided under the protection of the outer shell structure. Therefore, the core–shell nanostructure proposes a new lipid membrane coating strategy to promote the effective targeting of prostate cancer cells or tissues and provides some insights in clinical treatment for advanced prostate cancer.</jats:p

Effect of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Cardiovascular Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

<div><p>Background</p><p>Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is widely used to controlling menopausal symptoms and prevent adverse cardiovascular events. However, the benefit and risk of HRT on cardiovascular outcomes remains controversial.</p> <p>Methodology and Principal Findings</p><p>We systematically searched the PubMed, EmBase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases for obtaining relevant literature. All eligible trials reported on the effects of HRT on cardiovascular outcomes. We did a random effects meta-analysis to obtain summary effect estimates for the clinical outcomes with use of relative risks calculated from the raw data of included trials. Of 1903 identified studies, we included 10 trials reporting data on 38908 postmenopausal women. Overall, we noted that estrogen combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy as compared to placebo had no effect on coronary events (RR, 1.07; 95%CI: 0.91–1.26; P = 0.41), myocardial infarction (RR, 1.09; 95%CI: 0.85–1.41; P = 0.48), stroke (RR, 1.21; 95%CI: 1.00–1.46; P = 0.06), cardiac death (RR, 1.19; 95%CI: 0.91–1.56; P = 0.21), total death (RR, 1.06; 95%CI: 0.81–1.39; P = 0.66), and revascularization (RR, 0.95; 95%CI: 0.83–1.08; P = 0.43). In addition, estrogen therapy alone had no effect on coronary events (RR, 0.93; 95%CI: 0.80–1.08; P = 0.33), myocardial infarction (RR, 0.95; 95%CI: 0.78–1.15; P = 0.57), cardiac death (RR, 0.86; 95%CI: 0.65–1.13; P = 0.27), total mortality (RR, 1.02; 95%CI: 0.89–1.18; P = 0.73), and revascularization (RR, 0.77; 95%CI: 0.45–1.31; P = 0.34), but associated with a 27% increased risk for incident stroke (RR, 1.27; 95%CI: 1.06–1.53; P = 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusion/Significance</p><p>Hormone replacement therapy does not effect on the incidence of coronary events, myocardial infarction, cardiac death, total mortality or revascularization. However, it might contributed an important role on the risk of incident stroke.</p> </div

Low Concentrations of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Cause Severe Cytotoxicity Through Increased Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species

With wide application of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, their biological toxicity has received more and more attention in recent years. In this research, two ZnO dispersions with different particle sizes, small size Zinc oxide (S-ZnO) and big size Zinc oxide (B-ZnO), were prepared using polycarboxylic acid as dispersant. We found that the S-ZnO nanoparticles showed stronger toxicity on Human Pulmonary Alveolar Epithelial Cells (HPAEpiC) under same concentration. Only 9 ppm S-ZnO could decrease HPAEpiC viability to about 50%, which means that, a small amount of well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles in industrial production process may cause serious damage to the human body through oral inhalation. Focusing on mechanism for cytotoxicity, ZnO nanoparticles promoted generation and accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in mitochondria via inhibiting Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity and reducing Glutathione (GSH) content. ROS in turn opened the mitochondrial Ca2+ pathway and lowered the Mitochondrial Membrane Potentials (MMP), leading to cell death. To simulate the lung environment in vitro, mixed dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and ZnO nanoparticles (1:1) were incubated for 72 hours and then cytotoxicity was evaluated on HPAEpiC. Results showed that the cell viability was significantly increased, which proved that the DPPC effectively inhibited the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles.</jats:p

Effect of hormone replacement therapy on risk of stroke.

<p>Effect of hormone replacement therapy on risk of stroke.</p