Ruiyun, El lector obsesionado y La zorra fea

En el número 147 de la revista Estudios de Asia y África (enero-abril de 2012) presentamos la traducción del cuento “Jiaona”, del escritor chino Pu Songling 蒲松龄 (1640-1715), quien vivió durante una complicada etapa histórica de cambios políticos y sociales, cuando la dinastía Ming 明 cayó bajo la invasión de los manchúes y fue sustituida por la dinastía Qing 清. la vida del escritor estuvo marcada por la pobreza constante y por una profunda frustración: jamás haber aprobado, durante más de treinta años, los exámenes para funcionario de gobierno. Esto lo obligó a convertirse en tutor particular para familias acomodadas, mientras dedicaba gran parte de sus esfuerzos a la creación de sus Historias extrañas del estudio del erudito

Intrinsically bioactive and biomimetic nanoparticle-derived therapies alleviate asthma by regulating multiple pathological cells

Asthma is a serious global public health concern. Airway neutrophilic inflammation is closely related to severe asthma, for which effective and safe therapies remain to be developed. Here we report nanotherapies capable of simultaneously regulating multiple target cells relevant to the pathogenesis of neutrophilic asthma. A nanotherapy LaCD NP based on a cyclic oligosaccharide-derived bioactive material was engineered. LaCD NP effectively accumulated in the injured lungs of asthmatic mice and mainly distributed in neutrophils, macrophages, and airway epithelial cells after intravenous or inhalation delivery, thereby ameliorating asthmatic symptoms and attenuating pulmonary neutrophilic inflammation as well as reducing airway hyperresponsiveness, remodeling, and mucus production. Surface engineering via neutrophil cell membrane further enhanced targeting and therapeutic effects of LaCD NP. Mechanistically, LaCD NP can inhibit the recruitment and activation of neutrophils, especially reducing the neutrophil extracellular traps formation and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in neutrophils. Also, LaCD NP can suppress macrophage-mediated pro-inflammatory responses and prevent airway epithelial cell death and smooth muscle cell proliferation, by mitigating neutrophilic inflammation and its direct effects on relevant cells. Importantly, LaCD NP showed good safety performance. Consequently, LaCD-derived multi-bioactive nanotherapies are promising for effective treatment of neutrophilic asthma and other neutrophil-associated diseases