GoGlobal Rural-Urban

This is a book of edited articles and design projects from five years of collaborative international design projects in developed and developing economies, including China, Thailand, Ghana and Japan. Part One contains articles on initiatives including e-commerce models for developing economies, massclusivity and craft design. Part Two is dedicated to design solutions for China’s rural-urban migration issues, which affect 55 million people a year. The project enhances knowledge about the application of design thinking to national-level issues connecting policy to implementation, extending design activity into large-scale social and economic areas. The book follows an exhibition of design outcomes in London and Beijing (2010). Hall developed his chapter (‘Go Global: Ghana’) from a conference paper given at the ‘International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference’, South Korea (2009) and further expanded as a book chapter (with Barker) entitled ‘e-Artisans: Contemporary design for the global market’ in Global Design History (2011). ‘eArtisans’ researched a proposed e-commerce model linking designer-craftsmen with a global Internet sale and distribution model for African countries. The originality lay in proposing and testing knowledge, through design collaborations, in a combination of e-commerce enterprise models; it was significant in deploying the proposed model in an experimental educational initiative. The research was based on previous experience of design, craft and enterprise projects in Thailand and China, and aligned with a creative economies report by UNESCO (2008). The context was a collaboration at the KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, where action-based research methods resulted in a case study illustrating cultural transfer. Support and partnership were also provided by Aid To Artisans, the British Council and Africa 53. A vital aspect was the discovery of how an e-commerce model changed design concepts and creative proposals. The GoGlobal project has continued with an edited publication, Designing Social City Experiences (Jin Nam and Hall 2013)

A Novel Genetic Variant in Long Non-coding RNA Gene NEXN-AS1 is Associated with Risk of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer etiology is multifactorial, and growing evidence has indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important players in lung carcinogenesis. We performed a large-scale meta-analysis of690,564 SNPs in 15,531 autosomal lncRNAs by using datasets from six previously published genome-wideassociation studies (GWASs) from the Transdisciplinary Research in Cancer of the Lung (TRICL) consortiumin populations of European ancestry. Previously unreported significant SNPs (P value \u3c 1 × 10−7) were further validated in two additional independent lung cancer GWAS datasets from Harvard University anddeCODE. In the final meta-analysis of all eight GWAS datasets with 17,153 cases and 239,337 controls, a novel risk SNP rs114020893 in the lncRNA NEXN-AS1 region at 1p31.1 remained statistically significant(odds ratio = 1.17; 95% confidence interval = 1.11–1.24; P = 8.31 × 10−9). In further in silico analysis,rs114020893 was predicted to change the secondary structure of the lncRNA. Our finding indicates that SNP rs114020893 of NEXN-AS1 at 1p31.1 may contribute to lung cancer susceptibility

The Influence of Oxygen on the Development of Nanorana parkeri Tadpoles

Ectothermic animals are tolerant of variable oxygen availability, whether low-oxygen levels constrain the fitness of ectotherms remains unclear. Nanorana parkeri, an anuran endemic to the southern Tibetan plateau, is an excellent model with which to answer this question. In this study, we raised tadpoles of N. parkeri in oxygenated water (high-oxygen group) and deoxygenated unchlorinated tap water (low-oxygen group) and monitored their growth, mortality, and telomere length. The growth rate for body length and body weight was higher in the low-oxygen group than in the high-oxygen group. However, dissolved oxygen did not affect development time, mortality, and telomere length of the tadpoles. These results suggest that although the oxygen concentration influenced some phenotype traits of plateau tadpoles, but it didn’t influence the telomere length and survival rate, potential explanations are the local adaptation and N. parkeri tadpoles’ wide oxygen tolerance, and fluctuant toxic content that resulted in little oxidative stress on tadpoles. These results indicated that low oxygen was not a stress to N. parkeri tadpoles’ fitness and survival. This study is helpful in understanding the adaptation mechanisms of Tibetan plateau amphibians

Association between novel PLCE1variants identified in published esophageal cancer genome-wide association studies and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

BACKGROUND: Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) (an effector of Ras) belonging to the phospholipase family plays crucial roles in carcinogenesis and progression of several cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs2274223) in PLCE1 has been identified as a novel susceptibility locus in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) that share similar risk factors with SCCHN. Therefore, we investigated the association between potentially functional SNPs in PLCE1 and susceptibility to SCCHN. METHODS: We genotyped three potentially functional SNPs (rs2274223A/G, rs3203713A/G and rs11599672T/G) of PLCE1 in 1,098 SCCHN patients and 1,090 controls matched by age and sex in a non-Hispanic white population. RESULTS: Although none of three SNPs was alone significantly associated with overall risk of SCCHN, their combined effects of risk alleles (rs2274223G, rs3203713G and rs11599672G) were found to be associated with risk of SCCHN in a locus-dose effect manner (P(trend )= 0.046), particularly for non-oropharyngeal tumors (P(trend )= 0.017); specifically, rs2274223 was associated with a significantly increased risk (AG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.01-1.64; AG/GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.03-1.64), while rs11599672 was associated with a significantly decreased risk (GG vs. TT: adjusted OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.34-0.86; TG/GG vs. TT: adjusted OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.61-0.95). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that PLCE1 variants may have an effect on risk of SCCHN associated with tobacco and alcohol exposure, particularly for those tumors arising at non-oropharyngeal sites. These findings, although need to be validated by larger studies, are consistent with those in esophageal and gastric cancers

Prediction of Frost-Heaving Behavior of Saline Soil in Western Jilin Province, China, by Neural Network Methods

In this study, backpropagation neural network (BPNN) and generalized regression neural network (GRNN) approaches are used to predict the frost-heaving ratio (FR) of the saline soil specimen collected from Nong’an, Western Jilin, China. Four variables, namely, water content (WC), compactness, temperature, and content of soluble salts (CSS), are considered in predicting FR. A total of 360 pieces of data, collected from the experimental results, in which 30 pieces of data were selected randomly as the testing set data and the rest of the data were treated as the training set data, are applied to develop the prediction models. The predicted data from the models are compared with the experimental data. Then, the results of the two approaches are compared to obtain a relatively reliable model. Results indicate that the prediction model for the FR of saline soil in Nong’an can be successfully established using the GRNN method. Four new GRNN models are constructed for sensitivity analysis to assess the influence degree of the influencing factors, and the results indicate that water content is the most influential variable in the FR of the saline soil specimen, whereas content of soluble salts is the least influential variable

Polymorphisms of the DNA repair gene MGMT and risk and progression of head and neck cancer.

Methylating agents are involved in carcinogenesis, and the DNA repair protein O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) removes methyl group from O(6)-methylguanine. Genetic variation in DNA repair genes has been shown to contribute to susceptibility to squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). We hypothesize that MGMT polymorphisms are associated with risk of SCCHN. In a hospital-based case-control study of 721 patients with SCCHN and 1234 cancer-free controls frequency-matched by age, sex and ethnicity, we genotyped four MGMT polymorphisms, two in exon 3, 16195C\u3eT and 16286C\u3eT and two in the promoter region, 45996G\u3eT and 46346C\u3eA. We found that none of these polymorphisms alone had a significant effect on risk of SCCHN. However, when these four polymorphisms were evaluated together by the number of putative risk genotypes (i.e. 16195CC, 16286CC, 45996GT+TT, and 46346CA+AA), a statistically significantly increased risk of SCCHN was associated with the combined genotypes with three to four risk genotypes, compared with those with zero to two risk genotypes (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.27; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.05-1.53). This increased risk was also more pronounced among young subjects (OR=1.81; 95% CI=1.11-2.96), men (OR=1.24; 95% CI=1.00-1.55), ever smokers (OR=1.25; 95%=1.01-1.56), ever drinkers (OR=1.29; 95% CI=1.04-1.60), patients with oropharyngeal cancer (OR=1.45; 95% CI=1.12-1.87), and oropharyngeal cancer with regional lymph node metastasis (OR=1.52; 95% CI=1.16-1.89). In conclusion, our results suggest that any one of MGMT variants may not have a substantial effect on SCCHN risk, but a joint effect of several MGMT variants may contribute to risk and progression of SCCHN, particularly for oropharyngeal cancer, in non-Hispanic whites

A variant at a potentially functional microRNA-binding site in BRIP1 was associated with risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are one of the most serious forms of DNA damage to the cell, causing genomic instability and ultimately carcinogenesis. In this study, we hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the micro RNA (miRNA)-binding sites of DSB repair genes may influence cancer risk by dysregulating target gene expression. To test our hypothesis, we firstly performed functional prediction for common SNPs in DSB genes and found 12 potentially functional SNPs located at the miRNA-binding sites. We then investigated their associations with risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) in 1087 patients and 1090 cancer-free controls in a non-Hispanic white population. As a result, SNP rs7213430 in BRIP1 was found to be significantly associated with cancer risk (Ptrend = 0.021). Compared with the AA homozygotes, the G allele carriers had an increased risk of SCCHN (adjusted OR 1.16, 95 % CI 1.02–1.31). Marginal significance was found for another SNP rs15869 in BRCA2 (P = 0.053). Further, functional analyses showed that SNP rs7213430 is within the miR-101 seed-binding region, and the variant G allele could lead to significantly lower luciferase activity and BRIP1 mRNA expression, compared to the A allele with the presence of miR-101. Our results suggested that SNP rs7213430 in the 3′-UTR of BRIP1 might contribute to SCCHN susceptibility by affecting the binding activity of miR-101 and resulting in a decreased BRIP1 expression. Additional larger population and functional studies are warranted to confirm our findings

The existence of positive solutions for high order fractional differential equations with sign changing nonlinearity and parameters

By constructing an auxiliary boundary value problem, the difficulty caused by sign changing nonlinearity terms is overcome by means of the linear superposition principle. Using the Guo-Krasnosel'skii fixed point theorem, the results of the existence of positive solutions for boundary value problems of high order fractional differential equation are obtained in different parameter intervals under a more relaxed condition compared with the existing literature. As an application, we give two examples to illustrate our results

Clinical value of alpha-fetoprotein: alpha-fetoprotein-L3 isoform ratio and des-γ-carboxyprothrombin in early diagnosis of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To evaluate the value of different combinations of alpha-fetoprotein （AFP）， alpha-fetoprotein-L3 isoform ratio （AFP-L3%） and des-γ-carboxyprothrombin （DCP） for early diagnosis of hepatitis B virus （HBV）-related hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. Methods A total of 167 patients were enrolled in this study， including 100 patients with HCC and 67 patients with infection-related liver cirrhosis （LC）. The levels of serum AFP， AFP-L3% and DCP were detected by chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was delineated for subsequent analysis. Results The levels of AFP， AFP-L3% and DCP in HCC patients were significantly higher than those in LC patients （all P < 0.05）. There was no significant difference in AFP and AFP-L3% levels between stage 0 and stage A patients in HCC group （both P > 0.05）. DCP levels in stage 0 patients were significantly lower than those in stage A patients in HCC group （P < 0.05）. The sensitivity and specificity of AFP， AFP-L3% and DCP in the diagnosis of early HCC were 51.5%， 92.5%， 28.3%， and 95.5%， 60.0%， 84.7%， respectively. Analysis of the area under the ROC curve （AUC） results showed that the AUC values of AFP， AFP-L3% and DCP for the diagnosis of early HCC were 0.760， 0.619 and 0.749， respectively. The AUC value of combined detection of AFP and DCP was 0.810， which yielded the highest diagnostic efficiency. Conclusion AFP has important diagnostic value in the diagnosis of early HCC. The combination of AFP and DCP can improve the diagnostic efficiency of HBV-related early HCC