State de-financialisation through incorporating local government bonds in the budgetary process in China

In China, state-led financialisation through local government financing platforms resulted in a surge in local government debt. To manage financial risk, the central state introduced local government bonds (LGBs) to replace the platforms as the main financing source for infrastructure investment. The issuance of LGBs is subject to a budgetary process. We argue that LGBs mark a turn to state de-financialisation, as the local state’s financial logic of maximising value extraction from the built environment is restricted by budgetary control. Through developing a database of LGB issuance in over 400 prefectural cities, this article reveals that local indebtedness determines the geographies of bond issuance, confirming the effect of the central state’s objective of restricting local government debt. The dynamics of state-led financialisation change from the inter-jurisdictional competition in infrastructure investment among local states through local government financing platforms to a hierarchical control of LGB issuance led by the central state using the budget. Our findings show that financial expansion may mean state de-financialisation and fiscal resources are not only used to promote state-led financialisation but also to enable state de-financialisation

The Political Economy of China's Local Debt

By analysing the development and operation of local government bonds (LGBs), a new tool fashioned by the Chinese government to finance infrastructure projects, this article improves the understanding of the political economy of China's local debt. We find that the central government uses LGBs to intervene in local debt and pursue policy objectives, and designs a quota system to decide the bond issuing amount and the project selection. When calculating quotas, the central government prioritizes limiting financial risk and achieving national development goals. Local debt should match the fiscal capacity of local governments, and the projects should contribute to the sectors emphasized by the central government as important for national development, reflecting the centralization of central–local relations. However, LGBs hardly fix the problem of local debt, and the pressure to maintain economic growth by expanding infrastructure investment has pushed local debt to an alarming level

Adaptable state-controlled market actors: Underwriters and investors in the market of local government bonds in China

Local government bonds (LGBs) have become the most important tool of the Chinese state for financing infrastructure projects. The underwriters and investors in LGBs are mostly commercial banks, with state actors holding the overwhelming majority of shares. We call these state-controlled market actors. This article investigates the role of state-controlled market actors in LGB issuance to extend the understanding of state actors and state–market relations in the financialisation of urban governance. The findings show that they underwrite and invest in LGBs to support the government's development objectives and make profits. They can hardly affect the government to create the terms and conditions of bonds to favour their financial interests, but they manage to make substantial profits. They follow the policy trends to identify LGBs as risk-free and reflexively change their investment priority towards the bonds. Due to the low interest rates, the banks mainly profit from bond trading in the secondary market and fiscal fund investment. There are preferential policies for LGB trading in the secondary market, and local governments deposit fiscal funds in the banks to motivate them to do LGB business. We argue that reflexively making investment decisions according to the policy environment and making profits by exploiting political resources represented by preferential policies and fiscal funds show the adaptability of the state-controlled market actors

A cuproptosis-related lncRNA signature-based prognostic model featuring on metastasis and drug selection strategy for patients with lung adenocarcinoma

Introduction: Lung adenocarcinoma is a common cause of mortality in patients with cancer. Recent studies have indicated that copper-related cell death may not occur in the same way as previously described. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a key role in the occurrence and development of tumors; however, the relationship between cuproptosis and lncRNAs in tumorigenesis and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) treatment has not been well established. Our study aimed to construct a model to analyze the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma in patients using a carcinogenesis-related lncRNA (CR) signature.Methods: The transcriptional profiles of 507 samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas were assessed. Cox regression and co-expression analyses, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were used to filter the CR and develop the model. The expression status of the six prognostic CRs was used to classify all samples into high- and low-risk groups. The overall disease-free survival rate was compared between the two groups. The Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were used to identify the pathways and mechanisms involved in this model. Subsequently, immunotherapy response, sensitivity, and correlation analyses for several anti-tumor medications were performed. In vitro experiments, including qPCR, were conducted in nine lung adenocarcinoma cell lines and 16 pairs of lung adenocarcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues.Results: After confirmation using the ROC curve, patients in the low-risk category benefited from both overall and disease-free survival. Gene Ontology analysis highlighted cell movement in the model. In the in vitro experiments, qPCR results showed the expression levels of six CRs in 16 pairs of carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues, which were in accordance with the results of the model. AL138778.1 is a protective factor that can weaken the invasion and migration of A549 cells, and AL360270.1 is a hazardous factor that promotes the invasion and migration of A549 cells. According to this model, targeted treatments such as axitinib, gefitinib, linsitinib, pazopanib, and sorafenib may be more appropriate for low-risk patients.Conclusion: Six CR profiles (AL360270.1, AL138778.1, CDKN2A-DT, AP003778.1, LINC02718, and AC034102.8) with predictive values may be used to evaluate the prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma undergoing therapy

Concomitant mutation status of ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancers and its prognostic impact on patients treated with crizotinib

Background: In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement characterizes a subgroup of patients who show sensitivity to ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, the prognoses of these patients are heterogeneous. A better understanding of the genomic alterations occurring in these tumors could explain the prognostic heterogeneity observed in these patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 96 patients with NSCLC with ALK detected by immunohistochemical staining (VENTANA anti-ALK(D5F3) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody). Cancer tissues were subjected to next-generation sequencing using a panel of 520 cancer-related genes. The genomic landscape, distribution of ALK fusion variants, and clinicopathological characteristics of the patients were evaluated. The correlations of genomic alterations with clinical outcomes were also assessed. Results: Among the 96 patients with immunohistochemically identified ALK fusions, 80 (83%) were confirmed by next-generation sequencing. TP53 mutation was the most commonly co-occurring mutation with ALK rearrangement. Concomitant driver mutations [2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) G12, 1 epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) 19del, and 1 MET exon 14 skipping] were also observed in 4 adenocarcinomas. Echinoderm microtubule associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-ALK fusions were identified in 95% of ALK-rearranged patients, with 16.2% of them also harboring additional non-EML4- ALK fusions. Nineteen non-EML4 translocation partners were also discovered, including 10 novel ones. Survival analyses revealed that patients concurrently harboring PIK3R2 alterations showed a trend toward shorter progression-free survival (6 vs. 13 months, P=0.064) and significantly shorter overall survival (11 vs. 32 months, P=0.004) than did PIK3R2-wild-type patients. Patients with concomitant alterations in PI3K the signaling pathway also had a shorter median overall survival than those without such alterations (23 vs. 32 months, P=0.014), whereas progression-free survival did not differ significantly. Conclusions: The spectrum of ALK-fusion variants and the landscape of concomitant genomic alterations were delineated in 96 NSCLC patients. Our study also demonstrated the prognostic value of concomitant alterations in crizotinib-treated patients, which could facilitate improved stratification of ALK-rearranged NSCLC patients in the selection of candidates who could optimally benefit from therapy

The Impacts of In Situ Urbanization on Housing, Mobility and Employment of Local Residents in China

Rapid economic growth and infrastructure development force in situ urbanization in locations where people from rural areas gain urban residency without experiencing long-distance geographical relocation. However, the impacts of in situ urbanization on farmers’ and other residents’ well-being remains unclear, and there are some arguments about the idea that “urbanization of people lags behind urbanization of land” in China. Therefore, this study firstly finds a reasonable way to measure in situ urbanization: the transfer of rural-urban division codes. On this basis, by applying the PSM-DID method, we use national census data to explore the impacts of in situ urbanization on farmers from the perspective of housing, mobility and employment. The research results show that after the in situ urbanization, the possibility of farmers moving into non-self-built high-rising buildings increases, while the possibility of farmers leaving the county for employment decreases. Besides, the employment structure in the county where in situ urbanization takes place has shifted from primary industry to secondary and tertiary industry. Moreover, this paper also discusses the spillover effects of in situ urbanization on other residents in the county. Our study shows that in situ urbanization can improve residents’ well-being and offers sustainable land-people integrated urbanization

Identification of preoperative prediction factors of tumor subtypes for patients with solitary ground-glass opacity pulmonary nodules

Abstract Background Recent wide spread use of low-dose helical computed tomography for the screening of lung cancer have led to an increase in the detection rate of very faint and smaller lesions known as ground-glass opacity nodules. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical factors of lung cancer patients with solitary ground-glass opacity pulmonary nodules on computed tomography. Methods A total of 423 resected solitary ground-glass opacity nodules were retrospectively evaluated. We analyzed the clinical, imaging and pathological data and investigated the clinical differences in patient with adenocarcinoma in situ / minimally invasive adenocarcinoma and those with invasive adenocarcinoma. Results Three hundred and ninety-three adenocarcinomas (92.9%) and 30 benign nodules were diagnosed. Age, the history of family cancer, serum carcinoembryonic antigen level, tumor size, ground-glass opacity types, and bubble-like sign in chest CT differed significantly between adenocarcinoma in situ / minimally invasive adenocarcinoma and invasive adenocarcinoma (p:0.008, 0.046, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000 and 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curves and univariate analysis revealed that patients with more than 58.5 years, a serum carcinoembryonic antigen level > 1.970 μg/L, a tumor size> 13.50 mm, mixed ground-glass opacity nodules and a bubble-like sign were more likely to be diagnosed as invasive adenocarcinoma. The combination of five factors above had an area under the curve of 0.91, with a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 87%. Conclusion The five-factor combination helps us to distinguish adenocarcinoma in situ / minimally invasive adenocarcinoma from invasive adenocarcinoma and to perform appropriate surgery for solitory ground-glass opacity nodules

Risk evaluation of solar greenhouse cucumbers low temperature disaster based on GIS spatial analysis in Tianjin, China

To plan the cucumber cultivation area scientifically, improve the quality of cucumber and avoid meteorological disaster risks, this article evaluates low temperature disaster risk of greenhouse cucumber in Tianjin, China. Solar greenhouses are the main carriers for facility agriculture in North China which usually do not carry heating and supplementary lighting equipments. Consequently, growth and development of crops are still indirectly influenced by the greenhouse outside weather in some extent. In recent years, low temperature disaster of cucumber during overwintering periods happens frequently which brings large influence on cultivation and production of cucumbers in Tianjin. This research takes three types of solar greenhouses with different heat-retaining capacities as the facility carriers to evaluate the low temperature disaster risk of cucumbers grown in different greenhouses. First, study the corresponding relationship between microclimate elements in greenhouse and meteorological elements out of greenhouse based on assurance rate method and conduct the indexes caused cucumber low temperature disaster in different greenhouses at different development stages. Then, construct the risk evaluation model for low temperature disaster based on natural disaster risk evaluation theory. Finally, the low temperature disaster risk zone-division is realized based on GIS spatial analysis function to evaluate cucumber low temperature disaster risk comprehensively. Abbreviations:SG: solar-greenhouse; Cucu: cucumber; LTD: low temperature disaster; RE: risk evaluation; GIS: geographic information system; TJ: Tianji

Improved electrochemical performance of 5 V spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 by La2O3 surface coating for Li-ion batteries

LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 coated with 1.5 wt.% La2O3 was prepared and investigated as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. The samples was characterized by XRD, SEM and EDX. After the 1.5 wt.% La2O3 coating, the lattice structure of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 is not destroyed and a La2O3 coating layer has formed on the surface of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 particles. The 1.5 wt.% La2O3-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 exhibits a higher rate capacity, with discharge capacity between 3.5 and 5 V of 131.9, 127.1, 126.5, 120.7, 114.1 and 101.5 mAh g-1 at rates of 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 5 C (1 C = 140 mAh g-1), respectively. The results indicate that the La2O3 coating could reduce the electrode polarization and enhance the rate capacities