The Practical Problems and Progress of Western Mainstream Sex Education Models

Abstract: The contemporary western mainstream sex education models are “Abstinence -Only Sex Education” and “Comprehensive Sex Education”. Reflection of the two models’ practices in China reveals that Abstinence-Only Sex Education, by means of “moral bundling”, tend to employ the old morality to repress adolescents’ sexuality; Comprehensive Sex Education is inclined to the “sexual abetting” with indulgment in the teaching and adjustment of sexual knowledge and sexual psychology. To solve the practical difficulties between the two models, it is necessary to establish a new sex education model based on the morality which integrates the advantages of the two models. Key words: Sex Education Models; Moral Bundling; Sexual Abetting; Moralit

Thermal discharge-created increasing temperatures alter the bacterioplankton composition and functional redundancy

Additional file 1: Table S1. Measurements of geochemical factors of the 10 sampling sites. Table S2. Pearson correlations between seawater temperature and biogeochemical variables. Figure S1. Pearson correlations between seawater temperature and bacterial abundance (A), DNA yield (a proxy for microbial biomass) (B), and grazing rate (C). Figure S2. Multivariate regression tree (MRT) of bacterial diversity associated with driving biogeochemical factors

Novel Proteolytic Microvesicles Released from Human Macrophages after Exposure to Tobacco Smoke

Cigarette smoking damages the extracellular matrix in a variety of locations, leading to atherosclerotic plaque instability and emphysematous lung destruction, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we sought to determine whether exposure of human macrophages, a key participant in extracellular matrix damage, to tobacco smoke extract (TSE) induces the release of microvesicles (MVs; or microparticles) with proteolytic activity; the major proteases involved; and the cellular mechanisms that might mediate their generation. We found that MVs released from TSE-exposed macrophages carry substantial gelatinolytic and collagenolytic activities that surprisingly can be predominantly attributed to a single transmembrane protease of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) superfamily (namely, MMP14). Flow cytometric counts revealed that exposure of human macrophages to TSE for 20 hours more than quadrupled their production of MMP14-positive MVs (control, 1112 ± 231; TSE-induced, 5823 ± 2192 MMP14-positive MVs/μL of conditioned medium; means ± SEM; n = 6; P < 0.01). Our results indicate that the production of these MVs by human macrophages relies on a series of regulated steps that include activation of two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs, i.e., the Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 MAPK), and then MAPK-dependent induction and maturation of cellular MMP14, a remarkable accumulation of MMP14 into nascent plasma membrane blebs, and finally caspase- and MAPK-dependent apoptosis and apoptotic microvesicle generation. Proteolytically active MVs induced by tobacco smoke may be novel mediators of clinical important matrix destruction in smokers

Proteomics analysis of differentially expressed proteins in chicken trachea and kidney after infection with the highly virulent and attenuated coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus in vivo

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is first to be discovered coronavirus which is probably endemic in all regions with intensive impact on poultry production. In this study, we used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2-DIGE), coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS), to explore the global proteome profiles of trachea and kidney tissues from chicken at different stages infected <it>in vivo </it>with the highly virulent ck/CH/LDL/97I P₅strain of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and the embryo-passaged, attenuated ck/CH/LDL/97I P₁₁₅strain.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-eight differentially expressed proteins were identified. Results demonstrated that some proteins which had functions in cytoskeleton organization, anti-oxidative stress, and stress response, showed different change patterns in abundance from chicken infected with the highly virulent ck/CH/LDL/97I P₅strain and those given the embryo-passaged, attenuated P₁₁₅stain. In addition, the dynamic transcriptional alterations of 12 selected proteins were analyzed by the real-time RT-PCR, and western blot analysis confirmed the change in abundance of heat shock proteins (HSP) beta-1, annexin A2, and annexin A5.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The proteomic alterations described here may suggest that these changes to protein expression correlate with IBV virus' virulence in chicken, hence provides valuable insights into the interactions of IBV with its host and may also assist with investigations of the pathogenesis of IBV and other coronavirus infections.</p

Metal–Organic Frameworks as A Tunable Platform for Designing Functional Molecular Materials

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), also known as coordination polymers, represent an interesting class of crystalline molecular materials that are synthesized by combining metal-connecting points and bridging ligands. The modular nature of and mild conditions for MOF synthesis have permitted the rational structural design of numerous MOFs and the incorporation of various functionalities via constituent building blocks. The resulting designer MOFs have shown promise for applications in a number of areas, including gas storage/separation, nonlinear optics/ferroelectricity, catalysis, energy conversion/storage, chemical sensing, biomedical imaging, and drug delivery. The structure-property relationships of MOFs can also be readily established by taking advantage of the knowledge of their detailed atomic structures, which enables fine-tuning of their functionalities for desired applications. Through the combination of molecular synthesis and crystal engineering MOFs thus present an unprecedented opportunity for the rational and precise design of functional materials

Nanoscale Metal–Organic Frameworks for Biomedical Imaging and Drug Delivery

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of hybrid materials formed by the self-assembly of polydentate bridging ligands and metal-connecting points, have been studied for a variety of applications. Recently, these materials have been scaled down to nanometer sizes, and this Account details the development of nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (NMOFs) for biomedical applications. NMOFs possess several potential advantages over conventional nanomedicines such as their structural and chemical diversity, their high loading capacity, and their intrinsic biodegradability. Under relatively mild conditions, NMOFs can be obtained as either crystalline or amorphous materials. The particle composition, size, and morphology can be easily tuned to optimize the final particle properties. Researchers have employed two general strategies to deliver active agents using NMOFs: by incorporating active agents into the frameworks or by loading active agents into the pores and channels of the NMOFs. The modification of NMOF surfaces with either silica coatings or organic polymers improves NMOF stability, fine-tunes their properties, and imparts additional functionality. Preliminary biomedical applications of NMOFs have focused on their use as delivery vehicles for imaging contrast agents and molecular therapeutics. Because NMOFs can carry large amounts of paramagnetic metal ions, they have been extensively explored as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Both Gd(3+)- and Mn(2+)-containing NMOFs have shown excellent efficacy as T(1)-weighted contrast agents with large per metal- and per particle-based MR relaxivities. Fe(3+)-containing NMOFs have demonstrated excellent T(2)-weighted contrast enhancement. Upon intravenous injection of iron carboxylate NMOFs in Wistar rats, researchers observed negative signal enhancement in the liver and spleen, which dissipated over time, indicating the degradation and clearance of the NMOF. Through the incorporation of luminescent or high Z element building blocks, NMOFs have also served as viable contrast agents for optical imaging or X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Incorporation of membrane impermeable dyes into NMOFs allowed for their uptake by cancer cells and for their controlled release as the framework decomposed. NMOFs have been used to deliver anticancer drugs and other chemotherapeutics. Cisplatin prodrugs were incorporated within NMOFs at exceptionally high levels, either through use of the prodrug as the building block or through attachment of the prodrug onto the framework after synthesis. These NMOFs were encapsulated within a silica shell and targeted to cancer cells. In vitro assays revealed that the targeted NMOFs possessed similar efficacy to cisplatin, while the nontargeted NMOFs were less active. Several different therapeutic molecules were loaded within porous iron-carboxylate NMOFs at unprecedented levels. The NMOF showed sustained drug release with no burst effect, and in vitro assays revealed that the nanoencapsulated drug possessed similar efficacy to the free drug. Although still at a very early stage of development, NMOFs have already shown great promise as a novel platform for nanomedicine. The compositional tunability and mild synthetic conditions used to produce NMOFs should allow for the incorporation of other imaging and therapeutic agents and their effective delivery to targeted cells in vivo

Application of liposomal technologies for delivery of platinum analogs in oncology

Platinum-based chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, oxaliplatin, and carboplatin, is one of the most widely utilized classes of cancer therapeutics. While highly effective, the clinical applications of platinum-based drugs are limited by their toxicity profiles as well as suboptimal pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, one of the key research areas in oncology has been to develop novel platinum analog drugs and engineer new platinum drug formulations to improve the therapeutic ratio further. Such efforts have led to the development of platinum analogs including nedaplatin, heptaplatin, and lobaplatin. Moreover, reformulating platinum drugs using liposomes has resulted in the development of L-NDPP (Aroplatin™), SPI-77, Lipoplatin™, Lipoxal™, and LiPlaCis®. Liposomes possess several attractive biological activities, including biocompatibility, high drug loading, and improved pharmacokinetics, that are well suited for platinum drug delivery. In this review, we discuss the various platinum drugs and their delivery using liposome-based drug delivery vehicles. We compare and contrast the different liposome platforms as well as speculate on the future of platinum drug delivery research

Assessment of the feasibility and coverage of a modified universal hearing screening protocol for use with newborn babies of migrant workers in Beijing

BACKGROUND: Although migrant workers account for the majority of newborns in Beijing, their children are less likely to undergo appropriate universal newborn hearing screening/rescreening (UNHS) than newborns of local non-migrant residents. We hypothesised that this was at least in part due to the inadequacy of the UNHS protocol currently employed for newborn babies, and therefore aimed to modify the protocol to specifically reflect the needs of the migrant population. METHODS: A total of 10,983 healthy babies born to migrant mothers between January 2007 and December 2009 at a Beijing public hospital were investigated for hearing abnormalities according to a modified UNHS protocol. This incorporated two additional/optional otoacoustic emissions (OAE) tests at 24–48 hours and 2 months after birth. Infants not passing a screening test were referred to the next test, until any hearing loss was confirmed by the auditory brainstem response (ABR) test. RESULTS: A total of 98.91% (10983/11104) of all newborn children underwent the initial OAE test, of which 27.22% (2990/10983) failed the test. 1712 of the failed babies underwent the second inpatient OAE test, with739 failing again; thus significantly decreasing the overall positive rate for abnormal hearing from 27.22% to 18.36% ([2990–973 /10983)]; p = 0). Overall, 1147(56.87%) babies underwent the outpatient OAE test again after1-month, of whom 228 failed and were referred for the second outpatient OAE test (i.e. 2.08% (228/10983) referral rate at 1month of age). 141 of these infants underwent the referral test, of whom 103 (73.05%) tested positive again and were referred for a final ABR test for hearing loss (i.e. final referral rate of 1.73% ([228-38/10983] at 2 months of age). Only 54 infants attended the ABR test and 35 (0.32% of the original cohort tested) were diagnosed with abnormal hearing. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that it is feasible and practical to achieve high coverage rates for screening hearing loss and decrease the referral rates in newborn babies of migrant workers, using a modification of the currently employed UNHS protocol