There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

다중혈관 관상동맥 환자에서 y-문합을 이용하여 양쪽 내흉동맥만을 사용한 우회술의 조기 성적

Ligand: a versatile computerized approach for characterization of ligand-binding systems.

Structure-antioxidant activity relationships of flavonoids and phenolic acids

The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years. Ethnopharmacologists, botanists, microbiologists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and “leads” which could be developed for treatment of infectious diseases. While 25 to 50% of current pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, none are used as antimicrobials. Traditional healers have long used plants to prevent or cure infectious conditions; Western medicine is trying to duplicate their successes. Plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites, such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. This review attempts to summarize the current status of botanical screening efforts, as well as in vivo studies of their effectiveness and toxicity. The structure and antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals are also addressed. Since many of these compounds are currently available as unregulated botanical preparations and their use by the public is increasing rapidly, clinicians need to consider the consequences of patients self-medicating with these preparations.

Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents

Manufacturing agglomeration is an important manifestation for cities to enhance their competitiveness, and the resource and environmental effects caused by agglomeration have become a hot topic. Based on the relevant data of prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2019, this study used a Markov transition matrix to study the characteristics of carbon emission transfer and constructed an SDM model to analyze the effect of manufacturing agglomeration on carbon emissions and spatial spillover; the study drew the following conclusions: carbon emissions and the concentrations of manufacturing industries in the Yellow River Basin are on the rise, with carbon emissions showing a distribution pattern of “downstream > midstream > upstream”. Manufacturing agglomeration has a significant positive influence on carbon emissions, reflecting the necessity for the green transformation of manufacturing agglomeration. Manufacturing agglomeration has a spatial spillover effect on carbon emissions. The direct effect is positive, and the indirect effect is negative. The polarization effect caused by agglomeration weakens the development degree of neighboring areas, which may reflect the technological spillover effect of manufacturing agglomeration on neighboring areas. Manufacturing agglomeration has regional heterogeneity in carbon emissions. Compared with the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin, the effect is more obvious in the upper reaches. The study proposes countermeasures in terms of optimizing the spatial pattern of the manufacturing industry and other aspects to provide references for promoting the transformation development of the manufacturing industry in the Yellow River Basin.

Effects and Spatial Spillover of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Carbon Emissions in the Yellow River Basin, China


 Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common type of leukemia with poor prognosis. Although estrogen plays important roles in female cancers, the recent reports indicate that estrogen and its receptors also attribute to the development of non-gender cancers and AML is one of those. Therefore, the inhibition of estrogen production becomes a potential strategy for AML treatment. Exemestane is an aromatase inhibitor and commonly used for reducing estrogen production in breast cancer patients. Our data showed that Exemestane treatment significantly decreased the proliferation of both KG-1 and HL-60 AML cell lines. Since STAT3 and AKT closely collaborate with estrogen receptor in breast cancer cells, their activations are next to be monitored. In KG-1 cells, the phosphorylations of STAT3 (Y705 and S727) and AKT (S473) were both inhibited by Exemestane treatment. Regarding the cell cycle control, p21 was increased by Exemestane in KG-1 cells in which Cyclin E was reduced. It suggests that CDK2 might be inactivated by Exemestane-reduced Cyclin E and therefore p21 escaped from the CDK2-dependent degradation. Although the signaling findings of Exemestane in KG-1 were interesting, no similar results were found in HL-60 cells except the growth inhibition, suggesting the distinct regulation mechanisms between two cell lines. In summary, these results not only suggest, again, the importance of estrogen demand for AML cells, but also show the novel and potential treatment of AML using blockade of estrogen supply, which could be helpful to uncover novel AML treatments in the future.
 Citation Format: Mei-chih Chen, Pang-Ting Cheng, Yu-Chiao Cheng, Ho Lin, Chieh-Lin Jerry Teng. Exemestane inhibits survival and cell cycle regulators and retards AML cell proliferation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome; 2023 Jan 23-25; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Blood Cancer Discov 2023;4(3_Suppl):Abstract nr A32.

Abstract A32: Exemestane inhibits survival and cell cycle regulators and retards AML cell proliferation

Since the 21st century, the trend of competition and cooperation among countries has become increasingly obvious, the trade between countries and regions has become more frequent, the level of international division of labor and cooperation has been continuously improved, and the resources have been optimally allocated all over the world. How to have a comparative advantage in today's free financial trade is an important issue that needs us to study urgently. With the continuous deepening and adjustment of China's industrial structure, the financial service industry has achieved great development. In recent years, China is also continuously promoting the development of green finance and Inclusive Finance, helping the financial industry expand the service field and realize the healthy and green development of the financial industry. However, it is undeniable that compared with developed countries, China's financial service trade started late, and there is still a certain gap. In the financial service system, the legal system is not perfect, the core competitiveness of employees and the construction of financial infrastructure are still prominent. In this context, it is necessary to study the factors affecting the international competitiveness of China's financial service trade. Firstly, taking the export volume of financial service trade as the explanatory variable, this paper selects the per capita disposable income of urban residents, the number of employees in the financial industry, the amount of fixed asset investment in the financial industry, the efficiency of the financial system, the legal deposit reserve ratio and the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar as the explanatory variables to analyze the influencing factors of the international competitiveness of China's financial service trade, Due to the incomplete individual data in recent years and the impact of the epidemic, the relevant values have extreme states, which affects the overall research level. Therefore, the annual data from 2000 to 2017 are selected. The data can be obtained through wind screening. Through the scatter diagram, it is judged that there is an approximate linear relationship between the export volume of financial service trade and each explanatory model is established. According to the analysis results, this paper puts forward corresponding countermeasures from different levels to promote the international competitiveness of China's financial service trade.

An Empirical Analysis of the Factors Affecting the International Competitiveness of China's Financial Service Trade

Respiratory diseases are the 2nd leading cause of death globally. The current treatments for chronic lung diseases are only supportive. Very few new classes of therapeutics have been introduced for lung diseases in the last 40 years, due to the lack of reliable lung models that enable rapid, cost-effective, and high-throughput testing. To accelerate the development of new therapeutics for lung diseases, we established two classes of lung-mimicking models: (i) healthy, and (ii) diseased lungs - COPD.To establish models that mimic the lung complexity to different extents, we used five design components: (i) cell type, (ii) membrane structure/constitution, (iii) environmental conditions, (iv) cellular arrangement, (v) substrate, matrix structure and composition. To determine whether the lung models are reproducible and reliable, we developed a quality control (QC) strategy, which integrated the real-time and end-point quantitative and qualitative measurements of cellular barrier function, permeability, tight junctions, tissue structure, tissue composition, and cytokine secretion.The healthy model is characterised by (i) continuous tight junctions, (ii) physiological cellular barrier function, (iii) a full thickness epithelium composed of multiple cell layers, and (iv) the presence of ciliated cells and goblet cells. Meanwhile, the disease model emulates human COPD disease: (i) dysfunctional cellular barrier function, (ii) depletion of ciliated cells, and (ii) overproduction of goblet cells. The models developed here have multiple competitive advantages when compared with existing in vitro lung models: (i) the macroscale enables multimodal and correlative characterisation of the same model system, (ii) the use of cells derived from patients that enables the creation of individual models for each patient for personalised medicine, (iii) the use of an extracellular matrix proteins interface, which promotes physiological cell adhesion and differentiation, (iv) media microcirculation that mimics the dynamic conditions in human lungs.Our model can be utilised to test safety, efficacy, and superiority of new therapeutics as well as to test toxicity and injury induced by inhaled pollution or pathogens. It is envisaged that these models can also be used to test the protective function of new therapeutics for high-risk patients or workers exposed to occupational hazards. 

/pdf/advanced-pathophysiology-mimicking-lung-models-for-kzn19y1e.pdf

Yung-Chi Cheng

Papers

Effects and Spatial Spillover of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Carbon Emissions in the Yellow River Basin, China

Abstract A32: Exemestane inhibits survival and cell cycle regulators and retards AML cell proliferation

An Empirical Analysis of the Factors Affecting the International Competitiveness of China's Financial Service Trade

Advanced pathophysiology mimicking lung models for accelerated drug discovery

Antitumor Agents. Part 78. Inhibition of Human DNA Topoisomerase II by Podophyllotoxin and α-Peltatin Analogues.