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The ongoing trade feud with the United States, combined with an internal economic slowdown and the party's tightening grip on the economy, presented China's private sector with unprecedented challenges as President Xi began his second term in 2018. Beijing has responded to the frustrated private sector with promises of substantial tax cuts and an expansion of credit, together with a pledge to further deepen structural reforms and to double down on spurring indigenous innovation. What will Xi's second term mean for the private sector? Some worry that he will further roll back the market-oriented reforms; a more hopeful scenario is that the hostile international environment and the mounting domestic pressures will counteract any anti-market trends and provide the party's reform-leaning politicians with a rare opportunity to push forward market reforms and to create a true level playing field for the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the UV–Vis absorption spectra, the FT-IR absorption spectra and the Raman spectra, it is deduced that Co ions primarily occupy the tetrahedral (A) site, with a minor number of them entering into the octahedral (B) site in the Ni1-xCoxCr2O4compounds. The origin of the position disorder of the Co ions is consistent with the similar ionic radii of the Co ion (0.65 Å) and the Cr ion (0.62 Å) at B site. The FT-IR peak at about 510 cm−1shifts towards high frequency side with the increasing cobalt content. It is resulted from the reduction of the cation–oxygen distance in the octahedron by the replacement of the Ni2+with the Co2+ions. The magnetic measurement shows that Curie temperatures (TC) are 75 and 90 K for the compounds with x=0.2 and 0.8, respectively.

Neuroinflammation mediated by microglia cells plays a critical role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. To identify novel natural neuroinflammation inhibitors, a bioactivity-guided phytochemical research was performed on the traditional Chinese medicine "Awei", that exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production in over-activated microglia cells. The research identified sixteen bioactive sesquiterpene coumarins (two new and fourteen known ones) in the effective extract of Ferula sinkiangensis. Further, the anti-neuro- inflammatory activities in BV-2 microglial cells were evaluated by monitoring LPS-induced nitric oxide production. In conclusion, the major constituent, (3'S, 5'S, 8'R, 9'S, 10'R)-kellerin (1.5%, w/w), should be responsible for the anti-neuroinflammatory effect exhibited by Awei. Furthermore, it might be a potential natural therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's disease. The research indicated moreover, that its primary mechanism is the inhibition of mRNA expression of the inflammatory cytokines nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-α, cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-6 and interleukin-1β. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carya cathayensis is a fruit-bearing plant that belongs to the Juglandaceae family and is widely distributed throughout the world. It possesses various important biological activities. We have previously isolated an antitumor compound from the shell of C. cathayensis fruits and named it E2S ((E)-3-[(2S,3R)-2,3-dihydro-2-(4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-7-methoxy-1-benzo[b]furan-5-yl]-2-propenal). In this study, we investigated the antitumor activity of E2S against various human colorectal cancer cell lines (HCT116, HT29, SW480, LoVo). The results showed that E2S could significantly inhibit the growth of cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner, as well as disrupt the progression of the cell cycle. Mechanistic study revealed that E2S could decrease the protein levels of β-catenin and its downstream targets (such as c-myc, a key transcriptional target of β-catenin) in the cells. In addition, it also significantly suppressed β-catenin/TCF transcriptional activity. Taken together, the results suggested that E2S might partially exert an antiproliferative effect on human colorectal cancer cells by targeting β-catenin signaling, a finding that might potentially translate into a chemotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancer. It might also have implications for cancer prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]