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Real estate in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (also known as the Greater Bay Area, GBA) - a good representation of China’s advanced and developed urban agglomeration - has received considerable attention from the international community in recent years. However, the real estate market has been under extraordinary stress due to the expansion of COVID-19 in China, the strain on people’s livelihoods brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and the Chinese government’s series of epidemic preventive initiatives. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, making use of interviews and questionnaires as instruments. It examined China’s GBA real estate market as the pandemic looms. The primary goals are to demonstrate the current state of the GBA’s real estate industry, pinpoint the factors holding back its growth, and estimate when the market might finally experience a breakthrough. Our findings suggested that the impact of COVID-19 on the GBA real estate sector in China is evident, but that it still has a bright future despite the negative externalities. This is because the city has a large population, high purchasing power, and is close to some of the most developed areas in southern China. This study establishes a baseline for studying the impact of China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative on the GBA real estate market in the future. It also provides valuable resources for China’s GBA’s real estate industry.

Objective: Atherosclerosis is a chronic cardiovascular disease associated with oxidative stress damage, which is caused by excessive oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). The role of microRNA miR-34a-5p on oxidative stress in ox-LDL–treated macrophages was investigated in this study. Methods: Flow cytometry was prepared for assessing THP1-derived macrophage apoptosis. The protein and expression levels of miR-34a-5p and MDM4 were examined by Western blot and RT-qPCR, respectively. We also measured the levels of total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride to determine the lipid accumulation. Subsequently, the activities of superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde, and reactive oxygen species revealed the level of oxidative stress injury after miR-34a-5p and MDM4 knockdown. Results: After ox-LDL treatment, cell apoptosis of macrophages increased in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. With the increase of ox-LDL treatment and the prolongation of treatment time, the expression level of miR-34a-5p was upregulated. Next, interfering with miR-34a-5p inhibited lipid accumulation and oxidative stress injury in ox-LDL–stimulated macrophages. MDM4 was a target gene of miR-34a-5p and was upregulated in ox-LDL–stimulated macrophages. With the increase of ox-LDL treatment and the prolongation of treatment time, the expression level of MDM4 was downregulated. Importantly, MDM4 knockdown partially counteracted the inhibitory effect of miR-34a-5p on oxidative stress injury. Conclusion: MicroRNA miR-34a-5p knockdown suppressed oxidative stress injury via MDM4 in ox-LDL–treated macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, oxytetracycline (OTC) and polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) have been widely detected in aquatic environment. In order to investigate the combined effects of PS-MPs and OTC on intestinal tract of fish, we investigated the effects of OTC and PS-MPs exposure on growth, intestinal structure and intestinal microflora of fish. Juvenile yellow catfish ( Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) were exposed to 500 ng·L-1 OTC (OTC), 100 (low concentration) (MPs-L) and 1 000 μg·L-1(high concentration) (MPs-H) PS-MPs, or their combination (combined MPs-L+OTC, combined MPs-H+OTC) for 28 d. Results showed that OTC and MPs-L alone exposure had no significant effect on the growth, intestinal antioxidant enzyme activities (including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)), digestive enzyme activities (including trypsin (TRS), amylase (AMS) and lipase (LPS)), or intestinal flora (including OTU number, alpha diversity, beta diversity, and relative abundance of species composition at phylum level and genus level) of juvenile yellow catfish. However, combined MPs-L+OTC exposure significantly increased SOD and CAT activities, induced intestinal vacuolation and slight loss of intestinal epithelial cells, as well as significantly increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria as compared to the control group. Intestinal CAT activity was significantly increased in the combined MPs-L+OTC exposure group as compared to the OTC alone exposure group. Moreover, MPs-H alone exposure inhibited the body weight and weight gain rate of juvenile yellow catfish, induced intestinal vacuolation, significantly increased the activities of SOD and CAT, significantly decreased the activities of digestive enzymes TRS and LPS, and significantly decreased the relative abundance of Firmicutes. Compared with the MPs-H group and OTC group, the effects on oxidase activities, digestive enzyme activities, intestinal injury and intestinal flora were further exacerbated in the combined MPs-H+OTC group. In addition, correlation analysis showed that a significant negative correlation between Staphylococcusand body length. Abundance of Cetobacteriumwas positively correlated with the activities of SOD. Aeromonaswas negatively cor- related with the activity of LPS while positively correlated with AMS. Thus, high concentration of PS-MPs alone or combined OTC exposure might affect intestinal digestive enzyme activities through intestinal injury and changes in the intestinal flora, resulting in growth inhibition of juvenile yellow catfish. In addition, the combined intestinal toxicity of PS-MPs and OTC showed significant synergistic effects. The results of this study might provide a new perspective and theoretical basis for ecological risk assessment of antibiotics and microplastics in aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]