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Purpose: This study aimed to investigate associations between the organisational and cultural contexts in which Chinese teachers work, the influence of these on their understandings of professionalism, and relationships between these and their perceived willingness and commitment to be effective in teaching to their best. Design/methodology/approach: The research was part of a two-country collaboration between the universities of Beijing and Sydney into Australian and Chinese teachers' perceptions of influences on their professionalism in which research protocols were jointly developed and implemented. This paper focusses mainly upon the Chinese research but also refers to key differences between Australian and Chinese teachers' perspectives. Seventeen teachers in early, middle and later career phases were recruited from a convenience sample of primary and secondary schools in Beijing. Qualitative data analyses of individual interviews, and cross case comparative analyses were conducted. Findings: The analyses of the data from Beijing indicated that almost all teachers emphasised their strong moral purposes and commitment to teach to their best, despite identifying the challenges of workload, school contexts and cultures and personal circumstances, which tested their resolve. In contrast, concerns about teacher autonomy and agency, which were common in the Australian study and other published research literature, were not highly visible in the Chinese data. Research limitations/implications: The authors acknowledge that this study was small scale and data were collected from a narrow sample from one urban region of China, and we should be cautious with the generalisability of findings to other regions and schools of China since there are significant discrepancies between developed coastal areas and large cities and the remote rural areas in China. Furthermore, interview data were only collected once, restricting insight to a snapshot in time. This research may be seen as an encouragement to researchers from other regions and countries to further explore the impact of socially situated understandings of teacher professionalism on practice. Future research could also benefit from utilising multiple data sources, longitudinal design and cross-cultural collaborations to further explore the challenge of defining teachers' understandings of professionalism locally while engaging with global perspectives. Practical implications: The practical implications relate to (1) expanding conceptualisations of teacher professionalism by developing locally nuanced understandings of perceptions and enactments of professionalism in different contexts across the profession, which take account of the unique roles of national and local cultural contexts; (2) designing initial teacher education and continuing professional development programmes so that they take account of the influences on the professions' ideals and individual teacher identities, of the ideological and practical interplay in the workplace of structures such as mandated standards, and different socio-economic geographical settings (e.g. rural and urban); (3) designing leadership development programmes that take account of research on associations between school leaders' values, qualities and practices on school cultures and their effects on teachers' well-being, and capacities and capabilities to fulfil their understandings of being professionals and teach to their best. Social implications: The social implications relate to (1) further research on the associations between the effects of external policy demands on teachers' work and work--life tensions, teachers' sustained commitment and quality; and (2) further research on the impact of the collective influences of national cultures, broad-based policy conditions, personal values and the demands of particular schools, parents and students that influence teachers' experience, perceptions and enactments of professionalism in order to provide further insights into understanding the complexity of teachers' lives and promoting teachers' sustained enactments of professionalism in broad contexts. Originality/value: The research findings, though tentative, revealed that the altruistic nature of their mission to serve students and the parental community was the dominant marker of professionalism for teachers in China, regardless of school structures, cultures, academic achievement imperatives and personal circumstance; and that their professionalism was informed by the socio-cultural formation of individual and collective moral responsibility, reinforced through national educational policies. These findings differed from the concerns reported by the teachers in the Australian study, which aligned with literature that suggests that teacher professionalism is being eroded through neo-liberal government policies, excessive workloads and performance-oriented cultures. Though the comparative data set is small, these findings suggest that whilst there are increasing policy convergences across nations, which seek to define teacher professionalism through their abilities to make improvements in students' measurable academic achievement, how teachers in different countries and cultures define themselves as professionals may differ.

Background: The prognosis of patients with liver failure (LF) depends significantly on the etiology and clinical indicators. This analysis of these basic indicators can help provide a basis for the study of predictive outcome indicators. Methods: We collected the data from multiple centers in Southeast China, including subclasses of acute liver failure (ALF), subacute liver failure (SLF), acute‐on‐chronic liver failure (ACLF), subacute‐on‐chronic liver failure (SALF), and chronic liver failure (CLF). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen for clinical indicators of nonsurvivors. We analyzed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and cutoff values to assess the prognostic criteria. Results: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading etiology of patients with LF (64.52% (411/637)). SALF (41.36%) and CLF (32.30%) are the main subclasses of the hepatitis B virus–related liver failure (HBV‐LF) group and the non‐HBV–related LF group in Southeast China, respectively. Between 2018 and 2020, the incidence of HBV‐LF decreased significantly, ranging from 72.36% to 59.74%, and the spontaneous survival rates of patients with HBV‐LF were substantially lower than those of non‐HBV‐LF patients (36.43%~44.93% vs. 58.97%~63.64%). Infection and cirrhosis were the leading causes of death in both groups. The age and total bilirubin value of the nonsurvivors with HBV‐LF were significantly higher, and the number of days of hospitalization was significantly shorter than that of the survivors. The ages of the nonsurvivors in the non‐HBV‐LF group were significantly higher than those of the survivors. The prothrombin time–international normalized ratio (PT‐INR) is 2.05, 1.92, or 2.11, and antithrombin III (AT III) is 24.50%, which are proposed as prognostic criteria for the HBV‐SALF (hepatitis B virus–related subacute‐on‐chronic liver failure), non‐HBV‐SLF (non‐hepatitis B virus–related subacute liver failure), non‐HBV‐ACLF (non‐hepatitis B virus–related acute‐on‐chronic liver failure), and HBV‐ALF (hepatitis B virus–related acute liver failure) subclasses, respectively. Conclusions: The incidence of HBV‐LF is decreasing annually. AT III, as an independent prognostic criterion, has excellent discriminative ability for the outcomes of the HBV‐ALF subclass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease associated with genetic, environmental, and other unknown factors. Cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) plays an important role in cancer, inflammation, and metabolic diseases. Although CD36 has recently been implicated in various diseases, its role in CD is still unclear. Methods: Blood samples were collected from patients with CD and healthy volunteers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated by density gradient centrifugation over Ficoll–Paque and labeled with monoclonal antibodies (CD14‐APC and CD36‐PE). Flow cytometer CytoFlex is used for analysis. Results: Twenty‐nine patients with CD in remission, 42 patients with active CD, and 23 healthy volunteers were included in the study. Our results showed that the frequency of the CD14+CD36+ monocyte subset was increased in PBMCs from patients with active CD compared with patients in remission and healthy controls. However, CD36 on monocytes was lower in CD compared with the healthy controls. CD36 expression was decreased in patients with active CD compared with that of patients with CD in remission and healthy control subjects, but no difference was found between patients with CD in remission and healthy controls. Interestingly, we found negative correlations of CD36 with HBI, SES‐CD, C‐reactive protein, and neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio. Conclusions: These data indicate that monocyte CD36 associates with disease activity in CD and might be a potential biomarker for assessing the activity of CD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often experience worries related to travel due to frequent bowel movements. However, there is currently limited research focusing on the travel worries of patients with IBD. The aim of this study was to assess the level of worry regarding out‐of‐home activities in patients with IBD and identify factors associated with worry. Methods: This study included patients with IBD who visited the outpatient clinics between September 2020 and March 2022, during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participants completed a self‐designed questionnaire, providing general clinical data and indicating their level of worry for out‐of‐home activities. Results: A total of 529 patients with IBD completed the questionnaire. Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) had a higher proportion of individuals under 40 years old and males compared to patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Regarding out‐of‐home activities, patients with UC expressed greater worry about going out and taking buses than patients with CD. However, there were no significant differences observed between the two groups in terms of travel worries and worries about finding public washrooms. A significant majority (85.4%) of patients with clinically active IBD expressed worries about not finding public washrooms when going out, while 46.7% of patients in clinical remission had similar worries. Moreover, the worry about finding public washrooms was higher in patients with UC compared to those with CD, both during the clinical activity and remission. Conclusion: This survey conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic reported worries among patients with IBD about out‐of‐home activities. The patients with clinically active IBD, especially UC, expressed worries about not finding public washrooms when going out. We highlight the actual psychological and quality of life challenges faced by patients with IBD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study had two objectives (a) to adapt for Chinese children an intervention designed to strengthen the social information--processing (SIP) skills of children in the United States, and (b) to pilot test the adapted intervention in China. Methods: Adaptation of the "Making Choices" program involved reviewing Chinese literature on child development, translating and back-translating a treatment manual, modifying intervention content, and engaging experts to review program materials. Children (n = 91), ages 8-10, in five after-school child care centers in Tianjin, China, received the program. After propensity score adjustments, the skills of children who received the program were compared to the skills of children (n = 123) recruited from neighborhood primary schools. Results: The adapted program appears to have strengthened encoding skills. Patterns for other information-processing skills were promising but mixed. Conclusion: The program has the potential to strengthen the SIP skills of children in China.

A total of 4,746 Hong Kong students, aged 14-15, participated in the 2000-2001 Health Related Behavior Survey. Results produced by the logistic regression models revealed that non-private housing was significantly associated with ever-use of ecstasy in boys. Moreover, girls in non-private housing were significantly more likely to have been persuaded to use ecstasy, ketamine, and marijuana, as well as to have ever used ecstasy. Furthermore, having older siblings was significantly associated with ever-use of ecstasy in girls. These findings suggest that low family affluence and having older siblings may contribute to exposure to illicit drugs in early adolescence. (Contains 5 tables.)

Data from 368 families of children with autism and other developmental disabilities in the People's Republic of China were gathered to understand the stresses that families experience and the coping strategies they employ. Chinese families of children with developmental disabilities perceived high levels of stress related to pessimism, child characteristics, and parent and family problems. Regarding coping strategies, acceptance, active coping, positive reinterpretation and growth, suppression of competing activities, and planning were the most frequently employed coping strategies. Parents of children with autism experienced more stress and used planning as a coping strategy to a greater degree than parents of children with other developmental disabilities. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.

Secondary distribution of HIV self-test is promising to increase testing uptake while the facilitators and barriers of secondary distribution remain unclear. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 MSM who had participated in secondary distribution of HIVST in southern China. Data were thematically analyzed to capture participants' motivations, procedures, and challenges when accessing and distributing self-tests. MSM in China are willing to distribute HIVST to members in their social network, but their decision-making is impacted by their ability to broach sexual health conversations, evaluations of the recipients, and perceived trustworthiness of the self-test. Our study suggested that several strategies, including creating a friendly environment for sexual health conversations and establishing nationwide policies related to quality assured self-tests and standardized self-testing protocols, may be helpful to advance this approach in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Beck's cognitive model, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-acceptance in the relationships between parenting behaviors and fears of compassion from others/for self. A set of questionnaires were completed by 684 undergraduate students from a university in Fujian Province in China, and Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that parental care was positively associated with self-approval and self-evaluation, whereas parental overprotection was negatively related to self-approval and self-evaluation. Furthermore, self-approval contributed to fear of compassion from others and for self subsequently, and self-evaluation only contributed to fear of compassion for self subsequently. These findings support the mediating role of self-acceptance in the relationship between parental care/overprotection and fears of compassion from others/for self. In addition, the study found that self-approval, rather than self-evaluation, played a mediating role between parental care/overprotection and fear of compassion from others. Highlights: Parental care and overprotection were indirectly related to fears of compassion from others and for self via self-acceptance. Self-approval and self-evaluation mediated the relationships between parental care/overprotection and fear of compassion for self. Self-approval but not self-evaluation mediated the relationships between parental care/overprotection and fear of compassion from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scrub typhus is a climate‐sensitive and life‐threatening vector‐borne disease that poses a growing public health threat. Although the climate‐epidemic associations of many vector‐borne diseases have been studied for decades, the impacts of climate on scrub typhus remain poorly understood, especially in the context of global warming. Here we incorporate Chinese national surveillance data on scrub typhus from 2010 to 2019 into a climate‐driven generalized additive mixed model to explain the spatiotemporal dynamics of this disease and predict how it may be affected by climate change under various representative concentration pathways (RCPs) for three future time periods (the 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s). Our results demonstrate that temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity play key roles in driving the seasonal epidemic of scrub typhus in mainland China with a 2‐month lag. Our findings show that the change of projected spatiotemporal dynamics of scrub typhus will be heterogeneous and will depend on specific combinations of regional climate conditions in future climate scenarios. Our results contribute to a better understanding of spatiotemporal dynamics of scrub typhus, which can help public health authorities refine their prevention and control measures to reduce the risks resulting from climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the reconstruction of a county tea industry in order to help map capitalist agrarian change in contemporary China. The concentration of the tea industry in Meitan County, Guizhou, that began in the 1930s was further centralized under a state-owned farm and factory after 1949. Following the 1990s decline of the state-owned industry, the tea industry reemerged in a new form under a process of state-directed capitalist agrarian change in the early 2000s. Contemporary Meitan's almost 500 independent tea processors market their products to the changing tastes of Chinese consumers. With an increased attention to tea "quality," capitalist processors have had to take greater control over the labor process of farmers. Thus the industry has taken on a complex structure through a process of vertically integrating tea growers and processors, making use of a county tea producers association, dragonhead enterprises, specialized cooperatives, contract farming, and new property forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-male giant freshwater prawns (AMGFPs) have been a popular crop cultivated in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, due to their proven production efficiency compared to all-female or mixed-sex prawn cultures. However, the crucial water quality factors impacting AMGFP aquaculture efficiency have yet to be elaborately investigated. Two separate experiments were randomly arranged with three replicates to evaluate the effects of salinity or alkalinity on the growth and survival of AMGFP juveniles during the grow-out period. The results show that the prawn survival rate in the salinity range of 0-15‰ varied from 66.1 to 74.8% and in a salinity range of 0-5‰ was relatively low compared to the range of 10-15‰; however, the difference was not significant among salinities after 90 days of culture (p > 0.05). All the prawn growth performance parameters significantly decreased with increasing salinities of 0, 5, 10, and 15‰ after 30, 60, and 90 days of culture (p < 0.05). Notably, the prawn yield did not significantly differ between salinities of 0 and 5‰ (p > 0.05), and both were significantly higher than those at salinities of 10 and 15‰ (p < 0.05) after 90 days of culture. In addition, the survival rate reached 82.5-84.4% and did not significantly differ among alkalinities of 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 mgCaCO3 L-1. However, the growth performance parameters and yield of AMGFPs at an alkalinity of 160 mg L-1 were significantly higher than those at lower alkalinities (80, 100, 120, and 140 mgCaCO3 L-1) after 90 days of culture. Therefore, it is recommended that a salinity range of 0-5‰ and alkalinity of 160 mgCaCO3 L-1 is optimal for the growth-out culture of AMGFP juveniles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the way PRC historians use analytical categories by looking at the emergence of a divide between production and the social reproduction of labor (all the work that goes into producing and raising laborers) that transformed and structured rural everyday life during the Mao period. Everyday life is historical, produced in different ways under different material conditions, structured and shaped by social forms in motion. Thus, it is not an analytical frame through which historians can view the real content of the Mao period underneath the thin veneer of Maoist high politics and its categories. This article therefore argues that everyday life, far from a sphere resisting the impositions and dictates of the state, is fully implicated in the political-economic structuring of society. This is a call to not simply replace an earlier social science focus on the political economy of the PRC with a bottom-up or empirical view of everyday life, recognizing that everyday life is already a structured terrain. Rather than bringing in social science analytical categories from the outside or searching for an empirical real view from below, we need to investigate the emergence of categories and social forms from the real material limits and tendencies of a rapidly changing PRC society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1896, Sir Halliday Macartney, counsellor of the Qing London legation, detained the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen on legation grounds in an attempt to deport him back to China. Since then, the image of the legation as an ossified extension of a despotic government has dominated public imagination. This article proposes a new way of understanding the legation's action: it exemplifies the legal activism of Qing diplomats in recovering judicial sovereignty that had been compromised by the presence of extraterritoriality and colonialism. Legations represented a broad range of interests of China through diplomatic negotiations and legal mediations, and brought unresolved disputes between foreign ministers and the Zongli Yamen in Beijing to the attention of their home governments. This article analyses the mediation and collaboration performed by the London legation between the various levels of the Qing government and the British Foreign Office. It argues that Qing legations and their diplomatic representation abroad were essential to the construction and imagination of China as a sovereign state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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But I wonder whether the Li-Staunton approach to interpretation was unique to the eighteenth century, or whether the precision-driven methodology of Robert Morrison dominated the later era. The book suggests that the shift from eighteenth-century global interconnectedness to the nineteenth century of imperialism saw a decline in the Li-Staunton type of interpreters, who believed in the compatibility of the two cultures. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: The study aimed to describe findings from a matched clusters trial of a school-based intervention Let's Be Friends designed to promote social competence and prevent maladaptive behavior by strengthening the social information processing (SIP) skills of third-grade children in rural China. Method: Using a blocked cluster design with random sampling, 13 treatment schools (n = 355) of a total of 67 schools in the study site were randomly selected, and 14 schools (n = 341) formed the control condition. All third graders from the treatment schools received 14 sessions of intervention. Results: The adapted program appears to have strengthened children's SIP skills, reduced aggressive behavior, and promoted cognitive concentration. The study does not confirm that children growing up in single-child families fare worse than children living with siblings. Conclusion: The program has the potential to strengthen the SIP skills of children in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines data gathered from a survey of literature, observations, and interviews conducted during a 1985 trip to China. Specifically focuses on changes in Chinese education as influenced by politics, economics, and social values. Includes a comparison of similarities and differences in current Chinese and U.S. education. (BSR)

This research describes the initiation, bargaining and outcome stages of conflict that occur for nail households who resist housing demolition and relocation in urban China. Across the three stages, we describe four profiles that nail households demonstrate as they bargain for compensation terms: hard, hardened, softened and soft. These four profiles display different resistance trajectories and modes, emerging as nail households with various motivations and at different points of conflict, employing various and changing strategies in response to the bargaining process and thereby arriving at various ultimate outcomes in the bargaining process. The outcome for the nail households is a product of the initial mode of resistance used, the power held by the nail households, the emergent strategies that households adopt as the conflict develops, and other internal and external factors. The particular process provides a suite of tools to deepen our understanding of nail households and their conflicts with local governments and private developers in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Dietary supplementation of anti-oxidants has been reported to have beneficial effects on the prevention of atherogenic diseases. Luteolin (a natural flavonoid) has been shown to possess antimutagenic, antitumorigenic, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of luteolin on cardiovascular systems are poorly explored. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to test whether luteolin could protect against oxidative stress-induced endothelial cell injury and explore the underlying mechanisms. In this study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were pre-treated with luteolin followed by hydrogen peroxide induction (H2O2). Our results showed that luteolin protected against H2O2-induced oxidative stress and ameliorated ROS and superoxide generation. In addition, we found that luteolin treatment inhibited the H2O2-induced membrane assembly of NADPH oxidase subunits, which was further confirmed by specifically inhibiting NADPH oxidase using DPI treatment. Furthermore, pAMPK protein expression was enhanced and p-PKC isoforms were significantly down-regulated by luteolin treatment in a dose-dependent manner, and a similar effect was observed upon DPI treatment. However, co-treatment with the specific inhibitor of AMPK (Compound C) restored p-PKC levels suggesting the role of AMPK signaling in regulating p-PKC expression under oxidative stress condition in HUVECs. Finally, we confirmed using siRNAs and specific inhibitor and/or activator of AMPK (AICAR) that luteolin treatment induced AMPK is a key player and regulator of activated expression of PKC isoforms and thereby confers protection against H2O2-induced oxidative stress in HUVECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed method research explores the contexts, purposes, forms, practices, and effects of school provided collaborative professional development (PD) as experienced by teachers working in primary and secondary schools in England and Shanghai. The research is part of a larger partnership pilot study by the University of Nottingham and Shanghai Normal University, which focused on opportunities for and experiences of participation in formally organized professional development, using as a point of departure the findings of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 report of teachers' perceptions of their professional development. Given the differences between the two jurisdictions in their PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) rankings, and between national cultures, teacher expectations and conditions of work, professional development purposes, forms and practices in schools might be expected to differ. The research found that there was a similar emphasis in both jurisdictions upon 'functional' rather than 'attitudinal' oriented professional development, but that teachers in Shanghai schools experienced more of the latter than those in the English schools studied. Such differences in the relative emphasis between the two jurisdictions upon the 'attitudinal', challenge the benefits of focusing collaborative professional development primarily upon the 'functional' in English schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the total energy expenditure and levels of physical activity in young gymnasts in Beijing, China. Use of basal metabolic rate in calculating the physical activity level; Importance of training for national and international competition; Level of academic and physical fitness.

This paper examines the politics of possibility for rural activism in reform era China. By periodizing rural reforms from 1990, we explore the political-economic changes that have coalesced in the reform era, and how these changes condition forms and possibilities of activism. We argue that the current modernization-urbanization drive that emerged around 2008 is foreclosing opportunities for the pro-peasant cooperative forms that New Rural Reconstruction activists imagined earlier in the decade. Instead, as the process of capitalist agrarian change deepens in the countryside, food- and farming-related activism now resembles the state's focus on markets and consumption, to the detriment of addressing social relations of production. Without a focus on distributional politics and power, this shift has the potential to further entrench existing inequalities within and across rural and urban spaces. The contextual work undertaken in this paper is currently absent from the emerging literature on China's agrifood transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topography and continental configuration of East Asia favor the year-round existence of storm tracks that extend thousands of kilometers from China into the northwestern Pacific Ocean, producing zonally elongated patterns of rainfall that we call "frontal rain events." In spring and early summer (known as "Meiyu Season"), frontal rainfall intensifies and shifts northward during a series of stages collectively known as the East Asian summer monsoon. Using a technique called the Frontal Rain Event Detection Algorithm, we create a daily catalog of all frontal rain events in east China during 1951-2007, quantify their attributes, and classify all rainfall on each day as either frontal, resulting from largescale convergence, or nonfrontal, produced by local buoyancy, topography, or typhoons. Our climatology shows that the East Asian summer monsoon consists of a series of coupled changes in frontal rain event frequency, latitude, and daily accumulation. Furthermore, decadal changes in the amount and distribution of rainfall in east China are overwhelmingly due to changes in frontal rainfall. We attribute the "South Flood-North Drought" pattern observed beginning in the 1980s to changes in the frequency of frontal rain events, while the years 1994-2007 witnessed an uptick in event daily accumulation relative to the rest of the study years. This particular signature may reflect the relative impacts of global warming, aerosol loading, and natural variability on regional rainfall, potentially via shifting the East Asian jet stream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors associated with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) include CD4 nadir and count, HIV RNA level, and HIV-1 subtype. Here, we investigated demographical and clinical markers with respect to HAND in a homogenous Chinese population. Individuals with HAND (global deficit score ≥0.5) had lower nadir ( p < 0.01) and CD4 counts ( p = 0.03). HAND was also associated with AIDS ( p < 0.01), but subtype was not ( p = 0.198). Furthermore, worse impairment correlated with higher viral diversity ( r = 0.16, p < 0.01), lower nadir ( r = −0.17, p < 0.01), and CD4 counts ( r = −0.11, p = 0.01). These remained significant even when correcting for subtype. Our findings suggest that subtype does not have a major impact on HAND. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dilong is an earthworm extract with a dense nutritional content, widely used in Chinese herbal medicine to remove stasis and stimulate wound healing. Earthworm extracts are traditionally used by indigenous people throughout the world. How this Dilong inhibits Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiomyoblast cell apoptosis is still unclear. This study investigates the Dilong extract effect on LPS-induced apoptosis in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. LPS (1 μg/ml) administration for 24 h induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells. Cell apoptosis was detected using MTT, LDH, TUNEL assay and JC-1 staining. Western blot analysis was used to detect pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. Dilong extract totally blocked the LPS impact, leading to the activation of anti-apoptotic proteins, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, stabilized the mitochondria membrane and down-regulated the extrinsic and intrinsic pro-apoptotic proteins, TNF-α, active caspase-8, t-Bid, Bax, active caspase-9 and active caspase-3. Dilong could potentially serve as a cardio protective agent against LPS-induced H9c2 cardiomyoblast cell apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a multi-faceted approach to the study of asexuality that takes seriously the diverse terrain whence asexuality emerges and takes shape in China today. Intense globalization has facilitated connections between Chinese asexuals and their counterparts in other countries. The surge of dating agencies and websites for asexual marriage in China calls for attention to asexuals’ imaginings of a happy life that reflect not so much a globalized asexual discourse as the cultural resources that are available in China. Notions such as platonic love, celibacy, the DINK (double income, no kids) family and the big family help Chinese asexuals rewrite marriage and family scripts to accommodate their preferences. Yet, the pursuit of a happy marriage, as well as the exploration of asexual identity, are governed by a medical regime that regulates the (a)sexual lives of Chinese individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Authenticity, often cited as an important component of heritage tourism, is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon. A central issue in understanding authenticity is to determine what is perceived to be authentic. The present study examined visitor perceptions of the authenticity of the South Luogu Alley (SLA), a Hutong in Beijing. Described as a "must-see" destination for visitors to Beijing seeking to experience traditional "Hutong" culture, SLA has been redeveloped to incorporate both traditional and modem facilities. The inclusion of new building materials, pseudotraditional architecture, and Western-influenced architecture has raised concerns about the authenticity of SLA. The present study examined perceptions of authenticity of 353 visitors to the SLA. A self-administered survey was used for the study. It examined perceptions of specific elements of the destination and the destination as a whole. It also analyzed the impact of demographic factors and visitor experience on perceptions of authenticity. The present study found that for many visitors the external environment and architecture were most important elements contributing to perceptions of authenticity. The study determined that visitors' understanding of authenticity is best described as "constructive" and that a variety of personal factors can influence perceptions of authenticity. It also found that visitors' criteria for authenticity tend to be contextual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to understand how the hospitality and tourism students in the United States make decisions for study abroad participation. Through the analysis of textual data from focus groups and in-depth interviews, this study has identified three sequential phases of a decision-making process by study abroad participants. The first phase ispre-evaluation, including initial awareness and information search. The second phase isdecision-makingthat consists of pull and push motivational factors, influencers, and barriers. The third phase ispost-participation, including the elements of program evaluation, impacts, and future behavior. The implications of this study’s findings are discussed in relation to the design, recruitment, administration, and curricula integration of study abroad programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Chinese resident minister to England and France Guo Songtao's perspective on the role that England's education and governance played in the country's power from the late 1850s through the 1870s. The impact that England's educational system had on Guo's development of Confucian schools in China is discussed.

Australia's resources boom is underpinned by increased demand from industrialising China and a rise in export prices. Current depletion rates will soon exhaust currently known reserves of iron ore and coal. This paper presents a dynamic optimisation model of a growing open economy where a social planner chooses the time path for depletion of a non-renewable resource during a demand-led resources boom. We find that for particular functional forms and in the absence of extraction and social costs, the optimal depletion rate equals the difference between the price elasticity of export demand times the world interest rate and growth in export demand. In contrast to the existing literature, we show that the optimal depletion rate is unaffected by a temporary increase in price, but reduced by growth in demand which is in turn sustained by offshore steel production and urbanisation. The main theoretical implication is that growth in export demand from China reduces the depletion rate. Australian iron ore exports, simulated using this theory, move together with actual volumes over the period 1995-2011, and the error between simulated and actual iron ore exports is lower for the model in this paper than it is for the model without growth in export demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006, the Chinese central government abolished the agricultural tax. This came after several years of intense focus on the growing rural crisis, sparking a new debate on the shape of rural society. Putting these contemporary debates in the context of 100 years of rural governance reforms, this paper argues that contemporary rural advocates find themselves in a situation similar to that of the first half of the twentieth century, and their reimagination of rural governance draws on the ideas of that time as well. It focuses on the contemporary visions for rural reform of Xu Yong, Dang Guoying, Yu Jianrong, Wu Licai, Li Changping, Cao Jinqing and He Xuefeng. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Classical theories of urban relocation in market economies frame a household residential move as a way for a household to reset itself to a desired level of satisfaction—that is, to make itself as happy as possible given a set of constraints. In Chinese cities, where not all who relocate are willing movers, the picture is more complicated. Currently, Shanghai's development policies encourage population migration to the urban edge. This includes not only housing for those that made a choice to move, but also housing designated as resettlement housing for those involuntarily resettled. Urban policy in China continues to resettle unwilling denizens at the edges of the city, without an understanding of how these policies affect the well-being of that population. Very little research focuses on the actual outcomes for displaced households. This research attempts to fill this knowledge gap. Using a household survey, data were collected on relative mover satisfaction with a variety of aspects of the old and new locations. Models were developed to test the hypothesis that socio-economic and choice factors play a role in the satisfaction that a household derives from moving. The results suggest that a suburban move produces less happiness for involuntary movers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recently emerged plant disease, bacterial canker of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa and A. chinensis), is caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (PSA). The disease was first reported in China and Japan in the 1980s. A severe outbreak of PSA began in Italy in 2008 and has spread to other European countries. PSA was found in both New Zealand and Chile in 2010. To study the evolution of the pathogen and analyse the transmission of PSA between countries, genomes of strains from China and Japan (where the genus Actinidia is endemic), Italy, New Zealand and Chile were sequenced. The genomes of PSA strains are very similar. However, all strains from New Zealand share several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that distinguish them from all other PSA strains. Similarly, all the PSA strains from the 2008 Italian outbreak form a distinct clonal group and those from Chile form a third group. In addition to the rare SNPs present in the core genomes, there is abundant genetic diversity in a genomic island that is part of the accessory genome. The island from several Chinese strains is almost identical to the island present in the New Zealand strains. The island from a different Chinese strain is identical to the island present in the strains from the recent Italian outbreak. The Chilean strains of PSA carry a third variant of this island. These genomic islands are integrative conjugative elements (ICEs). Sequencing of these ICEs provides evidence of three recent horizontal transmissions of ICE from other strains of Pseudomonas syringae to PSA. The analyses of the core genome SNPs and the ICEs, combined with disease history, all support the hypothesis of an independent Chinese origin for both the Italian and the New Zealand outbreaks and suggest the Chilean strains also originate from China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders and the repeal of restrictive sexual laws deem that Foucault's argument on the discursive control of homosexuality requires refinement to take into consideration the continual modernization and improvement of power. This article examines the multilayered discursive terrain in Hong Kong where homosexuality is created, regulated, and contested in the contemporary era. With the popularization of human rights discourse, sexual dissidents are not simply treated as criminal or pathological; rather, legal and medical discourses have shifted to an increasing reliance on notions of risk to put mechanisms of social regulation in place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the relationship between tourism, energy, and environment. This article approaches tourism as a complex adaptive system composed of consumers, transportation providers, travel intermediaries, and destinations composed of multiple tourism-related companies and other stakeholder groups. Environmental and energy-related challenges of components to the system are examined as well as various units – the system as a whole, enterprises and individuals – within the system. A total of 92 peer-reviewed articles were studied that address ‘energy’ and ‘tourism’ published between 1974 and 2011. Also addressed are the impacts of social and cultural differences between the United States and China concerning responses to environmental and energy-related challenges. This article concludes with recommendations for addressing the challenges associated with such challenges, including building system capacity, technology development and adoption, support of individual behavior change, increasing understanding of the trade-offs and interactions within the system, and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches to these challenges within the tourism system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In places where feminism or personal autonomy is not part of dominant public discourse, women have to rely on other cultural narratives in the construction of their relationships and living arrangements. This paper is an exploratory study based on self-reports of Hong Kong women in lesbian relationships and who consider themselves as families. The paper aims to contribute to debates on the impact of "doing gender" on the household division of labour. It is found that while the gendered dichotomy of messiness/tidiness translates into an unequal division of housework, not all gendered interactions reinforce inequality. The appropriation of the mainstream heterosexual discourse of gender equality and cultural narrative of the maternal role enable these lesbians to negotiate a balance of power in their intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines and compares the emergence of 'gay' identities in Hong Kong and in China, with special attention to the linguistic appropriation and creation of identity labels that have incited new modes of sexual subjectivity and politics. It argues that while global queering has been taking place, what 'gay' means in New York may not be the same as what it means in Hong Kong or China. More attention should be given to the twists and turns of transnational cultural flows that result in different forms of hybridized identity. In Hong Kong, a pejorative use of 'gay' became prevalent when it was transliterated with the same pronunciation as gei. By contrast, in China during the era of opening up a localized hybrid brand of gayspeak which appropriates the English lexical item 'gay' enables one to engage in a stylish and modernized presentation of self. To counter the derogatory meanings of gay/gei, Hong Kong people create the label tongzhi ('comrade'), which signifies cultural specificity and serves to provide a positive sense of sexual identity. Yet, whether gay or tongzhi, sexual minorities in Hong Kong and China continue to open up the identity category for debate. The proliferation of identity labels foregrounds the contested nature of identity and the diverse ways of imagining sameness and difference with the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact urban sprawl in China is having on Chinese citizens who move from urbanized areas to peripheral and suburban regions. The author discusses social and economic factors regarding displaced Chinese urban migrants, noting differences between those who relocated by choice and those who were forced to move by government reclamation programs. Government compensation to households which are forced to relocate and the history of urbanization and suburbanization in the Chinese city of Shanghai are also addressed.