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Global climate change has caused governments worldwide to take actions to improve their energy efficiency. This paper investigates how China's Top-1000 program, a command-and-control type of energy-saving mandate, has affected the operational choices of firms, and in turn, their profitability. We apply the propensity score matching method to find "identical twins" for the participants in the Top- 1000 program, then conduct a difference-in-differences analysis on the matched sample. Our findings suggest that the profitability of the enterprises targeted for energy savings decreased by one-third, mainly due to increased production costs. The targeted enterprises tended to increase their fixed assets per capita, which was associated with improvements in energy efficiency. Furthermore, compared to similar untargeted enterprises, there was a significant slowdown in the production growths of the targeted enterprises, raising concerns about carbon leakage due to increased production by less efficient producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For analyzing quantum transport in semiconductor devices, accurate electronic structures are critical for quantitative predictions. Here we report theoretical analysis of electronic structures of all III-V zinc-blende semiconductor compounds. Our calculations are from density functional theory with the semilocal exchange proposed recently [ Tran and Blaha Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 226401 (2009)], within the linear muffin tin orbital scheme. The calculated band gaps and effective masses are compared to experimental data and good quantitative agreement is obtained. Using the theoretical scheme presented here, quantum transport in nanostructures of III-V compounds can be confidently predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory combined with the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, we studied the spin transport through a single molecular junction which consists of a single 1,4-benzenedithiolate (BDT) molecule and two ferromagnetic electrodes [(Ge5)Fe]1. A large magnetoresistance ratio (MR) of 21100% was found in the [(Ge5)Fe]1-BDT-[(Ge5 )Fe]1 molecular junction at small bias voltage, and the MR value decreased with the increase in the applied bias voltage. For the parallel magnetization configuration, the molecular junction showed outstanding spin injection effects. Negative differential resistance was observed for the antiparallel magnetization configuration. Spin dependent transmission spectra at different bias voltages were used to explain the calculated results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the radiosensitizing effects of homeobox (HOX) transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) long non-coding RNA on breast cancer tumor cells and examine the underlying mechanisms. Recombinant plasmid vectors containing HOTAIR gene were constructed and MDA-MB231 cells were transfected with these plasmids using liposomes. The cells were treated with radiation and cell apoptosis, proliferation, and double-stranded DNA breaks were examined. HOXD10, phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) and p-BAD expression levels were measured using western blot analysis. The results showed a higher expression of HOTAIR in advanced tumor cells. HOTAIR efficiently enhanced radioresistance in MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells and accelerated proliferation through the Akt pathway by targeting HOXD10. In conclusion, the findings demonstrated that HOTAIR gene is a valid therapeutic target for the reversal of radiotherapy resistance in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the major challenges in currently chemotherapeutic theme is lacking effective biomarkers for drug response and sensitivity. Our current study focus on two promising biomarkers, ERCC1 (excision repair cross-complementing group 1) and BRCA1 (breast cancer susceptibility gene 1). To investigate their potential role in serving as biomarkers for drug sensitivity in cancer patients with metastases, we statistically measure the mRNA expression level of ERCC1 and BRCA1 in tumor cells isolated from malignant effusions and correlate them with cisplatin and/ or docetaxel chemosensitivity. Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR is used to analysis related genes expression in forty-six malignant effusions prospectively collected from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric and gynecology cancer patients. Viable tumor cells obtained from malignant effusions are tested for their sensitivity to cisplatin and docetaxel using ATP-TCA assay. Results: ERCC1 expression level is negatively correlated with the sensitivity to cisplatin in NSCLC patients (P = 0.001). In NSCLC and gastric group, BRCA1 expression level is negatively correlated with the sensitivity to cisplatin (NSCLC: P = 0.014; gastric: P = 0.002) while positively correlated with sensitivity to docetaxel (NSCLC: P = 0.008; gastric: P = 0.032). A significant interaction is found between ERCC1 and BRCA1 mRNA expressions on sensitivity to cisplatin (P = 0.010, n = 45). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that ERCC1 and BRCA1 mRNA expression levels are correlated with in vitro chemosensitivity to cisplatin and/or docetaxel in malignant effusions of NSCLC and gastric cancer patients. And combination of ERCC1 and BRCA1 may have a better role on predicting the sensitivity to cisplatin than the single one is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using density functional theory (DFT) within the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism, we studied the spin transport through a binuclear ferric phthalocyanine (Fe2Pc2) connected to gold nanowire electrodes. The Fe2Pc2 molecular devices exhibited a perfect spin filtering effect and larger magnetoresistance ratio even where magnetic electrodes did not exist. The spin-polarized transport comes from the magnetic proximity to the central Fe atoms at the center of each phthalocyanine causing the molecule to develop a finite magnetic character. Compared with traditional magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), the spin transport of the proposed molecular junction can be tuned only by altering the magnetization orientation of the Fe atom at the center of the molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]