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As to how technology is applied to social ruling, Marx thinks technology abides by the logic of capital in its applications to the capitalist society. Technology not only acquires the forms of capital, but also becomes the means of obtaining capital to rule the living labor. Marcuse holds that technology follows the one-dimensional logic in its applications to the developed industrial society. Technology is a new form of control, whose one-way applications in such areas as production, consumption, politics and culture have created a totalitarian society. Foucault argues that technological applications should follow the micro-power logic. By integrating knowledge and power, he concludes that the applications of technology to discipline power and life power have brought about a disciplinary society. The three thinkers' viewpoints about the application of technology to social ruling are of great theoretical significance for us to understand correctly the social functions and nature of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karl Marx put forward a production paradigm to understand the concept of labor, and revealed the liberated normative connotation of labor by criticizing the theory of alienated labor and commodity fetishism. By means of a communicative paradigm, Habermas applied interaction instead of labor to explain the liberated normative connotation by distinguishing labor from interaction. In his recognition theory, Honneth pointed out that labor contains the liberated normative connotation, which should rely on the intersubjective struggle for recognition. Evolving from the production paradigm to the communicative paradigm and to the recognition paradigm, Habermas and Honneth offered new interpretations of Marx's theory of labor, which reflect their rational thinking of the status quo of capitalism. However, their one-sided interpretations of the normative connotation deserve a careful reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marcuse points out that technology serves as a type of ideology, thus converting technological rationality into ruling rationality, i. e., technology strengthens social ruling. Habermas regards technological rationality as a kind of tool rationality and interprets technological ruling as a colonization of the world by analyzing how technology is converted into an ideology. Critically absorbing Marcuse's and Habermas' theories, Feenberg attaches great importance to the selectivity of technology and explores the relationship between technological rationality and social ruling from the perspective of technological criticism. The theoretical development of social criticism of technological rationality from Marcuse, Habermas to Feenberg helps us better understand the social role of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implemental reason and communicative reason, rationally implemental action and communicative action, system and life world are the basic categories of the three pairs of opposite concepts in Habermas's theory of communicative action. Habermas differentiated the implemental reason from communicative reason so as to interpret why the rational reason is possible and differentiated the rationally implemental action from communicative action so as to interpret why the social action is possible. Furthermore, he split the dual concept of society into the system and the life world, thus interpreting why the social order is possible. Grasping the interrelationship between the three pairs of categories and their developmental logic will benefit theoretically our understanding of the theme of the theory of communicative action, i.e. , the modernity is actually a plan to be completed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholestasis syndromes characterised by impairment of bile formation and secretion arecaused by many diseases. Estrogen-induced cholestasis among the cholestasis syndromes is a very common form. Based on the molecular studies of bile formation and transportation, a significant advancement has been achieved in understanding the mechanism of the disease. Estrogen can inhibit bile acids transportation from hepatocytes into bile canaliculi by interfering with the bile salt export pump and multidrug resistance-associated transporter 2 as well. It also inhibits Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide and Na+-independent organic anion-transporting polypeptides in the basolateral membrane of hepatocytes to interfere with the uptake of bile acids. Thus, co-treatment strategy can be considered which combines nuclear receptor inducers and cAMP enhancer to increase bile acids transporters activities, and the agents to reduce serum estrogen concentration and its receptor binding, and to reduce bile acids in enterohepatic circulation.

Capsule restricts the further study on muscle spindle function and the involved mechanism. The aim of this study was to establish the isolation method of intrafusal fibres from the isolated rat muscle spindle. Intrafusal fibres were harvested from muscle spindle of soleus muscle in rats using neutrase-collagenase digestion. A variety of incubation mediums have been tested to find out an appropriate medium of intrafusal fibers in vitro. Trypan blue staining was used to detect cell death, and patch clamp was used to record resting potential. The results showed that the intrafusal fibres incubated with amine acid-saline solution were almost all dead. DMEM could maintain good condition of the fibres, but excess CO2 ventilation would induce cellular swelling or even death. While Leiboviz's 15 (L-15) medium can guarantee 1-2 h of physiological condition of the intrafusal fibres. Coverslips treated with gelatin, polylysine and serum was the better interfaces for the intrafusal fibres to adhere easily, compared with regularly treated coverslip. The resting potential of intrafusal fibres was (-45.3 ± 5.1) mV, consistent with others obtained from in vivo muscle spindle from cats and frogs. These results suggest that the isolation method of the intrafusal fibres has been successfully established in the present study, providing a new approach in better understanding of muscle spindle activities and the involved mechanism.

In the title compound, C(9)H(11)N(3)O·CH(4)O, the semicarbazone moiety is nearly planar [maximum deviation = 0.017 (2) Å] and is twisted by a dihedral angle of 29.40 (13)° with respect to the phenyl ring. The semicarbazone moiety and phenyl ring are located on opposite sides of the C=N bond, showing the E configuration. An inter-molecular O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding network occurs in the crystal structure.