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Despite official explanations and academic research on the subject, it remains unclear what China's 'socialist rule of law' really means or how it works, especially how the relationship between the CCP supremacy and the rule of law plays out in legal proceedings. This article addresses critical questions about the relationship through legal narrative analysis and deconstruction of six lawsuits involving derision of the legendary 'Five Heroes of Mount Langya', who have been portrayed in CCP propaganda for over seven decades as national exemplars and given a prominent place in the Party's meta-narrative, or 'Revolution lore'. The CCP's handling of the cases indicates that the Party under Xi Jinping has shifted to a new approach to social-political control by increasingly resorting to the suppression of political dissent by legal means. The cases also reveal that, in terms of organic unity, organic integration of politics and law or Party-state integration, the police and courts are ensuring that the Party's will prevails no matter what. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vaporized heat of bound water in radiata pine wood sapwood, which was thermally treated at 200 °C, via N2 protection for 24 h, were studied using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LFNMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The bound water was divided into two states using LFNMR, which were absorbed water bonded with cell wall polymers and condensed bound water in the micro-pores of cell wall, respectively. The mass of the two states of bound water vaporized during DSC test was calculated based on the total mass of bound water vaporized and the moisture content of different water states in the watersaturated sapwood obtained, respectively. The reduction of moisture during DSC test was monitored synchronously using thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed thermal treatment decreased the spin-spin time (T2) of absorbed bound water and increased T2 of condensed bound water. The moisture content of the two states of bound water was reduced by thermal treatment. The vaporized heat of the bonded bound water was increased and that of the condensed bound water was reduced, which agreed with the change of T2 in the LFNMR experiment. The results suggest that bound water in the thermal treated wood is easier to vaporize when the relative humidity condition is more than 60%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Angelica sinensis polysaccharides (ASP) and Tai Chi exercise on free radical generation and lipid peroxidation and its modulatory effect on immunity activity in middle-aged women subjects at a dosage levels of 125mg/kg. ASP was characterized by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC analysis showed that ASP was composed of eight kinds of monosaccharides, namely mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, arabinose and fucose in molar ratios of 1.2:4.5:1:10.5:17.8:37.5:8.7:4.9. Antioxidant activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and reduced glutathione (GSH) and lipid peroxidation levels in both ASP and Tai Chi exercise groups were significantly enhanced or reduced compared to the control group. In addition, immunity activities such as serum vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (s-VCAM-1), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) levels in both ASP and Ta Chi exercise groups were significantly reduced compared to the control group. It can be concluded that ASP intake and Tai Chi exercise decrease oxidant stress induced injury and improve immunity activities in middle-aged women subjects, indicating a obvious healthy promotion effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on the politics of national identity as revealed in the debate on the writings of historian Zeng Guofan. Pros and cons in the debate; Han-centric conceptions of national identity that are under challenge; Pan-Chinese identity superseding revolutionary identity; Reconstruction of national identity on a Confucian foundation.

Protein complex formed by a group of physical interacting proteins plays a crucial role in cell activities. Great effort has been made to computationally identify protein complexes from protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. However, the accuracy of the prediction is still far from being satisfactory, because the topological structures of protein complexes in the PPI network are too complicated. This paper proposes a novel optimization framework to detect complexes from PPI network, named PLSMC. The method is on the basis of the fact that if two proteins are in a common complex, they are likely to be interacting. PLSMC employs this relation to determine complexes by a penalized least squares method. PLSMC is applied to several public yeast PPI networks, and compared with several state-of-the-art methods. The results indicate that PLSMC outperforms other methods. In particular, complexes predicted by PLSMC can match known complexes with a higher accuracy than other methods. Furthermore, the predicted complexes have high functional homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

XWAS is a new software suite for the analysis of the X chromosome in association studies and similar genetic studies. The X chromosome plays an important role in human disease and traits of many species, especially those with sexually dimorphic characteristics. Special attention needs to be given to its analysis due to the unique inheritance pattern, which leads to analytical complications that have resulted in the majority of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) either not considering X or mishandling it with toolsets that had been designed for non-sex chromosomes. We hence developed XWAS to fill the need for tools that are specially designed for analysis of X. Following extensive, stringent, and X-specific quality control, XWAS offers an array of statistical tests of association, including: 1) the standard test between a SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) and disease risk, including after first stratifying individuals by sex, 2) a test for a differential effect of a SNP on disease between males and females, 3) motivated by X-inactivation, a test for higher variance of a trait in heterozygous females as compared with homozygous females, and 4) for all tests, a version that allows for combining evidence from all SNPs across a gene. We applied the toolset analysis pipeline to 16 GWAS datasets of immune-related disorders and 7 risk factors of coronary artery disease, and discovered several new X-linked genetic associations. XWAS will provide the tools and incentive for others to incorporate the X chromosome into GWAS and similar studies in any species with an XX/XY system, hence enabling discoveries of novel loci implicated in many diseases and in their sexual dimorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidrug resistance proteins (MRP2, ABCC2) may play a role in drug resistance in epilepsy by limiting gastrointestinal absorption and brain access of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). We sought to investigate the effects of ABCC2 polymorphisms on plasma carbamazepine (CBZ) concentrations and pharmacoresistance in Chinese patients with epilepsy. ABCC2 rs717620, rs2273697, rs3740066 polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis or direct automated DNA sequencing in 80 patients treated with CBZ monotherapy. There were no differences in CBZ maintenance doses or adjusted plasma CBZ concentrations among the ABCC2 rs717620, rs2273697 and rs3740066 genotypic groups. No associations between all the studied genotypes and haplotypes involving the three SNPs of ABCC2 and CBZ resistance were observed in this patient cohort. These results suggest that ABCC2 polymorphisms may not contribute to interindividual variabilities in CBZ daily maintenance doses, plasma concentrations, and treatment efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant disease with an extremely poor prognosis. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) have shown promising antitumor activities against preclinical models of pancreatic cancer, either alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, we sought to identify clinically relevant histone deacetylases (HDACs) to guide the selection of HDAC inhibitors (HDACIs) tailored to the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Methodology: HDAC expression in seven pancreatic cancer cell lines and normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells was determined by Western blotting. Antitumor interactions between class I- and class II-selective HDACIs were determined by MTT assays and standard isobologram/CompuSyn software analyses. The effects of HDACIs on cell death, apoptosis and cell cycle progression, and histone H4, alpha-tubulin, p21, and γH2AX levels were determined by colony formation assays, flow cytometry analysis, and Western blotting, respectively. Results: The majority of classes I and II HDACs were detected in the pancreatic cancer cell lines, albeit at variable levels. Treatments with MGCD0103 (a class I-selective HDACI) resulted in dose-dependent growth arrest, cell death/apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase, accompanied by induction of p21 and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In contrast, MC1568 (a class IIa-selective HDACI) or Tubastatin A (a HDAC6-selective inhibitor) showed minimal effects. When combined simultaneously, MC1568 significantly enhanced MGCD0103-induced growth arrest, cell death/apoptosis, and G2/M cell cycle arrest, while Tubastatin A only synergistically enhanced MGCD0103-induced growth arrest. Although MC1568 or Tubastatin A alone had no obvious effects on DNA DSBs and p21 expression, their combination with MGCD0103 resulted in cooperative induction of p21 in the cells. Conclusion: Our results suggest that classes I and II HDACs are potential therapeutic targets for treating pancreatic cancer. Accordingly, treating pancreatic cancer with pan-HDACIs may be more beneficial than class- or isoform-selective inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid-decomposable, luminescent ZnO quantum dots (QDs) have been employed to seal the nanopores of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) in order to inhibit premature drug (doxorubicin) release. After inter- nalization into HeLa cells, the ZnO QD lids are rapidly dissolved in the acidic intracellular compartments, and as a result, the loaded drug is released into the cytosol from the MSNs. The ZnO QDs behave as a dual-purpose entity that not only acts as a lid but also has a synergistic antitumor effect on cancer cells. We anticipate that these nanoparticles may prove to be a significant step toward the development of a pH-sensitive drug delivery system that minimizes drug toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the association between the CYP3A5 genetic polymorphism and the serum concentrations of carbamazepine (CBZ), to provide guidance for individualized drug dosing. Methods: Eighty-four epilepsy patients taking CBZ were included in this study. Their clinical data were recorded and CBZ serum concentrations were measured. The CYP3A5 6986 genetic polymorphism was assessed using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCRRFLP) assay. Patients were divided according to genotype into CYP3A5 expressor (CYP3A5*1/*1 genotype and CYP3A5*1/*3 genotypes) and non-expressor groups (CYP3A5*3/*3). The two groups were compared for the total dose of CBZ, dose of CBZ/kg body weight, serum drug concentration, dose-corrected serum concentration, and standardized serum concentration. Results: The total dose of CBZ and the dose of CBZ/kg body weight was higher in the CYP3A5 expressor group than the non-expressor (P = 0.043 and P = 0.014, respectively). The dose-corrected and standardized serum concentrations were lower in the CYP3A5 expressor group than the non-expressor (P = 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). There was however, no significant difference in serum drug concentration between the two groups (P = 0.487). Conclusions: There was a close relationship between CYP3A5 genetic polymorphism and the serum concentrations of carbamazepine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is already known about this subject • Gliclazide has been considered metabolized by CYP2C9. • Its modified release formulation, gliclazide MR, shows low pharmacokinetic variability in Whites but high variability in Chinese. What this study adds • The results of this study show that the pharmacokinetics of gliclazide MR are affected mainly by CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism instead of CYP2C9 genetic polymorphism. • CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism might be responsible for the high pharmacokinetic variability of gliclazide MR in Chinese. Aims To investigate the influence of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 genetic polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of gliclazide modified release (MR) in healthy Chinese subjects. Methods In a single-dose pharmacokinetic study, 24 healthy male subjects with various CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 genotypes received an oral dose of 30 mg gliclazide MR and plasma was sampled for 72 h postdose. In a multiple-dose pharmacokinetic study, 17 other CYP2C9* 1 homozygotes with various CYP2C19 genotypes received 30 mg gliclazide MR once daily for 6 days and plasma was sampled after the last dose. The plasma concentrations of gliclazide were measured using a validated LC/MS/MS method. CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Results In the single-dose study, no significant difference in any pharmacokinetic parameters was found in CYP2C9* 1/* 1, * 1/* 3 and * 1/* 13 subjects. In contrast, the AUC0–∞ of gliclazide was significantly increased by 3.4-fold [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.5, 4.7; P < 0.01] in CYP2C19 poor metabolizer (PM) subjects compared with CYP2C19* 1 homozygotes. The half-life ( t1/2) was prolonged from 15.1 to 44.5 h ( P < 0.01). Similar differences were found in the multiple-dose study. The parameters of gliclazide AUCss, AUC0–∞ and Cmax were 3.4-fold (95% CI 2.9, 4.0), 4.5-fold (95% CI 3.8, 5.4) and 2.9-fold (95% CI 2.4, 3.4) increased ( P < 0.01) in CYP2C19 PM subjects, respectively, compared with CYP2C19* 1 homozygotes, and t1/2 was increased from 13.5 to 24.6 h ( P < 0.01). Conclusions The pharmacokinetics of gliclazide MR are affected mainly by CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism instead of CYP2C9 genetic polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]