Separating the consumption and investment demands for housing: Evidence from urban China.

Over the last two decades, housing price-oriented regulation of the real estate market has sparked various debates in several contexts, including policy effectiveness and institutional bias. Scholars have explored the broad impact of policies such as land use controls, property taxes, and financial leverage on housing prices. However, very few studies have focused on the role of separating the consumption and investment demands for housing, especially when the housing bubble prevails and the basic living demands of residents are not fully met. This paper proposes a theoretical model and an empirical method to separate the consumption and investment demands for housing. Using data on housing sales prices and housing rental prices in 70 cities in China, we apply the CES effect function to exhaustively estimate the size of consumption and investment demand, and use a Two-level Hierarchical Liner Model to measure the heterogeneous effects of consumption demands and investment demands on housing prices and economic growth. Our study provides an insightful snapshot of the gradual housing market reform that is unfolding and has yet to be studied in contemporary China.

Injectable fillers: current status, physicochemical properties, function mechanism, and perspectives.

With the increasing understanding of the aging process and growing desire for minimally invasive treatments, injectable fillers have great potential for correcting and rejuvenating facial wrinkles/folds and contouring the face. However, considering the increasing availability of multiple soft tissue fillers, it is important to understand their inherent biophysical features and specific mechanism. Thus, in this review, we aim to provide an update on the current injectable filler products and analyze and compare their critical physicochemical properties and function mechanisms for volume-filling. Additionally, future trends and development processes for injectable fillers are also proposed.

CBFß is induced by spring viremia of carp virus and promotes virus replication in zebrafish.

The core binding factor subunit beta (CBFß) is a transcription factor that forms a complex with virial proteins to promote viral infection. In this study, we identified a CBFß homolog from zebrafish (zfCBFß) and characterized the biological activity. The deduced zfCBFß protein was highly similar to orthologs from other species. The zfcbfß gene was constitutively expressed in tissues and was induced in immune tissues after infection with spring viremia carp virus (SVCV) and stimulation with poly(I:C). Interestingly, zfcbfß is not induced by type I interferons. Overexpression of zfcbfß induced tnfα expression but inhibited isg15 expression. Also, overexpression of zfcbfß significantly increased SVCV titer in the EPC cells. Co-immunoprecipitation assay revealed that zfCBFß interacts with SVCV phosphoprotein (SVCVP) and host p53, resulting in the increased stability of zfCBFß. Our results provide evidence that CBFß is targeted by virus to suppress host antiviral response.

Zebrafish SETD3 mediated ubiquitination of phosphoprotein limits spring viremia of carp virus infection.

Lysine methylation is a post-translational modification of histone and non-histone proteins and affects numerous cellular processes. The actin histidine methyltransferase SET domain containing 3 (SETD3) is a member of the protein lysine methyltransferase (PKMT) family which catalyse the addition of methyl groups to lysine residues. However, the role of SETD3 in virus-mediated innate immune responses has rarely been investigated. In this study, zebrafish SETD3 was shown to be induced by poly(I:C) and spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) and inhibited virus infection. Further, it was found that SETD3 directly interacted with SVCV phosphoprotein (SVCV P) in the cytoplasm of EPC cells, initiating ubiquitination to degrade the SVCV P protein via proteasomal pathway. Interestingly, mutants lacking the SET and RSB domains were able to promote degradation of SVCV P, indicating that they are not required for SETD3 mediated degradation of SVCV P. Taken together, our study demonstrates that SETD3 is an antiviral factor which limits virus replication by promoting ubiquitination of viral phosphoprotein and subsequent protein degradation.

The expanded ISG12 family in zebrafish: ISG12.1 suppresses virus replication via targeting viral phosphoprotein.

In mammals, interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes (ISGs) play important roles in restricting the replication of viruses. However, the functions of many ISGs have not been investigated in fish. In this study, eight isg12 homologs (termed isg12.1-8) were identified in zebrafish and all contain a typical ISG12 family domain rich of hydrophobic amino acid residues. Isg12.1-7 were significantly induced in the ZF4 cells by poly(I:C) and IFNφ1, and in the kidney and spleen after infection with spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV). In the EPC cells, overexpression of isg12.1 inhibited SVCV replication. Further, it was found that zebrafish ISG12.1 interacted with SVCV phosphoprotein (SVCV-P) and promoted SVCV-P degradation which could be attenuated by 3-MA and CQ (autophagy inhibitors). Our results indicate that zebrafish ISG12.1 restricts viral replication by targeting viral phosphoprotein for degradation.

IL-27 suppresses spring viremia of carp virus replication in zebrafish.

Interleukin (IL) 27 is a member of the IL-12 family and is a heterodimeric cytokine composed of IL-27A and Epstein-Barr virus-induced 3 (EBI3). It plays an important role in regulating inflammation and cancer progression. IL-27A not only functions by dimerizing with EBI3 but also acts alone. Here, we report that IL-27A and EBI3 suppress spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) replication in zebrafish. Expression analysis reveals that il-27a and ebi3 were significantly upregulated in the ZF4 cells by SVCV and poly(I:C), and in the zebrafish caudal fin (ZFIN) cells overexpressed with SVCV genes. Interestingly, il-27a and ebi3 were not modulated by IFNφ1, indicating that they are not IFN stimulated genes (ISGs). Furthermore, overexpression of IL-27A and EBI3 alone inhibited SVCV replication in the EPC cells, but less potent than co-expression of IL-27A and EBI3. Intriguingly, IL-27A could not induce the expression of irf3, ifn, isg15 and mx1. Taken together, our results demonstrate that IL-27A and EBI3 activate innate antiviral response in an IFN independent manner in zebrafish.

IRF2 Cooperates with Phosphoprotein of Spring Viremia of Carp Virus to Suppress Antiviral Response in Zebrafish.

IFN regulatory factor (IRF) 2 belongs to the IRF1 subfamily, and its functions are not yet fully understood. In this study, we showed that IRF2a was a negative regulator of the interferon (IFN) response induced by spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV). Irf2a-/- knockout zebrafish were less susceptible to SVCV than wild-type fish. Transcriptomic analysis reveals that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the irf2a-/- and irf2a+/+ cells derived caudal fins were mainly involved in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) signaling pathway. Interestingly, the basal expression levels of interferon stimulating genes (ISGs), including pkz, mx, apol, and stat1 were higher in the irf2a-/- cells than irf2a+/+ cells, suggesting that they may contribute to the increased viral resistance of the irf2a-/- cells. Overexpression of IRF2a inhibited the activation of ifnφ1 and ifnφ3 induced by SVCV and poly(I:C) in the epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cells. Further, it was found that SVCV phosphoprotein (SVCV-P) could interact with IRF2a to promote IRF2a nuclear translocation and protein stability via suppressing K48-linked ubiquitination of IRF2a. Both IRF2a and SVCV-P not only destabilized STAT1a but reduced its translocation into the nucleus. Our work demonstrates that IRF2a cooperates with SVCV-P to suppress host antiviral response against viral infection in zebrafish. IMPORTANCE Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are central in the regulation of interferon-mediated antiviral immunity. Here, we reported that IRF2a suppressed interferon response and promoted virus replication in zebrafish. The suppressive effects were enhanced by the phosphoprotein of the spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) via inhibition of K48-linked ubiquitination of IRF2a. IRF2a and SVCV phosphoprotein cooperated to degrade STAT1 and block its nuclear translocation. Our work demonstrated that IRFs and STATs were targeted by the virus through posttranslational modifications to repress interferon-mediated antiviral response in lower vertebrates.

PLAAT1 inhibits type I interferon response via degradation of IRF3 and IRF7 in Zebrafish.

PLAAT1 is a member of the PLAAT protein family and plays important roles in tumor suppression, transglutaminase activation and peroxisomal biogenesis. Recently, PLAAT1 has been shown to promote degradation of p53 protein and cellular organelles such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and lysosome. In this study, we show that PLAAT1 inhibits the production of type I interferon and promotes virus replication in zebrafish. Overexpression of Plaat1 in zebrafish cells suppresses antiviral responses and promotes virus replication. Mechanistically, PLAAT1 interacts with IRF3 and IRF7 to initiate degradation of IRF3 and IRF7, which can be attenuated by 3-methyladenine, an inhibitor of autophagosome. Our study provides novel insights into the functions of PLAAT1 in host immune response to viral infection.

A Novel multi-fruit acids formula design on molecular basis for skin brightening via a system biology approach.

BACKGROUND: Fruit acids have long been recognized as highly effective actives with world-wide popularity, covering skin peeling, anti-acne, anti-wrinkle applications, and skin depigmentation. AIMS: There are complicated interconnections between the fruit acid formula and skin pigmentation behaviors. However, the lack of systematic researches on multi-ingredient formula restricted our understanding on its mechanism. Therefore, it is of great necessity to study the interactions and cascades among components, potential gene targets, signaling pathways, and biological processes via a system biology approach. METHODS: We used system biology, molecular fingerprint, and structural biology to calculate and collect target information of the functional formula. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was further applied to study the biological processes and pathways of the formula, and a multi-level network model of "component - molecular target - signaling pathway - skin disease" was established. Besides, the zebrafish model was utilized to verify the formula. RESULTS: We obtained 69 hub targets by constructing a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network based on the intersection between multi-fruit acids formula (mandelic acid, lactobionic acid, niacinamide, and hydroxytyrosol) and skin indications targets (whitening-sebum balance). In vitro zebrafish models, including pigmentation, antioxidant, and radiation protection models, showed that the current formula significantly alleviated pigmentation intensity and intracellular free radical content, thus proving the efficacy of skin brightening and UV irradiation protection. CONCLUSIONS: This research uncovered the underlying mechanism of multi-fruit acids formula and predicted its function in skin brightening and UV irradiation prevention.

PLAAT1 promotes p53 degradation via autophagy-lysosome pathway in zebrafish.

PLAAT1 belongs to the PLAAT family and plays regulatory roles in cell growth, tumor suppression and phospholipid metabolism. However, whether PLAAT1 is involved in p53 mediated signaling has not been investigated. Here, we report that PLAAT1 promotes degradation of p53 in zebrafish. We found that the plaat1 gene was constitutively expressed in tissues including liver, kidney, spleen, intestine, eye and brain, with relative higher expression levels detected in the brain and eye. Overexpression of plaat1 led to inhibition of p53 and tnfα mRNA expression. Furthermore, it was shown that PLAAT1 interacted with p53 to facilitate p53 degradation via autophagy-lysosome dependent pathway. Our work indicates that PLAAT1 is involved in the interplay between p53 mediated cellular responses and autophagy.

Maackiain Protects the Kidneys of Type 2 Diabetic Rats via Modulating the Nrf2/HO-1 and TLR4/NF-κB/Caspase-3 Pathways.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is aglobal health burden that accounts for about 90% of all cases of diabetes. Injury to the kidneys is aserious complication of type 2 diabetes. Maackiain, apterocarpan extracted from roots of Sophora flavescens, has been traditionally used for various disease conditions. However, nothing is known about its possible potential effect on HFD/STZ-T2D-induced nephrotoxicity. METHODS: In this study, T2D rat model is created by high-fat diet (HFD) for 2 weeks with injection of asingle dose of streptozotocin (35mg/kg body weight). T2D rats were orally administered with maackiain (10 and 20mg/kg body weight) for 7 weeks. RESULTS: Maackiain suppressed T2D-induced alterations in metabolic parameters, lipid profile and kidney functionality markers. By administering 10 and 20mg/kg maackiain to T2D rats, it was able to reduce lipid peroxidation while improving antioxidant levels (SOD, CAT, and GSH). Furthermore, the present study demonstrated the molecular mechanisms through which maackiain attenuated T2D-induced oxidative stress (mRNA: Nrf2, Nqo-1, Ho-1, Gclc and Gpx-1; protein: NRF2, NQO-1, HO-1 and NOX-4), inflammation (mRNA: Tlr, Myd88, IκBα, Mcp-1, Tgf-ß, col4, Icam1, Vcam1 and E-selectin; Protein: TLR4, MYD88, NF-κB, IκBα, MCP-1; levels: TNF-α and MCP-1) and apoptosis (mRNA: Bcl-2, Bax, Bad, Apaf-1, Caspase-9 and Caspase-3; protein: Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9) mediated renal injury. Additionally, significant improvement in kidney architecture was observed after treatment of diabetic rats with 10 or 20mg/kg maackiain. CONCLUSION: Maackiain protects the kidney by decreasing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis to preserve normal renal function in type 2 diabetes.

Molecular identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae and expression of immune genes in infected spotted gar Lepisosteus oculatus.

Spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) is a primitive ray-finned fish which has not undergone the third round whole genome duplication and commonly used as a model to study the evolution of immune genes. In this study, a pathogenic strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae (termed KPY01) was isolated from a diseased spotted gar, based on the Gram-stain and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rDNA and khe genes. Further, the virulence genes and drug resistance genes were determined and drug sensitivity tests were performed to explore the virulence and drug resistance of the KPY01. Putative biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites were predicted using the anti-SMASH5.0 online genome mining platform. Histopathological analysis revealed that the immune cells were significantly decreased in the white pulp of spleen of fish infected with K. pneumonia and tissue inflammation became apparent. Besides, the expression of cytokines including interleukin (il) -8, il-10, il-12a, il-18 and interferon γ (ifn-γ) were shown to be modulated in the spleen, gills and kidney. Our work provides useful information for further investigation on the virulence of K. pneumoniae and host immune responses to K. pneumoniae infection in fish.

An in situ mechanical adjustable double crosslinking hyaluronic acid/poly-lysine hydrogel matrix: Fabrication, characterization and cell morphology.

Cell fate and morphologies are influenced by the mechanical property of matrix. However, the relevant works about the dynamic adjustable of matrix mechanical property is rare and most of them need extra stimulation, such as the controllable of the degradation. In this study, double crosslinking (DC) hydrogels are fabricated by sequential covalent crosslinking and electrostatic interactions between hyaluronic acid and poly-lysine. Without any extra stimulation or treatment, the compressive stress of DC-hydrogels increases from 22.4 ± 9.4 kPa to 320.1 ± 6.6 kPa with the elongation of incubation time in DMEM solution. The change of compressive stress of matrix induced the morphology of L929 fibroblast cells adjusted from the distributed round shape to spheroid cell clusters and finally to spread shape. RNA sequence analysis also demonstrated that the differentially gene expression and GO enrichment between the cells seeded on the DC-hydrogel with different incubation time. In addition, by increasing the electrostatic interactions ratio of the hydrogel, the biodegradation, compressive stress and energy dissipation of the DC-hydrogels were also significantly improved. Therefore, our study provides new and critical insights into the design strategy to achieve DC-hydrogels which can in situ alter cells morphology and open up a new avenue for the application of disease therapy.

A Novel Target Detection Method of the Unmanned Surface Vehicle under All-Weather Conditions with an Improved YOLOV3.

The USV (unmanned surface vehicle) is playing an important role in many tasks such as marine environmental observation and maritime security, for the advantages of high autonomy and mobility. Detecting the targets on the surface of the water with high precision ensures the subsequent task implementation. However, the changes from the lights and the surface environment influence the performance of the target detecting method in a long-term task with USV. Therefore, this paper proposed a novel target detection method by fusing DenseNet in YOLOV3 to improve the stability of detection to decrease the feature loss, while the target feature is transmitted in the layers of a deep neural network. All the image data used to train and test the proposed method were obtained in the real ocean environment with a USV in the South China Sea during a one month sea trial in November 2019. The experiment results demonstrate the performance of the proposed method is more suitable for the changed weather conditions though comparing with the existing methods, and the real-time performance is available in practical ocean tasks for USV.

A dual ammonia-responsive sponge sensor: preparation, transition mechanism and sensitivity.

PDMS-PU (polydimethylsiloxane-polyurethane) sponge decorated with In(OH)3 (indium hydroxide) and BCP (bromocresol purple) particles is shown to be a room-temperature ammonia sensor with high sensitivity and excellent reproducibility; it can accomplish real-time detection and monitoring of ammonia in the surrounding environment. The superhydrophobic and yellowish In(OH)3-BCP-TiO2-based ammonia-responsive (IBT-AR) sponge changes to a purple superhydrophilic one when exposed to ammonia. Notably, after reacting with ammonia, the sponge can recover its original wettability and color after heating in air. The wettability, color and absorption signal of IBT-AR sponge have been measured for sensing ammonia using the water contact angle, macroscopic observation and UV-vis absorption spectrometry, respectively. The minimum ammonia concentrations that can be detected by the sponge wettability, color and absorption signal are 0.5%, 1.4 ppm and 50 ppb, respectively. This kind of sponge with smart wettability and color is a promising new ammonia detector.

[Survey of Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women in Jiangsu Province, China].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the situation of Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women in Jiangsu Province. METHODS: The pregnant women from 7 cities in Jiangsu Province were involved in this survey and the information was recorded according to the request of unified admission information of the case questionnaire of toxoplasmosis in Jiangsu Province. The specific antibodies IgM and IgG to Toxoplasma gondii in sera of these pregnant women were tested by ELISA. RESULTS: The specific antibody IgM to Toxoplasma gondii of all the respondents was negative. The positive rate of IgG was 3.98% (43/1 081), which was little different from the control group's 2.27% (4/176), and every city shared a similar positive rate. The positive rate of IgG of early pregnant women was 3.78%, which was also not obviously different from the 4.17% appearing in mid and late pregnant women. The respondents who previously had pathological abortions did not show positive IgG. Only 1.84% (8/435) of pregnant women had had the examinations related to Toxoplasma gondii before this survey. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of Toxoplasma gondii infection is low among pregnant women in Jiangsu Province. The situations in different areas are not far from each other. We should enhance the peri-conception tests of Toxoplasma gondii and take prevention and treatment countermeasures based on corresponding objects, and also further strengthen the healthy education.

[Study on surveillance and early-warning system of schistosomiasis in first phase of east route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. III. Indexes of surveillance and early-warning and risk assessment].

OBJECTIVE: To establish the index system of surveillance and early-warning on schistosomiasis and to provide the scientific basis for risk assessment and emergency plan in first phase of east route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. METHODS: The Delphi method and the multidimensional synthetic evaluation were used in the evaluation of indexes of surveillance and early-warning on schistosomiasis in the east route of the project. RESULTS: There were 53 indexes evaluated in the index system, and among them, there were 3 first grade indexes, 10 second grade indexes and 40 third grade indexes. The indexes on Oncomelania snails were the most important. According to the habitation position of snails, the four grades on surveillance and early-warning of schistosomiasis were established in the east route. The grade I of the early-warning meant that snails crossed the first level of the pumping station. The grade II meant that snails crossed N 32 degrees 54'. The grade III meant that snails crossed N 33 degrees 03' or Jinhu pumping station. The grade IV meant that snails crossed N 33 degrees 15' or Hongze Station. Other 4 indexes on schistosome infection in people and livestock were confirmed as indicative indexes. According to the relationship among the indexes, the evaluation methods were determined on the risk of schistosomiasis transmission. CONCLUSIONS: The index system of surveillance and early-warning and the methods of risk assessment of schistosomiasis have been confirmed in first phase of east route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The primary index is related to snails and the supplementary is related to schistosome infection in people and livestock in the system.