2,834 research outputs found
Combined treatment with MAO-A inhibitor and MAO-B inhibitor increases extracellular noradrenaline levels more than MAO-A inhibitor alone through increases in β-phenylethylamine
No full textMonoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) have been widely used as antidepressants. However, it remains unclear whether a difference exists between non-selective MAO inhibitors and selective MAO-A inhibitors in terms of their antidepressant effects. Using in vivo microdialysis methods, we measured extracellular noradrenaline and serotonin levels following administration of Ro 41-1049, a reversible MAO-A inhibitor and/or lazabemide, a reversible MAO-B inhibitor in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats. We examined the effect of local infusion of β-phenylethylamine to the mPFC of rats on extracellular noradrenaline and serotonin levels. Furthermore, the concentrations of β-phenylethylamine in the tissue of the mPFC after combined treatment with Ro 41-1049 and lazabemide were measured. The Ro 41-1049 alone and the combined treatment significantly increased extracellular noradrenaline levels compared with vehicle and lazabemide alone. Furthermore, the combined treatment increased noradrenaline levels significantly more than Ro 41-1049 alone did. The Ro 41-1049 alone and the combined treatment significantly increased extracellular serotonin levels compared with vehicle and lazabemide alone, but no difference in serotonin levels was found between the combined treatment group and the Ro 41-1049 group. Local infusion of low-dose β-phenylethylamine increased extracellular noradrenaline levels, but not that of serotonin. Only the combined treatment significantly increased β-phenylethylamine levels in tissues of the mPFC. Our results suggest that the combined treatment with a MAO-A inhibitor and a MAO-B inhibitor strengthens antidepressant effects because the combined treatment increases extracellular noradrenaline levels more than a MAO-A inhibitor alone through increases in β-phenylethylamine
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Narrative in Mao Dun's Eclipse Trilogy: A Conflicted Mao Dun
No full textThis dissertation is an exploration of the narrative mode of Mao Dun's (1896 - 1981) first work of fiction, the 1927-8 Eclipse trilogy. It focuses on explaining the context and nature of realism as it appears in the work. The dissertation includes a biography of Mao Dun that covers his early education, and his years as an editor and as a translator. The biography also shows the influence of western literary theory and ideology on his development as an intellectual and author. Realism as a literary mode is presented in its general form and as a type of realism that developed in China. The dissertation also analyzes realism and naturalism as Mao Dun explains the ideas in his own literary criticism. A close reading of samples from the Eclipse trilogy shows how Mao Dun used a type of realism with a shifting objective view, similar to a free indirect style. Finally the dissertation provides a textology study: a typology and analysis of the differences between the two major editions of the trilogy. The types include Clarity and Accuracy, Political Concerns, Narrative Voice, Simplification of Characters, and Problematic Sensuality. Through analysis of the differences between the two editions, the dissertation provides evidence that, although Mao Dun was willing to sacrifice some of the complexity and contradictions of his novel in 1954 when the second edition was edited, he strove to maintain the core of his most problematic central characters and the fundamental ideals of his narrative voice
Mao Zedong and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
No full textThis article provides an interpretation of Mao Zedong's political strategy during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The connection between the internal and external struggle towards revisionism - launched by Mao in the first half of 1962 to eradicate the critics of the Great Leap Forward from the CCP - was energised by Mao's ability to exploit the opportunities offered by the Cuban crisis. Mao managed to capitalise on Moscow's strained relations in the Caribbean: the propaganda campaign launched within the country to support the Cuban revolution and criticise Soviet revisionism helped Mao to consolidate his political struggle and win over his opponents.HistoryA&HCISSCI0ARTICLE173-881
Assay of MAO inhibition by chromatographic techniques (HPLC/HPLC-MS)
No full textMonoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes (MAO A and B) catalyze the oxidative deamination of biogenic amines, neurotransmitters, and xenobiotic amines and contribute to the regulation of the content of these active substances in mammalian organisms. The oxidation of biogenic amines by MAO produces hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and aldehydes that represent risk factors for oxidative injury. The inhibitors of MAO are useful as antidepressants and neuroprotective agents. Usually, the assays of MAO determine amine deamination products or measure the H2O2 released by using direct spectrophotometric or fluorimetric methods. Direct methods are more prone to interferences and can afford inaccurate results. Those limitations can be avoided by using chromatographic techniques. This work describes a chromatographic method to assay MAO A and MAO B activity by using kynuramine as a nonselective substrate and the subsequent analysis of 4-hydroxyquinoline by RP-HPLC-DAD-fluorescence and mass spectrometry (MS). Alternatively, the assay uses the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) neurotoxin as a substrate of MAO that is oxidized (bioactivated) to neurotoxic pyridinium cations which are analyzed by HPLC. These methods are applied to assess the inhibition of MAO by bioactive β-carboline alkaloids occurring in foods, plants, and biological systems.The author thank the Spanish Government-FEDER through projects RTI2018-093940-B-I00 and RTI2018-095544-B-I00.Peer reviewe
Chinese strategic thinking under Mao Tse-tung
No full textThis paper traces the development of the military and political strategies of the Chinese Communist Party, as systematised in Mao Tse-tung's Works and other writings attributed to him and as carried out in practice during the struggle for power in China. It shows how these strategies and tactics are applied, in suitably modified form and at different levels of sophistication, to the conduct of foreign relations by the Chinese People{u2019}s Republic. The author argues that, regardless of changes in the hierarchy, the Peking government's actions abroad will continue to reflect the politico-military approach ascribed to Mao Tse-tung, although much of its past policy has now been repudiated as due to distortion of Maoism by deviationist subordinate leaders. This is a welcome addition to the literature on contemporary China by an author with a wide knowledge of Asian affairs
My Life as an Art Soldier in Mao\u27s China: Art and Politics
No full textThe author narrates how in Mao\u27s China his personal experience took unexpected turns when China dramatically transformed politically, economically, and culturally, and how in reacting to these overwhelming changes he evolved from the role of artist to student activist, businessman, political prisoner and academic. The article focuses on the relationship between art and politics in Mao\u27s China and how the two evolved into what the author characterizes as market communism in today’s China
A New Book on Mao: A Quick Q & A with Author Rebecca Karl
No full textRebecca Karl, who teaches at New York University and is known in Chinese studies circles as the author of important studies of nationalism during the final years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) and the development of Marxist thought between the 1920s and the present, has a new book coming out soon. Titled Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History, it’s being published (simultaneously in paperback and hardback editions) by Duke University Press. The publisher promises that it will provide readers with a “lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought,” and it comes with advance praise from Stanford literary specialist Ban Wang and historian Delia Davin, whose many publications also include a short book about the Chinese Communist Party leader. Struck by the challenges Professor Karl has taken on, both of moving from writing for specialists to writing for general readers (that’s clearly the main target audience to her new book) and trying to cover such a big topic in a small number of pages (the book has just over 200 of them), I asked her to share her thoughts on these challenges and other subjects with followers of this blog
Promising selective MAO-B inhibition by sesamin, a lignan from Zanthoxylum flavum stems
No full text© 2020 The Author(s) Monoamine oxidase inhibition is an important therapeutic approach for various neurodegenerative disorders. Reversible MAO inhibitors selectively targeting only one isoform possess substantial merit in terms of safety, efficacy, and side effect profile. This study aimed to isolate the secondary metabolites of Zanthoxylum flavum stems and evaluate their recombinant human MAO inhibition, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal activities. As a result, fourteen compounds were isolated and identified (nine of them were reported from Z. flavum for the first time). Compound 3 (sesamin) exhibited potent selective MAO-B inhibition (IC50 value of 1.45 ± 0.05 µM) which reported herein for the first time. Compound 2 showed selective MAO-A inhibition activity, compound 5 exhibited good trypanocidal activity, and compound 7 displayed moderate antibacterial activity. The promising MAO-B inhibitory activity of sesamin provoked us to further explore the kinetic properties, the binding mode, and the underlying mechanism of MAO-B inhibition by this lignan. This detailed investigation substantiated a reversible binding and mixed MAO-B catalytic function inhibition via sesamin (Ki: 0.473 ± 0.076 μM). Selectivity and reversibility of sesamin on MAO-B provide exciting prerequisites for further in vivo investigation to confirm its therapeutic potentiality
Reading Chinese Fortune Cookie: The Making of Chinese American Rhetoric
No full textLuMing Mao offers an important discussion of the rhetoric of Chinese American speakers, which has wide implications for the teaching of writing in English and for our understanding of cross-cultural influences in discourse. Recent scholarship tends to explain such influences as contributing to language hybridity—an advance over the traditional deficit model. But Mao suggests that the hybridity approach is perhaps too arid or sanitized, missing rich nuances of mutual exchange, resistance, or even subversion. Through his concept of togetherness in difference, Mao suggests that speakers of hybrid discourse may not be attempting the standard (and failing), but instead may be deliberately importing cultural material to create a distance between themselves and the standard. This practice, over time, becomes a process that transforms English, enriching and enlarging it through the infusion of non-Western discourse features, subverting power structures, and even providing unique humorous touches. Of interest to scholars in composition, cultural studies, and linguistics as well, Reading Chinese Fortune Cookie leads in an important new direction for both our understanding and our teaching of English.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1158/thumbnail.jp
Changing attitudes towards Mao Zedong in the PRC and his religious cults
No full textThe paper outlines changing attitudes towards Mao since 1976 up to 2015, as an important part of political and ideological transformations in the PRC. The study is based on the author’s personal talks with numerous Chinese of different social standing during these years. Some essential party documents, interesting research by other scholars and internet sources have been employed here as well. The point of departure constitutes a comparison of Mao and Stalin and their political and social roles respectively in the PRC and in the Soviet Union. The author puts an emphasis on cultural differences between the two societies.
The author points out that the political and ideological cult of Mao as a Great Helmsman and Great Teacher started to fade away before his death (September 9, 1976). The turning point constituted the death of Zhou Enlai in January 1976. Then, during mass celebrations commemorating him at the Tiananmen Square, Maoist “revolutionary” policy had been criticised in public for the first time and the new myth of the Prime Minister as “great patriot taking care of the state and of the people” was born. The new nationalistic spirit was manifested in opposition to “internationally minded” revolutionary policy, which caused suffering of the Chinese people.
Immediately after the funeral of Mao, in the beginning of October, the radical Maoists, who predominated at that time, were arrested in a particular coup d’etat, and the so-called Gang of Four lost power. The moderate Maoists, who ruled the country, tried to preserve the cult of Mao, but within the ruling elite and the society critical attitudes to the Maoist policy were on the rise. It was combined with increasing nationalism and the cult of Zhou at the grass root level.
In 1978, a new period started; both the people and the cadres on the grass root level initiated reforms, even those dismantling of the Maoist system (including the people’s communes at the countryside). The “walls of democracy” appeared in the cities, and the critical evaluation of the past concerned the Maoist heritage. The new leaders including Deng Xiaoping led a “silent de-maoisation”: the destruction of Mao monuments, his quotations in public places, etc. Moreover, they presented Mao as a great politician, who committed serious mistakes, and whose heritage could be analysed and criticised under the heading “Mao was a man not a god”. On the other hand, they struggled against “excessive criticism” towards Mao as harmful to the state and destabilising the society.
At the end of the 1980s, new tendencies started to appear. The new market economy already changed life of the ordinary Chinese. On the one hand, new super-rich, and on the other the “new poor” appeared side by side with sharp economic differences between cities, villages, and regions. The new “money first” mentality prevailed, whereas moral values and human attitudes faded away. Under the new system of “wild capitalism”, the interest in the Maoist heritage could be seen among the older people and youngsters as well in opposition to the new official “market and motherland” ideology. Mao at this stage had been imagined first of all as a great “national leader”.
The paper also analyses the evolution of Mao Zedong Mausoleum towards an “Ancestral Hall of Revolution”. The author analyses various religious and mystical aspects of the cults of Mao in the framework of the “folk religion”, starting with his veneration as a God of Safe Travel up to the Tutelary God Granting Prosperity to the Nation and Tranquillity to the People.
Chinese authorities have to take under consideration such phenomena and adapt their policies to new social expectations. In this field, one could see the fundamental contradiction between the ruling elite educated in the tradition of the Western Enlightenment and the Chinese people much more bounded by their civilisation
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