2,118 research outputs found
Collaborative governance to manage risks in inclusive health insurance:A case study of Huimin Bao in China
Get PDFCan private health insurance ensure equal access to healthcare for individuals and offer generous benefits at an affordable price? The conventional answer is no. But in the case of Huimin Bao, an inclusive commercial health insurance scheme in China, this is now possible due to the collaborative governance between the local governments and insurance companies. This kind of collaboration is acting as an innovative solution to deal with the risks that Huimin Bao is facing. In practice, their collaboration covers various dimensions. These range from instances where the local governments only provide support for the collaboration, to instances where they guide, promote, and even lead the collaboration. We argue that if government intervention is designed to promote rather than stifle private insurers' self-protection and innovation, collaborative governance in Huimin Bao may better reconcile public policy aims with economic goals. Nevertheless, the utilization of such innovative governance instruments may still face potential risks arising from alignment of interests, distortion of market competition, and regulatory oversight, undermining the solvency and sustainability of Huimin Bao
Generating language distance metrics by language recognition using acoustic features
No full textA language recognition system is used to build quantitative measure of language distance. The OpenEAR toolkit is used to extract more than 6,000 features per speech sample. The features consist of 56 low level descriptors (LLDs) and their Delta and Delta Delta values, the corresponding 39 functionals. The language model training component is based on the Gentle AdaBoost algorithm. When tested on a group of 10 principally Indo-European languages, the language recognition system performs comparatively to other language recognizers.The UPGMA tree built from the interlanguage distances identifies the major subgroups of Indo-European. Genetic algorithms are also implemented to generate the language map on the 2D plane. Although some errors remain, the obtained language tree and map are indicators of language relationships. We discuss errors in our system and more generally perspectives for the use of sound file classifiers in historical linguistics
sj-pdf-1-jit-10.1177_15280837211054219 – Supplemental Material for Coaxial electrospinning preparation and antibacterial property of polylactic acid/tea polyphenol nanofiber membrane
No full textSupplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-jit-10.1177_15280837211054219 for Coaxial electrospinning preparation and antibacterial property of polylactic acid/tea polyphenol nanofiber membrane by Jie Wu, Shuqiang Liu, Man Zhang, Gaihong Wu, Haidan Yu, Huimin Li, Fu Li and Lu Jia in Journal of Industrial Textiles</p
Supplementary_Table_1._Differentially_expressed_proteins - Proteomic Analysis of Radiation-Induced Acute Liver Damage in a Rabbit Model
No full textSupplementary_Table_1._Differentially_expressed_proteins for Proteomic Analysis of Radiation-Induced Acute Liver Damage in a Rabbit Model by Lingong Jiang, Huimin Jia, Zhicheng Tang, Xiaofei Zhu, Yangsen Cao, Yin Tang, Haiyan Yu, Jianping Cao, Huojun Zhang and Shuyu Zhang in Dose-Response</p
Dissection of in vivo functions of HDAC-6 and HDAC-1
Get PDFProtein post-translational modifications play important roles in almost all biological processes. Those modifications
extend the biological complexity based on primary amino acid sequence and have dramatic impact on protein's
structure and functions. Specially, acetylatlion on histone N-terminal tails has been extensively studied and shown to
be involved in the regulation of chromatin structure and functions. The acetylatlion not only directly influences the
packaging of the chromatin but also provides new interaction platforms and signals for other chromatin-interacting
proteins, complexes, and activities. Moreover, increasing numbers of nonhistone proteins have been shown to be
regulated by acetylation/deacetylation. To understand in vivo role of histone and protein acetylation, we started to
investigate two histone deacetylases, HDAC-6 and HDAC-1. For this a variety of techniques were used including gene
targeting in mice.
In the introduction part the general definition and contents of epigenetics are presented. Then, various histone
modifications and their in vivo functions will be summarized. Specially, the acetylation/deacetylation of histones and
nonhistone substrates and their regulation by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs)
are discussed. Finally, the clinical aspects of protein acetylation are considered.
The result section can be divided into four parts. First, we identified HDAC-6 as a novo tubulin deacetylase in vitro and
in vivo. Second, mainly based on experiments based on HDAC-6, we analyzed the structural basis of the histone and
tubulin deacetylation reaction and proposed a model for general protein deacetylation reaction. In the third part, we
generated HDAC-6 deficient mice and cells and have begun to characterize them. Finally, we presented ongoing
results on the generation of HDAC-1 floxed mice and HDAC-1 deficient cells
Genome mining for natural product biosynthesis: Amino acids, nonribosomal peptides, and ribosomal peptides with posttranslational modifications
No full textSubmission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01The student, Yue Yu, accepted the attached license on 2025-03-14 at 10:28.The student, Yue Yu, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-03-14 at 12:05.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-03-24 at 11:23.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21677 on 2025-10-19 at 19:52:29Natural products, secondary metabolites produced by microbial species, have served as privileged drug scaffolds in human medicine. Their complex structures are biosynthesized by enzymes encoded in the microbial genome, often referred to as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Despite the importance of natural products, many biosynthetic pathways of known natural products and related enzymatic mechanisms remain poorly understood. In addition, advances in genome sequencing have revealed numerous orphan BGCs, where either the structure of the natural product or the function of encoded enzymes cannot be reliably predicted. These unresolved questions in natural product biosynthesis motivated my research to explore genome mining for discovering biosynthetic pathways with novel biosynthetic logic and enzymatic mechanisms. In Chapter 1, I introduce the biosynthetic machinery responsible for three classes of natural products: nonribosomal peptides (NRPs), ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), and single amino acid-derived natural products, termed pearlins. Chapter 2 describes a carrier peptide-mediated biosynthesis of the pearlin 3-thiahomoleucine and the reconstitution of a cobalamin-dependent radical S-adenosylmethionine enzyme that catalyzes C-isopropylation. Chapter 3 details the discovery of the nonribosomal peptide threopeptin and the biochemical study of a novel peptide extension machinery. Chapter 4 demonstrates how genome mining of enzymes annotated as ‘domain of unknown function’ led to the discovery of new post-translational modifications in peptide natural products. Overall, these studies revealed unexpected enzyme functions and novel biosynthetic strategies, providing new insights into natural product biosynthesis and new opportunities for future bioengineering applications in drug development
Copper isotope behavior during extreme magma differentiation and degassing: a case study on Laacher See phonolite tephra (East Eifel, Germany)
No full textCopper (Cu) isotopic analyses were performed on a set of samples from the Laacher See tephra (LST) (Eifel, Germany) to investigate whether Cu isotopes are fractionated during extreme magma differentiation and degassing. The LST represents a continuous fractional crystallization series from parental basanite through mafic to highly differentiated phonolites. Samples analyzed here include phonolites of variable degrees of differentiation, phonolite-basanite hybrid rocks formed by mixing basanite and phonolite magmas, and basanite-derived mega-crystals (i.e., clinopyroxene, amphibole, phlogopite). In addition, we analyzed a series of mafic parental lavas from surrounding volcanic centers to constrain the Cu isotopic features of the Eifel mantle. Mafic phonolites show strong depletion in Cu compared to their parental basanites from similar to 50 to similar to 3 ppm, indicating sulfide fractionation during the basanite-to-phonolite differentiation. Mass balance calculations, based on the most Cu-rich hybrid rock (delta Cu-65 = -0.21 parts per thousand, [Cu] = 46.2 ppm), show that the parental basanite magmas have delta Cu-65 of ca. -0.21 parts per thousand lighter than those of the mafic phonolites (similar to 0.11 parts per thousand This suggests that sulfide fractionation preferentially removes the lighter Cu isotope (Cu-63) in S-saturated magmas. By contrast, all phonolites have a limited range of Cu contents (1.1 to 4.0 ppm) with no systematic variations with S, suggesting that Cu is not controlled by sulfide fractionation during the evolution of mafic to highly differentiated phonolites. The identical delta Cu-65 values (0.11 +/- 0.03 parts per thousand, 2SD, n = 10) of the phonolites, irrespective of highly diverse composition and extents of differentiation, indicate that fractional crystallization of silicates (e.g., plagioclase, sanidine, amphibole, pyroxene, olivine), Fe-Ti-oxides and phosphate (e.g., apatite) generates insignificant Cu isotope fractionation. The lack of correlations between delta Cu-65 and volatile contents (e.g., S, Cl) in the LST sequence implies that volcanic degassing causes no detectable Cu isotope fractionation of igneous rocks. Eifel basalts and mega-crystals have variable delta Cu-65 (-0.18 to 0.21 %) that are uncorrelated to MgO and Cu, suggesting that such variations were not caused by differentiation but reflect the Cu isotopic heterogeneity of the Eifel mantle source due to metasomatism by fluids derived from hydrothermally altered oceanic lithosphere
An ultrahigh thermal conductive graphene flexible paper
No full textGraphene nanosheets (GNSs) possess outstanding conductivity, good thermal and chemical stabilities and desirable mechanical strengths. However, the unfunctionalized GNSs are hydrophobic and insoluble in water, which limits their application in many technological areas. Herein, we report a design strategy to exfoliate few-layered aqueous dispersible graphene by a simple ball-milling technique. The modifier of sodium lignosulfonate (LS) enables to synthesize LS-decorated GNSs from natural graphite based on the strong p-p interaction, greatly improving GNSs dispersion in water. The resultant GNSs exhibit a high production yield (similar to 100%), high dispersion concentration and excellent film formation ability. The electrical and thermal conductivities of the as-prepared graphene paper were up to 2385 S cm(-1) and 1324 W m(-1) K-1, respectively, superior to those of most previously reported graphene materials. This graphene paper with the superb electrical and thermal conduction properties also exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility and structure intensity during bending, which has potential usages in electronic packaging and high power thermal management
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