Without Rice, Even the Cleverest Housewife Cannot Cook: Sustainable Livelihoods Research in a Poor Chinese Village

Ling Zhong1, Megan Blaxland2 and Ting Zuo1 한국사회복지학회 2015 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.9 No.1

This paper presents findings of a qualitative study investigating the assets, the risks and shocks, and the anti-risk mechanisms of the households of a poor village in rural northern China. The paper explores the vulnerability of the rural households to becoming impoverished and presents some implications for Chinese social policy. The research shows that income sources and assets of the households were considerably varied, and that this, in turn, affected the kinds of strategies they could implement to manage risk. Poorer households had fewer assets, smaller social networks, and less capacity to manage risk than better-off households, despite all living in the same poor village. Moreover, poorer households were much more likely to have family members with chronic ill-health or disability. These findings point to a need to ensure better access for all rural households to social support, health and care services, and opportunities to find new sources of income within their village.

How the International Cooperation in “Sci-tech +Industry” Model Working in Developing Mango as “One Village and One Product”: Citing the Industrial Upgrading Experience in Baihua Village as An Example

Yanxiu Zuo(Yanxiu Zuo),Junxiang Qian(Junxiang Qian),Lichi Li(Lichi Li),Zhangguan Ni(Zhangguan Ni),Jun Wu(Jun Wu),Huiyun Zhang(Huiyun Zhang),Yufu Chen(Yufu Chen),Huiyun Zhang(Huiyun Zhang),Li Yao(Yao L 아시아사회과학학회 2022 Jornal of Asia Social Science Vol.9 No.1

Baihua Village is a typical mountainous village in the southwest part of Lujiang county, Longyang District, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. Residents there made a living on the land, including growing sugarcane and planting maize, whose annual income was no more than 2000 yuan before 2006. Since then when a research institute has set it as one of the pilot villages for mango growing impetus with sci-tech. For the sake of “One village and One Product”, mango breeding and relevant techniques have been applied to daily work. Within years, the developed model of has been explored: simply “villages are the main carriers facilitated by the specialized cooperative for mango growing, back-up by science and technology. Technical trainings serve as the driving force for the leading growers, meanwhile, sellers work as the bridge link the producing-end and the markets”.

STRUCTURAL AND SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF k-QUASI-*-PARANORMAL OPERATORS

ZUO, FEI,ZUO, HONGLIANG The Kangwon-Kyungki Mathematical Society 2015 한국수학논문집 Vol.23 No.2

For a positive integer k, an operator T is said to be k-quasi-*-paranormal if ${\parallel}T^{k+2}x{\parallel}{\parallel}T^kx{\parallel}{\geq}{\parallel}T^*T^kx{\parallel}^2$ for all x $\in$ H, which is a generalization of *-paranormal operator. In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for T to be a k-quasi-*-paranormal operator. We also prove that the spectrum is continuous on the class of all k-quasi-*-paranormal operators.

Moisture Sorption and Thermodynamic Properties of Vacuum-Dried Capsosiphon fulvescens Powder

Zuo, Li,Rhim, Jong-Whan,Lee, Jun Ho The Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 2015 Preventive Nutrition and Food Science Vol.20 No.3

The moisture sorption isotherms of vacuum-dried edible green alga (Capsosiphon fulvescens) powders were determined at 25, 35, and $45^{\circ}C$ and water activity ($a_w$) in the range of 0.11~0.94. An inversion effect of temperature was found at high water activity (>0.75). Various mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data, and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller model was found to be the most suitable model describing the relationship between equilibrium moisture content and water activity (<0.45). Henderson model could also provide excellent agreement between the experimental and predicted values despite of the intersection point. Net isosteric heat of adsorption decreased from 15.77 to 9.08 kJ/mol with an increase in equilibrium moisture content from 0.055 to $0.090kg\;H_2O/kg$ solids. The isokinetic temperature ($T_{\beta}$) was 434.79 K, at which all the adsorption reactions took place at the same rate. The enthalpy-entropy compensation suggested that the mechanism of the adsorption process was shown to be enthalpy-driven.

Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization Combined with Interferon-α is Safe and Effective for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Curative Resection

Zuo, Chaohui,Xia, Man,Liu, Jingshi,Qiu, Xiaoxin,Lei, Xiong,Xu, Ruocai,Liu, Hanchun,Li, Jianliang,Li, Yongguo,Li, Qinglong,Xiao, Hua,Hong, Yuan,Wang, Xiaohong,Zhu, Haizhen,Wu, Qunfeng,Burns, Michael,Li Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.1

Objectives: Intrahepatic recurrence is the major cause of death among patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative surgical resection. Several approaches have been reported to decrease the recurrence rate. The objective of our study was to compare the clinical effects of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with interferon-alpha (IFN-${\alpha}$) therapy on recurrence after hepatic resection in patients with HBV-related HCC with that of TACE chemotherapy alone. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data from 228 patients who were diagnosed with HBV-related HCC and underwent curative resection between January 2001 to December 2008. The patients were divided into TACE (n = 126) and TACE-IFN-${\alpha}$ (n = 102) groups for postoperative chemotherapy. The TACE regimen consisted of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), cisplatin (DDP), and the emulsion mixed with mitomycin C (MMC) and lipiodol. The recurrence rates, disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and risk of recurrence were evaluated. Results: The clinicopathological parameters and adverse effects were similar between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). The median OS for the TACE-IFN-${\alpha}$ group (36.3 months) was significantly longer than that of the TACE group (24.5 months, P < 0.05). The 3-and 5-year OS for the TACE-IFN-${\alpha}$ group were significantly longer than those of the TACE group (P < 0.05) and the recurrence rate was significantly lower (P < 0.05). The TACE and IFN-${\alpha}$ combination therapy, active hepatitis HBV infection, the number of tumor nodules, microvascular invasion, liver cirrhosis, and the BCLC stage were independent predictors of OS and DFS. Conclusions: The use of the TACE and IFN-${\alpha}$ combination chemotherapy after curative hepatic resection safely and effectively improves OS and decreases recurrence in patients with HBV-related HCC who are at high risk. Our findings can serve as a guide for the selection of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with HBV-related HCC who are at high risk of recurrence.

Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci on Porcine Chromosome 7 Using Combined Data Analysis

Zuo, B.,Xiong, Y.Z.,Su, Y.H.,Deng, C.Y.,Lei, M.G.,Zheng, R.,Jiang, S.W.,Li, F.E. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2004 Animal Bioscience Vol.17 No.10

To further investigate the regions on porcine chromosome 7 that are responsible for economically important traits, phenotypic data from a total of 287 F2 individuals were collected and analyzed from 1998 to 2000. All animals were genotyped for eight microsatellite loci spanning the length of chromosome 7. QTL analysis was performed using interval mapping under the line-cross model. A permutation test was used to establish significance levels associated with QTL effects. Observed QTL effects were (chromosomewide significance, position of maximum significance in centimorgans): Birth weight (<0.01, 3); Carcass length (<0.05, 80); Longissimus muscle area (<0.01, 69); Skin percentage (<0.01, 69); Bone percentage (<0.01, 74); Fat depths at shoulder (<0.05, 54);Mean fat depth (<0.05, 81); Moisture in m. Longissimus Dorsi (<0.05, 88). Additional evidence was also found which suggested QTL for dressing percentage and fat depths at buttock. This study offers confirmation of several QTL affecting growth and carcass traits on SSC7 and provides an important step in the search for the actual major genes involved in the traits of economic interest.

Effects of exploration and molecular mechanism of CsV on eNOS and vascular endothelial functions

Zuo, Deyu,Jiang, Heng,Yi, Shixiong,Fu, Yang,Xie, Lei,Peng, Qifeng,Liu, Pei,Zhou, Jie,Li, Xunjia Techno-Press 2022 Advances in nano research Vol.12 No.5

This study aimed to investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of Chikusetsusaponin V (CsV) on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and vascular endothelial cell functions. Different concentrations of CsV were added to animal models, bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured in vitro. qPCR, Western blotting (WB), and B ultrasound were performed to explore the effects of CsV on mouse endothelial cell functions, vascular stiffness and cellular eNOS mRNA, protein expression and NO release. Bioinformatics analysis, network pharmacology, molecular docking and protein mass spectrometry analysis were conducted to jointly predict the upstream transcription factors of eNOS. Furthermore, pulldown and ChIP and dual luciferase assays were employed for subsequent verification. At the presence or absence of CsV stimulation, either overexpression or knockdown of purine rich element binding protein A (PURA) was conducted, and PCR assay was employed to detect PURA and eNOS mRNA expressions, Western blot was used to detect PURA and eNOS protein expressions, cell NO release and serum NO levels. Tube formation experiment was conducted to detect the tube forming capability of HUVECs cells. The animal vasodilation function test detected the vasodilation functions. Ultrasonic detection was performed to determine the mouse aortic arch pulse wave velocity to identify aortic stiffness. CsV stimulus on bovine aortic cells revealed that CsV could upregulate eNOS protein levels in vascular endothelial cells in a concentration and time dependent manner. The expression levels of eNOS mRNA and phosphorylation sites Ser1177, Ser633 and Thr495 increased significantly after CsV stimulation. Meanwhile, CsV could also enhance the tube forming capability of HUVECs cells. Following the mice were gavaged using CsV, the eNOS protein level of mouse aortic endothelial cells was upregulated in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and serum NO release and vasodilation ability were simultaneously elevated whereas arterial stiffness was alleviated. The pulldown, ChIP and dual luciferase assays demonstrated that PURA could bind to the eNOS promoter and facilitate the transcription of eNOS. Under the conditions of presence or absence of CsV stimulation, overexpression or knockdown of PURA indicated that the effect of CsV on vascular endothelial function and eNOS was weakened following PURA gene silence, whereas overexpression of PURA gene could enhance the effect of CsV upregulating eNOS expression. CsV could promote NO release from endothelial cells by upregulating the expression of PURA/eNOS pathway, improve endothelial cell functions, enhance vasodilation capability, and alleviate vessel stiffness. The present study plays a role in offering a theoretical basis for the development and application of CsV in vascular function improvement, and it also provides a more comprehensive understanding of the pharmacodynamics of CsV.

Molecular Cloning and mRNA Expression of the Porcine Insulin-responsive Glucose Transporter (GLUT4)

Zuo, Jianjun,Dai, Fawen,Feng, Dingyuan,Cao, Qingyun,Ye, Hui,Dong, Zemin,Xia, Weiguang Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2010 Animal Bioscience Vol.23 No.5

Insulin-responsive glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) is a member of the glucose transporter family and mainly presents in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. To clarify the molecular structure of porcine GLUT4, RACE was used to clone its cDNA. Several cDNA clones corresponding to different regions of GLUT4 were obtained by amplifying reverse-transcriptase products of total RNA extracted from Landrace porcine skeletal muscles. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the cDNA clones revealed that porcine GLUT4 cDNA was composed of 2,491 base pairs with a coding region of 509 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence was over 90% identical to human, rabbit and cattle GLUT4. The tissue distribution of GLUT4 was also examined by Real-time RT-PCR. The mRNA expression abundance of GLUT4 was heart>liver, skeletal muscle and brain>lung, kidney and intestine. The developmental expression of GLUT4 and insulin receptor (IR) was also examined by Real-time RT-PCR using total RNA extracted from longissimus dorsi (LM), semimembranosus (SM), and semitendinosus (SD) muscle of Landrace at the age of 1, 7, 30, 60 and 90 d. It was shown that there was significant difference in the mRNA expression level of GLUT4 in skeletal muscles of Landrace at different ages (p<0.05). The mRNA expression level of IR also showed significant difference at different ages (p<0.05). The developmental change in the mRNA expression abundance of GLUT4 was similar to that in IR, and both showed a higher level at birth and 30 d than at other ages. However, there was no significant tissue difference in the mRNA expression of GLUT4 or IR (p>0.05). These results showed that the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA clones was highly identical with human, rabbit and cattle GLUT4 and the developmental change of GLUT4 mRNA in skeletal muscles was similar to that of IR, suggesting that porcine GLUT4 might be an insulin-responsive glucose transporter. Moreover, the tissue distribution of GLUT4 mRNA showed that GLUT4 might be an important nutritional transporter in porcine skeletal muscles.

Finite Operators and Weyl Type Theorems for Quasi-*-n-Paranormal Operators

ZUO, FEI,YAN, WEI Department of Mathematics 2015 Kyungpook mathematical journal Vol.55 No.4

In this paper, we mainly obtain the following assertions: (1) If T is a quasi-*-n-paranormal operator, then T is finite and simply polaroid. (2) If T or $T^*$ is a quasi-*-n-paranormal operator, then Weyl's theorem holds for f(T), where f is an analytic function on ${\sigma}(T)$ and is not constant on each connected component of the open set U containing ${\sigma}(T)$. (3) If E is the Riesz idempotent for a nonzero isolated point ${\lambda}$ of the spectrum of a quasi-*-n-paranormal operator, then E is self-adjoint and $EH=N(T-{\lambda})=N(T-{\lambda})^*$.

Intensity modulation-based fibre optic vibration sensor using an aperture within a proof mass

Zuo, Ze-Wei,Hao, Yi,Choi, Sang-Jin,Song, Minho,Kim, Young-Chon,Pan, Jae-Kyung IET 2017 IET science, measurement & technology Vol.11 No.1

<P>The authors propose an intensity modulation-based fibre optic vibration sensor (FOVS) using an aperture within a proof mass. It consists of an optical collimator, a mass-spring structure, a mirror, and a rectangular aperture. They verify its feasibility via experimental demonstration. For the feasibility test, they implement three lab-based prototype FOVSs with different natural frequencies and measure each FOVS's frequency response according to the base vibration and sensitivity. The experimental results for three lab-based prototype FOVSs show the sensitivities of 163, 183, and 206 mV/g, the minimum detectable accelerations of 0.082, 0.086, and 0.082 mg, and the dynamic ranges of 18-45, 26-52, and 20-120 Hz, respectively. They also experimentally demonstrate its remote sensing and multipoint sensing characteristics. The proposed FOVS has the virtues of easy controllable sensitivity and dynamic range, simple structure, and remote sensing and multipoint sensing characteristics.</P>