Search

Rapid advancements have taken place in gene therapy technology. However, effective methods for treating aging- or age-related chronic diseases, which are often closely related to genes or even multiple genes, are still lacking. The path to developing cures is winding, while gene therapy that targets genes related to aging represents an exciting research direction with tremendous potential. Among aging-related genes, some candidates have been studied at different levels, from cell to organismal levels (e.g., mammalian models) with different methods, from overexpression to gene editing. The TERT and APOE have even entered the stage of clinical trials. Even those displaying only a preliminary association with diseases have potential applications. This article discusses the foundations and recent breakthroughs in the field of gene therapy, providing a summary of current mainstream strategies and gene therapy products with clinical and preclinical applications. Finally, we review representative target genes and their potential for treating aging or age-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid increase in elderly population has increased demand on care services and care and attention homes in Hong Kong. Elderly residents in care and attention homes rely heavily on facilities to maintain their quality of life. However, many care and attention homes are not purpose-built for elderly people. This paper investigates the relationship between facilities management of care and attention homes and elderly quality of life using both quantitative and qualitative data. A questionnaire was distributed among elders of eight recruited care and attention homes with four categories (government-financed non-purpose-built, government-financed purpose-built, self-financed non-purpose-built and self-financed purpose-built) in Hong Kong. Selected care and attention homes were a good mixture of operating types, building age and building types. A total of 56 questionnaires were completed by both elderly residents and staff in care and attention homes (37.5% were male and 62.5% were female), followed by semi-structured interviews; 48.2% of respondents were over 80 years of age and 93% had lived in C&A homes for more than one year. The findings identified 19 indoor facilities factors and also measured elderly quality of life. The results showed that space identification, distance, ventilation, furniture, non-slip floors and recreation facilities were positively related to elderly quality of life. Based on these findings, several practical recommendations are proposed, including allocating larger spaces for bedrooms, designing ventilation, installation of non-slip flooring, familylike furniture and the arrangement of recreational facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost-estimation participants play an essential role in the success of construction projects, as well as determining the profit margin of an organization. However, these participants must always work to rigid and urgent deadlines, putting them in stressful situations. Such a stressful environment influences estimation participants' perceptions of the project and organization, which ultimately affect their performance. This study sets out to investigate the complicated relationships between stress, commitment, and performance for construction estimation participants through a questionnaire survey. A reliability test, correlation analyses, and regression modeling were applied to analyze the data collected from 101 construction estimation participants. The results indicate the impact of stress on both commitment and performance: (1) objective stress influences career commitment via an inverted U-shaped relationship; (2) subjective stress is linearly related to both career and continuance commitment; and (3) subjective stress also directly influences ineffective working processes through a U-shaped relationship. Other results show a separate and direct impact of the three types of commitment on different kinds of estimation performance: (1) affective commitment reduces ineffective working process; (2) continuance commitment exerts positive impact on organizational nonbelongingness; and (3) career commitment improves estimation accuracy. To optimize the performance of estimation participants, organizations are encouraged to monitor their abilities and arrange their workload accordingly, provide suitable support and assistance, and help staff formulate a long-term career development plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) has important value in Chinese medicine, economy and ecology. At present, Chinese pangolin is about to go extinct due to over hunting and habitat destruction, which has caused a dramatic decline in the wild population. Breeding Chinese pangolin in captivity is very difficult and has not succeeded yet. This paper is to review the wild population, habitat, foraging, activity rhythm, breeding and physiology of Chinese pangolin. It provides theoretical basis of ecology and biology for the protection and artificial domestication of Chinese pangolin. Meanwhile, given the demands of protection, future research directions are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agricultural Science & Technology is the property of Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Agricultural Science & Technology is the property of Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)