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Four financial models of massification of higher education are discussed in this essay. They are American model, Western European model, Southeast Asian and Latin American model and the transition countries model. The comparison of the four models comes to the conclusion that taking advantage of nongovernmental funding is fundamental to dealing with financial difficulty faced by higher education. As a result, it can be argued that the declining of higher education quality does not necessarily have to do with schooling system. On the contrary, the development of private higher education helps the activation mechanism of competition so as to cultivate talents needed by the society.

Background: One of the most prominent opioid analgesics in the United States is the high potency agonist fentanyl. It is used in the treatment of acute and chronic pain and as an anesthetic adjuvant. When used inappropriately, however, ingestion of just a few milligrams of fentanyl or other synthetic opioid can cause opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD), often leading to death. Currently, the treatment of choice for OIRD is the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone. Recent reports, however, suggest that higher doses or repeated dosing of naloxone (due to recurrence of respiratory depression) may be required to reverse fully fentanyl-induced respiratory depression, rendering this treatment inadequate. To combat this synthetic opioid overdose crisis, this research aims at identifying a novel opioid reversal agent with enhanced efficacy towards fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Methods: A series of naltrexone analogues were characterized for their ability to antagonize the effects of fentanyl in vitro utilizing a modified forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation assay. Lead analogue 29 was chosen to undergo further PK studies, followed by in vivo pharmacological analysis to determine its ability to antagonize opioid-induced antinociception in the hot plate assay. Results: A series of potent MOR antagonists were identified, including the highly potent analogue 29 (IC50 = 2.06 nM). Follow-up PK studies revealed 29 to possess near 100% bioavailability following IP administration. Brain concentrations of 29 surpassed plasma concentrations, with an apparent terminal half-life of ~ 80 min in mice. In the hot plate assay, 29 dose-dependently (0.01–0.1 mg/kg; IP) and fully antagonized the antinociception induced by oxycodone (5.6 mg/kg; IP). Furthermore, the dose of 29 that is fully effective in preventing oxycodone-induced antinociception (0.1 mg/kg) was ineffective against locomotor deficits caused by the KOR agonist U50,488. Conclusions: Methods have been developed that have utility to identify enhanced rescue agents for the treatment of OIRD. Analogue 29, possessing potent MOR antagonist activity in vitro and in vivo, provides a promising lead in our search for an enhanced synthetic opioid rescue agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is now the world's second largest economy, and it is expected to overtake the United States to become the largest by 2020. What are the implications for the global environment and climate change if China surpasses the United States? There are major concerns with China's rapid rise because its economic and industrial structure is increasingly dependent on the consumption of energy, raw materials, and electricity. In 2010, China's GDP was approximately 40 percent of the United States' GDP, yet it was the world's largest polluter and the biggest consumer of energy and electricity. This implies that the energy efficiency of the Chinese economy measured by energy consumption per unit of GDP is about one-third of that of the United States and one-fourth that of the EU and Japan. If the Chinese economy continues to grow as fast as it has in the past, without changing its structure and improving energy efficiency, China's growth will cause severe damage to the global environment. This paper analyzes the evolution of energy efficiency in the Chinese economy and stresses the importance of transforming China's economic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the association between the weight-adjusted waist index (WWI) and the odds of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)among U.S. adults., Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning six years (2007-2018) were utilized, encompassing 31001 eligible participants. Weighted multivariate logistic regression models and smoothed fit curves were employed to assess the association between WWI and the odds of T2DM, as well as dose-response relationships in the overall population and the odds of T2DM in various subgroups., Results: In the fully adjusted continuous model, each one-unit increase in WWI was associated with a 1.14-fold increase in the odds of T2DM within the entire study population (2.14 [1.98,2.31], P < 0.0001). In the fully adjusted categorical model, when using the lowest tertile of WWI (T1) as the reference group, the second tertile (T2) and the third tertile (T3) were associated with a 0.88-fold (1.88 [1.64,2.17], P < 0.0001) and a 2.63-fold (3.63 [3.11,4.23], P < 0.0001) increase in the odds of T2DM. These findings indicated a positive correlation between WWI values and the odds of T2DM, aligning with the results of the smoothed-fitted curves. In the analysis of subgroups, in addition to maintaining consistency with the overall population results, we found interactions between age and hypertension subgroups., Conclusion: In conclusion, WWI was found to be positively associated with the odds of T2DM in U.S. adults., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zheng, Zhao, Luo, Lu, Ruan, Dong and Chen.)