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Purpose Drawing on research on organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE) and self-consistency theory, this study aims to investigate whether, how and when leader aggressive humour (LAH) impacts hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). Design/methodology/approach A total of 294 supervisor–employee dyads from eight hotels in China participated in the survey. The data were analysed by hierarchical multiple regression and PROCESS macro in SPSS. Findings LAH undermines hospitality employees’ PCSP by threatening their OBSE, and this effect is significant only for highly entitled employees. Practical implications Organisations could improve leaders’ awareness of the dark side of aggressive humour, especially for those who supervise highly entitled employees. Organisations could also cultivate positive leader–member relationships to improve employees’ OBSE and provide training for highly entitled employees to cope with leaders’ LAH. Originality/value This study contributes to the LAH literature by examining its influence on hospitality employees’ PCSP and identifying the mechanism and boundary conditions underlying this effect.

Background and aim: Disordered hepatic energy metabolism is found in obese rats with insulin resistance (IR). There are insufficient experimental studies of electroacupuncture (EA) for IR and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this study was to probe the effect of EA on disordered hepatic energy metabolism and the adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1)/ribosomal protein S6 kinase, 70-kDa (p70S6K) signaling pathway. Methods: Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rats were randomly divided into three groups: EA group receiving EA treatment; Pi group receiving pioglitazone gavage; and ZF group remaining untreated (n = 8 per group). Inbred non-insulin-resistant Zucker lean rats formed an (untreated) healthy control group (ZL, n = 8). Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), C-peptide, C-reactive protein (CRP) and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) indices were measured. Hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) staining was used to investigate the liver morphologically. The mitochondrial structure of hepatocytes was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Western blotting was adopted to determine protein expression of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), mTOR, mTORC1, AMPK, tuberous sclerosis 2 (TSC2) and p70S6K, and their phosphorylation. RT-PCR was used to quantify IRS-1, mTOR, mTORC1, AMPK and p70S6K mRNA levels. Results: Compared with the ZF group, FPG, FINS, C-peptide, CRP and HOMA-IR levels were significantly reduced in the EA group ( p Conclusions: EA can effectively ameliorate IR and regulate energy metabolism in the ZDF rat model. AMPK/mTORC1/p70S6K and related molecules may represent a potential mechanism of action underlying these effects.

By using R-α-MBA with bromine terminal to develop 2D perovskite with mixed dimensionality on the 3D perovskite surface, an improved PCE of 21.48% with a FF of 82.44 was achieved for 1.63 eV bandgap perovskite solar cells.

PurposeThe high-quality development of the real estate industry is crucial to the transformation of China's economy. However, few studies apply the productivity to explore the development path of the real estate industry in China. To fill this gap, this study mainly investigates the total factor productivity (TFP) of the real estate industry of 30 sample provinces in mainland China from 2007 to 2016.Design/methodology/approachThe Malmquist index is applied to estimate the productivity (i.e. TFP) of the real estate industry, based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA). Then, the truncated tobit regression analysis explores the external influencing factors on the TFP of the real estate industry.FindingsThrough empirical analysis, it is found that the high-quality development of the real estate industry depends on the technological innovation by the real estate enterprises and the targeted policies by the provincial government. Moreover, the development of the real estate industry has a positive correlation with the growth of China's economy but a negative correlation with the development of other industries.Practical implicationsTFP mainly reveals the development status of the provincial real estate industry and identifies the driving force for exploring the high-quality development mode of the real estate sector. Furthermore, the fluctuation rule of TFP can be applied to predict the development trend of the real estate industry in the future.Originality/valueAs an application, this study measures the TFP of the Chinese real estate industry in different provinces and periods. The results have meaningful policy implications for policymakers regulating the real estate industry.

A limited delivery of oxygen and metabolic substrate to the heart caused by myocardial infarction (MI) impairs the cardiac function, and often results in heart failure. Here, we identified a circRNA (circ-SNRK) from SNRK (sucrose nonfermenting 1-related kinase, which can increase the cardiac mitochondrial efficiency) in cardiomyocytes (CMs). Circ-SNRK can sponge the miR-33 and in turn improved the ATP synthesis via SNRK, proving the existence of circ-SNRK - miR-33 - SNRK axis. Furthermore, we found that protein NOVA1 (NOVA alternative splicing regulator 1) could accelerate the circ-SNRK formation; a cleaved peptide (~55 kDa) from SNRK enters the nucleus and blocks the cyclization of circ-SNRK via binding to NOVA1. The aforementioned negative feedback of SNRK to circ-SNRK limited the SNRK at a proper level, and inhibited the protective role of circ-SNRK in ischemic heart. In addition, our in vivo experiment indicated that the overexpression of exogenic circ-SNRK could break this loop and improves the cardiac function post-MI in rats. Together, our results demonstrated that the negative loop of circ-SNRK with SNRK regulates the energy metabolism in CMs, thus might be a potential therapeutic target for heart failure.

The austempering above and below martensite transition temperature (Ms) was employed in a medium-carbon low-alloy 40CrNiMo steel, and the bainite and martensite multiphase microstructures with different volume fractions were obtained. Here, the effect of pre-existing martensite on subsequent transformation of bainite microstructure and mechanical properties is focused and researched. The microstructure with a volume fraction of pre-existing martensite (VPM), bainite (VB), and martensite/austenite (VM/A) constituents of approximately 28%, 46%, and 26%, respectively could be obtained by austenitizing below Ms (280 °C) for 1 h, and an optimum combination of strength, ductility, and impact toughness (yield strength of 1420 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 1795 MPa, total elongation of 7.9%, and V-notch impact value of 37 J) was achieved. The considerable enhancement of mechanical properties in the sample austenitized below Ms is mainly ascribed to the formation of the pre-existing martensite, resulting in an effective reduction in the size of the bainite plates and martensite/austenite constituents.

Recent research shows that flexoelectricity may prominently affect the electromechanical coupling responses of elastic dielectrics at the nanoscale. From the perspective of devices design, it is urgent to know how the input parameters affect the electromechanical coupling behaviors of flexoelectric nanostructures. In this work, global sensitivity analysis is applied to elastic dielectric nanoplates to decompose the attribution of each of the parameters. Meanwhile, the existing hierarchical regression is found not suitable for simultaneously evaluating the multicollinearity and high dimensionality problems, when global sensitivity analysis of flexoelectric nanostructures is obtained combining polynomial chaos expansion (PCE). In order to overcome the above issues, the following strategies is proposed: 1) First, an adaptive sparse scheme is employed to build the sparse PCE. The number of terms of the PCE is decreased through choosing the most related polynomials with respect to a given model output. 2) Then, the hierarchical regression can be carried out iteratively via combining with the adaptive-sparse scheme. 3) Finally, the Sobol sensitivity indices are calculated through using these procedures. Further, Sobol sensitivity indices reveal that the thickness is the decisive input parameter that strongly affects the buckling and vibration responses of the flexoelectric nanoplate; the flexoelectric coefficients is the next key parameter that affect the buckling and vibration responses of flexoelectric nanoplate. Our finding also demonstrates that the influence of the flexoelectric coefficient is much stronger than that of the piezoelectric coefficient, which revealed the domination of the flexoelectric effect in ultra-thin piezoelectric nanostructures.

It is important to understand the changes in microbial properties of plant rhizospheres to elucidate the interaction between heavy metals and plant communities. In this study, high throughput sequencing method was used to analyze the effects of heavy metals on rhizosphere microbial community structure of the autochthonous plant Salsola collina in the Jinchuan mining area. The operational taxonomic units (OTU) number and species diversity, and richness of the bacterial community in the rhizosphere of Salsola collina were higher than those of the bulk soil. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were the major bacterial phyla, and Salsola collina, Kaistobacter, Citrobacter, Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas were the main genera. Principal component analysis (PCA) and unweighted pair group method using arithmetic average (UPGMA) cluster analysis showed that there were significant differences in bacterial community structure between site and between rhizosphere and bulk soil. The moisture content, total nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, nickel, chromium, lead, and zinc contents, and pH had significant effects on species richness of the bacterial community, with total phosphorus content having a significant effect on species diversity. The finding of this study could be used as an important guideline for bioremediation of heavy metals in mining area.

As the inputs of investment and employees in real estate sectors have continued to increase in recent years, it is crucial to study the evaluation of real estate performance. However, these rarely ...

Considering that the real estate industry is a critical industry to promote the economy in China, it is necessary to measure the real estate performance. However, few studies about the performance evaluation of China’s real estate industry have focused on the production process. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a two-stage framework to investigate the real estate productivity of 30 sample provinces on mainland China from 2008 to 2015, based on a common-weight global Malmquist productivity index (MPI). The major findings are shown as follows: (a) the real estate efficiency is low, and it is mainly caused by the inefficiency in the sales stage, not the development stage; (b) the development trend of the real estate sector in China is sensitive to the government policies, and the fluctuations of MPI are consistent with the direction of policy adjustment during the observation period; (c) as for the regional analysis of MPI, we introduce the concept of the dependence degree of the economy on the real estate industry and predict that MPI in economically underdeveloped regions may decline in the future. Finally, policy recommendations are provided for the high-quality development of China’s real estate industry. First published online 25 January 2021

Introduction Sepsis is a complication in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patients associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity. Early diagnosis of sepsis in ACLF patients can improve prognosis. This study aimed to explore potential effective biomarkers for the early diagnosis of sepsis in ACLF patients. Methods Ninety-four ACLF patients with sepsis were enrolled from 10 hospitals across China from January 2015 to June 2016 as well as 49 ACLF patients without infection from Xiangya Hospital. The first-day admission data and SOFA score and CLIF-SOFA score were collected. The differences of indicators between groups were compared with Kruskal-Wallis test. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the selected factors. Results Soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-1 (sTREM-1) and presepsin were significantly higher in ACLF-sepsis patients compared with ACLF patients with no infection (P

In this study, two homogeneous polysaccharides (PFC-1 and PFC-2) having anti-atherosclerotic activity were isolated from Fructus Corni. PFC-1 and PFC-2 were 1,6-α-glucans with the molecular weight of 4.4 kDa and 82.0 kDa, respectively. In the in vitro experiments, PFC-1 and PFC-2 showed significant inhibitory effects on the cholesterol accumulation in RAW264.7 macrophages induced by oxidized low-density lipoproteins (ox-LDL), and the inhibitory rate of PFC-2 was 81.62%. Apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) were used to evaluate the anti-atherosclerotic effects of PFC-2 in vivo. The aortic root lipid area decreased by 55.01% in the PFC-2-administered group as compared to the model group. PFC-2 decreased the levels of serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and malondialdehyde, increased the superoxide dismutase activity, and reduced the contents of lipid and macrophages in the aortic sinus plaque in ApoE−/− mice fed with HFD. Furthermore, PFC-2 markedly inhibited the expression of type A1 scavenger receptor (SR-A1) and cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) in ox-LDL-treated macrophages. Taken together, 1,6-α-glucans from Fructus Corni showed significant anti-atherogenic effect, and the mechanism is related to enhanced antioxidant activity of the ApoE−/− mice and down-regulated the expression of SR-A1 and CD36 proteins in macrophages.

Piazza and Loughnan found that the high intelligence information about animals leads to higher moral standing judgment except for self-relevant animals. We replicated the original three studies in China. Study 1 finds that the intelligence information about a fictional animal does not affect moral standing judgment or hunting decisions, inconsistent with the original study. By manipulating the intelligence of animals in one’s culture (pig) versus in other cultures (tapir or trablan), Study 2 consistently finds that intelligence information does not influence moral standing judgment only for pigs. Study 3 reveals that participants have higher moral standing judgment for pigs from another’s perspective but not from one’s own perspective, regardless of the intelligence information. These findings partly replicate the original findings, indicating inconsistency in how people apply mind information in judging the moral standing of animals. When animals become self-relevant, intelligence information no longer increases the moral standing of animals.

NK-lysins, a type of broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide (AMP), act as an essential effector of innate defense against microbial attack in higher vertebrates and so in fish. The present study delineates the structural and functional characterization of NK-lysin from yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidrac) (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). PfNK-lysin encodes a 153-residue peptide, which displays the hallmark features of other known NK-lysins with the ordered array of six well-conserved cysteine residues and five-exon/four-intron structure. It was found to be ubiquitous in tissues, being detected most abundantly in gill and head kidney. In vivo exposure to stimuli (LPS, PolyI:C, and Edwardsiella ictaluri) induced PfNK-lysin expression in head kidney and spleen. Synthetic PfNK-lysin-derived peptide exhibited in vitro bactericidal potency against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with the highest inhibitory effect on pathogen Edwardsiella ictaluri. Fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy further confirmed its capacity to cause damage to the bacterial plasma membrane. Taken together, these data suggest that PfNK-lysin might participate in antimicrobial defense of yellow catfish by membrane-disruptive action.

Alzheimer's disease(AD) patients in China have been surging, and the resultant medical burden and care demand have a huge impact on the development of individuals, families, and the society. The active component compound of Epimedii Folium, Astragali Radix, and Puerariae Lobatae Radix(YHG) can regulate the expression of iron metabolism-related proteins to inhibit brain iron overload and relieve hypofunction of central nervous system in AD patients. Hepcidin is an important target regulating iron metabolism. This study investigated the effect of YHG on the expression of a disintegrin and metalloprotease-17(ADAM17), a key enzyme in the hydrolysis of β amyloid precursor protein(APP) in HT22 cells, by mediating hepcidin. To be specific, HT22 cells were cultured in vitro, followed by liposome-mediated siRNA transfection to silence the expression of hepcidin. Real-time PCR and Western blot were performed to examine the silencing result and the effect of YHG on hepcidin in AD cell model. HT22 cells were randomized into 7 groups: control group, Aβ25-35 induction(Aβ) group, hepcidin-siRNA(siRNA) group, Aβ25-35 + hepcidin-siRNA(Aβ + siRNA) group, Aβ25-35+YHG(Aβ+YHG) group, hepcidin-siRNA+YHG(siRNA+YHG) group, Aβ25-35+hepcidin-siRNA+YHG(Aβ+siRNA+YHG) group. The expression of ADAM17 mRNA in cells was detected by real-time PCR, and the expression of ADAM17 protein by immunofluorescence and Western blot. Immunofluorescence showed that the ADAM17 protein expression was lower in the Aβ group, siRNA group, and Aβ+siRNA group than in the control group(Plt;0.05) and the expression was lower in the Aβ+siRNA group(Plt;0.05) and higher in the Aβ+YHG group(Plt;0.05) than in the Aβ group. Moreover, the ADAM17 protein expression was lower in the Aβ+siRNA group(Plt;0.05) and higher in the siRNA+YHG group(Plt; 0.05) than in the siRNA group. The expression was higher in the Aβ+siRNA+YHG group than in the Aβ+siRNA group(Plt;0.05). The results of Western blot and real-time PCR were consistent with those of immunofluorescence. The experiment showed that YHG induced hepcidin to up-regulate the expression of ADAM17 in AD cell model and promote the activation of non-starch metabolic pathways, which might be the internal mechanism of YHG in preventing and treating AD.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) epidemic in China is featured by geographical diversity of epidemic patterns. Understanding the characteristics of regional HIV epidemic allows carrying out targeted prevention and control measures. However, in some regions of Northeast China, current HIV-1 epidemic feature is largely unknown.Methods: Information of 1006 newly diagnosed HIV-1 infected participants were collected before antiretroviral therapy during 2010-2016 in Harbin city of Northeast China. HIV-1 genotype was identified based on the viral gag and env genes. Comparison analyses were made among different participant groups and sampling time periods to understand HIV-1 epidemic trend. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the factors associated with immune status of participants.Results: Homosexual contact among men who have sex with men (MSM) was the main transmission route and CRF01_AE was the most dominant HIV-1 genotype. Newly diagnosed cases were getting younger, which was mainly due to the continuous increase in the proportion of young cases (aged < 30 years) among CRF01_AE-infected individuals, especially the CRF01_AE-infected MSM. The proportion of cases with good immune status (CD4 count > 500 cells/μl) continued to increase, and younger in age, HIV-1 infection via homosexual contact among MSM and infection by non-CRF01_AE genotype were positive factors for the good immune outcome.Conclusions: Young MSM have become a new vulnerable group for HIV-1 transmission in Northeast China. This group is changing local HIV-1 epidemic pattern. Measures for preventing and controlling HIV-1 infection among this population are urgently needed in the future.