BACKGROUND Geranium wilfordii is one of the major species used as Herba Geranii (lao-guan-cao) in China, it is commonly used solely or in polyherbal formulations for treatment of joint pain resulted from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and gout. This herb is used to validate a target-based drug screening platform called Herbochip® and evaluate anti-inflammatory effects of Geranium wilfordii ethanolic...

In their article "Localization, Globalization, and Traveling Chinese Culture" Chengjun Wang and Junhong Ma discuss three channels of the "traveling" of Chinese culture to the outside world. Focusing on the situation of bilingualism (i.e., Chinese and English) and the need of spreading Chinese literature and culture especially in the English-speaking world, Wang and Ma argue for the practice of ...

Human diseases are inherently complex and governed by the complicated interplay of several underlying factors. Clinical research focuses on behavioral, demographic and pathology information, whereas molecular genomics focuses on finding underlying genetic and genomic factors in genomic data collected on mRNA expression, proteomics, biological networks, and other microbiological features. Howeve...

Although the importance of diversity in organizations is widely recognized, diversity training is under attack. Drawing from self-efficacy theory and research, we developed a questionnaire to measure one’s efficacy of successfully coping with widely recognized diversity initiatives. Then we conducted a study examining the effect of self-efficacy-based diversity training on the level of particip...

In their article "About the Chinese School of Comparative Literature" He Lin and Danqing Huang discuss the development of the Chinese school of comparative literature since the 1980s. Lin and Huang describe how based on traditions in Chinese literary history, comparatists constructed a system of theoretical frameworks and methods. They argue that the Chinese School should not be criticized as "...

Tumor growth is dependent on angiogenesis, and cells in tumor tissues produce various angiogenic factors to induce neovascularization. Among tumor-derived angiogenic factors, members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family are most frequently and highly expressed in various solid tumors. VEGF-A, the prototype of VEGF, is the most powerful pro-angiogenic factor that binds to VEGF...

S ......................................................................................................56-66 HEALTH/BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS Reassessment of the role of aluminum in the development of Alzheimer's disease Strunecká A, Patočka J. ....................................................................................... 56 A Fluoride Vol. 35 No. 1 Pages 1-72 February 2002 2 Some observatio...

In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of pharmacological postconditioning induced by 17 -estradiol and the phytoestrogen, genistein, against myocardial infarction induced by increasing durations of coronary artery occlusion (CAO). Anesthetized rabbits underwent either 20-min (protocol A) or 30-min (protocol B) CAO, followed by 4 h of coronary artery reperfusion (CAR). Before CAR, t...

In their article "The Futures of Comparative Literature Envisioned by Chinese Comparatists" Sheng Meng and Yue Chen discuss the future of Comparative Literature from the perspective of Chinese comparatists. They argue that in response to the latest rhetoric around the crisis and death of Comparative Literature as a discipline, Chinese comparatists have fallen into four major representative grou...

S ............................................................................................. 45-69 BIOCHEMICAL EFFECTS Mechanisms of sodium fluoride-induced endothelial cell barrier dysfunction: role of MLC phosphorylation Wang P, Verin AD, Birukova A, Gilbert-McClain LI, Jacobs K, Garcia JG ........... 45 2A Fluoride Vol. 36 No. 1 Pages 1-78 February 2003 Effects of selenium and fluoride on...