China Economy Forum

[Martian2]

Folded DNA becomes Trojan horse to attack cancer

Although a multitude of promising anti-cancer drugs have been developed over the past 50 years, effective delivery of the drugs to diseased cells remains a challenge. Recently, nanoparticles have been used as drug delivery vehicles due to their high delivery efficiencies and the possibility to circumvent cellular drug resistance. However, the lack of biocompatibility and inability to engineer spatially addressable surfaces for multi-functional activity remains an obstacle to their widespread use. Here we present a novel drug carrier system based on self-assembled, spatially addressable DNA origami nanostructures that confronts these limitations.

Folded DNA becomes Trojan horse to attack cancer - life - 18 August 2012 - New Scientist

"Folded DNA becomes Trojan horse to attack cancer
18 August 2012

IT WORKED for the ancient Greeks, so why shouldn't it work for us? Some cancers are resistant to chemotherapy, but we can attack them successfully by hiding drugs inside folded-up DNA.

DNA origami involves folding a single strand of DNA into a complex pattern, creating a 3D structure. Baoquan Ding at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing, China, and colleagues loaded a tubular piece of folded DNA with doxorubicin, a chemotherapy drug. The DNA Trojan horse delivered a dose of the drug that proved lethal to human breast-cancer cells, even though they had developed resistance to doxorubicin (Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI: 10.1021/ja304263n).

"This is the first study to demonstrate that DNA origami can be used to circumvent drug resistance," says Hao Yan at Arizona State University in Tempe, who jointly led the work. The cancer cells may not recognise the DNA origami as a threat in the way that free doxorubicin is, he suggests. The folded DNA might also alter the pH inside the cells, increasing the drug's activity."

[Caption source: DNA Origami as a Carrier for Circumvention of Drug Resistance - Journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS Publications)]

 

[cirr]

Apple "fanboys" and Google "fandroids"?

19th August 2012

By Josh Ong

Calling someone an Apple fanboy (or worse, fanboi) or a fandroid is usually meant to be an insult, but supporters of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi have no trouble calling themselves fans. They may be the new kids on the block, but they’re definitely some of the most loyal.

Xiaomi got its start two years ago with its MIUI skin for Android. Last year, it released its own smartphone, called the Mi-One, and went on to sell over 3.5 million units of the device. The company has also developed a Miliao IM chat service that just passed the milestone of 1 million simultaneous online users.

When Xiaomi unveiled its Mi-Two smartphone a few days ago at a high-profile media event in Beijing, more than a thousand of its fans, who call themselves “mi fen” (米&#31881 in Chinese, were in attendance. The phrase “Mi fen” is a pun that is shorthand for “Xiaomi fan” and also means “rice flour”, a clever play off Xiaomi’s name, which means millet or “little rice” (小&#31859.

Something about the Mi-Two unveiling seemed familiar and the more I thought about it, the more I found similarities between the newly-emerging ‘cult of Xiaomi’ and fan communities for Apple and Google.

A Charismatic Leader

Co-founder Lei Jun has a charismatic personality that inspires loyalty in his customers in much the same way that the late Steve Jobs did for Apple. Jobs was a masterful orator, and Lei took a few pages from his book for his keynote at the Mi-Two launch. The way in which he kept the audience waiting to hear the price of the new phone (an impressive $315 or RMB 1,999, by the way) was as Jobsian as any Macworld or WWDC keynote I’ve seen.

Left: Xiaomi founder Lei Jun (TNW), Right: Steve Jobs (AP Photo / Paul Sakuma)

With his black shirt and jeans, Lei even bore a resemblance to Jobs, who was known for wearing a black mock turtleneck and jeans. Though Lei has resisted the comparison between his preferred outfit, which he says is a plug for Vancl, an ecommerce company he’s an investor in, and Jobs, he has acknowledged that the Apple co-founder was an inspiration to him.

The 43-year-old Lei, whose net worth is believed to be more than $1 billion, formerly served as the CEO at Kingsoft and was one of the co-founders of Joyo, a Chinese ecommerce site that partnered with and was later bought by Amazon. In additional to Vancl, he’s also an investor in several other successful Chinese companies YY and UC Web.

Xiaomi’s similarities to Apple were especially apparent when the company announced a “1S” upgrade to its first-generation phone. So far, the company appears to be following the single model, multiple generation strategy of the iPhone.

Whether or not Lei himself is willing to make the comparison, his fans certainly have. Forbes notes that some Chinese have taken to calling him “Lei bu si”, a tongue-in-cheek reference to “Qiao bu si” the Chinese translation of Jobs’ name.

You Say You Want a Revolution

For a company to inspire true loyalty in its customers, it needs a message. Both Apple and Google have had missions that have resonated with their followings, and Xiaomi is no exception. Take for instance, the name of the company, which co-founder Lin Bin says is a reference to a Chinese phrase for revolution.

Politics in are a highly sensitive topic for corporations in China, and Xiaomi has largely steered away from any controversy that could jeopardize its relationship with the central government. It has, however, cultivated a subtly counter-cultural image that appeals to the younger generation.

Then there’s the Mi-bunny character that the company uses as its mascot. Its red scarf, a reference to the Young Pioneers of China political organization, and its old school communist worker hat evoke Chinese national pride, while the silliness of the rabbit softens the rhetoric and even playfully inverts it.

T-Shirts

T-shirts might sound like an odd reason for arguing the development of a loyal fan base, but in today’s world of hyper-branding, they’re a must. Recognizable t-shirts give users an opportunity to declare their allegiance and adopt the company’s style as their own.

Apple has done this to significant effect. The shirts that employees at its Apple Stores wear have become so iconic that knockoff Apple Stores in China copy them in order to look real.

Meanwhile, the company’s practice of giving out limited edition shirts at (real) retail store openings has also helped build identity among its customers. When the iPad officially launched in China, one man spent two days camping out in front of an Apple Store with a homemade blue shirt that said “I buy iPad No. 1.”

Xiaomi understood the power of the tee at its Mi-Two launch. Employees wore different color shirts depending on their tasks. Not unlike the blue-shirted clapping gauntlet at Apple Store openings and product launches, orange-shirted greeters formed a line at the entrance to the venue, while workers in black shirts worked to corral media away from Xiaomi’s key executives. Special Mi-Two launch t-shirts were included in bags given to attendees, so the hall quickly turned into a sea of orange.

Graphic t-shirt designs are on sale on Xiaomi’s website to let Mi fans proudly represent. Interestingly, some of the shirts are cheeky, such as the below design where the Mi-bunny is fixing the robot. The company also sells other accessories like dolls and dongles that promote the “mi fen” culture.

Social Media

Xiaomi has also been active in engaging with its fans on social media like Sina Weibo. It teased the release of the new phone on Weibo and frequently runs promotions on the service giveaways. The company also maintains a Twitter account, but the account doesn’t have a large following there, most likely because the service is unavailable in China.

@silvercor3 Hi, thanks for your interest. That’s possible…Xiaomi will go further in the future.

— Xiaomi (@XiaomiChina) August 17, 2012

Xiaomi Overseas

For now, Xiaomi’s fan base remains largely Chinese, as it has yet to market its phones outside of the country. The company does have international aspirations, though. Engadget recently reported that, according to a source, Xiaomi phones will launch in Europe next year. When that happens, it’ll be interesting to see if Mi fan culture transfers overseas.

Growing beyond China will be an important move for the company, though, since it has billed itself as a low-margin phone maker. Lei revealed at the Mi-Two event that the new phone is being sold at a loss, based on calculations of 3 million devices sold.

“We are not looking to make any money, or to make Xiaomi profitable, for the next two or three years,” Lin said earlier this year.

The company should be set up for the long haul, as it just raised $216 million in a Series D funding round that valued it at $4 billion.

Xiaomi might not be making money yet, but it’s building a loyal fan base that should help the company succeed. And, judging by the photo below of the bathroom sign at the event last week, it’s at least having some fun with it along the way.

 

[anarchy 99]

The US has been inflating its debts away with QE.
Operation twist I think is a stealth QE3.
By inflating the dollar, the fed has created global inflation and made china uncompetitive as rising labour, raw material, and transportation costs have destroyed our competitiveness.

Do not trust the US FED.
Their inflation numbers are fake, they report a lower inflation number to show that they are not inflating their debts away.

 

[vK_man]

The US has been inflating its debts away with QE.
Operation twist I think is a stealth QE3.
By inflating the dollar, the fed has created global inflation and made china uncompetitive as rising labour, raw material, and transportation costs have destroyed our competitiveness.

Do not trust the US FED.
Their inflation numbers are fake, they report a lower inflation number to show that they are not inflating their debts away.

And some american calls us conspiracy theorist for stating the facts. I guess americans must be the most hopeless cases on the planet,bamboozled by propaganda .They don't how USA is degenerating into a virtual mafia state.

And good luck to you guys.Hopefully you chinis come resilient from the crisis that is being created.I am certain that US govt is trying to start a very major war,comparable to WW2.

 

[SinoChallenger]

China is approaching the technological frontier

China's economic growth rate has to decrease. This year, China's nominal GDP is $8 trillion. You can't keep growing at 10% indefinitely.

China has moved closer to the technological frontier. Its economy must slow down. There isn't that much new technology to keep boosting China's massive $8 trillion GDP.

China currently uses 20% more electricity per year than the United States. It is not possible to maintain a compound 10% growth.

Mate, you gotta visit second / third / fourth tier cities in China more

 

[sweetgrape]

China builds world’s largest ship lift
China builds world’s largest ship lift | China's Great Science and Technology

2012-08-22 — A few days ago, the world’s largest ship-lift–the Three Gorges ship lift, independently developed by Gezhouba Group which is the sole contractor in the construction, has been completed the construction of 196 meters high up/downstream platform board (in the control room and the sightseeing platform). It marked that the project has been capped with series of 196 meters high permanent buildings, including Three Gorges Ship Lift Tower, shear walls, and plate girder structure. It also means that the construction of the Three Gorges ship lift has turned from geotechnical construction to equipment installation and lay a solid foundation for the ship-lift put into operation in 2015.

Three Gorges ship lift geotechnical construction mainly includes ship-lift of Pylon, shear walls and plate girder structure, capped elevations are 196 m. The viewing platforms arranged between 9-axis to 11 axis and dimensions are 25.8 × 9 × 0.3 meters.

In accordance with the construction organization design, the concrete structure must be capped elevation reached in August. The construction of two platform board in the control room and sightseeing platform careful organization and deployment. 7 mixer trucks, 2 pumps and 2 booms were used by the group to transport concrete from 84 meters high and 185 meters high platform. And a total of pouring 200 cubic meters of concrete. Currently, the ship lift at the top of the engine room construction and Bailey rack demolition work has been in full swing.

Three Gorges ship lift is a rack and pinion vertical climbing ship lift. In October 2008, Chinese Gezhouba Group successful won the Three Gorges Shiplift main civil works and equipment installation and construction contract. The contract design is 229,000 m3 of concrete, 24,500 tons of rebar manufacture, and 14,500 tons of metal structures and equipment installation.

The project applied a range of advanced technologies: the hydraulic automatic climb of multi-card template system for the first time; Bailey frame construction technology is applied for the first time in the domestic large-scale hydropower project; internationally for the first time PAGEL grouting materials as structural power transmission of a large volume of fill material.

 

[Martian2]

Spray-on coating keeps bananas fresh - Telegraph

"Spray-on coating keeps bananas fresh
A spray-on coating made from a substance found in crab shells can prevent bananas ripening too fast and keep them fresh for up to 12 days, scientists claim.

Before releasing the gel to market, however, he added that one of its current ingredients would have to replaced with an alternative to make it suitable for mass production (Photo: ALAMY)

By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent
7:30AM BST 23 Aug 2012

Bananas become mushy and sickly sweet notoriously quickly because unlike most fruits, the rate at which they "breathe" through their skin does not slow down after they ripen.

Instead of remaining ripe for several days this means the fruit continues to produce sugars from its pulp, allowing the bacteria on its skin to multiply which causes the banana to rot.

Now scientists have slowed down the rotting process using an absorbent coating made from chitosan, a substance taken from the shells of shrimp and crabs.

The researchers, from Tianjin University of Science and Technology in China, presented their findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Lead researcher Dr Xihong Li said: "We found that by spraying green bananas with a chitosan aerogel, we can keep bananas fresh for up to 12 days.

"We have developed a way to keep bananas green for a longer time and inhibit the rapid ripening that occurs. Such a coating could be used at home by consumers, in supermarkets or during shipment of bananas."

Before releasing the gel to market, however, he added that one of its current ingredients would have to replaced with an alternative to make it suitable for mass production."

 

[third eye]

It seems to be the same story everywhere. The amount of talent Asioa has is enormous and growing. Govts need to harness this profitably.

China: Broken Dreams - 101 East - Al Jazeera English

Many young Chinese are losing faith in China's economic miracle.

Although the nation's economy has expanded to more than $7 trillion and is poised to overtake the US in the next decade as the world's largest, fewer Chinese feel they are sharing in the prosperity.

A sense of disillusionment is spreading, particularly among the post-1980 generation, who are well-educated and mobile but still struggle to find profitable jobs.

Signs that the economy is slowing only add to the malaise. The Chinese government predicts the economy will grow by 7.5 per cent in 2012, down from 9.2 per cent last year, which would be the slowest growth rate since 1990. Economists say this could mean the loss of two million jobs.

At the same time a record number of new graduates are looking for work. Some 25 million Chinese will be on the job hunt this year. Even those who find work are frequently disappointed.

Surveys show that young Chinese office workers in big cities are widely unhappy. Most complain of a feeling of insecurity.

After two decades of economic reform, per capita GDP has risen 13-fold, and average salaries in major cities are on par with those in many developed countries. The post-80s generation, the first to come of age in this era of opportunity, has been raised on a belief that if one can do well in school, graduate from a good university and work hard on his or her career, one can enjoy a measure of success.

Instead, many find themselves squeezed by skyrocketing housing costs, rising prices for basic necessities and family pressures. As a large percentage of the post-80s generation are only children, they alone will be expected to provide for their parents and older relatives.

As many as three million young Chinese professionals toil in slum-like conditions in cramped housing on the outskirts of big cities. They are known as 'ant tribes,' a term coined by scholar Lian Si, China's foremost researcher on post-80s graduates.

"They share every similarity with ants," writes Lian. "They live in colonies in cramped areas. They're intelligent and hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid."

Li Zhirui from China's northeast is one of them. Home is an eight square metre space outside Beijing that costs 500 Chinese yuan per month, a quarter of his salary. He dreams of one day buying an apartment, but with average real estate prices in the capital soaring to more than 20,000 yuan per square metre, he could be in for a very long wait.

He has already lost his fiancée, who dumped him when he refused to buy a second-hand car and an engagement ring.

The experiences of Li and other 'ant tribes' resonate strongly with young Chinese and have spawned a popular song and a TV series called Struggle of the Ant Tribe.

But for some despair takes over. Suicide has become the biggest cause of death for Chinese between 15 and 34 years of age.

In a recent trend, some young graduates are deciding to flee the big cities and instead seek opportunity in smaller cities and towns. But there, too, they are frustrated, as they discover that good diplomas - and even ability - do not open doors. Local networks and family background do.

Leading Chinese sociologist Guo Yuhua calls this phenomenon of young Chinese "escaping and returning" an example of widespread disappointment that is spreading across China. She says people are bitter when they see their social status languishing in contrast to the "rise of a great and powerful nation".

"People are discovering that society's resources and opportunities are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. People in the middle and lower strata of society are becoming increasingly marginalised and are finding that improving their lives is getting harder," she says.

She warns this imbalance could lead to "the rich getting richer and the poor poorer, the strong permanently strong and the weak permanently weak .... The biggest harm may not be in the gap between rich and poor itself, but the deterioration of the overall societal ecosystem."

 

[Battle of Bach Dang River]

This story [the crisis] has spreaded around the world, the Chinese are probably one of the last to get it.
But the higher they dream, the more pain they feel.

 

[Viet]

Sorry no offence. But the problem in the report that China faces is nothing if we compare the problems other countries have today. Let take Europe, the economy most of the countries are in recession. Some countries are even bankrupt with skyrocket unemployment. China is a paradise.

 

[Oldman1]

Sorry no offence. But the problem in the report that China faces is nothing if we compare the problems other countries have today. Let take Europe, the economy most of the countries are in recession. Some countries are even bankrupt with skyrocket unemployment. China is a paradise.

Its kind of like China's Industrial Revolution when people migrate to the slums and work long hours and hardly any pay and bad conditions.

Thats how America started as during that time just at the turn of the 20th Century.

 

[sms]

^^^ universal problem/ cycle ..everyone to go thru it China is not an exception.

 

[longyi]

At least in China, where the cost of living is relative low, you still have a chance. In America if you're over 40 and lost your job it's going to be real tough if you have no nested eggs.

 

[Viet]

That´s true. But at least America supports the poor with food stamps and senior citizen with medicare.

 

[chauism]

That´s true. But at least America supports the poor with food stamps and senior citizen with medicare.

Medicare should be universal as in UK with its NHS, but the lobbyists of the insurance company are just too powerful to let it happen in US. If you want to talk about social benefits then there is nothing beat Cuba, free education and free health care for everyone.