Academic literature on the topic 'Wu nian ji hua'

Abstract Background: Early screening using Low-Dose Computed Tomography (LDCT) can reduce mortality by non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC), which contributed the most cancer-related death worldwide. Yet ~25% of the “suspicious” nodules identified by LDCT are confirmed to be benign through resection surgery, which adds to patients’ discomfort and the burden of the healthcare system. In this prospective study, we set to develop a non-invasive liquid biopsy assay for distinguishing pulmonary malignancy from benign lung nodules using cfDNA fragmentomic profiling. Methods: An independent training cohort, which consisted of 193 patients with malignant nodule and 44 patients with benign nodule, was used to construct a machine learning model. Base models employing 4 different fragmentomics profiles were optimized using an automated machine learning (autoML) approach before being ensemble stacked to create the final predictive model. An independent validation cohort included 96 malignant nodules and 22 benign nodules, as well as an external test cohort containing 58 malignant nodules and 41 benign nodules, were used to assess the performance of the ensemble stacked model. Results: Our machine learning models showed excellent performances in detecting patients with malignant nodules. The AUCs reached 0.857 (0.782 - 0.932) and 0.860 (95% CI: 0.788 - 0.933) in the independent validation cohort and the external test cohort, respectively. The validation cohort achieved an excellent 68.2% specificity (95% CI: 45.1-86.1%) at the targeted 90% sensitivity (89.6%, 95% CI: 81.7-94.9%). An equivalently good performance was observed while applying the cutoff to the external cohort, which reached a specificity of 63.4% (95% CI: 46.9-77.9%) at 89.7% sensitivity (95% CI: 78.8-96.1%). Subgroup analysis for the independent validation cohort showed that the sensitivities for detecting various subgroups of nodule size (< 1cm: 91.7%; 1 - 3cm: 88.1%; > 3cm: 100%; Unknown: 100%) and smoking history (Yes: 88.2%; No: 89.9%) all remained high among the lung cancer group. Additionally, the specificities for successfully identifying the benign nodules among different subgroups decrease as the size increase (< 1cm: 80.0%, 1 - 3cm: 66.7%, > 3cm: 33.3%). Conclusions: Our cfDNA fragmentomics assay can provide a non-invasive approach to distinguish malignant nodules from the radiographically suspicious but pathologically benign nodules. Citation Format: Shun Xu, Ji Luo, Wanxiangfu Tang, Hua Bao, Jiajun Wang, Shuang Chang, Haimeng Tang, Zifang Zou, Xiaoxi Fan, Yang Liu, Changrui Jiang, Xue Wu, Yang Shao. Detecting pulmonary malignancy against benign nodules using non-invasive cfDNA fragmentomics assay. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5394.

Abstract Background: Obesity and overweight status, which has been growing rapidly over the past few decades, is considered as a risk factor for many types of cancers including breast cancer. Despite the multi-omics profile of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been comprehensively characterized, the impact of obesity on molecular features of TNBC is not fully appreciated. Methods: We applied an integrative analysis on clinicopathological data and molecular data (including genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic profiling) using the multi-omics database of TNBC (N = 465) from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) for associations with patient body mass index (BMI). Patients were categorized into overweight/obese (OW/OB, BMI ≥ 24 kg/m2) and normal (NL, BMI < 24 kg/m2) group according to the Chinese criteria of BMI. The clinical and molecular differences between OW/OB and NL patients were systematically explored. We also constructed high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mouse tumor models and used single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate the impact of obesity on the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, we analyzed the efficacy of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy on TNBC tumors in both obese and normal mice. Results: OW/OB patients exhibited higher proportion of metabolic syndrome, more adipose tissue in the breast and worse survival than NL patients. Among most frequently mutated genes, OBSCN showed statistically significantly less mutated in the OW/OB group (3.2% vs 9.6%), while TP53 (68.3% vs 76.9%) and PIK3CA (21.4% vs 14.1%) had tendency to be different. In terms of copy number alterations, we found OW/OB patients had a higher amplified or gained frequency of 13q14.11 (FOXO1) and a lower frequency of deletion or loss of chromosomal region 7p22.1 (FOXK1). We further dissect the expression profile of TNBC. Differentially expressed gene analysis and pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated that immune and metabolic pathways were the major distinction between OW/OB and NL tumors. OW/OB tumors were characterized with elevated inflammation of tumor microenvironment, as well as higher expression of immune checkpoints. Moreover, analyses focusing on metabolic heterogeneity using transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data revealed upregulation of lipid metabolism and reactive oxygen species pathway in OW/OB group. In addition, our in vivo experiments demonstrated that TNBC in the obese mice displayed faster growth rates. Flow cytometry analysis and single-cell RNA sequencing showed that higher proportion of immunosuppressive myeloid cells and exhausted CD8+ T cells and upregulation of lipid metabolism in HFD group. Applying anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in both obese and normal mice displayed that tumors in the obese mice showed more sensitive to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. Conclusion: Our study systematically revealed that obesity might play a significant role in the molecular heterogeneity of TNBC and showed distinct sensitivities to immunotherapy, which should be taken in account in the field of precision medicine. Keywords: triple-negative breast cancer, obesity, immune, tumor microenvironment, metabolism Citation Format: Yue Gong, Peng Ji, Huai-liang Wu, Li-Hua He, Ming-Liang Jin, Xin Hu, Yi-Zhou Jiang, Zhiming Shao. Integrated analysis reveals the impact of obesity on triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO1-14-06.

The alkali volcanics and intrusive rocks, dated at around 35-33Ma, are cut by mineralised northeast and east trending faults showing predominant evidence for strike-slip. Mineralisation includes haematite-Au-Cu and is accompanied by iron-rich alteration of the volcanic rocks. Detailed assessment of the geometry of the fault system at Pu Sam Cap suggests that the faults formed as a Riedel shear system during left-lateral slip within the Song Hong-Song Chay shear zone and the numerous contemporaneous northwest trending faults to the south; the northeast trending faults are interpreted as dextral “book-end’’ faults between major northwest trending faults enclosing the Pu Sam Cap massif. As mineralisation is hosted within these faults and is also associated with lamprohyric dykes it confirms a thermal event younger than the alkaline volcanics and syenitic intrusives at Pu Sam Cap, suggesting a hidden, young porphyry system. The age of faulting, and thus the maximum age for this young intrusive event, is attributed to the 23-21Ma period of late-stage left-lateral strike-slip motion across northwest Vietnam.ReferencesAnczkiewicz R., Viola G., Muntener O., Thrirlwall M., Quong N.Q., 2007. Structure and shearing conditions in the Day Nui Con Voi massif: implications for the evolution of the Red River Fault. Tectonics 26: TC2002.Cao Shunyun, Liu Junlai, Leis B., Zhao Chunquiang 2010. New zircon U/Pb geochronology of the post-kinematic granitic plutons in Diancang Shan Massif along the Ailao-Shan-Red River Shear Zone and its geological implications. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 84, 1474-1487.Chung S.-L., Lee T., Lo C., et al., 1997. Intraplate extension prior to continental extrusion along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone.Geology, 25, 311-314.Cloos H., 1928. Experimentezurinnern Tektonik. Zentralblatt fur Mineralogie und Palaeontologie, 1928, 609-621.Findlay R.H., Phan Trong Trinh 1997. The structural setting of the Song Ma region, Vietnam, and the Indochina-South China plate boundary problem. Gondwana Research, 1, 11-33.Jolivet L., Beysasac O., Goffe B., Avigad D., Leprevrier C., Maluski H., Ta Trong Thang, 2001. Oligo-Miocene midcrustal subhorizontal shear in Indochina. Tectonics, 20, 46-57.Khuong The Hung 2010. The complex tectonic events and their influence on formation of mineral deposits in northwest Vietnam. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Science and Technology, Cracow, 167p.Leloup P.H., N. Arnau, R. Lacassin, J.R. Kienast, T.M. Harrison, P.T. Trinh, A. Replumaz and P. Tapponnier, 2001. New constraints on the structure, thermochronology and timing of the Ailao Shan - Red river shear zone, SE Asia, J. G. R., 106, 6657-6671.Leloup PH.., R. Lacassin, P. Tapponnier, U. Scharer, Zhong Dalai, Liu Xaohan, Zhangshan, Ji Shaocheng and PT.Trinh, 1995. The Ailao Shan - Red river shear zone (Yunnan, China), Tertiary transform boundary of Indochina, Tectonophysics, 251, 3-84. Leprevier C., Maluski H., Nguyen Van Vuong, Roques D., Axente V., Rangin C., 1996. Indosinian NW-trending shear zones within the Truong Son belt, Vietnam: 40Ar-39Ar Triassic ages and Cretaceous to Cenozoic overprints. Tectonophysics, 283, 105-107.Lien-Sheng Zhang, Scharer U. 1999. Age and origin of magmatism along the Cenozoic Red River shear belt, China. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 134, 67-85.Nagy E.A., Scharer U., Minh N.T., 2000. Oligo-Miocene granitic magmatismin central Vietnam and implications for continental deformation in Indochina. Terra Nova, 12, 67-76.Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, 2016. Isotop dating U-Pb Zircon of Syenit Formation, Pu Sam Cap. Journal of Geology, A Serie, 356, 30-36. (In Vietnamese).Pei-Long Wang, Ching-Hua Lo, Tung-Yi Lee, Sun-ling Chun, Ching-Yan Lan, Nguyen Trong Yem 1998. Thermochronological evidence for the movement of the Ailo Shan-Red River shear zone, a perspective from Vietnam. Geology, 26, 887-890.Phan Trong Trinh, Nguyen Trong Yem, Herve L.P., Tapponnier P., 1994. Late Cenozoic stress fields in North Vietnam from microtectonic measurements. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard in Southeast Asia. Geological Survey of SR Vietnam, Hanoi, 182-186.Riedel W., 1929. Zur Mechanikgreologischer Brucherscheinungen. Zentralblatt fur Mineralogie und Palaeontologie, Abhandlung B, 354-368.Scharer U., Tapponnier P., Lacassin R., Leloup P.H., Dalai Z., Shaosheng J., 1990. Intraplate tectonics in Asia: a precise age for large-scale Miocene movement along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone, China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 97, 65-77.Scharer U., Zhang L.S., Tapponnier P., 1994. Duration of strike-slip movements in large shear zones: the Red River belt, China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 126, 379-397.Searle M.P., 2006. Role of the Red River Shear zone, Yunnan and Vietnam, in the continental extrusion of SE Asia. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163, 1025-1036.Searle M.P., Meng-Wan Yeh, Te-Hsien Lin, Sun-Lin Chung, 2010. Structural constraints on the timing of left-lateral shear along the Red River shear zone in the Ailao Shan and Diancang Shan Ranges, Yunnan, SW China. Geosphere, 6, 316-338.Tapponnier P., Lacassin R., Leloup H., Scharer U., Zhong Dalai, Wu Hawei, Liu Ziaohan, Ji Shaocheng, Zhang Lianshang, Zong Jiayou, 1990. The Ailao Shan/ Red River metamorphic belt: Tertiary left-lateral shear between Indochina and south China. Nature, 342, 431-437.Tchalenko J.S., 1970. Similarities between shear zones of different magnitudes. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 81, 1625-1640.Viola G., Anczkiewicz R. 2009. Exhumation history of the Red River shear zone in northern Vietnam: new insights from zircon and apatite fission-track analysis. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 33, 78-90.Yang Yiseng, Hong Qun, Hu Huan-ting, Hieu Pham Trung, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, Chen Fu-kun, 2013. Geochemical characteristics and genesis of the Cenozoic porphyry in the Laizhou area, northwestern Vietnam. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 29(3), 899-911. (In Chinese with English abstract, full English version through Google Translate).

Heavy metals contamination is a serious threat to all life forms. Long term exposure of heavy metals can lead to different life-threatening medical conditions including cancers of different body parts. Phytoremediation and bioremediation offer a potential eco-friendly solution to such problems. Different microbes can interact with heavy metals in a variety of ways such as biotransformation, oxidation/reduction, and biosorption. Phytoremediation of the heavy metals using plants mostly involves rhizofilteration, phytoextraction, phytovolatization, and Phyto stabilization. A synergistic approach using both plants and microbes has proven much more efficient as compared to the individual applications of microbes or plants. This article aims to highlight the synergistic methods used in bioremediation, emphasizing the potent collaboration between bacteria and plants for environmental cleaning, along with the discussion of the importance of site-specific variables and potential constraints. While identifying the necessity for all-encompassing solutions, this review places emphasis on the combination of methodologies as a multifarious rehabilitation approach. This discussion offers insightful suggestions for scholars, scientists and decision-makers about the sustainable recovery of heavy metal-contaminated environments using a comprehensive strategy. REFERENCES Ankit, Bauddh K, Korstad J (2022). Phycoremediation: Use of algae to sequester heavy metals. Hydrobiol. 1(3): 288-303. Arantza SJ, Hiram MR, Erika K, Chávez-Avilés MN, Valiente-Banuet JI, Fierros-Romero G (2022). Bio-and phytoremediation: Plants and microbes to the rescue of heavy metal polluted soils. SN Appl. Sci. 4(2): 59. Azubuike CC, Chikere CB, Okpokwasili GC (2016). Bioremediation techniques–classification based on site of application: principles, advantages, limitations and prospects. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 32: 1-18. Berti WR, Cunningham SD (2000). Phytostabilization of metals. Phytoremediation of toxic metals: Using plants to clean up the environment. Wiley, New York. 71-88. Bingöl NA, Özmal F, Akın B (2017). Phytoremediation and biosorption potential of Lythrum salicaria for nickel removal from aqueous solutions. Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 26(6): 2479-2485. Chandra R, Saxena G, Kumar V (2015). Phytoremediation of environmental pollutants: an eco-sustainable green technology to environmental management, In Advances in biodegradation and bioremediation of industrial waste. 1-29. Chaudhary K, Agarwal S, Khan S (2018). Role of phytochelatins (PCs), metallothioneins (MTs), and heavy metal ATPase (HMA) genes in heavy metal tolerance, In Mycoremediation and Environmental Sustainability. Volume 2: 39-60. Choudhary M, Kumar R, Datta A, Nehra V, Garg N (2017). Bioremediation of heavy metals by microbes, In Bioremediation of salt affected soils: an Indian perspective. 233-255. Chugh M, Kumar L, Shah MP, Bharadvaja N (2022). Algal bioremediation of heavy metals: An insight into removal mechanisms, recovery of by-products, challenges, and future opportunities. Energy Nexus. 7:100129. Congeevaram S, Dhanarani S, Park J, Dexilin M, Thamaraiselvi K (2007). Biosorption of chromium and nickel by heavy metal resistant fungal and bacterial isolates. J. Hazard. Mat. 146(1-2): 270-277. Cristaldi A, Conti GO, Jho EH, Zuccarello P, Grasso A, Copat C, Ferrante M (2017). Phytoremediation of contaminated soils by heavy metals and PAHs. A brief review. Environ. Technol. Inno. 8: 309-326. Crusberg T, Mark S. (2000). Heavy metal remediation of wastewaters by microbial biotraps, In Springer. 123-137. Emenike CU, Jayanthi B, Agamuthu P, Fauziah S (2018). Biotransformation and removal of heavy metals: a review of phytoremediation and microbial remediation assessment on contaminated soil. Environ. Rev. 26(2): 156-168. Ghosh M, Singh S (2005). A review on phytoremediation of heavy metals and utilization of it’s by products. Asian J. Energy Environ. 6(4): 18. Guignardi Z, Schiavon M (2017). Biochemistry of plant selenium uptake and metabolism, In Selenium in plants: molecular, physiological, ecological and evolutionary aspects. 21-34. Hong-Bo S, Li-Ye C, Cheng-Jiang R, Hua L, Dong-Gang G, Wei-Xiang L (2010). Understanding molecular mechanisms for improving phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. Crit. Rev. Biotechnol. 30(1): 23-30. Igiri BE, Okoduwa SI, Idoko GO, Akabuogu EP, Adeyi AO, Ejiogu IK (2018). Toxicity and bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated ecosystem from tannery wastewater: a review. J. Toxicol. 2018. Jabeen R, Ahmad A, Iqbal M (2009). Phytoremediation of heavy metals: physiological and molecular mechanisms. Bot. Rev. 75: 339-364. Joshi P, Swarup A, Maheshwari S, Kumar R, Singh N (2011). Bioremediation of heavy metals in liquid media through fungi isolated from contaminated sources. Indian J. Microbiol. 51: 482-487. Junaid M, Hashmi MZ, Tang YM, Malik RN, Pei,DS (2017). Potential health risk of heavy metals in the leather manufacturing industries in Sialkot, Pakistan. Sci. Rep. 7(1): 8848. Kapahi M, Sachdeva S (2019). Bioremediation options for heavy metal pollution. J. Health Pollut. 9(24): 191203. Lebeau T, Jézéquel K, Braud A (2011). Bioaugmentation-assisted phytoextraction applied to metal-contaminated soils: state of the art and future prospects, In Microbes and Microbial Technology: Agricultural and Environmental Applications. 229-266. Leong YK, Chang JS (2020). Bioremediation of heavy metals using microalgae: Recent advances and mechanisms. Bioresour.Technol. 303: 122886. Limmer M, Burken J (2016). Phytovolatilization of organic contaminants. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50(13): 6632-6643. Ma Y, Oliveira RS, Freitas H, Zhang C (2016). Biochemical and molecular mechanisms of plant-microbe-metal interactions: relevance for phytoremediation. Front. Plant Sci. 7: 918. Manzoor M, Gul I, Ahmed I, Zeeshan M, Hashmi I, Amin BAZ, Kallerhoff J, Arshad M (2019). Metal tolerant bacteria enhanced phytoextraction of lead by two accumulator ornamental species. Chemosphere. 227: 561-569. Mueller B, Rock S, Gowswami D, Ensley D (1999). Phytoremediation decision tree. Prepared by-Interstate Technology and Regulatory Cooperation Work Group. 1-36. Nies DH (1999). Microbial heavy-metal resistance. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 51: 730-750. Nies DH, Silver S (1995). Ion efflux systems involved in bacterial metal resistances. J. Ind. 14: 186-199. Pande V, Pandey SC, Sati D, Bhatt P, Samant M (2022). Microbial interventions in bioremediation of heavy metal contaminants in agroecosystem. Front. Microbiol. 13: 824084. Pandey VC, Bajpai O (2019). Phytoremediation: from theory toward practice, In Phytomanagement of polluted sites. 1-49. Robinson BH, Leblanc M, Petit D, Brooks RR, Kirkman JH, Gregg PE (1998). The potential of Thlaspi caerulescens for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. Plant Soil. 203: 47-56. Romantschuk M, Lahti-Leikas K, Kontro M, Allen JA, Sinkkonen A (2023). Bioremediation of contaminated soil and groundwater by in situ Front. Microbiol. 14: 1258148. Sabreena, Hassan S, Bhat SA, Kumar V, Ganai BA, Ameen F (2022). Phytoremediation of heavy metals: An indispensable contrivance in green remediation technology. Plants. 11(9): 1255. Saha L, Tiwari J, Bauddh K, Ma Y (2021). Recent developments in microbe–plant-based bioremediation for tackling heavy metal-polluted soils. Front. Microbiol. 12: 731723. Sharma I. (2020). Bioremediation techniques for polluted environment: concept, advantages, limitations, and prospects, In Trace metals in the environment-new approaches and recent advances. IntechOpen. Sharma JK, Kumar N, Singh NP, Santal, AR (2023). Phytoremediation technologies and their mechanism for removal of heavy metal from contaminated soil: An approach for a sustainable environment. Front. Plant Sci. 14: 1076876. Shen X, Dai M, Yang J, Sun L, Tan X, Peng C, Ali I, and Naz I (2022). A critical review on the phytoremediation of heavy metals from environment: Performance and challenges. Chemosphere. 291: 132979. Silver S (2011). BioMetals: a historical and personal perspective. Biometals. 24(3): 379-390. Silver S, Phung LT (2005). A bacterial view of the periodic table: genes and proteins for toxic inorganic ions. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 32: 587-605. Singh N, Santal AR (2015). Phytoremediation of heavy metals: the use of green approaches to clean the environment, In Phytoremediation: Management of Environmental Contaminants. Volume 2: 115-129. Strong PJ, Burgess JE (2008). Treatment methods for wine-related and distillery wastewaters: a review. Bioremediation J. 12(2): 70-87. Syranidou E, Christofilopoulos S, Gkavrou G, Thijs S, Weyens N, Vangronsveld J, Kalogerakis N (2016). Exploitation of endophytic bacteria to enhance the phytoremediation potential of the wetland helophyte Juncus acutus. Front. Microbiol. 7: 1016. Umrania VV (2006). Bioremediation of toxic heavy metals using acidothermophilic autotrophes. Bioresour. Technol. 97(10): 1237-1242. Valls M, De Lorenzo V (2002). Exploiting the genetic and biochemical capacities of bacteria for the remediation of heavy metal pollution. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 26(4): 327-338. Verma P, George K, Singh H, Singh S, Juwarkar A, Singh R (2006). Modeling rhizofiltration: heavy-metal uptake by plant roots. Environ. Model. Assess. 11: 387-394. Wu Y, Li Z, Yang Y, Purchase D, Lu Y, Dai Z (2021). Extracellular polymeric substances facilitate the adsorption and migration of Cu2+ and Cd2+ in saturated porous media. Biomolecules. 11(11): 1715. Wuana RA, Okieimen FE (2011). Heavy metals in contaminated soils: a review of sources, chemistry, risks and best available strategies for remediation. International Scholarly Research Notices. Yan A, Wang Y, Tan SN, Mohd Yusof ML, Ghosh S, Chen Z (2020). Phytoremediation: a promising approach for revegetation of heavy metal-polluted land. Front. Plant Sci. 11: 359. Zhang Y, Hu J, Bai J, Wang J, Yin R, Wang J, and Lin X (2018). Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi alleviate the heavy metal toxicity on sunflower (Helianthus annuus) plants cultivated on a heavily contaminated field soil at a WEEE-recycling site. Sci. Total Environ. 628: 282-290.

Ethnopharmacology relevance: Yunnan Baiyao (YNBY), a traditional Chinese medicine formulae, has some significant properties including activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis (Huo-Xue-Hua-Yu), eliminating swelling and alleviating pain (Xiao-Zhong-Zhi-Tong), and eliminating necrotic tissues and promoting granulation (Qu-Fu-Sheng-Ji).Aim of this study: This paper intends to provide a comprehensive and critical analysis of studies on YNBY, proposing new possible therapeutic directions of this formula.Materials and methods: Relevant data on YNBY were retrieved from available databases and a hand-search by searching the keywords such as “Yunnan Baiyao,” “pharmacology,” “toxicity,” and “clinical applications.”Results: Traditionally, YNBY has been used to cure hemorrhage, bruises, swelling, and pain caused by injuries in the Chinese folk. Modern pharmacological studies show that YNBY possesses pharmacological activities including hemostasis, invigorating the circulation of blood, wound healing, anti-inflammation, analgesia, antibiosis, infection prevention, and other effects. Toxicological studies demonstrate that YNBY has a certain toxicology, which is mainly caused by Aconitum alkaloids from Cao-wu (CW, Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix). The developmental non-toxic reaction dose (NOAEL) of YNBY for embryos and fetuses is 0.5 g/kg in rats. In addition, the NOAEL for fertility and early embryo development toxicity is 4.0 g/kg in rats. Clinical trials have confirmed the safety of YNBY in a large number of patients, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, allergy, and others in very few people. YNBY is routinely used in clinic to cure bleeding, pain, swelling, upper digestive tract ulcer, postoperative wound, arthritis, mouth ulcers, ulcerative colitis, etc.Conclusions: Hemostasis is a conspicuous effect of YNBY. Except for this effect, analgesia and anti-infection may be new research directions of this formula. In addition, the in vitro and in vivo pharmacology and mechanisms of action of YNBY are encouraged as well as the pharmacokinetics of this formulae. Furthermore, the material basis of the pharmacological effects of YNBY also needs clear identification.

The curtain rose. The howling of desert wind filled the performance hall in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Into the center stage, where a scenic construction of a mountain cliff and a desert landscape was dimly lit, entered the character of the Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu (1849–1931), performed by Chen Yizong. Dressed in a worn and dusty outfit of dark blue cotton, characteristic of Daoist priests, Wang began to sweep the floor. After a few moments, he discovered a hidden chambre sealed inside one of the rock sanctuaries carved into the cliff.Signaled by the quick, crystalline, stirring wave of sound from the chimes, a melodious Chinese ocarina solo joined in slowly from the background. Astonished by thousands of Buddhist sūtra scrolls, wall paintings, and sculptures he had just accidentally discovered in the caves, Priest Wang set his broom aside and began to examine these treasures. Dawn had not yet arrived, and the desert sky was pitch-black. Priest Wang held his oil lamp high, strode rhythmically in excitement, sat crossed-legged in a meditative pose, and unfolded a scroll. The sound of the ocarina became fuller and richer and the texture of the music more complex, as several other instruments joined in.Below is the opening scene of the award-winning, theatrical dance-drama Dunhuang, My Dreamland, created by China’s state-sponsored Lanzhou Song and Dance Theatre in 2000. Figure 1a: Poster Side A of Dunhuang, My Dreamland Figure 1b: Poster Side B of Dunhuang, My DreamlandThe scene locates the dance-drama in the rock sanctuaries that today are known as the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, housing Buddhist art accumulated over a period of a thousand years, one of the best well-known UNESCO heritages on the Silk Road. Historically a frontier metropolis, Dunhuang was a strategic site along the Silk Road in northwestern China, a crossroads of trade, and a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). Travellers, especially Buddhist monks from India and central Asia, passing through Dunhuang on their way to Chang’an (present day Xi’an), China’s ancient capital, would stop to meditate in the Mogao Caves and consult manuscripts in the monastery's library. At the same time, Chinese pilgrims would travel by foot from China through central Asia to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, playing a key role in the exchanges between ancient China and the outside world. Travellers from China would stop to acquire provisions at Dunhuang before crossing the Gobi Desert to continue on their long journey abroad. Figure 2: Dunhuang Mogao CavesThis article approaches the idea of “abroad” by examining the present-day imagination of journeys along the Silk Road—specifically, staged performances of the various Silk Road journey-themed dance-dramas sponsored by the Chinese state for enhancing its cultural and foreign policies since the 1970s (Kuang).As ethnomusicologists have demonstrated, musicians, choreographers, and playwrights often utilise historical materials in their performances to construct connections between the past and the present (Bohlman; Herzfeld; Lam; Rees; Shelemay; Tuohy; Wade; Yung: Rawski; Watson). The ancient Silk Road, which linked the Mediterranean coast with central China and beyond, via oasis towns such as Samarkand, has long been associated with the concept of “journeying abroad.” Journeys to distant, foreign lands and encounters of unknown, mysterious cultures along the Silk Road have been documented in historical records, such as A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (Faxian) and The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Xuanzang), and illustrated in classical literature, such as The Travels of Marco Polo (Polo) and the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West (Wu). These journeys—coming and going from multiple directions and to different destinations—have inspired contemporary staged performance for audiences around the globe.Home and Abroad: Dunhuang and the Silk RoadDunhuang, My Dreamland (2000), the contemporary dance-drama, staged the journey of a young pilgrim painter travelling from Chang’an to a land of the unfamiliar and beyond borders, in search for the arts that have inspired him. Figure 3: A scene from Dunhuang, My Dreamland showing the young pilgrim painter in the Gobi Desert on the ancient Silk RoadFar from his home, he ended his journey in Dunhuang, historically considered the northwestern periphery of China, well beyond Yangguan and Yumenguan, the bordering passes that separate China and foreign lands. Later scenes in Dunhuang, My Dreamland, portrayed through multiethnic music and dances, the dynamic interactions among merchants, cultural and religious envoys, warriors, and politicians that were making their own journey from abroad to China. The theatrical dance-drama presents a historically inspired, re-imagined vision of both “home” and “abroad” to its audiences as they watch the young painter travel along the Silk Road, across the Gobi Desert, arriving at his own ideal, artistic “homeland”, the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. Since his journey is ultimately a spiritual one, the conceptualisation of travelling “abroad” could also be perceived as “a journey home.”Staged more than four hundred times since it premiered in Beijing in April 2000, Dunhuang, My Dreamland is one of the top ten titles in China’s National Stage Project and one of the most successful theatrical dance-dramas ever produced in China. With revenue of more than thirty million renminbi (RMB), it ranks as the most profitable theatrical dance-drama ever produced in China, with a preproduction cost of six million RMB. The production team receives financial support from China’s Ministry of Culture for its “distinctive ethnic features,” and its “aim to promote traditional Chinese culture,” according to Xu Rong, an official in the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry. Labeled an outstanding dance-drama of the Chinese nation, it aims to present domestic and international audiences with a vision of China as a historically multifaceted and cosmopolitan nation that has been in close contact with the outside world through the ancient Silk Road. Its production company has been on tour in selected cities throughout China and in countries abroad, including Austria, Spain, and France, literarily making the young pilgrim painter’s “journey along the Silk Road” a new journey abroad, off stage and in reality.Dunhuang, My Dreamland was not the first, nor is it the last, staged performances that portrays the Chinese re-imagination of “journeying abroad” along the ancient Silk Road. It was created as one of many versions of Dunhuang bihua yuewu, a genre of music, dance, and dramatic performances created in the early twentieth century and based primarily on artifacts excavated from the Mogao Caves (Kuang). “The Mogao Caves are the greatest repository of early Chinese art,” states Mimi Gates, who works to increase public awareness of the UNESCO site and raise funds toward its conservation. “Located on the Chinese end of the Silk Road, it also is the place where many cultures of the world intersected with one another, so you have Greek and Roman, Persian and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese cultures, all interacting. Given the nature of our world today, it is all very relevant” (Pollack). As an expressive art form, this genre has been thriving since the late 1970s contributing to the global imagination of China’s “Silk Road journeys abroad” long before Dunhuang, My Dreamland achieved its domestic and international fame. For instance, in 2004, The Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara—one of the most representative (and well-known) Dunhuang bihua yuewu programs—was staged as a part of the cultural program during the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. This performance, as well as other Dunhuang bihua yuewu dance programs was the perfect embodiment of a foreign religion that arrived in China from abroad and became Sinicized (Kuang). Figure 4: Mural from Dunhuang Mogao Cave No. 45A Brief History of Staging the Silk Road JourneysThe staging of the Silk Road journeys abroad began in the late 1970s. Historically, the Silk Road signifies a multiethnic, cosmopolitan frontier, which underwent incessant conflicts between Chinese sovereigns and nomadic peoples (as well as between other groups), but was strongly imbued with the customs and institutions of central China (Duan, Mair, Shi, Sima). In the twentieth century, when China was no longer an empire, but had become what the early 20th-century reformer Liang Qichao (1873–1929) called “a nation among nations,” the long history of the Silk Road and the colourful, legendary journeys abroad became instrumental in the formation of a modern Chinese nation of unified diversity rooted in an ancient cosmopolitan past. The staged Silk Road theme dance-dramas thus participate in this formation of the Chinese imagination of “nation” and “abroad,” as they aestheticise Chinese history and geography. History and geography—aspects commonly considered constituents of a nation as well as our conceptualisations of “abroad”—are “invariably aestheticized to a certain degree” (Bakhtin 208). Diverse historical and cultural elements from along the Silk Road come together in this performance genre, which can be considered the most representative of various possible stagings of the history and culture of the Silk Road journeys.In 1979, the Chinese state officials in Gansu Province commissioned the benchmark dance-drama Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, a spectacular theatrical dance-drama praising the pure and noble friendship which existed between the peoples of China and other countries in the Tang dynasty (618-907 C.E.). While its plot also revolves around the Dunhuang Caves and the life of a painter, staged at one of the most critical turning points in modern Chinese history, the work as a whole aims to present the state’s intention of re-establishing diplomatic ties with the outside world after the Cultural Revolution. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, it presents a nation’s journey abroad and home. To accomplish this goal, Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road introduces the fictional character Yunus, a wealthy Persian merchant who provides the audiences a vision of the historical figure of Peroz III, the last Sassanian prince, who after the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 C.E., found refuge in China. By incorporating scenes of ethnic and folk dances, the drama then stages the journey of painter Zhang’s daughter Yingniang to Persia (present-day Iran) and later, Yunus’s journey abroad to the Tang dynasty imperial court as the Persian Empire’s envoy.Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, since its debut at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the first of October 1979 and shortly after at the Theatre La Scala in Milan, has been staged in more than twenty countries and districts, including France, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Latvia, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and recently, in 2013, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.“The Road”: Staging the Journey TodayWithin the contemporary context of global interdependencies, performing arts have been used as strategic devices for social mobilisation and as a means to represent and perform modern national histories and foreign policies (Davis, Rees, Tian, Tuohy, Wong, David Y. H. Wu). The Silk Road has been chosen as the basis for these state-sponsored, extravagantly produced, and internationally staged contemporary dance programs. In 2008, the welcoming ceremony and artistic presentation at the Olympic Games in Beijing featured twenty apsara dancers and a Dunhuang bihua yuewu dancer with long ribbons, whose body was suspended in mid-air on a rectangular LED extension held by hundreds of performers; on the giant LED screen was a depiction of the ancient Silk Road.In March 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping introduced the initiatives “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” during his journeys abroad in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. These initiatives are now referred to as “One Belt, One Road.” The State Council lists in details the policies and implementation plans for this initiative on its official web page, www.gov.cn. In April 2013, the China Institute in New York launched a yearlong celebration, starting with "Dunhuang: Buddhist Art and the Gateway of the Silk Road" with a re-creation of one of the caves and a selection of artifacts from the site. In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning agency, released a new action plan outlining key details of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Xi Jinping has made the program a centrepiece of both his foreign and domestic economic policies. One of the central economic strategies is to promote cultural industry that could enhance trades along the Silk Road.Encouraged by the “One Belt, One Road” policies, in March 2016, The Silk Princess premiered in Xi’an and was staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing the following July. While Dunhuang, My Dreamland and Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road were inspired by the Buddhist art found in Dunhuang, The Silk Princess, based on a story about a princess bringing silk and silkworm-breeding skills to the western regions of China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) has a different historical origin. The princess's story was portrayed in a woodblock from the Tang Dynasty discovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist during his expedition to Xinjiang (now Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region) in the early 19th century, and in a temple mural discovered during a 2002 Chinese-Japanese expedition in the Dandanwulike region. Figure 5: Poster of The Silk PrincessIn January 2016, the Shannxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe staged The Silk Road, a new theatrical dance-drama. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, the newly staged dance-drama “centers around the ‘road’ and the deepening relationship merchants and travellers developed with it as they traveled along its course,” said Director Yang Wei during an interview with the author. According to her, the show uses seven archetypes—a traveler, a guard, a messenger, and so on—to present the stories that took place along this historic route. Unbounded by specific space or time, each of these archetypes embodies the foreign-travel experience of a different group of individuals, in a manner that may well be related to the social actors of globalised culture and of transnationalism today. Figure 6: Poster of The Silk RoadConclusionAs seen in Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road and Dunhuang, My Dreamland, staging the processes of Silk Road journeys has become a way of connecting the Chinese imagination of “home” with the Chinese imagination of “abroad.” Staging a nation’s heritage abroad on contemporary stages invites a new imagination of homeland, borders, and transnationalism. Once aestheticised through staged performances, such as that of the Dunhuang bihua yuewu, the historical and topological landscape of Dunhuang becomes a performed narrative, embodying the national heritage.The staging of Silk Road journeys continues, and is being developed into various forms, from theatrical dance-drama to digital exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottes at Dunhuang (Stromberg) and the Getty’s Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road (Sivak and Hood). They are sociocultural phenomena that emerge through interactions and negotiations among multiple actors and institutions to envision and enact a Chinese imagination of “journeying abroad” from and to the country.ReferencesBakhtin, M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1982.Bohlman, Philip V. “World Music at the ‘End of History’.” Ethnomusicology 46 (2002): 1–32.Davis, Sara L.M. Song and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China’s Southwest Borders. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.Duan, Wenjie. “The History of Conservation of Mogao Grottoes.” International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property: The Conservation of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and the Related Studies. Eds. Kuchitsu and Nobuaki. Tokyo: Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, 1997. 1–8.Faxian. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Translated by James Legge. New York: Dover Publications, 1991.Herzfeld, Michael. Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology, and the Making of Modern Greece. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.Kuang, Lanlan. Dunhuang bi hua yue wu: "Zhongguo jing guan" zai guo ji yu jing zhong de jian gou, chuan bo yu yi yi (Dunhuang Performing Arts: The Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context). Beijing: She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she, 2016.Lam, Joseph S.C. State Sacrifice and Music in Ming China: Orthodoxy, Creativity and Expressiveness. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998.Mair, Victor. T’ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China. Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, 1989.Pollack, Barbara. “China’s Desert Treasure.” ARTnews, December 2013. Sep. 2016 <http://www.artnews.com/2013/12/24/chinas-desert-treasure/>.Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated by Ronald Latham. Penguin Classics, 1958.Rees, Helen. Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. “‘Historical Ethnomusicology’: Reconstructing Falasha Liturgical History.” Ethnomusicology 24 (1980): 233–258.Shi, Weixiang. Dunhuang lishi yu mogaoku yishu yanjiu (Dunhuang History and Research on Mogao Grotto Art). Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002.Sima, Guang 司马光 (1019–1086) et al., comps. Zizhi tongjian 资治通鉴 (Comprehensive Mirror for the Aid of Government). Beijing: Guji chubanshe, 1957.Sima, Qian 司马迁 (145-86? B.C.E.) et al., comps. Shiji: Dayuan liezhuan 史记: 大宛列传 (Record of the Grand Historian: The Collective Biographies of Dayuan). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959.Sivak, Alexandria and Amy Hood. “The Getty to Present: Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road Organised in Collaboration with the Dunhuang Academy and the Dunhuang Foundation.” Getty Press Release. Sep. 2016 <http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/cave-temples-dunhuang-buddhist-art-chinas-silk-road>.Stromberg, Joseph. “Video: Take a Virtual 3D Journey to Visit China's Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.” Smithsonian, December 2012. Sep. 2016 <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/video-take-a-virtual-3d-journey-to-visit-chinas-caves-of-the-thousand-buddhas-150897910/?no-ist>.Tian, Qing. “Recent Trends in Buddhist Music Research in China.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 3 (1994): 63–72.Tuohy, Sue M.C. “Imagining the Chinese Tradition: The Case of Hua’er Songs, Festivals, and Scholarship.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1988.Wade, Bonnie C. Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.Wong, Isabel K.F. “From Reaction to Synthesis: Chinese Musicology in the Twentieth Century.” Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music: Essays on the History of Ethnomusicology. Eds. Bruno Nettl and Philip V. Bohlman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 37–55.Wu, Chengen. Journey to the West. Tranlsated by W.J.F. Jenner. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2003.Wu, David Y.H. “Chinese National Dance and the Discourse of Nationalization in Chinese Anthropology.” The Making of Anthropology in East and Southeast Asia. Eds. Shinji Yamashita, Joseph Bosco, and J.S. Eades. New York: Berghahn, 2004. 198–207.Xuanzang. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Hamburg: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation & Research, 1997.Yung, Bell, Evelyn S. Rawski, and Rubie S. Watson, eds. Harmony and Counterpoint: Ritual Music in Chinese Context. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.

Th. doct.--histoire--Taibei--National Taiwan University = Guo li Tai Wan da xue, 2001.
Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : Instruction in virtue and its practice by Chu Hsi and his disciples. Bibliogr. p. 441-458.

The Sixteen Kingdoms was a period of political disintegration in medieval China. Foreign rulers of Wu Hu (“Five Barbarian Tribes”) captured the northern China during the 3rd – 5th centuries and established independent states through continuous military actions. This thesis aims at studying the relationship between the emperors and Buddhist monks in the Northwest empires in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period, including the Former Liang (320-376), the Western Qin (385-400; 409-431), the Later Liang (386-403), the Northern Liang (397-439) and the Xia (407-431), by developing a theoretical model called “Hourglass Model”. The model provides a holistic framework for investigating not only the emperors’ changing attitudes towards Buddhism but also the dissemination of the Dharma by monks. In addition, the concept of “data visualization” is implemented to re-interpret various historical sources. The complex interaction among imperial clans and Buddhist practitioners is further analyzed with computer-aided historical research methods. This thesis hopes to reveal the inspiring nature of the political religion in China’s early medieval age and expand the scope of Chinese Studies by rethinking about foreign rulers and Buddhist monks’ roles in reshaping and vitalizing the Chinese civilization. Moreover, this study develops alternative approaches to the research on the history of Chinese Buddhism, and attempts to shed new lights on theories and research methodology.
published_or_final_version
Chinese
Master
Master of Philosophy