Current progress of China＇s free ART program

China＇s Free ART Program was initiated in 2002 as an emergency response to save and improve the lives of AIDS patients living mainly in impoverished rural regions of central China. With little experience in HIV/AIDS treatment and care and resource limitations, China＇s efforts to provide widespread access to free antiretroviral therapy has been a process fraught with difficulty. However, the Free ART Program is progressing from an emergency response to a standardized treatment and care system. The development of national guidelines, training programs, a laboratory support network, a national patient database, programs for special populations such as children and patients living with coinfections, and operational research has improved the scope and quality of the free treatment program. As of June 30, 2005, a total of 19,456 patients in 28 provinces, autonomous regions, and special municipalities had received free ART. Challenges stemming from the nature of China＇s health system and patient population persist, but with strong government support and a diverse set of resources, China has the capacity to overcome these challenges and to provide nationwide access to high quality treatment and care.     

Angiogenesis, Kaposi＇s Sarcoma and Kaposi＇s Sarcomaassociated Herpesvirus

Tumor angiogenesis is the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels in tumors,serving to supply nutrients and oxygen,and remove metabolic wastes.Kaposi's sarcoma (KS),a multifocal angioproliferative disorder characterized by spindle cell proliferation,neo-angiogenesis,inflammation,and edema,is associated with infection by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).Recent studies indicate that KSHV infection directly promotes angiogenesis and inflammation through an autocrine and paracrine mechanism by inducing pro-angiogenic and pro-inflammatory cytokines.Many of these cytokines are also expressed in KS lesions,implicating a direct role of KSI-IV in the pathogenesis of this malignancy.Several KSHV genes are involved in KSHV-induced angiogenesis.These studies have provided insights into the pathogenesis of KS,and identified potential therapeutic targets for this malignancy.     

Author＇s letter：

正I am writing to apologize for our negligence and in our paper[Xin HUANG,Tao PAN,Demin HAN,Liang ZHANG,Yinxu HOU,Lei YU,Heming ZHANG,Baowei ZHANG.2012.A New Species of the Genus Protobothrops(Squamata:Viperidae:Crotalinae)from the Dabie Mountains,Anhui,China.Asian Herpetol Res,3(3):213-218],in which we failed to report some key information on holotype.Here we provide     

AIDS Research and Its Role in China＇s AIDS Prevention and Control Policies

By the end of 2005, the estimated number of HIV infected people in China was 650,000. The seriousness of the epidemic calls for effective control measures to tackle the problems in order to avoid the tragedy in Africa from happening in China. ＂Prevention First＂ is the cornerstone of the country＇s health policy. On 2003 World AIDS Day, Premier Jiabao Wen announced a new national AIDS control policy, ＂Four Frees and One Care＂. This policy clearly shows that the Chinese government has once again taken full responsibility to solve public health problems and has profound impact far beyond the AIDS field. In early 2006, the central government put scientific and technology innovation as a national priority and set the target to build an innovative China by year 2020. Since then, the government has been increasing investment in science and technology with major emphasis on both infectious diseases control and new drug research and development. For the first time, development of 100 new drugs and control of major infectious diseases （AIDS, HBV, TB and other emerging infectious diseases） have been selected as national key scientific projects. China＇s best minds in related fields will be pooled to work together in order to remove the technical barriers blocking efficient control of the major infectious disease in China. Knowledge on molecular epidemiology, immunology, pathogenesis, HAART, as well as HIVDR strains will certainly provide urgently needed scientific information for China＇s AIDS control program. Only evidence-based strategy from good research will provide long-term effective control of AIDS.     

Guest Editor＇s Forward

This is the special issue devoted to bioinformatics research in Singapore. Bioinformatics research in Singapore started largely in 1996 when the Bioinformatics Center, National University of Singapore, was formed. With the government＇s efforts to turn Singapore into a powerhouse of biomedical research, the Genome Institute of Singapore and the Bioinformatics Institute of Singapore have been established since 2000. Recently, a bioinformatics research center was also formed in the Nanyang Technological University. Currently, there are a large number of bioinformatics research teams in each of these institutions.     

一类Kolmogorov＇s系统的动力学性质

用定性分析的方法对一类Kolmogorov＇s系统进行了研究,讨论了系统平衡点的性态,给出了系统无闭轨的充分条件以及存在唯一稳定极限环的条件.改进了李万同（1992）和颜向平（2004）等人的工作.获得了一些新结果.     

Pathogenesis and Associated Diseases of Kaposi＇s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus

Kaposi＇s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus （KSHV） is the primary,etiological agent of Kaposi＇s sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma and muticentric Castleman＇s disease. In common with the other herpesviruses, KSHV exhibits both latent and lyric life cycles, both of which are characterized by distinct gene expression profiles and programs. KSHV encodes proteins which play essential roles in the inhibition of host adaptive and innate immunity, the inhibition of apoptosis, and the regulation of the cell cycle. KSHV also encodes several proteins which have transforming and intrcellular signalling activity.     

Bailey＇s方法在生境选择研究中的应用

使用已经发表的4组生境选择数据计算Bonferroni和Bailey＇s置信区间,以比较分析Bailey＇s方法在研究“利用一可利用型”生境选择数据时的优势。用Bailey＇s方法对4组数据中的两组做出了与Bonferroni方法不同的统计推断,特别是当Bonferroni方法对其中的一组数据无法对动物是否具有生境选择性做出判断时,而Bailey＇s方法却发现了差异。如同Cherry（1996）指出的,Bonferroni方法是基于拟合优度卡方检验的,要求大样本的独立数据,当出现小样本时会因为连续性和一致性缺失而做出错误推断。Bailey＇s方法因为使用了连续性校正因子克服了这一缺陷,而且使用时无须进行拟合优度卡方检验,是一种简便可靠的生境选择数据分析方法。建议在推荐Bailey＇s方法的同时,应适当增大样本量、控制同时分析的生境类型数量,以控制分析时Ⅰ类和Ⅱ类的错误率。     

Climate change impacts on China’s marine ecosystems

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries - Globally, climate change impacts on marine ecosystems are evident in physical, chemical, and biological processes, and are generally more extensive in faster...     

Phytotaxonomy in the People’s Republic of China

As three of the members of the delegation of the Botanical Society of America, the authors participated in a 28-day tour of the People’s Republic of China in May and June, 1978. Botanical institutes and universities were visited in nine cities. A list of names and addresses of the collaborators and editors of family treatments for theFlora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae is supplemented with a bibliography of published floras and significant taxonomic literature issued primarily since the end of the Cultural Revolution. A few observations on herbaria and herbarium practices are included.     

Biomass Allocation Patterns across China’s Terrestrial Biomes

Root to shoot ratio (RS) is commonly used to describe the biomass allocation between below- and aboveground parts of plants. Determining the key factors influencing RS and interpreting the relationship between RS and environmental factors is important for biological and ecological research. In this study, we compiled 2088 pairs of root and shoot biomass data across China’s terrestrial biomes to examine variations in the RS and its responses to biotic and abiotic factors including vegetation type, soil texture, climatic variables, and stand age. The median value of RS (RSm) for grasslands, shrublands, and forests was 6.0, 0.73, and 0.23, respectively. The range of RS was considerably wide for each vegetation type. RS values for all three major vegetation types were found to be significantly correlated to mean annual precipitation (MAP) and potential water deficit index (PWDI). Mean annual temperature (MAT) also significantly affect the RS for forests and grasslands. Soil texture and forest origin altered the response of RS to climatic factors as well. An allometric formula could be used to well quantify the relationship between aboveground and belowground biomass, although each vegetation type had its own inherent allometric relationship.     

Estimating Long-Term Changes in China’s Village Landscapes

Over the past 50 years, China’s ancient agricultural village landscapes have been transformed by unprecedented social, technological, and ecological changes. Although these dense anthropogenic mosaics of croplands, settlements, and other used lands cover more than 2 million square kilometers across China, the nature of these changes and their environmental impacts remain poorly understood because their spatial scale is generally too small to measure accurately using conventional land-change methods. Here, we investigate the regional consequences of fine-scale landscape changes across China’s village regions from 1945 to 2002 using high-resolution, field-validated ecological mapping of a regionally stratified sample of village landscapes at five sites across China, with uncertainties estimated using model-based resampling and Monte Carlo methods. From 1945 to 2002, built surface areas increased by about 7% (90% credible interval = 2–17%) across China’s village regions, an increase equivalent to about three times the total urban area of China in 2000. Although this striking result is explained by a near doubling of already large village populations and by lower housing density per capita in rural areas, two unexpected changes were also observed: a 9% net increase (−4% to +21%) in regional cover by closed canopy trees and an 11% net decline (−30% to +3%) in annual crops. These major regional changes were driven primarily by intensive fine-scale land-transformation processes including tree planting and regrowth around new buildings, cropland abandonment, and by the adoption of perennial crops and improved forestry practices. Moreover, the fragmentation, heterogeneity, and complexity of village landscapes increased over time. By coupling regional sampling and upscaling with observations in the field, this study revealed that fine-scale land-change processes in anthropogenic landscapes have the potential for globally significant environmental consequences that are not anticipated, measured, or explained by conventional coarser resolution approaches to global and regional change measurement or modeling. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. E. C. Ellis conceived and managed research, and wrote the article; K. Peng, H. S. Xiao, H. Wang, S. C. Li, J. X. Wu, and J. G. Jiao conducted research; H. Ouyang, X. Cheng, and L. Z. Yang managed research; N. Neerchal and Y. Zhuang contributed methods and models.     

Current progress of China’s free ART program

INTRODUCTION At the end of 2003, there were an estimated 840,000 people in China infected with HIV, among whom 80,000 were in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART) [1]. Since 1999, the annual rate of increase in reported HIV infec- tions has been around 30%, with growing numbers of females becoming infected [1]. The transmission of HIV/ AIDS in China has been through intravenous drug use (43. 2%) in the south, southwest, and western provinces; prior commercial blood and plasma selli…