Deeper Commitment to Human Rights Treaties: Signaling and Investment Risk Perception

Why do some leaders make deeper commitments to human rights treaties (HRAs) by consenting to receive extra monitoring of complaints or communications from individual citizens? Extant theory suggests leaders join HRAs for tangible benefits. However, empirical support for this argument is mixed. To address this mismatch, we approach this question from a different angle. We argue that by ratifying HRAs, leaders send a signal that they are reliable partners who value future returns. Accepting optional articles and protocols that increase monitoring of the state’s human rights behavior, without changing the state’s substantive obligations, helps better signal that the regime does not fear instability nor sees the need to resort to the proscribed abuses in the future. This, in turn, serves as an important middle step to recognizing tangible benefits, such as foreign direct investment, by improving investors’ risk perception of ratified countries.     

补肾生髓方和益气活血方对局灶性脑缺血再灌注大鼠额顶叶皮质Notch信号通路Nurrl、SMO mRNA及其蛋白表达的影响

目的 探讨补肾生髓方和益气活血方对脑缺血再灌注大鼠额顶叶皮质Notch信号转导通路Nurr1、SMO mRNA及其蛋白表达的影响。方法 采用线栓法复制右侧大脑中动脉阻塞局灶性脑缺血再灌注大鼠模型,将大鼠随机分为假手术组、模型组、补肾生髓方组和益气活血方组。脑缺血2 h后,持续灌注7 d。采用PCR检测额顶叶皮质Nurr1、SMO mRNA表达水平,采用Western blot检测其蛋白表达水平。结果 与假手术组比较,模型组Nurr1、SMO mRNA及其蛋白表达水平均明显上调（P<0.05）;益气活血方组和补肾生髓方组Nurr1 mRNA及其蛋白、SMO蛋白相对表达水平均较模型组明显下调（P<0.05）;模型组、益气活血方组和补肾生髓方组SMO mRNA相对表达水平比较,差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）;益气活血方组与补肾生髓方组Nurr1、SMO蛋白表达水平有显著差异（P<0.05）。结论 补肾生髓方和益气活血方促进脑组织修复的作用与其下调Notch信号转导通路中Nurr1、SMO mRNA及其蛋白表达有关。     

从经济学视角看中国的婚姻法改革

从经济学的一些基本概念出发,本文讨论了中国婚姻法改革的一系列问题,并通过三种婚姻形式的提出和分析,对离婚后当事人扶养安排、财产分割和子女监护权问题作了充分的讨论。从有效信号功能和有效分离功能的角度看,现代西方和中国婚姻法的改革都犯了有效分离功能不足的错误。经济帮助的方法由于缺乏合理的公共政策原理而应该在婚姻法中被删掉,婚姻合同中可能出现的机会主义行为问题则可以通过婚姻法或一般合同法进行处理。如此的改革将使中国的婚姻法内涵更加合理,也更加适合婚姻市场的现实。     

木丹颗粒对高糖环境下人血管内皮细胞Nrf2/ARE信号通路的影响

目的 探讨木丹颗粒对高糖环境下人血管内皮细胞核转录因子E2相关因子2（neclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2,Nrf2）/抗氧化反应元件（antioxidant response element,ARE）信号通路及血管内皮生长因子（vascular endothelial growth factor,VEGF）的影响。方法 将健康雄性Wistar大鼠30只随机分为正常组、模型组、木丹颗粒组,每组10只,制备含药血清;将正常组含药血清加入正常糖浓度培养内皮细胞,模型组及木丹颗粒组分别加入高糖培养内皮细胞;采用RT-PCR、Western blot分别检测Nrf2、血红素氧合酶-1(heme oxygenase-1, HO-1)的mRNA及蛋白表达水平;采用ELISA法检测各组细胞上清液中VEGF含量。结果 与正常组比较,模型组Nrf2、HO-1的mRNA及蛋白表达均显著上调（P<0.05）,VEGF的含量显著增加（P<0.05）;与模型组比较,给药组Nrf2、HO-1的mRNA及蛋白表达水平均显著上调（P<0.05）,VEGF的含量显著减少（P<0.05）。结论 〖JP2〗木丹颗粒对高糖环境下人血管内皮细胞的保护作用机制可能与上调Nrf2/ARE信号通路的表达、降低VEGF含量有关。     

肝豆灵抑制Notch信号通路干预铜负荷致肝纤维化大鼠肝脏上皮-间质转化

目的 探讨肝豆灵抑制Notch信号通路干预铜负荷大鼠肝纤维化上皮-间质转化（epithelial-mesenchymal transition,EMT）的作用机制。方法 将雄性SD大鼠40只随机分为正常组,模型组,肝豆灵小、中、大剂量组,除正常组给予正常饲料外,其他各组喂饲硫酸铜饮食复制铜负荷大鼠肝纤维化模型。检测血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶（alanine aminotransferase,ALT）、天冬氨酸氨基转移酶（aspartate aminotransferase, AST）、碱性磷酸酶（alkaline phosphatase,ALP）、透明质酸（hyaluronic acid,HA）水平及肝组织羟脯氨酸（hydroxyproline,Hyp）含量;分别采用苏木精-伊红染色和Masson染色观察肝组织病理损伤及胶原沉积状况;采用RT-PCR检测肝组织转化生长因子-β1（transforming growth factor beta 1, TGF-β1）、Jagged1、Notch1、Notch3、Snail mRNA,采用Western blot检测Hes1、E-cadherin蛋白表达水平,采用免疫组织化学法检测α-SMA表达水平。结果 与正常组比较,模型组血清ALT、AST、ALP、HA水平及肝组织Hyp、胶原纤维含量均显著升高（P<0.05）,肝组织TGF-β1、Jagged1、Notch1、Notch3、Snail mRNA表达水平以及肝组织Hes1、α-SMA蛋白表达水平显著升高（P<0.05）,E-cadherin蛋白表达水平显著降低（P＜0.05）;与模型组比较,肝豆灵中、大剂量组E-cadherin蛋白表达水平显著升高（P<0.05）,其余上述指标均显著降低（P＜0.05）。结论 肝豆灵通过抑制Notch信号通路,干预EMT环节,减少肌成纤维细胞转化生成及活化增殖,降低胶原纤维沉积而抗肝纤维化。     

基于PI3K/AKT/mTOR信号通路探讨化瘀通络灸促血管性痴呆大鼠髓鞘再生的作用机制

目的 观察化瘀通络灸对血管性痴呆(vascular dementia, VD)大鼠胼胝体磷脂酰肌醇3激酶(phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase, PI3K)/蛋白激酶B(protein kinase B,AKT)/哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mammalian target of rapamycin, mTOR)信号通路的影响,探讨化瘀通络灸促VD大鼠髓鞘再生的作用机制。方法 经Morris水迷宫筛选后,随机选取12只大鼠纳入假手术组,剩余大鼠复制VD模型成功后,随机分为模型组、艾灸组、艾灸+LY294002组,每组12只。艾灸组予以化瘀通络灸干预,艾灸+LY294002组在化瘀通络灸干预的基础上予以PI3K抑制剂LY294002腹腔注射,采用Longa评分法评价各组大鼠神经功能损伤程度,Morris水迷宫实验检测各组大鼠学习记忆能力,Western blot法检测各组大鼠PI3K/AKT/mTOR信号通路相关蛋白的表达水平,神经髓鞘固蓝染色法观察各组大鼠胼胝体髓鞘的形态,透射电子显微镜观察各组大鼠髓鞘超微结构。结果 与假手术组比较,模型组和艾灸+LY294002组大...     

知识产品内容的部分披露和信号传递

知识产品具有典型的经验品性质,而信息不对称限制了高质量厂商征收高价的可能性。基于对互联网和数字经济时代商业实践的观察,考虑了一种崭新的信号传递机制,即高质量厂商可以通过知识产品内容的部分披露而将其与低质量厂商区分开来,以此为基础,刻画分析了部分披露导致分离均衡的条件以及均衡的相关性质。     

Target Hardening and Terrorist Signaling: The Case of Aviation Security

In this article, we examine the relationship between hardening a target and the value that a terrorist group derives from attacking it. We use a simple expected value framework to compare how the expected value of attacking a hardened target varies between a violence-based approach, where terrorists are presumed to be maximizing the physical damage done to the target, and a signaling-based approach, where terrorists are presumed to be maximizing the symbolic value of their attack. We argue that, if it is proper to understand terrorist attacks as costly signals of terrorist strength or determination, hardening a target actually increases the expected value of attacking a target (relative to its value before hardening), even if the attack fails. We go on to examine the evolution of aviation security, and trace how al-Qaeda's views of airplanes and airports as targets have changed since 9/11. As aviation targets were hardened with increasingly onerous security measures, al-Qaeda began to see even attacks that did not result in detonation as successes, in large part because of what they signaled about al-Qaeda's abilities, and the ability of al-Qaeda to impose costs on the U.S. and other countries even in the absence of explosions.     

Useful ignorance: The benefits of uncertainty during power shifts

This paper develops a formal model exploring how declining states allocate scarce military resources across multiple commitments under uncertainty. The model reveals that under certain conditions, states might actually benefit from their own uncertainty. In the model, a declining state’s uncertainty creates incentives for a revisionist rising power to misrepresent its intentions. But importantly, this misrepresentation requires the rising state to act cooperatively, implementing policies that immediately benefit the declining state. The model reveals how declining states can exploit these incentives in order to maximize the short-term benefits of their counterpart’s cooperation. Under some conditions, the benefits of this deceptive cooperation can outweigh the long-term costs of being deceived. These dynamics do not operate when the declining state is certain of the rising state’s type. I illustrate this logic through a case study of Great Britain’s pre-WWI naval withdrawal from East Asia.     

丹皮酚抑制脂多糖诱导的血管内皮细胞TNF-α释放对共培养体系中血管平滑肌细胞凋亡及p38 MAPK信号通路的影响

目的 观察丹皮酚（Paeonol,Pae）对脂多糖（lipopolysaccharide,LPS）损伤的大鼠血管内皮细胞（vascular endothelial cells,VECs）炎性因子释放及对血管平滑肌细胞（vascular smooth muscle cells,VSMCs）凋亡的影响,阐明Pae抑制VSMCs凋亡是否通过影响VECs释放的炎性因子调控p38 MAPK信号通路。方法 组织块预消化贴壁法原代培养VECs和VSMCs;Transwell小室建立VSMCs和VECs共培养体系;LPS诱导VECs损伤;MTT方法检测细胞存活率;ELISA检测VECs分泌肿瘤坏死因子-α（tumor necrosis factor-alpha, TNF-α）的水平;流式细胞仪检测VSMCs凋亡率;Western blotting检测VSMCs中p38 MAPK信号通路及凋亡相关蛋白表达。结果 与正常对照组比较,LPS可显著提高VECs分泌的TNF-α水平（P＜0.05）,明显升高共培养体系中VSMCs p38 MAPK信号通路蛋白及凋亡相关蛋白（p-MKK3/6、p-p38、p53和Cleaved caspase-3）水平（P<0.05）,显著提高VSMCs凋亡率（P<0.05）;与LPS刺激组比较,Pae可显著抑制VECs分泌的TNF-α（P＜0.05）,明显降低共培养体系中VSMCs p38 MAPK信号通路蛋白及凋亡相关蛋白（p-MKK3/6、p-p38、p53和Cleaved caspase-3）水平（P＜0.05）,显著降低VSMCs凋亡率（P＜0.05）。结论 Pae可抑制VECs释放TNF-α,从而抑制p38 MAPK信号通路,进而减少VSMCs凋亡。