Construction of Tetrahymena strains with highly active arsenic methyltransferase genes for arsenic detoxification in aquatic environments.

Biomethylation is an effective means of arsenic detoxification by organisms living in aquatic environments. Ciliated protozoa (including Tetrahymena species) play an important role in the biochemical cycles of aquatic ecosystems and have a potential application in arsenic biotransformation. This study compared arsenic tolerance, accumulation, methylation, and efflux in 11 Tetrahymena species. Nineteen arsenite (As(III)) S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) methyltransferase (arsM) genes, of which 12 are new discoveries, were identified, and protein sequences were studied. We then constructed recombinant cell lines based on the Tetrahymena thermophila (T. thermophila) wild-type SB210 strain and expressed each of the 19 arsM genes under the control of the metal-responsive the MTT1 promoter. In the presence of Cd2+ and As(V), expression of the arsM genes in the recombinant cell lines was much higher than in the donor species. Evaluation of the recombinant cell line identified one with ultra-high arsenic methylation enzyme activity, significantly higher arsenic methylation capacity and much faster methylation rate than other reported arsenic methylated organisms, which methylated 89% of arsenic within 6.5 h. It also had an excellent capacity for the arsenic detoxification of lake water containing As(V), 56% of arsenic was methylated at 250 µg/L As(V) in 48 h. This study has made a significant contribution to our knowledge on arsenic metabolism in protozoa and demonstrates the great potential to use Tetrahymena species in the arsenic biotransformation of aquatic environments.

Iron-loading N and S heteroatom doped porous carbon derived from chitosan and CdS-Tetrahymena thermophila for peroxymonosulfate activation.

Transforming waste into resources is an important strategy to enhance the economic efficiency and reduce the waste entering the environment. In this work, iron-loading N and S co-doped porous carbon materials, as peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activator for pollutants degradation, were prepared by pyrolysis of the mixture of iron loading chitosan and CdS-Tetrahymena thermophila under N2 flow. Chitosan is mainly derived from the shell waste of shrimp and crab, and CdS-Tetrahymena thermophila is produced in the removing process of Cd2+ pollution bioremediation using Tetrahymena thermophila. The synergistic effects of iron related species and heteroatoms (S/N) co-doped porous carbon in the obtained carbon materials improved the performance for activating PMS. The prepared Fe-S-CS-1-900 exhibited high performance for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) by activating PMS. Radical quenching tests and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements suggested that superoxide radical (O2-) and singlet oxygen (1O2) were the primary reactive oxygen species in RhB degradation. These results propose new insights of using biomass waste to derive Fe-loading N and S heteroatom co-doping carbon as PMS activator applied in the removal of organic pollutants.

Development and validation of prognostic nomograms for early-onset colon cancer in different tumor locations: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of early-onset colon cancer (EOCC) among individuals below the age of 50 has shown a marked upward trend in recent years. The embryology, clinical symptoms, incidence, molecular pathways, and oncologic outcomes differ between right-sided and left-sided colon cancers. However, the differences have not been fully researched in EOCC. Our study aims to develop and validate prognostic nomograms predicting overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) for EOCC in different tumor locations based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. METHODS: Using the SEER database, a total of 5,588 patients with EOCC were extracted and divided into development and validation cohorts in a random allocation ratio of 7:3 across three groups. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify independent prognostic factors influencing OS and CSS outcomes. These factors were then utilized to construct nomogram models. The prognostic capabilities of the three models were assessed through various evaluation metrics, including the concordance index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, decision curve analysis (DCA), and validation cohorts respectively. Additionally, survival curves of the low- and high-risk groups were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method together with the log-rank test. RESULTS: Significant differences in clinical features were observed between right-sided and left-sided EOCCs, particularly in terms of OS (52 months vs 54 months) as demonstrated by Kaplan-Meier curves. Transverse-sided EOCCs exhibited clinical characteristics similar to right-sided EOCCs, suggesting a potential shared tumor microenvironment and therapeutic considerations. Advanced stage, liver metastasis, poor grade, elevated pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level, chemotherapy, and perineural invasion were identified as independent prognostic factors across all three tumor locations and were incorporated into the nomogram model. Nomograms were constructed to predict the probability of 3- and 5-year OS and CSS. The C-index and calibration plots showed that the established nomograms had good consistency between actual clinical observations and predicted outcomes. ROC curves with calculated area under the curve (AUC) values exceeded 0.8 for all three groups in both the development and validation cohorts, indicating robust predictive performance for OS and CSS. Furthermore, decision curve analysis (DCA) plots revealed a threshold probability range of 0.1 to 0.9, within which the nomogram model exhibited maximum benefit. Kaplan-Meier curves exhibited significant differences between the low- and high-risk groups in EOCC for all three tumor locations in OS and CSS, further validating the prognostic value of the nomogram models. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully developed three precise nomogram models for EOCCs in different tumor locations, providing valuable support for clinicians in guiding clinical treatments and facilitating further prospective follow-up studies.

Chemical impacts of subsurface CO2 and brine on shallow groundwater quality.

Leakage from geologic CO2 sequestration (GCS) sites to overlying shallow drinking water aquifers is a tangible risk. A primary purpose of this study is to assess the potential impacts of CO2 leakage into a fresh-water aquifer with associated CO2-water-sediment interactions. The study site is the Ogallala aquifer overlying an active demonstration-scale GCS site in north Texas, USA. Using the results of combined batch experiments and reactive transport simulations, we discuss the effects of salinity on potential trace metal release and the potential for groundwater quality recovery after leakage ceases. RESULTS: suggest that trace metals are released from sediment due to impure carbonate mineral dissolution and cation exchange with exposure to aqueous CO2. Concentrations of Mn, Zn and Sr might exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limits. After CO2 leakage stops, most cation concentrations decrease to levels observed before leakage quickly, suggesting that water quality may not be a long-term concern. However, saline water that co-leaks with CO2 may increase salinity of a shallow aquifer and induce more trace metals release from the sediment. In most cases, pH is sensitive to even small increases of CO2, suggesting that pH may be a sufficiently sensitive parameter for detecting CO2 leakage.

Construction of CdS-Tetrahymena thermophila hybrid system by efficient cadmium adsorption for dye removal under light irradiation.

The water pollution caused by heavy metals and dyes emitted by industries has become a worldwide problem. These pollutants are difficult to be biodegraded. Even at low concentrations, they are toxic and at last threaten human health. Herein, while using Tetrahymena thermophila, a single-celled ciliate protozoa, to enrich and remove the heavy metal Cd2+ from water, CdS nanoparticle-Tetrahymena thermophila hybrid system (CdS-T. thermophila) for dye pollution remediation under light irradiation was developed. The conditions of Cd2+ enrichment and removal by T. thermophila, construction of efficient CdS-T. thermophila, and decolorization of Congo red using CdS-T. thermophila were investigated. In the presence of cysteine ethyl ester, the removal rate of Cd2+ by T. thermophila was 94% at low Cd2+ concentration of 1 mg L-1. The adsorption capacity of T. thermophila to Cd2+ reached 43 mg g-1 at Cd2+ concentration of 80 mg L-1. Using 0.1 g L-1 constructed CdS-T. thermophila, the decolorization rate of 50 mg L-1 Congo red solution reached 95% in 60 min under light irradiation. This study provides a new insight to effective removing Cd2+ from water by T. thermophila to construct the CdS-T. thermophila and using it to remediate dye pollution in the environment.

Assessment of chemo-mechanical impacts of CO2 sequestration on the caprock formation in Farnsworth oil field, Texas.

This study evaluates the chemo-mechanical influence of injected CO2 on the Morrow B sandstone reservoir and the upper Morrow shale caprock utilizing data from the inverted 5-spot pattern centered on Well 13-10A within the Farnsworth unit (FWU). This study also seeks to evaluate the integrity of the caprock and the long-term CO2 storage capability of the FWU. The inverted 5-spot pattern was extracted from the field-scale model and tuned with the available field observed data before the modeling work. Two coupled numerical simulation models were utilized to continue the study. First, a coupled hydro-geochemical model was constructed to simulate the dissolution and precipitation of formation minerals by modeling three intra-aqueous and six mineral reactions. In addition, a coupled hydro-geomechanical model was constructed and employed to study the effects of stress changes on the caprock's porosity, permeability, and ground displacement. The Mohr-Coulomb circle and failure envelope were used to determine caprock failure. In this work, the CO2-WAG injection is followed by the historical field-observed strategy. During the forecasting period, a Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection ratio of 1:3 was utilized with a baseline bottom-hole pressure constraint of 5500 psi for 20 years. A post-injection period of 1000 years was simulated to monitor the CO2 plume and its effects on the CO2 storage reservoir and caprock integrity. The simulation results indicated that the impacts of the geochemical reactions on the porosity of the caprock were insignificant as it experienced a decrease of about 0.0003% at the end of the 1000-year post-injection monitoring. On the other hand, the maximum stress-induced porosity change was about a 1.4% increase, resulting in about 4% in permeability change. It was estimated that about 3.3% of the sequestered CO2 in the formation interacted with the caprock. Despite these petrophysical property alterations and CO2 interactions in the caprock, the caprock still maintained its elastic properties and was determined to be far from its failure.

Ultrasound Responsive Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Loaded Microbubbles for Efficient Gene Delivery.

Purpose: Gene therapy is an important therapeutic strategy for cancer. Nanoparticles are used for noninvasive gene delivery, which has great potential in tumor therapy. However, it is a challenge to construct a targeted gene delivery vector with high gene delivery efficiency, good biocompatibility, and multiple functions. Method: Herein, we designed magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticle loading microbubbles (M-MSN@MBs) for ultrasound-mediated imaging and gene transfection. The plasmid DNA (pDNA) was encapsulated into the pores of M-MSNs. Also, the pDNA-carrying M-MSNs were loaded in the lipid microbubbles. Results: The gene vector presented good biocompatibility, DNA binding stability, ultrasound imaging performance, and magnetic responsiveness. The polyethyleneimine (PEI)-modified M-MSNs effectively protected the loaded pDNA from enzyme degradation. The cytotoxicity of M-MSNs was significantly reduced via encapsulating in lipid microbubbles. Upon the magnetic field, M-MSN@MBs were attracted to the tumor area. Then, ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) not only released loaded M-MSNs but also facilitated M-MSNs delivery to tumor tissue by opening blood-tumor barrier and increasing the cytomembrane permeability, and ultimately improved the pDNA delivery efficiency. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that the developed ultrasound-responsive gene delivery system was a promising platform for gene therapy, which could noninvasively enhance tumor gene transfection.

Echogenic PEGylated PEI-Loaded Microbubble As Efficient Gene Delivery System.

BACKGROUND: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for cancer therapeutic resistance and metastasis. To date, in addition to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, gene delivery has emerged as a potential therapeutic modality for ovarian cancer. Efficient and safe targeted gene delivery is complicated due to the tumor heterogeneity barrier. Ultrasound (US)-stimulated microbubbles (MBs) have demonstrated a method of enabling non-invasive targeted gene delivery. PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to show the utility of poly(ethylene glycol)-SS-polyethylenimine-loaded microbubbles (PSP@MB) as an ultrasound theranostic and redox-responsive agent in a gene delivery system. PATIENTS AND METHODS: PSP nanoparticles were conjugated to the MB surface through biotin-avidin linkage, increasing the gene-loading efficiency of MB. The significant increase in the release of genes from the PSP@MB complexes was achieved upon ultrasound exposure. The positive surface charge in PSP@MB can condense the plasmid through electrostatic interactions; agarose-gel electrophoresis further confirmed the ability of PSP@MB to condense plasmids. The morphology, particle sizes and zeta potential of PSP@MB were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. RESULTS: Laser confocal microscopy showed that the combination of ultrasound with PSP@MB could promote the cellular uptake of plasmids. Plasmids which encode enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) reporter genes or luciferase reporter genes were delivered to CSCs in vitro and to subcutaneous xenografts in vivo via the combination of ultrasound with PSP@MB. Gene transfection efficiency was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and In Vivo Imaging Systems. This study demonstrated that the combination of ultrasound with PSP@MB can remarkably promote gene delivery to solid tumors as well as diminishing the toxicity towards normal tissues in vivo. The combination of PSP@MB and the use of ultrasound can efficiently enhance accumulation, extravasation and penetration into solid tumors. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our study showed that this novel PSP@MB and ultrasound-mediated gene delivery system could efficiently target CSCs.

Exercise Training Attenuates Hypertension Through TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB Signaling in the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus.

Exercise training (ExT) is beneficial for cardiovascular health, yet the central mechanism by which aerobic ExT attenuates the hypertensive responses remains unclear. Activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs) in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is important for the sympathoexcitation and hypertensive response. We thus hypothesized that aerobic ExT can decrease the blood pressure of hypertensive rats by reducing the levels of PICs through TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling within the PVN. To examine this hypothesis, two-kidney-one-clip (2K1C) renovascular hypertensive rats were assigned to two groups: sedentary or exercise training and examined for 8 weeks. At the same time, bilateral PVN infusion of vehicle or TAK242, a TLR4 inhibitor, was performed on both groups. As a result, the systolic blood pressure (SBP), renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EPI) were found significantly increased in 2K1C hypertensive rats. These rats also had higher levels of Fra-like activity, NF-κB p65 activity, TLR4, MyD88, IL-1ß and TNF-α in the PVN than SHAM rats. Eight weeks of ExT attenuated the RSNA and SBP, repressed the NF-κB p65 activity, and reduced the increase of plasma levels of NE, EPI, and the expression of Fra-like, TLR4, MyD88, IL-1ß and TNF-α in the PVN of 2K1C rats. These findings are highly similar to the results in 2K1C rats with bilateral PVN infusions of TLR4 inhibitor (TAK242). This suggests that 8 weeks of aerobic ExT may decrease blood pressure in hypertensive rats by reducing the PICs activation through TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling within the PVN, and thus delays the progression of 2K1C renovascular hypertension.

Optimization of gate geometry towards high-sensitivity AlGaN/GaN pH sensor.

Open-gated AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) based sensor can inherently deliver a high current sensitivity (SI) in response to the pH change. However, it remains a challenge to further improve the performance of the packaged AlGaN/GaN-based sensor, due to a lack of investigation on the device design optimization. In this paper, the influence of the gate geometry on the device sensitivity is investigated through theoretical analysis and experiments. It has been found that the key factor limiting the current sensitivity is the series resistance (RS) of the packaged sensor. There are two cases: (1) when the aspect ratio of the gate structure (W/L) is small, the channel resistance dominates the total resistance and the current sensitivity increases with W/L; (2) when W/L is large, the RS dominates the total resistance, the sensitivity decreases with W/L. Therefore, there is an optimal W/L which can be approximately reached when W/L = ρ2DEG/RS. Based on the guidelines, the current sensitivity of the AlGaN/GaN sensor with an optimized geometry in our experiment can reach 157 µA/pH, which is the highest value among the packaged AlGaN/GaN-based pH sensors in literature, to our best knowledge. The comparison with the Si-based ISFET and the impact of the gate membrane on the sensitivity of AlGaN/GaN-based sensor have also been analyzed and discussed.

MnO2 nanosheets as the biomimetic oxidase for rapid and sensitive oxalate detection combining with bionic E-eye.

Urolithiasis commonly occurs in kidney and ureteral, and may cause local organ/tissue damage, even kidney failure. The incidence of this disease is increasing worldwide, in which calcium oxalate is the major composition forming the urinary calculus. Therefore, to monitor this disease for the prevention and treatment, measuring the oxalate in the urine is of great significance. Here, a rapid and sensitive colorimetric method was developed based on 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine-manganese dioxide (TMB-MnO2) nanosheets for oxalate detection. MnO2 nanosheets acted as an efficient biomimetic oxidase to catalyze the reaction with TMB and oxalate. Pale yellow TMB can be oxidized to blue oxide TMB catalyzed by BSA-stabilized MnO2 nanosheets, and oxalate can selectively inhibit this reaction by consuming and reacting with MnO2 nanosheets, thus achieving the quantitative detection of oxalate. Moreover, a home-made bionic electronic-eye (E-eye) system was developed as a portable in-situ detection platform to efficiently measure the oxalate concentrations in 10 s by direct photographing. By optimizing experimental conditions, this method shows a wide linear range (7.8 µM to 250 µM) and a low detection limit (0.91 µM) for oxalate detection. Besides, this method exhibits high selectivity even with 80-fold interfering chemicals. Furthermore, the performance of the method was validated by testing the artificial urine samples, indicating its great potential for monitoring and diagnosis of urolithiasis in point-of-care applications.

The Therapeutic Effect of Melatonin on GC by Inducing Cell Apoptosis and Autophagy Induced by Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is the main malignancy affecting a large population worldwide. Lack of effective enough treatment is one of the leading factors contributing to the high mortality rate. Melatonin, a naturally occurring compound, has been proven to exert cytotoxic and antiproliferative effects on human gastric cancers. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of anti-gastric cancer of melatonin remain elucidated. It is believed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and its resultant unfolded protein response (UPR) are connected to the survival, progression, and chemoresistance of various tumor cells via multiple cellular procedures, such as autophagy. In this study, the effects of melatonin on human gastric cancer cell lines AGS and SGC-7901 was assessed to reveal the interaction between melatonin, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and autophagy in gastric cancer. METHODS: CCK-8, the wound healing analysis, colony formation assay, immunofluorescence analysis, Western blotting, flow cytometry, and animal models were used in the current study. RESULTS: The data demonstrated that melatonin could inhibit GC growth, proliferation, and invasion both in vivo and in vitro. Apoptosis and autophagy induced in a concentration-dependent manner is response to melatonin-induced ER stress. Melatonin induced the expression of apoptotic and autophagy-related proteins, which was markedly attenuated by the ER stress inhibitor 4-PBA and autophagy inhibitor 3-MA. In addition, we used the specific IRE1 inhibitor STF 083010, finding that inhibiting IRE1 could considerably relieve ER stress-induced autophagy activity, as revealed by the reduction of LC3-II and Beclin-1. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that melatonin-induced inhibition of GC cell proliferation is mediated by the activation of the IRE/JNK/Beclin1 signaling.

Research of Gene Delivery Mediated by Ultrasound, Microbubble and Folate-modified Chitosan Nanoparticles.

OBJECTIVE: To study transfection efficiency of folate-modified chitosan (FACS) nanoparticles as a non-viral vector delivering pEGFP-C3plasmid (FA-CS/P) to 293T cells with or without the combination of ultrasound and microbubble. METHOD: pEGFP-C3 was used as a reporter gene and FA-CS nanoparticles, which were prepared by complex coagulation method, were used as biological carriers. Transfection efficiency to 293T cells mediated by FA-CS/P nanoparticles, ultrasound (US) and microbubble (MB) was assessed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. RESULT: FA-CS/P nanoparticles have a particle size of 355.1 nm and zeta potential of 10.4 mV. Significant green fluorescence could be observed in CS/P group, FA-CS/P group, US+MB/P group, US+FA-CS/P group, Liposome 2000 (L) group under an inverted fluorescence microscope, while for US+MB+FA-CS/P group, only scattered fluorescence was observed. Result of flow cytometry showed that the transfection rate of US+MB+FA-CS/P group was (2.0±0.2)%, which was significantly lower than other groups (P<0.05). CCK-8 experiments showed that cell vitality of US+MB+FA-CS/P was (64.1±4.6)%, which was also lower than other groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: In this study, FA-CS was successfully synthesized. FA-CS could combine with pEGFP-C3 effectively forming nanoparticles with nanoparticle size, well dispersion, high encapsulation efficiency and no significant toxicity to cells. The application of ultrasound increased the transfection rate of FA-CS/P. However, while being exposed to ultrasound and microbubble, the transfection rate of FA-CS/P decreased obviously, may indicate that there was no synergistic effect for gene transfection by the combination of ultrasound, folate modified chitosan and microbubbles.

Ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction: a new method in cancer immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy provides a new treatment option for cancer. However, it may be therapeutically insufficient if only using the self-immune system alone to attack the tumor without any aiding methods. To overcome this drawback and improve the efficiency of therapy, new treatment methods are emerging. In recent years, ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction (UMMD) has shown great potential in cancer immunotherapy. Using the combination of ultrasound and targeted microbubbles, molecules such as antigens or genes encoding antigens can be efficiently and specifically delivered into the tumor tissue. This review focuses on the recent progress in the application of UMMD in cancer immunotherapy.

Graphene FET Array Biosensor Based on ssDNA Aptamer for Ultrasensitive Hg2+ Detection in Environmental Pollutants.

Invisible mercury ion is an extremely poisonous environmental pollutant, therefore, a fast and highly sensitive detection method is of significant importance. In this study, a liquid-gated graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) array biosensor (6 × 6 GFETs on the chip) was fabricated and applied for Hg2+ quantitate detection based on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) aptamer. The biosensor showed outstanding selectivity to Hg2+ in mixed solutions containing various metal ions. Moreover, the sensing capability of the biosensor was demonstrated by real-time responses and showed a fairly low detection limit of 40 pM, a wide detection ranged from 100 pM to 100 nM and rapid response time below one second. These results suggest that the GFET array biosensor based on ssDNA aptamer offers a simple fabrication procedure and quite fast method for mercury ion contaminant detection and are promising for various analytical applications.

Controllable synthesis of nanocrystals in droplet reactors.

In recent years, a broad range of nanocrystals have been synthesized in droplet-based microfluidic reactors which provide obvious advantages, such as accurate manipulation, better reproducibility and reliable automation. In this review, we initially introduce general concepts of droplet reactors followed by discussions of their main functional regions including droplet generation, mixing of reactants, reaction controlling, in situ monitoring, and reaction quenching. Subsequently, the enhanced mass and heat transport properties are discussed. Next, we focus on research frontiers including sequential multistep synthesis, intelligent synthesis, reliable scale-up synthesis, and interfacial synthesis. Finally, we end with an outlook on droplet reactors, especially highlighting some aspects such as large-scale production, the integrated process of synthesis and post-synthetic treatments, automated droplet reactors with in situ monitoring and optimizing algorithms, and rapidly developing strategies for interfacial synthesis.

Harnessing Intracellular Biochemical Pathways for In Vitro Synthesis of Designer Tellurium Nanorods.

Synthesizing nanomaterials of desired properties is a big challenge, which requires extremely harsh conditions and/or use of toxic materials. More recently developed in vivo methods have brought a different set of problems such as separation and purification of nanomaterials made in vivo. Here, a novel approach that harnesses cellular pathways for in vitro synthesis of high-quality tellurium nanorods with tunable lengths and optical properties is reported. It is first demonstrated that in vivo biochemical pathways could be used to synthesize Te nanorods via the intracellular reduction of TeO3(2-) in living Staphylococcus aureus cells. The pathways to set up a quasi-biological system for Te precursor formation are then utilized, which could further synthesize Te nanorods in vitro. This allows to successfully synthesize in vitro, under routine laboratory conditions, Te nanorods with uniform and tunable lengths, ranging from about 10 to 200 nm, and controllable optical properties with high molar extinction coefficients. The approach here should open new avenues for controllable, facile, and efficient synthesis of designer nanomaterials for diverse industrial and biomedical applications.

The effects of media usage and interpersonal contacts on the stereotyping of lesbians and gay men in China.

Relatively little research has investigated the association of information sources and the stereotyping of homosexuals in other cultures. This study is a survey of 226 Chinese college students about their stereotypes of homosexuals and their sources of information on gays and lesbians. The stereotyping of homosexuals is predicted by the size of community, interest in knowing homosexuals, and in-person contacts. A higher level of negative stereotypes is associated with frequent usage of Chinese media.