No abstract

China’s state-owned forest farms are the basic sectors of forestry production, and their carbon cycle functions, such as timber processing and forest carbon sequestration, are of great significance to the national emission reduction strategy. By three-stage DEA and Tobit models, this paper measures the carbon sequestration output efficiency of 3706 state-owned forest farms involved in China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration’s 2008–2018 survey. We figure out how the mechanism on the carbon sequestration impacts output efficiency of these forest farms and analyze the temporal trends and spatial distributions of their outputs in various regions. Our results indicate that the overall output efficiency of state-owned forest farms in China is relatively low compared with the international advanced level and show that distinctive north-south regional differences exist. Specifically, the carbon storage of the state-owned forest farms in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia occupies more than half of the carbon storage of total amounts, but their output efficiency is unsatisfactory. Conversely, the forest farms in Southwest China have a medium amount of carbon storage and the highest output efficiency. After improving the external environments of these farms, the efficiency value in each province appears as a significant increment. Moreover, the effects of afforestation, timber harvests, the under-forest economy, and other operating behaviors exhibit regional heterogeneity to some extent. Therefore, this paper advocates reforming the current forest cultivation strategy that emphasizes afforestation and neglects management, and relevant government departments are supposed to adjust operations according to local conditions to promote sustainable forest management.

Changes in payment models, policy, and the need for interprofessional practice require physicians who have complementary skills outside of medicine, such as business skills. To identify comfort-level and use of business competencies and to identify the ideal timing for a business curriculum, a web-based survey of clinical faculty with both medical and business degrees at a single academic institution was conducted in May 2020. Overall, respondents were comfortable applying competencies related to Communication, Leadership, Strategy/Management, and Business of Healthcare/Medicine. Fewer respondents were comfortable with Information Systems, Law and Regulatory Environment, and Accounting. Most respondents said Communication and Leadership competencies should be taught during or before medical school, and Human Resources should be taught during residency/fellowship or clinical practice. Half said Law and Regulatory Environment should be taught during residency/fellowship or clinical practice. Accounting was the only topic rated unnecessary for physicians.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer where no effective therapy has been developed. Here, we report that the natural product ER translocon inhibitor ipomoeassin F is a selective inhibitor of TNBC cell growth. A proteomic analysis of TNBC cells revealed that ipomoeassin F significantly reduced the levels of ER molecular chaperones, including PDIA6 and PDIA4, and induced ER stress, unfolded protein response (UPR) and autophagy in TNBC cells. Mechanistically, ipomoeassin F, as an inhibitor of Sec61α-containing ER translocon, blocks ER translocation of PDIA6, inducing its proteasomal degradation. Silencing of PDIA6 or PDIA4 by RNA interferences or treatment with a small molecule inhibitor of the protein disulfide isomerases in TNBC cells successfully recapitulated the ipomoeassin F phenotypes, including the induction of ER stress, UPR and autophagy, suggesting that the reduction of PDIAs is the key mediator of the pharmacological effects of ipomoeassin F. Moreover, ipomoeassin F significantly suppressed TNBC growth in a mouse tumor xenograft model, with a marked reduction in PDIA6 and PDIA4 levels in the tumor samples. Our study demonstrates that Sec61α-containing ER translocon and PDIAs are potential drug targets for TNBC and suggests that ipomoeassin F could serve as a lead for developing ER translocon-targeted therapy for TNBC.