How China’s Procuratorial Organs Protect Human Rights

EDITOR＇S NOTE： Following is a transcript of an interview by the Human Rights magazine with Jing Dali, chief procurator of the Hubei Provincial People＇s Procuratorate. Jing talked about how China＇s procuratorial work protects human rights in his province and what will be done to improve it.

Organic carbon isotope and pollen evidence for mangrove development and response to human activity in Guangxi(Southwest China) over the last 140 years

Mangrove degradation must reduce carbon sequestration in recent years, thereby aggravating global warming.Thus, short-term impacts of human activity on mangrove ecosystems are cause for concern from local governments and scientists. Mangroves sediments can provide detailed records of mangrove species variation in the last one hundred years, based on detailed 210 Pb data. The study traced the history of mangrove development and its response to environmental change over the last 140 years in two mangrove swamps of Guangxi, Southwest China. Average sedimentation rates were calculated to be 0.48 cm/a and 0.56 cm/a in the Yingluo Bay and the Maowei Sea, respectively. Chemical indicators（δ13Corg and C：N） were utilized to trace the contribution of mangrove-derived organic matter（MOM） using a ternary mixing model. Simultaneous use of mangrove pollen can help to supplement some of these limitations in diagenetic/overlap of isotopic signatures. We found that vertical distribution of MOM was consistent with mangrove pollen, which could provide similar information for tracing mangrove ecosystems. Therefore, mangrove development was reconstructed and divided into three stages： flourishing, degradation and re-flourishing/re-degradation period. The significant degradation, found in the period of 1968–1998 and 1907–2007 in the Yingluo Bay and the Maowei Sea, respectively, corresponding to a rapid increase of reclamation area and seawall length, rather than climate change as recorded in the region.

Regulations governing clinical application of human organ transplant in China

To regulate human organ transplant, guarantee the quality and safety of the operation, protect the health of the people, the Health Ministry of China issued Regulations governing Clinical Application of Human Organ Transplant on March 27, 2006, which is to be put into effect on the coming July 1. The regulations contain 5 chapters and 47 articles including general principles, registration of diagnosis and treatment, clinical management, supervision, and supplementary items.

The Role of Human Rights Organizations in China: CSHRS' Case

In China, there are many human rights organizations, because of their focuses and priorities related to human rights. China Society for Human Rights Studies(CSHRS) is the largest of them, which focuses on human rights research, popularizing and international exchanges. This paper takes CSHRS as an example to show the role of the human rights organizations play in China. From the practice of CSHRS, we can see the human rights organizations in China play a kind of constructive role through involving in very broad fields and engaging in the various activities of human rights protection. Their works include participating in drafting the National Human Rights Action Plans, giving constructive suggestions, working in human rights education, engaging in international exchanges and cooperation, taking part in the work of UPR, raising fund and implementing projects, and so on. They are trying hard to contribute to improve human rights situation in China.

China Society for Human Rights Studies Organizes Forum to Study and Implement Guidelines of 3rd Plenum of 18th CPC Central Committee

The China Society for Human Rights Studies （CSHRS） organized on Nov. 28 a forum to study and implement the guidelines of the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC）. Executive members of CSHRS and other CSHRS members in Beijing discussed improvement of judicial protection for human rights and legal construction in China. CSHRS President Luo Haocai, who was vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People＇s Political Consultative Conference, delivered a speech at the forum.

Studies on mass attenuation coefficients for some body tissues with different medical sources and their validation using Monte Carlo codes

The mass attenuation coefficients of the breasts,lungs,kidneys,pancreas,liver,eye lenses,thyroid,brain,ovary,heart,large intestines,blood,skin,spleen,muscle,and cortical bone were measured at different sources(i.e.,0.021,0.029,0.03,0.14,0.218,0.38,0.412,0.663,0.83,and 1.25 MeV)using various methods including the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code(MCNP),the geometry and tracking code(GEANT4),and theoretical approach described in this study.Mass attenuation coefficients were also compared with the values from the national institute of standards and technology(NIST-XCOM).The values obtained were similar to those obtained using NISTXCOM.Our results show that the theoretical method is quite convenient in comparison with GEANT4 and MCNP in the calculation of the mass attenuation coefficients of the human body samples applied when compared with the NIST values and demonstrated an acceptable difference.

Estimation of Mercury Intake from Consumption of Fish and Seafood in Russia

Data on the mercury concentration in freshwater and marine fish and seafood on the territory of Russia are presented. The level and pattern of the fish and seafood consumption in various regions of Russia are found from the analysis of open statistics. Regions with the maximum and minimum consumption of fish products are established. Mercury intake from these products in a human organism is calculated. It is shown that at the current level and pattern of the diet in Russia fish cannot be a source of high mercury concentrations in a human organism.

Loading-free supramolecular organic framework drug delivery systems(sof-DDSs) for doxorubicin:normal plasm and multidrug resistant cancer cell-adaptive delivery and release

Four water-soluble porous supramolecular organic framework drug delivery systems（sof-DDSs） have been used to adsorb doxorubicin（DOX） in water at physiological pH of 7.4,which is driven exclusively by hydrophobicity.The resulting complexes DOX@SOFs are formed instantaneously upon dissolving the components in water.The drug-adsorbed sof-DDSs can undergo plasm circulation with important maintenance of the drug and overcome the multidrug resistance of human breast MCF-7/Adr cancer cells.DOX is released readily in the cancer cells due to the protonation of its amino group in the acidic medium of cancer cells.In vitro and in vivo experiments reveal that the delivery of SOF-a-d remarkably improve the cytotoxicity of DOX for the MCF-7/Adr cells and tumors,leading to 13-19-fold reduction of the 1C_（50）values as compared with that of DOX.This new sof-DDSs strategy omits the indispensable loading process required by most of reported nano-scaled carriers for neutral hydrophobic chemotherapeutic agents,and thus should be highly valuable for future development of low-cost delivery systems.

Keep swimming but stop peeing in the pools

Swimming is excellent exercise and offers many health benefits. However, the ＂chlorine smell＂ in swimming pools may be a turn-off for some people. Although this smell is often thought to be of chlorine, it actually comes from volatile compounds that are produced from unintended reactions between disinfectants （e.g., chlorine） and organic matter in the water （Li and Blatchley, 2007; Zwiener et al., 2007; Schmalz et al., 2011; Daiber et al., 2016）. Body fluids, such as sweat and urine, are among the sources of this organic matter that contribute to the formation of disinfection byproducts （DBPs） （Richardson et al., 2007; Arnaud, 2016; Tang et al., 2016）.