Solo dining in Chinese restaurants: A mixed-method study in Macao.

Given the emergence of solo dining resulting from the changing family structure and increasingly individualised lifestyle in contemporary Chinese society, this study investigates solo dining in the setting of Chinese restaurants in Macao, including the solo dining motivations, behavioural characteristics, and experiences, taking into considerations the underlying social and cultural factors. Adopting a sequential exploratory mixed-method design, 18 interviews were conducted, followed by a survey with 493 local diners. Findings show that freedom of choice and satisfying hunger are the main motivations for solo dining, and some solo-friendly attributes, food-related attributes, and restaurant characteristics are considered as important elements.

Antitumor activity of 7-O-succinyl macrolactin A tromethamine salt in the mouse glioma model.

Chemoradiotherapy with temozolomide is the current standard treatment option for patients with glioblastoma. However, the majority of patients with glioblastoma survive for <2 years. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more effective therapeutic strategies for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Analysis of TPOX short tandem repeat locus with matrix-associated laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight-based restriction fragment mass polymorphism assay.

Short tandem repeat (STR) loci are routinely analyzed by capillary electrophoresis. However, this method has several disadvantages, including long operational time, low throughput, and inaccuracy. As a result of the introduction of matrix-associated laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and electrospray ionization (ESI), mass spectrometry has become an alternative method for genotyping polymorphic STR loci.

Metastatic effect of LY-6K gene in breast cancer cells.

The over-expression of urokinase receptor in breast cancer cells results in increased tumor invasion, growth and metastasis. As LY-6K belongs to the Ly6/uPAR superfamily, we assessed the association of LY-6K with metastasis in breast cancer cell lines and how the LY-6K gene mediates cancer cell metastasis. The migration ability of cells in which expression of LY-6K gene is up- or down-regulated was investigated by transfecting LY-6K naked DNA and treating LY-6K siRNA.