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Thursday, August 29, 2024

Chinese scientists discover new gene that regulates lifespan

Mechanism of action of OSER1 in lifespan regulation. (Image provided by Southwest University).

Chinese scientists have discovered a new gene, OSER1, that regulates lifespan. This breakthrough provides a novel scientific basis for the study of extending human lifespans. 

The team studied the mechanism of action in various species such as silkworms, nematodes, and fruit flies. As a target gene of the longevity gene FOXO, OSER1's impact on lifespan has been supported by human subject research results.

This breakthrough finding was made by Dai Fangyin’s team from the National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Insect Resources at Southwest University and scientists from abroad. The results have been published in the international academic journal "Nature Communications."

FOXO is one of the few confirmed human longevity genes. It affects lifespan by regulating pathways related to aging, but the targets mediating these effects are largely unknown. 

The research team conducted interference experiments on 42 potential direct target genes of the FOXO gene in silkworms, which are similar to genes in nematodes. They discovered that down-regulating the expression of 7 genes significantly shortened the lifespan of nematodes, while down-regulating 3 genes extended their lifespan. Crucially, gene OSER1 had the most significant impact on lifespan when its expression was reduced.

“OSER1 is present in the genomes of various species including nematodes, silkworms, fruit flies, zebrafish, African clawed frogs, mice, rhesus monkeys, and humans,” said Song Jiangbo from National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Insect Resource at Southwest University, who is also a co-author of the paper. 

The study revealed that increasing the expression of OSER1 in silkworms, nematodes, and fruit flies led to a significant extension of their lifespan. This discovery could have implications for understanding the aging process and potentially developing interventions to increase lifespan in other species, including humans. 

Research findings on human subjects have confirmed that OSER1 plays a role in determining the human lifespan, according to Song. The study revealed that individuals over 90 years old had 49 common single nucleotide variations in the OSER1 gene, with seven of them showing a significant link to longevity when compared to a younger control group.

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Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Rise of the monkey king: Black Myth: Wukong

 

 
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed and published by Game Science. Black Myth: Wukong is available on August 20, 2024 for PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Windows (PC) with Xbox Series X/S releasing at a later date.
 
 

Rise of the Monkey King (Volume 1 of "Journey to the West") - Audiobook

China goes ape over culture-boosting Black Myth: Wukong video game.

CHINESE state media threw its back behind China’s most successful single-player video game to date, saying its adaptation of the Ming dynasty epic Journey To The West would force Western players to learn more about the country’s culture.

Black Myth: Wukong, based on a mythical monkey king from a Chinese literary classic who can shape-shift into humans, animals and inanimate objects, was being played last Wednesday by 2.2 million concurrent players on Steam, a major online gaming platform, a day after its release.

“Chinese players in the past have gone through this process of cross-cultural understanding, now it is the turn of overseas players to learn ... and understand Chinese traditional culture,” China Central Television wrote in a blog.

Drawing heavily on the story of the beloved magical monkey, Sun Wukong, who acquires supernatural powers by practising Taoism, Black Myth: Wukong can only be enjoyed if players are familiar with the plot of the 16th century classic, the national broadcaster said.

The Pc/console-based game was launched last week by Game Science, a Tencent-backed startup, to much fanfare on Chinese social media. Hashtags on the video game accumulated 1.7 billion views on China’s X-like microblog Weibo.

“This release marks a bold foray by Chinese game developers into a market long dominated by Western triple-a titles,” the official Xinhua news agency wrote in an editorial last week.

“With this breakthrough, the default language of a triple-a game is no longer English, but Chinese,” it added.

Black Myth: Wukong would “attract more global players to pay attention to domestic games”, said analysts at Shanghai-based Topsperity Securities, adding that companies across a wide range of sectors could expect to profit off intellectual property tie-ins.

Ride-hailing firm Didi, Lenovo Group and Luckin Coffee are incorporating elements inspired by Black Myth: Wukong into their promotional campaigns.

Black Myth: Wukong was widely lauded as China’s first AAA game – high development costs, long production cycles and immense investment, with industry analysts viewing its sudden fame and popularity as marking an inflection point for China’s PC/ console gaming sector.

Pre-sales, which began in June, had reached Cny400mil (Us$56mil/rm245mil) as of last Tuesday when the game was launched, according to Citi.

Feng Ji, founder of Game Science, told Xinhua in an interview that the global attention has surpassed his initial expectations and that his team would develop more of such games.

“We see signs that the government is recognising the industry’s potential value for exports and culture, notably the interview of Game Science’s founder by state media Xinhua agency ahead of its game launch,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note.

Goldman added that it expected more Chinese AAA games to enter the global market in the future.

Be that as it may, gaming stocks were unchanged last Wednesday, with concept stocks linked to the game’s development down after having risen considerably over the past month.

Unlike other Chinese games that are played on mobile devices and involve endless in-game micro-transactions, “Black Myth: Wukong” is a one-time purchase with a price tag of CNY268 (RM165) for the standard version and CNY328 (RM200) for the premium.

“It is unclear whether Black Myth: Wukong’s business model can bring more profits ... the important thing ... is that China is finally getting it’s own AAA game that can excite the world,” stateowned tabloid Global Times cited an industry insider as saying.

“Global players will be able to get a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture while having fun,” Global Times declared. – Reuters

 Some Western media politicize every Chinese achievement, even 'Black Myth: Wukong'
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Black Myth: Wukong, a video game that embodies the dream of Chinese gamers to have a game deeply rooted in Chinese culture and on par with the best games globally, has been a major hit since its debut. However, just like every success China has had, Western media's criticism is never far behind.  

Even if Western media can't deny the game's global success, there is often a classic "but" in their reports. "'Black Myth: Wukong' Is a Hit. But Why Is the Game So Controversial?" US magazine Rolling Stone asked recently, stressing that the game lacks "inclusivity and diversity." A BBC headline was entirely negative: "Blockbuster Chinese video game tried to police players - and divided the internet."

The criticism about inclusivity and diversity appears to be a rushed judgment from journalists or commentator who spent only a few hours with the game. If they played longer, they would see that female characters do appear over time. The point it, true players don't really care about it. As some overseas netizens put it - it's a game, not a movie, it doesn't need to cater to Western political correctness by including diverse female characters or transgender individuals.

The recent attacks from some Western media outlets come after Black Myth: Wukong has challenged the gaming ecosystem in the Western world, Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times. In this system, consulting firms like Sweet Baby Inc offer costly diversity, equity, and inclusion advice for video games. Black Myth: Wukong, however, not only reportedly showed no interest to obediently conform to distorted rules but also achieved unprecedented success. This has sparked both envy and fear among those who control the ecosystem and led to the recent attacks focused on gender, diversity, and inclusivity.

Moreover, the radar of some anti-China forces is triggered when Black Myth: Wukong is increasingly considered as a symbol of China's soft power, prompting foreign players to rediscover China's capabilities while promoting the global spread of traditional Chinese culture. The BBC - which cannot accept the fact that China's image is improving through the game - wrongly accuses China of censorship to dampen international perceptions of China. 

Their strategy of attacking the game is just the same old Western tactic - politicizing every Chinese achievement, even in the realm of gaming. What's next? Will they portray the Chinese gaming industry as a "threat" in the future? 

What they fail to grasp is that whether players choose to pay for a game is never about ideology, or political correctness over diversity. The game's quality is what truly matters. Feng Ji, founder of the game's developer Game Science, recently said that cultural export was not the initial goal of the game. Yet he believes that if the quality is high enough, it will naturally radiate to the overseas market. 

He made it. Black Myth: Wukong's high quality has fueled its popularity. Many international players enjoy the game, which has inspired their curiosity about Journey to the West and Chinese culture.

If Black Myth: Wukong hadn't been successful, if it hadn't topped sales charts worldwide, and if it had been just an average game, would Western media even care about it? They would probably just claim that China has no AAA game. The fact that they attack the game proves its success and highlights the persistent cultural hegemony and arrogance of some in the West. While Chinese people have long been opening up to the world, some Westerners are still unwilling to recognize China as it is.

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Our upkeep culture needs a lift

 


Two boys were lost for hours – and were found in a lift after nine hours. Why did no one know? Or even bother about a stuck lift?

I WAS a rookie reporter when I was called to the now-condemned Pekeliling Flats in Kuala Lumpur – on the eve of Deepavali.

A man had been waiting for the lift. It was pitch dark as the lights were all out and the maintenance was very poor. He pressed the lift button and the door opened.

Assuming the lift was there, he stepped in. There was nothing but thin air. The man fell more than a dozen floors, and no one knew about it until a guard on the ground floor heard some moaning.

He checked. The man had survived the fall but he broke both his legs and many bones. If he had died, they may not have found him for days!

Immediately after the tragic accident, there was an outcry over how flats in our country needed proper upkeep and maintenance. And the leaders stepped in, promising changes. City Hall also promised improvements.

But then, there is this Malay saying: “Hangat-hangat tahi ayam.” Things soon cooled down and the matter was forgotten.

The Pekeliling Flats are gone now, and the area is about to be developed into a prime commercial centre. But one thing has not changed – our maintenance culture, or the lack of it.

On Monday, two boys aged 10 and 11 went missing. One of the boys, according to his aunt, had left his home at the Desa Petaling Flats at about 2pm to buy buns and meet his friend living at the nearby Pangsaria Apartments.

When they had not returned home at 10pm – eight hours later – the families got worried. Frantically, they put out alerts on social media. They also lodged police reports and a search was mounted. They searched, and so did the cops.

It was at 1am, some three hours later, that a security guard checked the CCTV and realised the boys had actually been trapped in a lift. They had been there for about nine hours and no one had known about it.

The boys said they had tried to call out, but no one replied or came to their rescue. It’s a good thing the boys were just exhausted, hungry and sleepy when they were finally rescued, with nothing more serious happening to them.

But what if something serious had happened? Who would take the blame?

What boggles the mind is: Why did no one know that the lift had been stuck for nine hours?

Did no one else need to use it for the full nine hours? Or have the residents got so used to the lift breaking down? This happens often in many flats, where “out of order” notices are hung outside lift doors.

After more than 40 years since that Pekeliling Flats incident, our maintenance culture still sucks.

In June this year, a video of a man carrying his wheelchairusing grandmother up the stairs at the flats where they live went viral. All four lifts in the flats in Setapak were out of order.

The man said he had complained to the apartment management and technician, but nothing was done. That is how bad things are.

Of course, in many cases, the residents themselves are to be blamed. They just do not care about the upkeep of the facilities they use.

The two boys, for instance, were no angels. But they exposed both problems – vandalism and apathy.

First, the two – for some unknown reason – stuck a slipper in the lift door, causing it to go into auto-lock mode. And then, while they cried for help, no one cared about a lift that was stuck for nine hours.

Like the boys, many residents in flats around the country find joy in vandalism, damaging the buttons, doors and electrical equipment.

There are 159 People’s Housing Programme (PPR) projects with 99,000 housing units nationwide. If each unit housed between four and five people, we are talking about close to 400,000 people who are using lifts every day.

In Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, there are said to be about 150,000 PPR residents. There are already many other social problems in these flats, including a lack of cleanliness, gangsterism and drug use.

They don’t need broken down lifts as well.

Residents in Kepong, for one, have long been complaining about faulty lifts at their PPR flats. They even resorted to writing to the King.

“We commonly hear about PPR lifts breaking down all around the country and in many cases, it is the lack of spare parts that causes downtime,” said an annoyed Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng.

“Why has the availability of spare parts to repair lifts not been made a priority?” he asked. Why indeed?

All local councils need to have spare parts parked somewhere central, along with technicians who can reach the flats quickly when called.

Then, there is cronyism in the choice of contractors, which leads to incompetent people getting the maintenance jobs.

In the case of the flats in Kepong, a contractor had failed to replace six of the lifts, say residents. Yet, the same contractor was re-appointed to replace 32 lifts across 12 blocks of flats there. Who made that call?

The Malaysian Elevators and Escalators Association (yes, there is such an organisation) agrees that the poor choice of contractors by management committees was the main reason for the problem. “They just want to save costs and do the minimum maintenance,” it says.

And why do they do that? Because there are residents who do not pay management fees, forcing the committees to cut corners. It is a vicious circle.

It is important that everyone plays their part. The government has set aside Rm100mil for flats maintenance, but that is simply too little. Preventive maintenance must come from the residents themselves.

DORAIRAJ NADASON newsdesk @thestar.com.my
 
 
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Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Xi lauds Chinese Olympians for winning glory for country

 President Xi Jinping meets with China's Olympic delegation for Paris 2024 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 20, 2024. Team China clinched 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals in Paris. Photo: Xinhua

 

President Xi Jinping meets with China's Olympic delegation for Paris 2024 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 20, 2024. Team China clinched 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals in Paris. Photo: Xinhua

 


President Xi Jinping on Tuesday hailed Chinese Olympians for their performance and sportsmanship at the Paris Olympic Games, saying they have won glory for the country and the people.

Meeting China's Olympic delegation for Paris 2024 at the Great Hall of the People, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged the Olympians to make further efforts to build China into a sports powerhouse. 

China's delegation has been committed to winning gold medals for morality, conduct and integrity, and has demonstrated sportsmanship and earned broad respect and recognition, Xi said.

Team China clinched 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals in Paris, marking their best performance at an overseas Summer Olympics. 

National strength

Xi noted that the Chinese delegation's excellent performance has fully demonstrated the country's strength in the new era. The fundamental reason why China has joined the ranks of the world's leading sports nations and become a major Olympic player is the country's growing national strength, Xi said.

The competition between major powers on sports is not just about the competition between athletes, but also about the competition of national strength in science and technology, public health and infrastructure, as well as the business environment,said Li Xiang, a sports journalist and media commentator who covered Paris 2024. 

This allows everyone to not only enjoy playing and watching sports, but also allows the country's economy to benefit and profit constantly due to the sports industry, Li noted.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Xi highlighted two Chinese athletes' expressions after winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle, who broke men's 100-m freestyle world record in Paris Olympic Games, said after his win that "I dedicate this gold medal to our great motherland."

Tennis player Zheng Qinwen, who became the first Asian-born player to win a gold medal in a tennis singles event at the Olympics, said that "National honor always tops individual achievements."

The Chinese delegation's excellent performance in Paris has carried forward the spirit of Chinese sports, as well as the Olympic spirit, Xi said.

He praised the athletes for showing the world the profound heritage of traditional Chinese culture, displaying an open, inclusive, vibrant and enterprising image of modern China, and demonstrating the ambition, courage and determination of the Chinese people.

Luo Le, a sports scholar with the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, told the Global Times that "the victories of young athletes have set a significant example, encouraging more young people to pay attention to sports, engage in sports, or participate in physical activities, making sports a lifestyle choice." 

"Participating in sports not only improves physical health but also helps achieve the goal of becoming a sports powerhouse," Luo said. 

Table tennis player Ma Long, the Chinese athlete having won six Olympic gold medals, told media on Tuesday that singing the national anthem with the fans on-site at the Paris Olympics was an incredibly proud and unforgettable moment.

"Having the support of our great motherland and hundreds of millions of people behind us definitely helps us perform better," Ma said. "Sport not only strengthens the body but also teaches us how to rise again when faced with challenges and setbacks." 

Zheng, who is going to continue her professional tennis career, said that China's progress is witnessed by the equally viewing the world by the younger generation. 

"Only by viewing the world as equals can you fully unleash your true and complete potential," Zheng said. 

Eye on 2028

Xi said at the event that preparations for the next Olympics have started, it is hoped the country's Olympians remain humble while improving their performance in training and competitions.

They should continue to excel in competitive sports, and help promote national fitness and the development of youth sports, he added.

 As Team China is going to prepare for the Los Angeles Olympic Games 2028, Shen Yi, a professor on international relations at Fudan University, said that their high-quality participation could be seen as support for the host country the US, but the support is not unconditional.

It is hoped that the US can ensure the Games will be fair, and all participants, including Chinese athletes, will be treated without bias and prejudice. "We need to speak out loudly and openly" to let them know our concern, Shen told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Many people around the globe share this kind of concern caused by some behaviors by certain US agencies and media outlets during the Paris 2024 that targeted Chinese athletes on the doping issue, while Team US is being questioned seriously by media and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on the same issue with solid evidence, experts said. 

We see great achievements and also challenges from Team China's experience in Paris this year, so in the next four years, Team China as well as other sectors of our country will improve their strength and capabilities comprehensively to break more world records as well as Western dominance in some sports by clean and convincing performances, Chinese expert said.

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