Community Characteristics and Leaf Stoichiometric Traits of Desert Ecosystems Regulated by Precipitation and Soil in an Arid Area of China.

Precipitation is a key environmental factor determining plant community structure and function. Knowledge of how community characteristics and leaf stoichiometric traits respond to variation in precipitation is crucial for assessing the effects of global changes on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we measured community characteristics, leaf stoichiometric traits, and soil properties along a precipitation gradient (35-209 mm) in a desert ecosystem of Northwest China to explore the drivers of these factors. With increasing precipitation, species richness, aboveground biomass, community coverage, foliage projective cover (FPC), and leaf area index (LAI) all significantly increased, while community height decreased. The hyperarid desert plants were characterized by lower leaf carbon (C) and nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) levels, and stable N and P, and these parameters did not change significantly with precipitation. The growth of desert plants was limited more by N than P. Soil properties, rather than precipitation, were the main drivers of desert plant leaf stoichiometric traits, whereas precipitation made the biggest contribution to vegetation structure and function. These results test the importance of precipitation in regulating plant community structure and composition together with soil properties, and provide further insights into the adaptive strategy of communities at regional scale in response to global climate change.

Comprehensive treatment with Chinese medicine in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether additional Chinese medicine (CM) could prolong survival and improve the quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with Western medicine (WM) alone. METHODS: This was a multicenter, prospective cohort study. A total of 474 hospitalized patients with stage III-IV NSCLC were recruited and divided into 2 groups. Patients in the WM group received radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and optimal supportive therapy according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. In the integrative medicine (IM) group, individualized CM (Chinese patent medicines and injections) and WM were administered. The primary end point was overall survival, and the secondary end points were time to disease progression, adverse events, and QOL. Follow-up clinical examinations and chest radiography were performed every 2 months. RESULTS: The median survival was 16.60 months in the IM group and 13.13 months in the WM group (P<0.01). The incidences of loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting in the IM group were significantly lower than those in the WM group (P<0.05). The QOL based on Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung in the IM group was markedly higher than that in the WM group at the fourth course (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Additional CM may prolong survival and improve the QOL patients with NSCLC. The adverse effects of radio- and chemotherapy may be attenuated as CM is used in combination with conventional treatments.