Challenges and Suggestions of Ethical Review on Clinical Research Involving Brain-Computer Interfaces.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is rapidly advancing in medical research and application. As an emerging biomedical engineering technology, it has garnered significant attention in the clinical research of brain disease diagnosis and treatment, neurological rehabilitation, and mental health. However, BCI also raises several challenges and ethical concerns in clinical research. In this article, the authors investigate and discuss three aspects of BCI in medicine and healthcare: the state of ethical governance, multidimensional ethical challenges pertaining to BCI in clinical research, and suggestive concerns for ethical review. Despite the great potentials of frontier BCI research and development in the field of medical care, the ethical challenges induced by itself, clinical research and complexity of brain function has put forward new special fields for ethics on BCI. To ensure "responsible innovation" BCI research in healthcare and medicine, the creation of an ethical global governance framework and system, along with special guidelines for cutting-edge BCI research in medicine are suggested.

[Relationships among different types of ecosystem service in Southwest China]. / ä¸­å›½è¥¿å—åœ°åŒºä¸åŒç±»åž‹ç”Ÿæ€ç³»ç»ŸæœåŠ¡çš„å ³ç³».

Understanding the relationships among different ecosystem services is the basis for optimizing ecological protection strategy and achieving sustainable ecological management. Based on the ecosystem services and their spatial patterns in Southwest China, we analyzed tradeoffs and synergies of five ecosystem regulation services (water retention, soil retention, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and water purification) and five provision services (rice production, wheat production, corn production, vegetable production, and fruit production) using statistical analysis, ArcGIS technology and GeoDa software. Further, we identified the win-win areas of ecosystem servi-ces through overlay analysis, and discussing the influence of ecosystem types on win-win pattern. There were synergistic relationships among different types of regulation or provision services in Southwest China, while there were both synergies and trade-offs between regulation and provision services. The high win-win areas of the total ecosystem services in Southwest China were mainly distributed in Qionglai Mountains, Ailao Mountains, Dayao Mountains, as well as Lujiang River and Lancang River basins. The proportion of forest and farmland areas significantly affected all kinds of win-win trend.

The NADPH oxidase in Volvariella volvacea and its differential expression in response to mycelial ageing and mechanical injury.

NADPH oxidases are enzymes that have been reported to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) in animals, plants and many multicellular fungi in response to environmental stresses. Six genes of the NADPH oxidase complex components, including vvnoxa, vvnoxb, vvnoxr, vvbema, vvrac1 and vvcdc24, were identified based on the complete genomic sequence of the edible fungus Volvariella volvacea. The number of vvnoxa, vvrac1, vvbema and vvcdc24 transcripts fluctuated with ageing, and the gene expression patterns of vvnoxa, vvrac1 and vvbema were significantly positively correlated. However, the expression of vvnoxb and vvnoxr showed no significant difference during ageing. In hyphae subjected to mechanical injury stress, both O2- and H2O2 concentrations were increased. The expression of vvnoxa, vvrac1, vvbema and vvcdc24 was substantially upregulated, but vvnoxb and vvnoxr showed no response to mechanical injury stress at the transcriptional level. Additionally, the transcription of vvnoxa, vvrac1, vvbema and vvcdc24 could be repressed when the intracellular ROS were eliminated by diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) chloride and reduced glutathione (GSH) treatments. These results indicated a positive feedback loop involving NADPH oxidase and intracellular ROS, which might be the reason for the oxidative burst during injury stress.

[Ecological risk assessment of landslide disasters based on potential loss of ecosystem services]. / 基于生态系统服务潜在损失的滑坡灾害生态风险评价.

Landslides are common geological calamities in mountainous regions, which not only threaten social and economic development and residents' safety but also cause ecosystem damage, with consequences on human welfare. A more comprehensive and systematic reference for disaster prevention and mitigation with ecosystem services loss as an index for the potential damage of ecosystem could aid the progress of landslide ecological risk assessment. Five provinces in Southwest China (Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing) have diverse landforms, complex stratum and lithology, and active geological tectonic movements, which are the most landslide prone areas in China. In this study, the ecological risk assessment framework, model and indicator were constructed from three dimensions, including disaster risk, vulnerability and potential loss of the ecosystem. Disaster risk was based on the comprehensive analysis of factors such as geology, topo-graphy, landform, precipitation, and their mutual relationship. The vulnerability of the ecosystem was characterized by landscape patterns indices. The potential loss was measured by ecosystem service to evaluate the ecological risk associated with landslide hazards in the five provinces of Southwest China. The results showed that the areas with high potential loss of ecosystem services were mainly distributed in the south of Ailao Mountain in Yunnan Province, Qionglai Mountain of Sichuan Pro-vince, Hengduan Mountains, Dadu River Basin, Northwest Guangxi Autonomous Region, and eastern area of Dayao Mountain. The high ecological risk of landslide hazard in the study area mainly distributed in the areas of Min Mountain, Qionglai Mountain, Wuliang Mountain, Ailao Mountain, Miao Ridge, Leigong Mountain, and Dadu River basin. With respect to altitude, 500-1500 m was the main high-risk areas, accounting for 37.9% of the high-risk area. In terms of ecosystem types, forests are the high-risk areas, accounting for 66.4% of the high-risk areas. Landslide monitoring and early warning in the high ecological risk areas should be strengthened, through strengthening ecosystem protection in the region and improving the stability and resistance of ecosystems.