Biological response to Przewalski's horse reintroduction in native desert grasslands: a case study on the spatial analysis of ticks.

BACKGROUND: Reintroduction represents an effective strategy for the conservation of endangered wildlife, yet it might inadvertently impact the native ecosystems. This investigation assesses the impact of reintroducing endangered Przewalski's horses into the desert grassland ecosystem of the Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR), particularly its effect on the spatial distribution of ticks. In a 25 km2 core area of Przewalski's horse distribution, we set up 441 tick sampling sites across diverse habitats, including water sources, donkey trails, and grasslands, recording horse feces and characteristics to analyze the occurrence rate of ticks. Additionally, we gathered the data of 669 fresh feces of horses. To evaluate the spatial dynamics between these feces and ticks, we used methods such as Fixed Kernel Estimation (FKE), Moran's I spatial autocorrelation index, and Generalized Linear Models (GLM). RESULTS: The dominant species of ticks collected in the core area were adult Hyalomma asiaticum (91.36%). Their occurrence rate was higher near donkey trails (65.99%) and water sources (55.81%), particularly in areas with the fresh feces of Przewalski's horses. The ticks' three risk areas, as defined by FKE, showed significant overlap and positive correlation with the distribution of Przewalski's horses, with respective overlap rates being 90.25% in high risk, 33.79% in medium risk, and 23.09% in low risk areas. Moran's I analysis revealed a clustering trend of the fresh feces of Przewalski's horses in these areas. The GLM confirmed a positive correlation between the distribution of H. asiaticum and the presence of horse fresh feces, alongside a negative correlation with the proximity to water sources and donkey trails. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals the strong spatial correlation between Przewalski's horses and H. asiaticum in desert grasslands, underlining the need to consider interspecific interactions in wildlife reintroductions. The findings are crucial for shaping effective strategies of wildlife conservation and maintaining ecological balance.

Seronegative primary Sjögren's syndrome, a distinct subtype of primary Sjögren's syndrome in Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the clinical and immune characteristics of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) who were negative for anti-Sjögren's-syndrome-related antigen A antibodies (anti-SSA) and anti-Sjögren's-syndrome-related antigen B antibodies (anti-SSB) in Chinese population. METHODS: A retrospective study were performed and 232 patients with pSS were analyzed. Patients positive for anti-SSA or/and anti-SSB were termed as seropositive pSS, and these negative for both anti-SSA and anti-SSB (non-antinuclear antibodies) as seronegative pSS. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Among the 232 patients with pSS, 192 (82.8%) were seropositive pSS and 40 (17.2%) were seronegative pSS. Compared to seropositive pSS, seronegative pSS were older and with higher percentage of low disease activity (ESSDAI < 5), xerostomia and xerophthalmia, with higher platelet count and level of creatine kinase. This subgroup was with lower levels of gamma globulin, immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin A and autoantibodies including rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibody in serum, and less immunoglobulin G deposition in labial gland. CONCLUSION: Seronegative pSS was a distinct subtype of pSS different from seropositive pSS. Clinical manifestations in seronegative pSS subgroup were restricted to exocrine gland and less B lymphocyte activation, while seropositive pSS were prone to present with systemic involvement and high disease activity. Specific underlying pathogenesis mechanisms and therapeutic strategies in this subgroup needed to be further studied.

Discovery of a SUCNR1 antagonist for potential treatment of diabetic nephropathy: In silico and in vitro studies.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most severe complications of diabetes mellitus. Succinate Receptor 1 (SUCNR1), a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family, represents a potential target for treatment of DN. Here, utilizing multi-strategy in silico virtual screening methods containing AlphaFold2 modelling, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, ligand-based pharmacophore screening, molecular docking and machine learning-based similarity clustering, we successfully identified a novel antagonist of SUCNR1, AK-968/12117473 (Cpd3). Through extensive in vitro experiments, including dual-luciferase reporter assay, cellular thermal shift assay, immunofluorescence, and western blotting, we substantiated that Cpd3 could specifically target SUCNR1, inhibit the activation of NF-κB pathway, and ameliorate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in renal tubular epithelial cells (NRK-52E) under high glucose conditions. Further in silico simulations revealed the molecular basis of the SUCNR1-Cpd3 interaction, and the in vitro metabolic stability assay indicated favorable drug-like pharmacokinetic properties of Cpd3. This work not only successfully pinpointed Cpd3 as a specific antagonist of SUCNR1 to serve as a promising candidate in the realm of therapeutic interventions for DN, but also provides a paradigm of dry-wet combined discovery strategies for GPCR-based therapeutics.

Combined pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio predicts survival and prognosis in patients with non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a retrospective study.

The clinical significance of the combination of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is unclear. This study investigated the predictive value of pretreatment NLR (pre-NLR) combined with pretreatment PLR (pre-PLR) for the survival and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). A total of 765 patients with non-metastatic NPC from two hospitals were retrospectively analyzed. The pre-NLR-PLR groups were as follows: HRG, high pre-NLR and high pre-PLR. MRG, high pre-NLR and low pre-PLR or low pre-NLR and high pre-PLR. LRG, neither high pre-NLR nor high pre-PLR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify the cutoff-value and discriminant performance of the model. We compared survival rates and factors affecting the prognosis among different groups. The 5-year overall survival (OS), local regional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients in HRG were significantly poorer than those in MRG and LRG. The pre-NLR-PLR score was positively correlated with T stage, clinical stage, ECOG, and pathological classification. Multivariate cox regression analysis showed that pre-NLR-PLR scoring system, ECOG, pre-ALB, pre-CRP and pre-LMR were independent risk factors affecting 5-year OS, LRRFS and DMFS. The ROC curve showed that area under the curve (AUC) values of pre-NLR-PLR of 5-year OS, LRRFS and DMFS were higher than those of pre-NLR and pre-PLR. pre-NLR-PLR is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of NPC. The pre-NLR-PLR scoring system can be used as an individualized clinical assessment tool to predict the prognosis of patients with non-metastatic NPC more accurately and easily.

MMP12 is a Potential Predictive and Prognostic Biomarker of Various Cancers Including Lung Adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the clinical value of matrix metalloproteinases 12 (MMP12) in multiple cancers, including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). METHODS: Using >10,000 samples, this retrospective study demonstrated the first pan-cancer analysis of MMP12. The expression of MMP12 between cancer groups and their control groups was analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The clinical significance of MMP12 expression in multiple cancers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves, Kaplan-Meier curves, and univariate Cox analysis. A further LUAD-related analysis based on 4565 multi-center and in-house samples was performed to verify the findings regarding MMP12 in pan-cancer analysis partly. RESULTS: MMP12 mRNA is highly expressed in 13 cancers compared to their controls, and the MMP12 protein level is elevated in some of these cancers (e.g., colon adenocarcinoma) (P < .05). MMP12 expression makes it feasible to distinguish 21 cancer tissues from normal tissues (AUC = 0.86). A high MMP12 expression is a prognosis risk factor in eight cancers, such as adrenocortical carcinoma (hazard ratio >1, P < .05). The elevated MMP12 expression is also a prognosis protective factor in breast-invasive carcinoma and colon adenocarcinoma (hazard ratio <1, P < .05). Some pan-cancer findings regarding MMP12 are verified in LUAD-MMP12 expression is upregulated in LUAD at both the mRNA and protein levels (P < .05), has the potential to distinguish LUAD with considerable accuracy (AUC = .91), and plays a risk prognosis factor for patients with the disease (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: MMP12 is highly expressed in most cancers and may serve as a novel biomarker for the prediction and prognosis of numerous cancers.

Studies on the embryonic development and larval infection potential of the stomach bot flies, Gasterophilus pecorum.

Endangered Przewalski's horses have faced severe infections from Gasterophilus pecorum (Diptera, Gastrophilidae) in Xinjiang's Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR). This study examines G. pecorum's development and infection patterns in embryonic and larval stages, crucial for understanding horse botfly disease in desert grasslands. For the incubation of G. pecorum fertilized eggs, we established the six distinct temperature gradients: 16 °C, 20 °C, 24 °C, 28 °C, 30 °C, and 32 °C. Using the least squares method, we calculated the correlation between the developmental threshold temperature of the eggs and their cumulative effective temperature. Furthermore, we meticulously recorded the survival duration of the larvae across a spectrum of temperature gradients (-20 °C, -10 °C, 4 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C, and 30 °C) and under varying conditions (dark and light). This method allows us to analyze and interpret the impact of these environmental factors on larval survival durations. 1) The formula for predicting the embryonic development period of G. pecorum was N = (182.7 ± 12.03)/[T-(3.191 ± 1.48)], where the developmental threshold temperature was 3.191 ± 1.48 °C, and the effective accumulated temperature was 182.7 ± 12.03 d°C 2) The model describing the relationship between the embryonic development rate and temperature was: y = 0.0001x2+0.0007x+0.0378, demonstrating a positive correlation between the development rate and temperature (R-sq = 0.989, p < 0.001). 3) Larvae in the dark group exhibited a longer survival time, with the longest being 9 months at 4 °C. The adaptation of G. pecorum's embryonic development to cold temperature, combined with the extended survival period of larvae in the egg state, significantly increases the infection potential of G. pecorum in colder climates. This discovery offers essential insights into the predominance of G. pecorum in the KNR region and provides a crucial biological basis for the prevention of myiasis and the conservation of vulnerable species, such as Przewalski's horses.

Circulating cell-free DNA correlate to disease activity and treatment response of patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Microdamage and its related inflammation contribute to the development of radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (r-axSpA). Inflammation and cell death in damaged tissues are associated with cell-free DNA (cfDNA) release. Here we investigated whether circulating cfDNA could be a potential biomarker for evaluating disease activity and treatment response in r-axSpA. Circulating cfDNA was detected in the discovery and validation cohort with 79 and 60 newly diagnosed r-axSpA patients respectively and 42 healthy controls using the Quant-iT PicoGreen dsDNA reagent and kit. As a result, cfDNA levels were significantly higher in r-axSpA patients compared with healthy controls in the discovery and validation cohort. Moreover, cfDNA levels were positively correlated with CRP, ASDAS-CRP and neutrophil counts. Additionally, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) combined with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs or tumor necrosis factor inhibitors but not NSAIDs alone could reduce cfDNA levels. Moreover, a decrease of cfDNA levels after treatment was associated with an effective therapeutic response. Intriguingly, patients with higher levels of cfDNA at diagnosis responded better to combination therapy rather than NSAIDs. However, patients with lower levels of cfDNA displayed similar responses to combination or mono-NSAID treatment. In conclusion, circulating cfDNA levels showed a significant correlation with disease activity as well as treatment efficacy in patients with r-axSpA. Moreover, cfDNA at diagnosis might predict the response to different therapy. Consequently, cfDNA may serve as a useful biomarker of inflammation in r-axSpA.

The feasibility of level Ib-sparing intensity-modulated radiation therapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and high-risk factors classified based on the International Guideline.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To examine the feasibility of level Ib-sparing intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who had high-risk factors classified based on the International Guideline (IG). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 961 non-metastatic NPC cases based on IG recommendations for prophylactic Ib irradiation. Four high-risk factors were used to categorise patients into three cohorts: A, B, and C. Propensity score matching was used to balance baseline characteristics in Cohort C, resulting in a matched Cohort C. Recurrence rates at level Ib and regional relapse-free survival (RRFS) rates were evaluated. RESULTS: Among patients with negative Ib lymph nodes (LNs), 18, 54, 420, and 444 exhibited involvement of structures that drain to level Ib as the first echelon (FES), involvement of the submandibular gland (SMG), level II LNs with radiologic extranodal extension (rENE), and level II nodes with a maximal axial diameter (MAD) ≥ 2 cm, respectively. The recurrence rate was highest in Cohort A (11.1 %). Cohort B had no level Ib recurrence. In matched Cohort C, recurrence rates were low in both groups (Ib-sparing group: 0.6 % vs. Ib-covering group: 0.6 %, P > 0.999). No significant differences were observed in 5-year RRFS rates between the two groups in cohort A (p = 0.208), cohort B (p = 0.905), and matched cohort C (p = 0.423). CONCLUSIONS: Level Ib-sparing IMRT could be performed safely for NPC patients with level II LNs who had rENE and/or MAD ≥ 2 cm. Further research should determine the necessity of level Ib prophylactic irradiation for patients with FES or SMG involvement.

Efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation in patients with Parkinson's disease: clinical trial results from a randomized, placebo-controlled design.

The occurrence and development of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been demonstrated to be related to gut dysbiosis, however, the impact of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) on microbiota engraftment in PD patients is uncertain. We performed a randomized, placebo-controlled trial at the Department of Neurology, Army Medical University Southwest Hospital in China (ChiCTR1900021405) from February 2019 to December 2019. Fifty-six participants with mild to moderate PD (Hoehn-Yahr stage 1-3) were randomly assigned to the FMT and placebo group, 27 patients in the FMT group and 27 in the placebo group completed the whole trial. During the follow-up, no severe adverse effect was observed, and patients with FMT treatment showed significant improvement in PD-related autonomic symptoms compared with the placebo group at the end of this trial (MDS-UPDRS total score, group×time effect, B = -6.56 [-12.98, -0.13], P < 0.05). Additionally, FMT improved gastrointestinal disorders and a marked increase in the complexity of the microecological system in patients. This study demonstrated that FMT through oral administration is clinically feasible and has the potential to improve the effectiveness of current medications in the clinical symptoms of PD patients.

Early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma via no end-repair enzymatic methylation sequencing of cell-free DNA and pre-trained neural network.

BACKGROUND: Early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is important in order to improve patient prognosis and survival rate. Methylation sequencing combined with neural networks to identify cell-free DNA (cfDNA) carrying aberrant methylation offers an appealing and non-invasive approach for HCC detection. However, some limitations exist in traditional methylation detection technologies and models, which may impede their performance in the read-level detection of HCC. METHODS: We developed a low DNA damage and high-fidelity methylation detection method called No End-repair Enzymatic Methyl-seq (NEEM-seq). We further developed a read-level neural detection model called DeepTrace that can better identify HCC-derived sequencing reads through a pre-trained and fine-tuned neural network. After pre-training on 11 million reads from NEEM-seq, DeepTrace was fine-tuned using 1.2 million HCC-derived reads from tumor tissue DNA after noise reduction, and 2.7 million non-tumor reads from non-tumor cfDNA. We validated the model using data from 130 individuals with cfDNA whole-genome NEEM-seq at around 1.6X depth. RESULTS: NEEM-seq overcomes the drawbacks of traditional enzymatic methylation sequencing methods by avoiding the introduction of unmethylation errors in cfDNA. DeepTrace outperformed other models in identifying HCC-derived reads and detecting HCC individuals. Based on the whole-genome NEEM-seq data of cfDNA, our model showed high accuracy of 96.2%, sensitivity of 93.6%, and specificity of 98.5% in the validation cohort consisting of 62 HCC patients, 48 liver disease patients, and 20 healthy individuals. In the early stage of HCC (BCLC 0/A and TNM I), the sensitivity of DeepTrace was 89.6 and 89.5% respectively, outperforming Alpha Fetoprotein (AFP) which showed much lower sensitivity in both BCLC 0/A (50.5%) and TNM I (44.7%). CONCLUSIONS: By combining high-fidelity methylation data from NEEM-seq with the DeepTrace model, our method has great potential for HCC early detection with high sensitivity and specificity, making it potentially suitable for clinical applications. DeepTrace: https://github.com/Bamrock/DeepTrace.

Impact of land use on water quality in buffer zones at different scales in the Poyang Lake, middle reaches of the Yangtze River basin.

The water quality of Poyang Lake (PYL) is significantly influenced by land use which is a crucial factor that can exhibit complex changes in the environment and can serve as an indicator of the intensity of human activity. Therefore, this study analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of nutrients and investigated the effects of land-use factors on water quality in the PYL during 2016-2019. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Although there was some variation in the accuracy of the water quality inversion models (random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and multiple statistical regression models), they were homogeneous. In particular, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration from band (B) 2 and B2-B10 regression model was more consistent with each other. In contrast, the overall concentration levels from the combined B9/(B2-B4) triple-band regression model were relatively low, with approximately 0.03 mg/L in most areas of PYL. (2) The optimal inversion method varied for different water quality parameters. For instance, RF obtained better inversion of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN), with the fitting coefficient (r2) of 0.78 and 0.81, respectively; SVM had higher accuracy in the inversion of permanganate index (CODMn), with r2 of approximately 0.61; the accuracy of multi-band combined regression model in the inversion of each water quality parameter was at a higher level. (3) The influence of land use on water quality at different scales of buffer zone was different. In general, the correlation between water quality parameters and land use was higher at large spatial scales (1000-5000 m) than at small spatial scales (100 m, 500 m). A common feature of all hydrological stations was the significant negative correlation between crops, buildings, and water quality at all buffer scales. This study is of great practical significance for promoting water environment management and water quality health in the PYL.

Fraxin represses NF-κB pathway via inhibiting the activation of epidermal growth factor receptor to ameliorate diabetic renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis.

Renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis (RIF), featured by epithelial-to-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells and collagen deposition in the renal interstitial region, is the main pathological change of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Fraxin, the main active component of Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance with anti-inflammatory activity, has been demonstrated to ameliorate glomerulosclerosis. However, the regulatory role of Fraxin on diabetic RIF remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the renal protective benefits of Fraxin against diabetic RIF and elucidated its mechanisms. In vitro, Fraxin inhibited the abnormal expression of EMT-related markers and proinflammatory cytokines, improved cellular morphology, and subsequently reduced the extracellular matrix (ECM) production in high glucose (HG)-induced NRK-52E cells. In vivo, Fraxin effectively ameliorated renal function, inhibited the abnormal expression of EMT-related markers and proinflammatory cytokines, and reduced ECM deposition in renal tubule interstitium in db/db mice. Notably, Fraxin could directly bind to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which contributed to the inhibition of EGFR phosphorylation and counteracted the activation of c-Src/NF-κB pathway, eventually ameliorating RIF. Thus, Fraxin may be a potential drug candidate for treating DN.

The degradation of TGR5 mediated by Smurf1 contributes to diabetic nephropathy.

The multiple roles of TGR5 in the regulation of glucose metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress have drawn attention as therapeutic candidates for diabetes-related kidney disease. However, diabetes induces downregulation of renal TGR5 protein expression, and the regulatory mechanisms have not been clarified. Here, we identify that Smurf1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is a critical interactor of TGR5 and mediates the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of TGR5 under high glucose stimulation in glomerular mesangial cells. Genetic deficiency of Smurf1 restores TGR5 protein expression and attenuates renal injuries in diabetic mice. Mechanistically, Smurf1 interacts with the TGR5 ICL2 region by its HECT domain and induces K11/K48-linked polyubiquitination of TGR5 at K306 residue. Moreover, restoration of TGR5 protects db/db mice from diabetic nephropathy. These observations elucidate the critical role of Smurf1 in regulating TGR5 stability, suggesting that pharmacological targeting of the interaction between Smurf1 and TGR5 could serve as a promising therapeutic strategy against diabetic nephropathy.

A Novel Unsupervised Video Anomaly Detection Framework Based on Optical Flow Reconstruction and Erased Frame Prediction.

Reconstruction-based and prediction-based approaches are widely used for video anomaly detection (VAD) in smart city surveillance applications. However, neither of these approaches can effectively utilize the rich contextual information that exists in videos, which makes it difficult to accurately perceive anomalous activities. In this paper, we exploit the idea of a training model based on the "Cloze Test" strategy in natural language processing (NLP) and introduce a novel unsupervised learning framework to encode both motion and appearance information at an object level. Specifically, to store the normal modes of video activity reconstructions, we first design an optical stream memory network with skip connections. Secondly, we build a space-time cube (STC) for use as the basic processing unit of the model and erase a patch in the STC to form the frame to be reconstructed. This enables a so-called "incomplete event (IE)" to be completed. On this basis, a conditional autoencoder is utilized to capture the high correspondence between optical flow and STC. The model predicts erased patches in IEs based on the context of the front and back frames. Finally, we employ a generating adversarial network (GAN)-based training method to improve the performance of VAD. By distinguishing the predicted erased optical flow and erased video frame, the anomaly detection results are shown to be more reliable with our proposed method which can help reconstruct the original video in IE. Comparative experiments conducted on the benchmark UCSD Ped2, CUHK Avenue, and ShanghaiTech datasets demonstrate AUROC scores reaching 97.7%, 89.7%, and 75.8%, respectively.

Prognostic value of EBV DNA and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a retrospective study.

PURPOSE: Analyzing the prognostic value of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, thereby developing a reliable and effective marker. METHODS: We compared survival rates among different groups using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Log-rank test. The factors affecting the prognosis of NPC patients were determined using univariate and multivariate cox regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify the cutoff-value and discriminant performance of the model. RESULTS: The ROC curve indicated a cut-off value of 775 copies/ml for EBV DNA and 203.3 for PLR. Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank tests showed that 3-year overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients in high risk group (HRG) were significantly poorer than those in medium risk group (MRG) and low risk group (LRG). The 3-year OS of NPC patients was significantly correlated with age, N stage and EBV DNA-PLR. The 3-year LRFS were significantly correlated with sex, N stage, histology type, and EBV DNA-PLR. The 3-year DMFS were correlated with histology type. The ROC curve showed that area under the curve (AUC) values of EBV DNA-PLR of 3-year OS, LRFS and DMFS in NPC were higher than those of PLR and EBV DNA. CONCLUSION: EBV DNA-PLR is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of NPC. Compared with PLR or EBV DNA alone, the combination of EBV DNA and PLR may be more accurate in predicting the prognosis of NPC patients.

Ecological response of an umbrella species to changing climate and land use: Habitat conservation for Asiatic black bear in the Sichuan-Chongqing Region, Southwestern China.

Climate and land use changes are increasingly recognized as major threats to global biodiversity, with significant impacts on wildlife populations and ecosystems worldwide. The study of how climate and land use changes impact wildlife is of paramount importance for advancing our understanding of ecological processes in the face of global environmental change, informing conservation planning and management, and identifying the mechanisms and thresholds that underlie species' responses to shifting climatic conditions. The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is a prominent umbrella species in a biodiversity hotspot in Southwestern China, and its conservation is vital for safeguarding sympatric species. However, the extent to which this species' habitat may respond to global climate and land use changes is poorly understood, underscoring the need for further investigation. Our goal was to anticipate the potential impacts of upcoming climate and land use changes on the distribution and dispersal patterns of the Asiatic black bear in the Sichuan-Chongqing Region. We used MaxEnt modeling to evaluate habitat vulnerability using three General Circulation Models (GCMs) and three scenarios of climate and land use changes. Subsequently, we used Circuit Theory to identify prospective dispersal paths. Our results revealed that the current area of suitable habitat for the Asiatic black bear was 225,609.59 km2 (comprising 39.69% of the total study area), but was expected to decrease by -53.1%, -49.48%, and -28.55% under RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 projection scenarios, respectively. Across all three GCMs, the distribution areas and dispersal paths of the Asiatic black bear were projected to shift to higher altitudes and constrict by the 2070s. Furthermore, the results indicated that the density of dispersal paths would decrease, while the resistance to dispersal would increase across the study area. In order to protect the Asiatic black bear, it is essential to prioritize the protection of climate refugia and dispersal paths. Our findings provide a sound scientific foundation for the allocation of such protected areas in the Sichuan-Chongqing Region that are both effective and adaptive in the face of ongoing global climate and land use changes.

Leaky-wave metasurfaces for integrated photonics.

Metasurfaces have been rapidly advancing our command over the many degrees of freedom of light; however, so far, they have been mostly limited to manipulating light in free space. Metasurfaces integrated on top of guided-wave photonic systems have been explored to control the scattering of light off-chip with enhanced functionalities-namely, the point-by-point manipulation of amplitude, phase or polarization. However, these efforts have so far been limited to controlling one or two optical degrees of freedom at best, as well as device configurations much more complex compared with conventional grating couplers. Here we introduce leaky-wave metasurfaces, which are based on symmetry-broken photonic crystal slabs that support quasi-bound states in the continuum. This platform has a compact form factor equivalent to the one of grating couplers, but it provides full command over the amplitude, phase and polarization (four optical degrees of freedom) across large apertures. We present devices for phase and amplitude control at a fixed polarization state, and devices controlling all the four optical degrees of freedom for operation at a wavelength of 1.55 µm. Merging the fields of guided and free-space optics through the hybrid nature of quasi-bound states in the continuum, our leaky-wave metasurfaces may find applications in imaging, communications, augmented reality, quantum optics, LIDAR and integrated photonic systems.

LPCAT1 enhances the invasion and migration in gastric cancer: Based on computational biology methods and in vitro experiments.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The biological functions and clinical implications of lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (LPCAT1) remain unclarified in gastric cancer (GC). The aim of the current study was to explore the possible clinicopathological significance of LPCAT1 and its perspective mechanism in GC tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The protein expression and mRNA levels of LPCAT1 were detected from in-house immunohistochemistry and public high-throughput RNA arrays and RNA sequencing. To have a comprehensive understanding of the clinical value of LPCAT1 in GC, all enrolled data were integrated to calculate the expression difference and standard mean difference (SMD). The biological mechanism of LPCAT1 in GC was confirmed by computational biology and in vitro experiments. Migration and invasion assays were also conducted to confirm the effect of LPCAT1 in GC. RESULTS: Both protein and mRNA expression levels of LPCAT1 in GC were remarkably higher than those in noncancerous controls. Comprehensively, the SMD of LPCAT1 mRNA was 1.11 (95% CI = 0.86-1.36) in GC, and the summarized AUC was 0.85 based on 15 datasets containing 1727 cases of GC and 940 cases of non-GC controls. Moreover, LPCAT1 could accelerate the invasion and migration of GC by boosting the neutrophil degranulation pathway and disturbing the immune microenvironment. CONCLUSION: An increased level of LPCAT1 may promote the progression of GC.

Retraction notice to "Berberine ameliorates renal injury in diabetic C57BL/6 mice: Involvement of suppression of SphK-S1P signaling pathway" [Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 502(2010) 112-120].

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. This article shows significant data duplication and overlap with Liu, Weihua et al., Effects of berberine on matrix accumulation and NF-kappa B signal pathway in alloxan-induced diabetic mice with renal injury. European Journal of Pharmacology. 2010 Jul 25; 638(1-3):150-5 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2010.04.033) without adequate referencing. Although there is a slight difference in the methodology section regarding alloxan-induced diabetes models in the two articles, there is a clear overlap between Table 2 of Lan, Tian et al. (2010); and Tables 1 and 2 of Liu, Weihua et al. (2010). The two manuscripts were submitted from the same laboratory in the same year.

A hypothesis for robust polarization vision: an example from the Australian imperial blue butterfly, Jalmenus evagoras.

The Australian lycaenid butterfly Jalmenus evagoras has iridescent wings that are sexually dimorphic, spectrally and in their degree of polarization, suggesting that these properties are likely to be important in mate recognition. We first describe the results of a field experiment showing that free-flying individuals of J. evagoras discriminate between visual stimuli that vary in polarization content in blue wavelengths but not in others. We then present detailed reflectance spectrophotometry measurements of the polarization content of male and female wings, showing that female wings exhibit blue-shifted reflectance, with a lower degree of polarization relative to male wings. Finally, we describe a novel method for measuring alignment of ommatidial arrays: by measuring variation of depolarized eyeshine intensity from patches of ommatidia as a function of eye rotation, we show that (a) individual rhabdoms contain mutually perpendicular microvilli; (b) many rhabdoms in the array have their microvilli misaligned with respect to neighboring rhabdoms by as much as 45 deg; and (c) the misaligned ommatidia are useful for robust polarization detection. By mapping the distribution of the ommatidial misalignments in eye patches of J. evagoras, we show that males and females exhibit differences in the extent to which ommatidia are aligned. Both the number of misaligned ommatidia suitable for robust polarization detection and the number of aligned ommatidia suitable for edge detection vary with respect to both sex and eye patch elevation. Thus, J. evagoras exhibits finely tuned ommatidial arrays suitable for perception of polarized signals, likely to match sex-specific life history differences in the utility of polarized signals.