Monitoring land use land cover changes and its impacts on land surface temperature over Mardan and Charsadda Districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan.

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes due to urban growth on the regional scale affect land surface temperature (LST). The present study aims to assess the LULC changes and their impact on LST over Mardan and Charsadda districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, in the period from 1990 to 2019. Landsat satellite (TM& ETM +) datasets in the period from 1990 to 2010 and Sentinel-2 images from 2016 to 2019 were used in this study. All the datasets were pre-processed and the LULC types were classified by maximum likelihood classification algorithm. The vegetation degradation was computed from normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the LST was derived based on the LULC changes. The results showed that the overall accuracy of LULC classification was 87.84%. Dramatic LULC changes were observed during the last three decades, where the vegetation degradation area was decreased from 1307.8 (59.27%) to 1147.6 km2 (52.1%) and the barren land area increased from 816.6 (37.07%) to 961.4 km2 (42.64%). Similarly, the built-up area has also increased from 57.2 (2.5%) to 104.3 km2 (4.73%) in the years 1990 and 2019, respectively. These variations in LULC types have significantly influenced the LST from 1990 to 2019; specifically, the LST of built-up area, barren land, and vegetation cover increased from 20.1 to 32.1 °C, 21.5 to 35.5 °C, and 17.1 to 28.2 °C, respectively. The regression line plotted defines that the LST has a negative correlation with NDVI and a positive correlation with normalized difference of built-up index (NDBI). In particular, the vegetation and land covers dramatically transformed to barren land and/or to urban development over the study area in the period from 1990 to2019, which has severely affected the LST and the natural resources of the study area. Therefore, our study will be very helpful for managing the rapid environmental changes and urban planning.

[Effect of oblique needling at Ashi-point on expression of MyoD1/Pax7 in mice with quadriceps femoris injury].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of oblique needling at Ashi-point on behavior, and cell morphology, myogenic differentiation antigen (MyoD1) and paired box transcription factor Pax7 (Pax7) of quadriceps femoris tissue in quadriceps femoris injured mice. METHODS: A total of 24 C57BL/6 male mice were randomly divided into control, model, shallow insertion and deep insertion groups, with 6 mice in each group. The quadriceps femoris injury model was established by single intramuscular injection of 0.5% bupivacaine (BPVC). Twenty-four hours after modeling, mice of the two acupuncture groups were received oblique needling on the surface or through the muscle belly of quadriceps femoris for once, the oblique needling was lifted and inserted 3 times. The climbing pole test was conducted 24 h after modeling and 24 h after EA. Histopathological changes of quadriceps femoris was observed by H.E. staining. The expressions of MyoD1 and Pax7 were detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the score of climbing pole test was lower (P<0.01), and the expressions of MyoD1 and Pax7 significantly increased (P<0.01) in the model group. After the intervention and compared with the model group, the score of climbing pole test was higher (P<0.01), and the expressions of MyoD1 and Pax7 obviously increased (P<0.01) in the two acupuncture groups. The therapeutic effect of deep insertion group was apparently superior to that of shallow insertion group in up-regulating the climbing pole test score and expressions of MyoD1 and Pax7 (P<0.05, P<0.01). H.E. stain showed large areas of inflammatory infiltration, muscle cells swelling, atrophy, rupture, degeneration and necrosis, different cell sizes and morphologies, enlarged intervals, nuclear aggregation, deep nuclear staining, nuclear pyknosis, and hemorrhage in the model group, which was relatively milder in both needling groups. CONCLUSION: Oblique needling at Ashi-point can effectively promote the benign repair of injured quadriceps muscle and promote the recovery of exercise ability in mice, which may be associated with its effect in up-regulating the expression of MyoD1 and Pax7 protein. The role of deep insertion is superior to that of shallow insertion.

[The subpopulation CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+);/CD127(low/-); regulatory T cells in peripheral blood of HIV-infected patients correlated with disease progression].

AIM: To explore the subpopulation of CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+); regulatory T cells (Treg), CD4(+); CD25(+); CD127(low/-); Treg in peripheral blood of HIV-infected patients and study its correlation with other immune indicators. METHODS: We enrolled 68 cases of HIV/AIDS patients without anti-HIV treatment [29 cases of long-term non-progressive (LTNP) group, 27 cases of typical progressive HIV infection group and 12 cases of AIDS group] and 20 healthy individuals as a control group. Blood samples of these cases were analyzed by flow cytometry after immunofluorescent staining to determine the levels of CD4(+); T cells, CD8(+); T cells, NK cells and CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+);/CD127(low/-); Treg. RESULTS: Except CD8(+); T cells, the levels of CD4(+); T, NK cells and CD4(+);/CD8(+); in peripheral blood of HIV/AIDS patients were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05); With the progression of disease, the percentage and absolute count of CD4(+);T cells, the absolute counts of CD8(+);T cells and NK cells, and CD4(+);/CD8(+); T cell ratio in the LTNP group, HIV group and AIDS group decreased gradually, while the percentage of CD8(+);T cells increased gradually. Our multiple comparison analysis revealed that the percentages of CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+); Treg and CD4(+); CD25(+); CD127(low/-); Treg in CD4(+); T cells were significantly different among groups (P<0.05). With the progression of disease, the percentages of CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+); Treg and CD4(+); CD25(+); CD127(low/-); Treg increased gradually; in addition, the difference in the absolute count of CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+);/CD127(low/-); Treg was not statistically significant between LTNP group and healthy control group(P>0.05), so was between HIV and AIDS groups (P>0.05); no significant difference was found in every other two groups (P<0.05); the absolute count of CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+);/CD127(low/-); Treg decreased gradually. CONCLUSION: CD4(+); CD25(+); Foxp3(+);/CD127(low/-); Treg may play a role in the immunopathogenesis of persistent HIV infection.

[Rapid determination of optimal time for peripheral blood stem cell harvest by detecting hematopoietor progenitor cell during mobilization].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a simple method to rapidly determine the optimal time of perpheral blood stem cell harvest. METHODS: We selected 5 healthy donors mobilized with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in allogenic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (allo-PBSCT) to continuously monitor the variety of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSC/HPC) in the peripheral blood. HPC in the peripheral blood was detected by Sysmex XE-2100 fully automated hematology analyzer with an immature myeloid information channel and the CD34+ cells and colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) were determined by flow cytometry and colony culture during mobilization. RESULTS: HPC was positively correlated with the CD34+ cells or CFU-GM in the peripheral blood (r = 0.82 or r = 0.85, respectively). HPC, CD34+ cells, and CFU-GM in allo-PBSCT donors obviously increased on the 4th day after the mobilization, and their peaks were on the 5th day after the mobilization. But HPC varied more than CD34+ cells and CFU-GM did. CONCLUSION: Sysmex XE-2100 can rapidly monitor the variety of HSC/HPC in allo-PBSCT donors mobilizated with G-CSF, and can provide a simple and economic method to determine the optimal time of peripheral blood stem cell harvest.