Sea-level rise will reduce net CO2 uptake in subtropical coastal marshes.

Coastal marshes have a significant capacity to sequester carbon; however, sea-level rise (SLR) is expected to result in prolonged flooding and saltwater intrusion in coastal regions. To explore the effects of SLR projections on net CO2 uptake in coastal marshes, we conducted a "double-check" investigation, including the eddy covariance (EC) measurements of the CO2 fluxes in subtropical coastal marshes along inundation and salinity gradients, in combination with a mesocosm experiment for analyzing CO2 flux components under waterlogging and increased salinity conditions. During the same measurement periods, the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEEEC based on the EC dataset) in an oligohaline marsh was higher than that in a low-elevation mesohaline marsh, whereas the NEEEC was lower than that in a high-elevation freshwater marsh. The declines in NEEEC between the marshes could be attributed to a greater decrease in gross primary production relative to ecosystem respiration. Waterlogging slightly increased the NEEms (NEE based on the mesocosms) because of inhibited soil respiration and slight changes in plant photosynthesis and shoot respiration. However, the NEEms measured during the drainage period decreased significantly due to the stimulated soil respiration. The NEEms decreased with increasing salinity (except under mild salinity), and waterlogging exacerbated the adverse impacts of salinity. The amplificatory effect of decreases in both leaf photosynthesis and growth under hydrological stresses contributed more to reduce the NEEms than to respiratory effluxes. Both waterlogging and increased salinity reduced the root biomass, soil microbial biomass, and activities of assayed soil enzymes (except for cellulase under waterlogging conditions), leading to limited soil respiration. The declines in plant growth, photosynthesis, and soil respiration could also be attributed to the decrease in soil nutrients under waterlogging and increased salinity conditions. We propose that the coupling of SLR-driven hydrological effects lowers the capacity of CO2 uptake in subtropical coastal marshes.

[Synthetic lethal genes to mutant p53].

Targeted therapy has become a powerful approach for cancer treatment. Better understanding of oncogenes as well as synthetic lethal interactions with oncogenes will lead to new strategies for tumor-specific treatment. It is well known that mutant p53 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor development. Thus, understanding the synthetic lethal relationship between p53 mutations and interacting genes in tumor is critical for the personalized treatments of p53 mutant tumors. Synthetic lethal genes to mutant p53 can be divided into cell cycle regulators and non-cell cycle regulators. This paper review show these two types of target genes contribute to synthetic lethal interactions with p53 mutations and potential applications of these interactions in anticancer therapy.

Spectral Discrimination of the Invasive Plant Spartina alterniflora at Multiple Phenological Stages in a Saltmarsh Wetland.

Spartina alterniflora has widely invaded the saltmarshes of the Yangtze River Estuary and brought negative effects to the ecosystem. Remote sensing technique has recently been used to monitor its distribution, but the similar morphology and canopy structure among S. alterniflora and its neighbor species make it difficult even with high-resolution images. Nevertheless, these species have divergence on phenological stages throughout the year, which cause distinguishing spectral characteristics among them and provide opportunities for discrimination. The field spectra of the S. alterniflora community as well as its major victims, native Phragmites australis and Scirpus mariqueter, were measured in 2009 and 2010 at multi-phenological stages in the Yangtze River Estuary, aiming to find the most appropriate periods for mapping S. alterniflora. Collected spectral data were analyzed separately for every stage firstly by re-sampling reflectance curves into continued 5-nm-wide hyper-spectral bands and then by re-sampling into broad multi-spectral bands - the same as the band ranges of the TM sensor, as well as calculating commonly used vegetation indices. The results showed that differences among saltmarsh communities' spectral characteristics were affected by their phenological stages. The germination and early vegetative growth stage and the flowering stage were probably the best timings to identify S. alterniflora. Vegetation indices like NDVI, ANVI, VNVI, and RVI are likely to enhance spectral separability and also make it possible to discriminate S. alterniflora at its withering stage.

Identification of land-cover characteristics using MODIS time series data: an application in the Yangtze river estuary.

Land-cover characteristics have been considered in many ecological studies. Methods to identify these characteristics by using remotely sensed time series data have previously been proposed. However, these methods often have a mathematical basis, and more effort is required to better illustrate the ecological meanings of land-cover characteristics. In this study, a method for identifying these characteristics was proposed from the ecological perspective of sustained vegetation growth trend. Improvement was also made in parameter extraction, inspired by a method used for determining the hyperspectral red edge position. Five land-cover types were chosen to represent various ecosystem growth patterns and MODIS time series data were adopted for analysis. The results show that the extracted parameters can reflect ecosystem growth patterns and portray ecosystem traits such as vegetation growth strategy and ecosystem growth situations.

Follow-up study of survival of patients with advanced cancer in a hospice setting.

OBJECTIVE: This study was to present the survival of advanced cancer patients and explore the influence of various factors on survival time as well as survival rate. The results provide guidelines for clinical practice of cancer treatment. METHODS: Follow-up of 674 advanced cancer patients was performed in a hospice. The median survival time and survival rate were calculated, and survival analysis was carried out. RESULTS: The median survival time of all patients dying from cancer was 12.0 months and the average survival time was 25.1 months. The 1-year cumulative survival rate was 0.518±0.020 and the 5-year cumulative survival rate was 0.088±0.012. The following factors showed significant impacts on survival rate: gender, age, primary diagnosis, surgery and the time when pain appeared. CONCLUSIONS: The survival time of patients with advanced cancer was relatively short. Major approaches to extend the survival time include early detection, early diagnosis, effective surgical treatment, pain control, reasonable supply of nutrients and multiple interventions.

[Spectral characteristics and identification research of soybean under different disease stressed].

The objective of this paper is to identify disease and its severity of soybean by using single leaf spectral data in the field. The soybean spectral were measured in the Sutton Bonington Campus of University of Nottingham (52.8 degrees N, 1.2 degrees W), which infected rust disease (RD) and common mosaic disease (CMD), respectively, and continuum removal method was used to process the original spectral data, and sensitive bands were selected for disease and disease severity, and vegetation index was designed for identifying RD and CMD of soybean. The result showed spectral reflectance of soybean under CMD stressed is more than that of health in the visible region. However, spectral reflectance of soybean under RD stressed will decrease in the green region and that will increase in the red region with disease severity increasing. According to the spectral changing features, a new index R500 x R550/R680 was designed for identifying the disease of soybean. In order to test the index identifying disease ability, the J-M distances were calculated among health, RD and CMD. The result indicated index R500 x R550/R680 can better identify RD and CMD, at the same time, the index has good ability for discriminating the disease severity of soybean. The research results of this paper has important theoretical value for crops disease monitoring and prevention and practical application meanings.

Factors that influence risky sexual behaviors among men who have sex with men in Liaoning province, China: a structural equation model.

HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM) has increased rapidly in China. Behavioral and biologic interventions are the key to control the spreading of HIV in the MSM population and the primary strategy for reducing the spread of AIDS in China. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship among HIV-related knowledge, the basic information of respondents, service utilization and risky sexual behavior. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit 225 MSM in Fushun and Huludao in China. The results of univariate analysis showed that condom use in the past 6 months was associated with age, being more knowledgeable about HIV, accepting lubricant distribution, and peer education (p<0.05). The structural equation modeling (SEM) results was as following, χ(2)=863.45 (p<0.01); root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.04; goodness of fit (GFI)=0.94, which indicated the model fitted the data well. The factor loads of HIV-related knowledge, the basic information of respondents, service utilization and risky sexual behavior was -0.06, 0.07, -0.27, respectively, which indicated that service utilization was likely to be a major factor negatively impacting risky sexual behavior. For service utilization, the greatest item load was for distribution of lubricants and peer education, 0.69, 0.68, respectively. The factor load of HIV-related knowledge and service utilization was 0.15, which suggested that risky sexual behaviors might be indirectly reduced by improving HIV/AIDS knowledge to increase service utilization. Basic information (age, income, marital status, age at first sexual intercourse) had a greater impact on service utilization, with a load factor of 0.26. For basic information, the greatest item load was age (0.96). In terms of the intervention strategies, it is essential that public health education is provided for the young, to ultimately decrease risky behaviors in MSM.

Prospective cohort study of comprehensive prevention to gastric cancer.

AIM: To evaluate the preliminary effects of comprehensive prevention of gastric cancer in Zhuanghe County epidemiologically. METHODS: Stratified sampling and cluster sampling were applied to define the intervention group and the control group. The prospective cohort study was used for evaluating the effect of preventing gastric cancer. The relative risk (RR) and attributable risk percent (AR %) of intervention on gastric cancer death were calculated. Potential years of life lost (PLYY) of the disease was analyzed, and the RR and AR % of PYLL were calculated. Survival analysis was applied among the screened patients. RESULTS: In the first 4 years after intervening, the relative risk (RR) of intervention on death was 0.5059 (95 % CI: 0.3462-0.7392, P<0.05) with significance statistically. AR % of the intervention on death was 49.41 %. The RR of intervention on cumulative PYLL was 0.6778 (95 % CI: 0.5604-0.8198, P<0.05) with statistic significance. AR % of the intervention on cumulative PYLL was 30.32 %. The four-year survival rate of the screened patients was 0.6751 (95 % CI: 0.5298-0.9047). CONCLUSION: The initiative intervention results showed that the intervention approach used in the trial was effective, it reduced mortality and increased survival rate, and alleviated the adverse effect of gastric cancer on the health and life of screened population.