Aboveground Biomass Mapping and Analysis of Spatial Drivers in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Permafrost Zone: A Case Study of the Beilu River Basin.

Aboveground biomass (AGB) serves as a crucial measure of ecosystem productivity and carbon storage in alpine grasslands, playing a pivotal role in understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle and the impacts of climate change on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. This study utilized Google Earth Engine to amalgamate Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and applied the Random Forest algorithm to estimate the spatial distribution of AGB in the alpine grasslands of the Beiliu River Basin in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau permafrost zone during the 2022 growing season. Additionally, the geodetector technique was employed to identify the primary drivers of AGB distribution. The results indicated that the random forest model, which incorporated the normalized vegetation index (NDVI), the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), the soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), and the normalized burn ratio index (NBR2), demonstrated robust performance in regards to AGB estimation, achieving an average coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.76 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 70 g/m2. The average AGB for alpine meadows was determined to be 285 g/m2, while for alpine steppes, it was 204 g/m2, both surpassing the regional averages in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The spatial pattern of AGB was primarily driven by grassland type and soil moisture, with q-values of 0.63 and 0.52, and the active layer thickness (ALT) also played a important role in AGB change, with a q-value of 0.38, demonstrating that the influences of ALT should not be neglected in regards to grassland change.

Tracing spatial patterns of lacustrine groundwater discharge in a closed inland lake using stable isotopes.

Tracing lacustrine groundwater discharge (LGD) is essential for understanding the hydrological cycle and water chemistry behaviour of lakes. LGD usually exhibits large spatial variability, but there are few reports on quantitatively revealing the spatial patterns of LGD at the whole lake scale. This study investigated the spatial patterns of LGD in Daihai Lake, a typical closed inland lake in northern China, based on the stable isotopes (δ2H and δ18O) of groundwater, surface water, and sediment pore water (SPW). The results showed that there were significant differences between the δ2H and δ18O values of different water bodies in the Daihai Lake Basin: groundwater < SPW < lake water. The LGD through SPW was found to be an important recharge pathway for the lake. Accordingly, stable isotopes of SPW showed that LGD in the northeastern and northwestern of Daihai Lake was significantly greater both horizontally and vertically than that in the other regions, and the proportions of groundwater in SPW in these two regions were 55.53% and 29.84%, respectively. Additionally, the proportion of groundwater in SPW showed a significant increase with profile depth, and the proportion reached 100% at 50 cm below the sediment surface in the northeastern of the lake where the LGD intensity was strongest. The total LGD to Daihai Lake was 1.47 × 107 m3/a, while the LGD in the northeastern and northwestern of the lake exceeded 1.9 × 106 m3/a. This study provides new insights into assessing the spatial patterns of LGD and water resource management in lakes.

Cytokine fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) polymorphisms are associated with risk of myopia in young children.

Myopia has become a major public health issue worldwide. Identification of genetic loci related to myopia in young children may advance our knowledge of the pathogenesis of myopia. Fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) plays essential roles for the development of myopia through modulating extracellular matrix-associated genes. Studies revealed that genetic variants of FGF10 were associated with extreme myopia in adults. However, their associations with susceptibility of myopia in young children, which are less affected by confounding factors and more suitable for studying genetic factors of myopia, have not been explored. In the current study, we evaluated 13 tagSNPs that captured 100% of genetic variation in the FGF10 gene region for their associations with myopia in a large Chinese case-control study with 900 myopia children and 900 nonmyopia children. We found rs2973644 was significantly associated with increased risk of myopia (odds ratio [OR]: 1.26; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.06-1.49; P = 0.009). furthermore, rs339501 (OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.18-2.53; P = 0.005), rs2973644 (OR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.13-2.19; P = 0.007), and rs79002828 (OR: 1.83; 95% CI: 1.20-2.77; P = 0.005) were significantly associated with increased risk of high myopia in young children. Functional assessment of rs2973644 by luciferase assays revealed the risk G allele causes a higher expression level of FGF10 than the protective A allele. Our results do support that genetic variants of cytokine FGF10 are associated with susceptibility of myopia (as well as high myopia) in young children and further exploration are needed for myopia in children.

Analysis of vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification in patients with vitreoretinal disease and cataract / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM:To analyze of refractive status after vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification in patients with vitreoretinal disease and cataract.METHODS:A total of 150 patients with vitreoretinal disease and cataract were treated in our hospital from January 2014 to November 2016.According to the random number table method they were divided into two groups:combination group (75 cases) with vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification,the control group (75 cases)with vitrectomy first,then phacoemulsification surgery.The recovery of visual acuity and the change of the axial length of the eyes were observed.The patients were followed up for 6mo,and the postoperative complications were recorded.RESULTS:After treatment,number of patients in the two groups with visual acuity ≥ 0.1 were significantly improved compared with before treatment (P＜0.05),and the percent in combination group was 95％,higher than 63％ in the control group (P＜0.05).There were no significant changes in the axial length before and after the operation in the two groups (P＞0.05),and there was no significant difference between the groups before and after treatment (P＞0.05).The refractive status of combination group shifted to myopia,that of control group shifted to hyperopia,two groups had no statistically significant difference on numerical prediction (P ＜ 0.05).The difference was statistically significant on the actual values (P＜0.05).The complication rate in the combination group was 24％,which was lower than 40％ in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION:Vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification on vitreoretinal diseases with cataract patients is effective,and safety,clinical application value is higher.

[Level of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-6 in aqueous humor in diabetic retinopathy patients].

PURPOSE: To explore the role of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-6 in the aqueous humor in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy(DR). METHODS: Aqueous humor samples were collected in type 2 diabetic patients during cataract surgery. The classification of DR was assigned based on the fundus examination and fluorescein angiography after cataract surgery. The experiment group included non-diabetic retinopathy (NDR,21 cases),background diabetic retinopathy (BDR,26 cases) and Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR,19 cases). The control group was the healthy cataract patients (20 cases). The levels of VEGF and IL-6 in the aqueous humor was assessed using the ELISA technique. RESULTS: The level of VEGF in NDR,BDR and PDR cases were(240.30+/-26.15)pg/ml, (292.27+/-58.91)pg/ml and (477.41+/-91.01)pg/m1, respectively. The level of IL-6 in NDR, BDR and PDR cases were (160.83+/-33.41)pg/ml, (238.60+/-62.23)pg/ml and (389.13+/-90.35)pg/ml,respectively. The levels of VEGF and IL-6 in the aqueous humour from the control group were (140.58+/-26.27) pg/ml,(82.72+/-21.53)pg/ml.The level of VEGF and IL-6 were significantly different in experiment and control groups(F=113.67,p<0.01; F=106.53, p<0.01). In the aqueous humor of diabetic patients increased significantly(p<0.O1). The level of VEGF and IL-6 was significantly correlated with each other in experiment group (r=0.995,p<0.O1). The levels of VEGF(r=0.792,0.826,0.841,p<0.01)and IL-6(r=0.829, 0.817.0.896,p<0.01)were also significantly correlated with the duration of DR. CONCLUSIONS: VEGF and IL-6 play important roles in the development of DR. The levels of these two factors are correlated with each other in DR patients.

[Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2,matrix metalloproteinase-9 and vascular endothdial growth factor in retinoblastoma and its clinical significance].

PURPOSE: To study the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in retinoblastoma (RB) and its relationship with the differentiation and optic nerve infiltration of RB. METHODS: Immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the protein expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF in 40 RB cases. RESULTS: The MMP-2, MMP-9 protein and VEGF protein expression were detected as positive in 52.5%, 57.5% and 72.5% of 40 RB cases respectively. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF was significantly higher in the undifferentiated pattern than in the rosetted pattern(p<0.05); and the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF was significantly higher in tumors with optic nerve invasion than in those without optic nerve invasion(p<0.05). In RB, the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 had a positive correlation with the expression of VEGF. CONCLUSIONS: In RB, high expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF is related to the invasion and metastasis of RB. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 is positively correlated with the expression of VEGF. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF may act as a biological marker for the invasion and metastasis of RB. The method may help screen and identify the cases with high risk for metastasis and to predict the prognosis of patients.