Surprising leopard restoration in fragmented ecosystems reveals connections as the secret to conservation success.

The Chinese Loess Plateau has been the cradle of Chinese civilization and the main human settlement in China for thousands of years, where anthropogenic activities are believed to have deeply eroded natural landscapes. After decades of minimal leopard sighting in forests of northern China, due to serious human interference, we recently discovered that the leopard population is recovering. This finding provides hope for successful biodiversity conservation in human-dominated ecosystems. To understand the mechanism of leopard return into such a highly fragmented landscape, we applied the concept of ecological networks (ENs) to identify key factors promoting leopard restoration and quantify the ecological links among habitats. We first determined the existence of a healthy leopard population in the study area based on the size of its home range and presence of breeding individuals. We then innovatively used the relationship between species richness and top predators to generate ENs, and found that the connectivity of ENs had a significant positive interaction with leopard survival. Our study validates the effectiveness of establishing ecologically connected habitats for leopard protection, and highlights the importance of applying ENs for conservation planning in highly fragmented ecosystems. This study provides a successful case for the protection of top predators in human-dominated landscapes.

Effects of Qingfei Shenshi Decoction on the expressions of MMP-2, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in lung tissue of bronchial asthma mice / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of Qingfei Shenshi Decoction on the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase timps-1 (TIMP-1) in lung tissue of asthma mice.Methods:Totally 50 male BALB/C mice were divided into 5 groups: normal group, model group, dexamethasone group, Qingfei Shenshi Decoction low- and high-dosage groups (10 mice /group) according to random number table method. Asthma model mice were prepared by ovalbumin (OVA) challenge method. After successful modeling, the dexamethasone group was given dexamethasone for gavage at the rate of 1.56 mg/kg, while Qingfei Shenshi Decoction groups were given high and low doses of Qingfei Shenshi Decoction for gavage at the rate of 14.235 g/kg and 28.470 g/kg, respectively. Normal group and model group were given 0.9% sodium chloride solution by gavage. At the end of gavage administration for 4 weeks, the airway reactivity (Penh value) in each group was detected; HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of lung tissue; the contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor -α (TNF-α) in alveolar lavage fluid were determined by enzyme Linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the expressions of MMP-2, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in lung tissue were detected by Western-blot.Results:Compared with model group, the damage of airway wall and alveolar wall of lung tissue in Qingfei Shenshi Decoction groups was significantly reduced. Compared with model group, the Penh value, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α levels in Qingfei Shenshi Decoction low- and high-dosage groups decreased ( P<0.05), and the expressions of MMP-9, MMP-2 and TIMP-1 in lung tissue decreased ( P<0.05), with a certain dose dependence. Conclusion:Qingfei Shenshi Decoction can effectively alleviate airway inflammation, reduce airway hyperresponsiveness, improve lung function and inhibit airway remodeling in asthmatic mice. Its mechanism may be related to down-regulating the expressions of MMP-2, MMP-9 and TIMP-1.

Influence of Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe on IL-2 and sIL-2R Contents in Patients with Minimal Residual Disease of Myelogenous Leukemia During Dendritic Cells Derived from CD34+Cells / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To study the influence of serum containing Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe, a Chinese formula with the actions of supporting healthy qi to expel and remove toxicity, on serum levels of interleukin 2 (IL-2) and soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) at different stages of CD34+derived dendritic cells (DC) of patients with minimal residual disease of myelogenous leukemia ( MRD-L) , and to explore the biological mechanism of Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe in promoting CD34+ to transform into DC in MRD-L patients. Methods Bone marrow mononuclear cells ( BMMC) were separated from the bone marrow of acute myeloid leukemia patients at complete remission stage by using Ficoll centrifugation. CD34+ cells were isolated by using immuno-magnetic mircobeads method, and then were cultured with various concentrations of Chinese medicine medicated serum and cytokines in vitro for the induction of DC. The morphologic characteristics of DC were observed with the inverted phase contrast microscope, and the expression levels of DC surface molecules such as CD83, CD80, CD86, CD1a and HLA-DR were detected by using flow cytometry. On culturing day 0, 6 and 9, serum levels of IL-2 and sIL-2R of each group were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA). Results ( 1) Chinese medicine medicated serum combined with cytokines was effective on promoting CD34+ to differentiate into DC with typical morphology, and inducing DC to have high expression of CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA-DR, which differed from those in fetal calf serum (FCS) group and blank rabbit serum group (P0.05) . At the same time point, combination groups had lower IL-2 content than the blank rabbit serum group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusion Fuzheng Toudu Qudu Recipe is effective on increasing serum content of IL-2 and reducing sIL-2R content, and the changes of cytokine contents are more obvious along with the maturity of DC, which indicates that the recipe plays positive effect in the process of promoting CD34+cells to differentiate into DC.