Analysis of the evolutionary process and the driving forces of the meliorization model (MM) for sustainable land use is the focus of landsenses ecology. Among different landsenses, the relationships ...between landscape preference changes and land-use dynamics have not been fully explored. Taking Fujian Province as an example, we investigated landscape preference changes during urbanization, which represents the most prominent driver and key process of land-use dynamics in China. Mix-marching data from a survey questionnaire of 2044 residents at different urbanization levels were used to reveal landscape preference changes during urbanization. The findings demonstrated that urbanization, rather than naturalness, was a better predictor of a person's preferences for natural landscapes. The more urbanized the area that a person resides in, the more they prefer natural landscapes. Furthermore, the younger the population, the higher the preference for natural landscapes is. Teenagers always prefer landscapes with high naturalness regardless of the level of urbanization of where they live. Older people had a lower preference for natural landscapes. There was also greater variation with respect preference for different levels of urbanization: Males less preferred natural landscape compared with females. This study presents potential development patterns of landscape preferences during urbanization considering demographic differences, which may expand our understanding of the dynamic development of the MM.
The Tibetan Plateau accounts for about a quarter of the total land area of China and has a variety of ecosystems ranging from alpine tundra to evergreen tropics. Its soils are dominated by permafrost ...and are rich in organic carbon. Its climate is unique due to the influence of the Asian monsoon and its complex topography. To date, the carbon dynamics of the Tibetan Plateau have not been well quantified under changes of climate and permafrost conditions. Here we use a process-based biogeochemistry model, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM), which was incorporated with a soil thermal model, to examine the permafrost dynamics and their effects on carbon dynamics on the plateau during the past century. The Tibetan Plateau. We parameterize and verify the TEM using the existing data for soil temperature, permafrost distribution and carbon and nitrogen from the region. We then extrapolate the model and parameters to the whole plateau. During the 20th century, the Tibetan Plateau changed from a small carbon source or neutral in the early part of the century to a sink later, with a large inter-annual and spatial variability due to changes of climate and permafrost conditions. Net primary production and soil respiration increased by 0.52 and 0.22 Tg C year⁻¹, respectively, resulting in a regional carbon sink increase of 0.3 Tg C year⁻¹. By the end of the century, the regional carbon sink reached 36 Tg C year⁻¹ and carbon storage in vegetation and soils is 32 and 16 Pg C, respectively. On the plateau, from west to east, the net primary production, soil respiration and net ecosystem production increased, due primarily to the increase of air temperature and precipitation and lowering elevation. In contrast, the decrease of carbon fluxes from south to north was primarily controlled by precipitation gradient. Dynamics of air temperature and associated soil temperature and active layer depth resulted in a higher plant carbon uptake than soil carbon release, strengthening the regional carbon sink during the century. We found that increasing soil temperature and deepening active layer depth enhanced soil respiration, increasing the net nitrogen mineralization rate. Together with the effects of warming air temperature and rising CO₂ concentrations on photosynthesis, the stronger plant nitrogen uptake due to the enhanced available nitrogen stimulates plant carbon uptake, thereby strengthening the regional carbon sink as the rate of increase net primary production was faster than that of soil respiration. Further, the warming and associated soil thermal dynamics shifted the regional carbon sink from the middle of July in the early 20th century to early July by the end of the century. Our study suggests that soil thermal dynamics should be considered for future quantification of carbon dynamics in this climate-sensitive region.
Anticancer chemotherapeutics are effective weapons for cancer therapy, but the continuous emergency of multidrug-resistant cancer and the side effects of current available anticancer ...chemotherapeutics are the major obstacles in the control and eradication of cancers. Pyrrolo2,3-
d
pyrimidines could inhibit signal transduction cascades affecting cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, representing privileged scaffolds for the discovery of novel anticancer candidates. This review highlighted the recent developments of pyrrolo2,3-
d
pyrimidines with anticancer potential and discussed mechanisms of action, covering papers published from 2018 to present, to facilitate further rational design of more effective candidates.
With cancer stem cells (CSCs) became the research hotspot, emerging studies attempt to reveal the functions of these special subsets in tumorigenesis. Although various approaches have been used in ...CSCs researches, only a few could really reflect or simulate the microenvironment in vivo. At present, CSCs theories are still difficult to apply for clinical remedy because CSCs subpopulations are always hard to identify and trace. Thus an ideal approach for clinicians and researchers is urgently needed. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), as the method of noninvasive-liquid biopsy, could be detected in the peripheral blood (PB) from many tumors and even could be treated as procurators for CSCs deeper researches from patient-derived sample. However, CTCs, as a diagnostic marker, also raise much controversy over theirs clinical value. Mechanisms causing CTCs to shed from the tumor have not been fully characterized, thus it is unclear whether CTCs represent the entire makeup of cancer cells in the tumor or only a subset. The heterogeneity of CTCs also caused different clinical outcomes. To overcome these unsolved problems, recently, CTC researches are not just depend on enumerations, whereas those CTC subsets that could expand in vitro may play a pivotal role in the metastatic cascade. Here, we retrospect the CTC developmental history and discourse upon the enrichment of viable CTCs in functional assays, probe the further avenue at the crossroad.
We are not aware of any previous studies that have compared the rate of venous thromboembolic events in patients who underwent prophylactic intramedullary nailing because of an impending fracture ...with the rate in patients who underwent intramedullary nailing after a pathological fracture. The objective of the present study was to determine if the rate of venous thromboembolic events varies between patients who are managed with prophylactic fixation and those who are managed with fixation after a pathological fracture.
We performed a retrospective comparative study in which the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was used to identify all patients who had undergone femoral stabilization, either for a pathological femoral fracture or for prophylactic fixation of femoral metastatic lesion, over a period of 10 consecutive years (between 2002 and 2011) in the United States. Demographic data, comorbidities, venous thromboembolic event rates, and other common postoperative complications were compared between the 2 groups.
Patients who were managed with prophylactic fixation had significantly higher rates of pulmonary embolism (p < 0.001; adjusted odds ratio, 2.1) and deep-vein thrombosis (p = 0.03; adjusted odds ratio, 1.5). Patients who were managed with fixation after a pathological fracture had a significantly greater need for blood transfusion, higher rates of postoperative urinary tract infection, and a decreased likelihood of being discharged to home (p < 0.001 for all).
Patients with metastatic disease who undergo prophylactic intramedullary nailing have higher observed rates of venous thromboembolic events than those who undergo nailing for the treatment of a pathological fracture and should be actively and vigilantly managed in the postoperative period.
Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Routine patellar resurfacing during primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial. To our knowledge, there are no studies reporting the long-term performance of a cemented biconvex ...all-polyethylene inlay component implanted at the time of primary TKA. The purpose of this study was to examine the 15-year survivorship and long-term clinical outcomes of this biconvex inlay patella used at our institution.
We retrospectively reviewed our prospectively collected institutional database and identified 2,530 patients who underwent cemented TKA with a single prosthetic design (from 1996 to 2007) where the patella was resurfaced using this cemented biconvex inlay patella. The mean age at surgery was 68 years (range, 29 to 93). The mean body mass index was 33.0 (range, 16.4 to 76.3), with 61.9% women. At the time of analysis, the mean time from surgery was 20.4 years (range, 15 to 26). We used Kaplan–Meier analysis to calculate survivorship at 15 years. We analyzed clinical outcomes using 3 patient-reported outcome measures collected prospectively.
The 15-year survivorship with revision surgery for all causes as the end point was 97.1% (95% confidence interval 96.1 to 98.1%). The 15-year survivorship with revision surgery for a patella-related complication as the end point was 99.7% (95% confidence interval 99.4 to 1.0). At the final follow-up, patients showed significant improvement in scores for the Knee Society Clinical Rating System (P < .001), Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (P < .001), and Veterans Rand 12-Item Health Survey physical component (P < .001).
Routine patellar resurfacing using a biconvex inlay patellar component has excellent survivorship and a low rate of complications at 15 years post-TKA.
Decreased muscle strength is strongly associated with future mobility limitations in older adults. Homocysteine is a risk factor for vascular disease and may exacerbate muscle strength decline. The ...present study aimed to examine the association between homocysteine levels and muscle strength in adults aged 50 years or older.
Data were from 1,101 participants of The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging between December 2004 and March 2015. Muscle strength was measured using grip strength. Mixed effects linear regression was used to estimate the association between homocysteine and muscle strength in men and women, separately.
Total mean follow-up time was 4.7 ± 3.1 years, range from 0 to 10.1 years. Baseline mean grip strength was 39.9 kg for men and 25.5 kg for women. Grip strength declined over the follow-up time for both men and women. Among women, there was a significant inverse relationship between homocysteine and grip strength, where grip strength declined as a function of increasing homocysteine over time (β = -0.05, p = .031). Among men, an increase of 1 μmol/L in homocysteine was associated with -0.10 kg decrease in grip strength, though not significantly.
In this study of healthy older adults aged 50 years or older, higher homocysteine was related to lower muscle strength in women. This is the first study to characterize the relationship over a long follow-up period. Future research should focus on assessing homocysteine as a marker of physical function decline and translating the relationship into clinical and public health practice.
Introduction
Dermatomyositis (DM) is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy involving severe debilitation in need of diagnostics. We evaluated the proximal lower extremity musculature with diffusion ...tensor imaging (DTI), intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and dynamic DTI in DM patients and controls and compared with standard clinical workup.
Methods
In this IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant study with written informed consent, anatomical, Dixon fat/water and diffusion imaging were collected in bilateral thigh MRI of 22 controls and 27 DM patients in a 3T scanner. Compartments were scored on T1/T2 scales. Single voxel dynamic DTI metrics in quadriceps before and after 3-min leg exercise were measured. Spearman rank correlation and mixed model analysis of variance/covariance (ANOVA/ANCOVA) were used to correlate with T1 and T2 scores and to compare patients with controls.
Results
DM patients showed significantly lower pseudo-diffusion and volume in quadriceps than controls. All subjects showed significant correlation between T1 score and signal-weighted fat fraction; tissue diffusion and pseudo-diffusion varied significantly with T1 and T2 score in patients. Radial and mean diffusion exercise response in patients was significantly higher than controls.
Conclusion
Static and dynamic diffusion imaging metrics show correlation with conventional imaging scores, reveal spatial heterogeneity, and provide means to differentiate dermatomyositis patients from controls.
Key Points
• Diffusion imaging shows regional differences between thigh muscles of dermatomyositis patients and controls.
• Signal-weighted fat fraction and diffusion metrics correlate with T1/T2 scores of disease severity.
• Dermatomyositis patients show significantly higher radial diffusion exercise response than controls.
Evidence suggests that mitochondrial abnormalities increase the risk of two neurodevelopmental disorders: undiagnosed developmental disorder (UDD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, which ...nuclear-encoded mitochondrial-related genes (NEMGs) were associated with UDD-ASD is unclear.
To explore the association between de novo variants (DNVs) of NEMGs and UDD-ASD.
Comprehensive analysis based on DNVs of NEMGs identified in patients (31 058 UDD probands and 10 318 ASD probands) and 4262 controls.
By curating NEMGs and cataloging publicly published DNVs in NEMGs, we compared the frequency of DNVs in cases and controls. We also applied a TADA-denovo model to highlight disease-associated NEMGs and characterized them based on gene intolerance, functional networks and expression patterns.
Compared with levels in 4262 controls, an excess of protein-truncating variants and deleterious missense variants in 1421 cataloged NEMGs from 41 376 patients (31 058 UDD and 10 318 ASD probands) was observed. Overall, 3.23% of de novo deleterious missense variants and 3.20% of de novo protein-truncating variants contributed to 1.1% and 0.39% of UDD-ASD cases, respectively. We prioritized 130 disease-associated NEMGs and showed distinct expression patterns in the developing human brain. Disease-associated NEMGs expression was enriched in both excitatory and inhibitory neuronal lineages from the developing human cortex.
Rare genetic alterations of disease-associated NEMGs may play a role in UDD-ASD development and lay the groundwork for a better understanding of the biology of UDD-ASD.
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