Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) provides effective photon-counting light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for estimating forest height across extensive geographical areas. ...Although prior studies have illustrated canopy conditions during leaf-on and leaf-off phases may influence ICESat-2 derived forest heights, a comprehensive understanding of this effect remains incomplete. This study seeks to comprehensively assess how varying canopy conditions (leaf-on/leaf-off) affect ICESat-2 forest height retrieval and modelling. First, the accuracies of ICESat-2 terrain and canopy heights under leaf-on and leaf-off conditions were validated. Second, random forest algorithm was utilized to model forest height by integrating ICESat-2, Sentinel-2, and other ancillary datasets. Finally, we evaluated the influence of leaf-on and leaf-off conditions on forest height retrieval and modelling. Results reveal higher consistency between ICESat-2 and airborne LiDAR-derived terrain heights compared to the agreement between two canopy height datasets. Accuracies of ICESat-2 terrain and canopy heights are higher under leaf-off conditions in contrast to leaf-on conditions. Notably, the accuracies of ICESat-2 terrain and canopy heights under various conditions are closely linked to canopy cover. Furthermore, the accuracy of forest height modelling can be enhanced by combining ICESat-2 data collected during both leaf-on and leaf-off seasons with further eliminating low-quality samples.
Thrombotic complications in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are uncommon due to coagulation dysfunction and thrombocytopenia. We report a unique case of AML presenting as concomitant pulmonary embolism ...and atypical acute myocardial infarction. A 67-year-old male experienced persistent bilateral chest pain. Despite an unremarkable electrocardiogram, elevated D-dimer and mildly increased troponin T levels prompted further investigation, leading to the diagnosis of simultaneous pulmonary embolism and acute myocardial infarction. The patient underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and received triple antithrombotic therapy. However, antithrombotic therapy was discontinued following a sharp decline in hemoglobin and platelet counts, and the patient subsequently developed persistent fever. AML was diagnosed via bone marrow biopsy. Chemotherapy was not initiated due to the patient's deteriorating condition, and he ultimately succumbed to presumed intracranial bleeding.
Coronary artery dissection caused by trauma is a rare occurrence that can be life-threatening. Accordingly, its rapid identification and treatment are essential to improve patient outcomes. Here, we ...present a case of a patient who suffered multiple rib and femur fractures after falling from a height of eighteen meters and subsequently experienced persistent chest pain. After the initial diagnostic workup, the medical team diagnosed the patient's chest pain as rib fractures and failed to consider the potential of a cardiac injury as the underlying cause. No emphasis was placed on monitoring changes in myocardial enzymes and ECG, which could have indicated coronary artery dissection. The dissection was confirmed and treated with a stent only after the subsequent coronary angiography (CAG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations, gradually relieving the patient's chest pain. In this case report, we discuss the management of fractures complicated by traumatic coronary artery dissection and highlight the benefits of OCT in diagnosing and treating this condition. The case also emphasizes the importance of considering coronary artery injury in patients with chest pain due to trauma.
A simple and sensitive LC-UV method to investigate the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution pattern of baicalin in rabbits was established and validated. Baicalin and the internal standard, rutin, ...were extracted from biosamples using acetonitrile as protein precipitation after pretreated with ammonium acetate buffer (pH 3.5; 1 M) to obtain a pure chromatographic peak and high extraction recovery. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a reverse-phase C18 column with a gradient elution at flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. UV absorption was set at 278 nm. Chromatographic response was linear over the ranges of 0.05-10.00 μg/mL in plasma and 0.05-300.00 μg/g in tissues with the limits of quantification of 50.0 ng/mL in plasma and tissues, and the limit of detection of baicalin in bio-samples of 15 ng/mL. The RSD of intra-and inter-day for the biosamples were from 4.19% to 10.84% and from 4.37% to 10.93%, respectively. The accuracy of plasma and tissue samples ranged from 81.6% to 95.2% and 80.8% to 98.4%, respectively. The extraction recoveries ranged from 81.5% to 88.3% for plasma, from 73.1% to 93.2% for tissues, respectively. Baicalin was stable in rabbit biosamples. The validated method was successfully applied to the study of the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of baicalin after intravenous administration of liposomal and injectable formulations to rabbits. Compared to baicalin injection, the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution behavior of baicalin was altered significantly in rabbits treated with its liposomes and drug concentration in the lungs was greatly increased.
Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has recently been identified as a potential tool in topographic mapping for archaeological prospection. However, most existing applications in this field refers to ...manned ALS systems, for which the high operation and maintenance costs limits its application in small-scale archaeological investigation. In this paper, we conducted an exploratory study on the application of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) laser scanning (ULS) system in ancient micro-topography detection over wooded areas. Compared with manned ALS technology, we analyzed the advantages and potentials of ULS technology for archaeological applications. Then we outlined existing mainstream survey-grade UAV-based laser scanners, data processing and visualization approaches. Furthermore, we performed case studies in three cultural heritage sites in Zhejiang Province, China using two representative mainstream survey-grade ULS systems. Results were then verified by an in-site investigation. Finally, the correct selection of ULS devices, the planning of data acquisition missions and the use of appropriate data processing methods specifically for archaeological prospection were discussed. This paper provides a cost-effective and flexible solution for micro-topography detection in wooded areas. ULS technology, as demonstrated here, can be an important supplement to existing archaeological investigation methods, particularly for small-scale areas, and has promising prospects in archaeological applications.
There has been an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality over the past few decades, making cardiovascular disease (CVD) the leading cause of death worldwide. However, the pathogenesis of ...CVD is multi-factorial, complex, and not fully understood. The gut microbiome has long been recognized to play a critical role in maintaining the physiological and metabolic health of the host. Recent scientific advances have provided evidence that alterations in the gut microbiome and its metabolites have a profound influence on the development and progression of CVD. Among the trillions of microorganisms in the gut, bifidobacteria, which, interestingly, were found through the literature to play a key role not only in regulating gut microbiota function and metabolism, but also in reducing classical risk factors for CVD (e.g., obesity, hyperlipidemia, diabetes) by suppressing oxidative stress, improving immunomodulation, and correcting lipid, glucose, and cholesterol metabolism. This review explores the direct and indirect effects of bifidobacteria on the development of CVD and highlights its potential therapeutic value in hypertension, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. By describing the key role of Bifidobacterium in the link between gut microbiology and CVD, we aim to provide a theoretical basis for improving the subsequent clinical applications of Bifidobacterium and for the development of Bifidobacterium nutritional products.
The quantification of the extent and dynamics of land-use changes is a key metric employed to assess the progress toward several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that form part of the United ...Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. In terms of anthropogenic factors threatening the conservation of heritage properties, such a metric aids in the assessment of achievements toward heritage sustainability solving the problem of insufficient data availability. Therefore, in this study, 589 cultural World Heritage List (WHL) properties from 115 countries were analyzed, encompassing globally distributed and statistically significant samples of “monuments and groups of buildings” (73.2%), “sites” (19.3%), and “cultural landscapes” (7.5%). Land-cover changes in the WHL properties between 2015 and 2020 were automatically extracted from big data collections of high-resolution satellite imagery accessed via Google Earth Engine using intelligent remote sensing classification. Sustainability indexes (SIs) were estimated for the protection zones of each property, and the results were employed, for the first time, to assess the progress of each country toward SDG Target 11.4. Despite the apparent advances in SIs (10.4%), most countries either exhibited steady (20.0%) or declining (69.6%) SIs due to limited cultural investigations and enhanced negative anthropogenic disturbances. This study confirms that land-cover changes are among serious threats for heritage conservation, with heritage in some countries wherein the need to address this threat is most crucial, and the proposed spatiotemporal monitoring approach is recommended.
Display omitted
•Land-cover change metrics enable assessing the progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 11.4.•10.4% of countries exhibited advances in sustainability indexes (SIs) in 2015–2020.•Heritage in developing countries (SI < −0.2) needs to be preferentially monitored.•Sustainable heritage conservation urges addressing impacts due to land-cover changes.
Accurate estimation of ground elevation on a large scale is essential and worthwhile in topography, geomorphology, and ecology. The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission, ...launched in September 2018, offers an opportunity to obtain global elevation data over the earth's surface. This paper aimed to evaluate the performance of ICESat-2 data for ground elevation retrieval. To fulfill this objective, our study first tested the availability of existing noise removal and ground photon identification algorithms on ICESat-2 data. Second, the accuracy of ground elevation data retrieved from ICESat-2 data was validated using airborne LiDAR data. Finally, we explored the influence of various factors (e.g., the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), slope, vegetation height and vegetation cover) on the estimation accuracy of ground elevation over forest, tundra and bare land areas in interior Alaska. The results indicate that the existing noise removal and ground photon identification algorithms for simulated ICESat-2 data also work well for ICESat-2 data. The overall mean difference and RMSE values between the ground elevations retrieved from the ICESat-2 data and the airborne LiDAR-derived ground elevations are -0.61 m and 1.96 m, respectively. In forest, tundra and bare land scenarios, the mean differences are -0.64 m, -0.61 m and -0.59 m, with RMSE values of 1.89 m, 2.05 m, and 1.76 m, respectively. By analyzing the influence of four error factors on the elevation accuracy, we found that the slope is the most important factor affecting the accuracy of ICESat-2 elevation data. The elevation errors increase rapidly with increasing slope, especially when the slope is greater than 20°. The elevation errors decrease with increasing SNR, but this decrease varies little once the SNR is greater than 10. In forest and tundra areas, the errors in the ground elevation also increase with increasing vegetation height and the amount of vegetation cover.
Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) refers to a key process in the hydrological cycle by which water is transferred from the Earth's surface to lower atmosphere. With spatiotemporal variations, ET ...plays a crucial role in the global ecosystem and affects vegetation distribution and productivity, climate, and water resources. China features a complex, diverse natural environment, leading to high spatiotemporal heterogeneity in ET and climatic variables. However, past and future ET trends in China remain largely unexplored. Thus, by using MOD16 products and meteorological datasets, this study examined the spatiotemporal variations of ET in China from 2000 to 2019 and analyzed what is behind changes, and explored future ET trends. Climate variation in China from 2000 to 2019 was statistically significant and had a remarkable impact on ET. Average annual ET increased at a rate of 5.3746 mm yr−1 (P < 0.01) during the study period. The main drivers of the trend are increasing precipitation and wind speed. The increase in ET can also be explained to some extent by increasing temperature, decreasing sunshine duration and relative humidity. The zonation results show that the increase in temperature, wind speed, and precipitation and the decrease in relative humidity had large and positive effects on ET growth, and the decrease in sunshine duration had either promoting or inhibiting effects in different agricultural regions. Pixel-based variations in ET exhibited an overall increasing trend and obvious spatial volatility. The Hurst exponent indicates that the future trend of ET in China is characterized by significant anti-persistence, with widely distributed areas expected to experience a decline in ET. These findings improve the understanding of the role of climate variability in hydrological processes, and the ET variability in question will ultimately affect the climate system.
Display omitted
•Past and future ET trends were revealed in a Pattern-Process-Mechanism framework.•ET is projected to decrease in most parts of China.•Climate variability and how it influences ET was analyzed.•Precipitation and wind speed are the main factors affecting ET.
PDF
