The ongoing climate change‐induced shifts in flowering phenology have emerged as a consequential force impacting biodiversity and ecosystems. Despite the globally recognized significance of flowering ...phenology as a key reproductive attribute, studies in subtropical regions have been relatively fewer, particularly in comparison to temperate and cold regions. Additionally, the nuanced response of deciduous and evergreen plants to climate change remains insufficiently explored. In addressing this gap, we built a phenological model and a generalized linear mixed effect model to assess the differential responses of key flowering phenological traits, that is, first flowering date (FFD), peak flowering date (PFD), end of flowering date (EFD), and flowering duration (FD), to climate factors (temperature and precipitation) between deciduous and evergreen plants. We observed distinct responses in flowering phenological traits to climate change between deciduous and evergreen plants. Specifically, the advancement of FFD, PFD, and EFD in deciduous in response to temperature rise exceeded that in evergreen plants. FD in evergreen plants exhibited a stronger extension to temperature increase compared to deciduous. Conversely, the phenological change of evergreen plants in response to decreasing precipitation was greater than that of deciduous ones. Since temperature is a decisive climatic factor in affecting phenological changes, climate change‐induced advances in flowering phenology of deciduous plants are still larger than evergreen plants. Projections from our phenological model under future climate scenarios (SSP 1‐2.6 and SSP 5‐8.5) indicate a continuous enlargement of difference in flowering phenology between deciduous and evergreen plants, with this trend escalating into the future (2100>2070>2050>2030). The larger extension in FD of evergreens to climate change suggests a potential increase in their proportion within subtropical forest communities relative to deciduous plants. These insights contribute significantly to our understanding of the intricate dynamics of climate‐induced changes in subtropical plant ecosystems.
抽象的
气候变化引起的植物物候改变已对全球范围内生物多样性和生态系统产生重大影响。作为一种重要的生殖性状，开花物候研究主要集中在温带和寒冷地区，亚热带地区的研究较为少见。落叶植物和常绿植物是亚热带两种植物类型，但我们并不清楚它们开花物候对气候变化的响应会有所不同。为此，本文利用中国物候观测网的数据，建立了物候模型和广义线性混合效应模型，评估了落叶和常绿植物的4种开花物候性状，即首次开花日期 (first flowering date/FFD)、开花峰值日期 (peak flowering date /PFD)、开花结束日期 (end of flowering date /EFD)和开花持续时间 (flowering duration /FD)，对两种气候因子(温度和降水)变化的不同响应。结果发现，落叶植物和常绿植物的开花物候对气候变化响应有明显差别。其中，落叶植物的FFD、PFD和EFD对气温升高的敏感性高于常绿植物。但是，与落叶植物相比，常绿植物的FD对增温呈现出更强的延长趋势。相反，常绿植物的物候变化对降水减少的敏感性高于落叶植物；由于温度是驱动亚热带植物开花物候变化的决定性气候因子，它对降水作用的不等比抵消使得气候变化对落叶植物开花物候的影响远高于常绿植物；在SSP 1‐2.6和SSP 5‐8.5两种未来气候情景下，气候驱动的物候模型预测表明，落叶植物和常绿植物的开花物候差异将在未来持续扩大，并逐年呈上升趋势 (2100>2070>2050>2030年)；气候变化引起常绿植物FD的延长大于落叶植物，表明前者由于繁殖适合度增加，其在亚热带森林群落中的比例在未来可能不断扩大。本文研究首次揭示了气候变化对常绿和落叶植物物候差异化影响的机制。研究结果有助于了解和预测亚热带森林生态系统未来的复杂动态过程。
The ongoing climate change‐induced shifts in flowering phenology have emerged as a consequential force impacting biodiversity and ecosystems. We explore the differentiated response of flowering phenology to climate change between evergreen and deciduous species. Our results found that temperature is a key influencing factor of phenological change. Deciduous plants show more shift of flowering phenology than evergreens due to climate change, but reproductive advantages showed the opposite pattern. We predict that evergreen species will gain more competitive advantages in future subtropical forest communities.
To develop new compounds with high activity, broad spectrum and low-toxicity, 17 benzamides substituted with quinoline-linked 1,2,4-oxadiazole were designed using the splicing principle of active ...substructures and were synthesized. The biological activities were evaluated against 10 fungi, indicating that some of the synthetic compounds showed excellent fungicidal activities. For example, at 50 mg/L, the inhibitory activity of 13p (3-Cl-4-Cl substituted, 86.1%) against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was superior to that of quinoxyfen (77.8%), and the inhibitory activity of 13f (3-CF3 substituted, 77.8%) was comparable to that of quinoxyfen. The fungicidal activities of 13f and 13p to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were better than that of quinoxyfen (14.19 mg/L), with EC50 of 6.67 mg/L and 5.17 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the acute toxicity of 13p was 19.42 mg/L, classifying it as a low-toxic compound.
In order to discover pesticidal lead compounds with high activity and low toxicity, a series of novel benzamides substituted with pyrazole-linked 1,2,4-oxadiazole were designed via bioisosterism. The ...chemical structures of the target compounds were confirmed via 1H NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS analysis. The preliminary bioassay showed that most compounds exhibited good lethal activities against Mythimna separate, Helicoverpa armigera, Ostrinia nubilalis and Spodoptera frugiperda at 500 mg/L. Particularly in the case of Mythimna separate, compound 14q (70%) exhibited obvious insecticidal activity. In addition, compound 14h demonstrated good fungicidal activity against Pyricularia oryae with an inhibition rate of 77.8%, and compounds 14e, 14k, 14n and 14r also showed certain antifungal activities (55.6–66.7%). The zebrafish toxicity test showed that the LC50 of compound 14h was 14.01 mg/L, which indicated that it may be used as a potential leading compound for further structural optimization.
Abstract
The Low-Energy X-ray Polarization Detector (LPD) is one of the payloads in the POLAR-2 experiment, designed as an external payload for the China Space Station deployment in early 2026. LPD ...is specifically designed to observe the polarization of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission in the energy range of 2–10 keV, with a wide field of view (FoV) of 90° in preliminary design. This observation is achieved using an array of X-ray photoelectric polarimeters based on gas pixel detectors. Due to the wide FoV configuration, the in-orbit background count rate in the soft X-ray range is high, while GRBs themselves also exhibit high flux in this energy band. In order to assess the contribution of various background components to the total count rate, we conducted detailed simulations using the GEANT4 C++ package. Our simulations encompassed the main interactions within the instrument materials and provided insights into various background components within the wide-FoV scheme. The simulation results reveal that among the background components, the primary contributors are the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) and bright X-ray sources. The total background count rate of LPD, after applying the charged particle background rejection algorithm, is approximately 0.55 counts cm
–2
s
–1
on average, and it varies with the detector’s orbit and pointing direction. Furthermore, we performed comprehensive simulations and comparative analyses of the CXB and X-ray bright sources under different FoVs and detector pointings. These analyses provide valuable insights into the background characteristics for soft X-ray polarimeter with wide FoV.
Abstract Background Splenectomy has been suggested to have an impact on immunological function, and subsequent development of cancer has been recognized as a possible adverse effect of splenectomy. ...This study evaluated the possible association between splenectomy and malignancy in Taiwan. Methods A cohort study consisted of including 2,603 patients with nontraumatic and 2,295 patients with traumatic splenectomy, and then randomly frequency matched with 4 participants without splenectomy. The Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to estimate the influence of splenectomy on cancer risk. Results Both nontraumatic and traumatic splenectomy had a significantly higher risk for overall cancer development (adjusted hazard ratios are 2.64 and 1.29 for nontraumatic and traumatic reasons, respectively). After adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities, patients with splenectomy were associated with significantly higher risks for developing certain gastrointestinal tract cancers, other head and neck cancers, and hematological malignancies, and the phenomenon is more prominent in nontraumatic splenectomy group. Conclusion This nationwide population-based study found that people with splenectomy have higher risks of developing overall cancer, as well as certain site-specific cancers, especially for patients with nontraumatic reasons.
Background Most of superficial soft-tissue masses are benign tumors, and very few are malignant tumors. However, persistent growth, of both benign and malignant tumors, can be painful and even ...life-threatening. It is necessary to improve the differential diagnosis performance for superficial soft-tissue masses by using deep learning models. This study aimed to propose a new ultrasonic deep learning model (DLM) system for the differential diagnosis of superficial soft-tissue masses. Methods Between January 2015 and December 2022, data for 1615 patients with superficial soft-tissue masses were retrospectively collected. Two experienced radiologists (radiologists 1 and 2 with 8 and 30 years' experience, respectively) analyzed the ultrasound images of each superficial soft-tissue mass and made a diagnosis of malignant mass or one of the five most common benign masses. After referring to the DLM results, they re-evaluated the diagnoses. The diagnostic performance and concerns of the radiologists were analyzed before and after referring to the results of the DLM results. Results In the validation cohort, DLM-1 was trained to distinguish between benign and malignant masses, with an AUC of 0.992 (95% CI: 0.980, 1.0) and an ACC of 0.987 (95% CI: 0.968, 1.0). DLM-2 was trained to classify the five most common benign masses (lipomyoma, hemangioma, neurinoma, epidermal cyst, and calcifying epithelioma) with AUCs of 0.986, 0.993, 0.944, 0.973, and 0.903, respectively. In addition, under the condition of the DLM-assisted diagnosis, the radiologists greatly improved their accuracy of differential diagnosis between benign and malignant tumors. Conclusions The proposed DLM system has high clinical application value in the differential diagnosis of superficial soft-tissue masses. Keywords: Superficial soft-tissue masses, Deep learning model, Ultrasound, Diagnosis, Computer-assisted diagnosis
Multiple Column Platform (MCP) semi-submersible is a newly proposed concept, which differs from the conventional semi-submersibles, featuring centre column and middle pontoon. It is paramount to ...ensure its structural reliability and safe operation at sea, and a rigorous investigation is conducted to examine the hydrodynamic and structural performance for the novel structure concept. In this paper, the numerical and experimental studies on the hydrodynamic performance of MCP are performed. Numerical simulations are conducted in both the frequency and time domains based on 3D potential theory. The numerical models are validated by experimental measurements obtained from extensive sets of model tests under both regular wave and irregular wave conditions. Moreover, a comparative study on MCP and two conventional semi-submersibles are carried out using numerical simulation. Specifically, the hydrodynamic characteristics, including hydrodynamic coefficients, natural periods and motion response amplitude operators (RAOs), mooring line tension are fully examined. The present study proves the feasibility of the novel MCP and demonstrates the potential possibility of optimization in the future study.
Although DNA hypermethylation within promoter CpG islands is highly correlated with tumorigenesis, it has not been established whether DNA hypermethylation within a specific tumor suppressor gene ...(TSG) is sufficient to fully transform a somatic stem cell. In this study, we addressed this question using a novel targeted DNA methylation technique to methylate the promoters of HIC1 and RassF1A, two well-established TSGs, along with a two-component reporter system to visualize successful targeting of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as a model cell system. MSCs harboring targeted promoter methylations of HIC1/RassF1A displayed several features of cancer stem/initiating cells including loss of anchorage dependence, increased colony formation capability, drug resistance, and pluripotency. Notably, inoculation of immunodeficient mice with low numbers of targeted MSC resulted in tumor formation, and subsequent serial xenotransplantation and immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of stem cell markers and MSC lineage in tumor xenografts. Consistent with the expected mechanism of TSG hypermethylation, treatment of the targeted MSC with a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor reversed their tumorigenic phenotype. To our knowledge, this is the first direct demonstration that aberrant TSG hypermethylation is sufficient to transform a somatic stem cell into a fully malignant cell with cancer stem/initiating properties.
Although a relationship between hypertension and the development of renal cancer and other types of cancer have been proposed for decades, the results of epidemiologic studies remain inconclusive. ...This study was conducted to evaluate the association between hypertension and genitourinary and gynecologic cancers in Taiwan.In this study, we conducted a populated-based retrospective cohort study by using data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance program. The study period was from 2000 to 2011, and the cohort comprised 111,704 insurants: 57,961 patients with hypertension and 53,743 patients without hypertension. A Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to estimate the effects of hypertension on genitourinary and gynecologic cancers risk.Among the patients with hypertension, the risks of developing renal and uterine corpus cancers were significantly higher in the hypertension group than they were in the nonhypertension group. Further stratified analyses by sex, age, and hypertension duration revealed distinct cancer-specific patterns. Higher cancer risk appears to be more obvious among younger hypertensive patients with longer follow-up time.The results of this study indicate that Taiwanese patients with hypertension have higher risks for some types of cancer, and cancer-specific patterns vary by sex, age, and hypertension duration.
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