Aeolian desertification has rapidly developed in the past 50 years in Northern China,covered an area of 0.386 million km2 by 2000,affected nearly 170 million population,and caused the direct and indirect economic loss...Aeolian desertification has rapidly developed in the past 50 years in Northern China,covered an area of 0.386 million km2 by 2000,affected nearly 170 million population,and caused the direct and indirect economic loss of about $6.75(U.S.dollar) billion per year.Here we present several lines of evidence to demonstrate that human activities guided by policy shifts have been a major force to drive aeolian desertification via changes in land-use patterns and intensity.It is suggested that the desertification can be curbed or even reversed by adopting prevention and control measures with ecologically sound land-use practices in China.展开更多
In early 2020,the COVID-19 outbreak complicated the diagnosis,treatm ent and rehabilitation of patients with substance use disorders and increased the risks of substance abuse and addictive behaviours,such as online g...In early 2020,the COVID-19 outbreak complicated the diagnosis,treatm ent and rehabilitation of patients with substance use disorders and increased the risks of substance abuse and addictive behaviours,such as online gaming disorders,in the general public.Substance use disorder is a chronic recurrent brain disease characterised by strong cravings,high recurrence rates,and a high proportion of comorbidity of mental and physical disorders.1 Therefore,regular long-term therapeutic interventions are critical to preventing dm g relapses while maintaining withdrawal.展开更多
Urinary bladder cancer is the second most common genitourinary malignancy in Westernized countries. A number of emerging imaging techniques have recently been reported in the literature for use in imaging bladder canc...Urinary bladder cancer is the second most common genitourinary malignancy in Westernized countries. A number of emerging imaging techniques have recently been reported in the literature for use in imaging bladder cancer. While the explicit application of MR imaging in bladder cancer especially in non-distant bladder cancer or bladder cancer localized in pelvic remains uncertain and awaits a thorough evaluation. Therefore, this article aims to make a systematic review of previous literature and provide a complete assessment of the value of MR as an evolving imaging tool in localized urinary bladder cancer application. Studies were conducted by searching the MEDLINE and PubMed databases up to 2012 using both medical subject heading (Mesh) and a free text method like “urinary bladder cancer”, “magnetic resonance imaging” or “MRI”, “diffusion weighted imaging” or “DWI”. About 53 articles were selected and analyzed which were considered to be associated with the objective of this systematic review (Table 1). Results showed that MRI especially the newer functional imaging technique like DWI may has a great potential role in localized bladder cancer like early detection, staging, evaluation of tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic responsiveness of patients in the assessment of urinary bladder cancer and so forth. Newer MRI has already proceeded promising results in bladder cancer application;and the explicit role of newer MRI in bladder cancer patients still needs further research and awaits to be thoroughly evaluated.展开更多
This study measured the vagus and phrenic nerves from 12 adult cadavers. We found that the width and thickness of the vagus and phrenic nerves were different in the chest. The distance from the point of the vagus nerv...This study measured the vagus and phrenic nerves from 12 adult cadavers. We found that the width and thickness of the vagus and phrenic nerves were different in the chest. The distance from the point of the vagus nerve and phrenic nerve on the plane of the inferior border of portal pulmonary arteries (T point) was approximately 7 cm to the diaphragm and was approximately 10 cm to the clavicle level. The number of motor fibers in the vagus nerves was 1 716 ± 362, and the number of nerve fibers was 4 473 ± 653. The number of motor fibers in the phrenic nerves ranged from 3 078 ± 684 to 4 794 ± 638, and the number of nerve fibers ranged from 3 437 ± 642 to 5 071 ± 723. No significant difference was found in the total number of nerve fibers. The results suggest that width, thickness, and total number of nerve fibers are similar between the vagus and phrenic nerves, but the number of motor fibers is different between them.展开更多
Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a severe disease of the nervous system that causes irreparable damage and loss of function,for which no effective treatments are available to date.Engineered extracellular vesicles(EVs)carryi...Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a severe disease of the nervous system that causes irreparable damage and loss of function,for which no effective treatments are available to date.Engineered extracellular vesicles(EVs)carrying therapeutic molecules hold promise as an alternative SCI therapy depending on the specific functionalized EVs and the appropriate engineering strategy.In this study,we demonstrated the design of a drug delivery system of peptide CAQK-modified,siRNA-loaded EVs(C-EVs-siRNA)for SCI-targeted therapy.The peptide CAQK was anchored through a chemical modification to the membranes of EVs isolated from induced neural stem cells(iNSCs).CCL2-siRNA was then loaded into the EVs through electroporation.The modified EVs still maintained the basic properties of EVs and showed favorable targeting and therapeutic effects in vitro and in vivo.C-EVs-siRNA specifically delivered siRNA to the SCI region and was taken up by target cells.C-EVs-siRNA used the inherent anti-inflammatory and neuroreparative functions of iNSCs-derived EVs in synergy with the loaded siRNA,thus enhancing the therapeutic effect against SCI.The combination of targeted modified EVs and siRNA effectively regulated the microenvironmental disturbance after SCI,promoted the transformation of microglia/macrophages from M1 to M2 and limited the negative effects of the inflammatory response and neuronal injury on functional recovery in mice after SCI.Thus,engineered EVs are a potentially feasible and efficacious treatment for SCI,and may also be used to develop targeted treatments for other diseases.展开更多
Aims Data assimilation is a useful tool to extract information from large datasets of the net ecosystem exchange(NEE)of CO_(2) obtained by eddy-flux measurements.However,the number of parameters in ecosystem models th...Aims Data assimilation is a useful tool to extract information from large datasets of the net ecosystem exchange(NEE)of CO_(2) obtained by eddy-flux measurements.However,the number of parameters in ecosystem models that can be constrained by eddy-flux data is limited by conventional inverse analysis that estimates parameter values based on one-time inversion.This study aimed to improve data assimilation to increase the number of constrained parameters.Methods In this study,we developed conditional Bayesian inversion to maximize the number of parameters to be constrained by NEE data in several steps.In each step,we conducted a Bayesian inversion to constrain parameters.The maximum likelihood estimates of the constrained parameters were then used as prior to fix parameter values in the next step of inversion.The conditional inversion was repeated until there were no more parameters that could be further constrained.We applied the conditional inversion to hourly NEE data from Harvard Forest with a physiologically based ecosystem model.Important Findings Results showed that the conventional inversion method constrained 6 of 16 parameters in the model while the conditional inversion method constrained 13 parameters after six steps.The cost function that indicates mismatch between the modeled and observed data decreased with each step of conditional Bayesian inversion.The Bayesian information criterion also decreased,suggesting reduced information loss with each step of conditional Bayesian inversion.A wavelet analysis reflected that model performance under conditional Bayesian inversion was better than that under conventional inversion at multiple time scales,except for seasonal and half-yearly scales.In addition,our analysis also demonstrated that parameter convergence in a subsequent step of the conditional inversion depended on correlations with the parameters constrained in a previous step.Overall,the conditional Bayesian inversion substantially increased the number of parameters to be constrained by NEE data and can be a powerful tool to be used in data assimilation in ecology.展开更多
Aims Carbon(C)sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems is strongly regulated by nitrogen(N)processes.However,key parameters that determine the degree of N regulation on terrestrial C sequestration have not been well qu...Aims Carbon(C)sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems is strongly regulated by nitrogen(N)processes.However,key parameters that determine the degree of N regulation on terrestrial C sequestration have not been well quantified.Methods Here,we used a Bayesian probabilistic inversion approach to estimate 14 target parameters related to ecosystem C and N interactions from 19 datasets obtained from Duke Forests under ambient and elevated carbon dioxide(CO_(2)).Important FindingsOur results indicated that 8 of the 14 target parameters,such as C:N ratios in most ecosystem compartments,plant N uptake and external N input,were well constrained by available datasets whereas the others,such as N allocation coefficients,N loss and the initial value of mineral N pool were poorly constrained.Our analysis showed that elevated CO_(2)led to the increases in C:N ratios in foliage,fine roots and litter.Moreover,elevated CO_(2)stimulated plant N uptake and increased ecosystem N capital in Duke Forests by 25.2 and 8.5%,respectively.In addition,elevated CO_(2)resulted in the decrease of C exit rates(i.e.increases in C residence times)in foliage,woody biomass,structural litter and passive soil organic matter,but the increase of C exit rate in fine roots.Our results demonstrated that CO_(2)enrichment substantially altered key parameters in determining terrestrial C and N interactions,which have profound implications for model improvement and predictions of future C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems in response to global change.展开更多
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2009CB421300): "The Processes of Oasifica-tion-Desertification and their Responding to Human Activities & Climatic Change and their Regulation in the Arid Region of China"
文摘Aeolian desertification has rapidly developed in the past 50 years in Northern China,covered an area of 0.386 million km2 by 2000,affected nearly 170 million population,and caused the direct and indirect economic loss of about $6.75(U.S.dollar) billion per year.Here we present several lines of evidence to demonstrate that human activities guided by policy shifts have been a major force to drive aeolian desertification via changes in land-use patterns and intensity.It is suggested that the desertification can be curbed or even reversed by adopting prevention and control measures with ecologically sound land-use practices in China.
基金This work was supported by the Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader(17XD1403300)the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders(13DZ2260500)+1 种基金the Shanghai Intelligent Engineering Technology Research Center for Addiction and Rehabilitation(19DZ2255200)and the Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Mental Health(19MC1911100).
文摘In early 2020,the COVID-19 outbreak complicated the diagnosis,treatm ent and rehabilitation of patients with substance use disorders and increased the risks of substance abuse and addictive behaviours,such as online gaming disorders,in the general public.Substance use disorder is a chronic recurrent brain disease characterised by strong cravings,high recurrence rates,and a high proportion of comorbidity of mental and physical disorders.1 Therefore,regular long-term therapeutic interventions are critical to preventing dm g relapses while maintaining withdrawal.
文摘Urinary bladder cancer is the second most common genitourinary malignancy in Westernized countries. A number of emerging imaging techniques have recently been reported in the literature for use in imaging bladder cancer. While the explicit application of MR imaging in bladder cancer especially in non-distant bladder cancer or bladder cancer localized in pelvic remains uncertain and awaits a thorough evaluation. Therefore, this article aims to make a systematic review of previous literature and provide a complete assessment of the value of MR as an evolving imaging tool in localized urinary bladder cancer application. Studies were conducted by searching the MEDLINE and PubMed databases up to 2012 using both medical subject heading (Mesh) and a free text method like “urinary bladder cancer”, “magnetic resonance imaging” or “MRI”, “diffusion weighted imaging” or “DWI”. About 53 articles were selected and analyzed which were considered to be associated with the objective of this systematic review (Table 1). Results showed that MRI especially the newer functional imaging technique like DWI may has a great potential role in localized bladder cancer like early detection, staging, evaluation of tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic responsiveness of patients in the assessment of urinary bladder cancer and so forth. Newer MRI has already proceeded promising results in bladder cancer application;and the explicit role of newer MRI in bladder cancer patients still needs further research and awaits to be thoroughly evaluated.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.30571886
文摘This study measured the vagus and phrenic nerves from 12 adult cadavers. We found that the width and thickness of the vagus and phrenic nerves were different in the chest. The distance from the point of the vagus nerve and phrenic nerve on the plane of the inferior border of portal pulmonary arteries (T point) was approximately 7 cm to the diaphragm and was approximately 10 cm to the clavicle level. The number of motor fibers in the vagus nerves was 1 716 ± 362, and the number of nerve fibers was 4 473 ± 653. The number of motor fibers in the phrenic nerves ranged from 3 078 ± 684 to 4 794 ± 638, and the number of nerve fibers ranged from 3 437 ± 642 to 5 071 ± 723. No significant difference was found in the total number of nerve fibers. The results suggest that width, thickness, and total number of nerve fibers are similar between the vagus and phrenic nerves, but the number of motor fibers is different between them.
基金This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant No.81974335,82172426).We would like to thank the Core Facility of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University for its help in the experiment.
文摘Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a severe disease of the nervous system that causes irreparable damage and loss of function,for which no effective treatments are available to date.Engineered extracellular vesicles(EVs)carrying therapeutic molecules hold promise as an alternative SCI therapy depending on the specific functionalized EVs and the appropriate engineering strategy.In this study,we demonstrated the design of a drug delivery system of peptide CAQK-modified,siRNA-loaded EVs(C-EVs-siRNA)for SCI-targeted therapy.The peptide CAQK was anchored through a chemical modification to the membranes of EVs isolated from induced neural stem cells(iNSCs).CCL2-siRNA was then loaded into the EVs through electroporation.The modified EVs still maintained the basic properties of EVs and showed favorable targeting and therapeutic effects in vitro and in vivo.C-EVs-siRNA specifically delivered siRNA to the SCI region and was taken up by target cells.C-EVs-siRNA used the inherent anti-inflammatory and neuroreparative functions of iNSCs-derived EVs in synergy with the loaded siRNA,thus enhancing the therapeutic effect against SCI.The combination of targeted modified EVs and siRNA effectively regulated the microenvironmental disturbance after SCI,promoted the transformation of microglia/macrophages from M1 to M2 and limited the negative effects of the inflammatory response and neuronal injury on functional recovery in mice after SCI.Thus,engineered EVs are a potentially feasible and efficacious treatment for SCI,and may also be used to develop targeted treatments for other diseases.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31930072,31770559,31600387,31370489)the Postdoctoral Innovation Talents Program of China(BX20200133)supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation(RYC2018-025483-I).
基金National Science Foundation(DEB 0444518,DEB 0743778)Office of Science(BER),Department of Energy(DE-FG02-006ER64319)Midwestern Regional Center of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research at Michigan Technological University(Award Number DE-FC02-06ER64158).
文摘Aims Data assimilation is a useful tool to extract information from large datasets of the net ecosystem exchange(NEE)of CO_(2) obtained by eddy-flux measurements.However,the number of parameters in ecosystem models that can be constrained by eddy-flux data is limited by conventional inverse analysis that estimates parameter values based on one-time inversion.This study aimed to improve data assimilation to increase the number of constrained parameters.Methods In this study,we developed conditional Bayesian inversion to maximize the number of parameters to be constrained by NEE data in several steps.In each step,we conducted a Bayesian inversion to constrain parameters.The maximum likelihood estimates of the constrained parameters were then used as prior to fix parameter values in the next step of inversion.The conditional inversion was repeated until there were no more parameters that could be further constrained.We applied the conditional inversion to hourly NEE data from Harvard Forest with a physiologically based ecosystem model.Important Findings Results showed that the conventional inversion method constrained 6 of 16 parameters in the model while the conditional inversion method constrained 13 parameters after six steps.The cost function that indicates mismatch between the modeled and observed data decreased with each step of conditional Bayesian inversion.The Bayesian information criterion also decreased,suggesting reduced information loss with each step of conditional Bayesian inversion.A wavelet analysis reflected that model performance under conditional Bayesian inversion was better than that under conventional inversion at multiple time scales,except for seasonal and half-yearly scales.In addition,our analysis also demonstrated that parameter convergence in a subsequent step of the conditional inversion depended on correlations with the parameters constrained in a previous step.Overall,the conditional Bayesian inversion substantially increased the number of parameters to be constrained by NEE data and can be a powerful tool to be used in data assimilation in ecology.
基金financially supported by US National Science Foundation(NSF)(DEB 0743778,DEB 0840964,DBI 0850290 and EPS 0919466)Office of Science(BER)+1 种基金Department of Energy(DE-FG02-006ER64319)idwestern Regional Center of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research at Michigan Technological University(DE-FC02-06ER64158).
文摘Aims Carbon(C)sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems is strongly regulated by nitrogen(N)processes.However,key parameters that determine the degree of N regulation on terrestrial C sequestration have not been well quantified.Methods Here,we used a Bayesian probabilistic inversion approach to estimate 14 target parameters related to ecosystem C and N interactions from 19 datasets obtained from Duke Forests under ambient and elevated carbon dioxide(CO_(2)).Important FindingsOur results indicated that 8 of the 14 target parameters,such as C:N ratios in most ecosystem compartments,plant N uptake and external N input,were well constrained by available datasets whereas the others,such as N allocation coefficients,N loss and the initial value of mineral N pool were poorly constrained.Our analysis showed that elevated CO_(2)led to the increases in C:N ratios in foliage,fine roots and litter.Moreover,elevated CO_(2)stimulated plant N uptake and increased ecosystem N capital in Duke Forests by 25.2 and 8.5%,respectively.In addition,elevated CO_(2)resulted in the decrease of C exit rates(i.e.increases in C residence times)in foliage,woody biomass,structural litter and passive soil organic matter,but the increase of C exit rate in fine roots.Our results demonstrated that CO_(2)enrichment substantially altered key parameters in determining terrestrial C and N interactions,which have profound implications for model improvement and predictions of future C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems in response to global change.