Spatial Pattern and Determinants of the First Detection Locations of Invasive Alien Species in Mainland China

BACKGROUND: The unintentional transport of species as a result of human activities has reached unprecedented rates. Once established, introduced species can be nearly impossible to eradicate. It is therefore essential to identify and monitor locations where invaders are most likely to establish new populations. Despite the obvious value of early detection, how does an agency identify areas that are most vulnerable to new invaders? Here we propose a novel approach by using the "first detection location" (FDL) of introduced species in China to quantify characteristics of areas where introduced species are first reported. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We obtained FDLs for 166 species (primarily agricultural and forestry pests) that were unintentionally introduced into China prior to 2008 from literature searches. The spatial pattern and determinants of FDLs were examined at the provincial level. The spatial pattern of FDLs varied among provinces with more commerce and trade and economically developed provinces in coastal regions having more FDLs than interior provinces. For example, 74.6% of FDLs were distributed in coastal regions despite that they only cover 15.6% of the total area in China. Variables that may be indicators of "introduction pressure" (e.g. the amount of received commerce) had an overwhelming effect on the number of FDLs in each province (R(2) = 0.760). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that "introduction pressure" may be one of the most important factors that determine the locations where newly-introduced species are first detected, and that open and developed provinces in China should be prioritized when developing monitoring programs that focus on locating and managing new introductions. Our study illustrates that FDL approaches can contribute to the study and management of biological invasions not only for China but also for elsewhere

Good learning environment of medical schools is an independent predictor for medical students’ study engagement

BackgroundStudy engagement is regarded important to medical students’ physical and mental wellbeing. However, the relationship between learning environment of medical schools and the study engagement of medical students was still unclear. This study was aimed to ascertain the positive effect of learning environment in study engagement.MethodsWe collected 10,901 valid questionnaires from 12 medical universities in China, and UWES-S was utilized to assess the study engagement levels. Then Pearson Chi-Square test and Welch’s ANOVA test were conducted to find the relationship between study engagement and learning environment, and subgroup analysis was used to eradicate possible influence of confounding factors. After that, a multivariate analysis was performed to prove learning environment was an independent factor, and we constructed a nomogram as a predictive model.ResultsWith Pearson Chi-Square test (p < 0.001) and Welch’s ANOVA test (p < 0.001), it proved that a good learning environment contributed to a higher mean of UWES scores. Subgroup analysis also showed statistical significance (p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, we could find that, taking “Good” as reference, “Excellent” (OR = 0.329, 95%CI = 0.295–0.366, p < 0.001) learning environment was conducive to one’s study engagement, while “Common” (OR = 2.206, 95%CI = 1.989–2.446, p < 0.001), “Bad” (OR = 2.349, 95%CI = 1.597–3.454, p < 0.001), and “Terrible” (OR = 1.696, 95%CI = 1.015–2.834, p = 0.044) learning environment only resulted into relatively bad study engagement. Depending on the result, a nomogram was drawn, which had predictive discrimination and accuracy (AUC = 0.680).ConclusionWe concluded that learning environment of school was an independent factor of medical student’s study engagement. A higher level of learning environment of medical school came with a higher level of medical students’ study engagement. The nomogram could serve as a predictive reference for the educators and researchers

Molecular Targeted Therapy in the Treatment of Chordoma: A Systematic Review

Objectives: Chordoma is a rare bone malignancy that affects the spine and skull base. Treatment dilemma leads to a high rate of local relapse and distant metastases. Molecular targeted therapy (MTT) is an option for advanced chordoma, but its therapeutic efficacy and safety have not been investigated systematically. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted on studies reporting MTT regimens for chordoma.Methods: Clinical trials, case series and case reports on chordoma MTT were identified using MEDLINE, Cochrane library and EMBASE, and systematically reviewed. Data on clinical outcomes, such as median overall survival, progression-free survival, response rate and adverse events (AEs) were extracted and analyzed.Results: Thirty-three eligible studies were selected for the systematic review, which indicated that imatinib and erlotinib were the most frequently used molecular targeted inhibitors (MTIs) for chordoma. For PDGFR-positive and/or EGFR-positive chordoma, clinical benefits were achieved with acceptable AEs. Monotherapy is preferred as the first-line of treatment, and combined drug therapy as the second-line treatment. In addition, the brachyury vaccine has shown promising results.Conclusions: The selection of MTIs for patients with advanced or relapsed chordoma should be based on gene mutation screening and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Monotherapy of TKIs is recommended as the first-line management, and combination therapy (two TKIs or TKI plus mTOR inhibitor) may be the choice for drug-resistant chordoma. Brachyury vaccine is a promising therapeutic strategy and requires more clinical trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy

Does Global Warming Increase Establishment Rates of Invasive Alien Species? A Centurial Time Series Analysis

BACKGROUND: The establishment rate of invasive alien insect species has been increasing worldwide during the past century. This trend has been widely attributed to increased rates of international trade and associated species introductions, but rarely linked to environmental change. To better understand and manage the bioinvasion process, it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and establishment rate of invasive alien species, especially for poikilothermic invaders such as insects. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We present data that demonstrate a significant positive relationship between the change in average annual surface air temperature and the establishment rate of invasive alien insects in mainland China during 1900-2005. This relationship was modeled by regression analysis, and indicated that a 1 °C increase in average annual surface temperature in mainland China was associated with an increase in the establishment rate of invasive alien insects of about 0.5 species year⁻¹. The relationship between rising surface air temperature and increasing establishment rate remained significant even after accounting for increases in international trade during the period 1950-2005. Moreover, similar relationships were detected using additional data from the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that the perceived increase in establishments of invasive alien insects can be explained only in part by an increase in introduction rate or propagule pressure. Besides increasing propagule pressure, global warming is another driver that could favor worldwide bioinvasions. Our study highlights the need to consider global warming when designing strategies and policies to deal with bioinvasions

Dual inhibition of AKT‐mTOR and AR signaling by targeting HDAC3 in PTEN‐ or SPOP‐mutated prostate cancer

Abstract AKT‐mTOR and androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in prostate cancer due to frequent PTEN deletions or SPOP mutations. A clinical barrier is that targeting one of them often activates the other. Here, we demonstrate that HDAC3 augments AKT phosphorylation in prostate cancer cells and its overexpression correlates with AKT phosphorylation in patient samples. HDAC3 facilitates lysine‐63‐chain polyubiquitination and phosphorylation of AKT, and this effect is mediated by AKT deacetylation at lysine 14 and 20 residues and HDAC3 interaction with the scaffold protein APPL1. Conditional homozygous deletion of Hdac3 suppresses prostate tumorigenesis and progression by concomitant blockade of AKT and AR signaling in the Pten knockout mouse model. Pharmacological inhibition of HDAC3 using a selective HDAC3 inhibitor RGFP966 inhibits growth of both PTEN‐deficient and SPOP‐mutated prostate cancer cells in culture, patient‐derived organoids and xenografts in mice. Our study identifies HDAC3 as a common upstream activator of AKT and AR signaling and reveals that dual inhibition of AKT and AR pathways is achievable by single‐agent targeting of HDAC3 in prostate cancer

Multi-Hypothesis Topological Isomorphism Matching Method for Synthetic Aperture Radar Images with Large Geometric Distortion

The dramatic undulations of a mountainous terrain will introduce large geometric distortions in each Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image with different look angles, resulting in a poor registration performance. To this end, this paper proposes a multi-hypothesis topological isomorphism matching method for SAR images with large geometric distortions. The method includes the Ridge-Line Keypoint Detection (RLKD) and Multi-Hypothesis Topological Isomorphism Matching (MHTIM). Firstly, based on the analysis of the ridge structure, a ridge keypoint detection module and a keypoint similarity description method are designed, which aim to quickly produce a small number of stable matching keypoint pairs under large look angle differences and large terrain undulations. The keypoint pairs are further fed into the MHTIM module. Subsequently, the MHTIM method is proposed, which uses the stability and isomorphism of the topological structure of the keypoint set under different perspectives to generate a variety of matching hypotheses, and iteratively achieves the keypoint matching. This method uses both local and global geometric relationships between two keypoints, hence it achieving better performance compared with traditional methods. We tested our approach on both simulated and real mountain SAR images with different look angles and different elevation ranges. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and stable matching performance of our approach

Analysis of machine learning based integration to identify the crosslink between inflammation and immune response in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease through bioinformatic analysis

Background: The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major form of chronic liver disease. This study aimed to scrutinize the diagnostic biomarkers of NAFLD and their correlation with the immune microenvironment through bioinformatic analysis. Methods: To identify genes associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), we obtained microarray datasets (GSE63067 and GSE89632) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Machine learning techniques such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) and Random Forest (RF) were used to identify key genes. We performed gene ontology analysis to identify the driver pathways of NAFLD. External datasets (merging GSE48452, GSE66676 and GSE135251) were used to validate the identified genes and confirm protein levels by Western blotting. The CIBERSORT algorithm and immune-related techniques, such as ssGSEA, were used to assess the level of infiltration of different immune cell types and their functions. Finally, Spearman's analysis confirmed the relationship between pivotal genes and immune cells. Results: Hub genes (BBOX1, FOSB, NR4A2, RAB26 and SOCS2) were identified as potential biomarkers. This study demonstrates that these hub genes are significantly dysregulated in NAFLD, suggesting that they may be useful as diagnostic indicators and possible targets for treatment. Also covered are their possible effects on inflammation, immune cell activation, and liver damage in NAFLD. A better understanding of the intricate relationship between metabolic inefficiency, immunological response, and liver pathology in NAFLD may be gained from this work, which can lead to the development of new diagnostic tools and clinical treatments. Conclusion: The current study identified BBOX1, FOSB, NR4A2, RAB26 and SOCS2 as important diagnostic biomarkers for NAFLD. The study highlights the important function of immune cell infiltration in developing NAFLD. Their findings provide valuable molecular biological insights into the development of NAFLD and may lead to novel therapeutic strategies for treating this disease

Watanabesaruzo yunnanensis Huang, Zhang, Pelsue & Jr, 2006, sp. nov.

Watanabesaruzo yunnanensis sp. nov. Holotype. China. Yunnan: Female [Baijifan [99.3 E, 27.2 N], Weixi County, Yunnan Province, China, 2250m, 13.VII. 1981, Shuyong Wang, IOZ(E) 897083]. Part of the holotype was broken during examination of the specimen. The head fell down and was glued to the body, with one antenna missing and the other separated from the head. The right elytron is broken by the insect pin as illustrated in Fig. 1. The venter and pygidium are separated from the body. The 5 th segments of tarsi are missing from the left three legs and right fore­leg, and the right hind­leg separated from the body, with its tarsus missing. All of the separated parts were glued to a triangular sheet and well deposited. Diagnosis. Pronotal spine elongate in moderate length, with a median carina running from the distal tip to basal 1 / 3 of pronotum; pronotum with dense and deep punctures; elytral striae with small and shallow punctures; funicular segment 4 more than 1.5 times as long as segment 5; scales on head, pronotum and elytra lanceolate with truncate apices. 1 2 Description. Female. Dark brown to black in general appearance. Rostrum, antennae, tarsi and venter reddish brown (Figs 1–2). Body length 3.71 mm; pronotal length 1.09 mm, width 1.56 mm; elytral length 2.25 mm, width 2.67 mm; length of pronotal spine 0.33 mm; rostral length 2.20 mm, width 0.25mm on apical 1 / 4 and 0.38 mm on base (Figs 3–4). Head black, reticulately punctured, covered with dense yellowish scales; scales lanceolate with truncate apices; vertex with median carina; front depressed, mostly covered with yellowish scales. Eyes black, round, strongly convex, with 1–3 lines of yellowish scales fringing around inner margin of each eye (Fig. 4). Rostrum reddish brown, long and slender, twice as long as pronotum, slightly curved, with median carina. Antennae reddish­brown, inserted at middle of rostrum; scape long and clavate at apex, then apex produced in short lamina (Fig. 5); funicle 6 segmented, segment 2 1.7 times as long as segment 1, segment 3 1.1 times as long as segment 2, segment 4 0.5 times as long as segment 3, 1.8 times as long as segment 5, and segments 5 and 6 same length. Club spindle­like, densely covered with fine hairs. Pronotum black, subrhomboidal, 1.4 times as wide as long (Fig. 3); sides of apical half strongly compressed, broadening to base; apical 1 / 4 collar­like, with two short keels on basal 1 / 3, and central sulcus on median half, with a strong prominence on each side. Pronotal spine of moderate length, 0.3 times as long as pronotum, bearing distinct median carina from distal tip to basal 1 / 3 of pronotum. Shallowly and reticulately punctate, sides and the central sulcus covered with loosely appressed yellowish scales; scales lanceolate with truncate apices. Elytra dark brown, cordiform, 1.2 times as wide as long, 1.7 times as wide as pronotum (Fig. 3); basal 1 / 4 of 1 st interval furnished with velvety brown patch of oval scales; odd intervals much broader and more prominent than even ones; odd intervals with 1–2 rows of granules, mostly 1 row, even intervals with 2–4 rows of granules, each granule with a semi­appressed yellowish gray scale. Scale lanceolate with truncate apex. Widest point of elytra just behind humeri, then intervals 9 and 10 depressed at middle. Striae not wider than even intervals, quite narrow and deep, linear, sinuous, with shallow and faint punctures separated by about 2–3 times their diameter. Legs dark brown, covered with light brown to yellowish scales; each femur armed with small triangular tooth (Figs 6–8); tibiae simple, lacking mucro, corbels relatively long, apical comb formed by dense and strong setae; tarsi reddish brown, segment 1 twice as long as wide, segment 2 about as long as wide, segment 3 (lobe) 1.5 times as long as wide, segment 5 slender, 1.4 times as long as segment 3; claws finely dentate (Fig. 9). Sterna dark brown, finely and densely punctured, each puncture with a yellowish scale. Scale lanceolate with truncate apex. Sternal channel extending to base of metasternum, deep from prosternum to base of mesosternum, apical portion of channel depressed slightly. Venter reddish brown, finely and densely punctured, each with yellowish oval to lanceolate scale. The first two ventrites obviously inflated, ventrite 5 flat. Ventrite 1 1.5 times as long as 2, ventrite 2 subequal to 3 and 4 combined in length, ventrite 3 subequal to 4, ventrite 5 subequal to 3 and 4 combined. Pygidium reddish brown and flat, with dense and shallow punctures. Anterior part of pygidium almost covered with long yellow hair­like scales. Median carina runs through the upper flange, with pair of triangular projections on each side (Fig. 10). Female genitalia (Figs 11–12). Distribution. Baijifan [99.3 E, 27.2 N], Weixi County, Yunnan Province, China. Etymology. The species is named in reference to its geographical location. Discussion. The tribe Mecysmoderini contains 104 species (99 species in the catalogue of Colonnelli 2004, 2 new species in Korotyaev and Hong 2004, 2 new species in Yoshitake et Noerdjito 2005, 1 new species in Yoshitake 2005), with the common characters as the middle of pronotum acutely elongated at the base and the antennal funicle with 6 segments (Colonnelli 1992; Korotyaev 1992). They are mostly Oriental species and are classified into 6 genera: Mecysmoderes Schoenherr, Belonnotus Schultze, Coeliosomus Motschulsky, Cysmemoderes Colonnelli, Xenysmoderes Colonnelli, and Watanabesaruzo Yoshitake and Yamauchi. It is clear that the generic classification of the Mecysmodeini is temporal, as Mecysmoderes is polyphyletic (Colonnelli 1992) and the current classification system does not fit for many undescribed specimens (Yoshitake & Yamauchi 2002). The biology of the genus Watanabesaruzo is not clear at this time. However, the type species W. taimeii was collected from a secondary sub­mountain canopy layers dominated by Vernonia arborea (Asteraceae), Omalanthus (Euphorbiaceae), and Bischofia javanica (Euphorbiaceae) in the upper, and Laportea stimulans (Urticaceae) in the lower (Yoshitake & Yamauchi 2002). The host plants of both W. malayanus and W. yunnanensis are unknown. The ceutorhynchines have a strong connection with their host plants. Each genus feeds on a particular plant group, usually oligophagous or even monophagous (Colonnelli 2004). The breeding biology of Mecysmoderini is mostly not clear with only 13 species having known plant associations recorded to date (Yoshitake 2005). Watanabesaruzo yunnanensis is the third species of Watanabesaruzo to be identified. It adds a new continental record of the genus and there are at least more five undescribed species of Watanabesaruzo in the Oriental Region (Yoshitake, personal communication), sharing the common characters of the genus.Published as part of Huang, Junhao, Zhang, Runzhi, Pelsue, Frank W. & Jr, 2006, A new species of the genus Watanabesaruzo (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ceutorhynchinae) from China, pp. 41-46 in Zootaxa 1124 on pages 42-45, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17178

Multi-Hypothesis Topological Isomorphism Matching Method for Synthetic Aperture Radar Images with Large Geometric Distortion

The dramatic undulations of a mountainous terrain will introduce large geometric distortions in each Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image with different look angles, resulting in a poor registration performance. To this end, this paper proposes a multi-hypothesis topological isomorphism matching method for SAR images with large geometric distortions. The method includes the Ridge-Line Keypoint Detection (RLKD) and Multi-Hypothesis Topological Isomorphism Matching (MHTIM). Firstly, based on the analysis of the ridge structure, a ridge keypoint detection module and a keypoint similarity description method are designed, which aim to quickly produce a small number of stable matching keypoint pairs under large look angle differences and large terrain undulations. The keypoint pairs are further fed into the MHTIM module. Subsequently, the MHTIM method is proposed, which uses the stability and isomorphism of the topological structure of the keypoint set under different perspectives to generate a variety of matching hypotheses, and iteratively achieves the keypoint matching. This method uses both local and global geometric relationships between two keypoints, hence it achieving better performance compared with traditional methods. We tested our approach on both simulated and real mountain SAR images with different look angles and different elevation ranges. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and stable matching performance of our approach

Taxonomic revision of the East Asian genus Scleropteroides Colonnelli, 1979 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Ceutorhynchinae)

The genus Scleropteroides Colonnelli, 1979 (Ceutorhynchinae: Scleropterini) was revised on the basis of detailed morphological observations. The genus was redefined to include three species from East Asia: S. hypocrita (Hustache, 1916) is redescribed and recorded from northeastern China and northern Korea for the first time; S. horridulus (Voss, 1958) is redescribed with new records from southern Korea; S. insularis Voss, 1971 was moved from synonymy with S. hypocrita to that with S. horridulus (syn. n.), and S. longiprocessus Huang & Yoshitake, sp. n. is described as new, sympatric with S. hypocrita in Japan. All the species are associated with woody Rubus species (Rosaceae). A key to species, habitus photographs, illustrations of important characters, and distribution maps are provided for each species