Dynamic analysis of a Leslie-Gower predator-prey model with the fear effect and nonlinear harvesting

In this paper, we investigate the stability and bifurcation of a Leslie-Gower predator-prey model with a fear effect and nonlinear harvesting. We discuss the existence and stability of equilibria, and show that the unique equilibrium is a cusp of codimension three. Moreover, we show that saddle-node bifurcation and Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation can occur. Also, the system undergoes a degenerate Hopf bifurcation and has two limit cycles (i.e., the inner one is stable and the outer is unstable), which implies the bistable phenomenon. We conclude that the large amount of fear and prey harvesting are detrimental to the survival of the prey and predator

Zonal Soil Type Determines Soil Microbial Responses to Maize Cropping and Fertilization.

Soil types heavily influence ecological dynamics. It remains controversial to what extent soil types shape microbial responses to land management changes, largely due to lack of in-depth comparison across various soil types. Here, we collected samples from three major zonal soil types spanning from cold temperate to subtropical climate zones. We examined bacterial and fungal community structures, as well as microbial functional genes. Different soil types had distinct microbial biomass levels and community compositions. Five years of maize cropping (growing corn or maize) changed the bacterial community composition of the Ultisol soil type and the fungal composition of the Mollisol soil type but had little effect on the microbial composition of the Inceptisol soil type. Meanwhile, 5 years of fertilization resulted in soil acidification. Microbial compositions of the Mollisol and Ultisol, but not the Inceptisol, were changed and correlated (P < 0.05) with soil pH. These results demonstrated the critical role of soil type in determining microbial responses to land management changes. We also found that soil nitrification potentials correlated with the total abundance of nitrifiers and that soil heterotrophic respiration correlated with the total abundance of carbon degradation genes, suggesting that changes in microbial community structure had altered ecosystem processes. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities are essential drivers of soil functional processes such as nitrification and heterotrophic respiration. Although there is initial evidence revealing the importance of soil type in shaping microbial communities, there has been no in-depth, comprehensive survey to robustly establish it as a major determinant of microbial community composition, functional gene structure, or ecosystem functioning. We examined bacterial and fungal community structures using Illumina sequencing, microbial functional genes using GeoChip, microbial biomass using phospholipid fatty acid analysis, as well as functional processes of soil nitrification potential and CO2 efflux. We demonstrated the critical role of soil type in determining microbial responses to land use changes at the continental level. Our findings underscore the inherent difficulty in generalizing ecosystem responses across landscapes and suggest that assessments of community feedback must take soil types into consideration. Author Video: An author video summary of this article is available

Phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein 1 enhances sensitivity of gastric cancer cell to 5-fluorouracil via inhibition of cell proliferation, migration and invasion

Purpose: To determine the association between phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein 1, which is an Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) via analysis of the association between RKIP and clinical responses in individuals treated using fluorouracil-based chemotherapy.Methods: Human gastric cancer cell lines MGC-803 and SGC-7901 were used in this study. Cell viability was measured using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Apoptosis and migration were determined with flow cytometry and Transwell chamber assays, respectively. The mRNA and protein expressions of apoptosis-related factors were assayed using realtime polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively, while the expression of RKIP was determined by immunohistochemical staining.Results: Chemotherapeutic drug (5-FU) treatment induced low RKIP expression levels in tumorigenic GC cells, thereby sensitizing the cells to apoptosis (8.57 vs 1.25 %, p < 0.01). The highest RKIP level correlated well with initiation of apoptosis (4.20 vs 1.25 %, p < 0.01). Following in vitro downregulation of RKIP, there was increase in the viability and proliferation of RKIP-inhibited cells over time, and these changes were linked to alterations in cell cycle phases and increased optical density in MTT proliferation assay (1.55 vs 1.18, p < 0.01). In vitro Transwell assay measurement revealed an association between RKIP downregulation and enhancement of cell migration potential (652 vs 436, p < 0.01). Ectopic RKIP expression restored the apoptotic sensitivity of resistant cells (14.30 vs 1.36 %, p <0.01). This sensitization was annulled by upregulation of survival routes. Reduction of RKIP by expression of antisense and siRNA conferred resistance on cancer cells sensitive to 5-FU-mediated apoptosis (6.88 vs 2.13 %, p < 0.01).Conclusion: Thus, RKIP is a promising therapeutic strategy for improving the efficacy of clinically relevant chemotherapeutic drugs for GC. Keywords: Gastric cancer, Raf kinase inhibitor protein, Cell proliferation, Invasion, Apoptosis, Chemotherapy,  Phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein

Microbial functional trait of rRNA operon copy numbers increases with organic levels in anaerobic digesters.

The ecological concept of the r-K life history strategy is widely applied in macro-ecology to characterize functional traits of taxa. However, its adoption in microbial communities is limited, owing to the lack of a measureable, convenient functional trait for classification. In this study, we performed an experiment of stepwise organic amendments in triplicate anaerobic digesters. We found that high resource availability significantly favored microbial r-strategists such as Bacillus spp. Incremental resource availability heightened average rRNA operon copy number of microbial community, resulting in a strong, positive correlation (r>0.74, P<0.008). This study quantifies how resource availability manipulations influence microbial community composition and supports the idea that rRNA operon copy number is an ecologically meaningful trait which reflects resource availability

Perioperative immunotherapy for stage II-III non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis base on randomized controlled trials

BackgroundIn recent years, we have observed the pivotal role of immunotherapy in improving survival for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the effectiveness of immunotherapy in the perioperative (neoadjuvant + adjuvant) treatment of resectable NSCLC remains uncertain. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of its antitumor efficacy and adverse effects (AEs) by pooling data from the KEYNOTE-671, NADIM II, and AEGEAN clinical trials.MethodsFor eligible studies, we searched seven databases. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) pertaining to the comparative analysis of combination neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy plus perioperative immunotherapy (PIO) versus perioperative placebo (PP) were included. Primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS). Secondary endpoints encompassed drug responses, AEs, and surgical outcomes.ResultsThree RCTs (KEYNOTE-671, NADIM II, and AEGEAN) were included in the final analysis. PIO group (neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy plus perioperative immunotherapy) exhibited superior efficacy in OS (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.63 [0.49-0.81]), EFS (HR: 0.61 [0.52, 0.72]), objective response rate (risk ratio [RR]: 2.21 [1.91, 2.54]), pathological complete response (RR: 4.36 [3.04, 6.25]), major pathological response (RR: 2.79 [2.25, 3.46]), R0 resection rate (RR: 1.13 [1.00, 1.26]) and rate of adjuvant treatment (RR: 1.08 [1.01, 1.15]) compared with PP group (neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy plus perioperative placebo). In the subgroup analysis, EFS tended to favor the PIO group in almost all subgroups. BMI (>25), T stage (IV), N stage (N1-N2) and pathological response (with pathological complete response) were favorable factors in the PIO group. In the safety assessment, the PIO group exhibited higher rates of serious AEs (28.96% vs. 23.51%) and AEs leading to treatment discontinuation (12.84% vs. 5.81%). Meanwhile, although total adverse events, grade 3-5 adverse events, and fatal adverse events tended to favor the PP group, the differences were not statistically significant.ConclusionPIO appears to be superior to PP for resectable stage II-III NSCLC, demonstrating enhanced survival and pathological responses. However, its elevated adverse event (AE) rate warrants careful consideration.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/#recordDetails, identifier CRD42023487475

A survey of localization in wireless sensor network

Localization is one of the key techniques in wireless sensor network. The location estimation methods can be classified into target/source localization and node self-localization. In target localization, we mainly introduce the energy-based method. Then we investigate the node self-localization methods. Since the widespread adoption of the wireless sensor network, the localization methods are different in various applications. And there are several challenges in some special scenarios. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey of these challenges: localization in non-line-of-sight, node selection criteria for localization in energy-constrained network, scheduling the sensor node to optimize the tradeoff between localization performance and energy consumption, cooperative node localization, and localization algorithm in heterogeneous network. Finally, we introduce the evaluation criteria for localization in wireless sensor network