Unraveling the diversification and systematic puzzle of the highly polymorphic Psammobates tentorius (Bell, 1828) complex (Reptilia: Testudinidae) through phylogenetic analyses and species delimitation approaches

The high level of phenotypic diversity in southern African tent tortoises (Psammobates tentorius complex) has for decades prevented systematists from developing a stable taxonomy for the group. Here, we used a comprehensive DNA sequence dataset (mtDNA: Cytb, ND4, ND4 adjacent tRNA-His, and tRNA-Ser, 12S, 16S; and nDNA: PRLR gene) of 455 specimens, and the latest phylogenetic and species delimitation analytical procedures, to unravel the long-standing P. tentorius complex systematic puzzle. Our results for mtDNA and nDNA were incongruent, with the poorly supported nDNA phylogeny differentiating the three recognized subspecies, and showing potential hybridization in some regions. In contrast, the concatenated mtDNA phylogeny identified seven operational taxonomic units, with strong support. Clades 1, 4, 5, and 7 corresponded to tortoises identified as P. t. tentorius, clade 3 to P. t. trimeni, and clades 2 and 6 to P. t. verroxii. Our analyses showed conflicting topologies for the placement of C6 (P. t. verroxii north of the Orange River), with stronger support for it being sister to C2 + C3 than to the other clades. Clades 1, 2, and 6 had significantly higher genetic diversity than clades 3, 4, 5, and 7, perhaps because these clades inhabit substantially larger areas

HyFish: hydrological factor fusion for prediction of fishing effort distribution with VMS dataset

Predicting fishing effort distribution is crucial for guiding fisheries management in developing effective strategies and protecting marine ecosystems. This task requires a deep understanding of how various hydrological factors, such as water temperature, surface height, salinity, and currents influence fishing activities. However, there are significant challenges in designing the prediction model. Firstly, how hydrological factors affect fishing effort distributions remains unquantified. Secondly, the prediction model must effectively integrate the spatial and temporal dynamics of fishing behaviors, a task that shows analytical difficulties. In this study, we first quantify the correlation between hydrological factor fields and fishing effort distributions through spatiotemporal analysis. Building on the insights from this analysis, we develop a deep-learning model designed to forecast the daily distribution of fishing effort for the upcoming week. The proposed model incorporates residual networks to extract features from both the fishing effort distribution and the hydrological factor fields, thus addressing the spatial limits of fishing activity. It also employs Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to manage the temporal dynamics of fishing activity. Furthermore, an attention mechanism is included to capture the importance of various hydrological factors. We apply the approach to the VMS dataset from 1,899 trawling fishing vessels in the East China Sea from September 2015 to May 2017. The dataset from September 2015 to May 2016 is used for correlation analysis and training the prediction model, while the dataset from September 2016 to May 2017 is employed to evaluate the prediction accuracy. The prediction error ratio for each day of the upcoming week range is only 5.6% across all weeks from September 2016 to May 2017. HyFish, notable for its low prediction error ratio, will serve as a versatile tool in fisheries management for developing sustainable practices and in fisheries research for providing quantitative insights into fishing resource dynamics and assessing ecological risks related to fishing activities

Diversification of the African legless skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Family Scincidae)

SUPPLEMENTARY FIGURES : FIGURE S1. Tree topology derived from the best scoring phylogram of the Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis with the combined dataset. The support values for the two phylogenetic reconstruction approaches, Bayesian Inference (BI) and ML, are given at each node. All individuals with corresponding assumed putative species status and clade information are provided. FIGURE S2. Left: the best scoring Maximum Likelihood (ML) tree topology retrieved with the mtDNA dataset. Right: barplots representing the different species delimitation results based on the single locus mtDNA dataset. Grey blocks indicate species that were not supported by that specific method, or two or more groups were not significantly different from each other. The white punctuation without an outline represents putative species boundaries. The “star” represents A. orientalis, “triangle” A. tristis, “circle” A. lineatus, “square” A. grayi, and “diamond” A. litoralis. FIGURE S3. STACEY maximum clade credibility SMC-tree with similarity matrix and minimal cluster from the total evidence dataset comprising all five gene loci. Different colour schemes represent robustness of posterior probability (PP) support. The “red line frame” represents the minimal cluster suggested by the STACEY analysis, the “black line frame” represents the proposed putative species assumption. The squares in the similarity matrix represent posterior probability values (white = 0, represents lowest similarity, whilst, black = 1, represents highest similarity) for pairwise individuals that belong to the same minimal cluster. The corresponding proposed putative species scheme is provided at the top and right of the matrix. FIGURE S4. Heat map showing the 16S-based pairwise distance matrix of the Acontinae, with pairwise comparison of the BEAST fossil dating total evidence gene trees. Color gradients, top left, represent the range of 16S pairwise distances, with their corresponding frequencies. Pairwise groups with similar colors represent close relatives, and vice versa. The “barcoding gap” computed with the p-distances matrix for visualizing the gap between interspecific and intraspecific pairwise distance distributions is marked with a red line. FIGURE S5. Heat map showing the Cyt-b-based pairwise distance matrix of the Acontinae, with pairwise comparison of the BEAST fossil dating total evidence gene trees. Color gradients, top left, represent the range of Cyt-b pairwise distances, with their corresponding frequencies. Pairwise groups with similar colors represent close relatives, and vice versa. The “barcoding gap” computed with the p-distances matrix for visualizing the gap between interspecific and intraspecific pairwise distance distributions is marked with a red line.SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES: TABLE S1. All samples used in this study, together with corresponding detailed locality information, coordinates, labels used in analyses, species, clades and NCBI GenBank accession numbers of all genes. Note: "-" indicates sequence not available, "?" indicates unknown information. All GenBank accession numbers in bold are the new sequences generated from this study. TABLE S2. The outgroup sequences with their NCBI GeneBank accession numbers used in the phylogenetic reconstruction and fossil calibration dating analyses. " - " indicates sequence not available. TABLE S3. Optimal partition scheme, substitution model, likelihood score (-InL), Gamma shape, proportion of estimated invariant and Homogeneity Test results of the four partitions. TABLE S4. Average uncorrected pairwise distances of the 16S gene of all putative Acontinae species based on our proposed species scheme. TABLE S5. Average uncorrected pairwise distances of the Cyt-b gene of all putative Acontinae species based on our proposed species scheme.Cladogenic diversification is often explained by referring to climatic oscillations and geomorphic shifts that cause allopatric speciation. In this regard, southern Africa retains a high level of landscape heterogeneity in vegetation, geology, and rainfall patterns. The legless skink subfamily Acontinae occurs broadly across the southern African subcontinent and therefore provides an ideal model group for investigating biogeographic patterns associated with the region. A robust phylogenetic study of the Acontinae with comprehensive coverage and adequate sampling of each taxon has been lacking up until now, resulting in unresolved questions regarding the subfamily’s biogeography and evolution. In this study, we used multi-locus genetic markers (three mitochondrial and two nuclear) with comprehensive taxon coverage (all currently recognized Acontinae species) and adequate sampling (multiple specimens for most taxa) of each taxon to infer a phylogeny for the subfamily. The phylogeny retrieved four well-supported clades in Acontias and supported the monophyly of Typhlosaurus. Following the General Lineage Concept (GLC), many long-standing phylogenetic enigmas within Acontias occidentalis and the A. kgalagadi, A. lineatus and A. meleagris species complexes, and within Typhlosaurus were resolved. Our species delimitation analyses suggest the existence of hidden taxa in the A. occidentalis, A. cregoi and A. meleagris species groups, but also suggest that some currently recognized species in the A. lineatus and A. meleagris species groups, and within Typhlosaurus, should be synonymised. We also possibly encountered “ghost introgression” in A. occidentalis. Our inferred species tree revealed a signal of gene flow, which implies possible cross-over in some groups. Fossil evidence calibration dating results showed that the divergence between Typhlosaurus and Acontias was likely influenced by cooling and increasing aridity along the southwest coast in the mid-Oligocene caused by the opening of the Drake Passage. Further cladogenesis observed in Typhlosaurus and Acontias was likely influenced by Miocene cooling, expansion of open habitat, uplifting of the eastern Great Escarpment (GE), and variation in rainfall patterns, together with the effect of the warm Agulhas Current since the early Miocene, the development of the cold Benguela Current since the late Miocene, and their co-effects. The biogeographic pattern of the Acontinae bears close resemblance to that of other herpetofauna (e.g., rain frogs and African vipers) in southern Africa.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and the University of the Free State.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/ympevhj2024Zoology and EntomologySDG-15:Life on lan

Echo-ID: Smartphone Placement Region Identification for Context-Aware Computing

Region-function combinations are essential for smartphones to be intelligent and context-aware. The prerequisite for providing intelligent services is that the device can recognize the contextual region in which it resides. The existing region recognition schemes are mainly based on indoor positioning, which require pre-installed infrastructures or tedious calibration efforts or memory burden of precise locations. In addition, location classification recognition methods are limited by either their recognition granularity being too large (room-level) or too small (centimeter-level, requiring training data collection at multiple positions within the region), which constrains the applications of providing contextual awareness services based on region function combinations. In this paper, we propose a novel mobile system, called Echo-ID, that enables a phone to identify the region in which it resides without requiring any additional sensors or pre-installed infrastructure. Echo-ID applies Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) acoustic signals as its sensing medium which is transmitted and received by the speaker and microphones already available in common smartphones. The spatial relationships among the surrounding objects and the smartphone are extracted with a signal processing procedure. We further design a deep learning model to achieve accurate region identification, which calculate finer features inside the spatial relations, robust to phone placement uncertainty and environmental variation. Echo-ID requires users only to put their phone at two orthogonal angles for 8.5 s each inside a target region before use. We implement Echo-ID on the Android platform and evaluate it with Xiaomi 12 Pro and Honor-10 smartphones. Our experiments demonstrate that Echo-ID achieves an average accuracy of 94.6% for identifying five typical regions, with an improvement of 35.5% compared to EchoTag. The results confirm Echo-ID’s robustness and effectiveness for region identification

Anti-Inflammatory and Mineralization Effects of an ASP/PLGA-ASP/ACP/PLLA-PLGA Composite Membrane as a Dental Pulp Capping Agent

Dental pulp is essential for the development and long-term preservation of teeth. Dental trauma and caries often lead to pulp inflammation. Vital pulp therapy using dental pulp-capping materials is an approach to preserving the vitality of injured dental pulp. Most pulp-capping materials used in clinics have good biocompatibility to promote mineralization, but their anti-inflammatory effect is weak. Therefore, the failure rate will increase when dental pulp inflammation is severe. The present study developed an amorphous calcium phosphate/poly (L-lactic acid)-poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) membrane compounded with aspirin (hereafter known as ASP/PLGA-ASP/ACP/PLLA-PLGA). The composite membrane, used as a pulp-capping material, effectively achieved the rapid release of high concentrations of the anti-inflammatory drug aspirin during the early stages as well as the long-term release of low concentrations of aspirin and calcium/phosphorus ions during the later stages, which could repair inflamed dental pulp and promote mineralization. Meanwhile, the composite membrane promoted the proliferation of inflamed dental pulp stem cells, downregulated the expression of inflammatory markers, upregulated the expression of mineralization-related markers, and induced the formation of stronger reparative dentin in the rat pulpitis model. These findings indicate that this material may be suitable for use as a pulp-capping material in clinical applications

Improved wear properties of GCr15 steel balls by fabricating a surface Ti diffusion layer using mechanical alloying and NH3·H2O treatment

This work used mechanical alloying combined with NH3·H2O treatment to strengthen GCr15 steel balls. First, GCr15 steel balls with a Ti coating were fabricated by mechanical alloy considering two structures of jars: one is the ordinary jar and the second is self-made special jar (SMA). Then, the deposited Ti coatings were removed by dropping NH3·H2O during the ball milling process. Surprisingly, a Ti diffusion layer is obtained on the surface of GCr15 steel balls. In particular, the Ti diffusion layers in the samples processed by self-made special jars show a thickness of approximately 3.2 μm. Mechanical Properties, such as grain, dislocation, microhardness, and friction coefficient of the processed samples, were investigated. Results show that a hardening layer of approximately 120 μm is formed on the samples processed by self-made special jars, which increased by 129% than that of samples processed by ordinary jar. A microhardness as high as 895 HV is also realized on sample surface, where obvious grain refinement and larger dislocation density were observed. The possible working mechanism was discussed. This study demonstrated that the proposed method could significantly improve the fatigue life of some mechanical components, especially for steel balls

Ginseng-containing traditional medicine preparations in combination with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundGinseng-containing traditional medicine preparations (G-TMPs) in combination with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy (FBC) are well-known treatments for advanced gastric cancer (AGC), with a superior efficacy to FBC alone. However, evidence regarding their efficacy remains limited. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of G-TMPs in combination with FBC for the treatment of AGC.MethodsEight electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using G-TMPs with FBC for the treatment of AGC. The primary outcome included the tumor response, while the secondary outcomes included the quality of life (QoL), proportions of peripheral blood lymphocytes, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and levels of cancer biomarkers. The quality of evidence for each outcome was assessed using GRADE profilers.ResultsA total of 1,960 participants were involved in the 26 RCTs included. Patients treated with FBC plus G-TMPs had better objective response (risk ratio [RR] = 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13 to 1.35, p ConclusionIn combination with FBC, G-TMPs can potentially enhance efficacy, reduce ADRs, and improve prognosis for patients with AGC. However, high-quality randomized studies remain warranted.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO Number: CRD42021264938

Additional file 3: Figure S2. of Protein phosphatase 2A-B55δ enhances chemotherapy sensitivity of human hepatocellular carcinoma under the regulation of microRNA-133b

Quantitative immunohistochemical assessment of protein levels in xenograft tumors with or without cDDP treatment. The histogram shows the amounts of B55δ, Cyclin B1, Cyclin E1, and PCNA proteins determined by IPP 6.0 analysis of the micrographs of Fig. 5d. *P < 0.01 as compared with Ctrl group of HepG2-pBabe cells. # P < 0.01 as compared with cDDP group of HepG2-pBabe cells. (TIF 528 kb

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Protein phosphatase 2A-B55δ enhances chemotherapy sensitivity of human hepatocellular carcinoma under the regulation of microRNA-133b

Primers used in this study. (DOC 54 kb