Table_1.DOCX

<p>Stroke is a neurological disease with high disability and fatality rates, and ischemic stroke accounts for 75% of all stroke cases. The underlying pathophysiologic processes of ischemic stroke include oxidative stress, toxicity of excitatory amino acids, excess calcium ions, increased apoptosis and inflammation. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may participate in the regulation of the pathophysiologic processes of ischemic stroke as indicated by altered expression of lncRNAs in blood samples of acute ischemic stroke patients, animal models of focal cerebral ischemia and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) cell models. Because of the potentially important role, lncRNAs might be useful as biomarkers for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of ischemic stroke. This article reviews the functions of lncRNAs in different pathophysiology events of ischemic stroke with a focus on specific lncRNAs that may underlie ischemic stroke pathophysiology and that could therefore serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.</p

Simple and Efficient Generation of Aryl Radicals from Aryl Triflates: Synthesis of Aryl Boronates and Aryl Iodides at Room Temperature

Despite the wide use of aryl radicals in organic synthesis, current methods to prepare them from aryl halides, carboxylic acids, boronic acids, and diazonium salts suffer from limitations. Aryl triflates, easily obtained from phenols, are promising aryl radical progenitors but remain elusive in this regard. Inspired by the single electron transfer process for aryl halides to access aryl radicals, we developed a simple and efficient protocol to convert aryl triflates to aryl radicals. Our success lies in exploiting sodium iodide as the soft electron donor assisted by light. This strategy enables the scalable synthesis of two types of important organic molecules, i.e., aryl boronates and aryl iodides, in good to high yields, with broad functional group compatibility in a transition-metal-free manner at room temperature. This protocol is anticipated to find potential applications in other aryl-radical-involved reactions by using aryl triflates as aryl radical precursors

Factors Affecting the Distribution Pattern of Wild Plants with Extremely Small Populations in Hainan Island, China

<div><p>Understanding which factors affect the distribution pattern of extremely small populations is essential to the protection and propagation of rare and endangered plant species. In this study, we established 108 plots covering the entire Hainan Island, and measured the appearance frequency and species richness of plant species with extremely small populations, as well as the ecological environments and human disturbances during 2012–2013. We explored how the ecological environments and human activities affected the distribution pattern of these extremely small populations. Results showed that the extremely small populations underwent human disturbances and threats, and they were often found in fragmental habitats. The leading factors changing the appearance frequency of extremely small populations differed among plant species, and the direct factors making them susceptible to extinction were human disturbances. The peak richness of extremely small populations always occurred at the medium level across environmental gradients, and their species richness always decreased with increasing human disturbances. However, the appearance frequencies of three orchid species increased with the increasing human disturbances. Our study thus indicate that knowledge on how the external factors, such as the ecological environment, land use type, roads, human activity, etc., affect the distribution of the extremely small populations should be taken for the better protecting them in the future.</p></div

Principal component values, eigenvalues, and contribution rate of variables in principal components analysis.

<p>Principal component values, eigenvalues, and contribution rate of variables in principal components analysis.</p

Distance correlation analysis between extremely small populations and different canopy densities.

<p>The numbers from 1 to 6 represent canopy density ranges of 0.4–0.5, 0.5–0.6, 0.6–0.7, 0.7–0.8, 0.8–0.9, and 0.9–1.0.</p

Distance correlation analysis between extremely small populations and different slope gradients.

<p>The numbers from 1 to 6 represent slope gradient ranges of 0°–15°, 15°–30°, 30°–45°, 45°–60°, 60°–75°, and 75°–90°.</p

The relationship between eight factors and the species richness of extremely small populations (mean and standard errors).

<p>(A), distance between populations and road (Road 1, Road 2, Road 3, and Road 4 represent rural sandstone road, rural cement road, township road, and county road, respectively); (B), different levels of surrounding population density and land use; (C), different levels of altitudes; (D), coefficient similarity values of neighboring altitudes (the numbers from 1 to 6 represent altitude ranges of 0–300 m, 300–600 m, 600–900 m, 900–1200 m, 1200–1500 m, and 1500–1800 m); (E), different levels of slope aspects; (F), different levels of slope gradients; (G), different levels of canopy density. Different Lowercase letters (a, b, c) indicate significant difference at p<0.05.</p

Hainan map and distribution of the 108 sample plots of the field survey.

<p>The red circles indicate plots.</p

Bivariate correlation analysis between the appearance of the extremely small populations and the measured variables.

<p>* Significant at the 5% level of probability, ** Significant at the 1% level of probability.</p><p>The numbers from 1 to 20 represent the 20 species with extremely small populations, as shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097751#pone.0097751.s001" target="_blank">Appendix S1</a>. E1, canopy density; E2, altitude; E3, slope aspect; E5, road quality; E6, distance between population and road; E7, surrounding population density; E8, land use type.</p

Frequency of extremely small populations appearing on different slope aspects.

<p>The numbers from 1 to 20 represent the 20 species with extremely small populations, as shown in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097751#pone.0097751.s001" target="_blank">Appendix S1</a>.</p