A review of village ecosystem services and insights into karst desertification control.

Village ecosystems (VEs), as small-scale interaction units between humans and nature, play a crucial role in sustainable development by providing ecological services to support residents' production and life and to cope with ecological and environmental problems. Karst desertification (KD) hinders the sustainable development of karst areas, and village ecosystem services (VES) provide an essential perspective during the transition of karst desertification control (KDC) strategies. In the present study, we used a systematic quantitative assessment method to conduct a literature review of 194 relevant studies on VES in Scopus.

Correlation between ultrasound-based hepatic steatosis grade and thyroid hormone levels.

Background: Thyroid hormones impact on metabolic homeostasis, and low thyroid hormone levels, both systemically and hepatically, have been linked to hepatic steatosis. However, prior studies in this area often lacked quantification of steatosis. Ultrasound attenuation analysis (USAT) is a novel imaging technique for hepatic steatosis detection based on the attenuation coefficient.

BHLHE40-mediated upregulation of CAV1 decreases the radiosensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Radical radiotherapy remains the standard treatment for nonmetastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, a considerable proportion of patients still experience therapeutic failure due to the emergence of radioresistance. The molecular mechanisms underlying this resistance are not fully elucidated, underscoring the need for new biomarkers and therapeutic targets to increase radiosensitivity and improve treatment outcomes.

Assessing Fetal Heart Morphology and Function in Fetuses With Right Ventricular Outflow Obstruction by Fetal Heart Quantitative Technique.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical utility of the fetal heart quantification (Fetal HQ) technique in the assessment of morphological and functional changes in fetuses with right ventricular outflow obstruction (RVOTO).

Methods: This study included 53 fetuses with RVOTO and 30 age-matched normal controls. The RVOTO fetuses were divided into 2 groups based on the occurrence of other cardiovascular malformations: the simple pulmonary stenosis (PS group) and the conotruncal defects (CTD group).

Fluorocarbon-Functionalized Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly Nanoparticles Alleviate Hypoxia to Enhance Sonodynamic Cancer Therapy.

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is an ultrasound-based, noninvasive cancer treatment that targets tumor cells by triggering reactive oxygen species production. However, the limited accumulation of sonosensitizers and the insufficient supply of O to the hypoxic environment at the tumor site greatly limit the effectiveness of SDT. To address these issues, positively charged porphyrin-containing nanoparticles (NPs) from self-assembling of fluorocarbon/polyethylene glycol amphiphilic block copolymer, which is synthesized through reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, are constructed.

Machine learning-based identification of a consensus immune-derived gene signature to improve head and neck squamous cell carcinoma therapy and outcome.

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), an extremely aggressive tumor, is often associated with poor outcomes. The standard anatomy-based tumor-node-metastasis staging system does not satisfy the requirements for screening treatment-sensitive patients. Thus, an ideal biomarker leading to precise screening and treatment of HNSCC is urgently needed.

Ultrafast underwater self-healing piezo-ionic elastomer via dynamic hydrophobic-hydrolytic domains.

The development of advanced materials capable of autonomous self-healing and mechanical stimulus sensing in aquatic environments holds great promise for applications in underwater soft electronics, underwater robotics, and water-resistant human-machine interfaces. However, achieving superior autonomous self-healing properties and effective sensing simultaneously in an aquatic environment is rarely feasible. Here, we present an ultrafast underwater molecularly engineered self-healing piezo-ionic elastomer inspired by the cephalopod's suckers, which possess self-healing properties and mechanosensitive ion channels.

The feasibility of level Ib-sparing intensity-modulated radiation therapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and high-risk factors classified based on the International Guideline.

Background And Purpose: To examine the feasibility of level Ib-sparing intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who had high-risk factors classified based on the International Guideline (IG).

Materials And Methods: We evaluated 961 non-metastatic NPC cases based on IG recommendations for prophylactic Ib irradiation. Four high-risk factors were used to categorise patients into three cohorts: A, B, and C.

The relationship between parent-child communication and English academic engagement among middle school students: a moderated mediation model.

This study constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of parent-child communication on English academic engagement. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 21,270 middle school students using various measurements: English Academic Engagement Scale, Adolescent Parent-Child Communication Scale, learning adaptability questionnaire, and English Learning Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that learning adaptability played a mediating role between parent-child communication and English academic engagement.

Prognostic value of the cervical lymph node necrosis ratio in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: Whether cervical lymph node necrosis (CNN) is an independent adverse prognostic factor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has not been determined. In this study, the CNN ratio was graded quantitatively to explore the prognostic value in NPC.

Participants And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 648 pathologically confirmed as NPC.

Exploring L2 Engagement: A Large-Scale Survey of Secondary School Students.

Engagement, a psychological individual difference variable with three facets (vigour, dedication and absorption), has recently attracted scholarly attention. Through a large-scale survey, we examined what we call 'L2 engagement' among 21,370 secondary school students in China, with an L2 engagement scale adapted from the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)-student version. Factor analysis showed this scale to be empirically unidimensional with three highly intercorrelated facets and very high internal consistency; this contributes to our understanding of the conceptual challenges surrounding the construct of engagement (e.

A Review of Village Ecosystem Vulnerability and Resilience: Implications for the Rocky Desertification Control.

Under the background of global environmental change, a huge impact has been made on the village ecosystem, which leads to disorder of structure and function of the village ecosystem. The current management measures of the village have failed in allowing the village to achieve sustainable development. Research on the vulnerability and resilience of the village ecosystem is helpful in regards to the ecological restoration of the village.

Failure Patterns of Recurrence and Metastasis After Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Results of a Multicentric Clinical Study.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore factors associated with recurrence and metastasis after intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and provide evidence for NPC treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed the treatment dose and survival outcomes of 645 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma without distant metastases treated with IMRT for the first time at three treatment centres in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, between January 2009 and December 2012.

Results: There were 9.

Can agricultural biomass energy provide an alternative energy source for karst rocky desertification areas in Southwestern China? investigating Guizhou Province as example.

Karst in southwestern China forms a rocky desertification area with a particularly vulnerable ecological environment. Studying the potential of agricultural available biomass energy in this region is of great significance for the construction of the rural energy industry and ecological environment protection in karst mountains. This study investigated three regions with different degrees of rocky desertification in the karst mountains of southwestern China.

[Effects of different disturbance patterns on stand structure of infected pure Pinus massoniana plantation].

To explore the effects of different disturbance patterns on restoring the health of an infected stand, concentrated disturbance of not cutting trees before 10 years after infection, mode-rate disturbance of cutting infected pine trees, and strong distrubance of cutting infected pine trees, the neighboring trees and poorly growing pine trees were compared in a pure Pinus massomiana plantation infected by Bursaphelenchus xylophlius in Anji, Zhejiang, China. After 16 years, the importance values of P. massoniana in the three treatments were: concentrated disturbance > mode-rate disturbance > strong disturbance.

Association study of single nucleotide polymorphisms in pre-miRNA and rheumatoid arthritis in a Han Chinese population.

The aim of this study was to perform an association study between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs2910164 G>C and rs3746444 T>C in pre-miRNA (hsa-mir-146a and hsa-mir-499) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Han Chinese population. 208 Han Chinese patients with RA and 240 healthy controls were recruited in this study. The SNPs was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Self-perceived Age and Attitudes Toward Marketing of Older Consumers in China.

Understanding consumer psychological characteristics and their impact on consumer behavior is an important foundation for business marketing strategies. Self-perceived age has a great impact on older consumers' behavior. This article defines the gray market in China, investigates the factors that affect the differences between older consumers' self-perceived age and life age, and analyzes the influence of self-perceived age on older Chinese consumers' behavior.

The application of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase II gene for the identification of forensically important blowflies in Western China.

Blowflies found on human corpses are important for the estimation of the postmortem interval and other questions of forensic relevance. Some of these species are difficult to differentiate morphologically, and therefore a molecular method was elaborated for species identification. Here, we describe a molecular method for rapid identification of these insects.

Elimination of matrix effect and simultaneous determination of multi-components in complex systems by matrix coefficient non-linearity multivariate calibration based on single point response signals.

In order to deal with the matrix effect in the simultaneous determination of multi-components in a complex system, we have developed a novel method named matrix coefficient multivariate calibration method (MCMCM) for simultaneously determining n analytes in complex systems. The calibration models of n analytes, which are based on the experimental data of known samples, are first transformed into n linear equations, and then the equations are solved to obtain matrix calibration coefficients of the analytes in congeneric samples. In this way, the concentrations of n analytes in the unknown sample could be obtained easily and simultaneously by solving another n-variate linear equations with the help of the matrix calibration coefficients obtained-above.