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Nowadays, tourism has become an increasingly significant driving force of modern urbanization in China. However, it has caused varieties of problems, such as resource unreasonable utilization, society unfair play, and environment pollution, etc. Thus, the establishment of an efficient and sustainable space partition model for tourism urbanization, from the geographical perspective, is highly necessary and urgent. Herein, a new evaluation model of tourist town space, referred to as Tourism Sectorization Opportunity Spectrum (TSOS), is established on the relationships between production-living-ecology spaces. TSOS is a kind of quantitative evaluation model involving such factors as urban living area, ecological conservation area and the tourism industry. Furthermore, the analysis of quantitative production-living-ecology spatial overlap has been utilized for space division in a tourism urbanization area. This paper, using both the TSOS model and GIS technology, analyzes the spatial restructure of the Mayangxi ecotourism area. The result demonstrates that tourism industrial space takes the Shanchong Village as a core which shows a pattern of local regional agglomeration and a fuzzy edge extending along the entire Mayangxi River. The urban living area should be consolidated in the Shili village with the supporting facilities and living space for tourism. In addition, Tianzhu Mountain forest park should be the key environmental protection area. The case study on the Mayangxi ecotourism area verifies that the TSOS model has strong operability. Therefore, TSOS model provides a scientific foundation for the space reconstruction of new urbanization area, and an effective tool for optimizing the space partition of a tourism urbanization area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss institutional reforms to China's protected area management. Currently (as elsewhere), protected areas suffer fragmented management, lack of a comprehensive classification, inadequate coverage of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and divided, inconsistent legislation. We recommend establishing a new system of protected area management that can address past difficulties by using ongoing institutional reforms as unprecedented opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Representativeness and management effectiveness of China's pilot national parks was assessed. • Representativeness increased by >50 % on average than the existing protected areas. • Ten pilot national parks integrated 142 existing protected areas of seven categories. • The protected areas and the area under strict protection increased by 19.4% and 42.1%. • Relocation and enhanced land management in the pilot NPs reduced human disturbance. The continuous decline of global biodiversity highlights the need for the expansion and improved performance of protected areas (PAs) to achieve the Post-2020 Biodiversity Targets and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. China proposed the establishment of a national park (NP) system and carried out transformative explorations in 10 pilot NPs, however, it is unclear to what extent the pilot NPs represent China's biodiversity and resolve management issues. To answer this question, we assessed the performance of the pilot NPs by analyzing the representativeness across typical ecosystems, biodiversity priority areas, and ecosystem services, and by analyzing the management effectiveness of reorganizing the existing PAs and improving the management intensity and man-land relationships. We found that China's pilot NPs achieved improved representativeness and management effectiveness through range expansion and optimization, institution streamlining, and cohesive management. Compared with the existing PAs, the area of protected typical ecosystems, biodiversity priority areas, and key areas of ecosystem services in the 10 pilot NPs increased by 59.6%, 59.6%, and 54.1% on average, respectively, with a similar land cost overall. The 10 pilot NPs integrated 142 existing PAs of seven categories. The protected areas expanded by 19.4%, and the area under strict protection increased by 42.1%. Additionally, the pilot NPs effectively reduced human disturbance and improved management effectiveness through necessary relocation and enhanced land management. Moving forward, the boundaries and zoning of the NPs should be further optimized, and efforts should be directed to strengthen the governing capacity building, improve the legislation system, increase the financing investment, and promote the value realization of ecological products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the distribution characteristics of atmospheric microplastics in typical desert agricultural regions, with a focus on the agricultural areas surrounding the Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang, China. We collected samples of total suspended particulate matter (TSP), atmospheric deposition, and atmospheric dust using both active and passive collection methods. The chemical composition, particle size, shape, and color of atmospheric microplastics were examined using a stereomicroscope and a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer to analyze their characteristics. The results showed that the primary chemical compositions of microplastics included polypropylene (PP), polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethylmethacrylate, and cellophane. Particle sizes were mainly within the range of 0 to 1000 μm. Fibrous microplastics constituted the majority of the TSP and atmospheric deposition, whereas film-like microplastics constituted the largest proportion of atmospheric dustfall. The deposition flux of atmospheric microplastics in the first quarter was measured at 103.21 ± 22.12 particles/m 2 /day, which was lower than that observed in conventional agricultural areas. The abundance of microplastics in atmospheric dustfall was found to be 1.36 particles/g. The proportion of PP microplastics in atmospheric dustfall can be as high as 35%. Through a comparison of microplastic content in TSP during dust storms and under normal weather conditions, it was found that dust storms can lead to an increase in the abundance of microplastics within the atmospheric TSP. The present study provides a scientific basis for understanding the distribution of atmospheric microplastics in typical desert agricultural regions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1982-1995. © 2024 SETAC., (© 2024 SETAC.)

The microplastics (MPs) formed by broken plastic film may migrate in the soil under drip irrigation. To investigate the migration distribution of MPs in desert farmland soil under drip irrigation conditions, our study was conducted on farmland in Xinjiang (China). A MP drip irrigation penetration migration testing device was set up in combination with Xinjiang farmland irrigation methods to conduct a migration simulation experiment. The results showed that the migration amount of MPs in soil was significantly positively correlated with the amount of drip irrigation, and significantly negatively correlated with the soil depth; in addition, the relationship between the migration amount of MPs in different types of soil was: clay < sandy loam < sandy soil. Under drip irrigation conditions, the migration rates of MPs were 30.51%, 19.41%, and 10.29% in sandy soil, sandy loam soil, and clay, respectively. The migration ability of these three particle sizes of polyethylene MPs in soil was ranked as follows: 25 to 147 μm > 0 to 25 μm > 147 to 250 μm. When the drip irrigation volume was 2.6 to 3.2 L, horizontal migration distances of MPs exceeded 5 cm, and vertical migration distances reached more than 30 cm. Our findings provide reference data for the study of soil MP migration. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1250-1259. © 2024 SETAC., (© 2024 SETAC.)

Background: The prognostic predictive tool for patients with colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) is limited and the criteria for administering preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy in CRLM patients remain controversial., Methods: This study enrolled 532 CRLM patients at West China Hospital (WCH) from January 2009 to December 2019. Prognostic factors were identified from the training cohort to construct a WCH-nomogram and evaluating accuracy in the validation cohort. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to compare the prediction accuracy with other existing prediction tools., Results: From the analysis of the training cohort, four independent prognostic risk factors, namely tumor marker score, KRAS mutation, primary lymph node metastasis, and tumor burden score were identified on which a WCH-nomogram was constructed. The C-index of the two cohorts were 0.674 (95% CI: 0.634-0.713) and 0.655 (95% CI: 0.586-0.723), respectively, which was better than the previously reported predication scores (CRS, m-CS and GAME score). ROC curves showed AUCs for predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) of 0.758, 0.709, and 0.717 in the training cohort, and 0.860, 0.669, and 0.692 in the validation cohort, respectively. A cutoff value of 114.5 points was obtained for the WCH-nomogram total score based on the maximum Youden index of the ROC curve of 5-year OS. Risk stratification showed significantly better prognosis in the low-risk group, however, the high-risk group was more likely to benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy., Conclusions: The WCH-nomogram demonstrates superior prognostic stratification compared to prior scoring systems, effectively identifying CRLM patients who may benefit the most from neoadjuvant chemotherapy., (© 2024 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)