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The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was the coldest period during the previous 20,000 years. There have been different points of views on steppe distribution during the LGM period in southern China, partly due to the different interpretations of Artemisia occurrences. To make a reliable interpretation of the pollen fossil Artemisia, the modern distribution of Artemisia species and the relationship of pollen with climate and vegetation over a large spatial scale in China was thoroughly analyzed. Information about Artemisia species and pollen distributions used in this paper were collected from published works completed by other researchers as well as ourselves. The southern limit of steppe vegetation during the LGM period was interpreted from the published contour map of Artemisia pollen percentages during the LGM. Artemisia species in China are mostly distributed either in the horizontally distributed steppe regions or in the vertically distributed desert-steppe in the desert region, which indicates a cold and dry climate. The steppe is a distribution center of Artemisia pollen. Fractions of Artemisia in surface pollen assemblages are lower in both the desert and the temperate forest. Neither high Artemisia species cover nor high percentages of Artemisia pollen were found in the coast areas of China. Twenty-five percent of Artemisia pollen in sediments might indicate a local occurrence of steppe vegetation. Percentages of Artemisia pollen in the subtropical and tropical forest are less than 10%. A close relationship between Artemisia pollen and temperate steppe in China is demonstrated. The southern edge of the steppe vegetation during the LGM might be along the middle reach of the Yangtze River. Our results support the hypothesis that the isolated high fraction of Artemisia pollen along the northern edge of the South China Sea was transported from a large source area.

Objective: This study aims to investigate early oncologic outcomes in patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) with venous invasion (VI) treated using both open and mini-invasive approaches. Patients and materials: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 4 international referral center databases, including all the patients undergoing adrenalectomy for ACC with VI from January 2007 to March 2020. According to CT scan or MRI, the tumor thrombus was classified into four levels: (1) adrenal vein invasion; (2) renal vein invasion; (3) infra-hepatic Inferior vena cava (IVC); and (4) retro-hepatic IVC. In addition, we divided our patients into patients who had undergone open surgery and mini-invasive surgery. Results: We identified 20 patients with a median follow-up of 12 months. The median tumor size was 110mm. ENSAT stage was II in 4 patients, III in 13 patients, and IV in 3 patients. Tumor thrombus extended in the adrenal vein (n=5), renal vein (n=1), infra-hepatic IVC (n=9), or into the retro-hepatic IVC (n=5). Ten patients were treated with a mini-invasive approach. The patient treated with an open approach reported a more aggressive disease. The two groups did not differ in surgical margins, surgical time, blood losses, complications, and length of stay. The prognosis resulted worse in the patient undergoing open. Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated a difference in OS for the patients stratified by ENSAT stage (Log-rank p=0.011); we also reported a difference in DFS for patients stratified for thrombus extension (p=0.004) and ENSAT stage (p<0.001). Conclusion: The DFS of patients with VI from ACC is influenced by the staging and the extension of the venous invasion; the staging influences the OS. The mini-invasive approach seems feasible in selected patients; however, further studies investigating the oncological outcomes are needed. Patient summary: A mini-invasive approach for adrenal tumors with venous invasion is an explorable option in very selected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the pharmacokinetic effects of SHR3680 on repaglinide and bupropion and its metabolite hydroxybupropion. Methods: A single‐centre, open‐label, single‐arm, fixed‐sequence clinical trial in 18 patients with prostate cancer. Results: After a single oral dose of 0.5 mg repaglinide and SHR3680, geometric mean peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of plasma repaglinide was 14.240 and 5.887 ng/mL, geometric mean area under the concentration–time curve (AUC0–t)was 20.577 and 7.320 h ng/mL, geometric mean AUC0–∞ was 20.949 and 7.451 h ng/mL, mean half‐life (t1/2) was 1.629 and 1.195 hours, and geometric mean oral clearance (CL/F) was 23.867 and 67.107 L/h, respectively. After a single oral administration of 150 mg bupropion and SHR3680, geometric mean Cmax of plasma bupropion was 85.430 and 33.747 ng/mL, geometric mean AUC0–t was 1003.896 and 380.158 h ng/mL, geometric mean AUC0–∞ was 1038.054 and 401.387 h ng/mL, mean t1/2 was 22.533 and 17.733 hours, and geometric mean CL/F was 144.501 and 373.705 L/h, respectively. The plasma geometric mean Cmax of its main active metabolic hydroxybupropion was 268.113 and 177.318 ng/mL, geometric mean AUC0–t was 14 283.087 and 5420.219 h ng/mL, geometric mean AUC0–∞ was 15 218.158 and 5364.625 h ng/mL, mean t1/2 were 36.069 and 16.688 hours, and geometric mean CL/F was 8.623 L/h and 27.961 L/h, respectively. Conclusion: Coadministration of SHR3680 with repaglinide or bupropion significantly shortened the elimination half‐lives, significantly increased the apparent clearance rate, and significantly decreased the in vivo exposure of repaglinide, bupropion and hydroxybupropion compared with single administration of repaglinide or bupropion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fujian Province is one of the most frequent areas of landslide disasters in China, so the study of landslide susceptibility in this region is of great significance. Based on the mass landslides that occurred in Sanming, Fujian in 2019, the study used DEM data and aerial imagery to sort out the area, elevation, lithology, and road or building proximity of 131 landslides, and calculated the slope, profile curvature, and plan curvature of the landslides after improving the elevation matrix according to the geometry of landslides. Normalized landslide frequency was used to calculate the contribution of each causative factor to landslide disasters, so as to establish logistic regression models of landslide susceptibility on different scales. It was found that the model based on the 500 m * 500 m grid was the most suitable for evaluating landslide susceptibility. However, the logical regression model is deficient, not only the number of samples should reach more than 50, but also the incidence rate should be at least 30–70%, in order to avoid the model being not significant caused of the small number of samples and the sample imbalance, resulting in too many underestimated or overestimated samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]