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Abstract In this study, the ecological impact of human activities and the space occupied by construction and arable land on the Tibetan Plateau were examined, focusing on changes in the net primary productivity (NPP) as a key indicator of ecological health. With the utilization of land use data and multiyear average NPP data from 2002 to 2020, we analyzed the effects of the conversion of zonal vegetation into construction and arable land on carbon sequestration and oxygen release in Chengguan District, Lhasa city. Our findings indicated a marked spatial difference in the NPP among different land types. Regarding the original zonal vegetation, the NPP ranged from 0.2 to 0.3 kg/m2. Construction land showed a decrease in the NPP, with values ranging from 0.16 to 0.26 kg/m2, suggesting a decrease in ecological productivity. Conversely, arable land exhibited an increase in the NPP, with average values exceeding 0.3 kg/m2. This increase suggested enhanced productivity, particularly in regions where the original zonal vegetation provided lower NPP values. However, this enhanced productivity may not necessarily indicate a positive ecological change. In fact, such increases could potentially disrupt the natural balance of ecosystems, leading to unforeseen ecological consequences. The original zonal vegetation, with NPP values ranging from 0.12 to 0.43 kg/m2, exhibited higher ecological stability and adaptability than the other land types. This wider NPP range emphasizes the inherent resilience of native vegetation, which could sustain diverse ecological functions under varying environmental conditions. These findings demonstrate the urgent need for sustainable land use management on the Tibetan Plateau. This study highlights the importance of considering the ecological impact of land use changes in regional development strategies, ensuring the preservation and enhancement in the unique and fragile plateau ecosystem.

Raising attentions have focused on how to alleviate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from orchard system while simultaneously increase fruit production. Microalgae-based biofertilizer represents a promising resource for improving soil fertility and higher productivity. However, the effects of microalgae application more especially live microalgae on GHG emissions are understudied. In this study, fruit yield and quality, GHG emissions, as well as soil organic carbon and nitrogen fractions were examined in a hawthorn orchard, under the effects of live microalgae-based biofertilizer applied at three doses and two modes. Compared with conventional fertilization, microalgae improved hawthorn yield by 15.7%-29.6% with a maximal increment at medium dose by root application, and significantly increased soluble and reducing sugars contents at high dose. While microalgae did not increase GHG emissions except for nitrous oxide at high dose by root application, instead it significantly increased methane uptake by 1.5-2.3 times in root application. In addition, microalgae showed an increasing trend in soil organic carbon content, and significantly increased the contents of soil dissolved organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon, as well as soil ammonium nitrogen and dissolved organic nitrogen at medium dose with root application. Overall, the results indicated that the live microalgae could be used as a green biofertilizer for improving fruit yield without increasing GHG emissions intensity and the comprehensive greenhouse effect, in particular at medium dose with root application. We presume that if lowering chemical fertilizer rates, application of the live microalgae-based biofertilizer may help to reduce nitrous oxide emissions without compromising fruit yield and quality.

Macrophages activation and inflammatory response play crucial roles in intracranial aneurysm (IA) formation and progression. The outcome of ruptured IA is considerably poor, and the mechanisms that trigger IA progression and rupture remain to be clarified, thereby developing effective therapy to prevent subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) become difficult. Recently, climbing evidences have been expanding our understanding of the macrophages relevant IA pathogenesis, such as immune cells population, inflammatory activation, intra-/inter-cellular signaling transductions and drug administration responses. Crosstalk between macrophages disorder, inflammation and cellular signaling transduction aggravates the devastating consequences of IA. Illustrating the pros and cons mechanisms of macrophages in IA progression are expected to achieve more efficient treatment interventions. In this review, we summarized the current advanced knowledge of macrophages activation, infiltration, polarization and inflammatory responses in IA occurrence and development, as well as the most relevant NF-κB, signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) and Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) regulatory signaling modulation. The understanding of macrophages regulatory mechanisms is important for IA patients’ clinical outcomes. Gaining insight into the macrophages regulation potentially contributes to more precise IA interventions and will also greatly facilitate the development of novel medical therapy.

The division accuracy of a single-genesis sand body in a river channel determines the evaluation resolution of residual oil content and limits the efficiency of oil production. The following methods were used to describe the underwater distributary channel of the M oilfield in the Nanpu Depression. First, the seismic attribute was optimized to identify the boundary of a single channel-lobe complex. Then, the channel main stream line was traced with the constraint of the geological knowledge base of the braided river delta front, and the channel boundary was delineated using acoustic inversion technology. Finally, the results of channel characterization were verified with dynamic data. The research shows that the M Oilfield has multiple channel-lobe complexes developed in the same period. Even a single channel-lobe complex contains 2-8 channels. The width of the underwater distributary channel ranges from 80-240 m, with a maximum width of 440 m. The thickness of asingle channel sand body is 2.6-5.8 m, and the width-thickness ratio of the channel ranges from 25∶1 to 78∶1. The dynamic verification data and drilling results show that the prediction accuracy of channel distribution is 90%. The high prediction accuracy of the channel sand body distribution can promote the evaluation resolution of residual oil content, and provide constructive guidance for later development and management. The method has a certain reference value in the underwater distributary channel characterization of the braided river delta front reservoir in the complicated fault block.

Industrial-grade optical semiconductor films have attracted considerable research interest because of their potential for wafer-scale mass deposition and direct integration with other optoelectronic wafers. The development of optical thin-film processes that are compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes will be beneficial for the improvement of chip integration. In this study, a multilayer periodically structured optical film containing Fabry–Perot cavity was designed, utilizing nine pairs of SiN/SiO2 dielectrics. Subsequently, the multilayer films were deposited on Si substrates through the inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICPCVD) technique, maintaining a low temperature of 80 °C. The prepared films exhibit narrow bandpass characteristics with a maximum peak transmittance of 76% at 690 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the film structure has good periodicity. In addition, when the optical films are exposed to p/s polarized light at different angles of incidence, the cavity mode of the film undergoes a blueshift, which greatly affects the color appearance of the film. As the temperature rises, the cavity mode undergoes a gradual redshift, while the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and quality factor remain relatively constant.

ObjectiveThe mechanisms underpinning Moyamoya disease (MMD) remain unclear, and effective biomarkers remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to identify novel serum biomarkers of MMD.MethodsSerum samples were collected from 23 patients with MMD and 30 healthy controls (HCs). Serum proteins were identified using tandem tandem-mass-tag (TMT) labeling combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the serum samples were identified using the SwissProt database. The DEPs were assessed using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database, Gene Ontology (GO), and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, and hub genes were identified and visualized using Cytoscape software. Microarray datasets GSE157628, GSE189993, and GSE100488 from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were collected. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNAs) were identified, and miRNA targets of DEGs were predicted using the miRWalk3.0 database. Serum apolipoprotein E (APOE) levels were compared in 33 MMD patients and 28 Moyamoya syndrome (MMS) patients to investigate the potential of APOE to be as an MMD biomarker.ResultsWe identified 85 DEPs, of which 34 were up- and 51 down-regulated. Bioinformatics analysis showed that some DEPs were significantly enriched in cholesterol metabolism. A total of 1105 DEGs were identified in the GSE157628 dataset (842 up- and 263 down-regulated), whereas 1290 were identified in the GSE189993 dataset (200 up- and 1,090 down-regulated). The APOE only overlaps with the upregulated gene expression in Proteomic Profiling and in GEO databases. Functional enrichment analysis demonstrated that APOE was associated with cholesterol metabolism. Moreover, 149 miRNAs of APOE were predicted in the miRWalk3.0 database, and hsa-miR-718 was the only DE-miRNA overlap identified in MMD samples. Serum APOE levels were significantly higher in patients with MMD than in those without. The performance of APOE as an individual biomarker to diagnose MMD was remarkable.ConclusionsWe present the first description of the protein profile of patients with MMD. APOE was identified as a potential biomarker for MMD. Cholesterol metabolism was found to potentially be related to MMD, which may provide helpful diagnostic and therapeutic insights for MMD.

Glioma is the most common primary malignant tumor in the skull, and the current treatment remains a combination of surgery, radiotherapy (RT), and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy plays an important role in the treatment of glioma, and currently, surgical resection under molecular pathology guidance plus postoperative radiation therapy and chemotherapy is the standard treatment protocol for primary glioma, but its widespread use is limited by its radiotoxicity. Meanwhile, with the increasing development of new technologies in the medical field of tumor treatment electric fields, there has been some improvement in the treatment and prognosis of glioma. TTFields are a noninvasive anti-cancer modality consisting of low-intensity (1–3 V/cm), medium-frequency (100–300 kHz), alternating current electric fields delivered through an array of skin sensors to provide optimal coverage of the tumor site. TTFields target cancer cells through multiple mechanisms of action, including inhibition of proliferation, migration, and invasion, disruption of DNA repair and angiogenesis, antitumor effects, induction of apoptosis, and immunogenic cell death. TTFields alone have good efficacy against tumors, and with the gradual development of technologies such as immune and targeted therapies, TTFields are now more frequently studied in combination with chemotherapy, RT, immunotherapy, and immunotherapy. At present, the treatment methods of glioma include surgery, chemotherapy, RT, immunotherapy and targeted therapy. This article will summarize the research progress of TTFields combined with other therapies to provide a reference for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Intracranial aneurysm subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a cerebrovascular disorder associated with high overall mortality. Currently, the underlying mechanisms of pathological reaction after aneurysm rupture are still unclear, especially in the immune microenvironment, inflammation, and relevant signaling pathways. SAH-induced immune cell population alteration, immune inflammatory signaling pathway activation, and active substance generation are associated with pro-inflammatory cytokines, immunosuppression, and brain injury. Crosstalk between immune disorders and hyperactivation of inflammatory signals aggravated the devastating consequences of brain injury and cerebral vasospasm and increased the risk of infection. In this review, we discussed the role of inflammation and immune cell responses in the occurrence and development of aneurysm SAH, as well as the most relevant immune inflammatory signaling pathways [PI3K/Akt, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), STAT, SIRT, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), NLRP3, TLR4/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and Keap1/nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2)/ARE cascades] and biomarkers in aneurysm SAH. In addition, we also summarized potential therapeutic drugs targeting the aneurysm SAH immune inflammatory responses, such as nimodipine, dexmedetomidine (DEX), fingolimod, and genomic variation-related aneurysm prophylactic agent sunitinib. The intervention of immune inflammatory responses and immune microenvironment significantly reduces the secondary brain injury, thereby improving the prognosis of patients admitted to SAH. Future studies should focus on exploring potential immune inflammatory mechanisms and developing additional therapeutic strategies for precise aneurysm SAH immune inflammatory regulation and genomic variants associated with aneurysm formation.

The elliptical cross-section ogive-nose projectile (ECOP) has recently attracted attention because it is well suited to the flattened shape of earth-penetrating weapons. However, the penetration performance of ECOPs has not been completely understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the penetration performance of ECOPs into concrete targets using a theoretical method. A general geometric model of ECOPs was introduced, and closed-form penetration equations were derived according to the dynamic cavity-expansion theory. The model was validated by comparing the predicted penetration depths with test data, and the maximum deviation was 15.8%. The increment in the penetration depth of the ECOP was evaluated using the proposed model, and the effect of the major–minor axis ratio on the increment was examined. Additionally, the mechanism of the penetration-depth increment was investigated with respect to the caliber radius head, axial stress, and resistance.

Background: Hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury often leads to increased complications and mortality after surgery. Although ischemic preconditioning is used as a convenient and effective method to protect the liver from warm ischemia reperfusion injury, the optimal protocol is currently unclear. Therefore, in this study, we sought to identify ideal conditions and methods for ischemic preconditioning. Materials and methods: We compared several preconditioning protocols of the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) cycle in 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats (5 groups, n = 6), including relevant sham and I/R injury (no preconditioning) controls. Experimental group conditions included: (1) ischemia for 5 min/reperfusion for 10 min (ischemic preconditioning 1, IPC-1); (2) ischemia for 5 min/reperfusion for 5 min, repeated three times (IPC-2); and (3) ischemia for 10 min/reperfusion for 10 min (IPC-3). Readouts included transaminase activity levels measured from collected sera, and histopathological changes, liver cell apoptosis, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, glutathione (GSH) levels, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels measured from collected liver tissue segments subjected to warm ischemia (that is from the 70% of the liver mass that had been deprived from blood flow during the ischemia phase). Results: Compared to the I/R control group, the IPC-1, IPC-2, and IPC-3 groups all showed significant decreases in liver transaminase activity levels, alleviation of pathological injury-associated changes, and a decrease in liver cell apoptosis. Moreover, SOD activity and GSH content were increased while MDA content was decreased in the three experimental groups. Compared to the IPC-1 and IPC-3 groups, the changes in the IPC-2 group were the most significant (P

It is well known that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in salt caverns is an important means to solve the potential petroleum shortage. However, salt mines in China are mainly lacustrine-layered structures with many mudstone interlayers. Meanwhile, the acid value of extracted crude oil has been increasing in recent years. The acid erosion of salt cavern interlayers by crude oil would affect the safety of bedded salt cavern oil storage. Therefore, combined with acoustic emission technology, the multistage creep mechanical behaviors of natural mudstone interlayer samples and the mudstone interlayer samples treated by oil erosion are studied in this paper. The internal structures of interlayer samples before and after oil erosion were systematically analyzed by SEM. The results show that petroleum acid (naphthenic acid) plays a significant deterioration role in the mechanical properties of mudstone interlayers during the petroleum reserve process. Compared with the uncorroded samples, the mudstone interlayers after oil erosion show obvious brittle failure characteristics. At low stress levels, the axial strain grows stepwise and the lateral strain is smaller than the axial strain. At high stress levels, however, the lateral creep is obviously higher than the axial creep. A large number of AE signals were generated at the initial loading stage for different stress levels. After the creep stabilized, the AE signals were significantly reduced. During the process of petroleum erosion, the internal pores in rocks continued to develop with the dissolution of many mineral particles. This suggests that crude oil storage in the bedded salt rocks could accelerate the deterioration of the surrounding rocks via erosion. This paper could provide basic research data and a reference for the construction of oil storage in the bedded salt rocks.

Abstract Microglia participate in the regulation of neuroinflammation caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI). This research aimed to explore the repair effects of intracranial injection of neonatal microglia or protease‐treated adult microglia on TBI in rat model. Lateral fluid percussion injury was used to establish rat brain injury model. E64 and serpinA3N were employed for the treatment of adult microglia. Cleaved caspase‐3 level was analyzed through immunoblotting assay. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was employed to analyze cytokine and chemokine levels. Astrocytosis and microgliosis were shown by immunofluorescence. The cognitive function of rats was analyzed by water maze. The injection of neonatal microglia inhibited cell apoptosis, reduced astrocytosis and microgliosis, decreased the level of chemokines and cytokines in cortex and ipsilateral hippocampus, and improved cognitive function of TBI rat model. The transplantation of peptidase inhibitors‐treated adult microglia also inhibited cell apoptosis, reduced astrocytosis and microgliosis, and improved cognitive function of rats with TBI. The transplantation of either neonatal microglia or peptidase inhibitors‐treated adult microglia significantly inhibited the pathogenesis of TBI in rat model, while untreated adult microglia showed no significant effect.

Abstract Background Gap junctions are involved in the development of cerebral vasospasm (CVS) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, the specific roles and regulatory functions of related connexin isoforms remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of connexin 43 (Cx43) in CVS and determine whether Cx43 alterations are modulated via the protein kinase C (PKC) signaling transduction pathway. Methods Oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb)-induced smooth muscle cells of basilar arterial and second-injection model in rat were used as CVS models in vitro and in vivo. In addition, dye transfer assays were used for gap junction-mediated intercellular communication (GJIC) observation in vitro and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) was observed in vivo by perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) and intravital fluorescence microscopy. Results Increase in Cx43 mediated the development of SAH-induced CVS was found in both in vitro and in vivo CVS models. Enhanced GJIC was observed in vitro CVS model, this effect and increased Cx43 were reversed by preincubation with specific PKC inhibitors (chelerythrine or GF 109203X). DCI was observed in vivo on day 7 after SAH. However, DCI was attenuated by pretreatment with Cx43 siRNA or PKC inhibitors, and the increased Cx43 expression in vivo was also reversed by Cx43 siRNA or PKC inhibitors. Conclusions These data provide strong evidence that Cx43 plays an important role in CVS and indicate that changes in Cx43 expression may be mediated by the PKC pathway. The current findings suggest that Cx43 and the PKC pathway are novel targets for developing treatments for SAH-induced CVS.

Cutting tool wear state assessment during the manufacturing process is extremely significant. The primary purpose of this study is to monitor tool wear to ensure timely tool change and avoid excessive tool wear or sudden tool breakage, which causes workpiece waste and could even damage the machine. Therefore, an intelligent system, that is efficient and precise, needs to be designed for addressing these problems. In our study, an end-to-end improved fine-grained image classification method is employed for workpiece surface-based tool wear monitoring, which is named efficient channel attention destruction and construction learning (ECADCL). The proposed method uses a feature extraction module to extract features from the input image and its corrupted images, and adversarial learning is used to avoid learning noise from corrupted images while extracting semantic features by reconstructing the corrupted images. Finally, a decision module predicts the label based on the learned features. Moreover, the feature extraction module combines a local cross-channel interaction attention mechanism without dimensionality reduction to characterize representative information. A milling dataset is conducted based on the machined surface images for monitoring tool wear conditions. The experimental results indicated that the proposed system can effectively assess the wear state of the tool.

Permanent-magnet (PM) width-modulation array is designed to solve the issues resulting from big pole-pitches of PMLSMs in high-speed and high-precision systems. PM width-modulation array provided in this paper is a kind of segmented magnetic-pole structure, featuring low PM eddy currents and low thrust ripples. First, the magnetomotive force (MMF) excited by the PM width-modulation array is analyzed to prove its feasibility, the PM eddy current of the novel array is studied to show its advantage in high-speed applications, and the electromagnetic models of two PM width-modulation arrays are established, which are designed by the equal area method and the triangular modulation method, respectively. Then, the thrust features and the PM usage amounts of the two PM width-modulation arrays are analyzed by the finite element method (FEM) and the performance comparisons are presented. The prototype is manufactured and tested to verify the analytical results. The experimental data agree well with the simulations and analyses.

Since the 2008 global food crisis, food security vulnerability has been a prominent topic in the food policy debate. However, vulnerability is inherently difficult to conceptualize and is more challenging to operationalize and measure. This study constructs a mathematical model and takes China as a case study to measure the vulnerability and sensitivity of China with its partners in the international grain trade. The results show that 1) the degree of interdependence between China and its grain trading partners is asymmetric, which generates trade vulnerability or economic power; 2) the vulnerability of China’s food trade shows a high spatiotemporal heterogeneity among countries: the higher vulnerability zones are concentrated in North America and Northeast Asia, and the scope of the higher vulnerability zones tends to expand; 3) Our results also reveal that China also has different sensitivities to fluctuations in grain markets from different countries, and the higher sensitive zones of the grain trade in China are mainly distributed in America, Europe, and Oceania. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a methodology for food trade vulnerability assessment and examines the influence of international food trade on food security in importing countries, measured using the vulnerability index and sensitivity index. Nevertheless, the conclusions of this study can be considered preliminary, and there remains great potential for future studies to deepen and broaden our analyses further.

Background. The relationship between the levodopa challenge test (LDCT) and postoperative subthalamic nucleus-deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) benefits is controversial in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). We aim to evaluate the value of total levodopa response (TLR) and symptom levodopa response (SLR) in predicting postoperative improvement in different PD motor subtypes. Methods. Studies were split into a training set (147 patients) and a validation set (304 patients). We retrospectively collected data from 147 patients who received the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale- (UPDRS-) III and the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire- (PDQ-) 39 evaluation. Patients were classified into tremor-dominant (TD), akinetic-rigid-dominant (AR), and mixed (MX) groups. Clinically important difference (CID) was employed to dichotomize DBS effects. For patients in each subtype group from the training set, we used the correlation and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analyses to explore the strength of their relations. Areas under the curve (AUCs) were calculated and compared through the DeLong test. Results developed from the training set were applied into the validation set to predict postoperative improvement in different PD motor subtypes. Results. In the validation cohort, TLR significantly correlated with postoperative motor (p50% may indicate a higher possibility of clinically meaningful benefits from STN-DBS comparing to medication only. SLR can well predict QOL improvement in AR patients. Similarly, a SLR>37% may indicate a higher possibility of clinically significant benefits from STN-DBS. LDCT provides limited information for TD patients.

BackgroundExtracellular vesicles (EVs) are produced during abnormal and normal physiological conditions. Understanding the expression profile of microRNA (miRNA) in plasma-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and their roles in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) that cause cerebral vasospasm (CVS) is imperative.MethodsSprague Dawley rats (250–300 g) were allocated to sham or SAH groups established using endovascular perforation method. miRNA expression profiles of plasma sEVs in both groups (each n = 4) were evaluated using next-generation sequencing (NGS).ResultsThere were 142 microRNAs (miRNAs) significantly expressed differently between the two groups, of which 73 were up-regulated while 69 were down-regulated in SAH sEVs compared with those of sham (p < 0.05; fold change ≥ 2). The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses of differently expressed (DE) miRNAs revealed signaling pathways and target genes (TGs) in the SAH group. rno-miR-185-5p, rno-miR-103-3p, rno-miR-15b-3p, rno-miR-93-5p, and rno-miR-98-5p were the top five most up-regulated sEVs miRNAs.ConclusionOur results suggest that miRNA can be selectively packaged into sEVs under SAH, and this could help develop potential targets for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CVS after this condition.

The anchorage structure is a complex bearing system with undetermined failure modes. According to component characteristics, the segmented diagram for the bearing characteristics and the bearing structure at the anchorage segment were established. In addition, we described the failure patterns of the subsystems of the anchorage structure and further established the series model for the reinforced system by bolts. Moreover, according to the total displacement and the time-dependent deformation characteristics of the bolt, a non-linear creep model to analyze the viscoplastic deformation characteristics of the M-C element was established. Furthermore, considering the shear strength of the anchored soil, it was assumed that the cohesion and the internal friction angle were random variables following the Weibull distribution. Using the modified first-order second-moment method (the JC method), the analytic expression of the time-dependent index of the anchorage system was obtained. An example showed that the variable coefficients of the cohesion and the internal friction angle were exponentially and linearly related to the reliability index, respectively. Simultaneously, the reliability index was exponentially related to time.

Objective. This study was aimed at identifying the potential outcome predictors, comparing the efficacy in patients with different tremor characteristics, and summarizing the adverse effect rates (AERs) of deep brain stimulation on the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM-DBS) for essential tremor (ET). Methods. An extensive search of articles published to date in 2019 was conducted, and two main aspects were analyzed. Improvement was calculated as a percentage of change in any objective tremor rating scale (TRS) and analyzed by subgroup analyses of patients’ tremor characteristics, laterality, and stimulation parameters. Furthermore, the AERs were analyzed as follows: the adverse effects (AEs) were classified as stimulation-related, surgical-related, or device-related effects. A simple regression analysis was used to identify the potential prognostic factors, and a two-sample mean-comparison test was used to verify the statistical significance of the subgroup analyses. Results. Forty-six articles involving 1714 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled improvement in any objective TRS score was 61.3% (95% CI: 0.564-0.660) at the mean follow-up visit (20.0±17.3 months). The midline and extremity symptoms showed consistent improvement (P=0.440), and the results of the comparison of postural and kinetic tremor were the same (P=0.219). In addition, the improvement in rest tremor was similar to that in action tremor (OR=2.759, P=0.120). In the simple regression analysis, the preoperative Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale (FTM-TRS) scores and follow-up time were negatively correlated with the percentage change in any objective TRS score (P

The poor growth of understory vegetation and the severe losses of soil and water in Pinus massoniana forests have recently become serious concerns in an area in southern China with eroded red soil. The influence of topography on the spatial distribution of vegetation, however, has received little attention. This study combined several multivariate analyses to discern the complicated relationship between understory vegetation and topography. Thirty-six plots (10 m×10 m) were sampled in a field survey of the vegetation and topography in the central red-soil region. The distributions of the understory vegetation differed significantly amongst the topographies. Most plants grew in gullies, and few grew on ridges. The low coverage (25.2%) and number of species (5 per plot) of the vegetation on ridges was due to serious soil erosion. Surface curvature and slope aspect were the first and second most important topographic factors, respectively, affecting the distribution of the vegetation. The relationship between topography and distribution could be described by a linear model. Surface curvature or slope aspect alone, however, could only explain 22.2–59.2% of the variance in distribution. The adaptation of vegetation to specific topographies should be considered for restorations of P. massoniana forests in the study area. The results of this study will be helpful for selecting potential sites for seeding and vegetation restoration to improve the ecology of the study area. Further studies will be needed to identify the mechanism of the distribution of the understory vegetation in these P. massoniana forests.

Rainfall patterns and land cover are two important factors that affect the runoff generation process. To determine the surface and subsurface flows associated with different rainfall patterns on sloping Ferralsols under different land cover types, observational data related to surface and subsurface flows from 5 m × 15 m plots were collected from 2010 to 2012. The experiment was conducted to assess three land cover types (grass, litter cover and bare land) in the Jiangxi Provincial Soil and Water Conservation Ecological Park. During the study period, 114 natural rainfall events produced subsurface flow and were divided into four groups using k-means clustering according to rainfall duration, rainfall depth and maximum 30-min rainfall intensity. The results showed that the total runoff and surface flow values were highest for bare land under all four rainfall patterns and lowest for the covered plots. However, covered plots generated higher subsurface flow values than bare land. Moreover, the surface and subsurface flows associated with the three land cover types differed significantly under different rainfall patterns. Rainfall patterns with low intensities and long durations created more subsurface flow in the grass and litter cover types, whereas rainfall patterns with high intensities and short durations resulted in greater surface flow over bare land. Rainfall pattern I had the highest surface and subsurface flow values for the grass cover and litter cover types. The highest surface flow value and lowest subsurface flow value for bare land occurred under rainfall pattern IV. Rainfall pattern II generated the highest subsurface flow value for bare land. Therefore, grass or litter cover are able to convert more surface flow into subsurface flow under different rainfall patterns. The rainfall patterns studied had greater effects on subsurface flow than on total runoff and surface flow for covered surfaces, as well as a greater effect on surface flows associated with bare land.