Past Half Research Articles

Non-Oxide Ceramics for Bone Implant Application: State-of-the-Art Overview with an Emphasis on the Acetabular Cup of Hip Joint Prosthesis

A rapidly developing area of ceramic science and technology involves research on the interaction between implanted biomaterials and the human body. Over the past half century, the use of bioceramics has revolutionized the surgical treatment of various diseases that primarily affect bone, thus contributing to significantly improving the quality of life of rehabilitated patients. Calcium phosphates, bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics are mostly used in tissue engineering applications where bone regeneration is the major goal, while stronger but almost inert biocompatible ceramics such as alumina and alumina/zirconia composites are preferable in joint prostheses. Over the last few years, non-oxide ceramics—primarily silicon nitride, silicon carbide and diamond-like coatings—have been proposed as new options in orthopaedics in order to overcome some tribological and biomechanical limitations of existing commercial products, yielding very promising results. This review is specifically addressed to these relatively less popular, non-oxide biomaterials for bone applications, highlighting their potential advantages and critical aspects deserving further research in the future. Special focus is also given to the use of non-oxide ceramics in the manufacturing of the acetabular cup, which is the most critical component of hip joint prostheses.

Ken Plummer: What it is to be human

Ken Plummer’s career embraced a range of interests, and disparate interventions but is marked by a remarkable consistency, rooted in a profound humanistic understanding of the social world. This is most fully expressed in his most recent publication, Critical Humanism, but is a leitmotif throughout his writings since the early 1970s. Whilst many of his contemporaries engaged in wild flirtations with every intellectual fashion from anti-humanism to post-humanisms, and whatever lies between, over the past half-century, Plummer has remained faithful to his early moral and theoretical interests whilst being sharply alert to every nuance and subtlety of contemporary debate. He is one of the most knowledgeable of sociologists, a fluent theorist but also a passionate and committed teacher who strives to communicate as widely as possible. And throughout his life and work, over many years, you can still trace the impact of a critical moment, his engagement with gay liberation from 1970 which profoundly shaped his trajectory as a scholar and engaged intellectual. This essay focuses on a number of key themes, Sexual Stigma, Sexual Stories, Intimate Citizenship, and Critical Humanism that together offer a story of Ken Plummer’s engagement with his overarching theme: what it is to be human.

Life expectancy across countries: Convergence, divergence and fluctuations

We document the evolution of life expectancies around the world during 1960-2015 using graphical analysis, statistical decomposition of survival gains by age-groups and by measuring the contribution of each age-group to changes in the global and regional distributions of life expectancy at birth. We emphasize three findings. First, enormous gains in early-life survival have led to unconditional convergence in life expectancy at birth across countries while late-life longevity has diverged. Gains have been higher for females than males. Secondly, global and regional survival gains among the elderly, though smaller than among the young, have strongly influenced changes in country rankings of life expectancy at birth with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa. Country rankings for late-life survival have changed relatively more than for younger ages. Third, the divergence in survival gains among the elderly is related to disparities in healthcare access, driven in part by within- and between-country income inequality. While providing fresh insight into the uneven pace of health changes during the past half century, these results also highlight how policy can address the socio-economic and demographic consequences of aging.

Optimized treatment of childhood B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounts for about 75% of childhood leukemia cases, and B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) accounts for more than 80% of childhood ALL cases. Over the past half century, new molecular biological targets discovered by new techniques have been used in precise stratification of disease prognosis, and there has been a gradual increase in the 5-year overall survival rate of childhood ALL. With the increasing attention to long-term quality of life, the treatment of childhood B-ALL has been constantly optimized from induction therapy to the intensity of maintenance therapy, including the treatment of extramedullary leukemia without radiotherapy, which has been tried with successful results. The realization of optimized treatment also benefits from the development of new techniques associated with immunology and molecular biology and the establishment of standardized clinical cohorts and corresponding biobanks. This article summarizes the relevant research on the implementation of precise stratification and the intensity reduction and optimization treatment of B-ALL in recent years, providing reference for clinicians.

The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in the Treatment of Surgical Site Infections: A Narrative Review.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most prevalent postoperative complications, with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the past half century, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the administration of 100% oxygen intermittently under a certain pressure, has been used as either a primary or alternative therapy for the management or treatment of chronic wounds and infections. This narrative review aims to gather information and evidence supporting the role of HBOT in the treatment of SSIs. We followed the Scale for the Quality Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) guidelines and scrutinized the most relevant studies identified in Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science. Our review indicated that HBOT can result in rapid healing and epithelialization of various wounds and has potential beneficial effects in the treatment of SSIs or other similar infections following cardiac, neuromuscular scoliosis, coronary artery bypass, and urogenital surgeries. Moreover, it was a safe therapeutic procedure in most cases. The mechanisms related to the antimicrobial activity of HBOT include direct bactericidal effects through the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the immunomodulatory effect of HBOT that increase the antimicrobial effects of the immune system, and the synergistic effects of HBOT with antibiotics. We emphasized the essential need for further studies, especially randomized clinical trials and longitudinal studies, to better standardize HBOT procedures as well as to determine its full benefits and possible side effects.

Depression status of elderly patients with metabolic syndrome in three provinces of China

Objective: To understand the depression status and its influencing factors in elderly patients with MS in China and to explore the correlation between various components of elderly MS and depression. Methods: This study is based on the "Prevention and Intervention of Key Diseases in Elderly" project. We used a multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method to complete 16 199 elderly aged 60 years and above in 16 counties (districts) in Liaoning, Henan, and Guangdong Provinces in 2019, excluding 1 001 missing variables. Finally, 15 198 valid samples were included for analysis. The respondents' MS disease was obtained through questionnaires and physical examinations, and the respondents' depression status within the past half month was assessed using the PHQ-9 Depression Screening Scale. The correlation between elderly MS and its components and depression and its influencing factors were analyzed by logistic regression. Results: A total of 15 198 elderly aged 60 years and above were included in this study, with the prevalence of MS at 10.84% and the detection rate of depressive symptoms in MS patients at 25.49%. The detection rates of depressive symptoms in patients with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 MS abnormal group scores were 14.56%, 15.17%, 18.01%, 25.21%, and 26.65%, respectively. The number of abnormal components of MS was positively correlated with the detection rate of depressive symptoms, and the difference between groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The risk of depression symptoms in patients with MS, overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia was 1.73 times (OR=1.73, 95%CI:1.51-1.97), 1.13 times (OR=1.13, 95%CI:1.03-1.24), 1.25 times (OR=1.25, 95%CI:1.14-1.38), 1.41 times (OR=1.41, 95%CI:1.24-1.60), 1.81 times (OR=1.81,95%CI:1.61-2.04), respectively, more than those without the disease. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the detection rate of depressive symptoms in patients with sleep disorders was higher than that with normal sleep (OR=4.89, 95%CI: 3.79-6.32). The detection rate of depressive symptoms in patients with cognitive dysfunction was 2.12 times higher than that in the average population (OR=2.12, 95%CI: 1.56-2.89). The detection rate of depressive symptoms in patients with impaired instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) was 2.31 times (OR=2.31, 95%CI: 1.64-3.26) higher than that in the average population. Tea drinking (OR=0.73, 95%CI: 0.54-0.98) and physical exercise (OR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.49-0.90) seemed to be protective factors for depression in elderly MS patients (P<0.05). Conclusions: Older patients with MS and its component abnormalities have a higher risk of depression than the average population. Sleep disorders, cognitive impairment, and IADL impairment are important influencing factors for depression in elderly MS patients, while tea drinking and physical exercise may help to reduce the risk of the disease.

Abstract 722: Epidemiological characterization of renal cell carcinoma in Hispanics: A single US center cohort study

Abstract Background: Annually, there are over 400,000 new cases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and more than 170,000 deaths worldwide. RCC is one of the top ten more prevalent malignancies in the United States, with 76,000 new cases each year and almost 14,000 deaths. Over the past half-century, RCC has more than doubled in incidence. RCC seems to have a greater incidence among Hispanics with a nearly three-fold increase. The epidemiology of RCC in the Caucasian population has been previously studied. However, there is a knowledge gap on disparities in RCC on minority populations. Studying the epidemiology of RCC in Hispanics is integral to our community where Hispanics make up 70%. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to describe the characteristics and rates of recurrence of RCC among patients treated at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami (which serves four counties in South Florida) between June 2010 to June 2022. We identified ethnicity as Hispanic/Latino (HL) or non-Hispanic/Latino (NHL). Clinical presentation was classified based on the last encounter as local RCC without recurrence, metastatic RCC after nephrectomy, and metastatic RCC at diagnosis/de novo. Results: We analyzed a total of 2049 patients aged 18 and older diagnosed with RCC, from which 1014 patients (47.90%) were identified as NHL and 933 (48.02%) as HL. A subtotal of 435 patients (22.86%) had metastatic RCC at diagnosis/de novo, from which 245 (55.60%) were NHL, and 176 (40.57%) were HL. A subtotal of 1614 patients (77.14%) were diagnosed with local RCC and underwent nephrectomy, from which 769 (45.61%) were identified as NHL and 787 (50.22%) as HL. From the NHL group that underwent nephrectomy, 223 patients (28.28%) had recurrent disease, and 546 patients (71.72%) did not. From the HL group, 176 patients (21.81%) had recurrent disease, and 611 (78.19%) did not. Overall, 409 patients had metastasis after nephrectomy, of which 176 (44.5%) were HL, and 203 (52.42%) were NHL. Conclusions: In this cohort of patients with RCC, almost 50% of patients diagnosed with metastasis were HL. NHL appeared to have more disease recurrence after nephrectomy and higher rates of metastatic disease at diagnosis compared to Hispanics. Further histopathological differences, clinical outcomes, genomic characterization, and rates of clinical trial participation between the NHL and HL cohorts will be presented at the meeting, along with comparisons between US and foreign-born HLs. Citation Format: Abner A. Murray, Jesus A. Ocejo Gallegos, Sandra Jones, Jose Noy, Rosa L. Frias, Leticia E. Campoverde, Jaime R. Merchan. Epidemiological characterization of renal cell carcinoma in Hispanics: A single US center cohort study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 722.

Key Discoveries in Plant Pathology During the Past Half Century: Impacts on the Life Sciences and on Plant Disease Management

Plant pathology plays a critical role in safeguarding plant health, food security, and food safety through science-based solutions to protect plants against recurring and emerging diseases. In addition, plant pathology contributed significantly to basic discoveries that have had broad impacts on the life sciences beyond plant pathology. In December 2021, The American Phytopathological Society (APS) conducted a survey among its members and among the readership of its journals to identify and rank key discoveries in plant pathology that have had broad impacts on science and/or practical disease management during the past half century. Based on the responses received, key discoveries that have broadly impacted the life sciences during that period include the Agrobacterium Ti plasmid and its mechanism in T-DNA transfer, bacterial ice nucleation, cloning of resistance genes, discovery of viroids, effectors and their mechanisms, pattern-triggered immunity and effector-triggered immunity, RNA interference and gene silencing, structure and function of R genes, transcription activator-like effectors, and type-III secretion system and hrp/hrc. Major advances that significantly impacted practical disease management include the deployment and management of host resistance genes; the application of disease models and forecasting systems; the introduction of modern systemic fungicides and host resistance inducers, along with a better understanding of fungicide resistance mechanisms and management; and the utilization of biological controls and suppressive soils, including the implementation of methyl-bromide alternatives. In this special issue, experts from the pertinent fields review the discovery process, recent progress, and impacts of some of the highest ranked discoveries in each category while also pointing out future directions for new discoveries in fundamental and applied plant pathology.

Introduction: Theorizing the psychology of deglobalization

The unprecedented pace and scope of globalization over the past half century have had major impacts on the field of psychology. We observe that since the 2008 financial crisis, there have been increased academic and political concerns with “deglobalization,” which is often associated with terrorism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, Brexit, the US–China trade war, the Russian war on Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the phenomenon of deglobalization is historically uncertain but intellectually and politically significant enough to warrant analysis. Thus, in this special issue, we begin to theorize the psychology of deglobalization by addressing several foundational issues: the major manifestations of deglobalization in relation to psychosocial life, the dialectical relations between globalization and deglobalization, and possible ways to respond to the challenges of deglobalization. In the meantime, we flesh out these theoretical perspectives using the cases of nationalism, neoliberalism, White supremacy, far-right politics, dehumanization, isolationism, and trade conflicts.

The Keys to Controlling Wheat Rusts: Identification and Deployment of Genetic Resistance.

Rust diseases are among the major constraints for wheat production worldwide due to the emergence and spread of highly destructive races of Puccinia. The most common approach to minimise yield losses due to rust is to use cultivars that are genetically resistant. Modern wheat cultivars, landraces, and wild relatives can contain undiscovered resistance genes, which typically encode kinase or nucleotide-binding site leucine rich repeat domain containing receptor proteins. Recent research has shown these genes can provide either resistance in all growth stages (all-stage resistance; ASR) or specially in later growth stages (adult-plant resistance; APR). ASR genes are pathogen and race-specific, meaning they can function against selected races of the rust fungus due to the necessity to recognise specific avirulence molecules in the pathogen. APR genes are either pathogen specific or multipathogen resistant but often race-nonspecific. Prediction of resistance genes through rust infection screening alone remains complex when more than one resistance gene is present. However, breakthroughs during the past half century such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based genotyping techniques and resistance gene isolation strategies such as MutRenSeq (Mutagenesis, Resistance gene enrichment and Sequencing), MutChromSeq (Mutagenesis and Chromosome Sequencing), and AgRenSeq (Association genetics combined with RenSeq) enable rapid transfer of resistance from source to modern cultivars. There is a strong need for combining multiple genes for better efficacy and longer-lasting resistance. Hence techniques such gene cassette creation speed up the gene combination process, but their widespread adoption and commercial use is limited due to their transgenic nature.

HF01-11 TRIALS OF VOIDING IN SPACE: HOW URINE SHAPED THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPACESUITS

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023HF01-11 TRIALS OF VOIDING IN SPACE: HOW URINE SHAPED THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPACESUITS Aaron Huang, Jacob Gaines, and Jason Kim Aaron HuangAaron Huang More articles by this author , Jacob GainesJacob Gaines More articles by this author , and Jason KimJason Kim More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003243.11AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The Space Race, a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to send a man to the moon, captured the world’s attention in the 1960s. While tensions between the nations ran high, one main focus of NASA scientists was on how to design a spacesuit to handle this harsh, new environment. These suits were created in the most practical fashion – to preserve pressures at high altitudes and protect its wearer. However, they were not created to facilitate voiding as “the first space man is not expected to have ‘to go’,” said a NASA official at the time. METHODS: A review was conducted on the history of the development of space suits using Google and Google Scholar. RESULTS: When it came to the first American in space, Alan Shepard was ready for the mission, undergoing vigorous training, both physical and psychological. What he and the crew were not prepared for on that fateful day of May 5th, 1961 were delays that led to long times spent sitting in his spacesuit waiting for launch. Shepard, unable to hold back his urine much longer, got the approval from mission control to relieve himself in the suit, short-circuiting certain monitors for his vitals. Researchers looked into other approaches to collecting urine; suprapubic and indwelling catheters were swiftly rejected due to discomfort as well as the risk for infection. The second American in space, Gus Grissom, made his own urine reservoir with two pairs of rubber pants, containing the urine between the layers, a creative yet quite impractical method. NASA, seeking to improve the current suit in terms of a urinary collecting device, looked towards the real world for people that lived with impaired detrusor activity to the purchase of a rubber urinal. Engineers created a complex valve on this device that would allow the astronaut to raise the intra-suit pressure when urinating, thus forcing the urine into the storage container, to counteract zero gravity. CONCLUSIONS: Today, maximally absorbent fabrics are utilized by astronauts as their urinary collecting devices that wick off and recycle urine. It was through Shepard’s unplanned trial of voiding into his suit that led to NASA understanding the need for urinary collecting devices, which have come a long way over the past half century. Source of Funding: None © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e259 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Aaron Huang More articles by this author Jacob Gaines More articles by this author Jason Kim More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

Editorial Material in the Babylonian Talmud and Its Sasanian Context

In the study of Jews in late antiquity, scholarship of the past half century has increasingly recognized the significance of the anonymous editors of the Babylonian Talmud. Whereas earlier scholars argued that the Babylonian Talmud was redacted and completed by the last generation or so of the Amoraim, scholars now accept that substantial sections of the anonymous editorial layer(s) postdate the final named Amoraim. However, basic historical questions about these editors and their activities remain unanswered. This paper will offer several case studies that argue that certain anonymous sections in the Talmud refer to known historical events that transpired in the Sasanian Empire in the sixth century, and reveal how the editors were acquainted with, affected by, and participated in broader contemporaneous historical trends.

Picture Editing and Music: A Marriage of Invisible Arts

Picture Editing and Music: A Marriage of Invisible Arts

Pre-fire measures of boreal forest structure and composition inform interpretation of post-fire spectral recovery rates

Wildfire is a key driver of forest dynamics in boreal forests; however, the annual area burned in boreal forests is highly variable, with increasing wildfire activity documented over the past half century. Post-fire recovery has important implications for carbon balance, and for the wide range of ecosystem goods and services provisioned by the boreal forest. Monitoring post-fire recovery is challenging given the vast and often inaccessible areas impacted, coupled with the marked variability in post-fire conditions and recovery processes. Field assessments of recovery are constrained in space and time, whereas remotely sensed data are spatially explicit, cover large areas, and can retrospectively provide assessments of pre- and post-fire conditions and establish spectral recovery baselines. However, there is a need to link spectral measures of recovery to manifestations of post-fire forest recovery on the ground. Understanding how different forest characteristics influence spectral recovery is key to the successful application of spectral recovery metrics for forest management applications in different forest environments. Herein, using a synthesis of plot data for the North American boreal forest, we assess the influence of pre- and post-fire field-measured characteristics on spectral recovery rates, with a focus on stem density and composition in Canadian boreal forests. Plots that experienced rapid spectral recovery (as measured using Landsat-derived NBR time series data) were associated with a transition from conifer to broadleaf or were broadleaf pre-fire. Plots that experienced a decrease in stem density took significantly longer to spectrally recover than plots that experienced no change in stem density. Plots that had not yet spectrally recovered by the end of the time series were associated with higher elevations, drier sites, greater pre-fire basal area, and had the greatest change magnitude. Our results emphasize that recovery is a process that is highly variable and that knowledge of pre-fire condition is important for characterizing and interpreting measures of post-fire spectral recovery for forest management applications. Remotely sensed time series data are uniquely able to provide information on both pre- and post-fire condition. Our analysis of pre- and post-fire field measures provided novel insights regarding the influence of forest composition and changes in stem density on measures of post-fire spectral recovery in boreal forests.

Impact of Global Change on Oceanic Dissolved Carbon Chemistry and Acidification: A Review

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature, decrease marine pH and rising dissolved organic carbon (DOC), causing extensive shifts in ocean water carbon chemistry with forecasts of long-term ecosystem impacts. This study aimed to carry out a systematic review and try to find out the actual chemistry, spatial variation at a global scale, future prediction of these natural and human-induced changes, and how this situation impacts the marine ecosystem and green economy. Literature proved that Antarctica and southern shallow polar ocean and any seaside area are particularly vulnerable to marine acidification and disturbed DOC cycle. Based on over a hundred investigations, the study observed that (a) marine acidification and DOC cycle are basically difficult-to-understand phenomena, (b) these two realities are consistent with each other and with climate change, (c) the potency of these threats is very altitudinal, periodic, and stratified (d) the mood of global change stressors on these two facts in the future ocean is unpredictable. It was found that over the past half-century, the acidity of the surface ocean has even now increased by almost 30%, and by 2100 it will increase to 150. Such a major change in ocean chemistry will have and is already having widespread consequences for marine organisms.

Europeanization of Legal Culture: an Exploratory Essay

The concept of «legal culture» has been the subject of academic legal research over the past half century. It has attracted special attention in the postmodern research field, which is more interested in overcoming the limits of positivist legal analysis and is much better prepared for the challenges of interdisciplinarity. The concept of «legal culture», despite its inherent vagueness, is valued in the academic environment for its ability to broaden and deepen the understanding of national and regional legal systems and their components, to act, on the one hand, as evidence of legal uniformity and, on the other hand, of cultural difference, to emphasize legal identity and postulate the legal identity of individual human communities. The perception of law in its cultural determination takes researchers beyond the scope of exclusively legal texts and makes them sensitive to different models of legal thinking, assumptions, behavior and practices inherent in certain human communities. The concept of «legal culture» emphasizes the specific cultural ties that underlie a particular legal community. The obvious advantage of highlighting the legal and cultural uniformity of a certain group is its integrative functions: legal systems (subnational, national, integration or international) based on different legal concepts, rules, institutions and procedures can be linked at the legal and cultural level. The importance of legal and cultural analysis stems not only from the recognition of the existence of different levels of legal and cultural unity, but also from the need to observe the legal and cultural dynamics that exist within and between different legal cultures. This is due to the fact that legal culture can be constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed, and has a significant potential for evolution. The borders of legal culture are usually open to change (the process of Europeanization proves the validity of this conclusion), although this process is not fast and difficult to recognize as easily controlled. Legal traditions, as the core of national legal cultures, have undergone significant changes since the Second World War under the influence of modernization, industrialization, globalization and regional integration. The success of European legal integration and the process of European unification as a whole depends not only on artificial, top-down, harmonized or unified legislation, but also on the success of the process of forming a common European legal culture as a result of the Europeanization of 27 national legal cultures and, in particular, national professional legal cultures. In order for a meaningful and truly unified European legal order to be formed, it must be based on a European legal culture. Effective legal Europeanization directly depends, first, on the formation and perception by the societies of all 27 Member States of a system of common values, principles, ideas, ideals, models of legal argumentation, doctrines, theories, concepts, behavior and practice; second, on full compliance with the principles of EU law and direct application of EU law in the legal systems of the Member States, through the harmonization of national legislation with the provisions of EU law, as well as through formal judicial harmonization. Effective and equal application of EU law is directly conditioned by the formation of European judicial culture.

Organellar genomes of giant kelp from the southern hemisphere

ABSTRACT Macrocystis pyrifera is a foundation species that creates kelp forests and supports essential ecosystem services across coastal environments. Over the past half-century, more than 95% of giant kelp forests have declined around Tasmania, Australia, due to climate change, causing a near-complete loss of the ecosystems and services they support. Compared with northern hemisphere giant kelp ecosystems, Australian populations have received little research attention in genomic and other genetic analyses. We present the complete mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of Macrocystis pyrifera from Tasmania. Both organellar genomes were similar to published Laminariales genomes in length, GC content, gene composition and synteny. A phylogeny constructed by combining protein-coding genes from both genomes showed Tasmanian specimens clustered with M. pyrifera specimens from the northern hemisphere. Genetic differences in protein genes between the Tasmanian M. pyrifera and the northern hemisphere specimens were overall low, but some ribosomal protein genes presented higher values of nonsynonymous mutations. The most divergent gene, the mitochondrial conserved hypothetical protein ORF377, can provide insights into the evolution of the species. This gene has been proposed as a suitable molecular marker for population genetic research in Fucales and may also be helpful for intraspecific studies of M. pyrifera. The complete mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of Tasmanian M. pyrifera provide important genetic data and critical information for further evolutionary and population studies and for managing these endangered and disappearing populations.

Management of U.S. Agricultural Lands Differentially Affects Avian Habitat Connectivity

Despite frequently being implicated in species declines, agricultural lands may nonetheless play an important role in connecting wildlife populations by serving as movement corridors or stopover sites between areas of high-quality habitat. For many North American bird species, agricultural intensification over the past half century has substantially impacted populations, yet recent studies have noted the potential for supporting avian biodiversity on agricultural lands through the promotion of functional connectivity. To support avian conservation efforts on agricultural lands across the United States, we used publicly available data from eBird to quantify and map the effects of agriculture on habitat suitability (using random forest models) and functional connectivity (via circuit theory) for three focal species that have experienced agriculture-linked declines or range contractions in recent decades: Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), American Black Duck (Anas rubripes), and Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). Our analysis drew on novel, remotely sensed estimates of agricultural management intensity to quantify the effects of management practices on avian habitat and movement, revealing complex, species-specific relationships between agriculture and habitat value for the three focal species. Rangelands and croplands exhibited relatively high connectivity values for Greater Sage-grouse and Bobolink, respectively, mirroring these species’ strong habitat preferences for open sagebrush and cultivated grasslands. By contrast, American Black Duck migratory connectivity was low on all agricultural cover types. Mapping our model results across each species’ geographic range in the U.S. revealed key areas for agricultural management action to preserve high-quality habitat and connectivity, and we link these spatial recommendations to government incentive programs that can be used to increase wildlife-friendly management on U.S. agricultural lands.

Intelligent intensive care unit makes medicine more accessible

In the past half century, critical care medicine has made rapid development, and the survival rate of critically ill patients has significantly improved. However, what does not match the rapid development of the specialty is that the infrastructure of intensive care unit (ICU) has gradually appeared weaknesses and the development of humanistic care in ICU has lagged. Accelerating the digital transformation of the medical industry will help to improve the existing difficulties. The application of 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to build an intelligent ICU,focusing on improving patients' comfort by strengthening humanistic care,while solve the shortcomings of the critical care dimension, such as lack of human and material resources, low alarm accuracy, insufficient response speed and ability, to better meet the needs of society and improve the level of medical services and humanistic care for critical diseases. We will review the development of ICU history, clarify the necessity of intelligent ICU construction and the core issues to be solved after the construction of intelligent ICU. Three components of the construction of intelligent ICU will be needed: intelligent space and environment management, intelligent equipment and goods management, intelligent monitoring and diagnosis and treatment. Finally, the people-oriented diagnosis and treatment concept will be realized through intelligent ICU.

Effects of rising and extreme temperatures on production factor efficiency: Evidence from China's cities

Cities are the main drivers of climate change; they are also more vulnerable to it than rural areas. Improving the utilization efficiency of various production factors is an important way for cities to fight climate change. Using observations from across 36 large and medium-sized Chinese cities, this study finds that most cities experienced temperature rises in the past half century, with average increases of 0.5 °C. Based on the city-level production possibility set, this study constructs a factor-specific efficiency model of the directional distance function version. Using data from Chinese prefectures and above-level cities with a population of more than 1 million, we calculated three factor efficiencies: labor, energy, and environment. The econometric analysis revealed that the rising temperatures had a positive effect on all three efficiencies. This finding may be related to China's geographical location within a temperate zone; consequently, the increase in temperature moved its temperatures to an optimal level. However, extreme temperatures had a negative impact on the efficiency of three factors. Further analysis found that rising temperatures brought more benefits to cities dominated by tertiary industries, while extreme temperatures brought more harm to cities dominated by secondary industries. As part of China's urbanization process, large central cities often support tertiary industries with various resources, thereby moving secondary industries to the surrounding small cities. Our results suggest that as global warming intensifies, new economic inequalities may arise between cities with different industrial structures.