1. Human activities have been a significant driver of environmental changes with tremendous consequences for carbon dynamics. Peatlands are critical ecosystems because they store ~30% of the global soil organic carbon pool and are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic changes. The Zoige peatland on the eastern Tibet Plateau, as the largest alpine peatland in the world, accounts for 1‰ of global peat soil organic carbon storage. However, this peatland has experienced dramatic climate change including increased...

Unresolved taxonomic issues regarding spinicaudatans, clam shrimps that formed the most abundant faunal element in the lacustrine Barremian to Aptian Yixian Formation, have hampered palaeoecological and evolutionary interpretations of this key fossil group. Here, we analyse morphological variability in East Asian clam-shrimp taxa by quantifying: (1) size and shape; and (2) ornamental features (radial lirae distances). Intergeneric variability was examined using 51 specimens of various East Asian Mesozoic taxa, 16 of which were chosen for...

1. Leaf temperature exerts an important impact on the microenvironment and physiological processes of leaves. Plants from different habitats have different strategies to regulate leaf temperature. The relative importance of morphology and transpiration for leaf temperature regulation in the hot habitat is still unclear. 2. We investigated 22 leaf morphological traits, transpiration, and thermal properties of 38 canopy species of seedlings in a greenhouse, including 18 dominant species from a hot wet habitat (HW) and...

The existence of blood–brain barrier (BBB) greatly hindered the penetration and accumulation of chemotherapeutics into glioblastoma (GBM), accompany with poor therapeutic effects. The growth of GBM supervene the impairment of tight junctions (TJs); however, the pathogenesis of BBB breakdown in GBM is essentially poorly understood. This study found that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secreted by GBM cells plays an important role in increasing the permeability of BBB by disrupting endothelial tight junction proteins claudin-5...

To conquer the drug resistance of tumors and the poor solubility of paclitaxel (PTX), two PTX-cell-penetrating peptide conjugates (PTX-CPPs), PTX-TAT and PTX-LMWP, were synthesized and evaluated for the first time. Compared with free PTX, PTX-CPPs displayed significantly enhanced cellular uptake, elevated cell toxicity, increased cell apoptosis, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) in both A549 and A549T cells. PTX-LMWP exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect than PTX-TAT in A549T cells. Analysis of cell-cycle distribution showed that...

1. Interspecific hybridization is common in plants under natural conditions, but the ecological mechanisms underlying when and how it happens have not fully been understood. 2. Taraxacum calanthodium and T. lugubre are two herbaceous annals co-occurring in alpine meadows of the eastern Tibetan Plateau that share the same pollinators including domestic honeybees during their overlapping flowering times. Because honeybees tend to visit flowers less discriminatively when bee densities are high, we hypothesized that intense apiculture...

The existence of blood–brain barrier (BBB) greatly hindered the penetration and accumulation of chemotherapeutics into glioblastoma (GBM), accompany with poor therapeutic effects. The growth of GBM supervene the impairment of tight junctions (TJs); however, the pathogenesis of BBB breakdown in GBM is essentially poorly understood. This study found that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secreted by GBM cells plays an important role in increasing the permeability of BBB by disrupting endothelial tight junction proteins claudin-5...

To conquer the drug resistance of tumors and the poor solubility of paclitaxel (PTX), two PTX-cell-penetrating peptide conjugates (PTX-CPPs), PTX-TAT and PTX-LMWP, were synthesized and evaluated for the first time. Compared with free PTX, PTX-CPPs displayed significantly enhanced cellular uptake, elevated cell toxicity, increased cell apoptosis, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) in both A549 and A549T cells. PTX-LMWP exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect than PTX-TAT in A549T cells. Analysis of cell-cycle distribution showed that...

There is significant archaeological evidence marking the collapse of the Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China during the late Neolithic Period. However, the causes for this cultural collapse remain unclear. Our sedimentary records from a 3.3 m long profile and 76 phytolith and charcoal samples from the Tanjialing archaeological sites provide records of interactions between an ancient culture and vegetation change. During the early Shijiahe culture (c, 4850-4400 cal...

Most studies on the adhesive mechanisms of climbing animals have addressed attachment against flat surfaces, yet many animals can climb highly curved surfaces, like twigs and small branches. Here we investigated whether tree frogs use a clamping grip by recording the ground reaction forces on a cylindrical object with either a smooth or anti-adhesive, rough surface. Furthermore, we measured the contact area of fore and hindlimbs against differently sized transparent cylinders and the forces of...

Nano energetic materials have attracted great attention recently owing to their potential applications for both civilian and military purposes. By introducing the silicon microchannel plates (Si-MCPs) three dimensional (3D) ordered structure, monocrystalline MnMoO4 with a size of tens of micrometers and polycrystalline MnMoO4 nanoflakes are produced on the surface and sidewall of the nickel-coated Si-MCP, respectively. The MnMoO4 crystals ripen controllably forming polycrystalline nanoflakes with the lattice fringes of 0.542 nm corresponding to the (1...