Selenium (Se) is an essential element for the human body. Humans meet their basic Se requirements primarily through food consumption. The largest Se-rich contiguous area in China is located in the southeast of Guangxi. In this study, the Se accumulation and translocation in the Guangxi rice–soil system was assessed. Organically bound Se (O-Se) was found to be the main type of soil Se (72.5%), and had a good linear relationship with soil total Se (TSe)...

We propose a general framework for the specification testing of continuous treatment effect models. We assume a general residual function, which includes the average and quantile treatment effect models as special cases. The null models are identified under the unconfoundedness condition and contain a nonparametric weighting function. We propose a test statistic for the null model in which the weighting function is estimated by solving an expanding set of moment equations. We establish the asymptotic...

Despite multiple approaches over the last several decades to harmonize conservation and development goals in the tropics, forest-depende­­­­­­nt households remain the poorest in the world. Durable housing and alternatives to fuelwood for cooking are critical needs to reduce multi-dimensional poverty. These improvements also potentially reduce pressure on forests and alleviate forest degradation. We test this possibility in dry tropical forests of the Central Indian Highlands where tribal and other marginalized populations rely on forests for...

This study aimed to clone the full-length open reading frame (ORF) of goat ANGPTL8 gene sequence, reveal its molecular and expression characteristics, and explore its effect on the differentiation of goat intramuscular preadipocytes. The full-length ORF sequence of goat ANGPTL8 gene was cloned by RT-PCR technology, and bioinformatics analysis was performed by related biological software. RT-qPCR was used to detect the expression of ANGPTL8 mRNA in goat tissues. Further use of RNA interference to study...

Migrating birds contend with dynamic wind conditions that ultimately influence most aspects of their migration, from broad-scale movements to individual decisions about where to rest and refuel. We used weather surveillance radar data to measure spring stopover distributions of northward migrating birds along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast and found a strong influence of winds over non-adjacent water bodies, the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, along with the contiguous Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, we...

The data presented here are a collection of images of living and fossil Ginkgo leaves. Mature and fully expanded leaves were harvested from a reproductively immature Ginkgo biloba tree growing in partial shade as a specimen on the campus of The Open University, UK. The specimen was ascended using a ladder and seven branches growing towards the West at approximately halfway up the specimen were removed from the trunk using a saw. Every leaf growing...

Supplemental Material, sj-doc-1-gsj-10.1177_21925682211005732 for Clinicopathological and Prognostic Characteristics in Spinal Chondroblastomas: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Patient Data From a Single Institute and 27 Studies by Bo-Wen Zheng, Wei Huang, Fu-Sheng Liu, Tao-Lan Zhang, Xiao-Bin Wang, Jing Li, Guo-Hua Lv, Yi-Guo Yan and Ming-Xiang Zou in Global Spine Journal

Study Design:Retrospective pooled analysis of individual patient data.Objectives:Spinal chondroblastoma (CB) is a very rare pathology and its clinicopathological and prognostic features remain unclear. Here, we sought to characterize the clinicopathological data of a large spinal CB cohort and determine factors affecting the local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients.Methods:Electronic searches using Medline, Embase, Google Scholar and Wanfang databases were performed to identify eligible studies per predefined criteria. A retrospective review was also...

Synchrony in ecological systems, the degree to which elements respond similarly over time or space, can inform our understanding of how ecosystems function and how they are responding to global change. While studies of ecological synchrony are often focused on within-species dynamics, synchrony among species may provide important insights into how dynamics of one species are indicative of conditions relevant to the larger community, with both basic and applied implications. Ecological theory suggests there may...

The predation risk of many aquatic taxa is dominated by visually searching predators, commonly a function of ambient light. Several studies propose that changes in visual predation will become a major climate-change impact on polar marine ecosystems. The high Arctic experiences extreme seasonality in the light environment, from 24-h light to 24-h darkness, and therefore provides a natural laboratory for studying light and predation risk over diel to seasonal timescales. Here, we show that zooplankton...

Selenium (Se) is an essential element for the human body. Humans meet their basic Se requirements primarily through food consumption. The largest Se-rich contiguous area in China is located in the southeast of Guangxi. In this study, the Se accumulation and translocation in the Guangxi rice–soil system was assessed. Organically bound Se (O-Se) was found to be the main type of soil Se (72.5%), and had a good linear relationship with soil total Se (TSe)...

We propose a general framework for the specification testing of continuous treatment effect models. We assume a general residual function, which includes the average and quantile treatment effect models as special cases. The null models are identified under the unconfoundedness condition and contain a nonparametric weighting function. We propose a test statistic for the null model in which the weighting function is estimated by solving an expanding set of moment equations. We establish the asymptotic...

Recently, emerging, developed, and developing economies have placed great emphasis on the need to attain environmental sustainability while achieving economic expansion. In an effort to offer possible policy options toward the attainment of sustainable development, this study examines the effect of economic growth on carbon emissions mitigation. Yearly panel data for 44 countries comprised of emerging, developed, and developing economies from 1990 to 2017 is used. To address the gap in the literature, this nexus...

Agriculture is fundamental to all three pillars of sustainability, environment, society, and economy. However, the definition of sustainable agriculture and capacities to measure it remain elusive. Independent and transparent measurements of national sustainability are needed to gauge progress, encourage accountability, and inform policy. Here, we developed a Sustainable Agriculture Matrix (SAM) to quantify national performance indicators in agriculture and to investigate the tradeoffs and synergies based on historical data for most countries of the world....

This study aims to explore the effect of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) variability (mean absolute difference of the log2 NT-proBNP level measured in hospital) on the prognosis of patients with cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) type 2. Patients with CRS type 2 were retrospectively included. The varied NT-proBNP indications were analyzed. They were NT-proBNP I(pre-treatment), NT-proBNP II(post-treatment), NT-proBNP II/I, ΔNT-proBNP, log2 (NT-proBNP) variability and mean log2 (NT-proBNP). A logistic regression model and survival curves (Kaplan–Meier analysis)...

The Employment-Based Fifth Preference program (EB-5) is one of five categories of employment- based visas that provide permanent residency to foreign nationals in the United States. In return, foreign nationals interested in the program are required to make investments of $1 million in busi- nesses and create a minimum of ten jobs in the United States. Since its creation in 1990, the EB-5 pro- gram has had a significant economic impact in the United States...

Abstract Across the eusocial Hymenoptera, a queen’s mating frequency is positively associated with her workers’ genetic diversity and colony’s fitness. Over 90% of a colony’s diversity potential is achieved by its mother’s tenth effective mating (me); however, many females mate at levels of me > 10, a zone we here call hyperpolyandry. We compared honey bee colony fitness at mating levels near and above this genetic diversity asymptote. We were interested in how hyperpolyandry affects...

Recently, emerging, developed, and developing economies have placed great emphasis on the need to attain environmental sustainability while achieving economic expansion. In an effort to offer possible policy options toward the attainment of sustainable development, this study examines the effect of economic growth on carbon emissions mitigation. Yearly panel data for 44 countries comprised of emerging, developed, and developing economies from 1990 to 2017 is used. To address the gap in the literature, this nexus...

Supplemental Material, sj-doc-1-gsj-10.1177_21925682211005732 for Clinicopathological and Prognostic Characteristics in Spinal Chondroblastomas: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Patient Data From a Single Institute and 27 Studies by Bo-Wen Zheng, Wei Huang, Fu-Sheng Liu, Tao-Lan Zhang, Xiao-Bin Wang, Jing Li, Guo-Hua Lv, Yi-Guo Yan and Ming-Xiang Zou in Global Spine Journal

Study Design:Retrospective pooled analysis of individual patient data.Objectives:Spinal chondroblastoma (CB) is a very rare pathology and its clinicopathological and prognostic features remain unclear. Here, we sought to characterize the clinicopathological data of a large spinal CB cohort and determine factors affecting the local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients.Methods:Electronic searches using Medline, Embase, Google Scholar and Wanfang databases were performed to identify eligible studies per predefined criteria. A retrospective review was also...

Earth observing satellites are a major research tool for spatially explicit ecosystem nowcasting and forecasting. However, there are practical challenges when integrating satellite data into usable real-time products for stakeholders. The need of forecast immediacy and accuracy means that forecast systems must account for missing data and data latency while delivering a timely, accurate and actionable product to stakeholders. This is especially true for species that have legal protection. Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus (Atlantic Sturgeon) were...

Aridland breeding bird communities of the United States are among the most vulnerable to drought, with many species showing significant population declines associated with decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature. Individual breeding bird species have varied responses to drought which suggests complex responses to changes in water availability. Here, we evaluated the influence of water deficit, an integrative metric of drought stress, on breeding bird communities within three distinct aridland habitat types: riparian, pinyon-juniper, and sagebrush...

The Y-family DNA polymerase η (Polη) is critical for the synthesis past damaged DNA nucleotides in yeast through translesion DNA synthesis (TLS). TLS is initiated by monoubiquitination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and the subsequent recruitment of TLS polymerases. Although individual structures of the Polη catalytic core and PCNA have been solved, a high-resolution structure of the complex of Polη/PCNA or Polη/monoubiquitinated PCNA (Ub-PCNA) still remains elusive, partly due to the disordered Polη C-terminal...

We propose a general framework for the specification testing of continuous treatment effect models. We assume a general residual function, which includes the average and quantile treatment effect models as special cases. The null models are identified under the unconfoundedness condition and contain a nonparametric weighting function. We propose a test statistic for the null model in which the weighting function is estimated by solving an expanding set of moment equations. We establish the asymptotic...

Achieving and maintaining food and nutrition security is an important Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), especially in countries with largely vulnerable population with high occurrence of hunger and malnutrition. By studying a small-scale agricultural system in India, we aim to understand the current state of dietary diversity and food insecurity among the farmer communities. The study landscape has witnessed a steady rise in multiple cropping along with irrigation over the last two decades. Whether this multiple...