Forest fragmentation in China and its effect on biodiversity.

Land-use change is fragmenting natural ecosystems, with major consequences for biodiversity. This paper reviews fragmentation trends - historical and current - in China, the fourth largest country on Earth, and explores its consequences. Remote sensing makes it possible to track land-use change at a global scale and monitor fragmentation of dwindling natural landscapes.

Diversity and density patterns of large old trees in China.

Large old trees are keystone ecological structures that provide vital ecosystem services to humans. However, there are few large-scale empirical studies on patterns of diversity and density of large old trees in human-dominated landscapes. We present the results of the first nationwide study in China to investigate the patterns of diversity and density of large old trees in human-dominated landscapes.

[Expression of transforming growth factor-β1 and its receptors in peripheral blood of patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura].

This study was purposed to detect the expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and its receptors (TGF-βR) and to investigate their roles in pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). The expressions of TGF-β1 and their receptors TGF-βRI, TGF-βRII and TGF-βRIII in the peripheral blood of patients with ITP and healthy persons were detected by the real-time PCR, and differences of their expression levels were analysed. The results showed that the expression of TGF-β1 and TGF-βRII mRNA in ITP patients was significantly higher than that in the healthy controls, while the TGF-βRI mRNA expression in ITP patient was significantly lower than that in the controls.