Prognostic Implications of an Autophagy-related Gene Signature in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is difficult to diagnose and resistant to therapy and has a poor prognosis. Autophagy plays a vital role in PDAC development and progression. This study aimed to establish an autophagy-related gene (ARG) signature to predict the prognosis of patients with PDAC.

[Spatial variation of soil carbon and stable isotopes in the southern margin desert of Junggar Basin, China].

The southern margin desert of Junggar Basin in the central arid region of Asia was selec-ted as the study area. To gain insight into the distribution characteristic of stable carbon isotope and the relationship between the change of soil carbon and the distance to oasis of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC), three belt transects were set according to the distance between the desert and the oasis in edge, middle and hinterland of the desert respectively, and collected the soil profile samples with depth of 2 m. The results indicated that the SOC content reduced with the soil depth, and the variation with the distance to oasis was the edge> the middle> the hinterland.

Hormesis effects of silver nanoparticles at non-cytotoxic doses to human hepatoma cells.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have attracted considerable attentions due to their unique properties and diverse applications. Although it has been reported that AgNPs have acute toxic effects on a variety of cultured mammalian cells and animal models, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the associated risk of AgNPs to human health at non-cytotoxic doses. In this paper, HepG2 cells were exposed to 10 nm and 100 nm AgNPs under non-cytotoxic conditions, and cell viability was assessed.

[Dynamics of ecosystem services value in Aksu River watershed in 1960 -2008].

By using GIS-RS techniques and the table 'Equivalent weight of China terrestrial ecosystems services value', in combining with the local grain yield and grain purchasing price, this paper analyzed the changes of ecosystem services value in Aksu River watershed in 1960-2008, and explored the responses of ecosystem services value change in arid trans-boundary river watershed to land use/cover change. Overall, the ecosystem services value in Aksu River watershed in 1960-2008 changed slightly, with the total value increased after an initial decrease. The main cause of the initial decrease was the area decrease of wetland, woodland, and grassland.