Recent advances in peptide-based nanomaterials for targeting hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a prominent feature of many severe diseases such as malignant tumors, ischemic strokes, and rheumatoid arthritis. The lack of oxygen has a paramount impact on angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and chemotherapy resistance. The potential of hypoxia as a therapeutic target has been increasingly recognized over the last decade.

Measuring protected-area effectiveness using vertebrate distributions from leech iDNA.

Protected areas are key to meeting biodiversity conservation goals, but direct measures of effectiveness have proven difficult to obtain. We address this challenge by using environmental DNA from leech-ingested bloodmeals to estimate spatially-resolved vertebrate occupancies across the 677 km Ailaoshan reserve in Yunnan, China. From 30,468 leeches collected by 163 park rangers across 172 patrol areas, we identify 86 vertebrate species, including amphibians, mammals, birds and squamates.

[Case-control study on Pi needle for the treatment of the cutaneous nerve entrapment low back pain].

Objective: To explore a safe and effective method for the treatment of low back pain in the cutaneous nerve, and to clarify the indication of Pi needle to treat it.

Methods: From January 2003 to December 2004, 278 patients with cutaneous nerve entrapment low back pain were divided into two groups: Pi needle group and electrical stimulation group. In the Pi needle group, there were 68 males and 70 females, ranging in age from 20 to 60 years old, with an average of(41.