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This paper concerns the invasion dynamics of the lattice pioneer-climax competition model with parameter regions in which the system is non-monotone. We estimate the spreading speeds and establish appropriate conditions under which the spreading speeds are linearly selected. Moreover, the existence of travelling waves is determined by constructing suitable upper and lower solutions. It shows that the spreading speed coincides with the minimum wave speed of travelling waves if the diffusion rate of the invasive species is larger or equal to that of the native species. Our results are new to estimate the spreading speed of non-monotone lattice pioneer-climax systems, and the techniques developed in this work can be used to study the invasion dynamics of the pioneer-climax system with interaction delays, which could extend the results in the literature. The analysis replies on the construction of auxiliary systems, upper and lower solutions, and the monotone dynamical system approach.

Protein kinases facilitate plant adaptation to environmental stresses by phosphorylating target proteins. Sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase (SnRK), a type of serine/threonine protein kinase, occurs commonly in plants and is involved in abiotic stress responses. However, the function of SnRK genes in Caragana korshinskii , a shrubby species instrumental in water conservation and sand fixation, remains largely unexplored. We conducted a genome-wide identification of the SnRK gene family in C. korshinskii and examined its expression under nitrogen deposition and drought stress. A total of 33 CkSnRK genes identified across eight chromosomes, which were categorized into SnRK1 (2 genes), SnRK2 (14 genes), and CIPK (17 genes) subgroups based on their conserved domains. Gene replication and homology analysis among genomes of C. korshinskii , Populus trichocarpa , Arabidopsis thaliana , and Salix sinopurpurea , revealed that there were more collinear genes between C. korshinskii and S. sinopurpurea , indicating that CkSnRK gene family may be closely related to S. sinopurpurea evolution. Cis-element analysis revealed that promoter regions of CkSnRK genes were enriched in stress and hormone-related cis-elements. Furthermore, the expression level of CkSnRK genes was significantly higher in leaves than that in roots under nitrogen and drought stress conditions. An enhanced understanding of the genome structure, evolutionary characteristics, and expression patterns of the 33 CkSnRKs in C. korshinskii improves our general comprehension of CkSnRK family function, as well as insight into ways to improve stress resistance genetically in this shrub species.

Objectives To evaluate the application of the comprehensive complication index (CCI) in the assessment of postoperative complications after thulium laser prostate enucleation (ThuLEP) and compare it with the Clavien‒Dindo classification (CDC) grading system. Methods A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 467 patients hospitalized for benign prostatic hyperplasia treated with ThuLEP surgery from August 2019 to October 2023 was conducted. The postoperative complications of patients were assessed via both the CDC and CCI complication evaluation systems, and the correlation between both systems and the postoperative length of stay (LOS) was analyzed. Sample size estimations for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were also performed on the basis of complication rates and CCI scores. Results Ninety-nine (21.20%) of the patients had a total of 121 complications. Eighteen patients experienced ≥ 2 types of complications, and their cumulative CCI scores exceeded the score corresponding to the highest CDC grade. Both the CDC and CCI were significantly and positively correlated with the postoperative LOS, with the cumulative CCI score showing a stronger correlation than the highest CDC grade ( r  = 0.429, p  < 0.001 vs. r  = 0.383, p  < 0.001). Furthermore, the use of the CCI for evaluating postoperative complications was found to reduce the required sample size for RCTs (305 per group vs. 90 per group). Conclusions Compared with the CDC, the CCI more accurately reflects short-term postoperative complications after ThuLEP and shows a stronger correlation with LOS while enabling smaller sample sizes in RCTs. Future studies should integrate the CCI into standardized reporting for laser-based BPH surgery to improve consistency and benchmarking.

Salicaceae plants are dioecious woody plants. Previous studies have shown that male individuals are more tolerant to water deficiency than females for male‐biased poplars. However, Salix paraplesia is a female‐biased species in nature. It is still unknown whether female willows are more tolerant to drought stress than males. To better understand the sexually different tolerance to water deficiency in willows, a greenhouse experiment combined with a field investigation was conducted, and physiological traits were tested in male and female S. paraplesia under a drought‐stressed condition (50% of soil water capacity). Our field investigation showed that S. paraplesia was a species with female‐biased sex ratio along altitude gradients (2,400 m, 2,600 m and 2,800 m) in their natural habitats. Our results showed that the height growth, biomass accumulation, total chlorophyll pigment content (TChl), and the net photosynthetic rate were higher in female willows than in males at the low and middle altitudes (2,400 m and 2,600 m) rather than at a high altitude (2,800 m) under well‐watered conditions. Under drought‐stressed conditions, the growth, biomass, and photosynthesis were greatly inhibited in both sexes, while females showed higher biomass and TChl content and suffered less negative effects than did males. Particularly, females that originated from a high altitude showed lower leaf relative electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde content, and less disorder of chloroplast ultrastructures but a higher peroxidase activity (POD) than that of males. Therefore, S. paraplesia females exhibited a better drought tolerance and self‐protective ability than males from high altitude. There is a reason to speculate that the population structure of S. paraplesia at a high altitude would be likely to further female biases with the increased drought intensity in the alpine regions. Salix paraplesia is a female‐biased species in their natural inhibits. S. paraplesia females exhibited a better drought tolerance than males at high altitude. It would likely be further female‐biased with the increasing drought intensity in the alpine regions.

Long-lived tree species need to cope with changing environments and pathogens during their lifetime. Fungal diseases cause damage to trees growth and forest nurseries. As model system for woody plants, poplars are also hosts of a large variety of fungus. The defense strategies to fungus are generally associated with the type of fungus, therefore, the defense strategies of poplar against necrotrophic and biotrophic fungus are different. Poplars initiate constitutive defenses and induced defenses based on recognition of the fungus, hormone signaling network cascades, activation of defense-related genes and transcription factors and production of phytochemicals. The means of sensing fungus invasion in poplars are similar with herbs, both of which are mediated by receptor proteins and resistance (R) proteins, leading to pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI), but poplars have evolved some unique defense mechanisms compared with Arabidopsis due to their longevity. In this paper, current researches on poplar defensive responses to necrotrophic and biotrophic fungus, which mainly include the physiological and genetic aspects, and the role of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) in fungal resistance are reviewed. This review also provides strategies to enhance poplar disease resistance and some new insights into future research directions.

As an extension of hesitant fuzzy set, the probabilistic hesitant fuzzy set (PHFS) can more accurately express the initial decision information given by experts, thus the decision method based on PHFS is more true and reliable. In this paper, multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method is proposed under probabilistic hesitant fuzzy environment, which is based the new distance measures of probabilistic hesitant fuzzy elements (PHFEs) and the COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) method. Firstly, the existing problems of some distances are analyzed and we propose some new distance measures including new Hamming distance, new Euclidean distance and new generalized distance under probabilistic hesitant fuzzy environment. Secondly, a maximizing deviation method based on the new Hamming distance measure is proposed to obtain the attribute weights in probabilistic hesitant fuzzy information. Then, the COPRAS method is extended to solve MADM problems under probabilistic hesitant fuzzy environment. Finally, compared other methods, an example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Background JS001, a humanized IgG 4 monoclonal antibody against the programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor, blocks the interaction of PD-1 with its ligands and promotes T cell activation in preclinical studies. This phase I study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and clinical activity of JS001 in advanced melanoma or urologic cancer patients who are refractory to standard systemic therapy. Patients and methods In the dose escalation cohorts, subjects initially received a single-dose, intravenous infusion of JS001, and were followed for 28 days followed by multi-dose infusions every 2 weeks. In the dose expansion cohorts, subjects received multi-dose infusions every 2 weeks. Clinical response was evaluated after each 8-week treatment cycle according to RECIST v1.1 criteria. Results Thirty-six subjects diagnosed with advanced melanoma ( n  = 22), urothelial cancer (UC) ( n  = 8), or renal cell cancer (RCC) ( n  = 6) were enrolled. Melanoma subjects included 14 acral and 4 mucosal subtypes. JS001 was well tolerated, and no dose-limiting toxicity was observed. By the safety data cutoff date, 100% of subjects had treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) with most adverse events being grade 1 or 2, and ≥ grade 3 TRAEs occurred in 36%. Among all 36 subjects, 1 confirmed complete response (acral melanoma), 7 confirmed partial responses (2 acral melanoma, 1 mucosal melanoma, 2 UC, and 2 RCC), and 10 stable disease were observed, for an objective response rate of 22.2% (95% CI, 10.1 to 39.2), and a disease control rate of 50.0% (95% CI, 32.9 to 67.1). Clinical responses were correlated with PD-L1 expression on tumor cells, the presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), baseline tumor volume, ECOG performance status, serum LDH levels, high percentage of activated CD8+ T cells and CD3− CD16+ CD54+ NK cells in the peripheral blood as well as tumor mutational burden (TMB). Conclusion JS001 was well tolerated and demonstrated promising anti-tumor activity in UC and RCC as well as in previously underexplored acral and mucosal melanoma subtypes. Subjects with an immune-active profile in the tumor microenvironment or in peripheral blood responded favorably to JS001 treatment. The completion of the current phase I study has led to the initiation of the first prospective anti-PD-1 registration trial in Asia focusing on acral and mucosal melanoma subtypes, representative of the regional disease epidemiology. Trial registration Clinical Trial ID: NCT02836795 , registered July 19, 2016, retrospectively registered.

Developing a comprehensive magnetic theory for correlated itinerant magnets poses challenges due to the difficulty in reconciling both local moments and itinerant electrons. In this work, we investigate the microscopic process of magnetic phase transition in ferromagnetic metal Fe 3− δ GeTe 2 . We find that Hund’s coupling is crucial for establishing ferromagnetic order. During the ferromagnetic transition, we observe the formation of quasiparticle flat bands and an opposing tendency in spectral weight transfer, primarily between the lower and upper Hubbard bands, across the two spin channels. Moreover, our results indicate that one of the inequivalent Fe sites exhibits Mott physics, while the other Fe site exhibits Hund’s physics, attributable to their distinct atomic environments. We suggest that ferromagnetic order reduces spin fluctuations and makes flat bands near the Fermi level more distinct. The hybridization between the distinctly flat bands and other itinerant bands offers a possible way to form heavy fermion behavior in ferromagnets. The complex interactions of competing orders drive correlated magnetic metals to a new frontier for discovering outstanding quantum states. Understanding magnetism in correlated itinerant systems has been an important yet challenging task due to the complex interplay among Hund, Mott, and Kondo physics. In this work, by using DFT + DMFT, the authors reveal the mechanism of the magnetic phase transition and the heavy-fermion behavior in low temperatures in a ferromagnetic metal, shedding light on the roles of the above three factors.

With global climate change, for evaluating warming effect on subalpine forest distribution, the substantial effects of long-term warming on tree growth and soil nutrients need to be explored. In this study, we focused on different responses in the boundaries of trees and soils to warming. Using the open-top chamber (OTC), a 10-year artificial warming experiment was conducted to evaluate the impacts of warming on Abies faxoniana at three different altitudes. We determined metabolites and nutrient concentrations in needles of A. faxoniana and characterized the soil chemistries. Many kinds of sugars, amino acids, and organic acids showed higher contents at high altitude (3,500 m) compared with low altitude (2,600 m), which could have been due to the temperature differences. Warming significantly decreased needle sugar and amino acid concentrations at high altitude but increased them at low altitude. These results indicated contrasting physiological and metabolic responses of A. faxoniana to long-term warming at different altitudes. Furthermore, we found that OTC warming significantly increased the concentrations of soil extractable sodium, aluminum (Al), and manganese (Mn), while decreased potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and pH values at low altitude rather than at middle (3,000 m) or high altitude. The soil carbon and nitrogen contents were increased only at the middle altitude. In A. faxoniana at low altitudes, more mineral nutrients iron, K, and P were demand, and a mass of Al, Mn, and zinc was accumulated under warming. Soil P limitation and heavy metals accumulation are disadvantageous for trees at low altitudes with warming. Therefore, compared with high altitudes, A. faxoniana growing at low boundary in alpine regions is expected to be more susceptible to warming.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection causes a substantial lower-respiratory-tract disease burden in infants, constituting a global priority for vaccine development. We evaluated immunogenicity, safety and efficacy of a chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAd)-based vaccine candidate, ChAd155-RSV, in a bovine RSV (bRSV) challenge model. This model closely reproduces the pathogenesis/clinical manifestations of severe pediatric RSV disease. In seronegative calves, ChAd155-RSV elicits robust neutralizing antibody responses against human RSV. Two doses protect calves from clinical symptoms/lung pathological changes, and reduce nasal/lung virus loads after both a short (4-week) and a long (16-week) interval between last immunization and subsequent bRSV challenge. The one-dose regimen confers near-complete or significant protection after short-term or long-term intervals before challenge, respectively. The presence of pre-existing bRSV-antibodies does not affect short-term efficacy of the two-dose regimen. Immunized calves present no clinical signs of enhanced respiratory disease. Collectively, this supports the development of ChAd155-RSV as an RSV vaccine candidate for infants. A pediatric RSV vaccine is an unmet medical need, even after >50 years of effort. Here, the authors show that a chimpanzee adenovirus based RSV vaccine candidate protects calves from disease upon RSV infection, regardless of the time after vaccination (1 or 4 months) or the presence of maternal antibodies.