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Global biodiversity is in rapid decline, yet the key threats to wildlife in many regions remain uncertain. Bats are one of the most diverse mammalian groups, playing vital roles in the ecosystems. There are at least 140 bat species in China, with 30 % of being regionally threatened or data deficient. Here, we used expert elicitation to assess the key threats and conservation strategies of bats in China. We designed an online questionnaire concerning the conservation of Chinese bats, and then distributed the questionnaire to bat experts worldwide via email. All participants were asked to rank each threat and conservation strategy according to the urgency and significance. After excluding participants without some knowledge of Chinese bats and conservation biology, we gathered the opinions of 119 bat experts from China and abroad. The results showed that the scores of different threats and conservation strategies were predicted by their categories. Loss of habitat, killing and hunting, and roost disturbance were regarded as the three top threats faced by Chinese bats. Most experts recognized that banning hunting and improving the legislation were two priority strategies for bat conservation, although monitoring of bat diversity, scientific publicity, and education were also important. Nearly 98 % of the experts supported the suggestion that threatened bats should be under special state protection because of their ecological services, economic value, population decline, scientific value, and other features. These results provide valuable implications for guiding the protection and management of bats in China.

Abstract The expansion of anthropogenic noise poses an emerging threat to the survival and reproductive success of various organisms. Previous investigations have focused on the detrimental effects of anthropogenic noise on the foraging behavior in some terrestrial and aquatic animals. Nevertheless, the role of airport noise in impairing foraging activities of most wild animals has been neglected. Here, we aimed to assess whether foraging behavior in free‐living Japanese pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus abramus) can be disturbed by airport noise. We used audio recording to monitor foraging activities of bats at 11 sites around the runway of a municipal airport. We quantified noise level and spectra, aircraft activity, habitat type, nightly temperature, wind speed, and moon phase for each site. The analysis revealed that noise level and aircraft activity were significant negative predictors for the number of bat passes and feeding buzzes around the runway, even after controlling for the effects of other environmental factors. There was no marked spectral overlap between bat echolocation pulses and airport noise in the presence and absence of low‐flying aircraft. The spectro‐temporal parameters of echolocation vocalizations emitted by bats were dependent on noise level, aircraft activity, and habitat type. These results provide correlative evidence that airport noise can reduce foraging activities of wild pipistrelle bats. Our findings add to the current knowledge of adverse impacts of airport noise on foraging bats in artificial ecosystems and provide a basis for further research on the mechanisms behind noise pollution near airports.

In this paper, we consider an insurance risk model with two-sided jumps, where downward and upward jumps typically represent claim amounts and random gains, respectively. We use the Laguerre series to expand the Gerber–Shiu function and estimate it based on observed information. Moreover, we show that the estimator is easily computed and has a fast convergence rate. Numerical examples are also provided to show the efficiency of our method when the sample size is finite.

This paper considers a d-dimensional stochastic optimization problem in neuroscience. Suppose the arm’s movement trajectory is modeled by high-order linear stochastic differential dynamic system in d-dimensional space, the optimal trajectory, velocity, and variance are explicitly obtained by using stochastic control method, which allows us to analytically establish exact relationships between various quantities. Moreover, the optimal trajectory is almost a straight line for a reaching movement; the optimal velocity bell-shaped and the optimal variance are consistent with the experimental Fitts law; that is, the longer the time of a reaching movement, the higher the accuracy of arriving at the target position, and the results can be directly applied to designing a reaching movement performed by a robotic arm in a more general environment.

Background and objective It has been proven that multidrug resistance (MDR) is the main cause of chemotherapy failure in lung cancer. Research on emergence mechanisms of MDR has great clinical significance in improving the curative efficiency of lung cancer chemotherapy. Proteins encoded by the SLC22A18 gene, which is similar to the transmembrane transporter, may influence the sensitivity of chemotherapeutics as well as the metabolism and growth of cells. In addition, these proteins probably have some effect on the development of lung cancer MDR. The aim of the present study is to investigate the expression of SLC22A18 protein in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as well as in corresponding normal lung tissue. Furthermore, the relationship between SLC22A18 expression and pathological grade and TNM stage is analyzed. Methods The expression of SLC22A18 was detected by EnVinsion in 96 cases with NSCLC and in corresponding normal lung tissue. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 17.0 statistical software. Results SLC22A18 was mainly located in cell membrane and cytoplasm. The expression level of SLC22A18 in NSCLC was significantly higher than that in normal tissue (P

Background and objective NOK (Novel Oncogene with Kinase-domain) is a newly identified receptor protein-tyrosine kinases (RPTKs) subfamily, which possesses strong oncogenic potential including enhancing cell transformation, tumorigenesis, invasion and metastasis. However, NOK protein lacks extracellular domain, and how the NOK is activated by the membrane receptor and the expression of NOK in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are not clear. Our aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of NOK, EGFR proteins in NSCLC. Methods The expression rates of NOK, EGFR proteins in 155 cases with NSCLC was deteced by immunohistochemical stain; The clinical correlations between two proteins were analyzed by statistics. Results The NOK positive expression was mainly located in cytoplasm and EGFR was mainly located in the plasma membrane and cytoplasm. NOK, EGFR proteins were high expressed in NSCLC and there were extremely differences comparing the expression of NOK, EGFR proteins in squamous cell lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma with those in corresponding normal tissue respectively (P < 0.001); and there were no significant differences between the two kinds of the cancers for their comparison of NOK, EGFR expression (P=0.099; P=0.23); however, there were significant differences for NOK and EGFR expression among histological grades and TNM stages in squamous cell lung cancers, lung adenocarcinoma (P < 0.01). There were correlation between positive and intensity of NOK and EGFR expression in whatever total NSCLC or squamous cell lung cancer or lung adenocarcinoma (P < 0.001), while the correlation coefficients(rs) were 0742, 0.722, 0.756 respectively. Conclusion The NOK proteins are highly expressed in the NSCLC, and the expression rates of NOK proteins are correlated with the cancers’ histological grades and TNM stages, which may be concern with tumorgenesis and progression; the positive expression rate and intensity of NOK protein correlate well with the expression of EGFR protein in NSCLC, which the activation of NOK probably owe to EGFR activation, all that would provide evidence for further study on the effective mechanism of NOK in the tumorigenesis or tumor progression.

Background and objective Multidrug resistance (MDR) is the main reason of the failure of chemotherapy in lung cancer. The MDR mechanism in lung cancer is complex, which relates to sorts of drug resistant genes. ABCC10 is a recently identified member of a subset of the C family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. The drug resistance capability of ABCC10 has been partly determined. The aim of the study is to investigate the expression of ABCC10 in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and normal tissues, and analyze the relationship between ABCC10 expression level and clinical features, such as TNM stages, histological types and pathological grades. Methods The expression of ABCC10 was detected in squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and normal lung tissues by immunohistochemistry. Then the statistical analysis was performed. Results The expression of ABCC10 was mainly located in cell membrane and cytoplasm. There were significant differences between the expression of ABCC10 in NSCLC and normal tissues (P