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Increased human disturbances have disturbed the global ecosystem at various scales. A growing need exists for effective techniques that can be used to quantify human disturbances and detect the resulting spatial and temporal variations in ecological status. Remote sensing can be used as an effective means to detect changes in environmental quality. Consequently, this study employed multi-source remote sensing data and principal component analysis (PCA) to create a remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) and a human footprint index used to clarify the human disturbances intensity (HDI). Then, unary linear regression was used to evaluate the change trends of HDI and the RSEI; spatial autocorrelation analysis and correlation analysis were used to reveal the evolution characteristics of environmental quality and its response to human disturbances of the Urban Agglomeration in the Northern Slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANST) from 2000 to 2020. The results show the following: (1) An RSEI is applicable to both medium- and large-scale regions and can be used to effectively quantify and reveal the environmental quality of the UANST. (2) From 2000 to 2020, the annual average RSEI of UANST was 0.29, with the environmental quality graded as poor for more than 40% of the region. Although high proportions of the UANST were ranked as having poor and fair environmental quality, the overall trend was toward increasing the areas with good and excellent grades. The spatial characteristics of environmental quality showed that the environment was generally better in the central area and poorer in the northern and southern areas. (3) From 2000 to 2020, the HDI in the majority of the UANST was low but showed an increase over time and gradually attenuated from the city center to the edge of each county. (4) A significant positive correlation was found between environmental quality and human disturbances in the cropland area in the central part of the UANST, while a significant negative correlation was found in the surrounding urban areas of cities, in counties or rural residential areas, and some areas of scattered grasslands.

Background: We aimed to investigate the clinical and dosimetric factors associated with radiation-induced rhinosinusitis, and further elucidate the optimal dose-volume constraints for nasopharyngeal cancer patients who underwent volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT). Methods: A retrospective review of 196 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients who underwent definitive VMAT between August 2018 and May 2021 was conducted. Both clinical and dose-volume histogram (DVH) data of NPC patients without rhinosinusitis at baseline were selected for analysis. Results: The cumulative incidence of post-RT rhinosinusitis at the 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months, and >1 year were 29.6 %, 41.3 %, 42.9 %, and 45.4 %, and 47.4 %, respectively. Nasal irrigation was negatively associated with post-RT rhinosinusitis (p 1.16 % and >1.00 %, respectively (p = 0.027 and p = 0.002). Sphenoid sinusitis was more frequent when Dmax(maxillary sinus) exceeded 69.2Gy (p = 0.005). Conclusions: Regular nasal irrigation may reduce the development of rhinosinusitis. Dose-volume constraints of V70 and Dmax to the maxillary sinus are suggested for VMAT planning. Patients exceeding these thresholds should be closely monitored and potentially offered preventative interventions within 3–6 months post-RT.

The potential application of monolayer MS2 (M = Mo, W) as thermoelectric material has been widely studied since the first report of successful fabrication. However, their performances are hindered by the considerable band gap and the large lattice thermal conductivity in the pristine 2H phase. Recent discoveries of polymorphism in MS2s provide new opportunities for materials engineering. In this work, phonon and electron transport properties of both 2H and 1T′ phases were investigated by first-principle calculations. It is found that upon the phase transition from 2H to 1T′ in MS2, the electron transport is greatly enhanced, while the lattice thermal conductivity is reduced by several times. These features lead to a significant enhancement of power factor by one order of magnitude in MoS2 and by three times in WS2. Meanwhile, the figure of merit can reach up to 0.33 for 1T′MoS2 and 0.68 for 1T′WS2 at low temperature. These findings indicate that monolayer MS2 in the 1T′ phase can be promising materials for thermoelectric devices application. Meanwhile, this work demonstrates that phase engineering techniques can bring in one important control parameter in materials design. Keywords: Phase engineering, Thermoelectric, Transition metal dichalcogenides

This data article contains supporting information regarding the research article entitled “High butter-fat diet and bisphenol A additively impair male rat spermatogenesis” (P. Tarapore, M. Hennessy, D. Song, J. Ying, B. Ouyang, V. Govindarajah, et al.,) [1]. Sprague–Dawley females were fed AIN, high fat butter, 17α-ethinyl estradiol, or high fat butter plus four bisphenol A doses (2500 µg/kg bw-d, 250 µg/kg bw-d, 25 µg/kg bw-d, and 2.5 µg/kg bw-d) before and during pregnancy. All diets were switched to AIN after the pups were born. Male offspring received testosterone (T)- and estradiol-17β (E2)-filled implants from postnatal day 70–210 for 20 weeks (T+E2 rat model). The testes were weighed, and examined for impairments in spermatogenesis.

The receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and MET are activated in subsets of mesothelioma, suggesting that these kinases might represent novel therapeutic targets in this notoriously chemotherapy-resistant cancer. However, clinical trials have shown little activity for EGFR inhibitors in mesothelioma. Despite the evidence for RTK activation in mesothelioma pathogenesis, it is unclear whether transforming activity is dependent on an individual kinase oncoprotein or the coordinated activity of multiple kinases. Using phospho-RTK and immunoblot assays, we herein demonstrate activation of multiple RTKs (EGFR, MET, AXL, and ERBB3) in individual mesothelioma cell lines but not in normal mesothelioma cells. Inhibition of mesothelioma multi-RTK signaling was accomplished using combinations of RTK direct inhibitors or by inhibition of the RTK chaperone, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). Multi-RTK inhibition by the HSP90 inhibitor 17-allyloamino-17demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) had a substantially greater effect on mesothelioma proliferation and survival compared with inhibition of individual activated RTKs. HSP90 inhibition also suppressed phosphorylation of down-stream signaling intermediates (AKT, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and S6); upregulated the p53, p21, and p27 cell cycle checkpoints; induced G2 phase arrest; induced caspase 3/7 activity; and led to an increase in the sub-G1 apoptotic population. These compelling proapoptotic and antiproliferative responses indicate that HSP90 inhibition warrants clinical evaluation as a novel therapeutic strategy in mesothelioma.