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Objectives To investigate the impact of marriage on multiple myeloma (MM) survival, and the role of factors such as age, sex, and income in this relationship. Material and Methods The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was searched for eligible MM patients between 2007 and 2016. We compared overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) differences by the Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank tests. The hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for OS and CSS were estimated by Cox regression models. A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to minimize the covariates differences between married and unmarried group. Results This study identified 48,952 eligible patients diagnosed with MM, comprising 29,607 married patients, 5,147 divorced/separated patients, 6,851 single patients, and 7,347 widowed patients. Married MM patients were found to be an independent protective prognostic factor for OS and CSS (all P

Using antibodies to block the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway as an immunotherapy has achieved great success in the clinical treatment of various types...

Based on the theory of landsenses ecology, this paper makes a detailed analysis of the architecture pattern of ‘The House of Hundred Rooms’(HHR) in the East Dragon Village, a traditional ancient Ch...

The trajectory of landsenses development is characterized with three phases: the phase of concept formation, the phase of proposing landsense creation and its connection with ecosystem services, an...

Land-use planning and design (LPD) is one of the most critical passways toward sustainable development. LPD without thorough considerations can cause many problems, such as disharmony between peopl...

This paper presents a concept of sustainable development from the perspective of ecosystem services and analyzes some existing problems in ecosystem service assessment. It also proposes the concept...

Purpose To evaluate a classification model of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and examine the characteristics of patients with false-negative diagnosis. Patients and methods A retrospective secondary analysis of a multicenter trial of CEUS for breast cancer diagnosis (from August 2015 to April 2017) was undertaken. Patients (n=1,023) with Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System 4-5 lesions on B-mode ultrasound underwent CEUS. Pathological diagnoses were available from surgical or biopsy specimens for correlation. Lesion maximum diameter (LMD), distance to the papilla (DtP), distance from the superficial edge of the lesion to the skin (DtS), distance from the deep edge of the lesion to the pectoralis muscle (DtPM), and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated. Results Median age and BMI were 48.0 and 41.2 years and 23.2 and 22.4 kg/m2 for patients with malignant and benign lesions, respectively. Overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CEUS for malignancy were 89.4%, 65.3%, and 75.8%, respectively. The patients with true-positive and false-negative diagnosis (ie, with malignant lesion) were older than those with false-positive and true-negative diagnosis (ie, with benign lesion). Patients with true-positive and false-positive diagnoses had higher BMI than patients with true-negative and false-negative diagnoses (P=0.004). Patients with true-positive and false-negative diagnoses had larger LMD and DtP, as well as smaller DtS and DtPM. Conclusion Older age, higher BMI, larger LMD and DtP, and smaller DtS and DtPM were associated with malignant lesions on CEUS. Patients with these characteristics should undergo further imaging.

Haisheng You,1,* Jin Yang,2,3,* Qingqing Liu,2,3 Lina Tang,1 Qingting Bu,4 Zhenyu Pan,5 Jun Lyu2,3 1Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Genetics, Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Pharmacy, The Affiliated Children Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the lymph node density (LND) on overall survival of patients with Wilms’ tumor (WT) using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.Methods: Data from the SEER database were extracted from patients with WT in whom the LND could be obtained. Patients were divided into a low LND group and high LND group. Survival curves based on the LND stratification were plotted using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. The impact of prognostic factors on overall survival was analyzed using Cox regression models.Results: A total of 1,924 patients were identified from the database. Overall survival for the low LND group at 5, 10, and 20 years was significantly better than the high LND group (5-year survival: 94.1% vs 81.4%; 10-year survival: 92.6% vs 80.8%; 20-year survival: 90.6% vs 79.1%; P

The urban ecological risk incurred during the processes of urbanization has been constantly accumulating, creating a severe challenge for China to achieve sustainable urban development. At present,...

Urban ecological risks stemming from urbanization are increasing and limiting the capability of China to effectuate sustainable urban development. Therefore, addressing urban ecological risks is an urgent need. Numerous factors are involved in urban ecological risks, including air, water, and soil. Additionally, risk sources and risk receptors are complex and diverse. In this study, urban ecological risks are defined as adverse effects and possibility of impacts on urban ecosystem services resulting from urbanization. Urbanization is recognized as the risk source, and the urban ecosystem is considered the risk receptor. Based on this understanding, the components of urban ecological risks are defined, and the relationships between the components of urban ecological risks are illuminated by establishing an indicator system. Based on previous studies on urban ecological risks, an explicit framework for identification, assessment, and management of urban ecological risks is proposed. For purposes of ...

Ecosystem services are facing numerous potential threats in rapidly developing areas. In this study, we investigated land use/cover change scenarios related to ecological risks due to urban develop...

The planning and construction of large-scale coal-fired power plants are important components of China’s future energy development strategy in response to global environmental problems, as proposed in China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. With the rapid socio-economic development, research and assessments of ecological risks of large-scale human activities have drawn increasing attention. As large-scale coal-fired power plant are more concentrated in the northern arid and semi-arid areas of China, where the environment is fragile, objective assessments of the ecological risks at large-scale coal power bases are important for ensuring the sustainable development of coal bases and guaranteeing the normal and orderly life of surrounding residents. Ecological sensitivity evaluations reflect the degree of changes in the natural environment due to human disturbance, and explain the possibility of ecological assessments in the region. Based on comprehensive evaluati...

Coal currently accounts for nearly 70% of the energy consumption in China, and is expected to remain a vital energy source in the near future. Planning and construction of national large-scale coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) is an important aspect of China’s 12th coal industry five-year plan and the development strategy for future energy. CFPPs have large electricity generation potential and are important for maintaining energy security and structure. However, the construction and development of CFPPs leads to local ecological and environmental problems. The sustainable development of CFPPs is becoming increasingly important. The assessment of CFPP sustainable development would highlight the main problems in CFPP planning, construction, operation, and management, avoiding the adverse effects on local society, economy, ecosystems, and environment. This study demonstrated a sustainable development assessment framework for CFPPs and their regions, which concerned natural resources and environmental p...

Eco-communities integrate construction and management with a comprehensive view of the environment and can be reflected through the aspects of ‘harmony,’ ‘comfort,’ ‘conservation,’ and ‘intelligence.’ In this study, relevant assessment indices were sorted and summarized to develop an eco-community evaluation system (ECES) based on basic principles of science, management, and operation. ECES assesses communities based on four parameters: outdoor environment, indoor environment, resource consumption, and operation and management. The main goal of ECES is to guide the sustainable development of eco-communities.

China’s energy consumption structure, which relies heavily on fossil fuels, has, on the one hand, weakened environmental sustainability at the national level, and also intensified the problem of climate change at the global level, on the other hand. It is therefore essential for policy-makers to adopt immediate measures to transfer to a trajectory of sustainable energy development with low carbon emissions. Using a decoupling index that describes the difference between energy consumption and economic development, this paper studied the process of decoupling in each province in China. Results showed that there was a phenomenon of weak decoupling in China as a whole, while North, Northeast, and East China have experienced rapid economic development and improved energy utilization efficiency, leading to a high level of decoupling. Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) Province experienced both the highest energy consumption and economic growth, while Beijing and Guizhou Province showed the strongest decoupling.

A novel electrochemical aptasensor is reported for the label-free determination of dopamine by electrochemically reduced graphene oxide and a gold nanocomposite with a ribonucleic acid (RNA) aptamer. The nanocomposite was fabricated by layer-to-layer electrochemical deposition. The aptamer was immobilized on the surface of the gold nanoparticles through the formation of thiol–gold bonds. Dopamine was determined through specific interaction with the immobilized aptamer. The redox activity of the analyte enabled direct electrochemical analysis. The conductivity and structure of the nanocomposite were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and scanning electron microscopy. In contrast to bare or reduced graphene oxide-modified electrodes, the nanocomposite-modified electrode significantly enhanced the current response. The electrochemical aptasensor provided a detection limit of 0.13 µM with a linear dynamic range from 0.5 to 20 µM. In addition, the sensor was shown to provide high selectivity and satis...

China’s Grand Canal is a giant water engineering project and has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since its initial construction in the Zhou Dynasty (486 B.C.), the Canal had played great role in transportation and regional economic development. However, those historical functions of the Grand Canal have been almost abandoned during the past century in part due to problems like water pollution and ecological deterioration. While the environmental and ecological functions of China’s Grand Canal have been severely damaged, its socio-economic functions have been crippled. The Xianghe Segment of China’s Grand Canal (XSCGC) is the north end of China’s Grand Canal. Connecting Beijing and Tianjin, XSCGC is an important component of China’s Grand Canal. With the implementation of China’s Strategy for Promoting Ecological Progress and Beijng–Tianjin–Hebei Integration Development Strategy, the restoration of environment, ecosystems, and socio-economic functions of XSCGC has become an urgent task for nat...

Optimization of landscape patterns in urbanizing areas is important for landscape planning, thus improving regional ecological security and human sense of beauty to environment. In this study, we integrated a variety of methods to optimize landscape patterns in Xianghe Segment of China’s Grand Canal (XSCGC) based on the principles of landsenses ecology. The plan scheme consisted of a spatial configuration of key ecological elements, called one point, one axis, two cores, multicorridors, and multidemonstrations. The ecological corridor system was arranged in the plan area to reverse ecological barrier effects induced by urban infrastructure and to improve connections between landscape units. The plan area was divided into 11 ecological function zones for management, protection, and development purposes. Seven ecological control indices were proposed corresponding to an ecological core and ecological developing areas to ensure ecological security. This landscape pattern optimization scheme will help...

Ecosystems provide both goods and services that are necessary components of humans’ daily life and socio-economic development. Associated with rapid urbanization processes and tourism development in Shangri-La County over recent years, human activities have put a huge pressure on ecosystem conservation and management. In this special issue, we use the case of Shangri-La County to trace the evolution processes of various ecosystems, understand the relationship between natural resources utilization and environmental protection and pursue the goal of the sustainability of ecological services. The articles published in this special issue support a general conclusion that urban development and human activities are key factors that threaten ecosystem conservation and sustainable development in Shangri-La County. Relevant policies and measures concerning ecosystem conservation and ecotourism management are discussed in this special issue.

A reduced graphene oxide-modified glassy carbon electrode for sensitive detection of rutin is reported. The modified electrode was obtained by one-step electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide on the bare glassy carbon electrode. In the presence of graphene, an enhanced electrochemical response for rutin appeared with a pair of well-defined anodic and cathodic peaks in pH 3.0 phosphate buffer. Under the optimized conditions, the anodic peak currents exhibited a linear relationship with rutin concentration from 0.1 to 2.0 µM with a detection limit of 23.2 nM. The modified electrode was employed to the analysis of tablets (with satisfactory recovery of 19.96 mg/per tablet) and Flos Sophorae. The graphene-modified electrode exhibited high sensitivity, good stability, and selectivity for the determination of rutin.

The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China are responsible for over 40% of the world’s CO2 emissions annually and they will be able to effectively reduce global emissions if they fulfil their commitments jointly in climate change mitigation. Here we briefly summarize past climate collaborations between the two countries and compare their national climate policies. The major problems are the mutual distrust between the two countries and the priority of economic development over climate change mitigation within each of them. As atmospheric CO2 levels are still increasing at an accelerating rate, it is essential for the largest two emitters to turn ongoing bilateral dialogue into prompt mitigation action and maintain long-term joint efforts in reducing emissions. We suggest that the two countries should recognize and take advantage of their differences in socioeconomic, political, and technological conditions. Furthermore, the two countries need to share their experiences and technologie...

The global phenomenon of urbanization increases the importance of compact-city development. China’s rapid urban development has resulted in unprecedented urban population growth and built-up area expansion, but its effects on urban morphology and mobility are only partly understood. City compactness can be measured simply using urban spatial form or morphology: the more concentrated the built-up area, the more compact the city is. Here we show that 35 major cities in China are not compact in spatial form and that their compactness is not improving over time. Our results reveal close correlations between changes in urbanization rate and changes in city compactness as well as between city compactness and commuting time (CT), indicating that the high rate of urbanization without adequate planning has contributed to the poor compactness of Chinese cities, which has further increased CT. We suggest that continuing urban sprawl with low land use efficiency and low urban form compactness will make cities in Chin...

Simulation and quantitative analysis of urban land use change are effective ways to investigate urban form evolution. Cellular Automata CA has been used as a convenient and useful tool for simulating urban land use change. However, the key issue for CA models is the definition of the transition rules, and a number of statistical or artificial intelligence methods may be used to obtain the optimal rules. Neighborhood configuration is a basic component of transition rules, and is characterized by a distance decay effect. However, many CA models do not consider the neighbor decay effect in cellular space. This paper presents a neighbor decay cellular automata model based on particle swarm optimization PSO-NDCA. We used particle swarm optimization PSO to find transition rules and considered the decay effect of the cellular neighborhood. A negative power exponential function was used to compute the decay coefficient of the cellular neighborhood in the model. By calculating the cumulative differences between simulation results and the sample data, the PSO automatically searched for the optimal combination of parameters of the transition rules. Using Xiamen City as a case study, we simulated urban land use changes for the periods 1992–1997 and 2002–2007. Results showed that the PSO-NDCA model had a higher prediction accuracy for built-up land, and a higher overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient than the urban CA model based on particle swarm optimization. The study demonstrates that there exist optimal neighborhood decay coefficients in accordance with the regional characteristics of an area. Urban CA modelling should take into account the role of neighborhood decay.

There have been a growing number of environmental problems associated with the rapid development of cities. Common environmental monitoring methods are unable to meet the dynamic needs of urban environmental management. The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides a new way to improve urban environment monitoring and management. The Environmental Internet of Things (EIoT) makes it possible to sense, acquire, process, and transfer environmental information over a large area in real time. In this paper, we present an integrated system for urban environment monitoring and management by referring to the EIoT concept. We developed and tested the system by monitoring water, soil, air, noise, and some other environmental factors on the campus of our research institute. The system can obtain real-time environmental information in situ and express and publish its outcomes in different formats. Moreover, the system is extendible for additional sensors and environmental factors, and to cover larger ...

Villages in China have been greatly impacted by the countrywide urbanisation process, and many of them have undergone transformation in landscape structure and rapid changes in environment. However, environmental monitoring in urbanising villages, or town villages, cannot be fully realised by the existing environmental monitoring infrastructure and resources. We intended to apply Environmental Internet of Things (EIoT) technology to fulfill this task, beginning with the development of a Mobile Meteorological Monitor (3M) consisting of an ultrasonic weather station, an industrial tablet PC, a foldable mountain bicycle and a series of accessories. The initial application of 3M in environmental monitoring for a town village indicates that the monitoring capability could be expanded to carry out the monitoring of other environmental variables, such as water quality, air pollution and noise pollution. By simultaneously employing multiple 3M units, it is possible to generate a spatiotemporal framework of monito...

Sustainability assessment is an essential requirement for constructing sustainable cities. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive method to assess the sustainability level of development of cities (SLDC) in China, and use data from the China City Statistical Yearbook to calculate assessment indicators for Lijiang City between 2003 and 2008. Ten indicators covering residents' welfare, urbanisation and environment were selected. The results showed that Lijiang's SLDC experienced a ‘slow decline’ stage followed by a ‘rapid improvement’ stage, and the sustainability of Lijiang's development has been steadily enhanced during the second phase. This assessment indicator system could readily be applied to assess the SLDC of other Chinese cities.

Economic and population growth increasingly threaten the sustainable development of world heritage sites. Given the lack of emphasis on the notion of sustainable development for cultural (and, to a lesser extent, natural) diversity in planning development in and around such sites, the notions of sustainability and heritage need to be combined in a conceptual perspective. The need for such an integrated approach and possibilities for it are explored in this Special Issue, with a focus on Lijiang City (China), a famous tourist city with UNESCO world heritage status due to rich cultural and natural diversity. The city is experiencing rapid development, characterised by human population growth, natural/cultural attractions and socio-economic pressure. Tourism development in Lijiang City has resulted in urbanisation, which alters the existing landscapes and threatens the integrity of the world heritage. Tourism development as currently practiced is unfavourable to the health of the industry in the long term. T...

In the current information age, digital technology has become an essential part of urban civilisation. The digital city has been transformed from a novel concept to a practical and effective means of supporting urban planning and management. However, there are various definitions of a digital city and each has a unique significance. By comparing these digital city concepts, we examined common aspects of digital city definitions and propose an urban digital operating system (Urban DOS) that will be useful to improve life quality, socioeconomic functions and sustainable development in a city and its surrounding areas. The technical basis for the Urban DOS is the intersection between technology-oriented products (TOPs) and customised application products (CAPs). We then develop a procedure for designing a framework for a digital city based on Urban DOS with TOPs and CAPs. To explain such digital city concepts and applications, we demonstrate the initial development of Urban DOS for Lijiang City.

The spatio‐temporal dynamic landscape pattern of Xiamen throughout its rapid urbanisation from 1987 to 2007 was studied using analyses of landscape indices and fractal methods (box counting method, BCM). Based on remote sensing (RS) and a geographic information system (GIS), five Landsat TM5 images were used to construct a land‐use database for the studied area. BCM was programmed in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and MapObject. Over the last 20 years, rapid urbanisation of Xiamen Island has induced enormous conversions of the landscape pattern. Anthropogenic disturbance after 1992 has led to a man‐made landscape gradually replacing the farmland and forestland landscape and the former became the dominant landscape type in 2007, leading to a decrease in diversity and heterogeneity in Xiamen Island. The urban land area increased rapidly from 39.2 to 94.4 km2 over these 20 years. The urban expansion mainly occupied forestland, farmland, water and sea. Farmland area had disappeared completely by 2007. Besides urb...

China has the fifth largest forest area in the world and any change in China’s forestry development will have inevitable impacts on global ecological sustainability. China has undergone excessive logging of natural forests and also made tremendous efforts in afforestation during the past half century. China’s forestry is now going through a variety of transitions and several forestry programs have been implemented to drive forestry transitions. The goal of these actions is to protect ecological services of forests and sustain China’s forestry development. These forestry programs are spatially sophisticated and cannot be successfully implemented without accurate and transparent forest/forestry information. A variety of digital technologies, including forest modeling, remote sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, and visualization, have been applied in handling diverse information in China’s forestry. Digital forestry is not just a theoretical concept in China. Our digital forestry experience in northeast China suggests that digital technology is both usable and useful in China’s forestry development. Digital technology is playing an important interactive role in China’s top-down forestry administration system. The analog-todigital transition in technology is expected to lead to the success of forestry programs and forestry transitions in China.

The year 2008 marked one of the most important stages in mankind's development. For the first time in history, more than half of the world's human population lives in urban areas (UNPF 2008), which...