Resource heterogeneity in oldfields

Abstract. Spatial heterogeneity of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), soil moisture and soil N mineralization in a range of oldfield communities was analyzed using semi-variograms for transect data. Percent transmittance of PAR was examined in eight communities, and soil moisture and N mineralization were examined in the two most common communities. In general, the sites with the highest resource availability had the smallest coefficients of variation. For light, 63% of the transects showed significant non-zero spatial autocorrelation with sills at 1 - 70 cm distance intervals. Although the grass-dominated communities had the highest average PAR levels and the lowest coefficients of variation, they also were among those with the greatest percentage of transects that had non-zero spatial autocorrelation. For light, the average semivariogram range, or distance within which samples were autocorrelated, was 19 cm and different among communities at p = 0.07. For soil moisture, two of three shrub sites and one of three grass sites showed non-zero spatial autocorrelation with sills at 10 - 300 cm distance intervals. Average semivariance range was 249 cm for the shrub community and 170 cm for the grass community. For N-mineralization, none of the shrub and one of three grass sites showed non-zero spatial autocorrelation with a sill, with a semivariance range of 60 cm. Soil moisture and N-mineralization were higher in the shrub than in the grass communities. Overall, these results indicate that resource variability occurred within patches of uniform vegetation, and the range of resource spatial dependence was different among resources even within a single community type. Our results suggest that different seedlings invading these communities will experience very different patterns of microsite heterogeneity as a result of their specific resource requirements.     

穿刺单针阳性前列腺癌的术后病理特征分析

摘要 目的：回顾性分析单针阳性患者的术后病理特征及Gleason评分的变化情况。方法：收集2018年9月-2020年6月在本院泌尿外科行穿刺活检,病理诊断为单针阳性的86例前列腺癌患者展开研究,按患者年龄、手术前PSA检测值、Gleason评分、临床分期（cTNM）进行分组,其中：年龄组（年龄≥70岁、年龄＜70岁）、术前PSA组（PSA＜10 ng/mL、≥10 ng/mL）、术前Gleason评分组（6分、3+4=7分、4+3=7分、≥8分）、临床分期组（cT1期组、cT2期组）。所有患者均采用腹腔镜下前列腺癌根治术和单针穿刺活检,观察纳入患者的基线资料,比较分析不同组别患者术后病理特征的差异和临床意义。结果：不同年龄患者病理特征无差异,PSA≥10 ng/mL组Gleason评分≥7分和Gleason评分升级患者占比显著高于PSA＜10 ng/mL组（P＜0.05）;cT2期组占比较低（P＜0.05）;cT2期组患者Gleason评分≥7分患者占比显著高于cT1期组（P＜0.05）,但两组切缘阳性和Gleason评分升级相比无统计学意义（P＞0.05）;不同Gleason评分患者术后pT0、切缘阳性、Gleason评分升级差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）;不同Gleason评分患者术后病理分期差异有统计学意义,Gleason评分为4+3=7分患者病理分期＞2显著高于6分、3+4=7分和≥8分（P＜0.05）;Logistic回归分析结果显示,年龄＞70岁、PSA≥10 ng/mL、cT2期和Gleason评分≥7分是影响术后病理特征的主要危险因素（P＜0.05）。结论：前列腺单针阳性患者存在Gleason评分术后升高情况,部分患者伴有切缘阳性、病理分期≥T2特征,所以临床中无法将穿刺单针阳性作为前列腺癌患者低风险检测指标,需要结合患者其它各项指标对其进行个体化治疗方案。     

HES6 promotes prostate cancer aggressiveness independently of Notch signalling

Notch signalling is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of cancers, but its role in prostate cancer is poorly understood. However, selected Notch pathway members are overrepresented in high‐grade prostate cancers. We comprehensively profiled Notch pathway components in prostate cells and found prostate cancer‐specific up‐regulation of NOTCH3 and HES6. Their expression was particularly high in androgen responsive lines. Up‐ and down‐regulating Notch in these cells modulated expression of canonical Notch targets, HES1 and HEY1, which could also be induced by androgen. Surprisingly, androgen treatment also suppressed Notch receptor expression, suggesting that androgens can activate Notch target genes in a receptor‐independent manner. Using a Notch‐sensitive Recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin kappa J region (RBPJ) reporter assay, we found that basal levels of Notch signalling were significantly lower in prostate cancer cells compared to benign cells. Accordingly pharmacological Notch pathway blockade did not inhibit cancer cell growth or viability. In contrast to canonical Notch targets, HES6, a HES family member known to antagonize Notch signalling, was not regulated by Notch signalling, but relied instead on androgen levels, both in cultured cells and in human cancer tissues. When engineered into prostate cancer cells, reduced levels of HES6 resulted in reduced cancer cell invasion and clonogenic growth. By molecular profiling, we identified potential roles for HES6 in regulating hedgehog signalling, apoptosis and cell migration. Our results did not reveal any cell‐autonomous roles for canonical Notch signalling in prostate cancer. However, the results do implicate HES6 as a promoter of prostate cancer progression.     

The role of seed rain in determining the assembly of a cliff community

Abstract. Cliff-face communities of the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada, are dominated by long-lived Thuja occidentalis and a consistent assemblage of other plants. Our objective was to determine whether seed rain plays a role in determining why these species are dominant. Seed rain was collected from the cliff face and from the surrounding plateau-and talus communities at two sites over a 2-yr period in order to compare these three adjacent, but different communities. Multivariate Discriminant Analysis first separated the two sites: primarily due to the importance of Betula papyrifera at one site. The three community types were also separated, although there was still substantial overlap. There was a predictable array of species associated with each community although the seed rain on the cliff faces differed slightly. When characterized by univariate ANOVAs, seed rain in the cliff faces and plateaus had a lower species richness and lower total seed density than the talus sites. Seeds of two of the 11 species analysed individually showed an influence of habitat type on their number. Seed morphology did not influence patterns of seed rain. Finally, there was no correlation between the seed rain and above-ground vegetation in any of the communities. We conclude that the seed rain patterns that exist do not act to filter the plants that form the mature vegetation of cliffs.     

Rarefaction does not eliminate the species richness‐biomass relationship in calcareous blackland prairies

Abstract. Relationships between species richness and biomass are common, but the causes remain controversial. It has been suggested that a hump‐shaped relationship may be an artifact of few individuals in both low and high biomass samples. We used rarefaction to standardize species richness to a constant number of individuals in 99 quadrat samples from relict calcareous prairies. Animal ecologists have long used rarefaction to standardize species richness to a constant number of individuals. The expected species richness of each quadrat was determined for 10, 25, 50, 100 and 150 individual plant ramets using the EcoSim program which resampled the data in each quadrat 1000 times. Because we had few samples with biomass over 300 g/m², our data showed a positive relationship between species richness and biomass. The relationship was largely unaffected by rarefaction. Even at the most extreme case of rarefying to 10 individual ramets, the relationship was clear. Monte Carlo covariance tests did not change the shape of the richness‐biomass relationship and significant correlations between observed species richness and rarified species richness suggest that the number of individuals had negligible effects on richness patterns. Because the data had no strong declining phase, these results may not apply to the declining phase of a humped relationship. The results are discussed with reference to other methods of standardizing species richness. Most importantly, we suggest that expressing species richness per number of individuals is inappropriate and may lead to incorrect conclusions.     

Distribution and abundance of trees in floodplain forests of the Wisconsin River: Environmental influences at different scales

Questions: 1. How do physiography, flooding regime, landscape pattern, land‐cover history, and local soil conditions influence the presence, community structure and abundance of overstorey trees? 2. Can broad‐scale factors explain variation in the floodplain forest community, or are locally measured soil conditions necessary? Location: Floodplain of the lower 370 km of the Wisconsin River, Wisconsin, USA. Methods: Floodplain forest was sampled in 10 m × 20 m plots [n= 405) during summers of 1999 and 2000 in six 12‐ to 15‐km reaches. Results: Species observed most frequently were Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Acer saccharinum and Ulmus americana. Physiography (e.g. geographic province) and indicators of flooding regime (e.g. relative elevation and distance from main channel) were consistently important in predicting occurrence, community composition, and abundance of trees. Correspondence analysis revealed that flood‐tolerant and intolerant species segregated along the primary axis, and late‐successional species segregated from flood‐tolerant species along the secondary axis. Current landscape configuration only influenced species presence or abundance in forests that developed during recent decades. Land‐cover history was important for tree species presence and for the abundance of late‐successional species. Comparison of statistical models developed with and without soils data suggested that broad‐scale factors such as geographic province generally performed well. Conclusions: Physiography and indicators of flood regime are particularly useful for explaining floodplain forest structure and composition in floodplains with a relatively high proportion of natural cover types.     

Scale‐dependence of environmental effects on species richness in oak savannas

Abstract. In order to investigate how scale (grain size) affects the relationships between species richness and environmental drivers (such as stress and disturbance), we collected 12 nested quadrats (from 0.25 m² to 1023 m²) from seven remnant oak savannas located in the floodplain of the Chippewa River in western Wisconsin, USA. Large and small‐scale richness were not significantly correlated, suggesting that small‐scale richness is not strongly controlled by sampling effects of the local species pool. Linear and curvilinear regressions between species richness and disturbance, canopy cover, biomass, and soil organic matter were dependent on sampling scale (grain size). Disturbance by fire was strongly related to richness at small scales, while tree canopy cover was strongly related to richness at larger scales. While there was some evidence suggesting the transition from disturbance to canopy effects occurs between 10 and 100 m², the transition was not particularly abrupt. The results cast doubt on the general importance of local species pools in affecting small‐scale richness as well as our ability to make generalizations that do not explicity include scale.     

晋中盆地人类聚居地植物多样性分异规律

在城市化的发展过程中,生物多样性受到的影响日趋严重,因此开展这一方面的研究显得非常重要。以晋中盆地为研究对象,用随机抽样法选取86个村庄驻地、48个乡镇驻地及9个县市驻地,然后在各个驻地建成区内分别设置调查样方,运用Gleason丰富度指数、Whittaker Beta多样性指数、Jaccard相似性指数和t-检验对建成区内野生植物、栽培植物及总植物物种进行分析,同时探索总结植物多样性分异规律。结果表明:沿村庄-乡镇-县市梯度,野生植物平均丰富度降低,栽培植物平均丰富度增加,总植物物种平均丰富度先降低后增加;野生植物、栽培植物和总植物物种的β多样性指数均降低;植物相似度方面,村庄与乡镇的相似性最高,乡镇与县市次之,村庄与县市的相似性最低。同时,调查过程中发现,沿"村庄-乡镇-县市"梯度,城市化水平的差异与人为干扰强度的不同是引起盆地内植物多样性变化的重要原因。     

Effect of finasteride on risk of prostate cancer: how little we really know

The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) reported conclusively that finasteride prevents or delays the detection of prostate cancer. One perplexing finding was that more high-grade tumors were detected in the finasteride treated group. It is hard to put this into perspective because of the limited published data on the effects of finasteride on prostate cancer. The strong possibility exists that the increase in high-grade tumors may be due to a treatment effect, which causes intermediate grade cancers to appear to be high-grade or aggressive tumors. Confirmation of a spurious tumor grade "inflation" will make the conclusions of this study clearer and define the benefits of finasteride chemoprevention in a more favorable light.     

The effect of gap dynamics on the size and spatial structure of Solidago sempervirens on primary coastal dunes

Abstract. The role of gap dynamics in shaping the spatial and size distributions of the gap specialist Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod) were examined on the primary dune grassland (Ammophila breviligulata, American beachgrass) of an Atlantic barrier island. Results suggest that coastal dune blowouts are patchy disturbances that allow S. sempervirens to temporarily establish and disperse seed. Natural measurements and clipping experiments demonstrated that A. breviligulata competitively dominated S. sempervirens in undisturbed grasslands. Coastal dune blow-outs reversed this dominance by temporarily burying A. breviligulata and increasing densities and above-ground biomass of S. sempervirens. Examination of size/density distributions of S. sempervirens suggested that blow-outs were seed sources but not regeneration sites. Regeneration was found primarily in neighboring transition and undisturbed grassland areas. Comparison of lateral growth by A. breviligulata on blow-out margins suggested that disturbances were closed by lateral encroachment from gap edges. After blow-out recovery, greater densities and skewed size distributions of S. sempervirens could still be detected for a number of years after blow-out recovery.