A theranostic platform enables the selective visualization of H2S-rich cancers and imaging-directed on-demand photodynamic therapy of the detected cancers while leaving normal tissues untouched.

The establishment of postmortem interval is one of the most important aspects of forensic expertise. Microbes may provide a novel way to estimate the postmortem intervals in order to avoid many of these limitations. The oral cavity harbors one of the most diverse microbiomes that play a key role in the decomposition of corpses. In this study, the oral bacterial community showed obvious changes in relative abundance during the process of mice decomposition. Meanwhile, at different taxonomic levels, specific bacteria were found to be significantly correlated with the postmortem interval. Linear regression models between relative abundance and the postmortem interval were constructed. Among these species, Gamma-proteobacteria and Proteus were the best ones that can be used to infer the postmortem interval, especially late postmortem interval. Therefore, we suggest that succession of oral microbial community can be developed as a forensic tool for estimating the postmortem interval.

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The exact roles of landscape fragmentation on sandy desertification are still not fully understood, especially with the impact of different land use types in spatial dimension. Taking patch size and shape into consideration, this paper selected the Ratio of Patch Size and the Fractal Dimension Index to establish a model that reveals the association between the area of bare sand land and the fragmentation of different land use types adjacent to bare sand land. Results indicated that (1) grass land and arable land contributed the most to landscape fragmentation processes in the regions adjacent to bare sand land during the period 1980 to 2010. Grass land occupied 54 % of the region adjacent to bare sand land in 1980. The Ratio of Patch Size of grass land decreased from 1980 to 2000 and increased after 2000. The Fractal Dimension Index of grass increased during the period 1980 to 1990 and decreased after 1990. Arable land expanded significantly during this period. The Ratio of Patch Size of arable land increased from 1980 to 1990 and decreased since 1990. The Fractal Dimension Index of arable land increased from 1990 to 2000 and decreased after 2000. (2) The Ratio of Patch Size and the Fractal Dimension Index were significantly related to the area of bare sand land. The role of landscape fragmentation was not linear to sandy desertification. There were both positive and negative effects of landscape fragmentation on sandy desertification. In 1980, the Ratio of Patch Size and the Fractal Dimension Index were negatively related to the area of bare sand land, showing that the landscape fragmentation and regularity of patches contributed to the expansion of sandy desertification. In 1990, 2000, and 2010, the Ratio of Patch Size and the Fractal Dimension Index were mostly positively related to the area of bare sand land, showing the landscape fragmentation and regularity of patches contributed to the reversion of sandy desertification in this phase. The absolute values of the coefficients were the highest for grass land in the regression models, so that grass land had the most important influence on sandy desertification.

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Assessment of conservation effectiveness in biodiversity ecological function zones (BEFZs) is important for biodiversity in China. However, a scientific and practical method for effectively comparing biodiversity conservation between different BEFZs is lacking. In this study, a reference condition index that can represent the optimum value of biodiversity in one BEFZ and a conservation effectiveness index that can reflect the effect of conservation measures were developed. Then a method to compare the biodiversity conservation effectiveness between different BEFZs on both temporal and spatial scales was developed. The method was applied to three BEFZs in China—Yili-Tianshan Mountain, San Jiang Plain Wetland and Minshan-Qionglai Mountain—which are located in different geographic environments. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the reference condition index can reflect differences in the background of conservation capacity among BEFZs examined, allowing comparison of the biodiversity conservation effectiveness between different BEFZs; (2) the conservation effectiveness index is a useful quantitative measure of the biodiversity conservation effectiveness in BEFZs; and (3) application of this method to the three BEFZs indicated that the method can provide a powerful tool for the management of biodiversity conservation in BEFZs at a macroscale in China. Meanwhile, this method can also provide a reference for building strategies for protecting the ecological environments in other countries on a case-by-case basis.