ABSTRACT Selecting predictors for species distribution models (SDMs) is a major challenge. In this study, we evaluated a comprehensive set of 62 environmental predictors that may be related to the occurrence of Fagus hayatae. We modeled F. hayatae as a case study to compare model performance through different environmental predictor subsets according to three selection procedures, namely correlation coefficients between predictors, contribution level of predictors, and expert choice of biologically relevant predictors. The three selection procedures provided satisfactory results with high performance using about 6-10 valid predictors but had their respective limitations. Consequently, we suggest a synthetic strtegy of predictor selection. Accordingly, the first step was identifying and eliminating ineffective variables with nonidentifiability by using bivariate scatterplots. Next, calculate the correlation coefficients between other candidate predictors. Finally, comprehensively select the applicable environmental predictors with lower correlation coefficient on the basis of highly contribution level and expert knowledge for SDM of target species.

ABSTRACT Cold waterlogged paddy field is a type of low-yield paddy soil, and opening a drainage ditch has been suggested to improve waterlogged paddy soil and to increase the rice yield. However, little has been done on the role of a drainage ditch in ameliorating waterlogged soil. In the present study, rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield, soil physicochemical properties, microbial abundances and community structures in the surface soil of a cold waterlogged paddy field, which has three treatments with different distances from a drainage ditch including 5, 15 and 25 m were investigated. The results showed that opening a drainage ditch had a significant effect on the rice yield and soil physicochemical properties. Sampling sites near the drainage ditch such as 5 m-site had higher yield and soil nutrients, however, 25 m-site had lower values. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene did not exhibit a regular pattern but fungal abundance decreased sharply with increasing distance from the drainage ditch. The most abundant bacterial phyla across all soil samples were Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and Chloroflexi. Abundant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Zygomycota and Basidiomycota. Three treatments had similar microbial community compositions but with different relative abundances. The Bray-Curtis distance demonstrated that microbial community structures were divided into two major groups, samples of 5 m- and 15 m-site clustered into one group and samples of 25 m-site was another group. Moreover, redundancy analysis revealed that soil redox potential and total reducing substances were significant factors in shaping microbial community structures. The abundant aerobic bacteria were observed at the 5 m- and 15 m-site, in contrast, abundant anaerobic bacteria were observed at the 25 m-site. In conclusion, opening a drainage ditch in cold waterlogged paddy fields affects rice yield, soil nutrients, microbial abundances and community structures.

In this study, we have proposed a three-dimensional (3D) model reconstruction system for breast tumors. The proposed system can establish an accurate 3D model of tumors, which will serve as a diagnostic reference for physicians and also address the shortcomings of the traditional breast needle localization method and other localization methods reported in previous studies. This developed system uses multispectral breast magnetic resonance images as input and detects the contour of the tumor in different sections using an active contour method - multispectral gradient vector flow snake (MGVFS) method. Thus, the system constructs a 3D model of only the tumor is contained in a breast surface model and excludes other tissues. Since the accuracy of the reconstructed 3D model depends on the accuracy of the tumor contour detection, for confirming the results obtained with the MGVFS method, we conducted experiments to evaluate its accuracy in contour detection, and compared the results with those traditional contour detection methods. Our results demonstrate that the MGVFS method has the highest accuracy in contour detection, with a correct contour detection rate as high as 99.79%.

A field experiment established in 1980 was conducted to evaluate the effects of open drainage ditch applied for water removal on bacterial and fungal communities of cold waterlogged paddy soils in 2011. In this experiment, traditional plate counting and temperature gradient gel electrophoresis were employed to characterize the abundance and diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities. Four different distances from the open drainage ditch, 5, 15, 25 and 75 m with different degrees of drainage were designed for this study. Maximum populations of culturable aerobic bacteria and fungi were at 15-m distance while minimum populations were at 75-m distance. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in fungal populations were observed at all distances from open drainage ditch. The highest diversity of the bacterial community was found at a distance of 25 m, while that of the fungal community was observed at a distance of 5 m. Sequencing of excised TGGE bands indicated that the dominant bacteria at 75-m distance belonged to anaerobic or microaerobic bacteria. Relationships between microbial characteristics and soil physicochemical properties indicated that soil pH and available nitrogen contents were key factors controlling the abundance of culturable aerobic bacteria and fungi, while soil water capacity also affected the diversity of fungal community. These findings can provide the references for better design and advanced management of the drainage ditches in cold waterlogged paddy soils.

Epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin; CDH1) may influence pericellular proteolysis and intracellular signal transduction, which plays an essential part of tumor invasion. In our study we investigated the correlation between CDH1 gene polymorphism and endometriosis in two groups of pre-menopausal Taiwanese women, group 1 (n = 150) consisting of women with severe stage IV endometriosis and group 2 (n = 159) of women with no endometriosis. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the cuttable (C) and uncuttable (T) polymorphism of the CDH1-Pml I gene (rs1801026) located on the 3’-untranslated region (3’-UTR) of chromosome 16 and compare the genotypes and allelic frequencies of this gene in both groups. We found that the genotype and allele distributions of the CDH1-Pml I C/T polymorphism were significantly different in both groups. In group 1 the CDH1*C frequency was 47.7% and the T frequency 52.3%, while the CC homozygote frequency was 6.7%, the TT homozygote 11.3% and the CT heterozygote 82%. In group 2 the CDH1*C frequency was 17% and the T frequency 83%, while the CC frequency was 0.6%, the TT 66.1% and the CT 33.3%. These data indicate that the CDH1 gene polymorphism may be associated with the development of severe endometriosis and that the CDH1 gene C allele is related to higher susceptibility to endometriosis.

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2) has been shown to play a role in abnormal cell growth and carcinogenesis. We investigated if the IGF2 gene Apa I polymorphism at exon 9 was associated with the susceptibility to endometriosis, analyzing 120 women with moderate/severe endometriosis and 103 controls. The genotype frequencies did not differ statistically between the endometriosis (aa = 25.4, ab = 57.4, bb = 17.2%) and control (aa = 20.8 ab = 52.8, bb = 26.4%) groups. The allele frequencies did not differ either: a = 54.1, b = 45.9% among women with endometriosis and a = 47.2, b = 52.8% in the control group. Therefore, no indication was found for an association of this polymorphism with endometriosis susceptibility.