Bendixen Cho (flockpeony8)
Plant-herbivore interactions have evolved in response to coevolutionary dynamics, along with selection driven by abiotic conditions. We examine how abiotic factors influence trait expression in both plants and herbivores to evaluate how climate change will alter this long-standing interaction. The paleontological record documents increased herbivory during periods of global warming in the deep past. In phylogenetically corrected meta-analyses, we find that elevated temperatures, CO2 concentrations, drought stress and nutrient conditions directly and indirectly induce greater food consumption by herbivores. Additionally, elevated CO2 delays herbivore development, but increased temperatures accelerate development. For annual plants, higher temperatures, CO2 and drought stress increase foliar herbivory. Our meta-analysis also suggests that greater temperatures and drought may heighten florivory in perennials. Human actions are causing concurrent shifts in CO2 , temperature, precipitation regimes and nitrogen deposition, yet few studies evaluate interactions among these changing conditions. We call for additional multifactorial studies that simultaneously manipulate multiple climatic factors, which will enable us to generate more robust predictions of how climate change could disrupt plant-herbivore interactions. Finally, we consider how shifts in insect and plant phenology and distribution patterns could lead to ecological mismatches, and how these changes may drive future adaptation and coevolution between interacting species. To develop a data-driven subgrouping method to identify and profile subtypes of early-onset childhood cerebral visual impairment (CVI). Sixty-three children with suspected or diagnosed congenital CVI were recruited (28 males, 35 females, median age=8y, range=5-16y). Cognitive, basic, and higher-order vision functions were assessed and quality of life, functional vision questionnaire, neurodevelopmental, and ophthalmological data were collected. Cluster analysis and other statistical analyses were undertaken to determine and validate the subgrouping. Forty-three participants completing the full test battery were included in cluster analysis, revealing two subgroups. Group A1 (n=15) showed selective visual perception and visuomotor deficits. Group A2 (n=28) showed more severe and broader visual perception and visuomotor deficits, and variable visual acuity. A third, lower-functioning group, Group B (n=20), was differentiated and showed significant visual acuity reduction compared with Group A (p<0.001,quality of life and functional vision difficulties were low across all groups.Different biochemical and biomechanical cues from tumor microenvironment affect the extravasation of cancer cells to distant organs; among them, the mechanical signals are poorly understood. Although the effect of substrate stiffness on the primary migration of cancer cells has been previously probed, its role in regulating the extravasation ability of cancer cells is still vague. Herein, we used a microfluidic device to mimic the extravasation of tumor cells in a 3D microenvironment containing cancer cells, endothelial cells, and the biological matrix. The microfluidic-based extravasation model was utilized to probe the effect of substrate stiffness on the invasion ability of breast cancer cells. MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells were cultured among substrates with different stiffness which followed by monitoring their extravasation capability through the microfluidic device. Our results demonstrated that acidic collagen at a concentration of 2.5 mg/ml promotes migration of cancer cells. Additionally, the substrate softening resulted in up to 46% reduction in the invasion of breast cancer cells. The substrate softening not only affected the number of extravasated cells but also reduced their migration distance up to 53%. We further investigated the secreted level of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9)