We highlight that these mechanisms are vulnerable to direct and indirect disruption by a range of anthropogenic drivers of environmental change, including air and soil pollution, artificial light at night, and climate change. Lastly, we highlight a number of directions for future research that will be important if nocturnal pollination services are to be fully understood and ultimately conserved.Study question Are progesterone (P) levels on the day before natural cycle frozen embryo transfer (NC-FET) associated with live birth rate (LBR)? Summary answer Regular ovulatory women undergoing NC-FET with serum P levels 10 ng/ml) might be required for improved reproductive outcomes in NC-FET. This result suggests that there are different mechanisms by which P is produced and/or distributed by each patient. This study also provides an excellent model to evaluate the impact of luteal phase defect through NC-FET. A prospective evaluation to assess whether P supplementation should be individualised according to patient's needs is necessary to support our findings. Study funding/competing interest(s) No external funding was used, and there are no competing interests.Proximal symphalangism (SYM1) is an autosomal dominant disorder manifested by ankylosis of the proximal interphalangeal joints of fingers, carpal and tarsal bone fusion, and conductive hearing loss in some cases. Herein, we clinically diagnosed a Chinese patient with fusions of the bilateral proximal interphalangeal joints in the 2-5 digits without conductive hearing loss. Family history investigation revealed that his mother and grandfather also suffered from SYM1. Whole exome sequencing was performed to detect the genetic lesion of the family. The candidate gene variants were validated by Sanger sequencing. By data filtering, co-segregation analysis and bioinformatics analysis, we highly suspected that an unknown heterozygous frameshift variant (c.635_636insG, p.Q213Pfs*57) in NOG was responsible for the SYM1 in the family. This variant was predicted to be deleterious and resulted in a prolonged protein. This finding broadened the spectrum of NOG mutations associated with SYM1 and contributed to genetic diagnosis and counseling of families with SYM1.Background Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common cancers, causing many people to die every year worldwide. Accurate estimations of the spatial distribution of EC are essential for effective cancer prevention. Methods EC mortality surveillance data covering 964 surveyed counties in China in 2014 and three classes of auxiliary data, including physical condition, living habits and living environment data, were collected. Genetic programming (GP), a hierarchical Bayesian model and sandwich estimation were used to estimate the spatial distribution of female EC mortality. Finally, we evaluated the accuracy of the three mapping methods. Results The results show that compared with the root square mean error (RMSE) of the hierarchical Bayesian model at 6.546 and the sandwich estimation at 7.611, the RMSE of GP is the lowest at 5.894. According to the distribution estimated by GP, the mortality of female EC was low in some regions of Northeast China, Northwest China and southern China; in some regions downstream of the Yellow River Basin, north of the Yangtze River in the Yangtze River Basin and in Southwest China, the mortality rate was relatively high. Conclusions This paper provides an accurate map of female EC mortality in China. A series of targeted preventive measures can be proposed based on the spatial disparities displayed on the map.Background and aims Herbaceous plants can survive periods of prolonged freezing as belowground structures or seed, which can be insulated from cold air by soil, litter or snow. Belowground perennial structures vary in both form and their exposure to soil frost, and this structural variation thus may be important in determining the responses of plant communities to frost stress. Methods We conducted a suite of snow removal experiments in a northern temperate old field over three years to examine the relative freezing responses of different plant functional groups based on belowground perennation traits. A litter removal treatment was added in the third year. Species-level percent cover data were recorded in May, June, and September then pooled by functional group. Key results Snow removal decreased total plant cover, and this response was particularly strong and consistent among years for tap-rooted and rhizomatous species. The snow removal responses of cover for plants with root buds and new recruits from seed varied from positive to negative responses among years.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/glutathione.html  The cover of rootstock plants consistently increased in response to snow removal. Rhizomatous species were generally the most vulnerable to litter removal. Conclusions This study is the first to explore the effects of variation in frost severity on the responses of different plant perennation trait functional groups. The responses of herbaceous species to frost may become increasingly important in northern temperate regions in the coming decades as a result of declining snow cover and increasing temperature variability. Our results reveal substantial variation in responses among perennation trait functional groups, which could drive changes in species abundance in response to variation in soil frost.Background and aims Floral colour is a primary signal in plant-pollinator interactions. The association between red flowers and bird pollination is well known, explained by the "bee avoidance" and "bird attraction" hypotheses. Nevertheless, the relative importance of these two hypotheses has rarely been investigated on a large scale, even in terms of colour perception per se. Methods We collected reflectance spectra for 130 red flower species from different continents and ascertained their pollination systems. The spectra were analysed using colour vision models for bees and (three types of) birds, to estimate the colour perception by these pollinators. The differences in colour conspicuousness (chromatic and achromatic contrast, purity) and in spectral properties between pollination systems and across continents were analysed. Key results Compared with other floral colours, red flowers are very conspicuous to birds and much less conspicuous to bees. The red flowers pollinated by bees and by birds are more conspicuous to their respective pollinators.