PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Fucheng Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Fucheng Zhang.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2026

Identification of JAML as an Immune-Associated Prognostic Marker in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a major cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and the identification of novel prognostic biomarkers associated with tumor immunity is urgently needed. Junctional adhesion molecule-like (JAML), a member of the junctional adhesion molecule family, participates in leukocyte adhesion, migration, and T-cell activation. Although JAML has been implicated in immune regulation and tumor progression in other cancers, its expression pattern, prognostic significance, and association with the immune microenvironment in NSCLC remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and immunological significance of JAML in NSCLC. METHODS: Transcriptomic and clinical data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases were analyzed to evaluate JAML expression patterns in NSCLC subtypes. The prognostic value of JAML was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression models. The association between JAML expression and immune cell infiltration was investigated using TIMER2.0, CIBERSORT, and TISIDB analyses. Functional enrichment analyses were performed to explore potential biological pathways associated with JAML expression. In addition, JAML expression was validated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in paired NSCLC and adjacent normal tissues. RESULTS: JAML expression was significantly decreased in NSCLC tissues compared with normal tissues (P < 0.005), with the lowest expression observed in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and reduced expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with high JAML expression had significantly improved overall survival compared with those with low expression (univariate HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.54-0.86, P = 0.001; multivariate HR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.57-1.00, P = 0.049). Immune infiltration analysis revealed that JAML expression was significantly associated with multiple immune cell populations, including CD8+ T cells (r = 0.42, P < 0.001), suggesting a close relationship between JAML expression and the tumor immune microenvironment. qRT-PCR validation confirmed that JAML expression was approximately 2.3-fold higher in adjacent normal tissues than in NSCLC tissues (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: JAML is downregulated in NSCLC and its high expression is associated with favorable overall survival and distinct immune infiltration patterns. These findings indicate that JAML may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and provide insights into the relationship between JAML expression and the tumor immune microenvironment in NSCLC.

JAML protein↗
PubMed2006

Insight into the evolution of avian flight from a new clade of Early Cretaceous ornithurines from China and the morphology of Yixianornis grabaui.

In studies of the evolution of avian flight there has been a singular preoccupation with unravelling its origin. By contrast, the complex changes in morphology that occurred between the earliest form of avian flapping flight and the emergence of the flight capabilities of extant birds remain comparatively little explored. Any such work has been limited by a comparative paucity of fossils illuminating bird evolution near the origin of the clade of extant (i.e. 'modern') birds (Aves). Here we recognize three species from the Early Cretaceous of China as comprising a new lineage of basal ornithurine birds. Ornithurae is a clade that includes, approximately, comparatively close relatives of crown clade Aves (extant birds) and that crown clade. The morphology of the best-preserved specimen from this newly recognized Asian diversity, the holotype specimen of Yixianornis grabaui Zhou and Zhang 2001, complete with finely preserved wing and tail feather impressions, is used to illustrate the new insights offered by recognition of this lineage. Hypotheses of avian morphological evolution and specifically proposed patterns of change in different avian locomotor modules after the origin of flight are impacted by recognition of the new lineage. The complete articulated holotype specimen of Yixianornis grabaui, from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province, in north-eastern China, arguably the best-preserved basal ornithurine specimen yet discovered, provides the earliest evidence consistent with the presence of extant avian tail feather fanning.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Discovery of an ornithurine bird and its implication for Early Cretaceous avian radiation.

An ornithurine bird, Hongshanornis longicresta gen. et sp. nov., represented by a nearly complete and articulated skeleton in full plumage, has been recovered from the lacustrine deposits of the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group in Inner Mongolia, northeast China. The bird had completely reduced teeth and possessed a beak in both the upper and lower jaws, representing the earliest known beaked ornithurine. The preservation of a predentary bone confirms that this structure is not unique to ornithischian dinosaurs but was common in early ornithurine birds. This small bird had a strong flying capability with a low aspect ratio wing. It was probably a wader, feeding in shallow water or marshes. This find confirms that the aquatic environment had played a key role in the origin and early radiation of ornithurines, one branch of which eventually gave rise to extant birds near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. This discovery provides important information not only for studying the origin and early evolution of ornithurines but also for understanding the differentiation in morphology, body size, and diet of the Early Cretaceous birds.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A new maniraptoran dinosaur from China with long feathers on the metatarsus.

The unusual presence of long pennaceous feathers on the feet of basal dromaeosaurid dinosaurs has recently been presented as strong evidence in support of the arboreal-gliding hypothesis for the origin of bird flight, but it could be a unique feature of dromaeosaurids and thus irrelevant to the theropod-bird transition. Here, we report a new eumaniraptoran theropod from China, with avian affinities, which also has long pennaceous feathers on its feet. This suggests that such morphology might represent a primitive adaptation close to the theropod-bird transition. The long metatarsus feathers are likely primitive for Eumaniraptora and might have played an important role in the origin of avian flight.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

A precocial avian embryo from the Lower Cretaceous of China.

An embryo of an enantiornithine bird has been recovered from the Lower Cretaceous rocks of Liaoning, in northeast China. The bird has a nearly complete articulated skeleton with feather sheet impressions and is enclosed in egg-shaped confines. The tucking posture of the skeleton suggests that the embryo had attained the final stage of development. The presence of well-developed wing and tail feather sheets indicates a precocial developmental mode, supporting the hypothesis that precocial birds appeared before altricial birds.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Palaeontology: leg feathers in an Early Cretaceous bird.

Here we describe a fossil of an enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous period in China that has substantial plumage feathers attached to its upper leg (tibiotarsus). The discovery could be important in view of the relative length and aerodynamic features of these leg feathers compared with those of the small 'four-winged' gliding dinosaur Microraptor and of the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx. They may be remnants of earlier long, aerodynamic leg feathers, in keeping with the hypothesis that birds went through a four-winged stage during the evolution of flight.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Gastroliths in Yanornis: an indication of the earliest radical diet-switching and gizzard plasticity in the lineage leading to living birds?

Yanornis martini is an Early Cretaceous basal ornithurine bird. Its fish-eating diet was previously recognized from a discrete mass of disarticulated fish remains discovered in its abdominal region. A new complete and articulated specimen of Yanornis martini preserves abundant in-situ gastroliths such as have been associated with a herbivorous diet. We suggest that the occurrence of gastroliths in this specimen, fish remains in a second, and the lack of gastroliths in three others, is consistent with diet-switching in Yanornis martini. Incompatibility of the preserved data with explanations of the grit as an artifact of preservation or result of accidental ingestion is discussed. This discovery indicates the earliest presence of intermittent diet change (and associated gizzard plasticity) observed in extant birds seasonally and in response to changes in available food sources.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed2004

New and practical method for synthesis of 1- and 1,3-substituted xanthines.

[reaction: see text] A new and practical method for the synthesis of 1- and 1,3-substituted xanthines is reported. Direct base-promoted condensation of the imidazole precursor 1 with carbamates 2 gives 1-substituted 7-PMB xanthines 7 in good yields. Alkylation of these derivatives or their potassium salts proceeds under mild conditions to give functionalized 1,3-substituted 7-PMB xanthines 9 in good to excellent yields. The obtained 7-PMB-protected derivatives can be readily deprotected to give the parent 1- and 1,3-substituted xanthines.

Alkylation↗
PubMed2003

New Early Cretaceous fossil from China documents a novel trophic specialization for Mesozoic birds.

We report on a new Mesozoic bird, Longirostravis hani, from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of northeastern China. The new taxon has a long, slender rostrum and mandible, and a small number of rostralmost teeth. Postcranial characters such as a furcular ramus wider ventrally than dorsally, a centrally concave proximal margin of the humeral head, and a minor metacarpal that projects distally more than the major metacarpal, support the placement of Longirostravis within euenantiornithine Enantiornithes, the most diverse clade of Mesozoic birds. The morphology of the skull, however, suggests that Longirostravis had a probing feeding behavior, a specialization previously unknown for Enantiornithes. Indeed, this discovery provides the first evidence in support of the existence of such a foraging behavior among basal lineages of Mesozoic birds.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Jeholornis compared to Archaeopteryx, with a new understanding of the earliest avian evolution.

The recently reported Jeholornis represents the only known bird with a complete long skeletal tail except for Archaeopteryx. Two newly discovered specimens referable to Jeholornis provide some important new information about its anatomy. The tail of Jeholornis is much longer than that of Archaeopteryx and comprises a maximum of 27 caudal vertebrae compared with only 23 in Archaeopteryx. More interestingly, the tail feathers are shaped more like those of dromaeosaurs than those of Archaeopteryx. We conclude that the common ancestor of birds must have a more primitive tail than that in Archaeopteryx, confirming the side branch position of Archaeopteryx in the early avian evolution. The synsacrum is composed of six sacrals, representing a transitional stage between Archaeopteryx and more advanced birds. The scapula of Jeholornis has a dorso-laterally exposed glenoid facet, and the coracoid has a supracoracoid foramen. The presence of a pair of fenestrae in the sternum of Jeholornis has further implications for the air-sac system in early birds.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Four-winged dinosaurs from China.

Although the dinosaurian hypothesis of bird origins is widely accepted, debate remains about how the ancestor of birds first learned to fly. Here we provide new evidence suggesting that basal dromaeosaurid dinosaurs were four-winged animals and probably could glide, representing an intermediate stage towards the active, flapping-flight stage. The new discovery conforms to the predictions of early hypotheses that proavians passed through a tetrapteryx stage.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

A juvenile coelurosaurian theropod from China indicates arboreal habits.

Here we report an unequivocal arboreal coelurosaur, Epidendrosaurus ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov. This juvenile coelurosaur's third manual digit is extremely elongated, distinctively different from that of other known dinosaurs and birds. It represents certainly a type of adaptation previously unreported from the Mesozoic although the exact function of the third manual digit is unclear. The relatively long forelimb, penultimate phalanx of manual digit II, and pedal penultimate phalanges, are interpreted as evidence for the arboreal habit of Epidendrosaurus. Because Epidendrosaurus is more similar to advanced birds in some arboreal features than to Archaeopteryx, we suggest that the initial appearance of tree-adaptation in theropods was probably not directly related to flight but to other functions, such as seeking food or escaping from predators. Electronic Supplementary Material is available if you access this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0353-8. On that page (frame on the left side), a link takes you directly to the supplementary material.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

A long-tailed, seed-eating bird from the Early Cretaceous of China.

The lacustrine deposits of the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group in the western Liaoning area of northeast China are well known for preserving feathered dinosaurs, primitive birds and mammals. Here we report a large basal bird, Jeholornis prima gen. et sp. nov., from the Jiufotang Formation. This bird is distinctively different from other known birds of the Early Cretaceous period in retaining a long skeletal tail with unexpected elongated prezygopophyses and chevrons, resembling that of dromaeosaurids, providing a further link between birds and non-avian theropods. Despite its basal position in early avian evolution, the advanced features of the pectoral girdle and the carpal trochlea of the carpometacarpus of Jeholornis indicate the capability of powerful flight. The dozens of beautifully preserved ovules of unknown plant taxa in the stomach represents direct evidence for seed-eating adaptation in birds of the Mesozoic era.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2002

Largest bird from the Early Cretaceous and its implications for the earliest avian ecological diversification.

With only one known exception, early Cretaceous birds were smaller than their closest theropod dinosaur relatives. Here we report on a new bird from the Early Cretaceous feathered-dinosaur-bearing continental deposits of Liaoning, northeast China, which is not only larger than Archaeopteryx but is nearly twice as large as the basal dromaeosaur Microraptor. The new taxon, Sapeornis chaoyangensis gen. et sp. nov., has a more basal phylogenetic position than all other birds except for Archaeopteryx. Its exceptionally long forelimbs, well-developed deltoid crest of the humerus, proximally fused metacarpals, relatively short hindlimbs and short pygo-style indicate powerful soaring capability and further suggest that by the Early Cretaceous ecological diversification of early birds was greater than previously assumed. Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer LINK server located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-001-0276-9.

Animals↗