Assessment on the Coupling Effects of Drip Irrigation and Se-Enriched Organic Fertilization in Tomato Based on Improved Entropy Weight Coefficient Model.

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for human beings and plants are the current main sources of Se element in Asian diet. Therefore a feasible way to increase people's Se intake is to increase Se content in plants. In this paper, we focus on how the tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) yield and quality are influenced by the effect of irrigation amount, Se-enriched and high-calcium organic fertilizer and compound fertilizer amount respectively. The results from a two-year experiment show that the combination of Se-enriched organic fertilizer and compound fertilizer can significantly increase the tomato yield comparing with the use of NPK organic or compound fertilizer. It is also shown that by applying more Se-enriched and high-calcium organic fertilizer the contents of Se, Lycopene, Vitamin C (Vc) and soluble sugar in tomato fruit can be increased considerably. It was found that the highest Se content was achieved using 100% Se-enriched organic fertilizer combined with irrigation at 100% in 2016 and 100% Se-enriched organic fertilizer with irrigation at 80% in 2017. Deficit irrigation (80%) can help to increase Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and the Se and VC contents in tomato yield. Therefore in order to improve the Se-enriched tomato yield and quality, it is suggested to apply 100% Se-enriched organic fertilizer and adopt the deficit irrigation at 80%.

Advances in Research on the Toxicological Effects of Selenium.

Selenium is a trace element necessary for the growth of organisms. Moreover, selenium supplementation can improve the immunity and fertility of the body, as well as its ability to resist oxidation, tumors, heavy metals, and pathogenic microorganisms. However, owing to the duality of selenium, excessive selenium supplementation can cause certain toxic effects on the growth and development of the body and may even result in death in severe cases. At present, increasing attention is being paid to the development and utilization of selenium as a micronutrient, but its potential toxicity tends to be neglected. This study systematically reviews recent research on the toxicological effects of selenium, aiming to provide theoretical references for selenium toxicology-related research and theoretical support for the development of selenium-containing drugs, selenium-enriched dietary supplements, and selenium-enriched foods.

Facilitators and barriers of Hepatitis B screening and vaccination.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the most common cause of liver disease and liver cancer in Singapore, being endemic despite availability of an efficacious vaccine. OBJECTIVE: To assess the factors associated with HBV screening and vaccination. METHODS: Using mixed methods analysis, focus group discussions were conducted alongside a cross-sectional study amongst 784 Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents aged 25-69 residing in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats. RESULTS: Amongst the respondents, 50.6% were screened and 37.8% were vaccinated. The self-reported prevalence of HBV infection was 3.4% and that of HBsAg seropositivity among those screened was 4.3%. Routine health screening was the most common reason cited for screening (32.9%) while doctors' recommendation was the most common reason for vaccination (42.7%). For both screening and vaccination, knowledge and cost were the top facilitators and barriers respectively. Multivariable regression models revealed the most significant predictors for not undergoing screening to be poor knowledge (p < 0.001), the presence of stigma (p = 0.040) and not being employed in a healthcare sector (p = 0.022), while factors associated with not undergoing vaccination are that of having not undergone screening (p < 0.001) and the lack of importance placed on the knowledge of the possibility of HBV being a silent killer (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Several facilitators and barriers are seen to regulate health-seeking behaviour towards HBV infection. Public initiatives including education and financial relief targeting specific population groups should be considered to increase the uptake of HBV screening and vaccination.

Genomic analysis of porcine circovirus type 2 from southern China.

BACKGROUND: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is recognized as virulent porcine pathogen and has been linked to porcine circovirus diseases (PCVD). However, there remain many unknowns regarding the spread and epidemic growth of PCV2. METHODS: To assess the genetic diversity of PCV2 in the southern China, a total of 92 sequences of PCV2 strains from this region were retrieved from GenBank and were subjected to amino acid variation and phylogenetic analyses together with 28 representative sequences, based on the sequence of the ORF2 gene, from different swine-producing countries. RESULTS: All 92 PCV2 strains shared between 93.7% and 100% sequence similarity and could be divided into four genotypes (PCV2a, PCV2b, PCV2d and PCV2h), of which PCV2d had surpassed PCV2b and became the most prevalent PCV2 genotype in this region. Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of the capsid protein revealed that the obtained PCV2 strains possess two major heterogenic regions/hypervariable regions (positions 52-68 and 185-191), which were within or close to the epitopic regions in the capsid (Cap) protein. Meanwhile, the 92 PCV2 sequences also show evidence of at least five unique recombination events. CONCLUSION: The data in this study indicate that the PCV2 strains in the southern China are undergoing constant genetic variation and that the predominant strain and its antigenic epitopes in this area have been gradually changing in recent years.

Does concurrent use of intra-aortic balloon pumps improve survival in patients with cardiogenic shock requiring venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation?

A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was 'Does concurrent use of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) improve survival in patients with cardiogenic shock requiring venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO)?'. Altogether 472 papers were found using the reported search, of which 3 level 2 systematic reviews represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. The reported comparative outcomes were mortality, weaning off extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), vascular complications and non-vascular complications. One systematic review demonstrated significantly lower in-hospital mortality with concurrent use of IABP and VA-ECMO, while the other 2 studies showed no difference in mortality. One paper reported on the weaning success from ECMO and demonstrated significantly higher weaning success with concurrent IABP usage. Another paper reported on the complications and showed no differences in vascular and non-vascular complications. We conclude that there was no significant improvement in survival with the concurrent use of IABP and VA-ECMO for a cardiogenic shock as compared to the use of VA-ECMO alone. However, the concurrent use of IABP with VA-ECMO improved weaning success from VA-ECMO. The incidence of vascular and non-vascular complications was similar with or without IABP usage.

miR-222 enhances radiosensitivity of cancer cells by inhibiting the expression of CD47.

Radiotherapy is one of the most common and effective treatments for localized cancer. However, radiotherapy kills tumor cells while causing damage to surrounding normal cells. Enhancing the radiation sensitivity of tumor cells and reducing the radiation damage to normal cells is a difficult problem. Here, we find that the expression of a human microRNA (miRNA), hsa-miR-222, is upregulated in response to ionizing radiation. TargetScan analysis shows that the 3' UTR of CD47 is potentially targeted by miR-222. This prediction was validated by luciferase reporter and mutation assays. It was demonstrated that miR-222 negatively regulates CD47 expression at mRNA and protein levels, and overexpression of the miR-222 enhances cancer cell radiosensitivity by the CD47-pERK pathway in cancer cells. Our findings enrich the complex relationship between miRNA and CD47 in irradiation stress and shed light on the potential of miRNAs both for direct cancer therapeutics and as tools to sensitize tumor cells to radiotherapy.

Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Pueraria thomsonii, an important traditional Chinese medicine plant.

Pueraria thomsonii is a leguminous plant with high root yield and starch content. It is also a medicinal material in the Chinese pharmacopeia. However, the raw materials of P. thomsonii are often confused with some non-medicinal Pueraria plants. To enrich the genetic resources of P. thomsonii and guide its molecular identification, the complete chloroplast genome was sequenced and reported. The total genome of P. thomsonii is 153,434 bp in length. consisting of two inverted repeat regions (IRS, 25,640 bp each) separated by a large single-copy (LSC, 84,155 bp) and a small single-copy region (SSC, 17,999 bp). The overall GC content is 35.41%. It contains 130 genes, including 85 protein coding genes, 8 rRNA genes and 37 tRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that P. thomsonii could be distinguished from other plants and closely related to the legume Pachyrhizus erosus. This study enriches the genetic information of P. thomsonii and contributes to the screening of excellent germplasm.

Effects of Spartina alterniflora Invasion on Soil Quality in Coastal Wetland of Beibu Gulf of South China.

BACKGROUND: Since Spartina alterniflora (simplified as Spartina) has strong ecological competitiveness and rapid growth, it has been introduced and living in the coastal wetland regions of China for more than 30 years. Taking coastal wetland in the Beibu Gulf of south China as an example, the effects of Spartina invasion on soil quality were investigated to provide scientific basis for soil management. METHODOLOGY: The soil quality of six different coastal wetlands, i.e. mangrove (vegetation coverage is above 95%), mangrove- Spartina ecotones (vegetation coverage is above 95%), sparse mangrove (vegetation coverage is 10%-20%), sparse mangrove- Spartina ecotones (vegetation coverage is about 80%), Spartina (vegetation coverage is about 80%) and bare beach (no plants), were analyzed using the following indicators: pH, cation exchange capacity, contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, microbial carbon / organic carbon, and activities of urease, acid phosphatase, invertase, polyphenol oxidase and catalase. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The results showed that compared to mangrove wetland, most indicators in the mangrove-Spartina wetland showed a decline tendency except pH value, and the contents of total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and soil microbial biomass nitrogen, and the activities of acid phosphatase and invertase were significantly reduced (P<0.05). Compared to sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach, the Spartina invasion wetland (sparse mangrove-Spartina wetland and Spartina wetland) had higher contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, cation exchange capacity and the activities of urease and acid phosphatase, so soil quality in the sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach was significantly improved. Factor Analysis and PCA also showed that: the quality of mangrove wetland soil is better than that of mangrove-Spartina ecotones wetland soil; the quality of sparse mangrove-Spartina ecotones wetland soil is better than that of sparse mangrove wetland soil; the quality of Spartina wetland soil is better than that of bare beach wetland soil. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Therefore, in the invaded Beibu Gulf wetland ecosystems of south China, for the mangrove wetlands where the productivity of native plant was higher than that of Spartina, the Spartina invasion can cause soil degradation significantly and it must be strictly controlled, while for sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach where the productivity of native plant was lower than that of Spartina, Spartina invasion can improve the soil quality. Thus our study may help to better understand the effect of plant invasion.

Fuzzy-Based Hybrid Control Algorithm for the Stabilization of a Tri-Rotor UAV.

In this paper, a new and novel mathematical fuzzy hybrid scheme is proposed for the stabilization of a tri-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The fuzzy hybrid scheme consists of a fuzzy logic controller, regulation pole-placement tracking (RST) controller with model reference adaptive control (MRAC), in which adaptive gains of the RST controller are being fine-tuned by a fuzzy logic controller. Brushless direct current (BLDC) motors are installed in the triangular frame of the tri-rotor UAV, which helps maintain control on its motion and different altitude and attitude changes, similar to rotorcrafts. MRAC-based MIT rule is proposed for system stability. Moreover, the proposed hybrid controller with nonlinear flight dynamics is shown in the presence of translational and rotational velocity components. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated via MATLAB simulations, in which the proposed fuzzy hybrid controller is compared with the existing adaptive RST controller. It shows that our proposed algorithm has better transient performance with zero steady-state error, and fast convergence towards stability.

Conceptualizing workplace based assessment in Singapore: Undergraduate Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise experiences of students and teachers.

OBJECTIVES: The Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) is one of the most commonly used clinical assessment tools to provide learner feedback to drive learning. High quality constructive feedback promotes development and improves clinical competency. However, the effectiveness of feedback has not been objectively evaluated from the learners' and assessors' points of view, especially in Asia, where the nature of the student-tutor relationship is relatively hierarchical. This study seeks to compare the strengths, limitations, and feedback of the mini-CEX between assessors and students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 275 senior medical undergraduates at the National University of Singapore and 121 clinical tutors from seven restructured hospitals in Singapore. Data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. Univariate analysis was used to determine the prevalence of responses, as well as differences between tutors and students. RESULTS: The mini-CEX provided immediate feedback and timely correction of mistakes. However, effective administration was limited by inter-tutor variability and lack of time. Students reported being receptive to feedback, but tutors disagreed and felt that students were resistant to negative feedback. Additionally, students felt that their performance was compared unfairly against more senior students, although the tutors felt otherwise. CONCLUSION: The mini-CEX is an effective assessment tool, but is limited by barriers to administration and evaluation. Differing opinions and expectations between tutors and students could provide an interesting focal point for future studies.