Effects of understory intercropping with salt-tolerant legumes on soil organic carbon pool in coastal saline-alkali land.

Phytoremediation through understory intercropping with salt-tolerant legumes (forest-green manure composite patterns) efficiently and sustainably enhances saline-alkali soils, while significantly improving the stability of monoculture forest ecosystems and the efficacy of soil upgrades. However, exactly how forest-green manure patterns regulate the dynamics of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool and related mechanisms remain unclear. For this study, a pure forest was used as the control, and three leguminous herbaceous plants (M. sativa, S. cannabina, and C. pallida) were intercropped under two forest stand types (T. hybrid 'Zhongshanshan' and C. illinoensis). The variable characteristics and control factors of SOC and its components under different patterns were elucidated by analyzing the soil physical and chemical properties, enzyme activities, and microbial communities. The results revealed that the composite pattern improved soil salinization and increased the activities of ß-1,4-glucosidase, polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase (PER), invertase (INV), and urease, as well as the carbon pool management index and the proportion of active organic carbon. At the T. hybrid 'Zhongshanshan' experimental site, planting M. sativa effectively increased the total carbon (TC) content. The ammonium nitrogen, soil moisture content, total phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, PER, and polyphenol oxidase were the primary driving factors that affected the SOC pool. At the C. illinoensis experimental site, S. cannabina planting was observed to increase the TC content, with the TC, exchangeable Na+, ß-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, and INV being the main driving factors that impacted the SOC pool. The composite pattern can indirectly influence the SOC pool by altering the soil properties to regulate the microbial community. Further, it was found that soil inorganic carbon (SIC) was the main contributor to increasing the soil carbon pool following the short-term planting of legumes; thus, there may have been a transfer process that occurred from the SOC to SIC. Our study suggests that the forest-green manure pattern has more positive effects on improving soil quality and the carbon pool in saline-alkali land.

Frailty is an independent risk factor for postoperative pulmonary complications in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resections.

BACKGROUND: Although frailty as a common geriatric syndrome is associated with postoperative complications, its relationship with postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) following pulmonary resections in elderly patients is unclear. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between frailty and PPCs in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resections and explore the effect of the addition of frailty assessment to PPC risk index and ASA on their predictive ability. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study, we measured frailty status using the FRAIL scale in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resections. Multivariate analysis was used to identify the relationship between frailty and PPCs. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to examine the predictive power of frailty and other assessment tools. RESULTS: 227 patients were analyzed in the study. The prevalence of PPCs was 24.7%. Significant differences between patients with and without PPCs were observed in the following aspects: BMI, smoking, COPD, respiratory infection within the last month, FEV1/FVC ratio, creatinine, ASA, frailty and PPC risk index (p < 0.05, respectively). After adjusting for all covariates, frailty was significantly related to PPCs in elderly patients (odds ratio: 6.33, 95% confidence interval: 2.45-16.37). Combined with frailty assessment, the area under the curve for ASA class and PPC risk index was increased to 0.759 (95% CI 0.687-0.831) and 0.821 (95% CI 0.758-0.883). CONCLUSIONS: Frailty was associated with PPCs in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resections. Combined with the frailty assessment, the predictive power of the PPC risk index and ASA class was improved.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Need for Privacy Scale.

Introduction: The need for privacy is a high-order psychological need of human, which is closely related to human mental health problems in the digital age. The Need for Privacy Scale (NFP-S) is a reliable measure of need for privacy. This study tested its psychometric characteristics among Chinese populations. Methods: Firstly, we modified and translated the NFP-S into Chinese version (NFP-SC). Subsequently, we invited 15 participants to complete pre testing of the NFP-SC and determined the final version. Next, we collected questionnaire data from 1130 participants for confirmatory factor analysis to confirm factor structure and validate convergent validity. Results: The results showed that the bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (bifactor-ESEM) could better reflect the potential structure of NFP-SC, which included one general factor of need for privacy and three specific factors which were the informational need for privacy, the psychological need for privacy, and the physical need for privacy. Based on the bifactor-ESEM model, the measurement invariance of NFP-SC was demonstrated across gender groups. The general factor and specific factor of NFP-SC showed good reliability with high McDonald's coefficient omega. Convergent validity was tested by verifying the relationship between NFP-SC and four covariates. Conclusions: Our study results showed that NFP-SC exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties in the Chinese context, meaning that it could be applied for future studies on investigating need for privacy in Chinese populations. Future research could build panel data by gathering data from different periods, and supplement the test-retest reliability of NFP-S to improve its application effect.