On-site screening method for bioavailability assessment of the organophosphorus pesticide, methyl parathion, and its primary metabolite in soils by paper strip biosensor.

An important public concern worldwide is soil pollution caused by organophosphorus pesticides and their primary metabolites. To protect the public's health, screening these pollutants on-site and determining their soil bioavailability is important, but doing so is still challenging. This work improved the already-existing organophosphorus pesticide hydrolase (mpd) and transcriptional activator (pobR), and it first designed and constructed a novel biosensor (Escherichia coli BL21/pNP-LacZ) that can precisely detect methyl parathion (MP) and its primary metabolite p-nitrophenol with low background value. To create a paper strip biosensor, E. coli BL21/pNP-LacZ was fixed to filter paper using bio-gel alginate and sensitizer polymyxin B. According to the calibrations of the paper strip biosensor for soil extracts and standard curve, the color intensity of the paper strip biosensor collected by the mobile app may be used to compute the concentration of MP and p-nitrophenol. This method's detection limits were 5.41 µg/kg for p-nitrophenol and 9.57 µg/kg for MP. The detection of p-nitrophenol and MP in laboratory and field soil samples confirmed this procedure. Paper strip biosensor on-site allows for the semi-quantitative measurement of p-nitrophenol and MP levels in soils in a simple, inexpensive, and portable method.

The lay of the land: What we know about non-operating agricultural and absentee forest landowners in the U.S. and Europe.

While non-operating agricultural and absentee forest landowners across the U.S. and Europe are an important group of landowners, our understanding of them remains relatively limited. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review on these landowners to encapsulate a current lay of the land in terms of what we know about these landowners and move the dialogue on this topic forward. Eighty-one articles are identified in our search of empirical literature. For each of the landowner types, we discuss their demographics and the three primary themes that emerged related to land management: participation in land management decisions, attitudes regarding land use and ownership, and resource needs in working with these landowners. For agricultural non-operating landowners, we find limited participation in land management decisions, particularly among women, a variety of individual and social factors play a role in involvement, and while they have pro-conservation attitudes, implementation of conservation practices is more limited. Absentee forest landowners we find are more willing to use management plans, yet less willing to engage in active management and risk reduction. These landowners have a range of attitudes regarding land use, with studies highlighting recreation, conservation, and profit motivations. Our review concludes with identifying specific needs for more research and outreach on these landowners.

The effect of comprehensive assessment and multi-disciplinary management for the geriatric and frail patient: A multi-center, randomized, parallel controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) of elderly patients is useful for detecting the patients vulnerabilities. Exercise and early rehabilitation, nutritional intervention, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), standardized medication guidance, and patient education can, separately, improve and even reverse the physical frailty status. However, the effect of combining a CGA and multi-disciplinary management on frailty in elderly patients remains unclear. The present study assessed the effects of a CGA and multi-disciplinary management on elderly patients with frailty in China. METHODS: In this study, 320 in patients with frailty ≥70 years old will be randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group will be given routine management, a CGA and multi-disciplinary management involving rehabilitation exercise, diet adjustment, multi-drug evaluation, acupoint massage in TCM and patient education for 12 months, and the control group will be followed up with routine management for basic diseases. The primary outcomes are the Fried phenotype and short physical performance battery (SPPB). The secondary outcomes are the clinical frailty scale (CFS), non-elective hospital readmission, basic activities of daily living (BADL), 5-level European quality of life 5 dimensions index (EQ-5D), nutrition risk screening-2002 (NRS-2002), medical insurance expenses, fall events, and all-cause mortality. In addition, a cost-effectiveness study will be carried out. DISCUSSION: This paper outlines the protocol for a randomized, single-blind, parallel multi-center clinical study. This protocol, if beneficial, will demonstrate the interaction of various intervention strategies, will help improve elderly frailty patients, and will be useful for clinicians, nurses, policymakers, public health authorities, and the general population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trials Register, ChiCTR1900022623. Registered on April 19, 2019, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=38141.

Multi-air-pollutant removal by using an integrated system: Key parameters assessment and reaction mechanism.

How to cost-efficiently and cooperatively remove SO2, NO and Hg0 in flue gas is a hot topic in the field of air pollution control. This work developed an integrated system that consists of a dual-absorption system and a vapor oxidation system, in which Na2CO3 and H2O2/Na2S2O8 were used as the absorbent and oxidant. The results indicated that the efficiencies of SO2 removal and NO conversion reached 99.5% and 93% respectively. Rising the vaporization temperature and decreasing the pH of H2O2/Na2S2O8 could facilitate the NO conversion. The spent Na2CO3 after desulfurization was demonstrated to be a good absorbent for NO2 removal. The best conditions of pH and temperatures for the dual-absorber were determined as 10/8 and 60/60 °C, respectively. The presence of 1000 mg/m3 SO2 and 300 mg/m3 NO favored the Hg0 removal. TMT-15, an organic sulfur compound, was demonstrated to be useful in retaining Hg2+, with an efficiency of 92%. According to the analyses of electron spin resonance (ESR), ion chromatography (IC), atom fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), SO4- and HO were proved to be the key radicals, and the existing forms of N- and Hg- species in the product were identified as NaNO2/NaNO3 and HgCl2.

Considering weed management as a social dilemma bridges individual and collective interests.

Weeds pose severe threats to agricultural and natural landscapes worldwide. One major reason for the failure to effectively manage weeds at landscape scales is that current Best Management Practice guidelines, and research on how to improve such guidelines, focus too narrowly on property-level management decisions. Insufficiently considered are the aggregate effects of individual actions to determine landscape-scale outcomes, or whether there are collective practices that would improve weed management outcomes. Here, we frame landscape-scale weed management as a social dilemma, where trade-offs occur between individual and collective interests. We apply a transdisciplinary system approach-integrating the perspectives of ecologists, evolutionary biologists and agronomists into a social science theory of social dilemmas-to four landscape-scale weed management challenges: (i) achieving plant biosecurity, (ii) preventing weed seed contamination, (iii) maintaining herbicide susceptibility and (iv) sustainably using biological control. We describe how these four challenges exhibit characteristics of 'public good problems', wherein effective weed management requires the active contributions of multiple actors, while benefits are not restricted to these contributors. Adequate solutions to address these public good challenges often involve a subset of the eight design principles developed by Elinor Ostrom for 'common pool social dilemmas', together with design principles that reflect the public good nature of the problems. This paper is a call to action for scholars and practitioners to broaden our conceptualization and approaches to weed management problems. Such progress begins by evaluating the public good characteristics of specific weed management challenges and applying context-specific design principles to realize successful and sustainable weed management.

Validation of three tools for identifying painful new osteoporotic vertebral fractures in older Chinese men: bone mineral density, Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians, and fracture risk assessment tool.

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study compared three tools for predicting painful new osteoporotic vertebral fractures (PNOVFs) in older Chinese men: bone mineral density (BMD), the Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians (OSTA), and the World Health Organization fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) (without BMD). METHODS: Men aged ≥50 years were apportioned to a group for men with fractures who had undergone percutaneous vertebroplasty (n=111), or a control group of healthy men (n=385). Fractures were verified on X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging. BMD T-scores were determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Diagnosis of osteoporosis was determined by a BMD T-score of ≤2.5 standard deviations below the average for a young adult at peak bone density at the femoral neck, total hip, or L1-L4. Demographic and clinical risk factor data were self-reported through a questionnaire. BMD, OSTA, and FRAX scores were assessed for identifying PNOVFs via receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Optimal cutoff points, sensitivity, specificity, and areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) were determined. RESULTS: Between the men with fractures and the control group, there were significant differences in BMD T-scores (at femoral neck, total hip, and L1-L4), and OSTA and FRAX scores. In those with fractures, only 53.15% satisfied the criteria for osteoporosis. Compared to BMD or OSTA, the FRAX score had the best predictive value for PNOVFs: the AUC of the FRAX score (cutoff =2.9%) was 0.738, and the sensitivity and specificity were 82% and 62%, respectively. CONCLUSION: FRAX may be a valuable tool for identifying PNOVFs in older Chinese men.

[Levels and distribution of the dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the surface sediment of the Yellow River ].

The levels of DL-PCBs in the surface sediments collected in 15 different sampling sites from the Tibetan Plateau to the Yellow River estuary along the Yellow River were measured using the GC-MS. The concentrations of ∑DL-PCBs ranged from 2. 3 to 14.8 pg.g-1 and the TEQs of DL-PCBs were between 0. 001 4 and 0. 023 1 pgg-1 , with an average of 0. 007 3 pg.g-1. Compared with other domestic and foreign rivers, the DL-PCBs and TEQ levels of the Yellow River were at low levels. The main DL-PCBs congeners in the Yellow River sediments were tetra and penta chlorinated biphenyls. The DL-PCBs congener composition of rural and underdeveloped areas was similar, and there was similar congeners composition between the industry developed areas and the populous areas. Petrochemical industries and hydropower facilities may affect the distribution of DL-PCBs congener in the sediments. A significant correlation between concentrations of DL-PCBs and GDP per capita was found. It indicated that the contamination extent of DL-PCBs in the Yellow River was related with the local economic development, DL-PCBs levels in developed areas were higher than those in remote rural areas.

Perceptions of Utah ranchers toward carbon sequestration: policy implications for US rangelands.

Enhanced carbon sequestration is one means to mitigate climate change. Rangelands are arid and semi-arid lands, typified by relatively low and variable levels of net primary productivity, where carbon sequestration might be increased via alterations in land management. Rangelands are vast in size and dominate the land area in the western US and worldwide. It has been estimated that privately owned rangelands in the US could sequester an additional 60 million tons of carbon annually, roughly equal to five percent of the US annual CO(2) emissions. Ranchers are the target population that could implement changes in rangeland management to promote carbon sequestration, but little is known about how they might receive such programs. Therefore, for Utah, we conducted a combined mail and telephone survey of 495 randomly selected ranchers to assess their knowledge of and attitude toward carbon sequestration, possible benefits of carbon sequestration as perceived by ranchers, and factors influencing their likelihood of participating in carbon sequestration programs. Overall, despite that 70 percent of respondents had little or no self-reported knowledge about carbon sequestration, 63 percent had negative views about it. Ranchers reporting the most knowledge also tended to have the most negative attitudes. The least important benefit that might accrue to ranchers from carbon sequestration was seen as climate change mitigation, while the most important benefit was improved land stewardship. Only four percent of respondents indicated an unconditional willingness to participate in carbon sequestration programs, but 71 percent could be interested depending on new information received. Before carbon sequestration programs are developed for rangelands, further research is needed to clarify why more knowledge of carbon sequestration can lead to greater skepticism of relevant programs. We respect this finding, as it may be based on well-founded rancher concerns such as technical or administrative efficacy. If such concerns can be overcome, extension efforts should be tailored to emphasize the ecological merits of carbon sequestration for rangeland management, which will facilitate the ability of ranchers to achieve their personal goals.

[Assessment of the residual spine growth potential in idiopathic scoliosis by risser sign and histological grading].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between histological grade (HG) of vertebral growth plates and Risser grade in the female idiopathic scoliosis (IS) patients; and to identify whether Risser grading is a reliable indicator for accurate evaluation of the spinal residual growth potential. METHODS: Thirty-nine samples of vertebral growth plates obtained during operation from 15 females IS patients, all female, aged 15.1 (12.4 - 18.0), underwent HE staining and light microscopy to determine the values of HG. Xray photography of pelvis was conducted before operation to identify the Risser sign. The correlation of Risser grade with pubertal status was analyzed. RESULTS: All the vertebral growth plates of the IS patients with the Risser grade of 0 showed growth activity. The vertebral growth plates showed HG II activity in 6 of the 16 IS patients with the Risser grade of 4. All the vertebral growth plates showed no growth activity in the 3 IS patients with the Risser grade of 5. There was a negative correlation between the HG and Risser grade in all 39 patients (r = -0.645, P =0.000). The HG of the patients with the Risser grade of 4 was negatively correlated with the menarchal status (time between menarche and operation) (r = -0.710, P = 0.002). The residual growth potential of spinal growth plates of the patients with the Risser grades of 2 - 5 was significantly lower than of the patients with the Risser grades of 0 - 1 (P = 0.020). CONCLUSION: Risser sign may be a reliable indicator for predicting the spinal residual growth potential in IS patients, but it should be correlated with menarchal status and chronological ages.