[Effect of Vegetation Coverage on the Temporal and Spatial Distribution of PM2.5 Concentration in China's Eight Major Economic Regions from 1998 to 2016].

The study researched the relationship between vegetation cover and PM2.5 pollution. The raster NDVI dataset from 1998 to 2016 were reclassified into low, medium, and high vegetation coverage area, and the corresponding PM2.5 concentration in eight economic regions in China were then calculated. On this basis, the temporal and spatial characteristics of PM2.5 pollution were analyzed and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to explore its correlation with NDVI landscape pattern indexes separately from landscape and class level NDVI. The preliminary results showed that:①The northern, eastern, southern coastal, middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the northeast economic zones have relatively low vegetation coverage in areas with relatively serious PM2.5 pollution. However, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the southwestern and the Northwestern Economic Zones in areas with relatively low vegetation coverage showed lighter PM2.5 pollution. ②PM2.5 increased in most areas between 1998 and 2016. ③A significant correlation between PM2.5 and NDVI landscape pattern indexes was not found for all areas. ④Therefore, the impacts of the landscape shape index(LSI), percent of landscape(PLAND), number of patches(NP), largest patch index(LPI), and aggregation index(AI) on PM2.5 are heterogeneous.

Corrigendum to "Quantitative determination of multi-class bioactive constituents for quality assessment of ten Anoectochilus, four Goodyera and one Ludisia species in China" [Chinese Herbal Medicines 12 (2020) 430-439].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.chmed.2020.07.002.].

Quantitative determination of multi-class bioactive constituents for quality assessment of ten Anoectochilus, four Goodyera and one Ludisia species in China.

Objective: To establish multi-class bioactive constituents' determination of ten Anoectochilus, four Goodyera and one Ludisia species, and provide reference for the improvement of their quality control. Methods: HPLC-ELSD and phenol-sulphuric acid methods were used for the quantitative determination of lactone glycosides (kinsenoside and its diastereoisomer, goodyeroside A) and polysaccharides, respectively, while an efficient iHPLC-MS/MS method was established for rapid determination of other minor constituents in ten Anoectochilus species and five related species. Results: The contents of kinsenoside, goodyeroside A, polysaccharides and flavonoids varied notably almost in all tested samples, including both wild plants and tissue cultures. In particular, kinsenoside was the major lactone glycoside in A. roxburghii, A. formosanus, A. xingrenensis, A. nandanensis, A. brevilabris and A. burmannicus, whereas goodyeroside A was the predominant constituent in A. lylei, A. longilobus, A. elatus, A. zhejiangensis, G. schlechtendaliana, G. biflora, G. yangmeishanensi, G. repens and Ludisia discolor. Conclusion: Our present study suggested that A. lylei, A. longilobus, A. elatus, A. zhejiangensis, Ludisia discolor and Goodyera species cannot be used as alternatives for A. roxburghii, and goodyeroside A may be reasonably used as a diagnostic marker for distinguishing A. roxburghii from A. lylei, A. longilobus, A. elatus and A. zhejiangensis, Goodyera and Ludisia species. The established method thus could be potentially used for the quality evaluation and control of Anoectochilus and some related species.

Horticultural, systems-engineering and economic evaluations of short-term plant storage techniques as a labor management tool for vegetable grafting nurseries.

This transdisciplinary study has a three-fold systems approach in evaluating a horticultural technology: 1) horticultural evaluations, 2) economic and resource analyses, and 3) systems engineering analyses, using low temperature storage as an example technology. Vegetable grafting is a technique to produce value-added seedlings but requires labor intensive nursery operations. Low temperature storage of seedlings for a short period of time can reduce peak production, but has not been evaluated at the extent demonstrated in this paper. Seedlings of 22 genotypes of Cucurbitaceae (cucurbit family) and Solanaceae (nightshade family) were evaluated for storability under selected temperatures and photosynthetic photon flux. Storability of Cucurbitaceous seedlings varied between 2 to 4 weeks at 12°C and 13 µmol m-2 s-1. Solanaceous seedlings were generally storable for 4 weeks at 12°C and 13 µmol m-2 s-1, but tomato seedlings could be stored for 4 weeks at 10°C and 5 µmol m-2 s-1. Capital and weekly operational costs of a low temperature storage system with a design that meets environmental requirements were estimated as $671 to $708 per m2 footprint and $0.79 to $2.21 per m2 footprint per week, respectively. Electricity costs per plant was less than 0.1 cents for 2 to 4 weeks of storage. Using a schedule-optimization heuristic and a logistics simulator previously developed for grafting nursery operations, six production scenarios consisting of two crops (tomato or watermelon) and three production peak patterns were examined to evaluate the impact of including low temperature storage. While the overall average costs of grafting labor were not significantly different, maximum labor demand and grafting labor cost during the peak production week were reduced by 31% to 50% and 14% to 30% by using storage, respectively. Therefore, low temperature storage can be an effective means to address the issue of labor management in grafting nurseries.

Epidemiology and surgical management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a rare hepatobiliary malignancy arising from the epithelial cells of the intrahepatic bile ducts. The increased incidence of ICC worldwide may reflect both a true increase and the earlier detection of the disease. Despite the advances in modern surgical care, the curative chance for ICC remained suboptimal: tumor-free margins are hard to achieve due to tumor locations, and technical challenges and recurrence, either local or distant, may hamper the resectability in a large number of patients. Lymph node involvement and vascular invasions are considered negative predictive factors for survival of ICC patients. This review discusses the epidemiology, risk factors and surgical management of ICCs, and mainly focuses on outcomes and factors associated with surgical treatment.

Quality-of-life measures in Taiwanese adults with symptomatic gallstone disease.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to investigate the association of quality-of-life status with baseline laboratory findings among Taiwanese adults having symptomatic gallstone disease. METHODS: A prospective quality-of-life survey was administered at a tertiary referral medical center among 102 consecutive adults with symptomatic gallstone disease. Patients underwent regular laboratory testing at admission and were evaluated using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI). Correlation and regression models were used to investigate quality-of-life predictors. RESULTS: Compared with the general Taiwanese adult population, patients having symptomatic gallstone disease had significantly poorer performance on all eight SF-36 subscales (P < 0.001). Total GIQLI showed moderate to strong correlation with all eight SF-36 subscale scores (gamma = 0.29 ~ 0.62, P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, serum levels of direct bilirubin (beta = -32.6, P = 0.001) and alkaline phosphatase (beta = -13.6, P = 0.032) were predictive of worse total GIQLI (adjusted R (2) = 0.183). CONCLUSIONS: Symptomatic gallstone disease may considerably affect patient quality of life in terms of general health status and gastrointestinal-specific measures. Before gallstone surgery, serum levels of direct bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase significantly correlated with quality-of-life measures and can be used to evaluate patient well-being at admission.

[Possibilities of near-infrared spectroscopy for the assessment of principle components in honey].

The potential of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) as a nondestructive method for determining the principle components of honeys was studied for 153 unifloral honeys and multifloral honey samples. Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR), CCD near-infrared spectroscopy and PDA near-infrared spectroscopy were evaluated to quantitatively determine water content, fructose content and glucose content in honey. On the basis of partial-least square (PLS) regression, the models of honey were compared. The best calibration model gives the correlation coefficients of 0.978 5, 0.931 1 and 0.90 7 for water, fructose and glucose, respectively, with the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.410 8(%), 1.914 48(%) and 2.531 9(%) respectively. The results demonstrated that near-infrared spectrometry is a valuable, rapid and nondestructive tool for the quantitative analysis of the principle components in honey.

Validation assessment of the Chinese (Taiwan) version of the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index for patients with symptomatic gallstone disease.

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic gallstone is one of the most common diseases in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to develop a Mandarin Chinese outcomes measure for the assessment on quality of life among gallstone patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) is a valid, disease-specific measure for the evaluation of health status and treatment effectiveness for adults with chronic gastrointestinal condition. The GIQLI was translated into Mandarin Chinese using a parallel model. The Chinese (Taiwan) version of the GIQLI (CGIQLI) was administered to 102 patients with symptomatic gallstone disease in a prospective manner; the CGIQLI then was validated according to established criteria for reliability, validity, and longitudinal sensitivity. RESULTS: The CGIQLI demonstrates good test-retest reliability (r = 0.92, P = 0.001) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). The CGIQLI significantly correlates with the Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan) version of the generic 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). The standardized response mean for the CGIQLI total score is 0.96, indicating excellent sensitivity to clinical change in the study group. CONCLUSION: This validation study demonstrated that the performance characteristics of the CGIQLI are equivalent to the English version, the GIQLI. This study demonstrates that the CGIQLI is a valid tool to evaluate adults with chronic gastrointestinal problems among the Chinese-speaking population.

[Significance of typing of tumor thrombi in determination of treatment and assessment of prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with tumor thrombi in the portal vein].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the benefit of typing of tumor thrombi in determining treatment plan and assessing prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with tumor thrombi in the portal vein. METHODS: The clinical data of 84 patients of HCC with portal vein tumor thrombi admitted from Jan. 2000 to Jan. 2003 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients, 75 males and 9 females, aged 47 (28 - 70), were divided into 4 groups, groups I - IV, according to imaging examination of the tumor thrombi. The median survival periods and effectiveness of treatment, including surgical resection and non-surgical treatment, were observed. RESULTS: The surgical resection rates were 64.7%, 83.8%, 31.4%, and 0 in the groups I - IV respectively (P = 0.912). The general median survival period of the patients undergoing surgery was 8.0 months, significantly longer than that of the patients receiving non-surgical treatment (4.0 months, P = 0.000 6). In different group of tumor thrombi type, the general median survival period of the patients undergoing surgery was significantly longer than that of the patients receiving non-surgical treatment. The median survival periods were 10.1, 7.2, 5.7 and 3.0 months for groups I (n = 17), II (n = 26), III (n = 35) and groups IV (n = 6) respectively, with significant difference between any 2 groups (all P = 0.000 1). CONCLUSION: Typing of tumor thrombi helps determine the treatment plan and assess the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with tumor thrombi in the portal vein.

An in vivo rat model for assessment of extrahepatic metabolism.

INTRODUCTION: Xenobiotic metabolism in extrahepatic tissues has been extensively studied in vitro, but it is difficult to estimate in vivo the share of xenobiotic transformation in extrahepatic tissues for lack of a suitable approach. In this paper an in vivo rat model for assessment of extrahepatic metabolism is described, and the model was investigated using the conversion of lidocaine to monoethylglycinexylidide (MEGX). METHODS: The rats were anesthetized with ethyl ether inhalation. The liver was exposed, the liver artery ligated, and the portal vein was clamped at its distal end. The left hepatic lobe was partly excised along its inferior margin, and a heparinized silicone catheter, diameter 0.2 cm, was inserted into the portal and left hepatic veins to allow the recirculation of portal vein blood. A sham operation was performed in the control group. RESULTS: Phenol red test showed that hepatic blood supply was absolutely blocked in model rats. At 30 min after establishing the portal-cavum bypass, the renal function and electrolytes did not change, but serum glucose decreased by 64.4 +/- 30.4%; 30 min after intravenous administration of 1.0% lidocaine 2 mg x kg(-1), serum MEGX in model rats was 32.0 +/- 7.14% of that in the control group, which mostly existed in a free form and was not induced by phenobarbital pretreatment. DISCUSSION: The model is easy to establish and provides an in vivo method to study the extrahepatic metabolism of xenobiotics.