The effects of safety-specific transformational leadership and active transactional leadership on mindful safety practice adoption in the Chinese petroleum industry.

Previous studies have concentrated on the value of managerial leadership for safety behavior conduct by employees in the workplace. However, safety leadership styles concerning mindful safety practices have rarely been examined. The goal of this study is therefore to investigate the relationships between safety-specific leaderships (transformational and active transactional leadership) and the adoption of mindful safety practices among first-line workers mediated by safety climate in the Chinese petroleum industry. Data were obtained from first-line workers in two Chinese petroleum companies. PLS-SEM results show that transformational and active transactional leadership are positively related to safety climate, which in turn affects mindful safety practice adoption in the Chinese petroleum industry. The results of the current study indicate that transformational and active transactional leadership in a safety-specific view offer a comprehensive leadership model for mindful safety practices conduct in the Chinese petroleum industry.

Facilitating mindful safety practices among first-line workers in the Chinese petroleum industry through safety management practices and safety motivation.

The petroleum industry is a high-risk industry and operates under the social technical system. Therefore, the safety behavior of employees needs to be paid high attention. Thus, six dimensions of safety management practices are identified as independent variables to predict a special component of common safety behavior-mindful safety practices in the Chinese petroleum industry. High-reliability organization theory is adopted as the underpinning theory. A total 255 first-line workers from a Chinese petroleum company participated in this survey. The results reveal that safety training and safety communication and feedback are positively related to safety motivation. Moreover, workers' involvement and safety promotion policy have direct and positive impacts on mindful safety practices. Further, safety motivation is found to play a mediating role in the prediction of mindful safety practices in the Chinese petroleum industry. These findings give new insights for petroleum companies into how to promote mindful safety practices in the workplace.

High voltage atmospheric cold plasma treatment inactivates Aspergillus flavus spores and deoxynivalenol toxin.

Fungal contamination is a concern for the food industry. Fungal spores resist food sterilization treatments and produce mycotoxins that are toxic for animals and humans. Technologies that deactivate spores and toxins without impacting food quality are desirable. This study demonstrates the efficiency of a high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) technology using air to generate reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species for the degradation of Aspergillus flavus cultures and the deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin. Optical emission and absorption spectroscopy demonstrate ionization of hydroxyl groups, atomic oxygen and nitrogen, and confirm production of ROS and RNS, e.g. O3, NO2, NO3, N2O4, and N2O5. Fungal cultures show a depletion in pigmentation and an ~50% spore inactivation after 1-min treatments. Treated spores show surface ablation and membrane degradation by scanning electron microscopy. Twenty-minute direct HVACP treatments of 100 µg of DON in one mL aqueous suspensions resulted in a greater than 99% reduction in DON structure and rescued over 80% of Caco-2 cell viability; however, the same treatment on 100 µg of powdered DON toxin only showed a 33% reduction in DON and only rescued 15% of cell viability. In summary, HVACP air treatment can inactivate both fungal spores and toxins in minutes.

[Preliminary Investigation of Medicinal Plant Resources in Kangle County, Gansu Province].

OBJECTIVE: To study the medicinal plant resources and their diversity in Kangle County, Gansu Province, and to provide scientific basis on utilization and protection of the medicinal plant resources of the county. METHODS: By field survey, sample collection, taxonomic identification and data verification methods. RESULTS: There were 258 species, 65 families in existing medicinal plants, of which 43 species, 39 genera and 24 families were national protection medicinal plants. Dominant families were mainly Asteraceae and Rosaceae. In this area,the plants used whole herbs and roots ( or rhizomes) as medicinal materials represented 40.31% and 25.19% respectively, and antipyretic and rheumatism medicine accounted for 28.68% and 12.79% respectively. 12 medicinal plants were cultivated and the cultivated area was 3,000 hectares. CONCLUSION: However, the reserves of most medicinal plants are less enough and the resources are diminishing increasingly in recent years. So we should accelerate the research progress as well as developing and utilizing rationally on the premise of protection.

A novel C-glycosylflavone from the leaves of Diospyros kaki.

A novel C-glycosylflavone with unusual alpha-orientation at the anomeric center of d-glucose was isolated from the leaves of Diospyros kaki. Its structure was determined as 8-C-[alpha-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --> 4)]-alpha-d-glucopyranosylapigenin by chemical methods and spectral experiments.

Clinical observation on treatment of depression by electro-acupuncture combined with Paroxetine.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of Paroxetine combined with electro-acupuncture (EA) in treating depression. METHODS: Forty-two patients with depression were randomly assigned to the observation group (22 patients) treated with EA combined with Paroxetine, and the control group (20 patients) treated with Paroxetine alone, and the therapeutic course for both groups was 6 weeks. The therapeutic efficacy and adverse reactions were evaluated with scores by Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) and treatment emergent symptoms scale (TESS), respectively. RESULTS: HAMD scores determined at the end of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th week of the treatment course were significantly lower in the observation group than those in the control group (P<0.05). The significant improvement rate evaluated at the end of the 6-week treatment was remarkably higher in the observation group than that in the control group (72.7% vs 40.0%). No significant difference of TESS scores was found between the two groups. CONCLUSION: EA combined with Paroxetine has better clinical efficacy than that of Paroxetine alone, with milder adverse reaction and quicker initiation of effect.

Clinical observation on treatment of depression by electro-acupuncture combined with Paroxetine / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of Paroxetine combined with electro-acupuncture (EA) in treating depression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-two patients with depression were randomly assigned to the observation group (22 patients) treated with EA combined with Paroxetine, and the control group (20 patients) treated with Paroxetine alone, and the therapeutic course for both groups was 6 weeks. The therapeutic efficacy and adverse reactions were evaluated with scores by Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) and treatment emergent symptoms scale (TESS), respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HAMD scores determined at the end of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th week of the treatment course were significantly lower in the observation group than those in the control group (P<0.05). The significant improvement rate evaluated at the end of the 6-week treatment was remarkably higher in the observation group than that in the control group (72.7% vs 40.0%). No significant difference of TESS scores was found between the two groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>EA combined with Paroxetine has better clinical efficacy than that of Paroxetine alone, with milder adverse reaction and quicker initiation of effect.</p>

[Cloning, Characterization and Expression Vector Construction of Potato Proteas-inhibitor II Gene (PIN II-2x) from Diploid Potato (Solanum phurejia).].

Based on the published gene sequence of tetraploid potato (Solanum.tuberosum) protease-inhibitor II, a genomic DNA and a cDNA sequence of potato protease-inhibitor II gene were obtained from the cDNA library and the genomic DNA of a diploid potato IVP101 (Solanum.phurejia) using PCR method and named PINII-2x. Nucleotide sequencing confirmed that the full-length DNA of PINII-2x was 580 bp, including an 115 bp intron and two exons. cDNA was 462 bp ( stop codon TGA not included) and had 88% similarity to the tetraploid potato protease-inhibitor II. The PINII-2x open reading frame encodes a 154-amino acid polypeptide with a predicated size of 16.6 KD and a calculated PI of 6.08. The deduced proteins from PINII-2x cDNA had 93% homology with other tetraploid potato protease-inhibitor II, which contain the intact signal peptide and two active site similar to the potato protease-inhibitor II family. Test of the RT-PCR indicated that PINII-2x mRNA is wound- induced expression in potato leaves. Binary vector of PINII-2x cDNA drove by either rice Actin I promoter (ActI) or maize Ubiquitin promoter (Ubi) was constructed.