Spatio-temporal patterns of Ulva prolifera blooms and the corresponding influence on chlorophyll-a concentration in the Southern Yellow Sea, China.

The world's largest macroalgal blooms (MABs) caused by the Ulva prolifera outbreaks have occurred every summer since 2007 in the Southern Yellow Sea, China. Accumulating evidence showed that MABs may deteriorate the regional marine environment and influence the growth of some primary producers such as phytoplankton. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of U. prolifera green tides and chlorophyll-a concentration in the Southern Yellow Sea in 2015 using satellite images obtained from HJ-1 CCD, MODIS, and GOCI. The correlation between the distributions of U. prolifera abundance and chlorophyll-a concentration was analyzed quantitatively by setting up a series of 5 × 5 km experimental grids, and we also discussed the possible mechanisms about the influence of U. prolifera blooms on the other floating microalgae. The results showed that the development of U. prolifera blooms in the Southern Yellow Sea in 2015 could be featured as "appearance - development - outbreak - decline - disappearance", while the concentration of chlorophyll-a showed "increase - sharp decline - slow recovery - stabilization" from April to August. We also found that the concentration of chlorophyll-a had the following relationships with U. prolifera temporally: (1) the concentration of chlorophyll-a increased with the growth of U. prolifera from April to mid-May; (2) the chlorophyll-a concentration decreased sharply with the dramatically increased coverage of U. prolifera in June; and (3) the chlorophyll-a concentration slowly recovered and finally stabilized as U. prolifera decreased in July. Generally, there was a negative correlation between the occurrence of U. prolifera and chlorophyll-a concentration in the Southern Yellow Sea, China. Our results showed that the outbreak of U. prolifera does have a certain impact on the growth and reproduction of planktonic microalgae, and it suggests that U. prolifera blooms have potentially altered the ecological balance in the coastal waters of the Southern Yellow Sea.

Selection and measurement of control antidepressants in clinical tests for Chinese: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to help domestic application units and research institutions improve their research quality of antidepressant clinical tests by studying and analyzing the current status and problems in selecting control drugs during domestic antidepressant clinical tests and illustrating some key problems that should be noted when selecting the control drug in such researches. METHODS: Considering the current domestic and overseas status of control drug selection in antidepressant clinical tests, various considerations, and misunderstandings on control drug selection in domestic antidepressant clinical tests were clarified and described, and possible factors that may influence the absolute effect of antidepressants were analyzed. Furthermore, problems that should be noted in selecting control drugs for the antidepressant clinical test, especially the placebo control, were stated. RESULTS: During the antidepressant clinical research, selecting placebo controls conform to moral philosophy and safety requirements. To verify the absolute effect of a test drug, a placebo control should be set or 3-arm tests should be conducted as far as possible. Possible factors that may affect the absolute effect of the test drug, including illness severity of the subject at baseline and research scale, should be given consideration. CONCLUSIONS: Application units and research institutions should consider the selection of subjects, control the failure rate, strengthen safety risks, and control and intensify quality control to further improve the overall quality and research level of domestic antidepressant clinical tests.

Early-phase clinical trials of anti-HIV drugs-understanding and discussion.

Innovative anti-HIV drugs developed by local sponsors in China have come into the stage of early-phase clinical trials. How to systemically design the clinical trials of innovative anti-HIV drugs still remains a challenge for them. This article references the literature and the experience of reviewers, to introduce general considerations concerning early-phase clinical trials of innovative anti-HIV drugs.