Risk factors for secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures and their effect on growth and development-a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Complex febrile seizures are prolonged and can cause neurologic abnormalities, leading to secondary epilepsy and affecting growth and development. At present, the mechanism of secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures is not clear, and this study aimed to explore the risk factors for secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures and analyze its effects on the growth and development of children. Methods: The data of 168 children with complex febrile seizures admitted to the Ganzhou Women and Children's Health Care Hospital between January 2018 and December 2019 were collected retrospectively and divided into a secondary epilepsy group (n=58) and control group (n=110) according to whether the children had secondary epilepsy or not. The differences in clinical features between the 2 groups were compared, and logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors for secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures. A nomogram prediction model for secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures was established and verified using the R 4.0.3 statistical software, and the effect of secondary epilepsy on the growth and development of children was analyzed. Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that family history of epilepsy, generalized seizures, number of seizures, and duration of seizures were independent influencing factors of secondary epilepsy in children with complex febrile seizures (P<0.05). The dataset was randomly divided into a training set and a validation set, with a sample size of 84 in the training set and 84 in the validation set. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the training set was 0.845 (95% confidence interval: 0.756-0.934), and the area under the ROC curve of the validation set was 0.813 (95% confidence interval: 0.711-0.914). Compared with the control group, the Gesell Development Scale score in the secondary epilepsy group was significantly reduced (77.84±8.86 vs. 85.64±8.65, P<0.001). Conclusions: The nomogram prediction model could better identify complex febrile seizures children at high risk of secondary epilepsy. Strengthening intervention in such children may be beneficial for improving their growth and development.

Does E-commerce participation increase the use intensity of organic fertilizers in fruit production?-Evidence from China.

Commerce has had positive impacts on the whole agri-food value chain at different stages, it was developed rapidly in rural China in the past few years. E-commerce participation can promote the use intensity of organic fertilizers (OF) and this could achieve many benefits for different stakeholders including ensuring food safety, positive environmental impacts and promoting the adoption of green production technologies. Therefore, this study has used primary data collected from 733 fruit farmers in rural China to explore the impact of e-commerce participation on fruit farmers' use intensity of (OF). Unlike previous studies investigating the dichotomous decision of (OF) adoption, this study captures the use intensity of (OF) from both input quantity and cost aspects. We employed an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to address selectivity bias caused by observed and unobserved factors. The results show that e-commerce participation significantly increases the use intensity of (OF) in input quantity and cost by 19.48% and 29.50%, respectively. Heterogeneous analysis further reveals that compared to fruit farmers with a low e-commerce participation level, fruit farmers with a high e-commerce participation level have higher (OF) use intensity. The findings also show that risk preference, human capital, cultivated area, cooperative membership and government restraint mechanisms positively and significantly affect the probability of fruit farmers' participation in e-commerce and fruit farmers' use intensity of (OF). The results emphasize that e-commerce promotion is an efficient way to encourage farmers to adopt (OF), which help improve product quality and promote sustainable agricultural development.

Clusterin confers gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To measure clusterin expression in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines and to evaluate whether clusterin confers resistance to gmcitabine in pancreatic cancer cells. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry for clusterin was performed on 50 primary pancreatic cancer tissues and 25 matched backgrounds, and clusterin expression in 5 pancreatic cancer cell lines was quantified by Western blot and PT-PCR. The correlation between clusterin expression level and gmcitabine IC50 in pancreatic cancer cell lines was evaluated. The effect of an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) against clusterin (ASO-CLU) [corrected] on gmcitabine resistance was evaluated by MTT assays. Xenograft model was used to demonstrate tumor growth. RESULTS: Pancreatic cancer tissues expressed significantly higher levels of clusterin than did normal pancreatic tissues (P < 0.01). Clusterin expression levels were correlated with gmcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer cell lines, and ASO-CLU [corrected] significantly decreased BxPc-3 cells resistance to gmcitabine (P < 0.01). In vivo systemic administration of AS clusterin and gmcitabine significantly decreased the s.c. BxPC-3 tumor volume compared with mismatch control ODN plus gmcitabine. CONCLUSION: Our finding that clusterin expression was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer than in normal pancreatic tissues suggests that clusterin may confer gmcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer cells.

Perceptions, Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change Effects among Small Livestock Herders in Punjab, Pakistan.

Pakistan is an agrarian nation that is among the most vulnerable countries to climatic variations. Around 20% of its GDP is produced by agriculture, and livestock-related production contributes more than half of this value. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to determine the vulnerability and knowledge of livestock herders, and particularly the smaller herders. Comprehending individual perceptions of and vulnerabilities to climate change (CC) will enable effective formulation of CC mitigation strategies. This study intended to explore individual perceptions of and vulnerabilities to CC based on a primary dataset of 405 small livestock herders from three agro-ecological zones of Punjab. The results showed that livestock herders' perceptions about temperature and rainfall variations/patterns coincide with the meteorological information of the study locations. The vulnerability indicators show that Dera Ghazi Khan district is more vulnerable than the other two zones because of high exposure and sensitivity to CC, and lower adaptive capacity. However, all zones experience regular livelihood risks due to livestock diseases and deaths resulting from extreme climatic conditions, lower economic status, and constrained institutional and human resource capabilities, thus leading to increased vulnerability. The results indicate that low-cost local approaches are needed, such as provision of improved veterinary services, increased availability of basic equipment, small-scale infrastructure projects, and reinforcement of informal social safety nets. These measures would support cost-effective and sustainable decisions to enable subsistence livestock herders to adopt climate smart practices.