Increased plant density and reduced N rate lead to more grain yield and higher resource utilization in summer maize

Planting at an optimum density and supplying adequate nitrogen（N） to achieve higher yields is a common practice in crop production, especially for maize（Zea mays L.）; however, excessive N fertilizer supply in maize production results in reduced N use efficiency（NUE） and severe negative impacts on the environment. This research was conducted to determine the effects of increased plant density and reduced N rate on grain yield, total N uptake, NUE, leaf area index（LAI）, intercepted photosynthetically active radiation（IPAR）, and resource use efficiency in maize. Field experiments were conducted using a popular maize hybrid Zhengdan 958（ZD958） under different combinations of plant densities and N rates to determine an effective approach for maize production with high yield and high resource use efficiency. Increasing plant density was clearly able to promote N absorption and LAI during the entire growth stage, which allowed high total N uptake and interception of radiation to achieve high dry matter accumulation（DMA）, grain yield, NUE, and radiation use efficiency（RUE）. However, with an increase in plant density, the demand of N increased along with grain yield. Increasing N rate can significantly increase the DMA, grain yield, LAI, IPAR, and RUE. However, this increase was non-linear and due to the input of too much N fertilizers, the efficiency of N use at NCK（320 kg ha^（–1）） was low. An appropriate reduction in N rate can therefore lead to higher NUE despite a slight loss in grain production. Taking into account both the need for high grain yield and resource use efficiency, a 30% reduction in N supply, and an increase in plant density of 3 plants m^（–2）, compared to LD（5.25 plants m^（–2））, would lead to an optimal balance between yield and resource use efficiency.

Tea Consumption is Associated with Increased Risk of Kidney Stones in Northern Chinese： A Cross-sectional Study

Kidney stones are a common urinary system condition that can progress to kidney disease. Previous studies on the association between tea consumption and kidney stones are inconsistent. A cross-sectional study to investigate the association between tea consumption and kidney stones was conducted from 2013 to 2014 and recruited 9,078 northern Chinese adults. A total of 8,807 participants were included in the final analysis. Participants＇ prevalence of kidney stones was 1.07%, 1.73%, and 2.25% based on their tea consumption frecluencv of never, occasionally,

Increased plasma galectin-1 correlates with advanced glycation end products and interleukin-1β in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Dear Editor,Galectin-1, one of galactoside-binding lectin family proteins, has been shown to regulate cell growth, migration, and proliferation, where it binds many receptors depending on their glycosylation profile, rather than its specific receptors.

Spatial Distribution of the Increased Porosity of Cement Paste due to Calcium Leaching

Using the tomography image, a method to characterize the 3D spatial distributions of increased porosity was proposed, and the increased porosity distributions of cement pastes with different leaching degrees were given using the current method. The leaching processes of CH/C-S-H and the contribution of CH/C-S-H leaching to porosity evolution were discussed. The proposed method can be applied to all cement- based materials with any leaching degrees. From the quantitative increased porosity results, we find that the CH leaching finished quickly on the sharp CH leaching front.

Changes in Myofibrillar and Mitochondrial Compartments during Increased Activity: Dependance from Oxidative Capacity of Muscle

Striated muscle tissue contains fibers with high oxidative capacity (heart muscle), higher oxidative capacity (type I and IIA fibers of skeletal muscle) and low oxidative capacity (type IIB/X fibers of skeletal muscle). Muscle fibers with higher oxidative capacity contain large mitochondria tightly packed with cristae as well as small forms of mitochondria containing relatively few cristae. The intensive development of the mitochondrial apparatus in the post-activity period reflects the adaptive processes, which is intended to supply the increased energy requirements of muscle fibers with higher oxidative capacity. Muscle fibers with low oxidative capacity contain significantly less mitochondria than fibers with higher capacity. It is typical to type IIB fibers that after intensive muscle activity there are damaged myofibrils in a relatively small area, some myofibrils are twisted and lose the connection with the neighboring structures. It is still not fully known how skeletal muscles with different oxidative capacity respond to an increased functional activity and what differences exist in these fibers between oxidative capacity and function of myofibrils. The aim of the present short review was to compare structural-functional changes in mitochondrial and myofibrillar compartments of heart and skeletal muscle fibers with different oxidative capacity and the effect of increased functional activity on the interaction of these compartments.

Impacts of increased α-synuclein on clathrin-mediated endocytosis at synapses:implications for neurodegenerative diseases

α-Synuclein causes synaptic pathologies in several neurodegenerative diseases：Parkinson’s disease（PD）is a neurodegenerative disease that impacts the lives of millions of people worldwide.A pathological hallmark of PD,as well as dementia with Lewy bodies（DLB）and several Alzheimer’s disease variants,is the appearanceof intracellular inclusions called Lewy bodies, which contain high levels of aggregated α-synuclein,

Association of Increased Urine Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Urinary brain-derived neurotrophic factor（BDNF）, an ubiquitous neurotrophin, was found to rise in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia（BPH）. We hypothesized that the urinary level of BDNF could be a potential biomarker for lower urinary tract symptoms（LUTS） in patients with BPH. Totally, 76 patients with BPH-caused LUTS and 32 male control subjects without BPH were enrolled. International Prostate Symptom Score（IPSS） was applied to assess the symptom severity of LUTS. Urodynamic tests were performed for the diagnosis of underlying detrusor overactivity（DO） in the patients with BPH. Urine samples were collected from all subjects. Urinary BDNF levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and normalized by urinary creatinine（Cr） levels. Seventy-six BPH patients were divided into moderate LUTS group（n=51, 720） according to the IPSS. Of the 76 BPH patients, DO was present in 34（44.7%） according to the urodynamic test. The urinary BDNF/Cr levels were significantly higher in BPH patients with moderate LUTS（8.29±3.635, P〈0.0001） and severe LUTS（11.8±6.44, P〈0.0001） than normal controls（1.71±0.555）. Patients with severe LUTS tended to have higher urinary BDNF/Cr levels than patients with moderate LUTS（11.8±6.44 vs. 8.29±3.635, P=0.000）. The conditions of BPH with LUTS correlated with elevated urinary BDNF levels, and urinary BDNF levels were even higher in BPH-DO patients. The results of this study have provided evidence to suggest that urinary BDNF level test could evaluate the severity of LUTS in BPH patients, and BDNF level can be used as a biomarker

Increased intracranial pressure and macular thickening:is there a link?

Dear Editor,I am Dr. Hamid Sajjadi, director of Neuro-Ophthalmology at San Jose Eye and Laser Medical Center in California USA and director of Department of Ophthalmology, Acacia Medical Center, Dubai, UAE. I write to present three cases of macular thickening (MT) and micro-papilledema associated with increased intracranial pressure (IICP).

FDI in Hi-tech Service Sector and Hi-tech Manufacturing Increased

China’s foreign trade from January to July According to the Customs statistics,China’s total import and export in January-July reached RMB 13.21trillion,down 3%year on year.Among these,the export was RMB 7.6 trillion,down 1.6%;the import RMB 5.61trillion,down 4.8%.The surplus was RMB 1.99 trillion,up 8.7%.(In

Entry-Level Forward Surgical Team Training Is Associated with Increased Confidence of Primary Combat Surgeons

Background: In recent years, we have established an entry-level Forward Surgical Team (FST) training program in a Chinese military medical university for the 5th grade undergraduates, who would be deployed to different military medical services as primary combat surgeons. This study aimed to assess the role of this pre-service training in improving their confidence with combat medical skills, after several years since they received the training. Methods: We conducted a nationwide survey of 239 primary combat surgeons who have ever participated in an entry-level FST training program before deployment between June 2016 and June 2020, which was for evaluating on a 5-point Likert scale the benefits of entry-level FST training and conventional surgery training in improving their confidence with combat medical skills. The difference in scores was compared using the student t-test. Significance was considered as P Results: The total score was significantly higher for entry-level FST training than that for conventional surgery training (30.76 ± 4.33 vs. 28.95 ± 4.80, P There was no significant difference between the training for surgical skills confidence scores (18.03 ± 8.04 vs. 17.51 ± 8.30, P = 0.098), but for non-technical skills, the score of entry-level FST training was significantly higher than that of conventional surgery training (12.73 ± 5.39 vs. 11.44 ± 5.62, P The distributions of confidence scores were different under various subgroups by demographics. There were no significant differences in scores between the two training in all specific surgical skill sets except “life-saving surgery” (P = 0.011). Scores of all 4 non-technical skill sets were significantly higher for entry-level FST than those for conventional surgery training (P Conclusions: The training should be considered as an essential strategy to improve confidence in combat medical skills, especially life-saving surgery and non-technical skills, for primary combat surgeons.

Import Volume of China's Alumina Expect for Artificial Corundum in Jan.2013 Increased by 9.3%YOY

The data of China＇s Custom showed the import volume of China＇s alumina except for artificial corundum was 488 thousand tons in Jan. 2013, increasing by 9.3% YOY; the import value was USD 175.498 million, increasing by 7.8% YOY.

Study of Nonlinear Earthquake Flow Functions and Their Application to the Space Increased Probability of Strong Earthquake (SIP)

The definition and abnormality discriminatory criteria of earthquake flow function are introduced in this paper based on the algorithm of Space Increased Probability (SIP). Nine earthquake flow functions were defined by the method. The retrospect test that applied the SIP algorithm with the nonlinear earthquake flow function to 7 earthquakes, which occurred from 1975 to 1989 in Eastern China, with a magnitude of 6 or greater depicted that 6 of the 7 strong earthquakes (86%) were located in the SIP areas, and the SIP covers about 32% of the total research time-space domain. These suggest that the R-value, an effective scale for earthquake forecast, is 54% and may imply that the nonlinear earthquake flow function introduced in this paper can be applied to the intermediate-term earthquake forecast research.

Soft knitting yarn at low costs Production increased thanks to rotor spinning machine R 66

Due to the increased demand for soft knitting yarn, Rieter customer Xinjiang Kangruixin Textile Co. Ltd. wants to increase production. At the same time, the Aksu-based company from the Xinjiang province, China, also faced pressures to save energy and personnel costs.

American Factories Continue to Increase Equipment Investment——Competitors in Asia also increased their consumption of machine tools.

去年美国金属加工工厂对新机床产品的需求量较 2004 年和 2003 年都有增加。消沉中的美国资本投资发生了一个转变,排在德国之前成为第三大消费国。然而对于美国机床业来说,不太好的消息是亚洲竞争对手同样增加了他们在机床的设备投资。来自第 41 次世界机床生产和消费的调查显示,中国、日本、韩国、印度以及中国台湾地区的机床消费都有显著增长。在 28 个国家和地区的调查中,四分之三的国家和地区消费都在增长,这同时也诠释了经济“表面消费”的含义。这一切表明美国的机床消费量还会继续保持增加,订购机器的数量会维持向上的势头,最新的数据也证明了这一点。此外,调查数据还罗列了其它国家,尤其是亚洲国家的机床生产情况(本刊2006 年第一期环球瞭望栏目文章图表中显示了世界主要机床生产状况):德国和日本领导着世界机床的生产;中国超过意大利成为第三大机床生产国;中国台湾地区排在第五位;美国机床的生产和出口排在台湾之后,保持小的增长;韩国与瑞士紧追其后;印度也毫不示弱。这28个被调查国家和地区的机床产量都比前一年平均增长了14% 。中国、日本、韩国、印度以及中国台湾地区占据了整个调查地区机床产量的 47.6% ,作为CECIMO 成员的由 15 个国家组成的西欧联盟占据了机床产量的 4 2 . 3 % 。

Rapamycin increased development of CD4^+ CD25~h ighFoxp3^+ T cells of peripheral blood in liver transplant recipients

Objective To investigate the possible influence of immunosuppressive therapy,including sirolimus ( SRL) and calcineurin inhibitors ( CNI,tacrolimus) ,on level of Treg in liver allo - graft recipients. Methods Forty - seven liver transplant recipients with stable liver function were assessed for at least 2 years,and divided into

Clinical significance of large decompressive craniectomy to control intractable increased intracranial pressure in patients with traumatic brain injury

Objective To investigate the role of decompressive craniectomy (DC) to decrease intractable intracranial hypertension(ICH) due to diffuse brain swelling and / or cerebral edema after severe traumatic brain injury and the time window of DC to affect on prognosis. Methods The clinical record of 132 patients who underwent DC for posttraumatic intractable ICH in our hospital from July 2003 to

Lynas,Australia's rare earth producer has increased its sales in 2017

As sales and demand increased in the electric car industry,Lynas,a rare earth producer in Australia,announced a surge in revenue in the second half of 2017.It was reported that the company’s six month sales up to December 31,2017 was209 million Australian dollars($155.7 million),compared with a$114.6 million in

Assessing the Safety Impacts of Increased Speed Limits on Kansas Freeways

Suitable speed limit is important for providing safety for road users. Lower-than-required posted speed limits could cause the majority of drivers non-compliant and higher-than-required posted speed limits may also increase the number of crashes with related severities. The speed limit raised in Kansas from 70 mph to 75 mph on a number of freeway segments in 2011. The goal of this study is to assess the safety impacts of the freeway sections influenced by speed limit increase. Three years before and three years after speed limit increase was considered and three methods were used: 1-Empirical Bayes (EB), 2-before-and-after with comparison group, and 3-cross-sectional study. The Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) were estimated and showed 16 percent increase for total crashes according to EB method. Further, the before-and-after with comparison group method showed 27 percent increase in total crashes and 35 percent increase on fatal and injury crashes. The cross- sectional method also presented 25 percent increase on total crashes and 62 percent increase on fatal and injury crashes. It was seen that these increases were statistically significant.