Winter Wheat Drought Monitoring and Comprehensive Risk Assessment： Case Study of Xingtai Administrative District in North China

Drought monitoring is the base for drought coping and adaptation. Xingtai is located in North China＇s key winter wheat production areas where drought is severe and frequent. The rainfall during winter wheat growing season is just about 1/3 of total demand. Xingtai has typical mountainous, hilly and plain agricultural zones, compound rain-fed and irrigated farming patterns. The winter wheat irrigation has heavily depended on overdraw of groundwater in recent decades. In the study, the MODIS （Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer） images taken at the key winter wheat growing season （Mar. to May） in normal rainfall year （2006） were selected, extracted NDVI （Normalized Difference Vegetation Index） and LST （Land Surface Temperature） data, calculated TVDI （Temperature and Vegetation Drought Index）, classified and mapped winter wheat drought intensity. Further, based on TVDI, a CDRA （Comprehensive Drought Risk Assessment） model for winter wheat drought disaster risk assessment was constructed and zoning was made. Verified by winter wheat yield, the risk zoning by CDRA is consistent with actual crop failure space. This method can be used in drought risk management.

Dynamic simulating model of the field resources utilizing system

In views of system theory, information theory and cybernetics, this paper utilizes the method of the system dynamics to create the field resources utilizing system main diagram of causation and system dynamic following diagram, uses the Dynamo computer language to construct the dynamic emulating model, and with the help of computer, completes the computer dynamic simulating of the field resources utilizing system. This paper utilizes the method of AHP （analytical hierarchy process） to seek for the most excellent program of Nanpi County＇s field resources utilizing structure. So we can provide scientific basis for leaders to make scientific management and strategic decision and the limited field resources will bring out the most benefit for society, economics and ecological.

Seven Thousand Years of Hebei Province

There are 150,000 relics, testimony to7,000 years of civilization in Hebei, onshow to visitors at the HebeiMuseum. A selection of the mostvaluable relics unearthed in Hebeiwill be shown in our column "AncientRelics" in 1999.

Chrysophanol attenuates lead exposure-induced injury to hippocampal neurons in neonatal mice

Previous studies have shown that chrysophanol protects against learning and memory impairments in lead-exposed adult mice. In the present study, we investigated whether chrysophanol can alleviate learning and memory dysfunction and hippocampal neuronal injury in lead-exposed neonatal mice. At the end of lactation, chrysophanol（0.1, 1.0, 10.0 mg/kg） was administered to the neonatal mice by intraperitoneal injection for 15 days. Chrysophanol significantly alleviated injury to hippocampal neurons and improved learning and memory abilities in the lead-poisoned neonatal mice. Chrysophanol also significantly decreased lead content in blood, brain, heart, spleen, liver and kidney in the lead-exposed neonatal mice. The levels of malondialdehyde in the brain, liver and kidney were significantly reduced, and superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were significantly increased after chrysophanol treatment. Collectively, these findings indicate that chrysophanol can significantly reduce damage to hippocampal neurons in lead-exposed neonatal mice.

Apolipoprotein E mimetic peptide protects against diffuse brain injury

Apolipoprotein E plays a crucial role in inhibiting chronic neurodegenerative processes. Howev-er, its impact on neurological function following diffuse brain injury is still unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of action of apolipoprotein E mimetic peptide on diffuse brain injury. Apolipoprotein E mimetic peptide was administered into the caudal vein of rats with diffuse brain injury before and after injury. We found that apo-lipoprotein E mimetic peptide signiifcantly decreased the number of apoptotic neurons, reduced extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 phosphorylation, down-regulated Bax and cytochrome c expression, decreased malondialdehyde content, and increased superoxide dismutase activity in a dose-dependent manner. These experimental ifndings demonstrate that apolipoprotein E mimetic peptide improves learning and memory function and protects against diffuse brain injury-induced apoptosis by inhibiting the extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2-Bax mito-chondrial apoptotic pathway.