CHANGES FOR CHINA'S FOREIGN TRADE GROWTH

In 1996,China began to set targets for quadrupling its per capitaaverage GNP for a better livelihood and socialist market economicsystem——a kind of mature opening economy in the Ninth Five-YearPlan period(1996-2000),aiming at comformity with the worldeconomy.For these purposes,it is essential to expand China’sopening to the outside for its foreign trade to boom and thus make fulluse of foreign and domestic markets for accelerating our economicdevelopment and upgrading development efficiency.In other words,China’s foreign trade development in the Ninth Five-Year Planperiod will greatly affect and control our economic growth andeconomic system reform.

Secular Changes on the Distribution of Body Mass Index among Chinese Children and Adolescents, 1985-2010

Objective To analyze the change in Body Mass Index （BMI） distribution among Chinese children and adolescents for the development of more effective intervention for childhood obesity. Methods Data on the national students＇ constitution and health survey between 1985 and 2010 was used for this study. Subjects were students aged 7-18 randomly selected from 30 provinces in China. BMI for-age curves were developed by LMS method, and the trend of BMI distribution was determined by comparing the upper BMI percentiles and analyzing the skew shift of distribution between 2985 and 2010. Results An overall positive swift trend of BMI between 1985 and 2010 was observed among the Chinese school-age children and adolescents. The average median of the BMI increased from 16.8 and 17.0 ks/m2 to 18.2 and 17.9 kg/m2 in 25 years, with increments 0.56 and 0.36 kg/m2 per decade for males and females, respectively. The more obvious increments were found at the high BMI. The total increments of BMI in this period were 4.03 and 2.20 kg/m2 at the 85th, 6.24 and 3.57 kg/m2 at the 95th, and 6.99 and 4.27 kg/m2 at the 97th percentiles, for males and females, respectively. Conclusion Obvious increments were observed at high BMI of the Chinese children and adolescents. More effective interventions should be taken for control and prevention of obesity and its health consequence for these subgroups. It is necessary to establish a risk-complex system consisting of the identification of BMI scope, the screen of the disease risk factors and the assessment of excessive adiposity.

Adaptation of potato production to climate change by optimizing sowing date in the Loess Plateau of central Gansu, China

Potato grows in most part of China, it achieves higher yield and better quality in Gansu Province than in others. With global warming, its growth duration has been prolonged and sowing date become earlier than before. Therefore, to regulate its sowing date and growing period is of great significance for better harvest. In this study, experiments were conducted with six sowing-date treatments of potato in Dingxi, which is in the Loess Plateau of central Gansu Province in Northwest China in 2010. The growth period, morphological index and change in yield and their relationships with temperature, precipitation, and other climatic factors were investigated for each treatment. Results show that the crop with different sowing dates experienced different climate conditions, leading to distinct growth duration, plant height, and leaf area index. The growth duration was shortened due to a delay in sowing date. For each 15-day delay in sowing, the growth duration was reduced by 12 days on average. A significant linear relationship was found between numbers of days either from seeding to emergence or from flowering to harvest and mean temperature over the corresponding period. Dry matter accumulation, tuber fresh weight, and final yield were all decreased because of insufficient cumulative temperature over the shorter growing periods. Marked differences in tuber yield were discovered among the six treatments of sowing date, the potato planted on May 27 giving the highest yield. The potato planted either earlier or later would produce invariably lower yield than the treatment of May 27. Late May therefore can be taken as the optimum sowing time of potato in this region because the crop can fully utilize thermal resource. We conclude that to postpone sowing time is a good practice for potato production to adapt to climate warming in the Loess Plateau of central Gansu, China.

Climate Change and Green Growth:New Thinking Guest Editors' Words

Over the past three decades, few factors have changed the world economy more than China＇s growtk Hundreds of millions of people have experienced massive improvements in their conditions of living. As a result, the aspiration of billions of people worldwide to escape poverty has become a realistic prospect in the 21 st century. However, the Chinese experience also shows that realizing this prospect comes with the huge challenge of reducing environmental disruption fast enough.

Effects of laser irradiation on Trichophyton rubrum growth and ultrastructure

Background Trichophyton rubrum （T. rubrum） is the most common causative agent of dermatophytosis worldwide. In this study, we examined the effect of laser irradiation on the growth and morphology of T. rubrum. Methods Colonies of T. rubrum were isolated （one colony per plate）, and randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups： Q-switched 694 nm ruby laser treatment, long-pulsed Nd：YAG 1064 nm laser treatment, intense pulsed light （IPL） treatment, 308 nm excimer laser treatment and the blank control group without treatment. Standardized photographs were obtained from grown-up fungal plates prior to treatment. Colonies were then exposed to various wavelengths and fluences of laser light. To compare the growth of colonies, they were re-photographed under identical conditions three and six days post-treatment. To investigate the morphology of T. rubrum, scanning electron microscope （SEM） and transmission electron microscope （TEM） images were obtained from specimens exposed to 24 hours of laser treatment. Results Growth of T. rubrum colonies was significantly inhibited following irradiation by 694 nm Q-switched and 1064 nm long-pulsed Nd：YAG lasers. Other treatments exerted little or no effect. Q-switched laser irradiation exerted a stronger growth inhibitory effect than long-pulsed Nd：YAG laser irradiation. Following treatment by the Q-switched ruby laser system, T. rubrum hyphae became shrunken and deflated, and SEM images revealed rough, fractured hyphal surfaces, punctured with small destructive holes. TEM images showed that the hyphae were degenerating, as evidenced by the irregular shape of hyphae, rough and loose cell wall, and obscure cytoplasmic texture. Initially high electron density structure was visible in the cell; later, low-density structure appeared as a result of cytoplasmic dissolution. In contrast, the blank control group showed no obvious changes in morphology.

Impact of Climate Change on Maize Potential Productivity and the Potential Productivity Gap in Southwest China

The impact of climate change on maize potential productivity and the potential productivity gap in Southwest China（SWC） are investigated in this paper.We analyze the impact of climate change on the photosynthetic,light-temperature,and climatic potential productivity of maize and their gaps in SWC,by using a crop growth dynamics statistical method.During the maize growing season from 1961 to 2010,minimum temperature increased by 0.20℃ per decade（p 〈 0.01） across SWC.The largest increases in average and minimum temperatures were observed mostly in areas of Yunnan Province.Growing season average sunshine hours decreased by 0.2 h day^（-1） per decade（p 〈 0.01） and total precipitation showed an insignificant decreasing trend across SWC.Photosynthetic potential productivity decreased by 298 kg ha^（-1）per decade（p 〈 0.05）.Both light-temperature and climatic potential productivity decreased（p 〈 0.05） in the northeast of SWC,whereas they increased（p 〈 0.05） in the southwest of SWC.The gap between lighttemperature and climatic potential productivity varied from 12 to 2729 kg ha^（-1）,with the high value areas centered in northern and southwestern SWC.Climatic productivity of these areas reached only 10%-24%of the light-temperature potential productivity,suggesting that there is great potential to increase the maize potential yield by improving water management in these areas.In particular,the gap has become larger in the most recent 10 years.Sensitivity analysis shows that the climatic potential productivity of maize is most sensitive to changes in temperature in SWC.The findings of this study are helpful for quantification of irrigation water requirements so as to achieve maximum yield potentials in SWC.