Functional response of the soil microbial community to biochar applications

Biochar has the potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change and soil degradation by simultaneously sequestering C in soil and improving soil quality. However, the mechanism of biochar's effect on soil microbial communities remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted a global meta-analysis, where we collected 2,110 paired observations from 107 published papers and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the effects of biochar on microbial community structure and function. Our result indicated that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal abundance, microbial biomass C, and functional richness increased with biochar addition regardless of loads, time since application, and experiment types. Results from mixed linear model analysis suggested that soil respiration and actinomycetes (ACT) abundance decreased with biochar application. With the increase of soil pH, the effect of biochar on fungal abundance and C metabolic ability was lessened. Higher biochar pH associated with higher pyrolysis temperatures reduced the abundance of bacteria, fungi, ACT, and soil microbes feeding on miscellaneous C from Biolog Eco-plate experiments. SEM that examined the effect of biochar properties, load, and soil properties on microbial community indicated that fungal abundance was the dominant factor affecting the response of the bacterial abundance to biochar. The response of bacterial abundance to biochar addition was soil dependent, whereas fungi abundance was mostly related to biochar load and pyrolysis temperature. Based on soil conditions, controlling biochar load and production conditions would be a direct way to regulate the effect of biochar application on soil microbial function and increase the capacity to sequester C

Income inequality, globalization, and country risk: a cross-country analysis

Guided by the assessments of globalization in its broader sense, this paper explores the impact of globalization in terms of a salient aspect of economic, social and political on income inequality for a more comprehensive dataset of 121 countries from 1984 to 2014. We also investigate whether the correlations between globalization and inequality vary with economic, financial, and political country risk indicators. Our empirical results reveal that globalization deteriorates income distribution, but economic and financial stability can mitigate the adverse effect. In addition, lowerincome or non-OECD countries generally have higher inequality caused by globalization. Knowledge of these relationships can help the government to formulate more specific policies aiming at improving the income distribution. First published online 13 December 201

Ripple effect and regional house prices dynamics in China

This paper examines the stationarity properties, the long-run equilibrium and the leadlag relationship among the regional house prices in China from December 2000 to July 2013. Unlike traditional unit-root tests, the panel seemingly unrelated regressions augmented Dickey-Fuller (SURADF) unit-root test reveals that the regional house prices in China are a mixture of I(0) and I(1) processes. There is concrete evidence in favor of the hypothesis of a long-run equilibrium relationship among all regions, except for Shanghai region, and supporting the price diffusion or ripple effect among these Chinese cities. Finally, we determine that these regional house prices exhibit uni-directional causalities running from Beijing, Chongqing, and Shenzhen to Guangzhou and Tianjin, respectively

The effects of postintubation hypertension in severe traumatic brain injury

Introduction. The effect of post-intubation hypertension in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients remains uncertain. We aimed to determine the relationship between post-intubation hypertension (mean arterial pressure (MAP) > 110mmHg) and outcomes in severe TBI. Methods. In this retrospective cohort study, adults who presented with isolated TBI and a MAP 70mmHg were assessed. Data were retrieved from our institutional trauma registry and the admission list of our neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU). Results. We enrolled 126 patients, 81 of whom had a MAP 110 mmHg after intubation and were assigned to group 1; 45 patients who had a MAP > 110 mmHg were assigned to group 2. Only age (P = 0.008), heart rate (HR; P = 0.036), and MAP before intubation (P 110 mmHg, P < 0.034, OR 3.119, 95% CI 1.087–8.953). Conclusion. Post-intubation hypertension was associated with longer ventilator-dependent and ICU stays in patients with severe TBI

The effects of postintubation hypertension in severe traumatic brain injury

Introduction. The effect of post-intubation hypertension in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients remains uncertain. We aimed to determine the relationship between post-intubation hypertension (mean arterial pressure (MAP) > 110mmHg) and outcomes in severe TBI. Methods. In this retrospective cohort study, adults who presented with isolated TBI and a MAP 70mmHg were assessed. Data were retrieved from our institutional trauma registry and the admission list of our neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU). Results. We enrolled 126 patients, 81 of whom had a MAP 110 mmHg after intubation and were assigned to group 1; 45 patients who had a MAP > 110 mmHg were assigned to group 2. Only age (P = 0.008), heart rate (HR; P = 0.036), and MAP before intubation (P 110 mmHg, P < 0.034, OR 3.119, 95% CI 1.087–8.953). Conclusion. Post-intubation hypertension was associated with longer ventilator-dependent and ICU stays in patients with severe TBI

Asymmetric dynamics of insurance premium : the impacts of output and economic policy uncertainty

This paper investigates the asymmetric and nonlinear transmission of real output and economic policy uncertainty to insurance premiums for the US economy over the annual period of 1980–2014. Using the most up-to-date nonlinear autoregressive distributed lags framework, we simultaneously examine short- and long-run asymmetric responses of insurance premiums through positive and negative partial sum decompositions of changes in the explanatory variables. Our empirical results reveal that real output and economic policy uncertainties both affect insurance premiums in an asymmetric and nonlinear manner, but the transmission mechanism is not the same. As to the impact of real output, we find that an increase in real output leads to enhancing the insurance premiums, while a decrease in output has a greater impact causing insurance premiums to move down. For the impact of economic policy uncertainty, the results also suggest that total and non-life insurance premiums increase with rising uncertainty, while life insurance premiums decrease with rising uncertainty. These results have significant implications for insurance-related econometric analysis, investment decisions, forecasting, and policy-making.Chien-Chiang Lee is grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan for financial support through Grant MOST 104-2628-H-110-001.http://link.springer.com/journal/1812019-07-30hj2018Economic

A Retrospective Cohort Study Comparing Stroke Recurrence Rate in Ischemic Stroke Patients With and Without Acupuncture Treatment.

Little was known about the effects of acupuncture on stroke recurrence. The aim of this study is to investigate whether ischemic stroke patients receiving acupuncture treatment have a decreased risk of stroke recurrence. A retrospective cohort study of 30,058 newly diagnosed cases of ischemic stroke in 2000 to 2004 was conducted based on the claims of Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The use of acupuncture treatment and stroke recurrence were identified during the follow-up period from 2000 to 2009. This study compared the risk of stroke recurrence between ischemic stroke cohorts with and without acupuncture treatment by calculating adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of acupuncture associated with stroke recurrence in the Cox proportional hazard model. The stroke recurrence rate per 1000 person-years decreased from 71.4 without to 69.9 with acupuncture treatment (P &lt; 0.001). Acupuncture treatment was associated with reduced risk of stroke recurrence (HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.84-0.91). The acupuncture effect was noted in patients with or without medical treatment for stroke prevention but its impact decreased with aging of stroke patients. Compared with stroke patients without acupuncture treatment and medication therapy, the hazard ratios of stroke recurrence for those had medication therapy only, acupuncture only, and both were 0.42 (95% CI 0.38-0.46), 0.50 (95% CI 0.43-0.57), and 0.39 (95% CI 0.35-0.43), respectively. This study raises the possibility that acupuncture might be effective in lowering stroke recurrence rate even in those on medications for stroke prevention. Results suggest the need of prospective sham-controlled and randomized trials to establish the efficacy of acupuncture in preventing stroke

Insurance activity and economic performance : fresh evidence from asymmetric panel causality tests

Insurance plays a fundamental role in any modern economy, but the literature has not accounted for the potential asymmetric causal impacts from the dynamic interaction between the insurance market and economic performance. This paper aims to fill this gap by studying the causal relationship between several measures of insurance per capita and real GDP per capita in the G7 countries over the period 1980–2014 via asymmetric panel causality tests. Our results show that insurance market activity and economic performance exhibit bidirectional causalities, but their direction, intensity and significance are different due to distinct market situations. In general, insurance activity plays a passive role in economic performance, while economic performance has a significant role in insurance activity. These findings offer several useful insights for policy makers and researchers.Chien-Chiang Lee is grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan for financial support through grant (MOST 107-2410-H-110-005-MY2).http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/infi2020-10-24hj2018Economic

Influence Factor of Tertiary Students’ Employability Awareness Adjust Industry 4.0

This study aims to analyze the correlation (N=621) among tertiary students’ career planning, e-recruiting adoption acceptance, and employability awareness in Taiwan. Tertiary students’ perceived career planning includes four factors, namely, self-appraisal, job expectancy, goal selection, and problem solving. E-recruiting adoption acceptance includes four factors, namely, playfulness, ease of use, effectiveness, and usefulness. Employability awareness includes four factors, namely, personal adaptability , employability ambition, career identity, and labour market. Participants responded to a 5-point Likert-type scale for each factor. Analysis was conducted using the structural equation modeling (SEM), and a good model fit was found for both the measurement and structural models. Research findings demonstrate that tertiary students’ career planning significantly and directly influences employability awareness. Career planning significantly and indirectly influences employability awareness by e-recruiting adoption acceptance. Tertiary students’ career planning and e-recruiting adoption acceptance fit the influence model and empirical data of employability awareness. Implications of this study, including the value of student self-assessment of their skills and utility of the e-recruiting to underpin personal career development planning and inform graduate recruitment processes, are discussed and recommendations made

Apoptotic Cell Death and Inhibition of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Human Colon Cancer Cells by an Active Fraction (HS7) from Taiwanofungus camphoratus

Aberrant activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in the development of colon cancer. HS7 is an active fraction extracted from Taiwanofungus camphoratus, which had been widely used as complementary medicine for Taiwan cancer patients in the past decades. In this study, we demonstrated the effects of HS7 on the growth inhibition, apoptosis induction, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling suppression in human colon cancer cells. HS7 significantly inhibited proliferation of HT29, HCT116, and SW480 colon cancer cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The apoptosis induction was evidenced by DNA fragmentation and subG1 accumulation, which was associated with increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP. By using Tcf-dependent luciferase activity assay, HS7 was found to inhibit the β-catenin/Tcf transcriptional activities. In addition, HS7 strongly suppressed the binding of Tcf complexes to its DNA-binding site shown in electrophoretic mobility shift assay. This inhibition was further confirmed by the decreased protein levels of Tcf-4 and β-catenin. The β-catenin/Tcf downstream target genes, such as survivin, c-myc, cyclin D1, MMP7, and MT1-MMP involved in apoptosis, invasion, and angiogenesis were also diminished as well. These results indicate that Taiwanofungus camphoratus may provide a benefit as integrative medicine for the treatment of colon cancer