Comparative Study Between Gender Bias in Household Water Conservation and Management in Commune of Pelengana

Highlighting the practice of water conservation (PWC) is a safe way to accomplish water savings. Nevertheless, parameters affecting behavior change linked to water use keep uncertain. In this study, 467 residents (female: 272; male: 195) from three villages situated in the commune of Pelengana in Segou, Mali were investigated in order to analyze the effects of awareness, perceptions and individual water-use patterns control on PWC, and also the influence of gender on inhabitants' PWC. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post-hoc LSD tests were used in analyzing different data. Participants were very familiar with PWC, but stated low involvement in PWC, especially among men consumers. Although women adopted more PWC than men, the amount of water consumed by these women was more twice greater that of men. Women consumers engaged in PWC principally to reduce water costs, while men consumers applied PWC principally for water scarcity reduction. Daily habits changes and demands of extra time and effort were the principal obstacles for PWC, notably for men consumers. In all, there is a pressing need to enhance information clarity and communication among gender, consumers, and decision-makers to strengthen social assistance for water conservation. Keywords: Water conservation, behavior, gender, awareness, water-use patterns, Mali's rural area DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/63-05 Publication date:March 31st 202

Evaluations of 5-fluorourcil treated lung cancer cells by atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to obtain the physical information of single live cancer cells; however, the physical changes in live cells with time based on AFM remain to be studied, which play a key role in the evaluation of the efficacy and side effects of drugs. Herein, the treatment of the A549 cell line with the anticarcinogen 5-fluorouracil has been discussed based on the AFM analysis of their continuous physical changes, including their surface morphology, height, adhesion and Young's modulus, with time. In comparison, the African green monkey kidney (Vero) cell line was tested as normal cells to determine the side effects of 5-fluorouracil. The results show that the optimal concentration of 5-fluorouracil is about 500 μM, which presents the best anticancer effect and mild side effects

Effect of extract from ginseng rust rot on the inhibition of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of major leading causes of cancer death worldwide. As a traditional medicine, the anti-cancer function of ginseng is being growingly recognized and investigated. However, the effect of ginseng rust rot on human HCC is unknown yet. In this study, the HCC cells were treated with different parts of mountain cultivated ginseng rust rot and compared with human normal liver cells. The morphology, survival rate and β-actin expression of the cells were changed by introducing the ginseng epidermis during the incubation process. Notably, the results reveal that the ginseng epidermis can induce apoptosis by altering the morphologies of cells, indicating the practical implication for the HCC treatment and drug development

Soil water dynamics and availability for citrus and peanut along a hillslope at the Sunjia Red Soil Critical Zone Observatory (CZO)

Acknowledgments This work was granted by the China-UK jointed Red Soil Critical Zone project from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 41571130053; 41301233) and from Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC: Code: NE/N007611/1), and by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2011BAD31B04). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.Peer reviewedPostprin

Microbial contamination status of student meal in Wenzhou from 2016 to 2020

ObjectiveTo provide basis for further ensuring the safety of student meals， the microbial contamination status in kindergarten， primary and secondary school canteens in Wenzhou in the past five years were investigated.MethodsFood samples collected in Wenzhou from 2016 to 2020 were detected for hygienic target bacteria （Aerobic Plate count and Escherichia coli） and foodborne pathogens （Staphylococcus aureus， Bacillus cereus， Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes）， and data were analyzed with SPSS 18.0.ResultsThe microbial contamination of student meal in 2016 was serious， with a unqualified rate as high as 23.58%. While the unqualified rates of student meal decreased by 6.27%， 6.80%， 9.06%， and 3.82% from 2017 to 2020 （χ2 = 60.852， P<0.001）. Escherichia coli contamination was one of the most serious， and its unqualified rates in the past five years showed a downward trend （9.43%， 5.64%， 6.47%， 6.41%， and 1.91%， χ2 = 5.225， P = 0.022）. Except for the higher detection rates of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella in 2016 （7.35% and 9.91%）， the unqualified rates of foodborne pathogens in other years were at a low level. For different types of schools， the unqualified rates of meal samples for kindergarten， primary and secondary school students in Wenzhou from 2016 to 2020 were 10.34%， 12.81%， and 6.90%， respectively， which had significant differences （χ2 = 8.341， P = 0.015）. For different sampling quarters and monitoring points， no significant difference was observed in the overall status of microbial contamination of student meal. Compared with 2016， the risk of microbial contamination of student meal significantly reduced from 2017 to 2020 after adjusting the influencing factors such as the school type， sampling season and location （P<0.01）.ConclusionMicrobial contamination of the student meal in kindergartens， primary and middle schools in Wenzhou was the most serious in 2016， while the hygiene conditions of student meal improved from 2017 to 2020. Foodborne microbial contamination in Wenzhou could potentially threaten student health， which should be monitored to prevent the occurrence of foodborne illness in schools

Effect of Trichoderma viride on rhizosphere microbial communities and biocontrol of soybean root rot

Biological seed dressing is a cost-effective means to protect plant roots from pathogens. Trichoderma is generally considered as one of the most common biological seed dressings. However, there is still a dearth of information on the effects of Trichoderma on microbial community of rhizosphere soil. High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the effects of Trichoderma viride and a chemical fungicide on microbial community of soybean rhizosphere soil. The results showed that both T. viride and chemical fungicide could significantly reduce the disease index of soybean (15.11% for Trichoderma and 17.33% for Chemical), while no significant difference was observed between them. Both T. viride and chemical fungicide could affect the structure of rhizosphere microbial community, they increased the β-diversity of microbial community and significantly reduce the relative abundance of Saprotroph-Symbiotroph. Chemical fungicide could reduce the complexity and stability of co-occurrence network. However, T. viride is beneficial for maintaining network stability and increasing network complexity. There were 31 bacterial genera and 21 fungal genera significantly correlated with the disease index. Furthermore, several potential plant pathogenic microorganisms were also positively correlated with disease index, such as Fusarium, Aspergillus, Conocybe, Naganishia, and Monocillium. From this work, T. viride may be used as a substitute for chemical fungicide to control soybean root rot and be more friendly to soil microecology

Impact of a Local Vision Care Center on Glasses Ownership and Wearing Behavior in Northwestern Rural China: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Visual impairment is common among rural Chinese children, but fewer than a quarter of children who need glasses actually own and use them. To study the effect of rural county hospital vision centers (VC) on self-reported glasses ownership and wearing behavior (primary outcome) among rural children in China, we conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial at a VC in the government hospital of Qinan County, a nationally-designated poor county. All rural primary schools (n = 164) in the county were invited to participate. Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment group to receive free vision care and eyeglasses, if needed, or control group, who received glasses only at the end of the study. Among 2806 eligible children with visiual impairment (visual acuity &#8804; 6/12 in either eye), 93 (3.31%) were lost to follow-up, leaving 2713 students (45.0% boys). Among these, glasses ownership at the end of the school year was 68.6% among 1252 treatment group students (82 schools), and 26.4% (p &lt; 0.01) among 1461 controls (82 schools). The rate of wearing glasses was 55.2% in the treatment group and 23.4% (p &lt; 0.01) among the control group. In logistic regression models, treatment group membership was significantly associated with spectacle ownership (Odds Ratio [OR] = 11.9, p &lt; 0.001) and wearing behavior (OR = 7.2, p &lt; 0.001). County hospital-based vision centers appear effective in delivering childrens&#8217; glasses in rural China