Impact of Direct Income Payments on Productive Efficiency of Korean Rice Farms

This paper examines the impact of direct income payments on productive efficiency of Korean rice farms, using farm-level cross sectional data in 2006. For representation of efficiency and its determinants, this paper uses a model that estimates the deviations of farms from a translog distance function and the determinants of these deviations. This paper especially estimates a stochastic frontier production function to explain deviations from best-practice productivity with a two-part error term including statistical noise from measurement error and technical inefficiency arising from farms not reaching the production frontier boundary. The empirical evidence finds that farms that get a higher share of direct payments in farm revenue are less efficient than others. This inefficiency is reduced by increases in farm size. Another result indicates that farms received greater direct payments on aggregate are more efficient than other farms since fixed payment, one part of rice direct payment, is tied to the amount of a farm's cropland that has been enrolled in programs, as well as yield histories.direct income payments, productive efficiency, stochastic frontier production function, Korea, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

High energy-charged cell factory for heterologous protein synthesis

Overexpression of gluconeogenic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK) under glycolytic conditions enables Escherichia coli to maintain a greater intracellular ATP concentration and, consequently, to up-regulate genes for amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis. To investigate the effect of a high intracellular ATP concentration on heterologous protein synthesis, we studied the expression of a foreign gene product, enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP), under control of the T7 promoter in E. coli BL21(DE3) strain overexpressing PCK. This strain was able to maintain twice as much intracellular ATP and to express two times more foreign protein than the control strain. These results indicate that a high energy-charged cell can be beneficial as a protein-synthesizing cell factory. The potential uses of such a cell factory are discussed

Effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development

Phytoestrogen is an estrogenic compound that occurs naturally in plants. The most common sources of phytoestrogen are soybean products, which contain high levels of isoflavones. This compound, which has structural similarity with estrogen, can act as an estrogen receptor agonist or antagonist. Animal studies provide evidence of the significant effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development, including altered pubertal timing, impaired estrous cycling and ovarian function, and altered hypothalamus and pituitary functions. Although human studies examining the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development are extremely limited, the results of some studies agree with those of the animal studies. In this paper, we review the possible mechanism of phytoestrogen action and the evidence showing the effects of phytoestrogen on sexual development in animal and human studies

An Evidence-Based Review of Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics and prebiotics have a variety of beneficial effects on the host’s health. Extensive studies have established probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and further the concept of next-generation probiotics has been advocated. Clinical trials and mechanism of action research have demonstrated that the gut microbiota and host health are inextricably linked, and that probiotics can benefit intestinal-related disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease by controlling the gut microbiota. Accordingly, the host’s gut microbiota has the greatest direct effect on the efficiency of probiotics and prebiotics. Due to the highly individualized gut microbiota, supplementation with probiotics and prebiotics must take the host’s gut microbiota into account. Personalized and specific interventions, as well as the development of next-generation probiotics, will be the new focus of research