Increase in cotton yield through improved leaf physiological functioning under the soil condition of reduced chemical fertilization compensated by the enhanced organic liquid fertilization

IntroductionLow agricultural nutrient input efficiency remains a significant impediment for crop production globally. To address this issue in cotton agroecosystems, there is a need to develop sustainable crop nutrient management strategies to achieve high crop yields. We hypothesized that organic liquid fertilizer (OF) combined with reduced chemical fertilizer (CF) would enhance cotton yield by improving leaf functioning and soil properties. However, the underlying mechanism and its related process is poorly understood.MethodsThis study explored the effects of OF combined with reduced CF on cotton yield, physiology and soil properties. Treatments included a single application of CF (CF: N, P2O5 and K2O applied at 228, 131 and 95 kg ha−1) and combined applications of OF and CF (OF0.6−OF1.4) in the following ratios: OF0.6, OF+60% CF; OF0.8, OF+80% CF; OF1.0, OF+100% CF; OF1.2, OF+120% CF; OF1.4, OF+140% CF. Results and discussionThe result showed that compared with CF, OF0.8, OF1.0 and OF1.2 increased soil organic matter (SOM) content by 9.9%, 16.3% and 23.7%, respectively. Compared with CF, the OF0.6, OF0.8, OF1.0, and OF1.2 treatments increased leaf area (LA) by 10.6−26.1%, chlorophyll content (Chl content) by 6.8−39.6%, and the efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) light energy (Y(II)), electron transfer rate of PSII (ETR) and photochemical quenching (qP) by 3.6−26.3%, 4.7−15.3% and 4.3−9.8%, respectively. The OF0.8 treatment increased net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs) and transpiration rate (E) by 22.0%, 27.4% and 26.8%, respectively, resulting in higher seed cotton yield. The seed cotton yield and economic coefficient were positively correlated with Pn, E, Gs and Y(II) from the full boll stage to the boll opening stage. In summary, the OF0.8 treatment can maintain a high SOM content and photosynthetic performance with reduced chemical fertilizer input without sacrificing yield. The integration of OF+80% CF (OF0.8) is a promising nutrient management strategy for highly efficient cotton production under mulch drip irrigation systems

Fully Inkjet-Printed, 2D Materials-Based Field-Effect Transistor for Water Sensing

Despite significant progress in solution-processing of 2D materials, it remains challenging to reliably print high-performance semiconducting channels that can be efficiently modulated in a field-effect transistor (FET). Herein, electrochemically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets are inkjet-printed into ultrathin semiconducting channels, resulting in high on/off current ratios up to 103. The reported printing strategy is reliable and general for thin film channel fabrication even in the presence of the ubiquitous coffee-ring effect. Statistical modeling analysis on the printed pattern profiles suggests that a spaced parallel printing approach can overcome the coffee-ring effect during inkjet printing, resulting in uniform 2D flake percolation networks. The uniformity of the printed features allows the MoS2 channel to be hundreds of micrometers long, which easily accommodates the typical inkjet printing resolution of tens of micrometers, thereby enabling fully printed FETs. As a proof of concept, FET water sensors are demonstrated using printed MoS2 as the FET channel, and printed graphene as the electrodes and the sensing area. After functionalization of the sensing area, the printed water sensor shows a selective response to Pb2+ in water down to 2 ppb. This work paves the way for additive nanomanufacturing of FET-based sensors and related devices using 2D nanomaterials

Functional connectivity changes are correlated with sleep improvement in chronic insomnia patients after rTMS treatment

BackgroundRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been increasingly used as a treatment modality for chronic insomnia disorder (CID). However, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of rTMS is limited.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate rTMS-induced alterations in resting-state functional connectivity and to find potential connectivity biomarkers for predicting and tracking clinical outcomes after rTMS.MethodsThirty-seven patients with CID received a 10-session low frequency rTMS treatment applied to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Before and after treatment, the patients underwent resting-state electroencephalography recordings and a sleep quality assessment using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).ResultsAfter treatment, rTMS significantly increased the connectivity of 34 connectomes in the lower alpha frequency band (8–10 Hz). Additionally, alterations in functional connectivity between the left insula and the left inferior eye junction, as well as between the left insula and medial prefrontal cortex, were associated with a decrease in PSQI score. Further, the correlation between the functional connectivity and PSQI persisted 1 month after the completion of rTMS as evidenced by subsequent electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and the PSQI assessment.ConclusionBased on these results, we established a link between alterations in functional connectivity and clinical outcomes of rTMS, which suggested that EEG-derived functional connectivity changes were associated with clinical improvement of rTMS in treating CID. These findings provide preliminary evidence that rTMS may improve insomnia symptoms by modifying functional connectivity, which can be used to inform prospective clinical trials and potentially for treatment optimization

Development and validation of a nomogram to predict the five-year risk of revascularization for non-culprit lesion progression in STEMI patients after primary PCI

BackgroundAcute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients after primary PCI were readmitted for revascularization due to non-culprit lesion (NCL) progression.ObjectiveTo develop and validate a nomogram that can accurately predict the likelihood of NCL progression revascularization in STEMI patients following primary PCI.MethodsThe study enrolled 1,612 STEMI patients after primary PCI in our hospital from June 2009 to June 2018. Patients were randomly divided into training and validation sets in a 7:3 ratio. The independent risk factors were determined by LASSO regression and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was utilized to develop a nomogram, which was then evaluated for its performance using the concordance statistics, calibration plots, and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsThe nomogram was composed of five predictors, including age (OR: 1.007 95% CI: 1.005–1.009, P < 0.001), body mass index (OR: 1.476, 95% CI: 1.363–1.600, P < 0.001), triglyceride and glucose index (OR: 1.050, 95% CI: 1.022–1.079, P < 0.001), Killip classification (OR: 1.594, 95% CI: 1.140–2.229, P = 0.006), and serum creatinine (OR: 1.007, 95% CI: 1.005–1.009, P < 0.001). Both the training and validation groups accurately predicted the occurrence of NCL progression revascularization (The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values, 0.901 and 0.857). The calibration plots indicated an excellent agreement between prediction and observation in both sets. Furthermore, the DCA demonstrated that the model exhibited clinical efficacy.ConclusionA convenient and accurate nomogram was developed and validated for predicting the occurrence of NCL progression revascularization in STEMI patients after primary PCI

Result of a year-long animal survey in a state-owned forest farm in Beijing, China

BackgroundArtificial forest can have great potential in serving as habitat to wildlife, depending on different management methods. As the state-owned forest farms now play a new role in ecological conservation in China, the biological richness of this kind of land-use type is understudied. Once owned by a mining company, a largest state-owned forest farm, Jingxi Forest Farm, has been reformed to be a state-owned forest farm with the purpose of conservation since 2017. Although this 116.4 km2 forest farm holds a near-healthy montaine ecosystem very representative in North China, a large proportion of artificial coniferous forest in the forest farm has been proven to hold less biodiversity than natural vegetation. This situation, however, provides a great opportunity for ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, from November 2019 to December 2020, we conducted a set of biodiversity surveys, whose results will serve as a baseline for further restoration and conservation.New informationHere, we report the result of a multi-taxa fauna diversity survey conducted in Jingxi Forest Farm mainly in year 2020 with explicit spatial information. It is the first survey of its kind conducted in this area, revealing a total of 19 species of mammals, 86 birds, four reptiles, two amphibians and one fish species, as well as 101 species of insects. Four species of mammals are identified as data-poor species as they have less than 100 occurrence records with coordination in the GBIF database. One species of insect, representing one new provincial record genus of Beijing, is reported

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Financial structures, political risk and economic growth

Using a panel of 113 countries over the period from 1990 to 2013, this paper provides new empirical evidence to the intensive debate of whether financial structure is relevant for economic growth. Specifically, we evaluate the role of political risk, development stage and their interactions with the structure of the financial system. We find that on average a more market-based financial system is associated with a higher level of economic growth. This impact varies with different levels of political risk and different stages of economic development. Specifically, the comparative development of equity markets compared with banks appear to promote more economic growth in countries with lower political risk and at a better stage of economic development. Moreover, banks are more important to economic growth in over-market-based financial systems, whilst equity markets are more sensitive to economic growth in over-bank-based financial systems. Our paper provides new insights into the real effects of the mixture of banks and markets on the economy