Evaluation on the Efficiency of Crop Insurance in China's Major Grain-Producing Area

AbstractIn China, crop insurance is just a pilot program characterized by material cost-based coverage level and government-subsidized premium. To identify the efficiency of the crop insurance, we use the nonparametric density function model and estimate the probability of yield loss rate at 3 proposed levels for grain crop, wheat, corn, rice and cotton respectively from 13 provinces in the Major Grain-Producing Area. Besides, we point out some unfavorable factors for crop insurance management based on the Second National Agricultural Census data (2006). Our finding is: the coverage level is on average no larger than 50% of the per hectare crop production value while the probability of yield loss for each crop approaches to zero if the proposed yield loss rate is larger than 40%, so the yield damage compensations are not necessary unless the huge catastrophes occur with the yield loss rate over 50%. Farmers could buy crop insurance to avoid big crop failure other than to maximize their returns. Therefore, the current crop insurance coverage level under normal years could not create an effective inducement for farmers to purchase insurance contracts. To expand crop insurance participation, we consider that it is necessary to carry out positive and conditional forced insurance, provide a larger portion of premium subsidy to the Major Grain-Producing Area by central government and improve the basic agricultural production conditions

An Improved Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm for Multiobjective Problem

In this paper, an improved NSGA2 algorithm is proposed, which is used to solve the multiobjective problem. For the original NSGA2 algorithm, the paper made one improvement: joining the local search strategy into the NSGA2 algorithm. After each iteration calculation of the NSGA2 algorithm, a kind of local search strategy is performed in the Pareto optimal set to search better solutions, such that the NSGA2 algorithm can gain a better local search ability which is helpful to the optimization process. Finally, the proposed modified NSGA2 algorithm (MNSGA2) is simulated in the two classic multiobjective problems which is called KUR problem and ZDT3 problem. The calculation results show the modified NSGA2 outperforms the original NSGA2, which indicates that the improvement strategy is helpful to improve the algorithm

Effects of antipsychotics on bone mineral density and prolactin levels in patients with schizophrenia: a 12-month prospective study

Objective: Effects of conventional and atypical antipsychotics on bone mineral density (BMD) and serum prolactin levels (PRL) were examined in patients with schizophrenia.Methods: One hundred and sixty-three first-episode inpatients with schizophrenia were recruited, to whom one of three conventional antipsychotics (perphenazine, sulpiride, and chlorpromazine) or one of three atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, quetiapine, and aripiprazole)was prescribed for 12 months as appropriate. BMD and PRL were tested before and after treatment. Same measures were conducted in 90 matched healthy controls.Results Baseline BMD of postero-anterior L1–L4 range from 1.04 ± 0.17 to 1.42 ± 1.23, and there was no significant difference between the patients group and healthy control group. However, post-treatment BMD values in patients (ranging from 1.02 ± 0.15 to 1.23 ± 0.10) were significantly lower than that in healthy controls (ranging from 1.15 ± 0.12 to 1.42 ± 1.36). The BMD values after conventional antipsychotics were significantly lower than that after atypical antipsychotics. The PRL level after conventional antipsychotics (53.05 ± 30.25 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that after atypical antipsychotics (32.81 ± 17.42 ng/ml). Conditioned relevance analysis revealed significant negative correlations between the PRL level and the BMD values after conventional antipsychotics.Conclusion The increase of PRL might be an important risk factor leading to a high prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with schizophrenia on long-term conventional antipsychotic medication.<br/

Effect of combined administration of carboprost tromethamine and ergometrine on uterine atony-induced postpartum hemorrhage

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of the combined use of carboprost tromethamine and ergometrine in the prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage induced by uterine atony.Methods: A total of 66 pregnant women with postpartum hemorrhage due to uterine atony who were treated in Fuyang Women's and Children's Hospital from February 2019 to January 2022 were randomly and equally assigned to control and combination groups, respectively, based on the order of admission. The control group was treated with 0.2 mg of ergometrine maleate via intramuscular injection in the buttocks. In the combination group, the patients were also given 250 μg of carboprost tromethamine via cervical injection in addition to ergometrine. The two groups were compared in terms of volume of postpartum vaginal bleeding and hemoglobin levels, coagulation function index, clinical effectiveness and incidence of adverse reactions.Results: There was a significant difference in total treatment effectiveness between the two groups (69.70 vs 90.91%; ꭓ2 = 4.694, p = 0.03) with the combination group showing higher effectiveness. The volume of bleeding in the combination group at 2 h and 24 h after delivery were significantly lower than the corresponding values for the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Comparison at 24 h postpartum showed significantly lower hemoglobin level in the combination group than in the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Posttreatment levels of prothrombin time (PT) and thrombin time (TT) in the two groups were lower than the pre-treatment values, but the post-treatment levels in the combination group were lower than those in the control group (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion: Combined administration of carboprost tromethamine and ergometrine may be a viable&nbsp;treatment strategy for uterine atony-induced postpartum hemorrhage. It has acceptable level of safety. However, further clinical trials are required prior to application in clinical practice

Endovascular revascularization vs. open surgical revascularization for patients with lower extremity artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundCurrently, the main treatment for lower extremity artery disease (LEAD) is revascularization, including endovascular revascularization (EVR) and open surgical revascularization (OSR), but the specific revascularization strategy for LEAD is controversial. This review provided the comprehensive and recent evidence for the treatment of LEAD.MethodsMedline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant articles. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies comparing the short-term or long-term outcomes between EVR and OSR of LEAD were identified. Short-term outcomes were 30-day mortality, major amputation, wound complication, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), and length of hospital stay (LOS), while long-term outcomes included overall survival (OS), amputation-free survival (AFS), freedom from re-intervention (FFR), primary patency (PP), and secondary patency (SP).Results11 RCTs and 105 cohorts involving 750,134 patients were included in this analysis. For the pooled results of cohort studies, EVR markedly decreased the risk of 30-day mortality, wound complication, MACEs, LOS, but increased the risk of OS, FFR, PP, and SP. For the pooled outcomes of RCTs, EVR was associated with obviously lower 30-day mortality, less wound complication and shorter LOS, but higher risk of PP, and SP. However, both RCTs and cohorts did not show obvious difference in 30-day major amputation and AFS.ConclusionsBoth the pooled results of cohorts and RCTs indicated that EVR was associated with a lower short-term risk for LEAD, while OSR was accompanied by a substantially lower long-term risk. Therefore, the life expectancy of LEAD should be strictly considered when choosing the revascularization modality. As the current findings mainly based on data of retrospective cohort studies, additional high-quality studies are essential to substantiate these results.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/#recordDetails, identifier CRD42022317239