Institutional Regime, Off-Farm Employment, and the Interaction Effect : What are the Determinants of Households' Forestland Transfer in China?

The development of the land rental market has been widely attributed to the associated institutional regime and the functioning of the off-farm labor market. However, little is known of the interaction effect of these two factors. To fill this gap, we employ a nationwide representative household dataset to investigate the effects of China's collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) and off-farm employment on forestland transfer in China. Special interest is focused on their potential interaction effect. The Smith-Blundell instrumental variable tobit model is adopted to account for the endogeneity of off-farm employment. The estimation results show that both the tenure reform and off-farm employment significantly influence forestland transactions. However, compared to the positive effect of the reform on both renting in and renting out forestland, the effect of off-farm employment is mixed, that is, its effect is negative when forestland is rented in but positive on rent-out decisions. An important finding is that the CFTR imposes a negative enhancement effect on forestland rent-in through its interaction term with off-farm employment. In contrast, the enhancement effect on rent-out is not statistically significant, which may be due to the neutralization by the endowment effect of the CFTR.Peer reviewe

Effect of Microwave Treatment and Drying Time on the Antioxidant Activity of in Vitro Digested Dried Abalone

During oven drying of abalone muscle, microwave treatment was conducted at regular time intervals (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days). Abalone muscle digestion products (AMDP) were prepared by subjecting dried abalone to in vitro simulated digestion. Our aim was to investigate the effect of microwave treatment during the drying of abalone muscle on the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities of AMDP. The results showed that the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of AMDP from fresh abalone muscle for scavenging capacity against hydroxyl (·OH) radicals, N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (DMPD) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-phenylhydrazine (DPPH) radical were 3.04, 15.18 and 21.12 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 values for the scavenging of these three radical species decreased gradually with increasing the drying time of abalone muscle. After being fed AMDP from abalone muscle dried for 120 days, the body length of Caenorhabditis elegans increased from 768.90 to 1 034.62 μm, the head swing frequency increased from 206 to 281 times/min, and the life span was extended by 36.16% under normal conditions and by 59.41% and 38.48% under heat stress and oxidative stress conditions, respectively compared with the control group. Meanwhile, with prolonging the drying time of abalone muscle, the antioxidant enzyme activities, reduced glutathione (GSH) content and total antioxidant capacity of C. elegans fed AMDP increased, and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content decreased. In summary, prolonging the drying time and using microwave treatment during the drying process could improve the antioxidant capacity of AMDP

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Destruction Law of Borehole Surrounding Rock of Granite under Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling

The destruction of the rock that surrounds boreholes under thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling is an important factor for borehole stability in hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy extraction. Failure experiments for granite under triaxial stress (σ1>σ2>σ3) were conducted as 500°C superheated steam was transported through the borehole. High-temperature steam leads to large thermal cracks in the surrounding rock, which are randomly distributed around the borehole and gradually expand outwards. The randomly distributed thermally induced microcracks increase the complexity of the initial fracture morphology around the borehole and contribute to the appearance of multiple branch fractures. Fracture development is negligibly affected by ground stresses during the initial stages. However, fractures are deflected towards the maximum horizontal principal stress under ground stresses during later periods. During fracture propagation, high-temperature steam more easily penetrates the rock because its viscosity is lower than water. Towards the end of the crack expansion, the steam loses heat and liquefies, which increases the elongation resistance, and results in the arrest and intermittent expansion of the cracks