Classification-based forest management program and farmers' income : evidence from collective forest area in southern China

Purpose This article's purpose is to examine the effect of a Classification-Based Forest Management (CFM) program on farmers' income and determine whether its effect varies with the degree of farmers' concurrent occupations. Design/methodology/approach The authors use representative panel survey data from Longquan to explore the welfare effects of CFM on farmers. The analysis uses differences-in-differences with propensity score matching (PSM-DID) estimation techniques to deal with endogeneity problems when farmers make the decision to participate in CFM. Findings The results show that CFM has a positive effect on part-time forestry households (where forestry income accounts for between 5 and 50% of total income). In contrast, it has a negative impact on full-time forestry households (forestry income accounts for more than 50%), and no clear effect on nonforestry households whose forestry income is less than 5%. This research also shows that the positive effect of CFM on farmers' total income is mainly due to increase of off-farm income driven by CFM, while the negative effects consist of CFM's reduction of forestry income. Originality/value The extent of CFM's economic benefits to farmers is uncertain and largely unexplored. This paper analyzes the impact of CFM on income structure to explore the mechanisms explaining its effects on farmers' income. There are still challenges in ensuring the reliability and accuracy of CFM assessment. This paper collected natural experimental data and used the estimation technology of PSM-DID to solve the possible endogeneity problems.Peer reviewe

Experimental Study on Landslides of Loose Sediment Slope Induced by Stream Bed Incision

Uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has resulted in rapid incision of rivers along the margin of the plateau. Landslides occur frequently as a consequence of increasing bank slope and potential landslide energy due to stream bed incision or lateral bank erosion on the concave banks at bends. The Fencha Gully is on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and is developing on a huge landslide body. Flume experiments were conducted on the base of the field investigation to study the mechanism of landslides induced by stream bed incision. The experiments were designed with a length scale ratio of 1:20. Landslides and stream bed incision with loose sediment were observed and analyzed. The results show that landslides are induced as a result of stream bed incision. The potential landslide energy is defined, which increases quickly with an effective incision depth coupling vertical incision and lateral bank erosion. The occurrence of landslides can be attributed to increasing incision depth and potential landslide energy. Results indicate that the critical effective incision depth is 4.0–6.0 m. A critical value of the potential landslide energy is found from the experiments. Landslides occur if the potential energy exceeds the critical energy, which is 2.24×104 t·m/s2 for the Fencha Gully. The incision depth and potential energy of landslides from the Fencha Gully agree well with the results

Reviewing the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of depression and exploring new therapeutic options

The relationship between gut microbiota (GM) and mental health is one of the focuses of psychobiology research. In recent years, the microbial-gut-brain axis (MGBA) concept has gradually formed about this bidirectional communication between gut and brain. But how the GM is involved in regulating brain function and how they affect emotional disorders these mechanisms are tenuous and limited to animal research, and often controversial. Therefore, in this review, we attempt to summarize and categorize the latest advances in current research on the mechanisms of GM and depression to provide valid information for future diagnoses and therapy of mental disorders. Finally, we introduced some antidepressant regimens that can help restore gut dysbiosis, including classic antidepressants, Chinese materia medica (CMM), diet, and exogenous strains. These studies provide further insight into GM’s role and potential pathways in emotion-related diseases, which holds essential possible clinical outcomes for people with depression or related psychiatric disorders. Future research should focus on clarifying the causal role of GM in disease and developing microbial targets, applying these findings to the prevention and treatment of depression

Experimental study on control of Limnoperna fortunei biofouling in water transfer tunnels

The golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei) is a filter-collector macroinvertebrate species originating from southern China. It easily invades water transfer tunnels and attaches onto tunnel walls and structures with extremely high density, resulting in biofouling, pipe clogging, structure corrosion, a decrease in water transfer efficiency, and water pollution. It has become a prevalent problem and has caused concern all over the world. However, an effective and environment friendly method of controlling golden mussel invasion has not yet been approved. This study is aimed to propose measures for preventing golden mussel invasion and biofouling in the water transfer tunnels of the East River Water Source Project (ERWSP), which transfers water from the East River to Shenzhen, southern China for 10 million people. Long-term samplings and observations of the East River water were performed to study the golden mussel's invading pattern. Flume experiments were done to study the golden mussel's attachment on 14 different materials and performance in turbulent flows. An integrated ecological prevention pool was designed and constructed based on the flume experimental results for preventing the golden mussel invasion in the scale model tunnels of the ERWSP. The major technology of the ecological pool was preventing the golden mussel from entering the tunnels by attracting veligers to attach on geotextile cloth, attracting mussels to attach on bamboo, and killing veligers with high-frequency turbulence. An eight-month application experiment showed that the ecological pool successfully controlled the golden mussel invasion and biofouling in the scale model tunnels. The mussel density on the attachment materials decreased sharply as the distance of the materials from the pool entrance increased; the turbulence was effective in killing veligers that escaped from the attachment materials. No mussel was found on the model tunnels. Thus, the integrated ecological prevention pool is recommended as a successful measure for controlling the golden mussel invasion and biofouling in water transfer tunnels.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Identifying distinctive tissue and fecal microbial signatures and the tumor-promoting effects of deoxycholic acid on breast cancer

IntroductionA growing body of evidence indicates that the dysbiosis of both mammary and intestinal microbiota is associated with the initiation and progression of breast tumors. However, the microbial characteristics of patients with breast tumors vary widely across studies, and replicable biomarkers for early-stage breast tumor diagnosis remain elusive.MethodsWe demonstrate a machine learning-based method for the analysis of breast tissue and gut microbial differences among patients with benign breast disease, patients with breast cancer (BC), and healthy individuals using 16S rRNA sequence data retrieved from eight studies. QIIME 2.0 and R software (version 3.6.1) were used for consistent processing. A naive Bayes classifier was trained on the RDP v16 reference database to assign taxonomy using the Vsearch software.ResultsAfter re-analyzing with a total of 768 breast tissue samples and 1,311 fecal samples, we confirmed that Halomonas and Shewanella were the most representative genera of BC tissue. Bacteroides are frequently and significantly enriched in the intestines of patients with breast tumor. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of random forest models were 74.27% and 68.08% for breast carcinoma tissues and stool samples, respectively. The model was validated for effectiveness via cohort-to-cohort transfer (average AUC =0.65) and leave-one-cohort-out (average AUC = 0.66). The same BC-associated biomarker Clostridium_XlVa exists in the tissues and the gut. The results of the in-vitro experiments showed that the Clostridium-specific-related metabolite deoxycholic acid (DCA) promotes the proliferation of HER2-positive BC cells and stimulates G0/G1 phase cells to enter the S phase, which may be related to the activation of peptide-O-fucosyltransferase activity functions and the neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction pathway.DiscussionThe results of this study will improve our understanding of the microbial profile of breast tumors. Changes in the microbial population may be present in both the tissues and the gut of patients with BC, and specific markers could aid in the early diagnosis of BC. The findings from in-vitro experiments confirmed that Clostridium-specific metabolite DCA promotes the proliferation of BC cells. We propose the use of stool-based biomarkers in clinical application as a non-invasive and convenient diagnostic method