BACKGROUND Since Spartina alterniflora (simplified as Spartina) has strong ecological competitiveness and rapid growth, it has been introduced and living in the coastal wetland regions of China for more than 30 years. Taking coastal wetland in the Beibu Gulf of south China as an example, the effects of Spartina invasion on soil quality were investigated to provide scientific basis for soil mana...

One of the most exciting features of fluorescent probes is their rapid evolution from simple tracers to functional indicators in diverse research fields [1]. In mammalian cells, fluorescence has been coupled to synaptic transmission [2,3], neuronal differentiation [4], apoptotic cell death [5], fate mapping in different immune cells [6,7], and functional changes in cell physiology, for example,...

The effect of phosphorus supplementation to ammoniated rice straw was studied. The in vitro experiment was carried out following the first stage of Tilley and Terry method. The treatments consisting of four diets were A= 50% ammoniated rice straw + 50% concentrate (control), B= A + 0.2% phosphorus (P) supplement, C= A + 0.4% phosphorus (P) supplement, and D= A + 0.6% phosphorus (P) supplement o...

Population growth and climate change challenge our food and farming systems and provide arguments for an increased intensification of agriculture. A promising option is eco-functional intensification through organic farming, an approach based on using and enhancing internal natural resources and processes to secure and improve agricultural productivity, while minimizing negative environmental i...

BACKGROUND The most common way of accounting for the countryside in health studies has been to compare it, as a whole, to the city. Furthermore, most of the work on small area health inequalities has been confined to major urban centres. To counter this trend, in this paper, we explore small area health inequalities in the predominantly rural county of Portneuf (population = 44,545), Québec. Su...

A systematic review was conducted of 13 peer-reviewed articles and eight reports focused on indicators of quality abortion care. A total of 75 indicators of quality abortion were identified; these indicators address a variety of issues including policy, health systems, trained-provider availability, women's decision making, and morbidity and mortality. There is little agreement about indicators...

Possibilities of the assessment of a landscape with the use of succession development stages, monitored with the value of the Mean Individual Biomass (MIB) of carabid beetles and the occurrence of bird species are discussed on the basis of an example from Poland. Higher variability of the MIB value in space signifies a greater biodiversity. Apart from the variability of MIB, it is suggested to ...

Worldwide, contemporary measures of the success of health development programs have been mostly in terms of the reduction of mortality and morbidity as well as increasing longevity. While these goals have yielded much-needed health improvements, the subjective outcomes of these improvements, as experienced by individuals and the communities, have not been considered. Bhutan, under the overarchi...

ERPs were used to explore the different patterns of processing of cognate and noncognate words in the first (L1) and second (L2) language of a population of second language learners. L1 English students of French were presented with blocked lists of L1 and L2 words, and ERPs to cognates and noncognates were compared within each language block. For both languages, cognates had smaller amplitudes...