A nitrogen fertilizer slow-release membrane was proposed using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), epoxy resin, and zeolite as raw materials. The effects of the water-based copolymer ...(PVA:PVP) solution ratio A (A1−A4) and zeolite amount B (B1−B4) on the water absorption rate (XS), water permeability (TS), fertilizer permeability (TF), tensile strength (KL), elongation at break (DSL), and viscosity (ND) of the membrane were explored using the swelling method, a self-made device, and a universal testing machine. The optimal combination of the water-based copolymer and zeolite amount was determined by the coefficient-of-variation method. The results show that the effects of the decrease in A on KL and the increase in B on KL and DSL are promoted first and then inhibited. DSL and ND showed a negative response to the A decrease, whereas XS, TS, and TF showed a positive response. The effect of increasing B on ND, TS, and TF showed a zigzag fluctuation. In the condition of A1−A3, XS showed a negative response to the B increase, whereas in the condition of A4, XS was promoted first and then inhibited. Adding PVP and zeolite caused the hydroxyl stretching vibration peak of PVA at 3300 cm−1 to widen; the former caused the vibration peak to move to low frequencies, and the latter caused it to move to high frequencies. The XRD pattern shows that the highest peak of zeolite is located at 2θ = 7.18° and the crystallization peak of the composite membrane increases with the rise in the proportion of zeolite. Adding PVP made the surface of the membrane smooth and flat, and adding a small amount of zeolite improved the mechanical properties of the membrane and exhibited good compatibility with water-based copolymers. In the evaluation model of the physicochemical properties of sustained-release membrane materials, the weight of all indicators was in the following order: TF > ND > TS > KL > XL > DSL. The optimal membrane material for comprehensive performance was determined to be A2B3.
Admission hyperglycemia is an established risk factor for functional outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke. However, the association between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and prognosis in ...patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke (AACIS) remains controversial. This study aimed to explore whether elevated HbA1c levels are associated with functional outcome in AACIS patients.
We enrolled patients with AACIS hospitalized in the First Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University from March 2018 to January 2021. Patients were categorized into three groups based on baseline HbA1c: HbA1c ≤ 6.5%, 6.5% < HbA1c ≤ 8.0%, and HbA1c > 8.0%. Ninety-day modified Rankin Scale scores of 0-1 and 0-2 were defined as excellent and favorable functional outcome, respectively. Early neurological improvement was regarded as a reduction in the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥ 4 points compared with that on admission, or an NIHSS score of 0-1 at discharge. The association between HbA1c and clinical outcome in acute ischemic patients was assessed by logistic regression and adjusted for confounding factors. Subgroup analyses by TOAST classification were also conducted.
The study included 326 patients. The proportion with favorable outcome was significantly lower in the HbA1c > 8.0% group than the HbA1c ≤ 6.5% group (30.4 vs. 55.2%;
< 0.01). Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that increasing HbA1c levels (as a continuous variable) were associated with reduced functional independence (adjusted
= 0.739; 95% CI: 0.605-0.904;
= 0.003). In subgroup analyses, higher HbA1c was also associated with favorable outcome in large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA)-type patients (adjusted
= 0.776; 95% CI: 0.614-0.981;
= 0.034), but not in LAA group.
HbA1c level was an independent predictor of worse functional outcome in patients with AACIS, particularly in those with LAA. For patients with anterior circulation atherosclerosis, strict adherence to a target HbA1c < 6.5% may be required.
As freshwater becomes an increasingly scarce and expensive natural resource, novel water-saving irrigation methods for dwarfing apple orchards are needed in the Loess Plateau. However, studies are ...lacking on the effects of novel root-zone irrigation technology on leaf-level photosynthesis, which directly determines the yield and survival ability of trees. In this study, the leaf gas characteristics and water status of five-year-old dwarfing apple trees in the Loess Plateau of China were monitored during the 2016–2017 growing seasons under water storage pit irrigation (WSPI) and surface irrigation (SI) treatments. Under WSPI, the leaf water potential (Ψm), net photosynthesis rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), and chlorophyll content (Chl) were significantly higher than those under SI (by 12.21–28.36%), while non-photochemical quenching, superoxide dismutase, and sucrose were lower. Compared with SI, WSPI improved dwarfing apple yield by 25.4% and 26.7% in 2016 and 2017, respectively. WSPI increased the photosystem II (PSII) activity by increasing the chlorophyll fluorescence features (the potential quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm), actual quantum yield (ΦII), photochemical quenching (qP), and electron transport rate (ETR)). Principal component analysis showed that Ψm, Chl, the chlorophyll fluorescence features (qP, ΦII, and ETR), Pn, and gs could represent the leaf photosynthetic difference between WSPI and SI treatments. Results indicated that apple under WSPI could improve its yield through enhancing leaf photosynthetic performance, and water storage pit irrigation is an effective root-zone irrigation method for apple orchards on the Loess Plateau.
The ridge–furrow mulching system with plastic film (RFMS) has been widely used in semi-arid areas in order to improve soil water and heat conditions, crop yields and water use efficiency. It is of ...practical significance to study the effect of mulching and ridge types on soil water and heat in order to optimize mulching measures and improve the effectiveness of the ridge and furrow system. To clarify the combined effect of soil water and heat beneath the system and the influence of ridge morphology on it, field experiments were conducted with three treatments, including conventional planting in bare land (CK), a ridge–furrow (wide ridge with 70 cm width and 10 cm height, narrow ridge with 40 cm width and 15 cm height) mulching system with complete plastic film (RFWN) and a ridge–furrow (equal ridge with 55 cm width and 15 cm height) mulching system with complete plastic film (RFE). An insufficient irrigation system was adopted and the two-dimensional numerical software HYDRUS-2D was used to simulate the soil water and heat flow under the experimental conditions. The model was calibrated and verified according to test data for the period of 2018 to 2019, which showed good agreement between the simulated and measured values. The simulation results revealed that the ground temperatures of RFWN and RFE were much higher than that of CK, and the average value of 0–25 cm during the growth period could increase by 2.29–4.61%. Compared with CK, RFWN and RFE reduced soil evaporation (84.71–93.73%) and field evapotranspiration (12.02–21.75%), while they increased root water uptake (25.87–40.98%) and T/ET (48.85–80.15%). Plastic film mulching and ridge morphologies affected the infiltration range and the direction of soil water movement, increased soil moisture when there was no rainfall or irrigation and reduced soil water and heat fluctuations, which was more conducive to crop growth, especially under the RFWN system. The simulation method proposed in this paper is an effective technique for calculating the soil water and heat dynamics under different ridge and furrow sections under the condition of film mulching, and it can be used for the optimal management of soil water and heat in this area.
Rhino-orbital cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is a rare, invasive, and fatal fungal disease. Due to the lack of specific clinical manifestations and adequate auxiliary examinations, patients are easily ...misdiagnosed in the early stage. Early diagnosis and timely therapy are essential for successful treatment.
We report a 68-year-old man with diabetic ketoacidosis, presented with orbital apex syndrome (OAS), fever, and pansinusitis, which progressively worsened to death only 4 days after admission. It was finally confirmed as a fungal
infection by metagenomics cell-free DNA next-generation sequencing (mNGS) testing.
Orbital apex syndrome could be the initial presentation for mucormycosis. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the presence of mucormycosis in patients with OAS, especially in diabetic or immunosuppressed hosts, and mNGS testing and timely antifungal therapy should be strongly recommended in highly suspected cases.
In this paper, the optimal analytic hierarchy process was used to establish a comprehensive evaluation model for the physicochemical properties of composite sustained-release membrane materials based ...on water absorption (
), water permeability (
), tensile strength (
), elongation at break (
), fertilizer permeability (
), and viscosity (
), and the optimal ratio parameters of membrane material were determined. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) combined with correlation analysis was used to construct the judgment matrix of physicochemical properties, which passed the consistency test, and to determine the weight and ranking of each index:
(0.6144) >
(0.1773) >
(0.1561) >
(0.1311) >
(0.0775) >
(0.0520). The comprehensive scores of sustained-release membrane materials under different treatments were calculated based on normalized data samples and weights. It was determined that the percentage of each component in the best comprehensive performance of the slow-release membrane material was as follows: polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, zeolite, and epoxy resin were 7.3%, 0.7%, 0.5%, and 2%, respectively.
It is of great significance to explore the strategy of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) under mulched drip irrigation to stabilize tomato yield and improve quality and efficiency. This experimental ...study was conducted on a drip-irrigated greenhouse in two consecutive years (2020 and 2021). Three deficit levels were set for the flowering and fruit development stage (Stage I), and three were set for the fruit-ripening stage (Stage II). As a combination evaluation method, the fuzzy Borda model was used to optimize the RDI strategy of greenhouse tomato. The results showed that the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and total shoot biomass of tomato decreased with an increase in the water deficit, while the intercellular CO2 concentration had an opposite trend. The mild and moderate water deficit at Stage I reduced tomato yield by 16–24% and 30–40% compared to full irrigation. The water deficit at Stage II was able to improve various quality parameters and the water-use efficiency of tomato; the irrigation water-use efficiency (32.8–33.9 kg/m3) and leaf water-use efficiency (3.2–3.6 μmol/mmol) were the highest when the soil water content was 70–90% θf (field capacity) at Stage I and 40–60% θf at Stage II (T3). Based on the fuzzy Borda combination evaluation model, T3 was determined as the treatment with stable yield, high quality, and efficient irrigation under the experimental conditions. The irrigation regime was as follows: irrigating 20–25 mm in the transplanting stage, no irrigation in the seedling stage, irrigating 193.2–220.8 mm at Stage I, and then irrigating 27.6 mm at Stage II.
The future production of irrigated fruit orchards in the Loess Plateau of China is threatened by a shortage of freshwater. To improve water use efficiency under conditions where irrigation is ...limited, it is necessary to quantify the root water uptake (RWU) of apple trees. The RWU of apple trees was estimated under surface irrigation using water stable isotope technology and the Hydrus-1D model. Using the Romero-Saltos and IsoSource models, the stable isotopes of water in stems, different soil depths, and different precipitation were analyzed in a 5-year-old dwarfing apple orchard during two seasons 2016 and 2017. Hydrus-1D model was able to simulate the RWU of apple using the maximum coefficient of determination (0.9), providing a root mean square error of 0.019 cm3 cm−3 and a relative error of 2.25%. The results showed that the main depth of RWU ranged from 0–60 cm during the growth season, with the main contribution occurring in the 0–40 cm depth. These findings indicated that reducing the traditional surface irrigation depth will be important for improving the irrigation water use efficiency.
As an important step for formulating a water-saving agricultural strategy, it is essential to make quantitative calculations for orchard soil evaporation and confirm its inner mechanism, so as to ...reduce ineffective water consumption and improve the utilization efficiency of water resources. To reveal the effect of water storage pits under water storage pit irrigation conditions in orchard soil evaporation, micro-lysimeters were used to measure the soil evaporation in two different forms (soil surface evaporation and pit wall evaporation) under diverse irrigation systems using water storage pit irrigation in the apple growth period of 2018. To calculate the orchard soil evaporation of water storage pit irrigation, the pit irrigation coefficient was introduced and a model was constructed. To illustrate the inner mechanism of orchard soil evaporation, the soil surface resistance under water storage pit irrigation conditions was analyzed and calculated quantitatively. The results show that: (1) introducing the pit irrigation coefficient can boost the calculation precision of the orchard soil evaporation under water storage pit irrigation conditions; (2) when applying the soil evaporation of the water storage pit irrigation model for calculation of the orchard soil evaporation, R 2 can reach 0.92; and (3) the mechanisms of the two orchard soil evaporation forms under water storage pit irrigation are very different. When soil surface evaporation and pit wall evaporation were calculated by the soil surface resistance of water storage pit irrigation model, R 2 values were 0.95 and 0.96, respectively.
Agricultural producers in China are presently confronting the challenge of “white pollution” caused by the continuous expansion of plastic film area coverage. The main objective of this research is ...to address the increasing interest in the effects of film residual on tomato growth, yield, and quality under drip irrigation. To reveal the effects of film residual on tomato physiology, field trials were conducted with five levels of film residual treatment applied in two consecutive cropping seasons from 2019 to 2020. Soil water content, plant height, stem diameter, photosynthetic characteristics, yield, soluble sugar content (SSC), organic acid (OA), vitamin C (VC), and nitrate content (NC) were measured; furthermore, four analysis methods were used to assess the comprehensive tomato quality. The results showed that film residuals significantly affected soil water content in 2019 and 2020 and inhibited tomato plant height and stem diameter. The variations in photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance showed practically the same trend, increasing with an increase in the film residual at the seedling stage. The maximum yields were observed at 94.02 ton/hm2 and 84.44 ton/hm2 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and tomato yield exhibited a shape reduction with increasing amounts of film residual in all years. SSC, VC, and NC showed an increasing trend with increasing amounts of film residual. The best tomato comprehensive quality was observed when the amount of film residual was lower than 200 kg/hm2 and declined with an increasing amount of film residual. Overall, the soil water content, tomato growth, and fruit quality changed significantly under the influence of film residual. These results not only deepen our understanding of the harm caused by film residual to tomato growth and fruit quality but also provide reasonable advice to establish a management system for residual pollution on cultivated land.
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