Assessment of Acacia dealbata as green manure and weed control for maize crop

Acacia dealbata Link is one of the main invasive species in southwestern Europe and a resource with potential value for agriculture. Our objective was to assess the value of A. dealbata vegetative aerial biomass used as green manure and as a tool for weed control in maize crops through three sequential experiments. In 2017, an experiment was carried out with acacia green manure vs inorganic fertilization of pots sown with a field corn and a sweet corn hybrid with strong and weak nutrient demand, respectively. Nutrients were not released from acacia green manure at an appropriate timing, and maize suffered nutrient deficit. In 2018, a pot experiment was made outdoors incorporating acacia green manure at different times before maize sowing, and we found that a 4-month period was required for maximum nutrient release from acacia green manure. In 2019, an early and a late-field experiments were performed by incorporating acacia green manure 4 months before maize sowing. Physiological and agronomic data were recorded in maize, along with soil data, for all years, and weed data the last year. Altogether, most effects and interactions between genotype or environment and fertilization treatment were not significant, and some deficiencies caused by acacia green manure fertilization depend on genotype and environment. Incorporation of acacia green manure 4 months before maize sowing partially controlled weeds and replaced inorganic fertilization. However, deficiencies should be corrected with additional weed control practices and fertilization treatments, according to the nutrient demand of the crop and the soil environment.

Interpretable CNN for ischemic stroke subtype classification with active model adaptation

Background TOAST subtype classification is important for diagnosis and research of ischemic stroke. Limited by experience of neurologist and time-consuming manual adjudication, it is a big challenge to finish TOAST classification effectively. We propose a novel active deep learning architecture to classify TOAST. Methods To simulate the diagnosis process of neurologists, we drop the valueless features by XGB algorithm and rank the remaining ones. Utilizing active learning framework, we propose a novel causal CNN, in which it combines with a mixed active selection criterion to optimize the uncertainty of samples adaptively. Meanwhile, KL-focal loss derived from the enhancement of Focal loss by KL regularization is introduced to accelerate the iterative fine-tuning of the model. Results To evaluate the proposed method, we construct a dataset which consists of totally 2310 patients. In a series of sequential experiments, we verify the effectiveness of each contribution by different evaluation metrics. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves competitive results on each evaluation metric. In this task, the improvement of AUC is the most obvious, reaching 77.4. Conclusions We construct a backbone causal CNN to simulate the neurologist process of that could enhance the internal interpretability. The research on clinical data also indicates the potential application value of this model in stroke medicine. Future work we would consider various data types and more comprehensive patient types to achieve fully automated subtype classification.

Effects of insecticides on mortality, growth and bioaccumulation in black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae

Residues of persistent insecticides may be present in the substrates on which insects are reared for food and feed, which may affect insect growth or survival. In addition, insecticidal substances may bio-accumulate in reared insects. The objective of this study was to assess potential effects of selected insecticides on the growth and survival of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL, Hermetia illucens) and on their safety when used as animal feed. Six insecticides (chlorpyrifos, propoxur, cypermethrin, imidacloprid, spinosad, tebufenozide) with different modes of action were tested in two sequential experiments. Cypermethrin was also tested with the synergist piperonyl butoxide (PBO). Standard BSFL substrate was spiked to the respective maximum residue level (MRL) of each insecticide allowed by the European Union to occur in feed; and BSFL were reared on these substrates. Depending on the observed effects in the first experiment, spiked concentrations tested in the second experiment were increased or reduced. At the concentrations applied (1 and 10 times MRL), three of the six tested substances (chlorpyrifos, propoxur, tebufenozide) did not affect the survival or biomass growth of BSFL, compared to the control (non-spiked) treatments. At MRL, imidacloprid stimulated the growth of BSFL compared to the controls. Spinosad and cypermethrin at the MRL level negatively affected growth and survival. The effects of cypermethrin appeared to be augmented by addition of PBO. A mean bio-accumulation factor of ≤0.01 was found in both experiments for all substances–except for cypermethrin, which was comparatively high, but still below 1 (0.79 at 0.1 mg/kg). The lack of accumulation of insecticides in the larvae suggests that there is no risk of larval products being uncompliant with feed MRLs. However, we conclude that insecticides present in substrates may affect growth and survival of BSFL. More research on a larger variety of substances and insect species is recommended.

Identification of the Key Role of NF-κB Signaling Pathway in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis With Bushen Zhuangjin Decoction, a Verification Based on Network Pharmacology Approach

This study aimed to identify whether the NF-κB signaling pathway plays a key role in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) with Bushen Zhuangjin Decoction (BZD) based on a typical network pharmacology approach (NPA). Four sequential experiments were performed: 1) conventional high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), 2) preliminary observation of the therapeutic effects of BZD, 3) NPA using three OA-related gene expression profiles, and 4) verification of the key pathway identified by NPA. Only one HPLC-verified compound (paeoniflorin) was identified from the candidate compounds discovered by NPA. The genes verified in the preliminary observation were also identified by NPA. NPA identified a key role for the NF-κB signaling pathway in the treatment of OA with BZD, which was confirmed by conventional western blot analysis. This study identified and verified NF-κB signaling pathway as the most important inflammatory signaling pathway involved in the mechanisms of BZD for treating OA by comparing the NPA results with conventional methods. Our findings also indicate that NPA is a powerful tool for exploring the molecular targets of complex herbal formulations, such as BZD.

Reusable Fe3O4/SBA15 Nanocomposite as an Efficient Photo-Fenton Catalyst for the Removal of Sulfamethoxazole and Orange II

Today, the presence of recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater, such as pharmaceuticals or other organic compounds, is one of the main obstacles to the widespread implementation of water reuse. In this context, the development of innovative processes for their removal becomes necessary to guarantee effluent quality. This work presents the potentiality of magnetic nanoparticles immobilized on SBA-15 mesoporous silica as Fenton and photo-Fenton catalysts under visible light irradiation. The influence of the characteristics of the compounds and nanoparticles on the removal yield was investigated. Once the key aspects of the reaction mechanism were analyzed, to evaluate the feasibility of this process, an azo dye (Orange II) and an antibiotic (sulfamethoxazole) were selected as main target compounds. The concentration of Orange II decreased below the detection limit after two hours of reaction, with mineralization values of 60%. In addition, repeated sequential experiments revealed the recoverability and stability of the nanoparticles in a small-scale reactor. The benchmarking of the obtained results showed a significant improvement of the process using visible light in terms of kinetic performance, comparing the results to the Fenton process conducted at dark. Reusability, yield and easy separation of the catalyst are its main advantages for the industrial application of this process.

INFLUENCE OF NITRATES, PHOSPHATE, SULPHATE AND SALTS OF Ca, Mg AND K, ON HYDROGEL HYDRATATION CAPACITY

ABSTRACT Hydrogel hydration capacity in solution was evaluated at different levels of electrical conductivity (EC) using nitrate, phosphates, sulfates, and salts of calcium, potassium and magnesium. Four sequential experiments were performed using potassium polyacrylate copolymer. The first experiment aimed to determine the lowest hydrogel dose, at which occur maximum deionized water absorption. The test was assembled in a completely randomized design with six hydrogel doses (1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g L-1) and four replicates. The second experiment consisted of testing the sucrose P.A. doses (0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 %) in order to evaluate the change in osmotic potential of the solution on hydrogel hydration. The third and fourth studies were carried out in a complete randomized design, using a 6 x 3 x 2 factorial scheme with four replicates. For the third experiment, the factors were six levels of EC (0; 0.25; 0.50; 1.00; 1.50 and 2.00 mS cm1) increased by the addition of three anions (NO3-; PO43- and SO42-) along with counter-ions Ca++ and K+. For the fourth experiment, the same six levels of EC were achieved by adding the three cations (Ca++, Mg++ and K+), along with the counter-ions Cl- and SO42-. Hydration capacity of the hydrogel decreases when the ionic concentration of the solution increases and the reduction of the osmotic potential through the addition of sucrose does not interfere in its swelling capability. Anions and cations in the solution negatively influence the process of the hydrogel hydration. The most pronounced effect is for those with higher valence.