Temporal and spatial distribution of soil water and nitrate content affected by surface irrigation and fertilizer rate in silage corn fields.

Among surface irrigation systems, long border and furrow are more adaptive to mechanized farming but may cause a non-uniform distribution of water and nutrients. In this study, field experiments were carried out in a flat silage corn field in Hebei, China to investigate the uniformity along the length of border or furrow to understand the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of soil water, electrical conductivity, and nitrate. This will guide irrigation and fertigation management recommendations, land consolidation, and high standard farmland construction. Border and furrow irrigation were tested using fertilizer rates of 750, 600, 450 and 300 kg/ha. Low quarter distribution uniformity (DUlq) and storage efficiency (E) were quantified to determine the distribution of soil water and soil nitrate content. The results indicate heterogeneity along the length of the border or furrow is weak for soil water content and is moderate for nitrate content, based on the uniformity coefficient (CV). The average low quarter distribution uniformity of soil water (DUlqW) was 96.34, there was a significant effect of irrigation type on DUlqW, and the DUlqW for border irrigation was 0.8% larger than that for furrow irrigation. The average low quarter distribution uniformity of nitrate content DUlqN was 79.04, and there was no significant influence of irrigation type and fertilizer rate on DUlqN. Spatial and temporal distribution analysis showed that the variation of soil water in the 0-60 cm soil layer was larger than that in 60-100 cm soil layer, and the electrical conductivity (EC) and nitrate content gradually decreased with increasing soil depth. There was a decreasing trend in soil EC and nitrate content with decreasing fertilizer rates. The storage efficiency of water (EW) for border irrigation was 56.63, and significantly lower than that for furrow irrigation over the whole growth duration. The nitrate storage efficiency (EN) was 65.47, and there was no significant effect of irrigation type or fertilizer rate on EN. Even with longer borders or furrows of 90 m, the uniformity of water and nitrate along the length of the border or furrow is weak or medium, which can create non-uniform conditions for crop growth. Furrow irrigation may store slightly more water in the top 60 cm of soil compared to border irrigation. Fertilizer rate had no significant effect on the uniformity and distribution of soil water or nitrate.

Hydromethanolic extract of Rehum emodi exhibits significant antimicrobial activity against acute gastroenteriti bacterial strains.

Rehum emodi is an important medicinal herbal and has been reported to exhibit tremendous pharmacological potential. The present study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of hydromethanolic extract of rhizome of Rehum emodi against the acute gastroenteriti bacterial strains. The antimicrobial activity was determined by micro-dilution method. Antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH assay and cytotoxicity by MTT assay. Phytochemical analysis was carried out by LC/MS analysis. The results of the present study showed that hydromethanolic extract of rhizome of Rehum emodi (REE) exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against the gastroenteriti bacterial strains. The MIC values ranged from 25 µg/ml to 125 µg/ml. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of the REE was evaluated against the human breast cell line FR-2 and it was observed that REE exerted minimal cytotoxic effects on these cells with an IC50 of 250 µg/ml indicating that this extract is non-toxic to human cells. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of several secondery metabolites such as anthroquinones (anthrone, emodin, aloe emodin and rhein) flavonoids (quercetin, and naringenin) and phenolics (sinapinic acid and gallic acid) which could potentially be responsible for the activity of the extract. In conclusion REE could potentially prove to be useful in the treatment of acute gastroenteritis.

[Study of Image Quality Comparison Based on the MTF Method Between Different Medical Rigid Endoscopes in an In Vitro Model].

This study was aimed to use the method of modulation transfer function (MTF) to compare image quality among three different Olympus medical rigid cystoscopes in an in vitro model. During the experimental processes, we firstly used three different types of cystoscopes (i. e. OLYMPUS cystourethroscopy with FOV of 12 degrees, OLYMPUS Germany A22003A and OLYMPUS A2013A) to collect raster images at different brightness with industrial camera and computer from the resolution target which is with different spatial frequency, and then we processed the collected images using MALAB software with the optical transfer function MTF to obtain the values of MTF at different brightness and different spatial frequency. We then did data mathematical statistics and compared imaging quality. The statistical data showed that all three MTF values were smaller than 1. MTF values with the spatial frequency gradually increasing would decrease approaching 0 at the same brightness. When the brightness enhanced in the same process at the same spatial frequency, MTF values showed a slowly increasing trend. The three endoscopes' MTF values were completely different. In some cases the MTF values had a large difference, and the maximum difference could reach 0.7. Conclusion can be derived from analysis of experimental data that three Olympus medical rigid cystoscopes have completely different imaging quality abilities. The No. 3 endoscope OLYMPUS A2013A has low resolution but high contrast. The No. 1 endoscope OLYMPUS cystourethroscopy with FOV of 12 degrees, on the contrary, had high resolution and lower contrast. The No. 2 endoscope OLYMPUS Germany A22003A had high contrast and high resolution, and its image quality was the best.