Scientific Research Publishing

Consumption of fruits and vegetables are associated with a healthy lifestyle. With the increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, it’s necessary to find some new effective ways to increase their yield. Some research has found that hydroponically-grown produce may be a way of helping to feed the world a variety of fruits and vegetables , regardless of soil quality, space availability or climate and they can be very useful for recycling oxygen. The objective of this study was to determine whether hydroponically-grown lettuce contained as much ascorbic acid and tocopherol as soil-grown lettuce. The nutrients ascorbic acid and tocopherol were specifically chosen for testing because of their roles in antioxidant protection. The authors chose Waldmann’s Dark Green, Red Lollo Antago, and Red Romaine Annapolis lettuces as samples, which were obtained from Mountain View Montessori School located in Reno. And all sampled lettuces were grown at an altitude of 1398 meters (4587 feet) ...

Malformations of the teeth are designated as dental anomalies, including aberrant dimensions, numbers, morphology, and eruption patterns. Some studies have shown that dental anomalies can increase the risk of caries and periodontitis, and can lead to endodontic, aesthetic or orthodontic problems. For little studies about dental anomalies of children were examined in Norway, the authors of this paper conducted a study and aimed to examine the prevalence of dental anomalies in a population of Norwegian school children and investigate their possible association with gender and dental occlusion. Diagnostic records: panoramic and periapical radiographs, dental casts and dental histories of 500 12-year-old school children (273 girls, 227 boys) were drawn from the growth files of the Department of Orthodontics, University of Oslo, Norway. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the Angle classification (Class Ι,  n  = 252. Class ΙΙ,  n  = 227. Class ΙΙ...

Blastomycosis is a systemic mycosis that can prove fatal, particularly among the immunocompromised and is caused by the inhalation of the thermally dimorphic fungal agents Blastomyces dermatitidis . Some studies have shown that blastomycosis is generally readily treatable with systemic antifungal drugs once it is correctly diagnosed; however, delayed diagnosis is very common except in highly endemic areas. In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the efficacy of two yeast-phase lysate antigens in detecting B. dermatitidis antibodies in various dog sera. Two yeast lysate antigens were prepared from dog (ERC-2, Wisconsin) and soil (85, Georgia) isolates of B. dermatitidis in the experiment. Thirty-eight serum specimens from dogs with diagnosed blastomycosis were provided by Dr. A.M. Legendre (University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee). And the ability of each yeast lysate reagent to detect antibodies in the above serum specimens was determ...

Tuberculosis (TB) has been a serious burden to mankind over many generations and remains a major global health concern. Some research has shown that HIV is the most important risk factor for TB and is also known to negatively impact treatment outcomes of co-infected TBHIV patients. However, in Benin, little is known about the influence of both gender and HIV-status on diagnostic patterns and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis patients. So the authors in this study aimed to assess whether differences in gender and HIV status affected diagnostic patterns and treatment outcomes of TB patients. The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients registered in 2013 and 2014 in the three largest TB Basic Management Units in south Benin. In total, 2694 TB patients were registered in 2013 and 2014, of whom 1700 (63.1%) were males and 994 (36.9%) were females. Case notification rates were higher in males compared with females (96 vs 53/100,000 inhabitants). The male to female r...

The prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing worldwide and is due to complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors such as dietary intake and physical activity. For lifestyle changes are the most important strategies in managing this prevalence, this study aimed to describe the intervention effects of nutrition and physical activities offered as an after school short-term on outcomes of healthy nutrition practices, fitness and lowering fatness. In this research, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with a convenience sample of 59 Caucasian children, aged 7.7 ± 1.4 years old (52.5% girls) registered on a private school of a middle-size town located in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The school-based 12-week intervention consisted of 2 weekly 60 minutes section, during 3 months, including a nutritional education and a physical activity curriculum. Anthropometric data was measured for all children at baseline and after 12 weeks. All parents were contacted and...

Milk is often described as a complete food because it contains adequate amounts of protein, fats, sugars, vitamins and minerals. And it is a complex biological fluid that has an important place in human nutrition no matter if produced on commercial or small-scale farms. For milk produced on a small scale dairy farms can easily get contaminated by bacteria due to poor hygienic conditions maintained at “on farm” levels or due to inadequate handling, storage and transport conditions, the basic goal of this research was to determine the impact of the presence of bacterial (CFU) and somatic cells count content (SCC) in quality of fresh milk in some small cattle farms in Kosovo. The survey was based on existing standards for milk quality in Kosovo placed under administrative guidance MA-no. 20/2006. The study was based on fresh milk analysis of 150 farms performed during the period September-December 2012, which was obtained in 9 different localities (collection points) of the Kosovo. ...

Eggplant ( Solanum melongena ), or aubergine, is a species of nightshade, grown for its edible fruit. In recent years, its consumption in the American diet has continuously increased due to ever greater cultural diversity and awareness that consumption of fruits and vegetables provides significant health benefits. And it has been known that eggplant fruits contain different classes of phenolic phytochemicals (flavonols, phenolic acids, and anthocyanins) that can exert beneficial effects on human health. While different fruit parts, e.g. skin, pulp and seed, can have different phytochemical profiles, so the authors in this study focused on the eggplant skin polyphenol composition in two popular hybrid varieties, Blackbell and Millionaire. In this study, Blackbell and Millionaire were grown in Hanford sandy loam soil under both under conventional (Alvarez Farm) in Reedley, California and organic (T&D Willey Farm) in Madera, California. Eggplant fruits were harvested, placed imme...

Biochar, which can be produced using organic wastes such as agricultural residues, sewage sludge, or wood chips, has become a product of interest for carbon sequestration, as a soil amendment for crop yield improvement and for bioremediation in recent years. Most rhizobial inoculants that stimulate legume yield are applied with carriers that enhance root contact. The physicochemical properties of biochar are suitable for microbial growth, and it could be an alternative to peat, which comes from decreasing reserves but is the commonest solid inoculant carrier. The aim of the current research was to evaluate biochars as carriers of bradyrhizobia in solid inoculant and as coatings for seeds. In this study, four types of biochar were used: two from hardwood feedstock: Dynamotive-DM (West Lorne, Ontario, Canada) and Basque-BQ (Rimouski, Québec); and two from softwood feedstock: BlueLeaf-BL (Drummondville, Québec) and Pyrovac-PR (Saguenay, Québec). Peat moss-PM was the control inocu...

Some reports have showed that exercise involving eccentric contractions has a greater effect for muscle strengthening because the high intensity of muscle loading can be generated eccentric contraction compared to concentric or isometric contractions. Electrical stimulation is a technique used to elicit a muscle contraction using electrical impulses. It has been reported that electrical stimulation (ES) can be effective to induce muscle strengthening. And its effectiveness is determined by the intensity of muscle loading, as well as resistance exercise. However, some studies have also indicated that ES can cause pain and discomfort. In this study, the authors developed an eccentric contraction induced electrical stimulation (ES) training system. And the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the eccentric contraction induced ES enhance the knee extension torque compared with typical ES. Twenty-two young untrained men (age: 23 ± 3 years old) in the acute response ...

In Mongolia, the sown areas rose steadily by 440.6 thousand hectares between the years 2006 and 2016; however, cropland remained 405.5 thousand hectares less than in 1989. In this same time period, the total population increased 3.19 times and the amount of sown area declined by half as compared with the population growth, which made the main vegetables imports (onion, garlic, cabbage, turnips and other root seed vegetables) increase from 5438.4 tons in 1995 to 64,107 tons in 2016, an increase of 11.7 times. So the country is facing challenges (especially local governments and community groups) to identify new crop areas with enough capacity for cultivation. The purpose of this study was to prepare a cropland suitability map of Mongolia based on comprehensive landscape principles, including topography, soil properties, vegetation, climate and socio-economic factors. The primary goal was to create a more accurate map to estimate vegetation criteria (above ground biomass AGB), soil ...

Soil organic carbon and nitrogen are used as indexes of soil quality assessment and sustainable land use management. They not only can reflect the soil fertility level, but can also explain the regional ecological system evolution. The relationship between them can be represented as soil C/N ratio, which is a sensitive indicator of soil quality and for assessing carbon and nitrogen nutrition cycling of soils. In this study, the authors studied the characteristics of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen by investigating a large number of apple orchards in major apple production areas in China. High apple orchard soil organic carbon content was observed in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, and Yunnan, whereas low content was found in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Shaanxi, with the values ranging between 6.44 and 7.76 g·kg -1 . Similar to soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen content also exhibited obvious differences in the 12 major apple producing pro...

Intraoperative care is patient care during an operation and ancillary to that operation. Activities such as monitoring the patient’s vital signs, blood oxygenation levels, fluid therapy, medication transfusion, anesthesia, radiography, and retrieving samples for laboratory tests, are examples of intraoperative care. And the intraoperative phase starts when the patient arrives in the operating theatre (OT) and ends when he/she is transferred to the postoperative ward. Surgery performed under regional or local anaesthesia allows the patient to remain conscious during the procedure and is rather common in Swedish healthcare today. In this study, the authors aimed to obtain a deeper understanding of the main concerns of operating theatre nurses (OTN) when caring for conscious patients during the intraoperative phase.  The study was carried out in 23 OTNs of five different hospitals in Sweden, selected for convenience because of its location. Data was collected from ...

In the hospital, patients are often exposed to multiple procedures, invasive devices etc., increasing their chances of contracting such potential pathogens. Most of the time, these potential pathogens exhibit multiple drug resistance. In view of the above factors, this study was undertaken to determine the rate of colonization of potential bacterial pathogens in the hands of final year MBBS undergraduate students. As per their clinical teaching curriculum, they visit the wards/ICU/OT, etc. on a daily basis.  Samples were collected from the hands of final year MBBS undergraduate students. The samples were collected by rubbing a saline wet swab stick onto the hands of the students and were inoculated onto nutrient agar plates for 18 - 24 hours at 37°C aerobically. Bacterial isolates were identified till species level by performing gram staining and biochemical reactions. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by Kirby-baur disc diffusion method as per CLSI guidelines 2016....

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a complete and independent medical system, which has been used to diagnose, treat, and prevent illnesses for thousands of years. Holistic thinking, which is rooted in Eastern culture, is assumed to be the core of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In recent decades, such holistic thinking has been proposed to be applicable to Western medicine practices for alleviating serious side effects; however, the obscure and often ill-defined terms of TCM, such as  qi ,  yin yang , and  wuxing , pose considerable obstacles for further understanding TCM. In the present study, the authors explored whether and how TCM was actually related to the scientific construct of holistic thinking, to elucidate the particular cultural signature of TCM.  In this study, a random sample of 101 college students majoring in TCM and 93 non-medical college students was recruited for the study. Two psychological scales—the Chinese Holistic Thinking Scale ...

Air pollution is an important environmental risk factor with global public health implications. Chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) are obvious effects of air pollution and the third reason of death in developing countries. In Africa, air pollution from road traffic is one of the main causes of poor air quality. In this review, the authors aimed to present the state of knowledge in Africa on the impact of external air pollution, particularly related to traffic, on chronic respiratory diseases and to propose strategies to fight this pollution. In the review, the authors set out to systematically review existing published researches on traffic related to air pollution and CRD, particularly asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Africa. And a literature search of PubMed, Scholar and LISSA databases, published journals, reference articles, published up to 31 December 2016, had been done by using a research strategy procedure. Texts were reviewed for inclusion....

Early blight of potato is caused by the fungus  Alternaria alternata , one of the most destructive foliar diseases, especially in hot climates under irrigation. It usually causes leaf spots and tuber blight on potatoes. Potato resistance to early blight is a quantitative trait, and obtaining successful resistant cultivars is not simple. Some studies have shown that resistance to early blight is age-related: early-maturing cultivars are more susceptible than late-maturing cultivars. In this study, the virus free potato seedlings were obtained from the National Plant Gene Bank of Iran during 2008-2009 and were inoculated  in vitro  with a culture filtrate of  A. alternate . Seven cultivars (Ells, Picasso, Maradona, Marfona, Delta, Casmos and Desiree) were conducted that were propagated through nodal cutting every three month and kept in growth chamber at 25˚C ± 1˚C light with a period of 16 h light and 8 h dark. The leaflets received a 1000-μl droplet of the ...

The concept of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is relatively new. Historically, the diagnosis of heart failure was based primarily on clinical criteria, and patients described in the studies were likely to be a mixture of heart failure with altered ejection fraction and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. For little work has been done on this type of heart failure in Africa, it is appropriate to describe the epidemiological and etiological features of this condition. This was a retrospective study that was carried out over a 12-month period, from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, in the hospitalization department of the Heart Institute of Abidjan. It was about patients hospitalized for heart failure who had received a dose of NT-proBNP and who had had an electrocardiogram and a Doppler echocardiography. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) was defined from the symptoms and signs of heart failure, the level of NT-proBNP and from echoc...