RATIONALE/OBJECTIVE

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) may be associated with meteorologic factors in temperate countries. The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between meteorologic factors and aSAH admissions in the Philippines, a tropical country with two seasons: rainy and dry.

A census review of aSAH admissions from 2015 to 2019 at a tertiary hospital was performed. Meteorologic data were collected for the same time period, and statistical analysis was performed.

A total of 660 patients were admitted for aSAH, 275 and 385 during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. August and October had the greatest number of mean admissions (13.2) while February had the least (6.2). There was a moderate positive correlation between aSAH admissions and mean temperature. Negligible to weak negative correlations were seen between aSAH admissions and humidity, barometric pressure and precipitation. However, there was no correlation on regression analysis.

There were no significant differences in aSAH admissions between rainy and dry seasons. The authors found an increase in aSAH admissions during months with higher temperatures and HI, and weak to negligible negative correlations between aSAH admissions and humidity, barometric pressure, and precipitation. These findings may inform health care facilities in terms of readiness for aSAH admissions.

The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model organism in life science owing to its remarkable biological characteristics and wide-ranging applications. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advancements in research on zebrafish within the field of environmental toxicology, highlighting specific studies where this species was used to investigate various pollutants to elucidate their impacts and underlying mechanisms. The findings of these studies underscore the significant potential of zebrafish as a model to gain crucial insights into the ecological consequences of environmental contamination and toxicity pathways. By incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), high-throughput screening, and omics approaches, the use of zebrafish as a model organism is poised to significantly accelerate toxicological investigations, promote environmental conservation efforts, contribute to safeguarding human health, and advance sustainable development objectives.
Animals ; Zebrafish ; Ecotoxicology/methods* ; Artificial Intelligence ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Environmental Pollutants/toxicity*

Genetically modified (GM) crops, as a pivotal innovation in modern agriculture, exhibit significant advantages such as pest and disease resistance, herbicide tolerance, stress tolerance, and yield enhancement. However, their widespread adoption has been associated with potential ecological risks, including weediness of transgenic plants, gene flow, emergence of novel viral strains in virus-resistant crops, impacts on non-target organisms and soil ecosystems, and evolution of target pest resistance. This review focuses on the dual characteristics of GM crops, systematically examining their agronomic benefits and the underlying mechanisms of ecological risks. This review provides a theoretical foundation for optimizing the development of GM crops and ecological risk management, facilitating sustainable agricultural practices.
Plants, Genetically Modified/growth & development* ; Crops, Agricultural/growth & development* ; Ecosystem ; Ecology

Gongju(Chrysanthemum morifolium) is one of the five major medicinal Chrysanthemum varieties included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. In recent years, its cultivation areas have changed significantly, resulting in mixed quality of the medicinal herbs. In this study, Gongju cultivated in Anhui, Yunnan, Chongqing, and other places were selected as research objects. Hyperspectral data were collected in the visible-near-infrared(VNIR) and short-wave infrared(SWIR) bands using different modes, such as corolla facing up(A) and flower base facing up(B). After pre-processing the hyperspectral data using five methods, including multiplicative scatter correction(MSC), Savitzky-Golay smoothing(SG), first derivative(D1), second derivative(D2), and standard normal variate(SNV), partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLSDA), random forest(RF), and support vector machine(SVM) were used to establish origin identification models of Gongju at the two geographical scales of the province and the city-county in Anhui province. The accuracy of the prediction results was used as an evaluation index to select the optimal models, and the classification performance of the models was evaluated by confusion matrix. The results showed that the flower base facing up(B) collection model combined with second derivative pretreatment and RF method was the best model for both geographical scale identification models. The modeling effect of the full-band(VNIR + SWIR) was slightly better than that of the single band, with the accuracy of the prediction set in the province and city-county regions reaching 99.69% and 99.40%, respectively. The competitive adaptive reweighted sampling algorithm(CARS), successive projections algorithm(SPA), and variable iterative space shrinkage approach(VISSA) were further used to screen the feature wavelength modeling. The number of feature wavelengths screened by CARS was fewer, and the prediction set accuracy of the two geographical scales models after optimization could reach 99.56% and 98.65%, which was basically comparable to the full-band model. However, the removal of redundant variables could greatly reduce the complexity of the model. The hyperspectral technology combined with the chemometrics model established in this study can achieve the origin identification of Gongju at different geographical scales, providing a theoretical basis and technical reference for the construction of a rapid detection system for Gongju origin and the development of exclusive miniaturized instrumentation and equipment systems.
Chrysanthemum/growth & development* ; China ; Support Vector Machine ; Geography ; Discriminant Analysis ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared/methods* ; Spectrum Analysis/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Least-Squares Analysis

Aims: Marine bacteria have been reported to produce potential natural pigment with pharmaceutical properties and their growth can be manipulated in the laboratory to increase pigment production and their antimicrobial activity. Hence, this study aimed to enhance the prodigiosin production in Serratia marcescens IBRL USM84 by improving physical conditions. Methodology and results: The quantification of the pigment produced by S. marcescens IBRL USM84, bacterial cell growth, and its antibacterial activity in the broth medium were determined using a spectrophotometry method. Meanwhile, the antibacterial effect of red pigment on MRSA cells was observed under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This marine isolate produced the highest yield of prodigiosin (6.95 μg/mL) when cultivated in marine broth with the addition of 0.2% of agar, 25 °C incubation temperature, initial medium pH of 7, 150 rpm of agitation speed for 48 h of cultivation time under light illumination. There was an increment of 151.81% in prodigiosin production after enhancement compared to before the enhancement of cultural conditions. SEM observations revealed that severe damage to the cell’s morphologies was exposed to red pigment as indicated by the formation of small dents, which led to completely collapse and eventually, cell death. Conclusion, significance and impact of study A positive correlation between pigment production and antibacterial activity was observed in the present study. The results supported the fact that marine bacteria are a reservoir of various pigments with antimicrobial properties. Also, the pigment production by S. marcescens and its antibacterial activity were significantly influenced by physical parameters.
Prodigiosin ; Serratia marcescens ; Marine Biology

The tight relationships between microbiome and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)have been widely recognized. New technologies, results, and theories are emerging in the field of microbiomics in recent years with the advances in high-throughput sequencing and multi-omics technologies. Based on the previous research, the present study has proposed the concept of TCM microbiomics(TCMM), which is an interdisciplinary subject aiming at elucidating the functions and applications of microbiome in the areas of herb resources, herb processing, herb storage, and clinical effects by using modern technology of biology, ecology, and informatics. This subject essentially contains the structures, functions, interactions, molecular mechanisms, and application strategies of the microbiome associated with the quality, safety, and efficacy of TCM. Firstly, the development of the TCMM concept was summarized, with the profound understanding of TCMM on the complexity and entirety of microbiome being emphasized. Then, the research contents and applications of TCMM in promoting the sustainable development of herb resources, improving the standardization and diversification of herb fermentation, strengthening the safety of herb storage, and resolving the scientific connotation of theories and clinical efficacy of TCM are reviewed. Finally, the research strategies and methods of TCM microbiomics were elaborated from basic research, application research, and system research. TCMM is expected to promote the integrative development of TCM with frontier science and technology, thereby expanding the depth and scope of TCM study and facilitating TCM modernization.
Ecology ; Fermentation ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Research Design

In recent years, the research focus on determinants of chronic non-communicable diseases has shifted from non-spatial factors (e.g., lifestyle behaviors) to spatial factors (e.g., natural and built environments). As the intersection of lifecourse epidemiology and spatial epidemiology, spatial lifecourse epidemiology is a research area in the field of health geography. It combines advanced spatial technologies, including geographic information systems, surveying, remote sensing, location-based services and artificial intelligence, to accurately retrace, measure, and simulate individuals' exposures across the life course (i.e., exposome); and adopts lifecourse models, including the accumulation of risk model and critical/sensitive period models, to investigate the impact of individuals' exposures in the past on their health status at different stages of life. This paper introduces the theories, main analysis approaches and focus of spatial lifecourse epidemiology in the research of chronic non-communicable diseases for the purpose of better understanding and applications of spatial lifecourse epidemiology in the research of determinants of chronic non-communicable diseases, providing important reference for future research, facilitating the development of health geography to eventually achieve precise health management over the lifecourse.
Artificial Intelligence ; Epidemiology ; Forecasting ; Geography ; Health Status ; Humans ; Noncommunicable Diseases/epidemiology*

This paper established the identification technology of the main root origin of three-year-old spring Panax notoginseng aiming at providing theoretical basis for the protection and traceability of geographical indication products of P. notoginseng. Forty-four samples of three-year-old spring P. notoginseng from Guangxi Baise, Yunnan Wenshan, Yunnan new cultivating regions. The stable isotopic ratios of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen were determined by elemental analysis and stable isotope mass spectrometer. Combined with Duncan multiple comparative analysis, fisher discriminant analysis and sequential discriminant analysis, a origin discriminant model for the main root of three-year-old spring P. notoginseng was established for 3 production areas of P. notoginseng. The geographical climate and environment of three production areas of P. notoginseng are obviously different. From Guangxi Baise-Yunnan Wenshan-Yunnan new cultivating regions, the longitude, average annual temperature and annual precipitation gradually decrease, and the elevation and latitude are increasing. The results of multiple comparative analysis showed that there were significant or very signi-ficant differences in the δ~(13)C,δ~(15)N,δ~2H,δ~(18)O of the main roots of P. notoginseng in three regions. The results of fisher's discriminant analysis and sequential discriminant analysis showed that the correct discriminant rates of the main roots of P. notoginseng for three regions were 80.05%,76.47% and 90.91%, respectively, based on four stable isotope ratios, with an average of 84.09%. Using stable isotope fingerprint and chemometrics method, we can distinguish the origin of the main raw materials and products of P. notoginseng.
China ; Geography ; Isotopes ; Panax notoginseng ; Seasons

Phylogeography is a research hotspot in the field of the genetic diversity and core germplasm construction of endangered rare plants. Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis is a rare plant species mainly distributed in China. Wild individuals have been overexploited for the last few decades because of increasing demand for such medicines. Therefore, it is great significance to study the phylogeography of P. poliphylla var. yunnanensis based on chloroplast gene trnL-trnF sequences. In this study, chloroplast genes trnL-trnF were used in the phylogeography analysis of 15 wild and 17 cultivated populations of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis. This study revealed that based on the results of neutrality tests and mismatch analysis, the rapid expansion of wild population has not been detected in P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis. After aligning and sorting the obtained cpDNA sequences, a total of 15 haplotypes were detected in all 32 populations. One haplotype was unique to the wild population, and 5 haplotypes were unique to the cultivated population. It can be seen that the haplotype richness of cultivated population was higher than that of wild population. The wild populations of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis were divided into two groups according to evolutionary relationship of haplotypes and distribution map of haplotypes. The haplotype of branch Ⅰ was mainly distributed in Guizhou, and the haplotype of branch Ⅱ was located in Yunnan and Huidong, Sichuan. Therefore, it's speculated that Guizhou and the west Yunnan region may be glacial refuge in the evolutionary history of wild populations of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis, and in order to protect the wild resources more effectively, wild populations of P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis in these two areas should be included in the protection zone.
China ; Genes, Chloroplast ; Humans ; Liliaceae/genetics* ; Melanthiaceae ; Phylogeography

The research on the historical production areas of Dao-di herbs is of great value to the quality evaluation, production base and protection for geographic indications of Dao-di herbs. Current studies mostly focused on the sorting of written sources, but neglected the excavation of image records such as historical maps and topographic maps. This paper aims at exploreing the geographical scope and evolution mode of historical production area of the Dao-di herbs by combining the method of historical map labelling with the traditional literature and historical research methods. It can be divided into three steps: production area name extraction, historical map labelling and textual research on the historical production area of Dao-di herbs. This method may provide a better way to show the geographical scope and topographic features of the historical production areas of Dao-di herbs through historical maps labelling, which is essential to further explore the evolution of production areas of Dao-di herbs from ancient times to the present by comparing historical maps of different periods, and may be helpful to discover the reasons for the formation and evolution of historical producing areas of Dao-di herbs from different perspectives such as environment, climate, humanities, economy, policy, etc. In addition, the historical map database can be used for map labelling to help establish the relationship between the dynasties, historical names, and change cha-racteristics of the scope of the historical production areas of Dao-di herbs in the following research.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Geography ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plants, Medicinal ; Research Design