Traditional farming practices suggest that cultivation of a mixture of crop species in the same field through temporal and spatial management may be advantageous in boosting yields and preventing disease, but evidence from large-scale field testing is limited. Increasing crop diversity through intercropping addresses the problem of increasing land utilization and crop productivity. In collaboration with farmers and extension personnel, we tested intercropping of tobacco, maize, sugarcane, potato, wheat and broad bean – either by relay cropping or by mixing crop species based on differences in their heights, and practiced these patterns on 15,302 hectares in ten counties in Yunnan Province, China. The results of observation plots within these areas showed that some combinations increased crop yields for the same season between 33.2 and 84.7% and reached a land equivalent ratio (LER) of between 1.31 and 1.84. This approach can be easily applied in developing countries, which is crucial in face of dwindling arable land and increasing food demand.

Colon cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death, indicating that a proportion of cancer cells are not eradicated by current therapies. Investigation of the molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of the disease will aid in the further understanding of the pathogenesis and progression and offer new targets for effective therapies. In the present study, we initially confirmed that ABCA1 was aberrantly expressed in colon cancer tissues and colon cancer cells. Its overexpression inhibited the proliferation of colon cancer HCT116 cells while silencing of ABCA1 promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of colon cancer LDL1 cells. Upregulation of specific miRNAs can contribute to the downregulation of tumor-suppressive genes. Thus, we aimed to ascertain whether ABCA1 is downregulated by overexpression of a specific miRNA in colon cancer. We screened microRNAs that may target ABCA1 by miRanda which is a commonly used prediction algorithm. We found that miR-183 targets the 3'UTR of ABCA1 mRNA. Subsequent experiments confirmed that miR-183 degraded ABCA1 mRNA in the colon cancer cells. Finally, we demonstrated that miR-183 promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of colon cancer cells. Thus, we conclude that miR-183 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis by degrading ABCA1 in colon cancer.

Tf dipstick test might be used as an additional tool for CRC and precancerous lesions screening in a high-risk cohort.

Elevated lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is related to the incidence of lower limb deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Its role in portal and/or splenic vein thrombosis (PSVT) is not established. A total of 77 consecutive patients who underwent splenectomy for cirrhotic portal hypertension were prospectively studied between 2014 and 2017. The impact of Lp(a) on preoperative day 1 and postoperative days (PODs) 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 was analyzed. Color Doppler ultrasound examination was performed for the diagnosis of PSVT. The median interval between surgery and postoperative PSVT was 6 days (range: 2-13 days). The levels of Lp(a) were highly increased in patients with PSVT and significant intergroup differences (vs non-PSVT) were found until day 3 and day 5 after operation, respectively. On POD 3, at a threshold of 309.06 mg/L, Lp(a) was a better predictor of PSVT (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.872) compared to the levels on PODs 1, 5, and 7 (AUC = 0.775, 0.796, and 0.791, respectively). The median Lp(a) values peaked at 382.5 mg/L on POD 5 for patients without PSVT. After POD 5, the Lp(a) decreased with values at 347.4 mg/L on POD 7 and 150.7 mg/L on POD 14. For the first time, Lp(a) was shown to be abnormal in patients with PSVT following splenectomy. Monitoring of serum Lp(a) levels on POD 3 might represent a valuable tool to predict early PSVT after splenectomy in cirrhotic patients.