Fourteen Days vs 28 Days of Albendazole Therapy for Neurocysticercosis in Children: An Open Label Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: There is a paucity of literature to support 14-days albendazole therapy for neurocysticercosis (NCC).

Objective: To compare the efficacy of 14-day and 28-day albendazole therapy in the management of children with newly diagnosed active NCC.

Study Design: Open-labelled randomized controlled trial.

Coupled steel slag and biochar amendment correlated with higher methanotrophic abundance and lower CH emission in subtropical paddies.

Aerobic methanotrophs in paddies serve as methane (CH) filters and thereby reduce CH emissions. Amending soil with waste products can mitigate CH emissions in crops, but little is known about the impacts of amendments with steel slag and biochar on the populations and activities of aerobic methanotrophs in rice cropland. We used real-time quantitative PCR detecting system and high-throughput sequencing to determine the effects of slag and biochar amendments on CH emission, abundance, and community structure of methanotrophs, and the relationships between soil properties and the abundance and community composition of methanotrophs during the rice growing season in both early and late paddies.

Effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO, CH, and NO flux, and rice productivity in a subtropical Chinese paddy field.

Steel slag, a by-product of the steel industry, contains high amounts of active iron oxide and silica which can act as an oxidizing agent in agricultural soils. Biochar is a rich source of carbon, and the combined application of biochar and steel slag is assumed to have positive impacts on soil properties as well as plant growth, which are yet to be validated scientifically. We conducted a field experiment for two rice paddies (early and late paddy) to determine the individual and combined effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO, CH, and NO emission, and rice productivity in a subtropical paddy field of China.

Post-translational modifications in regulation of pathogen surveillance and signaling in plants: The inside- (and perturbations from) outside story.

In its lifetime a plant is exposed to pathogens of diverse types. Although methods of surveillance are broadly pathogen-individualized, immune signaling ultimately connect to common core networks maintained by key protein hubs. Defense elicitations modulate these hubs to re-allocate energy from central metabolic pathway into processes that execute immunity.

An overview of key pretreatment processes for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol.

Second-generation bioethanol can be produced from various lignocellulosic biomasses such as wood, agricultural or forest residues. Lignocellulosic biomass is inexpensive, renewable and abundant source for bioethanol production. The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol could be a promising technology though the process has several challenges and limitations such as biomass transport and handling, and efficient pretreatment methods for total delignification of lignocellulosics.

Experience with uroflowmetry in evaluation of lower urinary tract symptoms in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Introduction: Uroflowmetry is a non- invasive urodynamic tool which is widely used for most of the patients with suspected lower urinary tract dysfunction. The severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) can be measured reliably by using a number of validated questionnaires, like International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). This study was designed to determine the relationship between the parameters of uroflowmetry and symptom severity.