Expected profitability, independence, and risk assessment of small farmers in the wave of GM crop collectivization--evidence from Xinjiang and Guangdong.

As a longstanding and indispensable part of developing countries, small farmers face challenges brought by the dissemination of GM technology. Despite governments' efforts to promote collective cultivation of GM crops through top-down policies aimed at enhancing small farmers' production efficiency and market competitiveness, actual participation rates among small farmers in many developing countries remain low. This reflects a gap and mismatch between policy design and the actual needs of small farmers.

A Stepwise Approach to Surgical Decision-making for Lower Eyelid Ectropion: Insights from a Retrospective Study.

Background: Cicatricial lower-eyelid ectropion is a serious complication resulting from undesired lower lid blepharoplasty or impaired wound healing. Surgical treatment for ectropion is challenging for oculoplastic surgeons due to the unpredictability of surgical outcome and the difficulty of surgical design.

Objectives: The authors aimed to fully describe the surgical decision-making strategy for cicatricial ectropion, and to potentially enhance treatment outcomes.

New Intestinal Ultrasound Score for Assessing Inflammatory Bowel Disease Activity and Identifying Severity.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose new ultrasound scores to assess inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity and to analyze their accuracy in assessing disease severity. In addition to this, to validate that intestinal ultrasound can be used as a follow-up tool for the assessment of IBD.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-six adult IBD patients who underwent intestinal ultrasound.

Serum Cystatin S (CST4): A Novel Prognostic Marker for Gastric Cancer.

Background: Serum Cystatin S (CST4), a secretory protein that inhibits cellular matrix degradation, significantly influences the tumor microenvironment and tumor progression. However, the prognostic value of serum CST4 in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. This study aims to explore serum CST4's utility in GC prognostic assessment.

Development of broadly protective influenza B vaccines.

Influenza B viruses pose a significant threat to global public health, leading to severe respiratory infections in humans and, in some cases, death. During the last 50 years, influenza B viruses of two antigenically distinct lineages (termed 'Victoria' and 'Yamagata') have circulated in humans, necessitating two different influenza B vaccine strains. In this study, we devised a novel vaccine strategy involving reciprocal amino acid substitutions at sites where Victoria- and Yamagata-lineage viruses differ, leading to the generation of 'hybrid' vaccine viruses with the potential to protect against both lineages.