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Soybean is an important and valuable crop for global food and feed supply, providing high-quality nutrition. Globally, five countries—namely Brazil, the USA, Argentina, China and India—have dominated soybean production for many years. The intention of this paper is to review the reasons for their dominance, starting with seeds. High-quality seeds enable stress-free, high-density and even planting of soybean in the field. Seed quality assurance is essential for the successful expansion of soybean cultivation. The aim of this review is to compare and contrast the factors impacting soybean seed production in these top five soybean-producing countries, including the situations at different stages of the supply chain; research and development on new soybean varieties; and regulations, rules and quality assurance systems (seed testing, certification and labeling). Since the soybean supply chain involves many different operating parties, principles and practices, efforts on different fronts need to be well coordinated by a central authority to ensure successful production. Recently, China has implemented a revised national “Seed Law”. The possible impacts of this new legal framework on soybean seed development and trading in China are also discussed. The strengthened China Seed law to protect resources and encourage variety innovation, as well as the clearer China GM soybean commercial release policy, implies future soybean cultivation expansion with elite varieties. A continuous global production increase will require every party’s compliance to the sustainability principles.

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling is recognized as a feasible option for enhancing screening for cervical cancer, particularly among hard-to-reach women. The magnitude of the effectiveness of screening participation under different invitation strategies was reported. This review seeks to compare the effectiveness of invitation strategies in increasing screening participation of HPV self-sampling across diverse study settings. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted in Embase, MEDLINE, and PubMed in April 2023. Articles were included if (1) their target participants were aged between 25 and 70 years; (2) participants in the intervention arm were randomized to receive HPV self-sampling devices through various invitation strategies; (3) participants in the control arm who either received invitations for cervical cancer screening other than HPV self-sampling or opportunistic screening as usual care; (4) studies that provided sufficient data on screening participation in HPV self-sampling as outcome measured. The study design of the included articles was limited to randomized controlled trials. Results A total of 15 articles were included in this review. Invitation strategies of disseminating HPV self-sampling devices included opt-out and opt-in. Meta-analysis revealed screening participation in the self-sampling group was significantly greater than control arm (OR 3.43, 95% CI 1.59–7.38), irrespective of the invitation strategy employed. Among invitation strategies, opt-out appeared to be more effective on increasing screening participation, compared to control and opt-in strategy (opt-out vs. control OR 3.91, 95% CI 1.82–8.42; opt-in vs. control OR 1.34, 95% CI 0.28–6.39). Conclusions Opt-out strategy is more successful at improving screening participation compared to opt-in and routine invitation to cervical screening. It is therefore a promising way to improve participation in cervical cancer screening. The findings of this review provide important inputs to optimize strategies for inviting women to participate in vaginal HPV self-sampling across the study setting, thus improving participation in cervical cancer screening.

As leaders of civil society, governments have a prime responsibility to communicate climate change information in order to motivate their citizens to mitigate and adapt. This study compares the approaches of the U.K. and Hong Kong governments. Although different in size and population, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong have similar climate change agendas to communicate to similarly educated and prosperous populations. The study finds that while both governments use similar means: policy, education, campaigns, internet, and social media, these have different characteristics, with different emphases in their climate change message. The United Kingdom’s top-down approach is more prominent in its legally binding policy and well-defined programs for adaptation and risk assessment. Hong Kong has more effectively embedded climate change education across the school curricula and has a more centralized and consistently branded campaign, with widespread use of visual language to connect the public to the problem. Hong Kong frames climate change as a science–society problem and has a greater focus on self-responsibility and bottom-up behavioral change. Thus, the U.K. and Hong Kong governments have polarized approaches to motivating their citizens into climate action. Moving forward, both governments should consider best practice elements of the other to develop their communication of climate change.

PurposeTo evaluate the effect of 12-month DHEA supplementation on menstrual pattern and ovarian reserve markers in women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI)MethodsThis is a prospective observational study. Women with POI were given DHEA supplements (25 mg three times daily) for 12 months. Sonographic assessment for ovarian volume and antral follicle count (AFC) and serum measurement for anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol, testosterone, liver function, and hemoglobin level were performed at baseline and monthly for 13 months after the supplementation. Menstrual pattern, ovarian reserve markers, and side-effects were recorded.ResultsBetween August 2011 and July 2014, 38 women with POI were recruited and 31 completed the study. The median age of women was 36 years, and the median baseline FSH and AMH concentrations were 82.2 IU/L and 0.01 ng/ml, respectively. No women had resumption of regular menstruation after DHEA supplementation. AMH, FSH, and AFC did not change significantly. No serious side effects were reported.ConclusionsOur results do not support any significant improvement in ovarian function by 12-month DHEA supplementation in women with POI.

Background Transvaginal oocytes retrieval is an essential step in in-vitro fertilization treatment. There are different pain relief methods, but none has been shown to be superior than the others. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a non-pharmacological and non-invasive pain relief method. This study aims to compare the pain levels experienced by the women using the conscious sedation and those who had TENS in addition to conscious sedation. Methods and analysis This is a double-blinded randomized trial that will be carried out in a university-assisted conception unit. Women who will undergo oocyte retrieval under conscious sedation will be recruited. After randomization, women will be allocated to either the active TENS group or placebo TENS group (the TENS machine will not emit active impulse), in addition to the paracervical block and conscious sedation. The primary outcome is pain levels of women during the retrieval assessed by the visual analog scale. Secondary outcomes include satisfaction of women and postoperative side effects. Discussion TENS is an effective non-pharmacological and non-invasive method for pain relief in a number of clinical conditions. Both women and assisted conception unit can benefit if the addition of non-invasive, simple, and low-cost TENS application is proven to be superior than using conscious sedation and paracervical block alone. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03472430 . Registered on 3 May 2018.

Women’s fertility declines with age. The worldwide trend of delaying childbirth has led to more women facing fertility problems at the time they wish to conceive. There are various ultrasound and biochemical markers available for ovarian reserve testing. The common markers are antral follicle count, follicle-stimulating hormone, and anti- Mullerian hormone. Tests for these markers have their own strengths and limitations. Clinical application of ovarian reserve tests in predicting fertility in pre-conceptual healthy women remains controversial. Clinicians should be cautious when applying and interpreting these ovarian reserve tests for fertility prediction in pre-conceptual women.

Tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) often locate at chromosomal regions with frequent deletions in tumors. Loss of 16q23 occurs frequently in multiple tumors, indicating the presence of critical TSGs at this locus, such as the well-studied WWOX . Herein, we found that ADAMTS18 , located next to WWOX , was significantly downregulated in multiple carcinoma cell lines. No deletion of ADAMTS18 was detected with multiplex differential DNA-PCR or high-resolution 1-Mb array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis. Instead, methylation of the ADAMTS18 promoter CpG Island was frequently detected with methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite genome sequencing in multiple carcinoma cell lines and primary carcinomas, but not in any nontumor cell line and normal epithelial tissue. Both pharmacological and genetic demethylation dramatically induced the ADAMTS18 expression, indicating that CpG methylation directly contributes to the tumor-specific silencing of ADAMTS18 . Ectopic ADAMTS18 expression led to significant inhibition of both anchorage-dependent and -independent growth of carcinoma cells lacking the expression. Thus, through functional epigenetics, we identified ADAMTS18 as a novel functional tumor suppressor, being frequently inactivated epigenetically in multiple carcinomas.

Personality research conducted in China has largely ignored the role of thematic motivations in explaining behavior. The goal of this paper is to begin a systematic investigation of thematic motivations by analyzing the construct validity of thematic scales from the Personality Research Form (PRF). One hundred and ninety-three Hong Kong college students completed a Chinese translation of the PRF-E scales Achievement, Affiliation, Dominance, and Nurturance, Gudykunst's scale measuring independent and interdependent self-construal, the Sino-American Person Perception Scale (SAPPS) measuring Chinese traits, and the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) that provided 12,761 snapshots of daily positive and negative affect (PANA) and potency (feeling strong, active, and sharp) across social contexts. The PRF inter-scale correlations matched those of U.S. college students except for an unexpectedly high correlation between Affiliation and Nurturance. The PRF scales had the predicted relationships with the other dispositional measures. Achievement predicted higher PA and lower NA in academic/ work activities, Affiliation higher PA in face-to-face communication, Dominance higher potency in extra-curricular activities. With the partial exception of Nurturance, the Chinese thematic PRF scales have strong construct validity.

I evaluated mice as models for studying regulation of enhanced maternal cardiac function and vascular remodelling during pregnancy. I showed that cardiac output assessed using ultrasound in anesthetized mice increased 64%, due to a 37% increase in stroke volume and a 17% increase in heart rate, resembling changes in humans. Flow-induced vascular remodelling could not be assessed using contralateral carotid ligation because carotid blood flow did not increase in pregnant mice. Results suggest mice provide useful models to study mechanisms regulating maternal cardiac function during pregnancy but alternate methods are required for studying flow-induced vascular remodelling.

Predictable stereoselective formation of supramolecular assembly is generally believed to be an important but complicated process. Here, we show that point chirality of a ligand decisively influences its supramolecular assembly behavior. We designed three closely related chiral ligands with different point chiralities, and observe their self-assembly into europium (Eu) tetrametallic tetrahedral cages. One ligand exhibits a highly diastereoselective assembly into homochiral (either ΔΔΔΔ or ΛΛΛΛ) Eu tetrahedral cages whereas the two other ligands, with two different approaches of loosened point chirality, lead to a significant breakdown of the diastereoselectivity to generate a mixture of (ΔΔΔΔ and ΛΛΛΛ) isomers. The cages are highly emissive (luminescence quantum yields of 16(1) to 18(1)%) and exhibit impressive circularly polarized luminescence properties (| g lum |: up to 0.16). With in-depth studies, we present an example that correlates the nonlinear enhancement of the chiroptical response to the nonlinearity dependence on point chirality. Controlling the chirality of self-assembled polyhedra is a synthetic challenge. Here, the authors stereoselectively form emissive lanthanide tetrahedral cages from a series of chiral ligands, and use their circularly polarized luminescence to explore the effect of ligand point chirality on supramolecular architecture.