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Improving the accuracy of predicting plant productivity is a key element in planning nutrient management strategies to ensure a balance between nutrient supply and demand under climate change. A calculation based on intercepted photosynthetically active radiation is an effective and relatively reliable way to determine the climate impact on a crop above-ground biomass (AGB). This research shows that using variations in a chlorophyll content index (CCI) in a mathematical function could effectively obtain good statistical diagnostic results between simulated and observed crop biomass. In this study, the leaf CCI, which is used as a biochemical photosynthetic component and calibration parameter, increased simulation accuracy across the growing stages during 2016–2017. This calculation improves the accuracy of prediction and modelling of crops under specific agroecosystems, and it may also improve projections of AGB for a variety of other crops.

In guinea pigs, spectrally spiked light and broad-spectrum light have similar effects on natural refractive development and negative lens compensation. As found in other species, effects of light intensity on refractive development were also observed in guinea pigs in both illuminants.

BackgroundRetinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is one of the most common causes of childhood blindness worldwide. Comparisons of anti-VEGF and laser treatments in ROP are relatively lacking, and the data are scattered and limited. The objective of this meta-analysis is to compare the efficacy of both treatments in type-1 and threshold ROP.MethodsA comprehensive literature search on ROP treatment was conducted using PubMed and Embase up to March 2017 in all languages. Major evaluation indexes were extracted from the included studies by two authors. The fixed-effects and random-effects models were used to measure the pooled estimates. The test of heterogeneity was performed using the Q statistic.ResultsTen studies were included in this meta-analysis. Retreatment incidence was significantly increased for anti-VEGF (OR 2.52; 95% CI 1.37 to 4.66; P = 0.003) compared to the laser treatment, while the incidences of eye complications (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.10 to 0.82; P = 0.02) and myopia were significantly decreased with anti-VEGF compared to the laser treatment. However, there was no difference in the recurrence incidence (OR 1.86; 95% CI 0.37 to 9.40; P = 0.45) and time between treatment and retreatment (WMD 7.54 weeks; 95% CI 2.00 to 17.08; P = 0.12).ConclusionThis meta-analysis indicates that laser treatment may be more efficacious than anti-VEGF treatment. However, the results of this meta-analysis also suggest that laser treatment may cause more eye complications and increase myopia. Large-scale prospective RCTs should be performed to assess the efficacy and safety of anti-VEGF versus laser treatment in the future.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12886-018-0685-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Assessment of indirect emission factors (EF 5r ) of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from agricultural river networks remains challenging, and results are uncertain due to limited data availability. This study compared two methods of assessing EF 5r using data from long-term observations at high temporal resolution in a typical agricultural catchment in subtropical central China. The concentration method (method 1) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 method (method 2) were employed to evaluate the emission factor. EF 5r estimated using method 1 (i.e., EF 5r1 ) was 0.00077 ± 0.00025 (0.00038−0.00097). EF 5r calculated using method 2 (i.e., EF 5r2 ) was lower than EF 5r1 , with a mean value of 0.00004 (0.000015−0.00012). Both EF 5r1 and EF 5r2 were significantly lower than the IPCC 2006 default value of 0.0025, suggesting that N 2 O emissions from China and world river networks may be grossly overestimated. A complex N 2 O production pathway and diffusion mechanism were responsible for the transfer of N 2 O from the sediment to river water and then to the atmosphere. These findings provide essential data for refining national greenhouse gas inventories and contribute evidence for downward revision of indirect emission factors adopted by the IPCC.