Suchergebnisse

National Parks are a category of protected areas that emphasizes the sustainable use of park resources. China is a latecomer regarding the establishment of a national park system. In 2013, the Chinese administrative authorities announced the establishment of its own national park system to better protect the country's natural heritage and the integrity of its large ecosystems. Since 2015, ten pilot national parks have been designated to explore a pathway to implement the national park system better. Local communities are among the most critical stakeholders in establishing and managing a national park. Park management wouldn't be successful without the local residents' support and active involvement. Since national parks are positioned in China as protected areas with the highest priority to nature protection, their impacts on the local people, either inhabiting the park or living nearby, are unprecedented in the country. The park–people relationship is not a new topic in national park research; however, in the context of China's social, economic, and political framework, very little is known about the livelihood impacts of establishing a national park on the local residents and what strategies those residents should adapt to cope. In this study, the authors attempt to reveal the livelihood impacts of the national park creation in China on the local residents and their adaptation approaches by taking northwestern China's Qilianshan National Park (QNP) as a case. The study results indicate that the establishment of QNP and its policies have significantly impacted the livelihoods of the local residents. The more they rely on the park resources, the greater the magnitude of the effect has been, whether they reside inside or outside the park. Overall, the negative livelihood impacts exceed the positive ones at present. Still, most of the local residents wish to sustain their current livelihoods if the park's impacts can be made more manageable for them. Rarely do the local residents try to find alternative livelihoods unless they absolutely cannot overcome the negative impacts caused by the park's policies.

Organophosphorus compounds (OPCs), including highly toxic nerve agents and pesticides, have been used widely in agricultural and military applications. However, they have aroused widespread concern because they persistently pollute the environment and threaten human life. Organophosphorus acid anhydrolase (OPAA) is a promising enzyme that can detoxify OPCs. Here, a novel OPAA (OPAA114644) was isolated and characterized from deep-sea sediment (−3104 m). It exhibited excellent alkaline stability, and the loss of activity was less than 20% in the pH range 5.0–9.0, even after being incubated for 30 d at 4 °C. It also exhibited high salt tolerance, and its enzymatic activity increased by approximately fourfold in the presence of 20% NaCl (w/v). Additionally, OPAA114644 exhibited high degradation efficiency for soman, dichlorvos, paraoxon, coumaphos, and chlorpyrifos with a concentration of up to 250 mg/L, with the degradation rate being 100%, 100%, 100%, 80% and 51%, respectively, in 20 min under optimal conditions. Notably, OPAA114644 dissolved in different solutions, such as 20% NaCl, 1 mM SDS, 0.05% soap, 10% methanol, and tap water, could efficiently decontaminate the residual paraoxon on the surfaces of glasses, cotton tissues, and apples. These results indicate that OPAA114644 has excellent potential for the biodegradation and bioremediation of OPCs pollution and represents a real application of OPAA in the decontamination and detoxification of foods and clothes, and in the remediation of sites such as floors. Deep-sea sediment might also be an abundant resource for various functional microorganisms and enzymes.

Objectives: The use of gasless laparoscopy with an abdominal wall-lifting device for benign gynecological diseases was compared to conventional laparoscopy with CO2 pneumoperitoneum. Methods: From February 2007 to July 2007, 76 women with uterine and/or adnexal benign diseases and candidates for laparoscopic surgery were recruited in this study. Thirty-two women underwent gasless laparoscopic surgery and 44 women underwent pneumoperitoneum laparoscopic surgery. Results: Diverse pathologies, including adnexal cyst, uterine myoma and ectopic pregnancy, were treated successfully with gasless laparoscopic surgery. Compared with the patients in the pneumoperitoneum group, the similar hospital stay (P=0.353) and intraoperative blood loss (P=0.157) were observed. However, the mean operative time in the gasless group was significantly longer than that in the pneumoperitoneum group (P=0.003). No severe intraoperative or postoperative complications were found in either group, except for one case of laparotomic conversion in the pneumoperitoneum group due to dense pelvic adhesions. The total hospital charges were significantly less in the gasless group than in the pneumoperitoneum group (P=0.001). In 38 cases of ovarian cyst resection, the mean operative time in the gasless group remained longer than that in the pneumoperitoneum group (P=0.017). The total hospital charges were also significantly less in the gasless group than in the pneumoperitoneum group (P<0.001). Conclusion: Our preliminary results demonstrated that the laparoscopic procedure using the gasless technique was a safe, effective method to treat benign gynecological diseases. Moreover, it was easy to master. As a minimally invasive treatment, gasless laparoscopic surgery provides a good choice to patients in the undeveloped regions in China without increasing the patients' and the government's burden significantly.