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Background: About 60% of the annual precipitation in the Loess Plateau occurs during the summer fallow season, and does not align with the wheat growing season. In addition, the nitrogen use efficiency is low in this area because nutrient availability is affected by drought. As a result, rainwater storage during the summer fallow season is very important to increasing nitrogen use efficiency, and to the stable production of dryland wheat in the Loess Plateau. Methods: A 3-year field experiment in the eastern part of the Loess Plateau was conducted with two tillage methods (no tillage (NT) and deep ploughing (DP)) and five N rates (0, 120, 150, 180, and 210 kg N ha-1) to study the effect of tillage on soil water utilization, plant nitrogen utilization, and wheat yield. Result: Compared to NT, DP showed a larger increase in soil water storage (SWSf) and precipitation storage efficiency (PSEf) during the two dry summer fallow seasons than in the normal summer fallow season. DP substantially increased the pre-anthesis soil water consumption (SWCpre) and N translocation. The average yield under DP was 12.46% and 14.92-18.29% higher than under NT in the normal and dry seasons, respectively. A 1 mm increase in SWCpre could increase grain yield by 25.28 kg ha-1, water use efficiency (WUE) by 0.069 kg ha-1 mm-1, and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) by 0.029 kg kg-1. DP could reduce the N rate by 11.49-53.34% in the normal seasons and 40.97-65.07% in the dry seasons compared to the same highest point of yield, WUE, and NUtE under NT. Conclusion: Deep ploughing in the summer fallow season, paired with optimized N application, could help increase wheat yield and nitrogen efficiency in dryland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a staple crop worldwide, and its yield has improved since the green revolution, which was attributed to chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer application. However, regular N application decreases N use efficiency (NUE, the ratio of grain dry matter yield to N supply from soil and fertilizer). Various practices have been implemented to maintain high crop yield and improve NUE. Nowadays, the enhanced sowing method, i.e., wide space sowing (WS), has improved the productivity of wheat crops. However, how the sowing method and N application rate affect N use and yield productivity has not been fully elucidated. Field experiments with treatments using two sowing methods (WS, and drill sowing, DS) and four N application rates (0, 180, 240, and 300 kg ha-1, represented as N0, N180, N240, and N300, respectively) were conducted from 2017 to 2019. The results showed that grain yield under WS was 13.57-16.38% higher than that under DS. The yield advantage under WS was attributed to an increased ear number. Both the higher stem and productive stem percentage accounted for the increased ear number under WS. Higher total N quantity and larger leaf area index at anthesis under WS contributed to higher dry matter production, resulting in higher grain yield. Higher dry matter production was due to pre-anthesis dry weight and post-anthesis dry weight. The wheat crop under WS had a 12.44-15.00% higher NUE than that under DS. The increased NUE under WS was attributed to higher N uptake efficiency (the ratio of total N quantity at maturity to N supply from soil and fertilizer), which was the result of greater total N quantity. The higher total N quantity under WS was due to both higher pre-anthesis N uptake and post-anthesis N uptake. Remarkably, compared to DS with 240 kg N ha-1, WS with 180 kg N ha-1 had almost equal grain yield, dry matter, and total N quantity. Therefore, wheat crops under WS could achieve both high NUE and grain yield simultaneously with only moderate N fertilizer in South Shanxi, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many COVID-19 patients presented with detrimental features, such as impaired respiratory function, physical capacity, and overall poor quality of life. The present study evaluates the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation on COVID-19 patients. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar from 2019 to 2021. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO with the registration number CRD42021273618. We performed statistical analyses via random effects and expressed the outcomes as standardized mean difference (SMD) for continuous variables, with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: We included six trials involving 432 patients. The primary outcome showed a significant improvement in physical function (SMD 0.83, 95% CI −0.58 to 1.09; p < 0.001; four trials, 266 participants; high-quality evidence). There was significant difference in anxiety (SMD −0.80, 95% CI −1.23 to −0.37; p = 0.003), physical activity intensity levels (SMD −1.27, 95% CI −2.23 to −0.32; p = 0.009), sleep quality (MD −0.05, 95% CI −0.83 to −0.16; p = 0.004), peripheral muscle performance of lower limbs (SMD 0.90, 95% CI −0.60 to 1.20; p < 0.001), and dyspnoea outcomes (SMD −0.55, 95% CI −0.87 to −0.23; p = 0.007). Conclusions: Pulmonary rehabilitation is an effective adjuvant therapy that minimizes COVID-19 severity in the intervention group compared to the conventional treatment. The findings of this study will need to be considered in the framework of the clinical outcome as observed in the intervention outcome. Additionally, safer data on guideline rehabilitation would be needed to examine whether pulmonary rehabilitation would be a fruitful intervention to reduce COVID-19 severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze association of thrombocytopenia with severity of COVID-19 disease. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi during the month of Apr 2020. Methodology: Study population consisted of 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection admitted in Pak Emirates Military Hospital (PEMH), Rawalpindi. Cases were confirmed by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) performed on pharyngeal swabs. Patients were divided into two groups critical and non critical after obtaining the informed consent and approval from the ethical committee. Platelet counts were collected and categorized as 0-50, 51-100, 101-150 and more than 150. Results: Mean age of the study population was 43.57 ± 14.4 years Thrombocytopenia was present in 33.33% of critical and 12.85% of non critical patients. Out of total 100 patients 4 deceased and 96 survived. Among all the patients with thrombocytopenia (n=19) there were 21.05% non survivors and 78.94% survivors. Significant thrombocytopenia was seen among 4 non survivor cases, 3 were placed in first category (PLT˂ 50) and 1 was placed in second category (plt 51-100). Out of 10 critical patients with thrombocytopenia 40% could not survive. Conclusion: Thrombocytopenia has a significant association with COVID-19 patients and is associated with high mortality rate. It is a reliable marker for clinicians as these patients have high mortality and are more prone to develop complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]