Recent climate change has caused water level fluctuations in freshwater bodies to become more intense, making it difficult to conserve large aquatic plant communities. Physiological characterization for recovery is important and can be applied to overgrowth. Southern cattail (Typha domingensis) communities contribute to biodiversity and help to purify water. However, overcrowded southern cattail communities become a nuisance to local people as they often block waterways. Proper management is therefore required to control southern cattail communities for optimization of their benefits. In the present study, we investigated the effect of shoot damage treatment on flood tolerance during the vigorous growth stage which occurs in summer. First, as shoots are damaged by bending or cutting when disturbed under natural conditions, damage treatments were carried out by either cutting or bending the plant shoots at 10 cm above the ground surface. The results showed that bending the shoot had the same or greater inhibitory effect as cutting. Second, the shoots were then cut at a height of 10 cm above the ground surface at the start of the experiment and placed in five different water depth conditions from the ground surface to the water surface. As a result, the maximum depth at which damaged shoots displayed considerable growth was 40 cm. Undamaged plants with a shoot length of about 75 cm displayed considerable growth in water depths of up to 60 cm. These information are useful for management of T. domingensis communities for both of control and conservation.
Cold stress has become problematic for rice seedling production in many sub-tropical areas, including in Bangladesh. Cold stress causes poor germination, stunted seedlings, chlorosis or withering, and limited tillering. Application of various exogenous stimulants metabolically prepares plants to fight against cold stress. This review summarized the role of different exogenous stimulants in mediating cold tolerance in rice seedlings. Seed priming or seedling treatment with exogenous stimulants can be promising approach to improve cold stress tolerance. However, additional research should be conducted to reveal the molecular mechanisms, as well as field level trials should be conducted to determine field level applicability.
The aim of this study is to introduce an approach for analysing, monitoring, and managing the household solid waste generation, recycling, and alternative treatments in a municipality. This approach presents the following issues: (i) to evaluate the quantity and composition of household solid waste to identify opportunities for waste recycling in detailed composition; (ii) to analyze the influence of relevant factors for household solid waste generation rates by physical categories and subcategories, next to develop the mathematical models of correlations between the waste generation rates of main physical categories and relevant factors; (iii) to examine the habit of households on recyclable waste discharge, the household attitudes toward good waste management and the household behaviors toward recycling activities; and (iv) to investigate the contribution of household solid waste treatment alternatives to mitigate greenhouse gas emission under various possible analysis scenarios by a multiple assessment based on various aspects such as greenhouse gas emission/reduction, energy generation/consumption, economic benefit, investment and operating cost, and land use burden. The outcomes of this approach will suggest the methodology for analysing, monitoring, and managing of household solid waste as support tool for integrated waste management.
Since acetaldehyde is a toxic metabolite of ethanol, its accumulation causes several acute and chronic diseases related to the excessive intake of alcoholic beverages. Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) play an important role in the metabolism of not only exogenous aldehydes, but also endogenous ones including acetaldehyde. Among the ALDH family, ALDH2 mainly contributes to acetaldehyde elimination. This paper reviews the function of ALDH2 as well as auxiliary ALDHs in the ethanol metabolism. This paper also summarizes the regulation of the total ALDH activity by certain food chemicals, providing implication for their therapeutic potential against alcohol-related diseases.
Program of the Second Debrief Meeting on Education and Research FY2021 held at Okayama University with online presentations from abroad on January 25th, 2022
Program of International Symposium on Environmental and Life Science FY 2021 held at Okayama University with online presentations from abroad on January 24th, 2022
Principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA), and water quality index (WQI) were used in this study to analyze the Saigon River water-quality monitoring data collected monthly from April 2016 to May 2020. The calculated WQI indicated that the water quality of the Saigon River improved from 2016 to 2020, but it was still polluted by ammonium (N-NH4+), dissolved oxygen (DO), and coliforms, by which the water in the rainy season was more contaminated than that of the dry season. Three components of PCA showed 58.68% of the variance in the data set. The CA grouped the water quality into 3 clusters (upstream, midstream, and downstream) in both dry and rainy seasons.
In recent years, global warming has been progressing due to increases in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gas emissions from agro-ecosystems impact global warming. In particular, CH4 and N2O are mainly emitted by agricultural activities. Rice cultivation is a primary source of CH4. Reducing CH4 and N2O emissions in paddy fields is essential for mitigating global warming. Water management impacts the production of greenhouse gases in paddy fields. To understand the dynamics of soil-produced greenhouse gases, determining soil gas concentrations is necessary. In this study, Rice (Oryza sativa L., cultivar Kinuhikari) was grown under different water management practices, and rice yield and greenhouse gas (CH4, CO2, N2O) production in soil were measured to investigate the effects of water management. Soil gas concentrations of CH4 were high when the soil was flooded and low when the soil was drained. On the other hand, N2O concentration was low when the soil was flooded and high when the soil was drained. This may be because NO3- was produced in soil by nitrification. Therefore, soil water management may play a key role in mitigating greenhouse gases in paddy fields.
Stingless bees are a group of social bees that belong to family Apidae and widely distributed in tropic and subtropic region. Due to good quality of honey and propolis produced by stingless bees, stingless bee keeping activity, also known as meliponiculture, became popular. The present study was done by narrative reviewed relevant papers to discuss the potential of integration between meliponiculture and agricultural holding, as a strategy to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This review provides recent scientific studies in development of integration of stingless bee keeping and farming activity, which give supplementary sources of income for farmers.
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) harnesses biodiversity and ecosystem services to reduce vulnerability and build resilience to climate change. Intact coastal forests on dunes and adjacent sandy areas show important protective functions. To prove the possibility of EbA in North Central of Vietnam, we piloted the restoration of coastal forests with native species. This study aims to examine the growth performance of 10 species planted in 2019. The survival rates were over 80% in 3 pilot sites 3 months after planting. Melaleuca cajuputi had the highest survival rate after the 2020 long-term drought and historic flood. The research findings indicated that M. cajuputi and V. mangachapoi outperformed other species.
In Vietnam, leaf blight disease is caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. allii on green onion. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to find bio-solution with the beneficial rhizomatous fungus. The results showed that when treated at seven days before inoculation, Penicillium had the ability to reduce leaf blight severity up to 82.99% at day three after inoculation. Moreover, the value of enzyme PAL gained 25.22 μg/protein/min at 6 hours after inoculation. In addition, results also showed that Penicillium treatment at two days before inoculation reduced disease severity by 75% and 68.75% at days two and three after inoculation, respectively. Similarly, the PAL value of this treatment was 25.66 g/protein/min.
Quercetin, one of the most ubiquitous flavonoids, shows beneficial effects for human health. In general, quercetin exists in foodstuffs as glycoside forms. Quercetin glycosides can be degraded by the gut microbiota into ring fission compounds, such as 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic (protocatechuic) acid and hippuric acid. This paper reviews the recent findings about these catabolites, including their biological activities as well as chemical characteristics. This paper also summarizes their health-promoting potentials, thus presenting evidence for them improving our comprehension of the practicality of quercetin glycosides.
Reproduction is required to give rise to sustainable environmental management for human welfare and livestock production. The well-being of humans and animals could be achieved by scientists' contributions to development, innovation, problem-solving, and combining other subdisciplines of biology. In Indonesia, veterinary reproductive specialists advocate reproduction as a prime concern in the health, economic, and social fields. The advancement of reproductive biology will always depend on technological advances. Furthermore, the outcome of the research on reproduction will contribute to the health improvement of both livestock and endangered animals, with infertility treatment as an example. This research will give a general overview of how important it is to keep advancing technology to support the concept of a sustainable and high-quality environment.
In this study, we use a generalized lasso to fit spatially varying coefficient models to the case of predictor variables with both numerical and categorical scales. We constructed the generalized lasso model with two 𝐿1 penalties: one was to link some categories within one categorical predictor, and the other was to link a corresponding categorical predictor between adjacent regions. Then, we applied the proposed method to a province-wise analysis of house sales price data on Java Island, Indonesia, to the original data without concatenation between categories for each categorical predictor. An optimal model is obtained in which categories and regions with the same effect are pooled.
Calcium ion (Ca2+) is a ubiquitous intracellular second messenger that regulates many cellular processes in plants as well as in animals. Guard cells respond to environmental and internal stimuli, resulting in a change in a stomatal aperture. This signaling pathway employs Ca2+ as a second messenger in the guard cells. Hence, elevation of cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt) can be observed in guard cells treated with phytohormones such as abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate. Several other second messengers including cyclic ADP-ribose, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, and myo-inositol hexakisphosphate are involved in the [Ca2+]cyt elevation in the guard cells. Moreover, several methods have been developed to observe the [Ca2+]cyt elevation in the guard cells. In this mini-review, we briefly introduce the roles and regulation of the transient [Ca2+]cyt elevation in the guard cells and the methods to monitor the [Ca2+]cyt.
Malaria is still a serious cases all over the world especially in tropical country with a predict number 300-500 millions people infected per year. The resistence cases of these anti-malaria substance make a new effort to find the new strategy against malaria. This study aim to summarize the potential Piper genus as the source of potential antimalarial compound and recent research of callus induction in piper plant to obtain metabolites.The study of Piper genus represent the 11 Piper species were chemically studied and assayed against the plasmodium. The potential antimalarial compound isolates from several Piper genus were 20,60-Dihydroxy-40-methoxydihydro-chalcone,3-Farnesyl-p-hydroxybenzoic acid, Piperine, Chabamide, Benzoic acid derivatives, Guineensine, pellitorine, brachystamide B, sarmentine, and sermentosine, 5,8-Hydroxy-7-methoxyflavone, Prenylated hydroxybenzoic acid, 4-Nerolidylcatechol, Piperitone, Champor, and Viridiflorol (EO). An effort to propagate necessary antiplasmodial resources especially by callus induction has been conducted for 7 Piper species such as Piper betle, P. colubrinumm, P. crocatum, P. longum, P. nigrum, P. permucronatum and P. solmsianum to obtain higher content of secondary metabolites with a different plant growth hormone (PGR) supplementation while there are most of Piper genus have not been well studied. It conclude that callus culture could be the promising method to obtain antimalarial secondary metabolites as antimalarial.
Program of International Symposium on Environmental and Life Science FY 2020 held at Okayama University with online presentations from abroad on January 25th, 2021
Recent studies have shown microplastics are also found on anchovy from Indonesia Sea. The anchovy is an abundant fish caught all year round because of the market demand in Asia. Generally, people do not like tiny anchovy pieces, and tend to consume anchovy as a whole, thus ingesting the digestive system as well. This study therefore broadens the perspective on data comparison from the previous study. In this study, four locations on the Indonesia Sea were assigned as the anchovy’s sample origin. Subsequently, statistical analysis was conducted on comparison and regression for both microfiber and microfilm contamination found on each anchovy. The highest contaminated anchovy with microfiber (59.96±0.63 particle idv -1 ) and microfilm (68±8.50 particle idv -1 ) were discovered to be from Talisayan, East Kalimantan, while the lowest contamination on microfiber were from East Lombok (13±4.58 particle idv -1 ), and no microfilm contamination was found on Alor’s anchovy. Furthermore, a comparison was conducted between the anchovy’s weight, length, microfiber, and microfilm, and the results showed no correlation (p > 0.05). This issue is therefore more challenging for future research, as another probability of accumulation is open. The abundance of microplastics contamination is not related to the anchovy’s body mass, however, there is currently an exception for the variable of location, and only microfilm contamination has a correlation to the sample locations (r = 0.576).
The imbalance between the generated free radicals and the endogenous antioxidant systems causes oxidative stress implicated in the development of several chronic diseases and cancers. Epidemiological evidence has shown that the risks of certain diseases are comparatively lower in the rice-consuming regions, which might be ascribed to the presence of several bioactive phytochemicals in rice, including (poly) phenolic compounds, γ-oryzanols, tocopherols, and tocotrienols. Therefore, this paper reviews recent findings about the predominant phytochemicals in rice based on their contents, chemical structures, absorption, metabolism, and antioxidant activities. This paper also summarizes the health-promoting effects of phytochemicals in rice, thus presenting evidence for rice being developed as a rich source of antioxidants and improving our comprehension of the practicality of this staple food. Further research is warranted to explore the synergistic interaction of individual phytochemicals in rice with consideration of the underlying mechanism of the health-beneficial functions.
