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Background: Phalaenopsis is one of the important ornamental plants worldwide. It plays the most significant role in flower exportation in Taiwan. However, the yellow leaf disease caused by Fusarium spp. has reduced the orchid flower yield 10–50 % yearly. Varieties resistant to yellow leaf disease associated with Fusarium is urgently needed for orchid growers and breeders, and is the ultimate solution for the long-term goal. To achieve this, phenotyping is the first step and the most necessary information for further studies, such as resistance gene identification, quantitative trait loci identification, and genome-wide association study. Results: The inoculation of Fusarium was performed in either abbreviated stem or detached leaf, and the pros and cons were compared. The former is the general method of phenotyping for estimating the tolerance to yellow leaf disease of Phalaenopsis, but it is time-consuming and spacy, and thus not suitable for the assessment of large numbers of samples. In contrast, the latter not only showed a similar trend of disease severity with time reduced to only one fourth of the former one but also less space needed. Conclusions: This solution allows a better phenotyping approach for the fast detection of yellow leaf disease associated with Fusarium in a large number of Phalaenopsis samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Linkage between residential green space and Asian children with AR. • A 9-year nationwide cohort database in Taiwan was conducted as a representative. • Green spaces significantly increased the risk of AR by up to 8.4%. • Sensitivity tests confirmed the robustness of the model estimates. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) continues to increase, and the greatest increases were observed mostly in non-Western regions, particularly Asian and Pacific regions; however, only a few studies have been conducted in Asia. Using Taiwan as an example of a typical Asian country, this study aimed to evaluate the association between green areas and the frequency of clinical visits for AR among children in Asia. We used the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database to identify subjects diagnosed with AR at four years old in 2003, who were then followed up with until 2011. Greenness exposure was assessed using the MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The Generalized Additive Mixed Model (GAMM) was applied to examine the association between green areas and the rate of AR after controlling for confounders. The major results indicate a positive correlation, as green areas significantly increased the risk of AR by up to 8.4%. Further, sensitivity test analyses confirmed the robustness of the model estimates, even after adjusting for confounders. Stratified analysis results also display areas with high humidity and low temperatures increasing the risk of AR by up to 14% and 27%, respectively. In contrast, areas with low humidity and high temperatures decreased the risk of AR by up to 4% and 22%, respectively. Moreover, the positive relationship between greenness and AR among children was consistent across different sub-populations. Greenness exposure contributes to an increased risk of allergic rhinitis (AR). This finding could serve as a reference for designing green landscapes, especially in residential areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous studies on the effect of a cold weather disaster on fisheries in 2008, no operational systems have been developed to monitor the threat of such an event to mariculturists in the Penghu Islands (PHI) region of Taiwan. The present study employed a suitable aquaculture site selection map of the inner bay of the PHI to reduce aquaculture losses and mortality rates of cobia (Rachycentron canadum) during extreme events. Daily marine environmental data, including sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a), and wind speed in the winter, were collected. An extreme event was defined as a period of over 11 days in a month of strong winds (>6 m/s). Four parameters in the PHI inner bay, including SST, cold-water intrusion days, chl-a, and offshore distance to the PHI coastline, were used to evaluate suitable aquaculture sites for cobia culture. The results indicated that La Niña events could not be used as a factor to detect cold-water intrusion events and select suitable aquaculture sites in the PHI. The evaluated suitable aquaculture site selection map, obtained using an arithmetic mean model and a geometric mean model, revealed that the avoidance sites during extreme events were concentrated in the northern and northwestern PHI. Suitable areas were concentrated in the southeastern areas. We further suggested that commercial cobia aquaculture operations in the PHI inner bay could be moved to the suitable sites in southeastern PHI during extreme events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]