This study aims to reveal how EA affects BAX and NF-kB involved in cell deaths from global ischemia, and to do this, observes the changes of BAX and NF-kB caused by EA application after transient global ischemia. The experimental method is to give rise to global ischemia and apply EA to 27 SD rats with the particulars of being six-week-old, male, around-300 gram-weighing, and adapted to laboratory environment for more than a week, and divide them into three groups, that is, GV20 EA group(n=9), L14 EA group(n=9), no-treatment GI group(n=9), and then observe their changes of BAX and NF-kB at the time lapse of 6 hours, 9 hours and 12 hours after ischemia, using western blotting. The numerical decrease of BAX expression at the time lapse of 9 hours after EA application, though not statistically significant, was observed in GV20 EA group and L14 EA group, and the NF-kB expression appeared statistically significant decrease in GV20 EA group and L14 EA group, but the expression was higher in the group with EA application. Therefore, EA application at the early phase of global ischemia is considered to affect BAX and NF-kB and play a positive role in decreasing apoptosis and cell deaths by inflammation.

The excessive and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers in the past has brought serious soil and other environmental problems so alternatives over this agrochemical are being searched. Our study focuses on the effects of expanded rice hull inoculated with selected beneficial microorganisms on growth (through agronomic characters), yield and yield components, and grain quality indices of rice. Results showed that favorable effects of different expanded rice hull preparations were not readily apparent at vegetative stage and only treatments with supplemental chemical fertilizer application were comparable with the conventional practice. Expanded rice hull combined with 50% rate of chemical fertilizer exhibited a significantly higher yield (6,471 kg ha-1) over conventional practice (5,719 kg ha-1). Good milling quality indices were observed in treatments having 50% chemical fertilizers plus alternatives from expanded rice hull. Finally, we demonstrated that chemical fertilizer rate can potentially be reduced into 50% if combined with expanded rice hull, and show even better output than chemical fertilizer alone.