An Experimental Study on Evaluating Glare in Blue Light Exposure

AHFE 2019 International Conference on Affective and Pleasurable Design, July 24-28, 2019, Washington D.C., USA.It is known that blue light exposure to the eyes improves our arousal level. It is expected that exposure of office workers to blue light can maintain their concentration on their intellectual work and it may improve efficiency of their work. When blue light is exposed enough to improve arousal, however, it may cause feeling of dazzling and disturb their concentration on the contrary. In this study, therefore, an experiment was conducted to reveal the condition where they don’t feel dazzling and their concentration is not disturbed, when changing the luminance and luminous area of blue light source. The participants performed cognitive tasks where blue light source was placed on their desks under one of four blue light conditions. As the result, it was found that the reasons why participants felt dazzling are asymmetrical intense light exposure and large luminous area

Improvement of the SOD activity of the Cu2+ complexes by hybridization with lysozyme and its hydrogen bond effect on the activity enhancement

We prepared L-amino acids (L-valine and L-serine, respectively) based on the Schiff base Cu2+ complexes CuSV and CuSS in the absence/presence of hydroxyl groups and their imidazole-bound compounds CuSV-Imi and CuSS-Imi to reveal the effects of hydroxyl groups on SOD activity. The structural and spectroscopic features of the Cu2+ complexes were evaluated using X-ray crystallography, UV-vis spectroscopy, and EPR spectroscopy. The spectroscopic behavior upon addition of lysozyme indicated that both CuSV and CuSS were coordinated by the imidazole group of His15 in lysozyme at their equatorial position, leading to the formation of hybrid proteins with lysozyme. CuSS-Imi showed a higher SOD activity than CuSV-Imi, indicating that the hydroxyl group of CuSS-Imi played an important role in the disproportionation of O2− ion. Hybridization of the Cu2+ complexes CuSV and CuSS with lysozyme resulted in higher SOD activity than that of CuSV-Imi and CuSS-Imi. The improvements in SOD activity suggest that there are cooperative effects between Cu2+ complexes and lysozyme

Crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of (1H-imidazole-κN3)[N-(2-oxidobenzylidene)tyrosinato-κ3O,N,O′]copper(II)

The title copper(II) complex, [Cu(C16H13NO4)(C3H4N2)], consists of a tridentate ligand synthesized from L-tyrosine and salicylaldehyde. One imidazole molecule is additionally coordinating to the copper(II) ion. The crystal structure features N—H...O, O—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds. The Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that the most important contributions to the packing are from H...H (37.9%), C...H (28.2%) and O...H/H...O (21.2%) contacts

Efficacy of 4′-[methyl-11C] thiothymidine PET/CT before and after neoadjuvant therapy for predicting therapeutic responses in patients with esophageal cancer: a pilot study

Abstract Background 4′-[Methyl-11C] thiothymidine (4DST) has been introduced as a new cell proliferation imaging PET tracer that incorporates into DNA directly. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of 4DST PET/CT for predicting responses to neoadjuvant therapy in patients with esophageal cancer comparing with FDG PET/CT. Methods Twenty-six patients who had pre- and post-therapeutic 4DST and FDG PET/CT and underwent esophagectomy following neoadjuvant therapy were used for the analysis. Based on pathological findings, patients were divided into two groups: non-responders and responders. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis, and total lesion proliferation of the primary lesion were measured for FDG and 4DST PET. Results The pathological diagnosis revealed 16 responders and 10 non-responders. Non-responders showed significantly higher 4DST post-therapeutic SUVmax (postSUVmax) than responders, whereas FDG postSUVmax showed no statistically significant difference (non-responders vs. responders: 4DST, 6.7 vs. 3.3, p = 0.001; FDG, 6.1 vs. 4.5, p = 0.11). Responders showed a greater reduction in percentage changes of 4DST and FDG SUVmax (ΔSUVmax) from baseline to post-therapeutic PET (non-responders vs. responders: 4DST, − 2.9% vs. − 56.7%, p < 0.001; FDG, − 36.3% vs. − 72.6%, p < 0.001). In ROC analysis, ΔSUVmax and postSUVmax with 4DST provided great diagnostic performance for predicting responses (area under the curve: 4DST ΔSUVmax = 0.92, 4DST postSUVmax = 0.88). Conclusions 4DST PET/CT has a great potential for predicting pathologic response to neoadjuvant therapy in patients with esophageal cancer; it may be slightly superior to that with FDG PET/CT

Psychosocial Stress Induces Orofacial Mechanical Allodynia Due to the Enhancement of Transient Receptor Potential Ankyrin 1 Expression in Trigeminal Ganglion Neurons via the Increment of the Trace Amine-Associated Receptor 7f Expression

(1) Background: Chronic psychosocial stress can lead to oral dysesthesia with tongue pain. We examined whether psychosocial stress causes orofacial pain, and analyzed the comprehensive gene expression patterns of circulating cells and transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) expression in trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons in a mouse model of psychosocial stress. (2) Methods: Mice were divided into two groups: one group was kept in confrontational housing, and the other group was kept in single housing. Blood, adrenal gland, and tongue were collected. The head withdrawal threshold (HWT) of mechanical stimulation to the whisker pad skin was measured. TRPA1-positive TG neurons were immunohistochemically examined. DNA microarray analysis and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis were performed. (3) Results: The HWT was significantly lower in mice under the psychosocial stress condition compared to non-stressed mice. In stress-loaded mice, the number of TRPA1-positive TG neurons was significantly increased. Moreover, we showed that trace amine-associated receptor 7f expression was upregulated in circulating cells in blood and downregulated in the tongue. (4) Conclusions: Our results indicated that chronic psychosocial stress induced the orofacial mechanical allodynia through enhancement of TRPA1 expression in TG neurons with changes in the levels of trace amine-associated receptor 7f

Galectin-9 ameliorates clinical severity of MRL/lpr lupus-prone mice by inducing plasma cell apoptosis independently of Tim-3.

Galectin-9 ameliorates various murine autoimmune disease models by regulating T cells and macrophages, although it is not known what role it may have in B cells. The present experiment shows that galectin-9 ameliorates a variety of clinical symptoms, such as proteinuria, arthritis, and hematocrit in MRL/lpr lupus-prone mice. As previously reported, galectin-9 reduces the frequency of Th1, Th17, and activated CD8(+) T cells. Although anti-dsDNA antibody was increased in MRL/lpr lupus-prone mice, galectin-9 suppressed anti-dsDNA antibody production, at least partly, by decreasing the number of plasma cells. Galectin-9 seemed to decrease the number of plasma cells by inducing plasma cell apoptosis, and not by suppressing BAFF production. Although about 20% of CD19(-/low) CD138(+) plasma cells expressed Tim-3 in MRL/lpr lupus-prone mice, Tim-3 may not be directly involved in the galectin-9-induced apoptosis, because anti-Tim-3 blocking antibody did not block galectin-9-induced apoptosis. This is the first report of plasma cell apoptosis being induced by galectin-9. Collectively, it is likely that galectin-9 attenuates the clinical severity of MRL lupus-prone mice by regulating T cell function and inducing plasma cell apoptosis