Objective assessment of urban built environment related to physical activity — development, reliability and validity of the China Urban Built Environment Scan Tool (CUBEST)

Background: Some aspects of the neighborhood built environment may influence residents’ physical activity, which in turn, affects their health. This study aimed to develop an urban built environment evaluation tool and conduct necessary reliability and validity tests. Methods: A 41-item urban built environment scan tool was developed to objectively assess the neighborhood built environment features related to physical activity. Six neighborhoods in Hangzhou were selected from three types of administrative planning units. A pair of auditors independently assessed all of the 205 street segments at the same time. Half of the segments (n = 104) were audited twice by the same auditor after a two-week time interval. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing the audits of paired observers, while intra-rater reliability was evaluated by comparing an auditor’s repeated assessments of the same segments. The construct validity was tested using factor analysis. Results: The inter-rater reliability for most items was above 0.8. The intra-rater reliability for most items was above 0.4, and was lower than corresponding inter-rater reliability. Six factors were extracted by factor analysis and the factor loading matrix showed good construct validity. Conclusions: The CUBEST is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used to assess the physical activity-related built environment in Hangzhou, and potentially other cities in China

Studies on Anti-Depressant Activity of Four Flavonoids Isolated from Apocynum venetum Linn (Apocynaceae) Leaf in Mice

Purpose: To investigate the anti-depressant activity of kaempferol, quercetin, kaempferol-3-O-β-Dglucose and quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucose isolated from Apocynum venetum Linn. (Apocynaceae) leaf and their mechanisms of action.Methods: The four flavonoids were isolated from Apocynum venetum leaf by chromatography. Mice were divided into vehicle, fluoxetine, kaempferol, quercetin, kaempferol-3-O-β-D-glucose and quercetin- 3-O-β-D-glucose groups (n = 10). Forced swimming (FST), tail suspension (TST) and locomotor activity (LAT) tests were used to evaluate the effects of the four flavonoids (0.35 mM/kg) on immobility time, monoamine neurotransmitters, viz, norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5- HT), as well as on the metabolite (5-HIAA) in mice brain and central nervous system (CNS) with the aid of video camera, HPLC-ECD and activity-monitoring system.Results: The four flavonoids significantly (p < 0.05) reduced mice immobility time (72.58 - 90.24; 52.58 - 70.24 s), 5-HIAA levels (940.8 - 1244.7; 880.8 - 1164.1 ng/g) and 5-HIAA/5-HT ratio (1.77 - 4.76; 1.83 - 4.16), but increased NE, DA and 5-HT levels (238.7 - 405.7, 308.4 - 528.1, 261.4 - 531.9; 243.9 - 423.6, 296.7 - 534.9, 279.8 - 481.4 ng/g) in FST and TST, compared with control group (146.18, 126.18 s; 1363.4, 1240.9 ng/g; 7.43, 6.16; 138.4, 235.4, 183.4 and 143.7, 218.6, 201.4 ng/g). The effects of the four flavonoids on the above indices were significant (p < 0.05) and positively related to their polarity. They had no CNS-stimulating effects in LAT.Conclusion: The anti-depressant activities of the four flavonoids are positively related to their polarity, and the mechanisms may be due to increased NE, DA and 5-HT and reduced 5-HT metabolism.Keywords: Kaempferol, Quercetin, Forced swimming test, Tail suspension test, Locomotor activity test, Neurotransmitter

Facile synthesis of coaxial CNTs/MnOx-carbon hybrid nanofibers and their greatly enhanced lithium storage performance

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/MnOx-Carbon hybrid nanofibers have been successfully synthesized by the combination of a liquid chemical redox reaction (LCRR) and a subsequent carbonization heat treatment. The nanostructures exhibit a unique one-dimensional core/shell architecture, with one-dimensional CNTs encapsulated inside and a MnOx-carbon composite nanoparticle layer on the outside. The particular porous characteristics with many meso/micro holes/pores, the highly conductive one-dimensional CNT core, as well as the encapsulating carbon matrix on the outside of the MnOx nanoparticles, lead to excellent electrochemical performance of the electrode. The CNTs/MnOx-Carbon hybrid nanofibers exhibit a high initial reversible capacity of 762.9 mAh-1, a high reversible specific capacity of 560.5 mAh-1 after 100 cycles, and excellent cycling stability and rate capability, with specific capacity of 396.2 mAh-1 when cycled at the current density of 1000 mA-1, indicating that the CNTs/MnOx-Carbon hybrid nanofibers are a promising anode candidate for Li-ion batteries

Different Coalescence Sources of Light Nuclei Production in Au-Au Collisions at sNN=3\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3 GeV

We study the production of light nuclei in the coalescence mechanism in Au-Au collisions at midrapidity at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3$ GeV. We derive analytic formulas of momentum distributions of two bodies, three bodies and four nucleons coalescing into light nuclei, respectively. We naturally explain the transverse momentum spectra of the deuteron ($d$), triton ($t$), helium-3 ($^3$He) and helium-4 ($^4$He). We reproduce the data of yield rapidity densities and averaged transverse momenta of $d$, $t$, $^3$He and $^4$He. We give proportions of contributions from different coalescence sources for $t$, $^3$He and $^4$He in their productions. We find that besides nucleon coalescence, nucleon$+$nucleus coalescence and nucleus$+$nucleus coalescence may play requisite roles in light nuclei production in Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3$ GeV.Comment: 5 figures, 6 table

Colorful Hydrophobic Poly(Vinyl Butyral)/Cationic Dye Fibrous Membranes via a Colored Solution Electrospinning Process

Supplementary Materials. (DOCX 3474 kb

Study of ‘Fingerprints’ for Green Tea from Different Planting Areas in Eastern China

Green tea is one of the main teas in China, which is unfermented and retains more natural substances of fresh tea leaves. This is the preliminary study of  application of ‘fingerprints’ based on differences in component composition of green tea. Five green teas from different areas in eastern China are  analyzed, which are processed by microwave-assisted solvent (ethanol) extraction method to obtain tea polyphenols, flavonoids, polysaccharides,  pigments (thearubigins, theaflavins, theabrownins). The results show that the component composition of five green teas are varied from each other;  based on these contents varieties, we have constructed a ‘fingerprint’ and applied linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis  (HCA) to assist in the identification of these five green teas. This method does not require large, expensive instruments (such as high performance liquid  chromatograph, gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer, etc.), and is easy to use, which provides a new avenue for the identification of tea.&nbsp

An innovative EEG-based emotion recognition using a single channel-specific feature from the brain rhythm code method.

Efficiently recognizing emotions is a critical pursuit in brain–computer interface (BCI), as it has many applications for intelligent healthcare services. In this work, an innovative approach inspired by the genetic code in bioinformatics, which utilizes brain rhythm code features consisting of δ, θ, α, β, or γ, is proposed for electroencephalography (EEG)-based emotion recognition. These features are first extracted from the sequencing technique. After evaluating them using four conventional machine learning classifiers, an optimal channel-specific feature that produces the highest accuracy in each emotional case is identified, so emotion recognition through minimal data is realized. By doing so, the complexity of emotion recognition can be significantly reduced, making it more achievable for practical hardware setups. The best classification accuracies achieved for the DEAP and MAHNOB datasets range from 83–92%, and for the SEED dataset, it is 78%. The experimental results are impressive, considering the minimal data employed. Further investigation of the optimal features shows that their representative channels are primarily on the frontal region, and associated rhythmic characteristics are typical of multiple kinds. Additionally, individual differences are found, as the optimal feature varies with subjects. Compared to previous studies, this work provides insights into designing portable devices, as only one electrode is appropriate to generate satisfactory performances. Consequently, it would advance the understanding of brain rhythms, which offers an innovative solution for classifying EEG signals in diverse BCI applications, including emotion recognition