Stimulation of TRPV1 by green laser light

Low-level laser irradiation of visible light had been introduced as a medical treatment already more than 40 years ago, but its medical application still remains controversial. Laser stimulation of acupuncture points has also been introduced, and mast-cells degranulation has been suggested. Activation of TRPV ion channels may be involved in the degranulation. Here, we investigated whether TRPV1 could serve as candidate for laser-induced mast cell activation. Activation of TRPV1 by capsaicin resulted in degranulation. To investigate the effect of laser irradiation on TRPV1, we used the Xenopus oocyte as expression and model system. We show that TRPV1 can functionally be expressed in the oocyte by (a) activation by capsaicin (K 1/2 = 1.1 μM), (b) activation by temperatures exceeding 42°C, (c) activation by reduced pH (from 7.4 to 6.2), and (d) inhibition by ruthenium red. Red (637 nm) as well as blue (406 nm) light neither affected membrane currents in oocytes nor did it modulate capsaicin-induced current. In contrast, green laser light (532 nm) produced power-dependent activation of TRPV1. In conclusion, we could show that green light is effective at the cellular level to activate TRPV1. To which extend green light is of medical relevance needs further investigation

Usability Testing of the HIVE: A System for Dynamic Access to Multiple Controlled Vocabularies for Automatic Metadata Generation

This paper reports on a usability study testing the HIVE Vocabulary Server (HIVE). The overall research goal was to identify usability issues needing attention in order to improve the effectiveness the HIVE system. This usability study compared results for two targeted user groups: librarians and scientists. The study employed a formal usability testing approach and formative evaluation. Usability test results for the first build of HIVE were positive. Librarians indicated that HIVE is a useful tool and could assist their work. Scientists responded positively about HIVE's support for identifying a greater selection of relevant terms describing their data. The main usability problems identified were related to the absence of adequate information via the HIVE interface. These include the absence of descriptive information about individual HIVE supported vocabularies; lack of evidence about the status of vocabularies during an interaction (was not clear to users if a vocabulary was, closed or opened during a session); and a lack of information indicating the success (or failure) regarding document upload. Recommendations for addressing these problems are presented in the discussion, and may guide further development of HIVE Vocabulary Server

FEM Analysis of Spring-backs in Age Forming of Aluminum Alloy Plates

AbstractThe age forming technology, characterized by huge spring-backs, has been developed to manufacture large integral wing-skin panel parts, which necessitates devising a method of predicting spring-backs. A 7B04-T7451 aluminum alloy creep test in tension is accomplished at 155 °C, and the creep curves are obtained. The material constants of the mechanism-based creep constitutive equations are determined through experiments. The age forming process and the spring-backs of 7B04 aluminum alloy plates are analyzed using the commercial finite element software ABAQUS. The effects of plate thickness and forming time on spring-backs are researched. The spring-backs decrease with the increase of plate thickness and forming time. The test results verify the reliability of the finite element method (FEM) analysis

Application of BEMD in Extraction of Regional and Local Gravity Anomalies Reflecting Geological Structures Associated with Mineral Resources

The bi-dimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) method is an adaptive analysis method for nonlinear and nonstationary data. With the sifting process of BEMD, the data can be decomposed into a series of bi-dimensional intrinsic mode functions (BIMFs), which may present the relative local feature of the data. In this study, the BEMD method was successfully used for analyzing the Bouguer gravity data of Gejiu tin-copper polymetallic ore field in Yunnan Province and Tongshi gold field in Western Shandong Uplift Block to extract different-scale anomalies. In these two cases, regional and local components were separated, which can reflect the geological structures at different depths and some intrusive bodies which may be associated with mineral deposits. The results reveals the spatial distribution relationship between the different intrusive bodies and the various types of mineral deposits in the aforementioned two study area, which provide some reliable evidence for exploration of new concealed mineral deposits