Clinical study of Bian-shi therapy to mitigate insomnia symptoms in young and middle-aged patients with chronic insomnia by regulating neurotransmitters

Objective To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of Bian-shi therapy in improving sleep quality in young and middle-aged patients with chronic insomnia. Methods 40 young and middle-aged patients with chronic insomnia were randomly divided into the western medicine group （n = 20） and Bian-shi group （n = 20）. In the western medicine group， patients were orally treated with zopiclone （7.5 mg， oral administration before bedtime）， and those in the Bian-shi group were treated with placebo and Bian-shi therapy （once a week， 40 min a time， 4 times in total）. The changes of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index （PSQI）， and serum melatonin， acetylcholine and norepinephrine before and after 30 d treatment were analyzed and compared between two groups. Results After 30 d treatment， PSQI scores were significantly lower compared with those before treatment in two groups （both P < 0.05）. In the Bian-shi group， PSQI scores were more significantly decreased than those in the western medicine group （all P < 0.05）. After 30 d treatment， serum levels of melatonin and acetylcholine were significantly higher， whereas norepinephrine levels were significantly lower than those before treatment in two groups （all P < 0.05）. In the Bian-shi group， serum levels of melatonin and acetylcholine were significantly higher， whereas norepinephrine levels were significantly lower compared with those in the western medicine group （all P < 0.05）. Conclusions Bian-shi therapy can effectively improve the sleep quality of young and middle-aged patients with chronic insomnia， which yields higher clinical efficacy than that of zopiclone tablets. Multiple neurotransmitters may be involved in the mechanism of Bian-shi therapy to mitigate chronic insomnia symptoms

Investigation of wind characteristics of typhoon boundary layer through field experiments and CFD simulations

High-resolution observations of typhoon boundary layer above 100 m are rare as traditional wind towers are generally below 100 m, which limits the study of typhoon boundary layer and engineering applications such as wind-resistant design of tall buildings and wind turbines in typhoon-prone regions. In this study, boundary layer winds of super typhoon Lekima (2019) are observed, simulated and analyzed. Together with traditional wind tower, Doppler wind lidar is utilized for observations of typhoon boundary layer in order to obtain measured data above 100 m. Besides, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES) method is conducted to further investigate the impact of complex terrain on the near-surface wind characteristics. The results show that the power law fits the mean wind speed profile well below 100 m. However, before and after the typhoon lands, a local reverse or low-level jet occurs in the mean wind speed profile at the height of 100–300 m, which cannot be depicted by the power law. Meanwhile, the turbulence intensity increases with height and experiences larger fluctuations. In addition, there is a significant negative correlation between the ground elevation and power exponents of the fitted mean wind speed profiles. This study provides useful information to better understand wind characteristics of the typhoon boundary layer

Are narcissists more creative? Only if we believe it: How narcissism can relate to creativity

The relationship between narcissism and creativity has inspired interesting debates for decades. Drawing on a new perspective, the current study tried to explain how narcissism influences others’ creativity evaluation in the organizational context. Based on the theory of impression management, we suggested that narcissism and creativity may have a more complex relationship rather than a simple linear link. To test this relationship, we conducted a survey of 596 subordinates and 60 leaders in three high-technology companies. The result showed that there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between narcissism and creativity evaluation. Moreover, personal reputation mediated this curvilinear relationship and this relationship was significant only when narcissists were low in political skill. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations and future directions have also been discussed

A Deadline-Aware and Distance-Aware Packet Scheduling Algorithm for Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

We propose a wireless differentiated queuing service (WDQS) algorithm to meet the diverse delay requirements in wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs). WDQS adopts novel latest departure time (LDT) scheduling criteria to differentiate forwarding emergency by considering the packets’ lifetime, the known delay it has already experienced, and the remaining delay it will experience. We also propose an effective approach to estimate the unknown delay for the remaining journey without any message overhead by exploiting the query mechanism of the sink. We further discuss analytically the packet's lifetime setting to meet the end-to-end (e2e) delivery requirement. The simulation results verify our analytical discussion and show performance improvements in terms of e2e delay and packet drop rate