Mortality burdens in California due to air pollution attributable to local and nonlocal emissions.

Limited research has been conducted on the contributions of local and nonlocal emission sources to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) and their associated mortality. In this study, we estimated the total mortality resulting from long-term PM2.5 and O3 exposures in California in 2012 using multiple concentration response functions (CRFs) and attributed the estimated mortality to different emission groups. The point estimates of PM2.5-associated mortality in California ranged from 12,700 to 26,700, of which 53% were attributable to in-state anthropogenic emissions. Based on new epidemiological evidence, we estimated that O3 could be associated with up to 13,700 deaths from diseases of both the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in California. In addition, 75% of the ambient O3 in California was due to distant emissions outside the western United States, leading to 92% of the O3-associated mortality. Overall, distant emissions lead to greater mortality burdens of air pollution in California than local anthropogenic emissions

Distributed Classification of Localization Attacks in Sensor Networks Using Exchange-Based Feature Extraction and Classifier

Secure localization under different forms of attack has become an essential task in wireless sensor networks. Despite the significant research efforts in detecting the malicious nodes, the problem of localization attack type recognition has not yet been well addressed. Motivated by this concern, we propose a novel exchange-based attack classification algorithm. This is achieved by a distributed expectation maximization extractor integrated with the PECPR-MKSVM classifier. First, the mixed distribution features based on the probabilistic modeling are extracted using a distributed expectation maximization algorithm. After feature extraction, by introducing the theory from support vector machine, an extensive contractive Peaceman-Rachford splitting method is derived to build the distributed classifier that diffuses the iteration calculation among neighbor sensors. To verify the efficiency of the distributed recognition scheme, four groups of experiments were carried out under various conditions. The average success rate of the proposed classification algorithm obtained in the presented experiments for external attacks is excellent and has achieved about 93.9% in some cases. These testing results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can produce much greater recognition rate, and it can be also more robust and efficient even in the presence of excessive malicious scenario

catena-Poly[[dinitratocopper(II)]-μ-4,4′′-bis­(1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-1,1′:4′,1′′-terphen­yl]

In the title one-dimensional coordination polymer, [Cu(NO3)2(C32H22N4)]n, the Cu2+ ion (site symmetry 2) is coordinated by two nitrate O atoms and two N atoms from two 4,4′-bis­(benzoimidazol-1-yl)terphenyl (L) ligands in a distorted cis-CuN2O2 square-planar coordination geometry. An alternative description of the metal coordination geometry, if long Cu—O contacts to the bonded nitrate anions are considered, is an extremely distorted cis-CuN2O4 octa­hedron. The complete L ligand is generated by crystallographic twofold symmetry and connects the metal ions into infinite chains propagating in [10]. The dihedral angle between the benzimidazole ring system and the adjacent benzene (B) ring is 51.12 (11)° and the dihedral angle between the B ring and the central ring is 19.45 (13)°

A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

While fossils of honey bees (Apini: Apis Linnaeus) are comparatively abundant in European Oligocene and Miocene deposits, the available material from Asia is scant and represented by only a handful of localities. It is therefore significant to report a new deposit with a fossil honey bee from southern China. Apis (Synapis) dalica Engel & Wappler, sp. n., is described and figured from Middle Miocene sediments of Maguan County, southeastern Yunnan Province, China. This is the first fossil bee from the Cenozoic of southern China, and is distinguished from its close congeners present at the slightly older locality of Shanwang, Shandong in northeastern China. The species can be distinguished on the basis of wing venation differences from other Miocene Apis.This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41572010, 41622201, 41688103, U1502231)the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDPB05)King Saud University through ISPP #0083 (M.S.E. and A.S.A.)T.W. was supported by the German Research Foundation (WA 1496/6-1, Heisenberg grant WA 1496/8-1

Relationship of Glucagon-like Peptide 1 and Peptide YY with Catch-up Growth in Children Born Small for Gestational Age

INTRODUCTION: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) are at a greater risk of developing insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Gastrointestinal peptides, some secreted by intestinal L cells, regulate glucose and lipid metabolism and act on the hypothalamus to regulate energy homeostasis. The aim of this study was to explore whether gastrointestinal peptides are involved in metabolic disorders in SGA, which remains unclear. METHODS: The secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) were investigated in prepubertal children born SGA, the differences between catch-up growth and persistent short stature were compared, and correlation with glucose and lipid metabolism was analyzed. GLP-1, PYY, insulin-like growth factor 1, glucose, insulin, and lipid concentrations were analyzed in prepubertal children aged 4-10 years, stratified into three groups: short-SGA (SGA-s), catch-up growth SGA, and normal growth appropriate for gestational age (AGA). RESULTS: Fasting GLP-1 and PYY concentrations were significantly lower in the SGA group than in the AGA group (p<0.05), and the GLP-1 level in infants born SGA with catch-up growth was lower than that in the SGA-s group (p<0.05). In the SGA population, GLP-1 showed a weak negative correlation with catch-up growth (r=-0.326) and positive correlation with fasting insulin (r=0.331). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Lower GLP-1 concentrations may be associated with abnormal glucose metabolism in prepubertal children born SGA with catch-up growth. This is indirect evidence that impaired intestinal L cell function may be involved in the development of metabolic complications in SGA children

In vitro cellular uptake of evodiamine and rutaecarpine using a microemulsion

Yong-Tai Zhang, Zhe-Bin Huang, Su-Juan Zhang, Ji-Hui Zhao, Zhi Wang, Ying Liu, Nian-Ping FengDepartment of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, The People&amp;#39;s Republic of ChinaObjective: To investigate the cellular uptake of evodiamine and rutaecarpine in a microemulsion in comparison with aqueous suspensions and tinctures.Materials and methods: A microemulsion was prepared using the dropwise addition method. Mouse skin fibroblasts were cultured in vitro to investigate the optimal conditions for evodiamine and rutaecarpine uptake with different drug concentrations and administration times. Under optimal conditions, the cellular uptake of microemulsified drugs was assayed and compared to tinctures and aqueous suspensions. Rhodamine B labeling and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) were used to explore the distribution of fluorochrome transferred with the microemulsion in fibroblasts. Cellular morphology was also investigated, using optical microscopy to evaluate microemulsion-induced cellular toxicity.Results: The maximum cellular drug uptake amounts were obtained with a 20% concentration (v/v) of microemulsion and an 8 hour administration time. Drug uptake by mouse skin fibroblasts was lowest when the drugs were loaded in microemulsion. After incubation with rhodamine B-labeled microemulsion for 8 hours, the highest fluorescence intensity was achieved, and the fluorochrome was primarily distributed in the cytochylema. No obvious cellular morphologic changes were observed with the administration of either the microemulsion or the aqueous suspension; for the tincture group, however, massive cellular necrocytosis was observed.Conclusion: The lower cellular uptake with microemulsion may be due to the fact that most of the drug loaded in the microemulsion vehicle was transported via the intercellular space, while a small quantity of free drug (released from the vehicle) was ingested through transmembrane transport. Mouse skin fibroblasts rarely endocytosed evodiamine and rutaecarpine with a microemulsion as the vehicle. The microemulsion had no obvious effect on cellular morphology, suggesting there is little or no cellular toxicity associated with the administration of microemulsion on mouse skin fibroblasts.Keywords: mouse skin fibroblasts, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, microemulsion, cellular uptake, in vitr

Acidochromic organic photovoltaic integrated device

Tremendous efforts have been devoted to boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs) via the introduction of cathode interlayers (CILs). However, CIL materials have limited diversity and the development of multifunctional devices is largely neglected. Herein, an acidochromic organic photovoltaic integrated device is firstly proposed by introducing an acid-sensitive stimulating-reaction organic molecule as both the CIL of OSCs and the sensor of monitoring environmental acidity. The oxazolidine unit of acidochromic molecule can form a ring-opening structure after acid treatment, resulting in the remarkable color change with the direct reflection of pH value of ecological environment. The additive-free PM6:Y6 OSCs using the acidochromic molecule as the CIL achieve an excellent PCE of above 15.29 %, which is 47 % higher than that of the control device. The PCE can even maintain above 92 % after treating CIL with various strong acids (pH = 1). Moreover, the color of acidified films and the degraded performance of acidified OSCs can be easily restored by alkaline treatment. The successful application of CIL in other highly efficient photovoltaic systems proves its good universality. This work triggers the promising application of acidochromic molecules in solar cells as CIL with the additional function of recognition of acid environment