Water Volume and Salinity Forecasts of the Small Aral Sea for the Years 2025

The Aral Sea is a saline endorheic basin in Central Asia. From 1960 onwards the lake started to shrink because of the utilization of rivers water for irrigation purposes. Since the irrigation began, massive amounts water has been used. Therefore, the lake divided into two parts in 1987: the Small Aral Sea in the north and the Large Aral Sea in the south. In the Small Aral Sea, the average water salinity increased from 25-130 g/l from 1987 to 2011. From 1999-2011, the water volume of the Small Aral Sea increased from 12.6 to 22.0 km3. Holt's linear trend forecast method was used to predict the water volume and salinity of the Small Aral Sea from 2010 to 2025. The prediction results indicate that the water volume of the Small Aral Sea will increase to around 22.8 km3, and salinity of the Small Aral Sea will rise to approximately 190 g/l by 2025

The Mechanisms for the Oxidative Addition of Imidazolium Salts to a Group 9 Transition Metal Atom (Co0, Rh0, and Ir0) and a Group 10 Transition Metal Atom (Ni0, Pd0, and Pt0): A Theoretical Study

The potential energy surfaces of the oxidative addition reactions, L2M + imidazoliumcation → product and CpM′L + imidazolium cation → product (M = Ni, Pd, Pt; M′ = Co, Rh, Ir; Cp = η5-C5H5; L = 1,3-aryl-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC), aryl = 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl), are studied at the M06-L/Def2-SVP level of theory. The theoretical findings show that the singlet-triplet splitting (∆Est = Etriplet − Esinglet) for the L2M and CpM′L species can be used to predict the reactivity for their oxidative additions. That is to say, current theoretical evidence suggests that both a 14-electron L2M complex and a 16-electron CpM′Lcomplex with a better electron-donating ligand L (such as NHC) result in a reduced ∆Est value and facilitate the oxidative addition to the saturated C─H bond. The theoretical results for this study are in good agreement with the obtainable experimental results and allow a number of predictions to be made

Differences in Mode of Action of Cochinchinenin A and B on Tetrodotoxin-Resistant Sodium Channels

Purpose: To explore the mechanism of antagonistic interaction between cochinchinenin A and B in modulating tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTR-X) sodium currents.Methods: The time variation of the effects induced by cochinchinenin A and B on the TTX-R sodium currents in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of rats were observed using whole-cell patch clamp technique. Based on pharmacological fundamental theory, the modes of action of  cochinchinenin A and B on TTX-R channels were distinguished.Results: The scatter diagram which reflected the time variation of inhibition effect on TTX-R sodium currents induced by cochinchinenin A fitted well with occupancy theory equation (goodness of fit test, p > 0.05), while that of cochinchinenin B fitted well with rate theory equation (p > 0.05). The rate constants for combination and dissociation between cochinchinenin A and TTX-R sodium channel were (198.7 ± 39.9) x 10-3 and (41.1 ± 6.2) x 10-3 respectively; while corresponding values for combination andassociation between cochinchinenin B and TTX-R sodium channel were (99.9 ± 16.8) x 10-3 and (5.3 ± 0.4) x 10-3 respectively.Conclusion: The main cause of the antagonistic interaction between cochinchinenin A and B may be attributed to the different modes of their action on TTX-R sodium channels.Keywords: Cochinchinenin, Tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium channel, Antagonistic interaction, Occupancy theory, Rate theor

Dietary Intake of Fatty Acids, Total Cholesterol, and Stomach Cancer in a Chinese Population.

To investigate the associations between dietary fatty acids and cholesterol consumption and stomach cancer (SC), we analyzed data from a population-based case-control study with a total of 1900 SC cases and 6532 controls. Dietary data and other risk or protective factors were collected by face-to-face interviews in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2003 to 2010. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multiple unconditional logistic regression models and an energy-adjusted method. The joint associations between dietary factors and known risk factors on SC were examined. We observed positive associations between dietary saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and total cholesterol and the development of SC, comparing the highest versus lowest quarters. Increased intakes of dietary SFAs (p-trend = 0.005; aOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.22 with a 7 g/day increase as a continuous variable) and total cholesterol (p-trend < 0.001; aOR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.22 with a 250 mg/day increase as a continuous variable) were monotonically associated with elevated odds of developing SC. Our results indicate that dietary SFAs, MUFAs, and total cholesterol are associated with stomach cancer, which might provide a potential dietary intervention for stomach cancer prevention

Aerosolized amphotericin B as prophylaxis for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: a meta-analysis

SummaryObjectivesInvasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is associated with high mortality in high-risk (immunosuppressed) patients. Many studies have investigated whether prophylactic inhalation of amphotericin B (AMB) reduces the incidence of IPA, but no definitive conclusions have been reached. The present meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic inhalation of AMB for the prevention of IPA.MethodsMEDLINE and other databases were searched for relevant articles published until December 2013. Randomized controlled trials that compared aerosolized AMB with placebo were included. Two reviewers independently assessed and extracted the data of all trials.ResultsSix animal studies and two clinical trials involving 768 high-risk patients were eligible. The animal studies showed lower overall mortality rate among animals that underwent aerosolized AMB prophylaxis (odds ratio (OR) 0.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08–0.21). Similarly, the clinical trials showed a lower incidence of IPA among patients who underwent aerosolized AMB prophylaxis (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.22–0.79).ConclusionsThis analysis provides evidence supporting the notion that the prophylactic use of aerosolized AMB effectively reduces the incidence of IPA among high-risk patients