523 research outputs found
doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2006.03.026
Pine needle sections as bioindicator for heavy metals and nutrient deficiency particularly needle sheath for particle pollutants. Abstract Macronutrients (P, S, K, Na, Mg, Ca), heavy metals (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cd) and Al concentrations as well as values of Ca/Al in the tip, middle, base sections and sheaths of current year and previous year needles of Pinus massoniana from Xiqiao Mountain were analyzed and the distribution patterns of those elements were compared. The results indicated that many elements were unevenly distributed among the different components of needles. Possible deficiency of P, K, Ca, Mn and Al toxicity occurred in needles under air pollution. Heavy metals may threaten the health of Masson pine. Needle sheaths were good places to look for particulate pollutants, in this case including Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd and Al
Black Soybean Shows Protective Function against Carbon Tetrachloride-induced Liver Damage in Sprague-dawely Rats
ABSTRACT Anthocyanins are abounding in the seed coat of black soybean (BS) (Glycine max (L.) Merrill), which contribute to anti-oxidative and anti-antiinflammatory activities. It leaded us to investigate the protective function of BS against a strong oxidant carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) induced liver damage in rats. BS was baked at 130°C for 5 min and then was submerged in 100°C hot water for 20 min to produce an anthocyanin enriched tea/decoction (BST). Protective function of BST against CCl 4 -induced liver damage in Sprague-Dawely rats was investigated with six experimental groups: control, high BST (1 g BS/kg bw), CCl 4 (0.5 ml 20% CCl 4 ), CCl 4 + silymarin (0.2 g/kg bw), CCl 4 + low BST (0.1 g BS/kg bw) and CCl 4 + high BST (1 g BS/kg bw). BST enhanced GSH and GSSH contents, as well as antioxidant enzymes activities (superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities) in the liver tissue of normal rats. BST also attenuated the elevation of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) levels in CCl 4 treated rats. Liver histopathology revealed that BST reduced fatty liver and liver fibrosis caused by CCl 4 . It was suggested that anthocyanins in the seed coat of black soybean contributed to such hepatoprotective effect
Quantum sensing of temperature close to absolute zero in a Bose-Einstein condensate
We propose a theoretical scheme for quantum sensing of temperature close to
absolute zero in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). In our
scheme, a single-atom impurity qubit is used as a temper-ature sensor. We
investigate the sensitivity of the single-atom sensor in estimating the
temperature of the BEC. We demonstrate that the sensitivity of the temperature
sensor can saturate the quantum Cramer-Rao bound by means of measuring quantum
coherence of the probe qubit. We study the temperature sensing performance by
the use of quantum signal-to-noise ratio (QSNR). It is indicated that there is
an optimal encoding time that the QSNR can reach its maximum in the
full-temperature regime. In particular, we find that the QSNR reaches a finite
upper bound in the weak coupling regime even when the temperature is close to
absolute zero, which implies that the sensing-error-divergence problem is
avoided in our scheme. Our work opens a way for quantum sensing of temperature
close to absolute zero in the BEC.Comment: 9 pages,9 figure
Comparative study of percutaneous nephrolithotomy versus open stone surgery for management of patients with large staghorn calculi
Supersensitive sensing of quantum reservoirs via breaking antisymmetric coupling
We investigate the utilization of a single generalized dephasing qubit for
sensing a quantum reservoir, where the antisymmetric coupling between the qubit
and its reservoir is broken. It is found that in addition to the decay factor
encoding channel, the antisymmetric coupling breaking gives rise to another
phase factor encoding channel. We introduce an optimal measurement for the
generalized dephasing qubit which enables the practical measurement precision
to reach the theoretical ultimate precision quantified by the quantum
signal-to-noise ratio (QSNR). As an example, the generalized dephasing qubit is
employed to estimate the -wave scattering length of an atomic Bose-Einstein
condensate. It is found that the phase-induced QSNR caused by the antisymmetric
coupling breaking is at least two orders of magnitude higher than the
decay-induced QSNR at the millisecond timescale and the optimal relative error
can achieve a scaling with being the encoding time in
long-term encoding. Our work opens a way for supersensitive sensing of quantum
reservoirs
Effect of transplanted PEDF-hUCMSCs in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa in rats
AIM: To investigate the effect of transplanted pigmented epithelium-derived factor(PEDF)on human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells(hUCMSCs)in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa in rat models. METHODS: The hUCMSCs were isolated and cultured, hUCMSCs were transfected with PEDF recombinant lentivirus. Experimental royal college of surgeon(RCS)rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, 8 rats in each group. The experimental group was injected with PEDF-hUCMSCs subcutaneously. The hUCMSCs control group was injected with the same amount of hUCMSCs. The PBS control group was injected with the same amount of PBS. At 4 and 8wk after injection, electroretinography(ERG), the thickness of retinal outer nuclear layer(ONL)and green fluorescent protein(GFP)staining were observed. Immunofluorescence staining of retinal sections and the phagocytosis of MERTK protein were evaluated to determine phagocytosis. RESULTS: PEDF gene carrying recombinant lentiviral vector could efficiently infect hUCMSCs. After infection, hUCMSCs were sub cultured and the lentivirus prolonged the expression in the cells of the target gene. At 8wk after transplantation, the amplitude of b-wave in ERG were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control groups. At 4 and 8wk after transplantation, morphological changes of ONL thickness in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control groups(all PCONCLUSION: Transplantation of pigment epithelium-derived protein modified human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells has a protective effect on the retina of RCS rats
- …