Influence of sound and light combined conditions in urban environments on residents' tolerance limits in pre sleep state

To determine the sound and light combined conditions pollution in urban residential environments at night, this paper comprehensively evaluates cross-visual and auditory sensory channels in the laboratory. Experimental variables include extremum and gradient, and the working state of the participants was determined and verified. A subjective evaluation experiment on 18 combined conditions was carried out by synthesizing real-world data. Results from the sound and light combined conditions experiment show that there are significant differences in the tolerance limits of participants to different content sound variables (p = 0.000 0.05, p = 0.122 > 0.05, p = 0.146 > 0.05) at different color temperatures. The tolerance limits of participants will not be reduced due to the superposition of two interference variables: sound pollution and light pollution. Adding light pollution to sound pollution can increase the tolerance limits of participants, while adding sound pollution to light pollution has no significant effect on the tolerance limits. The study also found that adding light with different color temperatures to the human voice can increase participants’ tolerance limit to human voice (1% -2%), indicating that visual elements can change individuals’ perception of sound. In addition, the physiological and psychological differences between participants may affect the performance differences of individual participants in sound and light combined conditions

Re-evaluating serum angiotensin-converting enzyme in sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, which mainly affects the lungs and lymph nodes, as well as extrapulmonary organs. Its incidence, and prevalence rate, and disease course largely vary with regions and populations globally. The clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis depend on the affected organs and the degree of severity, and the diagnosis is mainly based on serum biomarkers, radiographic, magnetic resonance, or positron emission tomography imaging, and pathological biopsy. Noncaseating granulomas composing T cells, macrophages, epithelioid cells, and giant cells, were observed in a pathological biopsy, which was the characteristic pathological manifestation of sarcoidosis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was first found in the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system. Its main function is to convert angiotensin I (Ang I) into Ang II, which plays an important role in regulating blood pressure. Also, an ACE insertion/deletion polymorphism exists in the human genome, which is involved in the occurrence and development of many diseases, including hypertension, heart failure, and sarcoidosis. The serum ACE level, most commonly used as a biomarker in diagnosing sarcoidosis, in patients with sarcoidosis increases. because of epithelioid cells and giant cells of sarcoid granuloma expressing ACE. Thus, it serves as the most commonly used biomarker in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis and also aids in analyzing its therapeutic effect and prognosis in patients with sarcoidosis

Bis(triphenyl­stann­yl) thio­phene-2,5-dicarboxyl­ate

Mol­ecules of the title compound, [Sn2(C6H5)6(C6H2O4S)], lie on inversion centres with the central thio­phene ring disordered equally over two orientations. The carboxyl­ate groups are approximately coplanar with the thio­phene ring [dihedral angle = 4.0 (1)°] and the Sn—O bond distance of 2.058 (4) Å is comparable to that in related organotin carboxyl­ates

Enhanced surface acceleration of fast electrons by using sub-wavelength grating targets

Surface acceleration of fast electrons in intense laser-plasma interaction is improved by using sub-wavelength grating targets. The fast electron beam emitted along the target surface was enhanced by more than three times relative to that by using planar target. The total number of the fast electrons ejected from the front side of target was also increased by about one time. The method to enhance the surface acceleration of fast electron is effective for various targets with sub-wavelength structured surface, and can be applied widely in the cone-guided fast ignition, energetic ion acceleration, plasma device, and other high energy density physics experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 4figure

Limited driving of elevated CO2 on vegetation greening over global drylands

Drylands are the world's largest biome and dominate the trends and interannual variability of global carbon sinks. Although a 'greening' trend of global drylands has been widely reported, large uncertainties remain in attributing its drivers. It is increasingly emphasized that elevated CO2 has greatly contributed to the vegetation greening over global drylands. Here we quantified the contributions of climate change, elevated CO2, and land use and land cover change (LULCC) on leaf area index (LAI) over drylands, using a process-based land surface model Noah-MP to investigate the drivers of vegetation change. The state-of-the-art model shows better performance in simulating the interannual variability of satellite-observed LAI over global drylands compared with that of the multi-model ensemble mean LAI from the TRENDY results. The area that LAI changes dominated by climate change (44.03%) is three times greater than that by CO2 (13.89%), and climate change also contributes most to the global drylands greening trend (55.07%). LULCC shows regional dominance over 13.35% of the global drylands, which is associated with afforestation, woody plant encroachment, and agricultural intensification. Our results imply that the vegetation greening area driven by elevated CO2 is much limited relative to the overwhelming climatic driving, which should be considered in predictions of trends and interannual variations of global carbon sinks

Overexpression of transketolase-like gene 1 is associated with cell proliferation in uterine cervix cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tumor cells need large energy and nucleic acids to proliferate and grow. For most of their energy needs, cancer cells depend more on glycolysis. For most of their nucleic acids needs, cancer cells depend more on the nonoxidative pathway of the pentose phosphate pathway. Transketolase(TKT) is a crucial enzyme in the nonoxidative pathway of the PPP.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The real-time quantity PCR was used to determine the expression of transketolase gene family in uterine cervix cancer. Transketolase activity of cell was determined by using enzyme-linked method. Cell proliferation was detected by using MTT.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The TKTL1 mRNA was specifically over-expressed in uterine cervix cancer cells(HeLa cell line) compare with normal human endocervical epithelial cells(End1/E6E7 cell line)(P < 0.05), whereas the expression of TKT and transketolase-like gene 2(TKTL2) have no significant differences between the two cell lines(P > 0.05). Moreover, we found that total transketolase activity was significantly reduced, and cell proliferation was remarkably inhibited after anti-TKTL1 siRNA treatment in HeLa cells. The total transketolase activity and cell proliferation have no significant differences after anti-TKTL1 siRNA treatment in End1/E6E7 cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate that TKTL1 plays an important role in total transketolase activity and cells proliferation in uterine cervix cancer.</p

Protective effect of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate on ultraviolet b-induced skin damage in hairless mice

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of green tea (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) on ultraviolet B (UV-B)-induced skin damages in hairless mice in order to develop a natural sunscreen compound for use in skin care products and cosmetics.Methods: EGCg was dissolved in acetone at concentrations of 1.0, 10.0 and 50.0 mg/mL, and topically applied to the skin of hairless mice at doses of 0.2 mL/cm2, with acetone as control. The mice were then irradiated by 100 μW/cm2 UV-B for 30 min daily. EGCg treatment and UV-B irradiation were carried out daily for 28 consecutive days. The mice were then sacrificed and their dorsal skin examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on the 28th day.Results: UV-B irradiation induced severe macroscopic skin damage including chapping, cracking and abnormal desquamation in the treated hairless mice. EGCg showed dose-dependent protective effects against UV-B induced damage on the skin. Treatments with 10.0 and 50.0 mg/mL EGCg alleviated UVB- induced skin damage by suppressing both keratinocyte apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction, along with inhibiting the production of melanin pigment.Conclusion: Topical application of green tea EGCg shows dose-dependent protective effect against UV-B-induced damage on hairless mouse skin. Thus, the plant compound can potentially be used as an alternative agent for photoprotection against UV-B exposure.Keywords: UV-B, Green tea EGCg, Photoprotection, Stratum corneum,  Mitochondrion, Melanosom

3′,6′-Bis(diethyl­amino)-3H-spiro­[2-benzo­thio­phene-1,9′-xanthene]-3-thione

The title compound, C28H30N2OS2, was obtained by thio­nation of 3′,6′-bis­(diethyl­amino)-3H-spiro­[isobenzofuran-1,9′-xan­thene]-3-one with 2,4-bis­(p-methoxy­phen­yl)-1,3-dithia­diphos­phetane disulfide (Lawesson’s reagent). The planes of the two benzene rings of the xanthene system are inclined at a dihedral angle of 17.4 (1)°, and the plane of the dithio­phthalide group and the planes through the two benzene rings of the xanthene system make dihedral angles of 80.2 (1) and 82.8 (1)°, respectively