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Many studies have explored the effects of auditory and visual stimuli on the perception of an environment. However, there is a lack of investigations examining direct behavioral responses to noise in specific environments. In this study, a behavioral variable, walking speed, was analyzed, as a response to the sounds and visual features of a specific environment. The study examined the effects of birdsongs compared to traffic noise on walking speed in a real outdoor urban environment. It was supposed that the interaction of audition and vision in the perception of an environment may also be shaped by the perceived congruence of the visual and auditory features of the environment. The participants (N = 87 and N = 65), young university students, walked along a 1.8-km urban route. They listened to a soundtrack of crowded city noise or birdsongs, or they walked in the real outdoor environment without listening to any acoustic stimuli. To investigate the effect of the congruence between acoustic and visual stimuli, the experiment was conducted in two different seasons (fall and spring). The results did not show significant differences between the crowded city noise condition and the real outdoor condition. Listening to the soundtrack with birdsongs decreased walking speed, but this effect was significant only in the experiment conducted in spring. These findings can be explained in terms of the congruence between the sounds and the visual environment. The findings raise questions regarding the restorative function of urban greenery during different seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this work in vitro evaluation of the reactivation potency of the newly synthesized reactivators for acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) is described. Using this method, reactivation potency of 21 potential reactivators of AChE inhibited by the nerve agent sarin has been evaluated. We have confirmed the fact that currently the most promising AChE reactivator, HI-6, is the most effective reactivator of sarin-inhibited AChE. There are only three AChE reactivators—HI-6, TO033 and TO047—able to satisfactorily reactivate sarin-inhibited AChE at the concentration 10 -5 M, which is nontoxic for human use. On the other hand, there are 14 AChE reactivators, that are able to reactivate sarin-inhibited AChE at the concentration 10 -3 M. However, this concentration of reactivator is probably toxic for human use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the two rapid reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) methods were developed for the determination of seven homologues of benzalkonium bromide in hospital disinfectants. The first one uses column Purospher RP- I 8e and mixture of methanol-acetic acid and lithium perchlorate-octanesuiphonic acid aqueous solution as a mobile phase; the second method is performed on Waters Spherisorb Cyano column, and mobile phase consists of acetonitrile-acetate buffer. Both techniques use UV detection at 263 nm. The time of analysis is shorter than 15 mm, and limits of detection are bellow 0.005 mg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The more criteria a human decision involves, the more inconsistent the decision. This study experimentally examines the effect on the degree of pairwise comparison inconsistency by using the (im)possibility of selecting the criteria for the evaluation and the size of the decision-making problem. A total of 358 participants completed objective and subjective tasks. While the former was associated with one possible correct solution, there was no single correct solution for the latter. The design of the experiment enabled the acquisition of eight groups in which the degree of inconsistency was quantified using three inconsistency indices (the Consistency Index, the Consistency Ratio and the Euclidean distance) and these were analysed by the repeated measures ANOVA. The results show a significant dependence of the degree of inconsistency on the method of determining the criteria for pairwise evaluation. If participants are randomly given the criteria, then with more criteria, the overall inconsistency of the comparison decreases. If the participants can themselves choose the criteria for the comparison, then with more criteria, the overall inconsistency of the comparison increases. This statistical dependence exists only for males. For females, the dependence is the opposite, but it is not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The method of continual determination of the rat blood cholinesterase activity was developed to study the changes of the blood cholinesterases following different intervetions., Aims: The aim of this study is registration of cholinesterase activity in the rat blood and its changes to demonstrate detoxification capacity of rats to inactivate sarin or VX in vivo., Methods: The groups of female rats were premedicated (ketamine and xylazine) and cannulated to a. femoralis. Continual blood sampling (0.02 ml/min) and monitoring of the circulating blood cholinesterase activity were performed. Normal activity was monitored 1-2 min and then the nerve agent was administered i.m. (2×LD50). Using different time intervals of the leg compression and relaxation following the agent injection, cholinesterase activity was monitored and according to the inhibition obtained, detoxification capacity was assessed., Results: Administration of sarin to the leg, then 1 and 5 min compression and 20 min later relaxation showed that further inhibition in the blood was not observed. On the other hand, VX was able to inhibit blood cholinesterases after this intervention., Conclusions: The results demonstrated that sarin can be naturally detoxified on the contrary to VX. Described method can be used as model for other studies dealing with changes of cholinesterases in the blood following different factors.