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The utilization of the district heating system (DHS) thermal inertia is greatly influenced by heating regulation modes and time steps, however, which has been rarely analysed in almost all integrated heat and power dispatch system (IHPD) models, for the purpose of wind power integration. In this study, an IHPD model considering the thermal inertia of the DHS was established, in which a data interaction problem amongst the power sources, heat sources and district heating networks was solved. Thereafter, four most commonly used heating operation modes and different heating regulation time steps were applied to the IHPD model, respectively, to analyse and compare their effects on the IHPD system under different operation conditions, mainly considering the operation cost and the wind power integration. Results of the case studies showed that the variable flow and variable supply temperature mode produced the lowest operation cost of the IHPD system during a whole heating season. Consequently, this mode is recommended to be applied in the optimization operation of the IHPD system with the wind power integration. Meanwhile, a heating regulation time step within 3 h could make full use of the DHS thermal inertia, thus to improve the operational flexibility of the IHPD system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The periosteum plays a critical role in bone repair and is significantly influenced by the surrounding immune microenvironment. In this study, we employed 10× single-cell RNA sequencing to create a detailed cellular atlas of the swine cranial periosteum, highlighting the cellular dynamics and interactions essential for cranial bone injury repair. We noted that such injuries lead to an increase in M2 macrophages, which are key in modulating the periosteum's immune response and driving the bone regeneration process. These macrophages actively recruit periosteal stromal cells (PSCs) by secreting Neuregulin 1 (NRG1), a crucial factor in initiating bone regeneration. This recruitment process emphasizes the critical role of PSCs in effective bone repair, positioning them as primary targets for therapeutic interventions. Our results indicate that enhancing the interaction between M2 macrophages and PSCs could significantly improve the outcomes of treatments aimed at cranial bone repair and regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of intelligent technology, it has become an important trend to control the air conditioning terminal equipment intelligently to build the comfortable indoor environment. Therefore, it is necessary to automatically collect environmental and individual parameters (metabolic rate and clothing thermal resistance) and calculate PMV to predict human thermal sensation in real time. In this process,environmental parameters can be automatically measured and uploaded by the device. The metabolic rate is related to human level of activity . However,clothing thermal resistance is affected by many factors such as environment and level of activity.Taking the clothing thermal resistance as a fixed value according to thermal comfort standards will lead to deviations in thermal sensation prediction. In addition, many Chinese dresses cannot be found corresponding thermal resistance value in the thermal standard. In view of this,this paper studies two algorithms to obtain clothing surface temperature and calculate clothing thermal resistance by taking thermal image of the dressed human body with the infrared thermal imager,and compare them with the method of finding the clothing thermal resistance database in thermal comfort standard.And then,we calculate the PMV(predicted mean vote) using clothing thermal resistance obtained by three methods.The results of PMV and the questionnaire(ASV) are compared to analyze the feasibility of these methods. The results show that the mean deviation between the PMV calculated by one algorithm and the ASV is 0.33 scale when sitting in single-layered dress in summer,and that is 0.45 scale when sitting in multi-layered dress in winter. The results of PMV is significantly correlated with ASV. All of these prove that clothing thermal resistance can be calculated by this non-contact method, and it can be benefit to obtain indoor human thermal sensation and adjust and control thermal environment intelligently.

In recent years, constant temperature and humidity air-conditioning systems have been widely used and promoted in residential buildings all over the world. At the same time, the influences of long-term stable indoor environment on people’s lives, especially on sleep quality and health, have attracted wide attention. Therefore, in this paper, a questionnaire investigation on people’s sleep and health in constant temperature and humidity environment was carried out in China. By comparing the questionnaire investigation results from the users of constant temperature and humidity air-conditionings with unused, it could be found that people living in constant temperature and humidity houses have better performance in sleep quality, but worse health condition. These results suggested that constant temperature and humidity air-conditioning had an effect on human bodies. The findings can also inform future study on the role of thermal environment on sleep and health.

In order to explore the potential contributions of the siesta on nocturnal sleeping quality and respiratory immunity under thermoneutral environments, an experimental study was conducted under the thermoneutral environment. In this experiment, 20 subjects were recruited and divided into two groups, one of which had siesta while the other did not but acted as a control group. During the experiment at 25°C, the sleeping patterns, including the slow wave sleeping (SWS) duration, light sleeping (N1, N2 periods) duration, as well as the rapid eye movement (REM) duration, were recorded continuously. Meanwhile, the concentration of the salivary secretory immunoglobulin E (S-IgE), which acted as a biomarker of respiratory immunity, was also measured. Results showed that the mean skin temperature (MST) of the siesta group was 0.37°C lower than that of the control group. In addition, a slight increase (0.1°C) in core temperature was detected in the siesta group. Furthermore, results indicated that both the SWS and REM sleeping durations of the siesta group were reduced, while elevations were observed during the light sleeping duration. However, the subjective evaluation of the nocturnal sleeping quality of the siesta group was improved by 2.9 points. Finally, a higher S-IgE concentration was detected in the siesta group. This study revealed that the siesta might affect the nocturnal sleeping patterns; meanwhile, the changes in S-IgE might correspond to an improvement in respiratory immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sorption of Eu( III) on natural red earth ( NRE), iron oxides removed red earth ( IORRE), and organic matter removed red earth ( OMRRE) were studied under ambient conditions. The kinetic and thermodynamic studies of Eu( III) sorption were discussed by linear and non-linear approaches. The results showed that sorption of Eu( III) on the three red earth was strongly dependent on ionic strength below pH~7.0 and independent of ionic strength above pH~7.0. Ion exchange, outer-sphere surface complexes, and inner-sphere surface complexes were controlling Eu( III) sorption in the whole observed pH range. Furthermore, the presence of iron oxides can inhibit Eu( III) sorption to some extent; however, organic matters enhance Eu( III) sorption in a certain range of pH and temperature. Sorption of Eu( III) on red earth samples can be represented by a pseudo-second-order rate equation, and the non-linear pseudo-second-order kinetic expression could fit the kinetics better compared with the linear forms. Freundlich non-linear isotherm model is the best-fit model to Eu( III) sorption on the samples. Meanwhile, non-linear method is found to be a better way to describe the sorption kinetics and thermodynamics than the linear method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence rate of adolescent depression and anxiety has been increasing since the outbreak of COVID-19, which there are no effective therapeutic drugs available. Si-ni San is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of depression-like as well as anxiety-like behavior, but its mechanism for treating depression combined with anxiety during adolescence is not yet clear., Methods: Network pharmacology was used to explore potential drug molecules and related targets, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were used to evaluate the interaction between the potential drug molecules and related targets, and a model of anxiety combined with depression in adolescent rats as well as the following behavioral tests and molecular biology tests were used to verify the results from network pharmacology and molecular docking., Results: As a result, 256 active ingredients of Si-ni San and 1128 potential targets were screened out. Among them, quercetin, Luteolin, kaempferol, 7-Methoxy-2-methyl isoflavone, formononetin showed to be the most potential ingredients; while STAT3, IL6, TNF, AKT1, AKT1, TP53, IL1B, MAPK3, VEGFA, CASP3, MMP9 showed to be the most potential targets. AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, IL-17 signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway, which are involved in anti-inflammation processes, showed to be the most probable pathways regulated by Si-ni San. Molecular docking and MD simulation between the compounds to inflammation-associated targets revealed good binding abilities of quercetin, Luteolin, kaempferol, nobiletin and formononetin to PTGS2 and PPARγ. In the experiment with adolescent rats, Si-ni San markedly suppressed early maternal separation (MS) combined with adolescent chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)-induced depression combined with anxiety. The qPCR results further indicated that Si-ni San regulated the oxidative stress and inflammatory response., Conclusion: This study demonstrates that adolescent anxiety- and depression-like behavior induced by MS combined CUMS can be ameliorated by Si-ni San by improved inflammation in hippocampus via targeting TNF pathway and Nrf2 pathway, helping to reveal the mechanism of Si-ni San in treating adolescent depression combined with anxiety., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Liang, Cui, Shen, Xu, Chen, Wu, Liang, Liu, Huang and Li.)

Purpose: To assess the antimicrobial effects of silver ion tubing (ST) on dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) and their sustainability over time., Methods: Six dental chair units (DCUs) equipped with ST and four with common tubing (CT) were included in the study. Repeated flushing with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was conducted to dislodge biofilms. Then, genetic analysis of the PBS was performed. The tubing was also detached and scanned under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to observe the adherent biofilm on the lumen walls., Results: Low bacterial levels were noted in both the CT and ST groups, but biofilm attachment was only observed in the CT group., Clinical Significance: Silver ion tubing exhibited high antibacterial activity by reducing the colonization of pathogens in the dental unit water inhibiting biofilm formation, and showing promise as an efficient infection control method for dental unit waterlines., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest. This research was funded by the National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, number C2020110465., (Copyright©American Journal of Dentistry.)

The Heart failure (HF) is considered as the end-stage of various heart disease and associated with high mortality globally. Progressive loss of cardiac myocytes via apoptosis is considered as the most important factor for HF pathology. In this study, we demonstrated that Safflower extract was able to inhibitthe apoptosis inducted by Angiotensin II (AngII) in a ratmyocardium derived cell line H9C2. Further examination of LC-3II conversion and autophagosome formation suggested Safflower extract induced autophagy in treated cell. Inhibition of Safflower extract induced autophagy by 3-methyladenine (3MA) abolished anti-apoptotic function of Safflower extract, while application of autophagy stimulator Rapamycin in H9C2 inhibited apoptosis as well. Moreover, treatment of H9C2 cell with Safflower extract also inhibited expression of pro-apoptotic genes BAD and Bax. In conclusion, our data indicated that Safflower extract inhibit apoptosis via inducing autophagy in myocardium cell and demonstrated the potential as novel therapeutic drug for Heart failure.

Objective: To better reveal the functions of key members involved in cyclic di-GMP signal metabolism pathways in the bacterial blight pathogen of rice Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo)., Methods: vieAxoo (PXO 04753), a gene putatively encoding the EAL domain proteins was investigated by gene deletion mutation using the marker exchange, complementation and phenotypic analysis., Result: The sequence of vieAxoo cloned from genomic DNA of the wild-type strain PXO99(A) was found to be highly conserved in plant-pathogenic Xanthomonas spp. VieAxoo was structurally featured with EAL and REC domains. No significant changes in virulence to rice, EPS production and flagellar motility were found in deltavieAxoo compared to PXO99(A), whereas remarkable changes in induction of hypersensitive responses (HR) in tobacco and biofilm formation were observed., Conclusion: VieAxoo might function as an important reponse regulator in cyclic di-GMP signaling and regulation of bacterial induction of HR and biofilm formation of Xoo.