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Great efforts have been made in investigating the neurotoxicity of dopamine (DA) in the presence of manganous ions. In contrast, here, we probe the possibility of DA-based cancer chemotherapy by le...

The evaluation of overall thermal comfort in non-uniform thermal environments has not been fully clarified; it was therefore studied in this paper. For this aim, a series of experiments were conducted under non-uniform thermal environments with local cooling, where subjects’ thermal responses were surveyed by questionnaires. The correlations between the overall thermal comfort, the overall thermal sensation and the local thermal comfort were explored under both steady and unsteady states. As well, the relationship between the overall thermal comfort and the local thermal comfort was examined under steady-state conditions. The results indicated that the overall thermal comfort was dependent on the overall thermal sensation and also on the local thermal comfort at the body parts exposed to local cooling, whether in steady or transient states. Considering the two factors, the overall thermal comfort models were proposed for steady and unsteady states. Also, the overall thermal comfort was approximated by the average of the maximum and minimum local thermal comfort under steady states. Another overall thermal comfort model was therefore proposed. The two overall thermal comfort models for the steady state were verified by experimental results.

Soil aggregate stability, as an important indicator of soil functions, may be affected by seasonal freezing and thawing (SFT) and land use in high cold and wet regions. Therefore, comprehensive understanding the effects of SFT on aggregate stability in orchards during winter and spring is crucial to develop appropriate management strategies that can effectively alleviate the degradation of soil quality to ensure sustainable development of orchard ecosystems. To determine the mechanism of degradation in orchard soil quality, the effects of SFT on the stability of water-stable aggregates were examined in apple-pear orchards (Pyrus ussuriensis var. ovoidea) of four different ages (11, 25, 40, and 63 yr) on 0 to 5% slopes before freezing and after thawing from October 2015 to June 2016 in Longjing City, Yanbian Prefecture, Northeast China, involving a comparison of planted versus adjacent uncultivated lands (control). Soil samples were collected to investigate water-stable aggregate stability in three incremental soil layers (0–20, 20–40 and 40–60 cm). In the same samples, iron oxide, organic matter, and clay contents of the soil were also determined. Results showed that the destructive influences of SFT on water-stable aggregates were more pronounced with the increased orchards ages, and SFT exerted severe effects on water-stable aggregates of older orchards (40 and 63 yr) than juvenile orchards. Undergoing SFT, the soil instability index and the percentage of aggregate destruction increased by mean 0.15 mm and 1.86%, the degree of aggregation decreased by mean 1.32%, and the erosion resistance weakened, which consequently led to aggregate stability decreased. In addition, soil free, amorphous, and crystal-line iron oxide as well as soil organic matter and clay contents are all important factors affecting the stability of water-stable aggregates, and their changes in their contents were consistent with those in the stability of water-stable aggregates. The results of this study suggest that long-term planting fruit trees can exacerbate the damaging effects of SFT on aggregate stability and further soil erosion increases and nutrient losses in an orchard, which hider sustainable use of soil and the productivity orchards.

Ferroptosis and autophagy, playing significant roles in tumor treatment, are two typical forms of the programmed cell death. However, the rational combination of ferroptosis and autophagy for synergistic tumor therapy is still highly challenging. Herein, we report on an intriguing nanomedicine strategy for achieving autophagy-enhanced ferroptosis on efficiently combating cancer, which was based on the construction of trehalose-loaded mSiO2@MnOx-mPEG (TreMMM) nanoparticles with satisfactory biocompatibility. The nanoparticles are endowed with high glutathione (GSH) consumption efficiency, thereby inducing cancer-cell ferroptosis via inactivating glutathione peroxidases 4 (GPX4). Subsequently, the TreMMM degradation due to the GSH depletion and pH sensitivity contributed to the trehalose release for inducing autophagy, promoting/enhancing ferroptosis by NCOA4-mediated degradation of ferritin. A substantial in vitro and in vivo antitumor effect was achieved by such an intriguing autophagy-enhanced ferroptosis. Therefore, the rational combination of GSH-consumption-induced ferroptosis and trehalose-induced autophagy by nanomedicine design provides an alternative but effective strategy for tumor treatment.

Transition metal carbide, carbonitride and nitride MXenes, as the emerging two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, have aroused burgeoning research interest in a broad range of applications ranging from energy conversion to biomedicines attributing to their distinctive planar nanostructure, physiochemical properties and biological effects. They are featured with fascinating electronic, optical, magnetic, mechanical and thermal properties, which exert significant roles in biomedical applications of 2D MXenes. In this review, we briefly summarize the recent research progress of 2D MXenes and highlight their intrinsic chemistry in theranostic nanomedicines, focusing on the synthetic chemistry for MXenes construction, surface chemistry for surface engineering, physiochemical property for theranostic application and biological chemistry for biosafety evaluation. Furthermore, based on the current achievements on MXenes, their potential research direction, critical challenges and future development in biomedicine are also discussed. It is highly expected that 2D MXene-based nanosystems would have a broad application prospect in theranostic biomedicine provided the current facing critical issues and challenges are adequately solved.

Skin temperature is an important physiological parameter that reflects human thermal sensation. However, it is uncertain whether it can evaluate overall thermal sensation in non-uniform thermal environments. This study aims to explore the feasibility of using skin temperature to predict overall thermal sensation in non-uniform environments. The overall thermal sensation votes and skin temperatures were obtained in a non-uniform thermal environment with local cooling on the chest in a climate chamber. The predictive power of the representative skin temperature (RST) estimated from five different methods was examined by analysing its sensitivity and the correlation between the overall thermal sensation and the RST. The RSTs estimated from the 7-point method with the measurement site of trunk assigned on the chest and the 1-point method with a measurement site at the centre of the chest had high sensitivity and coefficients of determination. They could reflect overall thermal sensation in the non-uniform environments with local cooling on the chest. The results imply that skin temperature could be used to evaluate overall thermal sensation in non-uniform environments. The overall thermal sensation in non-uniform environments can be evaluated by the RST if, when determining the RST, the measuring site exposed to local cooling is involved and given a high weight.

High value-added utilization of plastic waste has historically been a problem, which has driven researchers to make long-term and unremitting efforts to tackle it. High-performance carbon based solid acid (CSA) was prepared from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) in different proportions. The small amount of chlorine is still residual on the edge of graphitic carbon sheets after co-carbonization and sulfonation. Strong electronegative –Cl group and the high-density phenolic –OH group, double-adsorption group, are covalently bonded to the edges of the graphitic carbon sheets, contributing to the decrystallization of cellulose to a large extent. Meanwhile, PVC and PE-derived CSAs have significantly higher –SO3H group density than PVC-derived CSA and cellulose-derived CSA. These are obviously beneficial to the improvement of hydrolysis activity, which can be attributed to structural optimization caused by co-carbonization PVC and PE. The CSA with a mixture of 80% proportions has great catalytic activity and repeatability.

The iron gall ink-triggered chemical corrosion of hand-written documents is a big threat to Western cultural heritages, which was demonstrated to result from the iron gall (GA-Fe) chelate-promoted reactive oxygen species generation. Such a phenomenon has inspired us to apply the pro-oxidative mechanism of GA-Fe to anticancer therapy. In this work, we construct a composite cancer nanomedicine by loading gallate into a Fe-engineered mesoporous silica nanocarrier, which can degrade in acidic tumor to release the doped Fe3+ and the loaded gallate, forming GA-Fe nanocomplex in situ. The nanocomplex with a highly reductive ligand field can promote oxygen reduction reactions generating hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, the resultant two-electron oxidation form of GA-Fe is an excellent Fenton-like agent that can catalyze hydrogen peroxide decomposition into hydroxyl radical, finally triggering severe oxidative damage to tumors. Such a therapeutic approach by intratumoral synthesis of GA-Fe nano-metalchelate may be instructive to future anticancer researches., Iron gall chelate (GA-Fe) can promote oxygen reduction reactions and reactive oxygen species generation which causes chemical corrosion. Here, the authors, inspired by this phenomenon, develop a composite nanomedicine for tumour therapy constructed by loading gallate into Fe-engineered and PEGylated mesoporous silica nanocarrier, and show that it inhibits tumour growth.

Objective: To identify the potential risk factors for acute mastitis during lactation comprehensively. Subsequently, to evaluate logistic regression model in predicting the risk of lactational mastitis in Chinese women by applying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Methods: A case–control study among Chinese women enrolled 652 patients with mastitis and 581 healthy women with breastfeeding experience as control. The retrospective information was obtained by questionnaires that included medical history of pregnancy, delivery, puerperium and breastfeeding behaviors. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression model were performed to investigate the relationship between these factors and the occurrence of lactational mastitis. Using ROC curve to evaluate the prognostic value of these selected indicators in the risk of acute mastitis. Results: The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the primiparity (P < 0.001), mastitis in previous breastfeeding (P < 0.001), nipple’s heteroplasia (P < 0.001), cracked nipple (P < 0.001), breast trauma by external force (P = 0.002), lateral position (P = 0.007), breast pump (P = 0.039), nipple sucking (P = 0.007), sleep with sucking (P = 0.007), and tongue-tie (P = 0.013) were risk variables independently and significantly related with mastitis. While vaginal delivery (P = 0.015), clean nipple before breastfeeding (P = 0.015), first contact with child within 1 h (P = 0.027) were protective factors. The ROC analysis demonstrated that the area under the curve of model 2 was 0.8122 (95%CI = 0.7885–0.8360), which stated that the model presented a high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: By means of collecting and summarizing the risk factors associated with the occurrence of breast mastitis in Chinese women, we established risk discriminant model to identify and warn the individuals susceptible to acute mastitis early, which will allow practitioners to provide appropriate management advice and effective individual care.

This study aims to build models to predict the overall thermal comfort in the non-uniform thermal environments. Nine non-uniform thermal conditions with the locally supplied airflows were created with 24 healthy subjects recruited. Subjects’ thermal sensation as well as thermal comfort on the whole body and the body parts were surveyed. The overall percentage of dissatisfied (PD) was higher than the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) by the PMV-PPD model when the thermal non-uniformity exceeded a certain level. The deviation between PD and PPD increased along with the local percentage of dissatisfied, which rised with the thermal non-uniformity level. The overall percentages of dissatisfied depended on the local percentage of dissatisfied as well as the overall thermal sensation vote. A PD model was therefore proposed by considering both the overall thermal sensation vote and the local percentage of dissatisfied on the mainly exposed body part. As well, another PD model was developed by averaging the max. and the min. local percentage of dissatisfied. The PD models were verified to be credible, they are capable of predicting the occupants’ percentage of dissatisfied in the non-uniform thermal environment by combining the previous thermal regulation model and the thermal sensation model.

Weiwei Tang,1,* Hanjin Wang,1,* Yuemei Wang,2 Xiaowei Wang3 1Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Operation Anesthesiology, Huai’an First People’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Huai’an, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Medical Oncology, Huai’an First People’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Huai’an, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: A number of studies have investigated the roles of excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) gene rs3212986 polymorphisms as potential biomarkers in gastric cancer (GC). However, the results were inconsistent. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to explore ERCC1 rs3212986 polymorphisms in the chemotherapy response and clinical outcome of GC.Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched up to July 28, 2017, for studies on the association between ERCC1 rs3212986 A/C polymorphisms and response to chemotherapy as well as overall survival time of GC. A fixed-effect or random-effect model was used to calculate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) based on the results from the heterogeneity tests.Results: The result revealed that there was no significant association between the ERCC1 rs3212986 A/C polymorphism and response to chemotherapy in GC under comparison models (AA + CA versus CC, OR 0.95, P=0.80, AA versus CA, OR 0.85, P=0.55, AA versus CC, OR 0.74, P=0.47). Further identification suggested that ERCC1 rs3212986 A/C polymorphisms were not linked with the overall survival of GC (AA + CA versus CC, OR 1.09, P=0.52, AA versus CA, OR 1.05, P=0.85, AA versus CC, OR 1.43, P=0.23).Conclusion: Our meta-analysis indicated that the ERCC1 rs3212986 A/C polymorphism was not associated with response to chemotherapy or overall survival time in GC. Well-designed studies with larger sample sizes and more ethnic groups should be performed to further validate our results. Keywords: ERCC1, rs3212986, cancer, polymorphism, meta-analysis, survival, prognoses

The benefits of task ambient conditioning in improving thermal comfort and indoor air quality have been demonstrated in recent studies. The potential use of task ambient conditioning for improving thermal comfort when the room air temperature is beyond the suggested range in mixing ventilation; however, has not been fully explored. A newly developed task ambient conditioning with chest exposure was, therefore, suggested at the room air temperature of 28°C (82.4°F), which is higher than the normally set temperature under cooling conditions in mixing ventilation. The present study aims to explore the appropriate air parameter ranges of the local airflow, but not to develop the practical system. Assessments of the thermal environment were performed by subjective questionnaires under nine distinct conditions with task ambient conditioning with chest exposure as well as the ambient environment in a climate chamber. The thermal sensations under the nine conditions with task ambient conditioning with chest expos...

Mean skin temperature (MST) is commonly applied to evaluate human thermal sensation in the uniform thermal environments. However, the skin temperature distribution characteristics in the non-uniform thermal environments were different from that in the uniform environment; the MST calculation method in the uniform thermal environment could not be applicable to the non-uniform environment. So a MST calculation method was proposed for the non-uniform thermal environment in the present study. The human body surface area was divided into 14 parts, and the weight coefficients for each part were given. The MST calculated by the 14 sites method in the non-uniform environment was lower than that in the uniform environment with the same room air temperature. Besides, the MST decreased with the increase of the locally supplied air velocity and the vent size, and with the decrease of the locally supplied air temperature. The MST could be an indicator to the thermal sensation in the non-uniform thermal environments. It is suggested that MST could be calculated by both considering the physiological characteristics and the effect of the thermal non-uniformity.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a topical ophthalmic suspension combination of povidone-iodine 0.6% (PVP-I) and dexamethasone 0.1% (DEX) for infectious and inflammatory components of bacterial conjunctivitis.Randomized, double-masked, multicenter, phase 3 clinical trial.Subjects of all ages (those3 months had to be full-term) with a diagnosis of bacterial conjunctivitis were randomized 3:1:3 to either PVP-I/DEX, PVP-I alone, or placebo. The primary endpoint was clinical resolution in the study eye, and the key secondary efficacy endpoint was bacterial eradication, both at the day 5 visit. Adverse events (AEs) were documented at all visits.Overall, 753 subjects were randomized (intent-to-treat [ITT] population; PVP-I/DEX [n = 324]; PVP-I [n = 108]; placebo [n = 321]); mean and standard deviation (SD) age was 44.3 (22.9) years, and most were female (61.2%) and white (78.1%). In all treatment groups, mean treatment compliance was98%. The modified ITT population for the efficacy analysis comprised 526 subjects. In the study eye at the day 5 visit, clinical resolution was achieved by 50.5% (111/220) subjects in the PVP-I/DEX group vs 42.8% (95/222) in the placebo group (P = .127), and bacterial eradication was achieved by 43.3% (94/217) and 46.8% (102/218), respectively (P = .500). Treatment-emergent AEs were experienced by 32.8% (106/323), 39.8% (43/108), and 19.0% (61/321) of subjects in the safety population treated with PVP-I/DEX, PVP-I, and placebo, respectively (most mild in severity).In this study, PVP-I/DEX did not demonstrate additional benefit in clinical efficacy compared with placebo in subjects with bacterial conjunctivitis.

It aims to study the effect of the thermal non-uniformity on human’s thermal responses, and illustrate the other potential impact factors to the overall thermal comfort besides overall thermal sensation in non-uniform thermal environment. Totally 9 non-uniform thermal envi-ronment conditions with locally supplied airflow were created. Subjects’ thermal sensation as well as thermal comfort on the whole body and the body parts were surveyed under the steady state. Thermal comfort was dispersed with a fixed thermal sensation. In most cases, percentages of dissatisfied (PD) were higher than the predicted percentages of dissatisfied (PPD) by PMV-PPD model with the same thermal sensation. The deviation between PD and PPD increased with thermal non-uniformity level. It also increased along with the decrease of the local thermal comfort level, which is induced from the rising of the thermal non-unifomity level of the environment. PD was deduced to be derived from the local thermal comfort besides whole body’ thermal sensation.

Pyrolysis techniques can provide a way to convert polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste into high value liquids and gases. The inexpensive pyrolysis residue was used to successfully prepare a carbon-based solid acid (CSA) bearing –Cl functional group by a simple process, which has been shown to be highly effective for hydrolyzing microcrystalline cellulose into reducing sugars. The structure, acidic functional group density and catalytic activity of PVC-derived CSA (PCSA) were investigated. The results showed that the carbonization time has an important influence on the structure and properties of the PCSA, especially in a lower temperature range. There was a compensation effect between the carbonization temperature and time on the structure and the activity of PCSA. Phenolic-OH and –Cl groups acted as double cellulose-binding sites and together improved the adsorbability of PCSA, which is much higher than that of traditional CSA and other CSAs bearing –Cl groups. The high hydrolytic activity was determined by the adequate density of the –SO3H group, the excellent adsorption property, and the entire structure of the PCSA.

Stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) interacting protein 1 (SIN1) is an essential component of mTORC2. Previous studies have shown that SIN1 is a key regulator of Akt pathway which plays an important role in various pathological conditions including cancer. While its effects and mechanisms on the progression of NSCLC remain unknown. In this study, we report that SIN1 is able to promote the growth and migration of NSCLC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of SIN1 promoted A549 and H1299 cells proliferation by both MTT and colony formation assays. Consistently, knockdown of SIN1 inhibited the proliferation of these cells. In transwell assay, overexpression of SIN1 increased the migration of A549 and H1299 cells, while SIN1 knockdown reduced their migration. In a tumor xenograft model, overexpression of SIN1 promoted tumor growth of A549 cells in vivo, while SIN1 knockdown suppresses the tumor growth. We also found a mechanistic link between SIN1 and H3K4me3, H3K4me3 is involved in SIN1 upregulation. Moreover, SIN1 can significantly promote the in vitro migration and invasion of NSCLC cells via induction epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, which subsequently leads to transcriptional downregulation of epithelial marker E-cadherin and upregulation of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and Vimentin expression. Together, our results reveal that SIN1 plays an important role in NSCLC and SIN1 is a potential biomarker and a promising target in the treatment of NSCLC.

The effect of exposure time on the percentage of people dissatisfied with draft was studied by exposing subjects to the airflow for 1 h. The results showed that the percentage of subjects dissatisfied with draft increased dramatically in the first 20 min of the exposure, then changed slowly in the last 40 min of the exposure. Based on the experimental results, a model was established to correlate the percentage of dissatisfied due to draft with exposure time as well as airflow velocity, temperature and turbulence intensity. The model is useful to design the air conditioning systems and the layouts of the interior spaces of buildings.

ObjectiveTo describe the evolution of ventricular septal defects in infants from intra-uterine diagnosis to the age of 3 years or until documented echocardiographic closure of the defect, as well as any relationship between closure rate, time and foetal echocardiographic features.MethodsBetween January, 2004 and December, 2006, 268 cases of congenital cardiac defect were detected in 14,993 pregnancies referred to our hospital for routine foetal echocardiography; of these cases, 125 had isolated ventricular septal defect. The mothers were scheduled for regular ultrasonography every 2 weeks from diagnosis until the ventricular septal defect closed or 3 years postnatally.ResultsOf the 125 cases of ventricular septal defects, the pregnancy was terminated in 25, four resulted in death, two defects closed spontaneouslyin utero, 55 closed at a mean age of 13.7 months postnatally, 17 were treated with surgery, nine remained unclosed, and 13 cases were lost to follow-up. Only 7.7% of muscular ventricular septal defects remained patent as compared with 35.7% of perimembranous ventricular septal defects (p is less than 0.01). Muscular ventricular septal defects closed earlier than perimembranous ventricular septal defects. All the ventricular septal defects less than or equal to 3 millimetres closed, whereas only 79.5% of the defects greater than 3 millimetres closed before the age of 3 years; 60.9% of the defects less than or equal to 3 millimetres closed before the age of 1 year as compared with 41.7% of the defects greater than 3 millimetres. The velocity of right-to-left flow was negatively correlated with closure rate but not related to closure period.ConclusionVentricular septal defects can closein uteroor during the postnatal period, and both the size and site play a role in the natural history, with small and muscular ventricular septal defects having a high closure rate and early closure.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether turbulence intensity affects local skin temperature drop, and whether subjects’ dissatisfaction with draft can be correlated to the local skin temperature drop. Eighteen subjects were exposed to two levels of turbulence intensity (15% and 30%) at mean air velocities of 0.3 and 0.6 m/s respectively for 1 h. Subjective responses to draft were registered every 10 min and skin temperatures at the back of the neck were recorded throughout the sessions. More subjects felt uncomfortable due to draft when exposed to high turbulence than exposed to low turbulence. Skin temperature drop after 1 h exposure under high turbulence intensity is significantly larger than that under low turbulence intensity. Percentage of subjects dissatisfied with draft positively correlated to the local skin temperature drop.

The chain structure of a tetranuclear zinc(II) cluster [Zn4Q6(Ox)]0.5n ([Zn4 (C9H6NO)6(C2O4)]0.5n) (1) (Q = 8- hydroxyquinoline anion, Ox = oxalate dianion) was determined by X-ray crystallography and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/n (No. 14), with the lattice parameters a = 13.2222(15) ?, b = 11.0566(12) ?, c = 16.2224(18) ?, ? = 92.1770(10)?, V = 2369.9(5) ?3, Z = 4, Mr = 607.23 g mol-1, Dc = 1.702 g cm-3. The tetranuclear zinc(II) clusters form 1D polymeric chains parallel to the b-axis. The ?-? stacking interactions involving aryl rings support the formation of the 1D polymeric structure. The neighboring polymeric chains are connected by C-H???? interactions.

Objective We evaluated the trends in uptake of amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling (CVS) for prenatal diagnosis compared with uptake of first and second trimester prenatal serum screening for Down syndrome among patients referred for genetic counseling for advanced maternal age (AMA). Methods Patients referred for AMA genetic counseling from 2001 through 2008 were informed of both prenatal serum screening and invasive diagnostic testing options. Testing offered and testing decisions were entered in a computer database and uptake rates calculated for each year with trends compared using logistic regression analysis. Results From 2001 through 2007, we observed a decline in amniocentesis and CVS uptake (p = 0.0001). This trend reversed in 2008 for both invasive procedures (p = 0.0001). Uptake of prenatal serum screening increased over the study period with uptake of first trimester screening increasing 1.7 fold in 2008. Conclusion Improved prenatal screening tests and increased availability of screening for AMA patients has led to a steady decline in uptake of invasive testing from 2001 through 2007. This trend reversed from 2007 through 2008. Possible reasons for this reversal are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.