Opposing responses of the rat pulmonary artery and vein to phenylephrine and other agents in vitro.

Background: Different from current cognition, our study demonstrated that adrenergic receptors agonist phenylephrine significantly relaxed isolated pulmonary artery but constricted pulmonary veins. Through comparing differences in the effects of commonly used vasoactive drugs on pulmonary artery and veins, the study aimed to improve efficiency and accuracy of isolated pulmonary vascular experiments, and to provide experimental basis for clinical drug use.

Methods: The contractile responses of pulmonary arteries and veins from twelve-week-old Male Sprague-Dawley rats to phenylephrine, arginine vasopressin (AVP), U46619, endothelin-1, and potassium chloride (KCl) were recorded, as well as the relaxation in response to phenylephrine, AVP, acetylcholine.

Design and Preparation of Fe-N Catalytic Sites in Single-Atom Catalysts for Enhancing the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Fuel Cells.

There is an urgent need for developing nonprecious metal catalysts to replace Pt-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. Atomically dispersed M-N/C catalysts have shown promising ORR activity; however, enhancing their performance through modulating their active site structure is still a challenge. In this study, a simple approach was proposed for preparing atomically dispersed iron catalysts embedded in nitrogen- and fluorine-doped porous carbon materials with five-coordinated Fe-N sites.

Gold Nanoparticles Supported on Fe₂O₃–MO(x) (M = Al, Zr, Zn) Composite Oxides for Partial Oxidation of Methanol.

Selective production of hydrogen by partial oxidation of methanol (POM), using gold supported on composite metal oxides, Fe2O3–MO x (M: Al, Zr, Zn) was investigated. The catalysts were characterized by TGA, XRD, TEM and XPS analyses. TGA and DTGA analysis indicates that minimum decomposition temperature required to obtain α-Fe2O3 in Fe2O3–ZrO2 composite support is 570 K.

Hydrogen production by partial oxidation of methanol over gold supported on Fe2O3.

Partial oxidation of methanol (POM) to produce hydrogen was investigated over Au/Fe2O3 catalysts. The catalysts were prepared by inverse co-precipitation method. The influence of catalyst synthesis parameters such as precipitant, gold loading, calcination temperature and reaction parameter such as reaction temperature on POM reaction to produce hydrogen were investigated.

Laboratory-induced Mental Stress, Cardiovascular Response, and Psychological Characteristics.

Vulnerable populations, such as firefighters and patients with coronary artery disease, are susceptible to mental stress-induced cardiac events, including death. Mental stress tests are widely applied to investigate the mechanisms linking psychological stress to cardiovascular consequences and to predict the risk of death in those susceptible populations. However, some aspects of mental stress tests have not been thoroughly understood, which impairs their reliability and validity as a research and clinical tool.

Depression and heart rate variability in firefighters.

Introduction: Depression has been found to increase the risk of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease through a mechanism of changing cardiac autonomic tone which is reflected by alteration of heart rate variability indices. This study investigated whether such mechanism existed in firefighters who were at high risk of depression and sudden cardiac death.

Methods And Results: In total, 107 firefighters were recruited.