Effects of virtual exposure to urban greenways on mental health.

Urban greenways (UGW) are increasingly recognized as vital components of urban green infrastructure (UGI). While existing research has provided empirical evidence on the positive impacts of UGW on physical health, studies focusing on the effects on mental health remain limited. Moreover, previous investigations predominantly compare UGW as a whole with other built environments, neglecting the influence of specific vegetation designs along UGW on mental health.

Impacts of urban green infrastructure on attentional functioning: insights from an fMRI study.

Multiple studies using various measures, technologies, and participant groups have found that exposure to urban green infrastructure can help alleviate the daily attentional fatigue that human experience. Although we have made significant progress in understanding the effects of exposure to urban green infrastructure on attention restoration, two important gaps in our knowledge remain. First, we do not fully understand the neural processes underlying attention restoration that exposure to urban green infrastructure elicits.

Connections-between Daily Greenness Exposure and Health Outcomes.

A compelling body of research demonstrates that exposure to nature, especially trees, is beneficial to human health. We know little, however, about the extent to which understory vegetation that does not reach the height of trees, impacts human health. An additional gap in our knowledge concerns the extent to which daily variations in exposure to various forms of vegetation are related to human health outcomes.

Synthesis of novel estrogen receptor antagonists using metal-catalyzed coupling reactions and characterization of their biological activity.

Estrogen receptor (ER) antagonists are valuable in the treatment of ER-positive human breast cancer. In this study, we designed and synthesized nine new derivatives of 17β-estradiol (E2) with a bulky side chain attached to its C-7α position, and determined their ER antagonistic activity using in vitro bioassays. Four of the derivatives showed a strong inhibition of ERα transactivation activity in a luciferase reporter assay and blocked ERα interactions with coactivators.

[Investigation on health workforce in county anti-schistosomiasis institutions of Jiangxi Province, 2010].

Objective: To understand and assess changes of health workforce in county anti-schistosomiasis institutions of Jiangxi Province, so as to provide the evidence for improving the health workforce construction.

Methods: The status of health workforce of county anti-schistosomiasis institutions was surveyed with self-designed questionnaire, and the results were compared with the baseline survey results in 2007.

Results: The total number of employees was 1 384 in 2010 with the decrease of 71 persons compared with that in 2007.

Chemical synthesis and biochemical characterization of a biotinylated derivative of 17beta-estradiol with a long side chain covalently attached to its C-7alpha position.

High-affinity biotinylated derivatives of 17beta-estradiol (E2) are of value for isolation of various estrogen-binding proteins (including estrogen receptors) and also for studying protein-protein interactions involving these proteins. In this study, we developed a simplified route for the chemical synthesis of a biotinylated derivative of E2 (compound 7) with a side chain attached to its C-7alpha position. Compound 7, i.

Chemical synthesis of six novel 17beta-estradiol and estrone dimers and study of their formation catalyzed by human cytochrome P450 isoforms.

Our earlier studies have shown that over 20 nonpolar 17beta-estradiol metabolite peaks were detected following incubations of radioactive 17beta-estradiol with human liver microsomes or recombinant human cytochrome P450 isoforms in the presence of NADPH as a cofactor. The structures of two representative nonpolar metabolites were identified earlier as dimers of 17beta-estradiol linked through a diaryl ether bond between the C-3 phenolic oxygen of one molecule and the C-2 or C-4 aromatic carbon of another. Six additional putative dimers between estrone and 17beta-estradiol with structures similar to the two identified ones were synthesized in this study.

Quantitative structure-activity relationship of various endogenous estrogen metabolites for human estrogen receptor alpha and beta subtypes: Insights into the structural determinants favoring a differential subtype binding.

To search for endogenous estrogens that may have preferential binding affinity for human estrogen receptor (ER) alpha or beta subtype and also to gain insights into the structural determinants favoring differential subtype binding, we studied the binding affinities of 74 natural or synthetic estrogens, including more than 50 steroidal analogs of estradiol-17beta (E2) and estrone (E1) for human ER alpha and ER beta. Many of the endogenous estrogen metabolites retained varying degrees of similar binding affinity for ER alpha and ER beta, but some of them retained differential binding affinity for the two subtypes. For instance, several of the D-ring metabolites, such as 16 alpha-hydroxyestradiol (estriol), 16 beta-hydroxyestradiol-17 alpha, and 16-ketoestrone, had distinct preferential binding affinity for human ER beta over ER alpha (difference up to 18-fold).

Synthesis of 7alpha-substituted derivatives of 17beta-estradiol.

Estrogen receptor (ER) pure antagonists such as ICI-182,780 (fulvestrant) are effective alternatives to tamoxifen (an ER antagonist/weak partial agonist) in the treatment of postmenopausal, receptor-positive human breast cancers. Structurally, these pure antagonists contain the basic core structure of 17beta-estradiol (E(2)) with a long side chain attached to its C-7alpha position. We explored and compared in this study various synthetic routes for preparing a number of C-7alpha-substituted derivatives of E(2), which are highly useful for the design and synthesis of high-affinity ER antagonists, ER-based imaging ligands, and other ER-based multi-functional agents.

Reactions of the putative neurotoxin tryptamine-4,5-dione with L-cysteine and other thiols.

Tryptamine-4,5-dione (1) is formed by oxidation of 5-hydroxytryptamine by reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species. Dione 1 is a powerful electrophile that can covalently modify cysteinyl residues of proteins and deactivate key enzymes. Thus, 1 has been suggested to play a role in the degeneration of serotonergic neurons in brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or evoked by amphetamine drugs.

Stability of the putative neurotoxin tryptamine-4,5-dione.

Tryptamine-4,5-dione (1) is formed by oxidation of the neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine by reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species, and on the basis of in vitro and in vivo studies, it has been proposed to be a neurotoxin that may contribute to the selective neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and the serotonergic neurotoxicity of methamphetamine. Several investigators have noted that under the conditions employed in the past to synthesize 1 and explore its in vitro and in vivo biological properties, the dione is somewhat unstable. In the present study, the stability of 1 has been investigated in a number of media employed in previous investigations to synthesize the dione and evaluate its biological properties.

Structural characterization of a case-implicated contaminant, "Peak X," in commercial preparations of 5-hydroxytryptophan.

Objective: To determine the chemical structure of a contaminant, X1, previously found in eosinophilia myalgia syndrome case-implicated 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-OHTrp), and also present in over-the-counter (OTC) commercially available 5-OHTrp.

Methods: Case-implicated 5-OHTrp as well as 6 OTC samples were subjected to accurate mass HPLC-mass spectrometry and HPLC-electrochemical detection, and reacted with reduced glutathione. Peak X1 was subsequently subjected to HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), as well as the resulting nucleophilic glutathione product.

Inhibition of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes by a putative aberrant metabolite of serotonin, tryptamine-4,5-dione.

A transient energy impairment with resultant release and subsequent reuptake of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and NMDA receptor activation with consequent cytoplasmic superoxide (O(2)(-)(*)), nitric oxide (NO(*)), and peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)) generation have all been implicated in a neurotoxic cascade which ultimately leads to the degeneration of serotonergic neurons evoked by methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Such observations raise the possibility that the O(2)(-)(*)/NO(*)/ONOO(-)-mediated oxidation of 5-HT, as it returns via the plasma membrane transporter to the cytoplasm of serotonergic neurons when the MA/MDMA-induced energy impairment begins to subside, may generate an endogenous neurotoxin. In vitro the O(2)(-)(*)/NO(*)/ONOO(-)-mediated oxidation of 5-HT forms tryptamine-4,5-dione (T-4,5-D).

Seek protein which can interact with hepatitis B virus X protein from human liver cDNA library by yeast two-hybrid system.

Aim: To seek the X associated protein (XAP) with the constructed bait vector pAS2-1X from normal human liver cDNA library.

Methods: The X region of the HBV gene was amplied by PCR and cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pAS2-1. The reconstituted plasmid pAS2-1X was transformed into the yeast cells and the expression of X protein (pX) was confirmed by Western blot analysis.