生态度假村设计理念初探

度假村是随着人们生活水平提高而产生的帮助人们缓解精神压力,满足精神需求的高消费体闲娱乐场所。建设在城市周边的度假村可以带动当地经济的发展,但同时也会带来一些弊端。本文通过对一处生态度假村的描述和分析,提出了解决这些弊端的方法。     

Role of Bevacizumab on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Apolipoprotein E Deficient Mice after Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disrupts the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is believed to play a key role in TBI and to be overexpressed in the absence of apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Bevacizumab, a VEGF inhibitor, demonstrated neuroprotective activity in several models of TBI. However, the effects of bevacizumab on Apo-E deficient mice are not well studied. The present study aimed to evaluate VEGF expression and the effects of bevacizumab on BBB and neuroinflammation in ApoE^−/− mice undergoing TBI. Furthermore, for the first time, this study evaluates the effects of bevacizumab on the long-term consequences of TBI, such as atherosclerosis. The results showed that motor deficits induced by controlled cortical impact (CCI) were accompanied by increased brain edema and VEGF expression. Treatment with bevacizumab significantly improved motor deficits and significantly decreased VEGF levels, as well as brain edema compared to the control group. Furthermore, the results showed that bevacizumab preserves the integrity of the BBB and reduces the neuroinflammation induced by TBI. Regarding the effects of bevacizumab on atherosclerosis, it was observed for the first time that its ability to modulate VEGF in the acute phase of head injury prevents the acceleration of atherosclerosis. Therefore, the present study demonstrates not only the neuroprotective activity of bevacizumab but also its action on the vascular consequences related to TBI.     

How Important Are Genes to Achieve Longevity?

Several studies on the genetics of longevity have been reviewed in this paper. The results show that, despite efforts and new technologies, only two genes, APOE and FOXO3A, involved in the protection of cardiovascular diseases, have been shown to be associated with longevity in nearly all studies. This happens because the genetic determinants of longevity are dynamic and depend on the environmental history of a given population. In fact, population-specific genes are thought to play a greater role in the attainment of longevity than those shared between different populations. Hence, it is not surprising that GWAS replicated associations of common variants with longevity have been few, if any, as these studies pool together different populations. An alternative way might be the study of long-life families. This type of approach is proving to be an ideal resource for uncovering protective alleles and associated biological signatures for healthy aging phenotypes and exceptional longevity.     

Medicinal Hypervalent Tellurium Prodrugs Bearing Different Ligands: A Comparative Study of the Chemical Profiles of AS101 and Its Halido Replaced Analogues

Ammonium trichloro (dioxoethylene-O,O′) tellurate (AS101) is a potent immunomodulator prodrug that, in recent years, entered various clinical trials and was tested for a variety of potential therapeutic applications. It has been demonstrated that AS101 quickly activates in aqueous milieu, producing TeOCl₃⁻, which likely represents the pharmacologically active species. Here we report on the study of the activation process of AS101 and of two its analogues. After the synthesis and characterization of AS101 and its derivatives, we have carried out a comparative study through a combined experimental and computational analysis. Based on the obtained results, we describe here, for the first time, the detailed reaction that AS101 and its bromido- and iodido-replaced analogues undergo in presence of water, allowing the conversion of the original molecule to the likely true pharmacophore. Interestingly, moving down in the halogens’ group we observed a higher tendency to react, attributable to the ligands’ effect. The chemical and mechanistic implications of these meaningful differences are discussed.     

Assessing refactorings for usability in e-commerce applications

Refactoring has been reported as a helpful technique to systematically improve non-functional attributes of software. This paper evaluates the relevance of refactoring for improving usability on web applications. We conducted an experiment with two replications at different locations, with subjects of different profiles. Objects chosen for the experiment were two e-commerce applications that exhibit common business processes in today’s web usage. Through the experiment we found that half of the studied refactorings cause a significant improvement in usability. The rest of the refactorings required a post-hoc analysis in which we considered aspects like user expertise in the interaction with web applications or type of application. We conclude that, when improving quality in use, the success of the refactoring process depends on several factors, including the type of software system, context and users. We have analyzed all these aspects, which developers must consider for a better decision support at the time of prioritizing improvements and outweighing effort.     

An approach and an Eclipse-based environment for enhancing the navigation structure of Web sites

This paper presents an approach based on information retrieval and clustering techniques for automatically enhancing the navigation structure of a Web site for improving navigability. The approach increments the set of navigation links provided in each page of the site with a semantic navigation map, i.e., a set of links enabling navigating from a given page to other pages of the site showing similar or related content. The approach uses Latent Semantic Indexing to compute a dissimilarity measure between the pages of the site and a graph-theoretic clustering algorithm to group pages showing similar or related content according to the calculated dissimilarity measure. AJAX code is finally used to extend each Web page with an associated semantic navigation map. The paper also presents a prototype of a tool developed to support the approach and the results from a case study conducted to assess the validity and feasibility of the proposal.     

Sequential cation exchange in nanocrystals: preservation of crystal phase and formation of metastable phases

We demonstrate that it is possible to convert CdSe nanocrystals of a given size, shape (either spherical or rod shaped), and crystal structure (either hexagonal wurtzite, i.e., hexagonal close packed (hcp), or cubic sphalerite, i.e., face-centered cubic (fcc)), into ZnSe nanocrystals that preserve all these characteristics of the starting particles (i.e., size, shape, and crystal structure), via a sequence of two cation exchange reactions, namely, Cd(2+) ?Cu(+) ?Zn(2+). When starting from hexagonal wurtzite CdSe nanocrystals, the exchange of Cd(2+) with Cu(+) yields Cu(2)Se nanocrystals in a metastable hexagonal phase, of which we could follow the transformation to the more stable fcc phase for a single nanorod, under the electron microscope. Remarkably, these metastable hcp Cu(2)Se nanocrystals can be converted in solution into ZnSe nanocrystals, which yields ZnSe nanocrystals in a pure hcp phase.     

Persistent high MR signal of the posterior pituitary gland in central diabetes insipidus

We describe three cases of central diabetes insipidus, each with a different pathogenesis, in which unexpected hyperintensity of the posterior pituitary gland was seen on T1-weighted MR images obtained at the time of presentation. In the first case (idiopathic), the posterior pituitary signal persisted more than 10 years; in the second case (Langerhans cell histiocytosis), the signal disappeared within 3 months, despite early specific chemotherapy with etoposide; and in the third case (transient), the posterior signal disappeared within 1 year, but it was documented at the time of spontaneous reversal of polyuria and polydipsia.     

Peer-assisted content distribution on a budget

In this paper, we propose a general framework and present a prototype implementation of peer-assisted content delivery application. Our system – called Cyclops – dynamically adjusts the bandwidth consumed by content servers (which represents the bulk of content delivery costs) to feed a set of swarming clients, based on a feedback signal that gauges the real-time health of the swarm. Our extensive evaluation of Cyclops in a variety of settings – including controlled PlanetLab and live Internet experiments involving thousands of users – shows a significant reduction in content distribution costs when compared to existing swarming solutions, with a minor impact on the content delivery times.     

Anthraquinone profile,antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of bark extracts of Rhamnus alaternus, R. fallax, R. intermedia and R. pumila

The quantity of phenols, as well as antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, were investigated in bark of Rhamnus alaternus L., R. fallax Boiss., R. intermedia Steud. et Hochst., and R. pumila Turra from natural stands in Croatia. The most abundant anthraquinones in the investigated extracts were chrysophanol in R. alaternus (3.14 mg/g), emodin in R. pumila (0.339 mg/g), and physcion in R. fallax (2.70 mg/g) and R. intermedia (0.285 mg/g). The species exhibiting the highest antioxidant activity were R. fallax and R. pumila. A positive correlation was observed between total phenolic and flavonoid levels of the extracts and antioxidant activity in some of the assays. All species showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Microsporum gypseum with minimal inhibitory concentrations equal to or below 2.500 mg/mL. The results indicate that the investigated Rhamnus species are a source of anthraquinones and other phenols, which act as multifunctional antioxidants with antimicrobial activity.