Search results for " activity"
showing 10 items of 4540 documents
The impact of visual working memory capacity on the filtering efficiency of emotional face distractors.
2018
Emotional faces can serve as distractors for visual working memory (VWM) tasks. An event-related potential called contralateral delay activity (CDA) can measure the filtering efficiency of face distractors. Previous studies have investigated the influence of VWM capacity on filtering efficiency of simple neutral distractors but not of face distractors. We measured the CDA indicative of emotional face filtering during a VWM task related to facial identity. VWM capacity was measured in a separate colour change detection task, and participants were divided to high- and low-capacity groups. The high-capacity group was able to filter out distractors similarly irrespective of its facial emotion. …
Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Prangos ferulacea Essential Oils
2022
Prangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl, which belongs to the Apiaceae family, is a species that mainly grows in the eastern Mediterranean region and in western Asia. It has been largely used in traditional medicine in several countries and it has been shown to possess several interesting biological properties. With the aim to provide new insights into the phytochemistry and pharmacology of this species, the essential oils of flowers and leaves from a local accession that grows in Sicily (Italy) and has not yet been previously studied were investigated. The chemical composition of both oils, obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves and flowers, was evaluated by GC-MS. This analysis allowed us to …
Electrostatic complementarity in pseudoreceptor modeling based on drug molecule crystal structures: the case of loxistatin acid (E64c)
2015
After a long history of use as a prototype cysteine protease inhibitor, the crystal structure of loxistatin acid (E64c) is finally determined experimentally using intense synchrotron radiation, providing insight into how the inherent electronic nature of this protease inhibitor molecule determines its biochemical activity. Based on the striking similarity of its intermolecular interactions with those observed in a biological environment, the electrostatic potential of crystalline E64c is used to map the characteristics of a pseudo-enzyme pocket.
Self-assembled Pt2L2 boxes strongly bind G-quadruplex DNA and influence gene expression in cancer cells
2017
Supramolecular Pt(ii) quadrangular boxes bind native and G-quadruplex DNA motifs in a size-dependent fashion. Three Pt molecular squares of distinct size show biological activity against cancer cells and heavily influence the expression of genes known to form G-quadruplexes in their promoter regions. The smallest Pt-box displays less activity but more selectivity for a quadruplex formed in the c-Kit gene.
New crystal structures of fluorinated α-aminophosphonic acid analogues of phenylglycine
2020
The four novel phosphonic acid analogues of phenylglycine with various substituents in phenyl ring (mostly fluorine atoms) have been synthesized by using procedure of amidoalkylation of phosphorus trichloride with aromatic aldehydes and acetamide. The NMR, ESI-MS spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-Ray diffraction methods were used to characterize unusual structures: the amino-(4-trifluoromethylbenzyl)-(1), amino-(3,4-difluorobenzyl)-(2), amino-(2,4,6-trifluorobenzyl)-(3), and amino-(2-fluoro-4-hydroxybenzyl)-(4) phosphonic acids. Since the α-aminophosphonates have a potential for biological activity and could be used as building blocks in medicinal chemistry, it is important to know their d…
Organocatalytic Oxidation of Secondary Alcohols Using 1,2-Di(1-naphthyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (NEDA)
2014
Diamine, 1,2-di(1-naphthyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (NEDA), efficiently catalyzes the oxidation of alcohols by using TBHP as an oxidant. Notably, secondary benzyl alcohols are oxidized in almost quantitative yields, and the catalyst also displays high activity towards even hindered cycloaliphatic secondary alcohols. With enantiopure (R,R)-NEDA, oxidative kinetic resolution can be realized and depending on the alcohol ee up to 99 % are achieved.
A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis
2008
We present simultaneous high-temporal and high-spectral resolution observations at optical and soft X-ray wavelengths of the nearby flare star CN Leo. During our observing campaign a major flare occurred, raising the star's instantaneous energy output by almost three orders of magnitude. The flare shows the often observed impulsive behavior, with a rapid rise and slow decay in the optical and a broad soft X-ray maximum about 200 seconds after the optical flare peak. However, in addition to this usually encountered flare phenomenology we find an extremely short (~2 sec) soft X-ray peak, which is very likely of thermal, rather than non-thermal nature and temporally coincides with the optical …
Strombolian eruptions and dynamics of magma degassing at Yasur Volcano (Vanuatu)
2020
Abstract Open vent basaltic volcanoes account for a substantial portion of the global atmospheric outgassing flux, largely through passive degassing and mild explosive activity. We present volcanic gas flux and composition data from Yasur Volcano, Vanuatu collected in July 2018. The average volcanic plume chemistry is characterised by a mean molar CO2/SO2 ratio of 2.14, H2O/SO2 of 148 and SO2/HCl of 1.02. The measured mean SO2 flux in the period of 6th to 9th July is 4.9 kg s−1. Therefore, the mean fluxes of the other species are 7.5 kg∙s−1 CO2, 208 kg∙s−1 H2O and 4.8 kg∙s−1 HCl. The degassing regime at Yasur volcano ranges from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ styles, with the latter including Stromb…
Bright Hot Impacts by Erupted Fragments Falling Back on the Sun: Magnetic Channelling
2016
Dense plasma fragments were observed to fall back on the solar surface by the Solar Dynamics Observatory after an eruption on 7 June 2011, producing strong EUV brightenings. Previous studies investigated impacts in regions of weak magnetic field. Here we model the $\sim~300$ km/s impact of fragments channelled by the magnetic field close to active regions. In the observations, the magnetic channel brightens before the fragment impact. We use a 3D-MHD model of spherical blobs downfalling in a magnetized atmosphere. The blob parameters are constrained from the observation. We run numerical simulations with different ambient density and magnetic field intensity. We compare the model emission i…
Projecting Exposure to Extreme Climate Impact Events Across Six Event Categories and Three Spatial Scales
2020
Summarization: The extent and impact of climate‐related extreme events depend on the underlying meteorological, hydrological, or climatological drivers as well as on human factors such as land use or population density. Here we quantify the pure effect of historical and future climate change on the exposure of land and population to extreme climate impact events using an unprecedentedly large ensemble of harmonized climate impact simulations from the Inter‐Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project phase 2b. Our results indicate that global warming has already more than doubled both the global land area and the global population annually exposed to all six categories of extreme events co…