Background
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of epidemiologic and physician‐diagnosed pollen‐induced AR (PiAR) in the grasslands of northern China and to study the impact of the ...intensity and time of pollen exposure on PiAR prevalence.
Methods
A multistage, clustered and proportionately stratified random sampling with a field interviewer‐administered survey study was performed together with skin prick tests (SPT) and measurements of the daily pollen count.
Results
A total of 6043 subjects completed the study, with a proportion of 32.4% epidemiologic AR and 18.5% PiAR. The prevalence was higher in males than females (19.6% vs 17.4%, P = .024), but no difference between the two major residential and ethnic groups (Han and Mongolian) was observed. Subjects from urban areas showed higher prevalence of PiAR than rural areas (23.1% vs 14.0%, P < .001). Most PiAR patients were sensitized to two or more pollens (79.4%) with artemisia, chenopodium, and humulus scandens being the most common pollen types, which were similarly found as the top three sensitizing pollen allergens by SPT. There were significant regional differences in the prevalence of epidemiologic AR (from 18.6% to 52.9%) and PiAR (from 10.5% to 31.4%) among the six areas investigated. PiAR symptoms were positively associated with pollen counts, temperature, and precipitation (P < .05), but negatively with wind speed and pressure P < .05).
Conclusion
Pollen‐induced AR (PiAR) prevalence in the investigated region is extremely high due to high seasonal pollen exposure, which was influenced by local environmental and climate conditions.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
The development of clustered regularly interspaced short-palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas systems for genome editing has transformed the way life science research is conducted and holds ...enormous potential for the treatment of disease as well as for many aspects of biotechnology. Here, I provide a personal perspective on the development of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing within the broader context of the field and discuss our work to discover novel Cas effectors and develop them into additional molecular tools. The initial demonstration of Cas9-mediated genome editing launched the development of many other technologies, enabled new lines of biological inquiry, and motivated a deeper examination of natural CRISPR-Cas systems, including the discovery of new types of CRISPR-Cas systems. These new discoveries in turn spurred further technological developments. I review these exciting discoveries and technologies as well as provide an overview of the broad array of applications of these technologies in basic research and in the improvement of human health. It is clear that we are only just beginning to unravel the potential within microbial diversity, and it is quite likely that we will continue to discover other exciting phenomena, some of which it may be possible to repurpose as molecular technologies. The transformation of mysterious natural phenomena to powerful tools, however, takes a collective effort to discover, characterize, and engineer them, and it has been a privilege to join the numerous researchers who have contributed to this transformation of CRISPR-Cas systems.
Soil acidification is a major problem in soils of intensive Chinese agricultural systems. We used two nationwide surveys, paired comparisons in numerous individual sites, and several long-term ...monitoring-field data sets to evaluate changes in soil acidity. Soil pH declined significantly (P < 0.001) from the 1980s to the 2000s in the major Chinese crop-production areas. Processes related to nitrogen cycling released 20 to 221 kilomoles of hydrogen ion (H⁺) per hectare per year, and base cations uptake contributed a further 15 to 20 kilomoles of H⁺ per hectare per year to soil acidification in four widespread cropping systems. In comparison, acid deposition (0.4 to 2.0 kilomoles of H⁺ per hectare per year) made a small contribution to the acidification of agricultural soils across China.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
We report on analysis of observations of the bright transient X-ray pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 obtained during its 2017-2018 giant outburst with Insight-HXMT, NuSTAR, and Swift observatories. ...We focus on the discovery of a sharp state transition of the timing and spectral properties of the source at super-Eddington accretion rates, which we associate with the transition of the accretion disk to a radiation pressure dominated (RPD) state, the first ever directly observed for magnetized neutron star. This transition occurs at slightly higher luminosity compared to already reported transition of the source from sub- to super-critical accretion regime associate with onset of an accretion column. We argue that this scenario can only be realized for comparatively weakly magnetized neutron star, not dissimilar to other ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars (ULPs), which accrete at similar rates. Further evidence for this conclusion is provided by the non-detection of the transition to the propeller state in quiescence which strongly implies compact magnetosphere and thus rules out magnetar-like fields.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A Nationwide Nitrogen Deposition Monitoring Network (NNDMN) containing 43 monitoring sites was established in China to measure gaseous NH3, NO2, and HNO3 and particulate NH4+ and NO3− in air and/or ...precipitation from 2010 to 2014. Wet/bulk deposition fluxes of Nr species were collected by precipitation gauge method and measured by continuous-flow analyzer; dry deposition fluxes were estimated using airborne concentration measurements and inferential models. Our observations reveal large spatial variations of atmospheric Nr concentrations and dry and wet/bulk Nr deposition. On a national basis, the annual average concentrations (1.3–47.0 μg N m−3) and dry plus wet/bulk deposition fluxes (2.9–83.3 kg N ha−1 yr−1) of inorganic Nr species are ranked by land use as urban > rural > background sites and by regions as north China > southeast China > southwest China > northeast China > northwest China > Tibetan Plateau, reflecting the impact of anthropogenic Nr emission. Average dry and wet/bulk N deposition fluxes were 20.6 ± 11.2 (mean ± standard deviation) and 19.3 ± 9.2 kg N ha−1 yr−1 across China, with reduced N deposition dominating both dry and wet/bulk deposition. Our results suggest atmospheric dry N deposition is equally important to wet/bulk N deposition at the national scale. Therefore, both deposition forms should be included when considering the impacts of N deposition on environment and ecosystem health.
Understanding soil physical properties is essential for soil quality management and sustainable land use. With the growing accumulation of microplastics in soils, a better understanding of the impact ...of microplastics on soil physical properties is crucial to conserve and manage soil quality. This study explored the effects of polyester microfiber (PMF) concentrations (0, 0.1% and 0.3%) on bulk density, porosity, aggregation and hydraulic conductivity of a clayey soil from a field experiment (1 year) and a pot experiment (6 wet-dry cycles). Polyester microfibers significantly increased the volume of >30 μm pores and reduced the volume of <30 μm pores compared to the control treatment. However, there were no detectable changes in the soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity between the PMF treatments and the control treatment. Interestingly, we observed that polyester microfibers significantly increased the contents of water stable large macroaggregates (>2 mm) in the 0.3% PMF (44%) and 0.1% PMF (39%) treatments compared to the control treatment (31%) in the pot experiment, but this was not true in the field experiment. The efficient interaction between polyester microfibers and fine soil particles and the frequent wet-dry cycles enhanced the formation and stability of macro-aggregates induced by polyester microfibers in the pot experiment. Overall, our results provide valuable evidence for microplastic influences on soil physical properties. Because microplastics are long-term anthropogenic contaminants, it is necessary to further study the impacts of microplastics on soil quality for terrestrial ecosystem sustainability.
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•The changes of soil physical properties induced by polyester microfiber were observed from a field and a pot experiment.•Polyester microfibers did not alter soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity.•Polyester microfibers reduced the volume of <30 μm pores as increased the volume of >30 μm pores.•Polyester microfibers increased soil aggregation in the pot experiment but not in the field experiment.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Multielement solid solution alloys are intrinsically disordered on the atomic scale, and many of their advanced properties originate from the local structural characteristics. The local structure of ...a NiCoCr solid solution alloy is measured with x-ray or neutron total scattering and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) techniques. The atomic pair distribution function analysis does not exhibit an observable structural distortion. However, an EXAFS analysis suggests that the Cr atoms are favorably bonded with Ni and Co in the solid solution alloys. This short-range order (SRO) may make an important contribution to the low values of the electrical and thermal conductivities of the Cr-alloyed solid solutions. In addition, an EXAFS analysis of Ni ion irradiated samples reveals that the degree of SRO in NiCoCr alloys is enhanced after irradiation.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Vegetation water content is one of the important biophysical features of vegetation health, and its remote estimation can be utilized to real-timely monitor vegetation water stress. Here, we compared ...the responses of canopy water content (CWC), leaf equivalent water thickness (EWT), and live fuel moisture content (LFMC) to different water treatments and their estimations using spectral vegetation indices (VIs) based on water stress experiments for summer maize during three consecutive growing seasons 2013-2015 in North Plain China.
Results showed that CWC was sensitive to different water treatments and exhibited an obvious single-peak seasonal variation. EWT and LFMC were less sensitive to water variation and EWT stayed relatively stable while LFMC showed a decreasing trend. Among ten hyperspectral VIs, green chlorophyll index (CI
), red edge normalized ratio (NR
), and red-edge chlorophyll index (CI
) were the most sensitive VIs responding to water variation, and they were optimal VIs in the prediction of CWC and EWT.
Compared to EWT and LFMC, CWC obtained the best predictive power of crop water status using VIs. This study demonstrated that CWC was an optimal indicator to monitor maize water stress using optical hyperspectral remote sensing techniques.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients
of unknown origin. Two possible mechanisms that could generate extremely coherent emission from FRBs invoke neutron star ...magnetospheres
or relativistic shocks far from the central energy source
. Detailed polarization observations may help us to understand the emission mechanism. However, the available FRB polarization data have been perplexing, because they show a host of polarimetric properties, including either a constant polarization angle during each burst for some repeaters
or variable polarization angles in some other apparently one-off events
. Here we report observations of 15 bursts from FRB 180301 and find various polarization angle swings in seven of them. The diversity of the polarization angle features of these bursts is consistent with a magnetospheric origin of the radio emission, and disfavours the radiation models invoking relativistic shocks.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
ABSTRACT
The High Energy (HE) X-ray telescope on board the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) can serve as a wide field of view (FOV) gamma-ray monitor with high time resolution (μs) and ...large effective area (up to thousands cm2). We developed a pipeline to search for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), using the traditional signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) method for blind search and the coherent search method for targeted search. By taking into account the location and spectrum of the burst and the detector response, the targeted coherent search is more powerful to unveil weak and sub-threshold bursts, especially those in temporal coincidence with gravitational wave (GW) events. Based on the original method in literature, we further improved the coherent search to filter out false triggers caused by spikes in light curves, which are commonly seen in gamma-ray instruments (e.g. Fermi/GBM, POLAR). We show that our improved targeted coherent search method could eliminate almost all false triggers caused by spikes. Based on the first two years of Insight-HXMT/HE data, our targeted search recovered 40 GRBs, which were detected by either Swift/BAT or Fermi/GBM but too weak to be found in our blind search. With this coherent search pipeline, the GRB detection sensitivity of Insight-HXMT/HE is increased to about 1.5E-08 erg cm−2 (200 keV–3 MeV). We also used this targeted coherent method to search Insight-HXMT/HE data for electromagnetic counterparts of LIGO-Virgo GW events (including O2 and O3a runs). However, we did not find any significant burst associated with GW events.
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