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.
Background
The expression of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is multidimensional. Disease heterogeneity in patients with CRS remains poorly understood. This study aimed to identify endotypes of CRS ...using cluster analysis by integrating multidimensional characteristics and to explore their association with treatment outcomes.
Methods
A total of 28 clinical variables and 39 mucosal cellular and molecular variables were analyzed using principal component analysis. Cluster analysis was performed on 246 prospectively recruited Chinese CRS patients with at least 1‐year postoperative follow‐up. Difficult‐to‐treat CRS was characterized in each generated cluster.
Results
Seven subject clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (13.01%) was comparable to the classic well‐defined eosinophilic CRS with polyps, having severe disease and the highest proportion of difficult‐to‐treat CRS. Patients in cluster 2 (16.26%) and cluster 4 (13.82%) had relatively lower proportions of presence of polyps and presented mild inflammation with moderate proportions of difficult‐to‐treat cases. Subjects in cluster 2 were highly atopic. Cluster 3 (7.31%) and cluster 6 (21.14%) were characterized by severe or moderate neutrophilic inflammation, respectively, and with elevated levels of IL‐8 and high proportions of difficult‐to‐treat CRS. Cluster 5 (4.07%) was a unique group characterized by the highest levels of IL‐10 and lacked difficult‐to‐treat cases. Cluster 7 (24.39%) demonstrated the lowest symptom severity, a low proportion of difficult‐to‐treat CRS, and low inflammation load. Finally, we found that difficult‐to‐treat CRS was associated with distinct clinical features and biomarkers in the different clusters.
Conclusions
Distinct clinicopathobiologic clusters of CRS display differences in clinical response to treatments and characteristics of difficult‐to‐treat CRS.
ABSTRACT
High time resolution and accuracy are of critical importance in the studies of timing analysis and time delay localization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and ...pulsars. The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) consisting of two micro-satellites, GECAM-A and GECAM-B, launched on 2020 December 10, is aimed at monitoring and locating X-ray and GRBs all over the sky. To achieve its scientific goals, GECAM is designed to have the highest time resolution (0.1 $\mu {\rm s}$) among all GRB detectors ever flown. Here, we make a comprehensive time calibration campaign including both on-ground and on-orbit tests to derive not only the relative time accuracy of GECAM satellites and detectors, but also the absolute time accuracy of GECAM-B. Using the on-ground calibration with a $\rm ^{22}Na$ radioactive source, we find that the relative time accuracy between GECAM-A and GECAM-B is about 0.15 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). To measure the relative time accuracy between all detectors of a single GECAM satellite, cosmic-ray events detected on orbit are utilized since they could produce many secondary particles simultaneously record by multiple detectors. We find that the relative time accuracy among all detectors onboard GECAM-B is about 0.12 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). Finally, we use the novel Li-CCF method to perform the absolute time calibration with Crab pulsar and SGR J1935+2154, both of which were jointly observed by GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM, and obtain that the time difference between GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM is 3.06 ± 6.04 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ).
Here, in an analysis of a 2.92 fb–1 data sample taken at 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector operated at the BEPCII collider, we measure the absolute decay branching fractions to be B(D0 → K–e+νe) = ...(3.505 ± 0.014 ± 0.033)% and B(D0 → π–e+νe) = (0.295 ± 0.004 ± 0.003)%. From a study of the differential decay rates we obtain the products of hadronic form factor and the magnitude of the CKM matrix element $f$ $^{K}_{+}$(0)|Vcs| = 0.7172 ± 0.0025 ± 0.0035 and $f$ $^{π}_{+}$(0)|Vcd| = 0.1435 ± 0.0018 ± 0.0009.
Background
Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that is essential for cell survival, differentiation, and homeostasis. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of autophagy to the ...pathogenesis of CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP).
Methods
The expression of autophagic proteins microtubule‐associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B)‐II, autophagy‐related proteins (Atg), and Beclin 1, substrate proteins (p62 and ubiquitinated proteins), and apoptotic signaling molecules cysteine‐aspartic protease‐3 and cysteine‐aspartic protease‐8, and poly‐ADP‐ribose polymerase in the sinonasal mucosa and nasal epithelial cells (NECs) was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Autophagic vacuoles were observed with transmission electron microscopy. BEAS‐2B cells and NECs were treated with rapamycin, bafilomycin A1, or various cytokines. In some experiments, cultured NECs were transfected with small interfering RNA targeting p62 (sip62) or Atg5 (siAtg5). Cultured cells were analyzed with Western blotting and flow cytometry.
Results
Although autophagic protein expression and autophagic vacuole formation were increased in both eosinophilic and noneosinophilic CRSwNP, particularly in NECs, there was also an up‐regulation of substrate proteins and apoptotic signaling molecules. IFN‐γ, but not IL‐4, IL‐13, or IL‐17A, simultaneously enhanced LC3B‐II and p62 levels as well as cell apoptosis in BEAS‐2B cells and/or normal NECs. Bafilomycin A1 up‐regulated the levels of LC3B‐II and p62 in polyp NECs and IFN‐γ‐treated normal NECs. IFN‐γ‐induced apoptosis of normal NECs was exaggerated by bafilomycin A1 and siAtg5. Sip62 suppressed apoptosis of polyp NECs and IFN‐γ‐treated NECs. IFN‐γ protein levels were increased in both eosinophilic and noneosinophilic CRSwNP.
Conclusions
IFN‐γ induces activated but insufficient autophagy and thus contributes to a degree to p62‐dependent apoptosis of NECs in CRSwNP.
Gravitational‐wave high‐energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All‐sky Monitor (GECAM) is a space‐borne instrument dedicated to monitoring high‐energy transients, including Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes ...(TGFs) and Terrestrial Electron Beams (TEBs). We implemented a TGF/TEB search algorithm for GECAM, with which 147 bright TGFs, 2 typical TEBs and 2 special TEB‐like events are identified during an effective observation time of ∼9 months. We show that, with gamma‐ray and charged particle detectors, GECAM can effectively identify and distinguish TGFs and TEBs, and measure their temporal and spectral properties in detail. A very high TGF‐lightning association rate of ∼80% is obtained between GECAM and GLD360 in east Asia region.
Plain Language Summary
Terrestrial gamma‐ray flashes (TGFs) and Terrestrial Electron Beams (TEBs) represent the most energetic radioactive phenomena in the atmosphere of the Earth. They reflect a natural particle accelerator that can boost electrons up to at least several tens of mega electron volts and produce gamma‐ray radiation. With novel detection technologies, Gravitational‐wave high‐energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All‐sky Monitor (GECAM) is a new powerful instrument to observe TGFs and TEBs, as well as study their properties. For example, it is difficult for most space‐borne high‐energy instruments to distinguish between TGFs and TEBs. However, we show here that, with the joint observation of gamma‐ray and charged particle detectors, GECAM can effectively identify TGFs and TEBs. GECAM can also reveal their fine features in the light curves and spectra.
Key Points
During 9‐month observation, Gravitational‐wave high‐energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All‐sky Monitor (GECAM) has detected 147 bright Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes (TGFs), 2 typical Terrestrial Electron Beams (TEBs), and 2 special TEB‐like events
With novel detector design, GECAM can effectively classify TGFs and TEBs, and reveal their fine temporal features
We obtained a very high TGF‐lightning association rate (∼80%) between GECAM and GLD360 in east Asia region
From December 2011 to May 2014, about 5 fb^-1 of data were taken with the BESIII detector at center-of- mass energies between 3.810 GeV and 4.600 GeV to study the charmonium-like states and higher ...excited charmonium states. The time-integrated luminosity of the collected data sample is measured to a precision of 1% by analyzing events produced by the large-angle Bhabha scattering process.
China presently contributes the largest amount of anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emission into the atmosphere in the world. Over the past decade, numerous studies have been conducted to characterize the ...concentration and forms of atmospheric Hg in China, which provide insights into the spatial and temporal distributions of atmospheric Hg through ground-based measurements at widely diverse geographical locations and during cruise and flight campaigns. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of the state of understanding in atmospheric Hg in China. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) and particulate-bound mercury (PBM) measured at the remote sites in China are substantially elevated compared to the background values in the Northern Hemisphere. In Chinese urban areas, the highly elevated GEM, PBM and gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) were mainly derived from local anthropogenic Hg emissions, whereas regional anthropogenic emissions and long-range transport from domestic source regions are the primary causes of the elevated GEM and PBM concentrations at remote sites. Using 7-9 years of continuous observations at a remote site and an urban site, a slight increase in atmospheric GEM (2.4-2.5 % yr-1) was identified (paired samples test: p < 0.01), which is in agreement with the increasing domestic anthropogenic emissions. Anthropogenic GEM emission quantity in China estimated through the observed GEM / CO concentration ratios ranged from 632 to 1138 t annually over the past decade, 2-3 times larger than published values using emission activity data. Modeling results and filed measurements show dry deposition is the predominant process for removing Hg from the atmosphere, 2.5-9.0 times larger than wet deposition, due to the elevated atmospheric GEM and PBM concentrations that facilitate dry deposition to terrestrial landscapes. Further studies to reconcile the observed and simulated Hg concentrations, to understand the impact of domestic emission reduction on Hg concentration and deposition and to delineate the role of Hg emission and deposition of China in the global Hg biogeochemical cycle, are needed.
We present a four-band and polarization-insensitive terahertz metamaterial absorber formed by four square metallic rings and a metallic ground plane separated by a dielectric layer. It is found that ...the structure has four distinctive absorption bands whose peaks are over 97% on average. The mechanism of the four-band absorber is attributed to the overlapping of four resonance frequencies, and the mechanism of the absorption is investigated by the distributions of the electric field. In particular, the frequency of each absorption peak can be flexibly controlled by varying the size of the corresponding metallic ring. The proposed concept is applicable to other types of absorber structures and can be readily scaled up to the structures that are working in the microwave frequency range. Moreover, the characteristic of the design can be used to design a five-band metamaterial absorber by adding one more metallic ring. The proposed absorber has potential applications in detection, imaging, and stealth technology.
Transiting extrasolar planets constitute only a small fraction of the range of stellar systems found to display periodic, shallow dimmings in wide-field surveys employing small-aperture camera ...arrays. Here we present an efficient selection strategy for follow-up observations, derived from analysis of the light curves of a sample of 67 SuperWASP targets that passed the selection tests we used in earlier papers, but which have subsequently been identified either as planet hosts or as astrophysical false positives. We determine the system parameters using Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis of the SuperWASP light curves. We use a constrained optimization of χ2 combined with a Bayesian prior based on the main-sequence mass and radius expected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey J−H colour. The Bayesian nature of the analysis allows us to quantify both the departure of the host star from the main-sequence mass–radius relation and the probability that the companion radius is less than 1.5 Jupiter radii. When augmented by direct light-curve analyses that detect binaries with unequal primary and secondary eclipses, and objects with aperture blends that are resolved by SuperWASP, we find that only 13 of the original 67 stars, including the three known planets in the sample, would qualify for follow-up. This suggests that planet discovery ‘hit rates’ better than one-in-five should be achievable. In addition, the stellar binaries that qualify are likely to have astrophysically interesting stellar or substellar secondaries.
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