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.
The extension of the cosmic-ray spectrum beyond 1 petaelectronvolt (PeV; 10
electronvolts) indicates the existence of the so-called PeVatrons-cosmic-ray factories that accelerate particles to PeV ...energies. We need to locate and identify such objects to find the origin of Galactic cosmic rays
. The principal signature of both electron and proton PeVatrons is ultrahigh-energy (exceeding 100 TeV) γ radiation. Evidence of the presence of a proton PeVatron has been found in the Galactic Centre, according to the detection of a hard-spectrum radiation extending to 0.04 PeV (ref.
). Although γ-rays with energies slightly higher than 0.1 PeV have been reported from a few objects in the Galactic plane
, unbiased identification and in-depth exploration of PeVatrons requires detection of γ-rays with energies well above 0.1 PeV. Here we report the detection of more than 530 photons at energies above 100 teraelectronvolts and up to 1.4 PeV from 12 ultrahigh-energy γ-ray sources with a statistical significance greater than seven standard deviations. Despite having several potential counterparts in their proximity, including pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants and star-forming regions, the PeVatrons responsible for the ultrahigh-energy γ-rays have not yet been firmly localized and identified (except for the Crab Nebula), leaving open the origin of these extreme accelerators.
The prevalence of diabetes in China is among the highest in the world. For this reason, findings from the 2016 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study were used to calculate the burden of hyperglycaemia ...and diabetes in China.
Following the general analytical strategy used in GBD 2016, diabetes prevalence and mortality were analyzed by age and gender. Trends in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to diabetes were assessed in 33 province-level administrative units from 1990 to 2016, and similar data were provided for chronic kidney disease (CKD) related to diabetes and, as an overall summarizing measure, for hyperglycaemia expressed as high fasting plasma glucose (HFPG).
From 1990 to 2016, all-age prevalence of diabetes rose from 3.7% to 6.6%, and all-age diabetes and diabetes-related CKD mortality rates increased by 63.5% and 33.3%, respectively, with both rates increasing more rapidly in diabetes patients aged 15–49 years than in any other age groups. In 2016, HFPG became China's sixth leading cause of DALYs, and the attributable DALYs burden was 1802.3/100,000 population. Although the number of diabetes DALYs increased by 95% from 1990 to 2016, age-standardized diabetes DALYs rates increased by only 2.3%. Also, from 1990 to 2016, rates of age-standardized DALYs due to diabetes decreased in 14 provinces, but increased in 19 provinces. High BMI Scores and diets low in whole grains, nuts and seeds were the most important risk factors for diabetes in 2016.
Diabetes and hyperglycaemia constitute a huge health burden in China. The substantial increase in diabetes-related burden represents an ongoing challenge, given the rapidly ageing Chinese population. Thus, a targeted control and preventative strategy needs to be developed at risk factor level to reduce this burden.
Two-dimensional materials from layered van der Waals (vdW) crystals hold great promise for electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum devices, but technological implementation will be hampered by the ...lack of high-throughput techniques for exfoliating single-crystal monolayers with sufficient size and high quality. Here, we report a facile method to disassemble vdW single crystals layer by layer into monolayers with near-unity yield and with dimensions limited only by bulk crystal sizes. The macroscopic monolayers are comparable in quality to microscopic monolayers from conventional Scotch tape exfoliation. The monolayers can be assembled into macroscopic artificial structures, including transition metal dichalcogenide multilayers with broken inversion symmetry and substantially enhanced nonlinear optical response. This approach takes us one step closer to mass production of macroscopic monolayers and bulk-like artificial materials with controllable properties.
The intensely studied white gene is widely used as a genetic marker in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we cloned and characterized the white gene in an important pest of the fruit industry, Bactrocera ...dorsalis, to understand its functional role in pigmentation. We obtained BdWhite knockout strains, based on the wild‐type strain, using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, and found that mutants lost pigmentation in the compound eye and their black head spots. We then examined differences in the expression levels of genes associated with melanin pigmentation between mutants and the wild‐type strain using quantitative reverse transcription PCR. We found that transcription levels of the Bd‐yellow1 were lower in the head of mutants than in the wild‐type strain, and there were no significant differences in expression of the other six genes between mutants and the wild type. Since yellow is critical for melanin biosynthesis (Heinze et al., Scientific Reports. 2017;7:4582), the lower levels of expression of Bd‐yellow1 in mutants led to reduced dark pigmentation in head spots. Our results provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, that white may play a functional role in cuticle pigmentation by affecting the expression of yellow.
Some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have a tera-electron volt (TeV) afterglow, but the early onset of this has not been observed. We report observations with the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory ...(LHAASO) of the bright GRB 221009A, which serendipitously occurred within the instrument's field of view. More than 64,000 photons >0.2 TeV were detected within the first 3000 seconds. The TeV flux began several minutes after the GRB trigger and then rose to a peak ~10 seconds later. This was followed by a decay phase, which became more rapid ~650 seconds after the peak. We interpret the emission using a model of a relativistic jet with half-opening angle of ~0.8°. This is consistent with the core of a structured jet and could explain the high isotropic energy of this GRB.
BACKGROUND: Whereas chronological age (CA) cannot distinguish functional differences among individuals of the same age, the biological age (BA) may be used to reflect the functional state of the ...body. The purpose of this study was to construct an integral formula of the BA, by using principle component analysis (PCA). METHODS: The vital organ function of 505 healthy individuals of Han origin (age 35–91 years) was examined. A total of 114 indicators of cardiovascular, pulmonary, and brain functions, and clinical, inflammatory, genetic, psychological, and life habit factors were assessed as candidate indicators of aging. Candidate indicators were submitted with CA to correlation and redundancy analyses. The PCA method was used to build an integral formula of the BA for the population. RESULTS: Seven biomarkers were selected in accordance with a certain load standard. These biomarkers included the trail making test (TMT), pulse pressure (PP), mitral valve annulus ventricular septum of the peak velocity of early filling (MVES), minimum carotid artery intimalmedial thickness (IMTmin), maximum internal diameter of the carotid artery (Dmax), maximal midexpiratory flow rate 75/25 (MMEF75/25), and Cystatin C (CysC). The formula for the BA was: BA = 0.0685 (TMT) + 0.267 (PP)–1.375 (MVES) + 22.443 (IMTmin) + 2.962 (Dmax)–2.332 (MMEF75/25) + 16.104 (CysC) + 0.137 (CA) + 0.492. CONCLUSION: Several genetic and lifestyle indicators were considered as candidate markers of aging. However, ultimately, only markers reflecting the function of the vital organs were included in the BA formula. This study represents a useful attempt to employ multiple indicators to build a comprehensive BA evaluation formula of aging populations.
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