The increasing severity of droughts/floods and worsening air quality from increasing aerosols in Asia monsoon regions are the two gravest threats facing over 60% of the world population living in ...Asian monsoon regions. These dual threats have fueled a large body of research in the last decade on the roles of aerosols in impacting Asian monsoon weather and climate. This paper provides a comprehensive review of studies on Asian aerosols, monsoons, and their interactions. The Asian monsoon region is a primary source of emissions of diverse species of aerosols from both anthropogenic and natural origins. The distributions of aerosol loading are strongly influenced by distinct weather and climatic regimes, which are, in turn, modulated by aerosol effects. On a continental scale, aerosols reduce surface insolation and weaken the land‐ocean thermal contrast, thus inhibiting the development of monsoons. Locally, aerosol radiative effects alter the thermodynamic stability and convective potential of the lower atmosphere leading to reduced temperatures, increased atmospheric stability, and weakened wind and atmospheric circulations. The atmospheric thermodynamic state, which determines the formation of clouds, convection, and precipitation, may also be altered by aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei. Absorbing aerosols such as black carbon and desert dust in Asian monsoon regions may also induce dynamical feedback processes, leading to a strengthening of the early monsoon and affecting the subsequent evolution of the monsoon. Many mechanisms have been put forth regarding how aerosols modulate the amplitude, frequency, intensity, and phase of different monsoon climate variables. A wide range of theoretical, observational, and modeling findings on the Asian monsoon, aerosols, and their interactions are synthesized. A new paradigm is proposed on investigating aerosol‐monsoon interactions, in which natural aerosols such as desert dust, black carbon from biomass burning, and biogenic aerosols from vegetation are considered integral components of an intrinsic aerosol‐monsoon climate system, subject to external forcing of global warming, anthropogenic aerosols, and land use and change. Future research on aerosol‐monsoon interactions calls for an integrated approach and international collaborations based on long‐term sustained observations, process measurements, and improved models, as well as using observations to constrain model simulations and projections.
Key Points
The fast‐developing Asia has suffered severe air pollution problem
Aerosol affects the Asian monsoon
Aerosol‐monsoon interactions dictate the climate change in the region
Red phosphors play an indispensable role in phosphor-based warm white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs). We demonstrated recently that the non-rare-earth phosphor Sr4Al14O25:Mn4+ exhibits red ...luminescence even more intensely than the commercial Mn4+ phosphor 3.5MgO.0.5MgF2.GeO2:Mn4+ upon blue excitation. Herein, on the basis of crystal field calculations employing the exchange charge model, we identify the energy levels of three types of Mn4+ ions situated at Al3+ sites in the Sr4Al14O25 crystal lattice and find that the doped manganese ions occupy preferentially the Al4 and Al5 more covalent sites rather than the Al6 site. We report that the Mn4+ luminescence can be enhanced upon the inclusion of Mg2+ in the synthesis reaction. The mechanisms for this effect comprise the lower nonradiative decay rate from the 2Eg state because of the reduction in energy migration along Mn4+ ions to killer sites and the morphology evolution from orderly layered smooth nanosheets to irregular nanoparticles disorderly compacted in porous bundles. Interestingly, various other phases are formed upon the addition of Mg2+. The resistance of Mn4+ photoluminescence in the phosphor to thermal impact has also been studied and no obvious thermal degradation after a cycle experiment by heating and cooling the sample between 25 and 300 °C was found. As proof of concept, a warm perception WLED has been made when the phosphor was applied to the package of a blue LED chip and YAG:Ce.
Activation of the Hippo pathway effector Yap underlies many liver cancers, however no germline or somatic mutations have been identified. Autophagy maintains essential metabolic functions of the ...liver, and autophagy-deficient murine models develop benign adenomas and hepatomegaly, which have been attributed to activation of the p62/Sqstm1-Nrf2 axis. Here, we show that Yap is an autophagy substrate and mediator of tissue remodeling and hepatocarcinogenesis independent of the p62/Sqstm1-Nrf2 axis. Hepatocyte-specific deletion of Atg7 promotes liver size, fibrosis, progenitor cell expansion, and hepatocarcinogenesis, which is rescued by concurrent deletion of Yap. Our results shed new light on mechanisms of Yap degradation and the sequence of events that follow disruption of autophagy, which is impaired in chronic liver disease.
The local structure of NaTiSi_{2}O_{6} is examined across its Ti-dimerization orbital-assisted Peierls transition at 210 K. An atomic pair distribution function approach evidences local symmetry ...breaking preexisting far above the transition. The analysis unravels that, on warming, the dimers evolve into a short range orbital degeneracy lifted (ODL) state of dual orbital character, persisting up to at least 490 K. The ODL state is correlated over the length scale spanning ∼6 sites of the Ti zigzag chains. Results imply that the ODL phenomenology extends to strongly correlated electron systems.
The Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) is an important part of the earth’s climate system. Previous research has shown large uncertainties in simulating future changes in this critical system. ...The simulated THC response to idealized freshwater perturbations and the associated climate changes have been intercompared as an activity of World Climate Research Program (WCRP) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project/Paleo-Modeling Intercomparison Project(CMIP/PMIP) committees. This intercomparison among models ranging from the earth system models of intermediate complexity (EMICs) to the fully coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) seeks to document and improve understanding of the causes of the wide variations in the modeled THC response. The robustness of particular simulation features has been evaluated across the model results. In response to 0.1-Sv (1 Sv ≡ 10⁶ m³ s−1) freshwater input in the northern North Atlantic, the multimodel ensemble mean THC weakens by 30% after 100 yr. All models simulate some weakening of the THC, but no model simulates a complete shutdown of the THC. The multimodel ensemble indicates that the surface air temperature could present a complex anomaly pattern with cooling south of Greenland and warming over the Barents and Nordic Seas. The Atlantic ITCZ tends to shift southward. In response to 1.0-Sv freshwater input, the THC switches off rapidly in all model simulations. A large cooling occurs over the North Atlantic. The annual mean Atlantic ITCZ moves into the Southern Hemisphere. Models disagree in terms of the reversibility of the THC after its shutdown. In general, the EMICs and AOGCMs obtain similar THC responses and climate changes with more pronounced and sharper patterns in the AOGCMs.
ABSTRACT
In the fuzzy dark matter (FDM) model, gravitationally collapsed objects always consist of a solitonic core located within a virialized halo. Although various numerical simulations have ...confirmed that the collapsed structure can be described by a cored Navarro–Frenk–White-like density profile, there is still disagreement about the relation between the core mass and the halo mass. To fully understand this relation, we have assembled a large sample of cored haloes based on both idealized soliton mergers and cosmological simulations with various box sizes. We find that there exists a sizeable dispersion in the core–halo mass relation that increases with halo mass, indicating that the FDM model allows cores and haloes to coexist in diverse configurations. We provide a new empirical equation for a core–halo mass relation with uncertainties that can encompass all previously found relations in the dispersion, and emphasize that any observational constraints on the particle mass m using a tight one-to-one core–halo mass relation should suffer from an additional uncertainty of the order of 50 per cent for halo masses ${\gtrsim} 10^9 \, 8\times 10^{-23} \, \mathrm{eV}/(mc^2)^{3/2} \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$. We suggest that tidal stripping may be one of the effects contributing to the scatter in the relation.
High-throughput 'omics' technologies that generate molecular profiles for biospecimens have been extensively used in preclinical studies to reveal molecular subtypes and elucidate the biological ...mechanisms of disease, and in retrospective studies on clinical specimens to develop mathematical models to predict clinical endpoints. Nevertheless, the translation of these technologies into clinical tests that are useful for guiding management decisions for patients has been relatively slow. It can be difficult to determine when the body of evidence for an omics-based test is sufficiently comprehensive and reliable to support claims that it is ready for clinical use, or even that it is ready for definitive evaluation in a clinical trial in which it may be used to direct patient therapy. Reasons for this difficulty include the exploratory and retrospective nature of many of these studies, the complexity of these assays and their application to clinical specimens, and the many potential pitfalls inherent in the development of mathematical predictor models from the very high-dimensional data generated by these omics technologies. Here we present a checklist of criteria to consider when evaluating the body of evidence supporting the clinical use of a predictor to guide patient therapy. Included are issues pertaining to specimen and assay requirements, the soundness of the process for developing predictor models, expectations regarding clinical study design and conduct, and attention to regulatory, ethical, and legal issues. The proposed checklist should serve as a useful guide to investigators preparing proposals for studies involving the use of omics-based tests. The US National Cancer Institute plans to refer to these guidelines for review of proposals for studies involving omics tests, and it is hoped that other sponsors will adopt the checklist as well.
Abstract
Fuzzy dark matter (FDM) is an attractive dark matter candidate motivated by small-scale problems in astrophysics and with a rich phenomenology on those scales. We scrutinize the FDM model, ...more specifically the mass of the FDM particle, through a dynamical analysis for the Galactic ultrafaint dwarf (UFD) galaxies. We use a sample of 18 UFDs to place the strongest constraints to date on the mass of the FDM particle, updating on previous bounds using a subset of the sample used here. We find that most of the sample UFDs prefer an FDM particle mass heavier than 10
−21
eV. In particular, Segue 1 provides the strongest constraint, with
m
ψ
=
1.1
−
0.7
+
8.3
×
10
−
19
eV
. The constraints found here are the first that are compatible with various other independent cosmological and astrophysical bounds found in the literature, in particular with the latest bounds using the Ly
α
forest. We also find that the constraints obtained in this work are not compatible with the bounds from luminous dwarf galaxies, as already pointed out in the previous work using UFDs. This could indicate that although a viable dark matter model, it might be challenging for the FDM model to solve the small-scale problems.
Purpose
Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have demonstrated a higher risk for developing more severe cases of COVID-19, but the complex genetic mechanism between them is still unknown. The aim of ...the present study was to untangle this relationship using genetically based approaches.
Methods
By leveraging large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics of T2D and COVID-19 severity, linkage disequilibrium score regression and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were utilized to quantify the genetic correlations and causal relationships between the two traits. Gene-based association and enrichment analysis were further applied to identify putative functional pathways shared between T2D and COVID-19 severity.
Results
Significant, moderate genetic correlations were detected between T2D and COVID-19 hospitalization (
r
g
= 0.156, SE = 0.057,
p
= 0.005) or severe disease (
r
g
= 0.155, SE = 0.057,
p
= 0.006). MR analysis did not support evidence for a causal effect of T2D on COVID-19 hospitalization (OR 1.030, 95% CI 0.979, 1.084,
p
= 0.259) or severe disease (OR 0.999, 95% CI 0.934, 1.069,
p
= 0.982). Genes having
p
gene
< 0.05 for both T2D and COVID-19 severe were significantly enriched for biological pathways, such as response to type I interferon, glutathione derivative metabolic process and glutathione derivative biosynthetic process.
Conclusions
Our findings further confirm the comorbidity of T2D and COVID-19 severity, but a non-causal impact of T2D on severe COVID-19. Shared genetically modulated molecular mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of the two disorders are crucial for identifying therapeutic targets.
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