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.
Summary
Background
Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects 20%‐40% of the general population in developed countries and is an increasingly important cause of hepatocellular carcinoma. ...Electronic medical records facilitate large‐scale epidemiological studies, existing NAFLD scores often require clinical and anthropometric parameters that may not be captured in those databases.
Aim
To develop and validate a laboratory parameter‐based machine learning model to detect NAFLD for the general population.
Methods
We randomly divided 922 subjects from a population screening study into training and validation groups; NAFLD was diagnosed by proton‐magnetic resonance spectroscopy. On the basis of machine learning from 23 routine clinical and laboratory parameters after elastic net regulation, we evaluated the logistic regression, ridge regression, AdaBoost and decision tree models. The areas under receiver‐operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of models in validation group were compared.
Results
Six predictors including alanine aminotransferase, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, haemoglobin A1c, white blood cell count and the presence of hypertension were selected. The NAFLD ridge score achieved AUROC of 0.87 (95% CI 0.83‐0.90) and 0.88 (0.84‐0.91) in the training and validation groups respectively. Using dual cut‐offs of 0.24 and 0.44, NAFLD ridge score achieved 92% (86%‐96%) sensitivity and 90% (86%‐93%) specificity with corresponding negative and positive predictive values of 96% (91%‐98%) and 69% (59%‐78%), and 87% of overall accuracy among 70% of classifiable subjects in the validation group; 30% of subjects remained indeterminate.
Conclusions
NAFLD ridge score is a simple and robust reference comparable to existing NAFLD scores to exclude NAFLD patients in epidemiological studies.
Linked ContentThis article is linked to Gallacher et al and McPherson and Yip papers. To view these articles visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14217 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14234.
Abstract
Coupling qubits to a superconducting resonator provides a mechanism to enable long-distance entangling operations in a quantum computer based on spins in semiconducting materials. Here, we ...demonstrate a controllable spin-photon coupling based on a longitudinal interaction between a spin qubit and a resonator. We show that coupling a singlet-triplet qubit to a high-impedance superconducting resonator can produce the desired longitudinal coupling when the qubit is driven near the resonator’s frequency. We measure the energy splitting of the qubit as a function of the drive amplitude and frequency of a microwave signal applied near the resonator antinode, revealing pronounced effects close to the resonator frequency due to longitudinal coupling. By tuning the amplitude of the drive, we reach a regime with longitudinal coupling exceeding 1 MHz. This mechanism for qubit-resonator coupling represents a stepping stone towards producing high-fidelity two-qubit gates mediated by a superconducting resonator.
Mass extinctions occur frequently in natural history. While studies of animals that became extinct can be informative, it is the survivors that provide clues for mechanisms of adaptation when ...conditions are adverse. Here, we describe a survival pathway used by many species as a means for providing adequate fuel and water, while also providing protection from a decrease in oxygen availability. Fructose, whether supplied in the diet (primarily fruits and honey), or endogenously (via activation of the polyol pathway), preferentially shifts the organism towards the storing of fuel (fat, glycogen) that can be used to provide energy and water at a later date. Fructose causes sodium retention and raises blood pressure and likely helped survival in the setting of dehydration or salt deprivation. By shifting energy production from the mitochondria to glycolysis, fructose reduced oxygen demands to aid survival in situations where oxygen availability is low. The actions of fructose are driven in part by vasopressin and the generation of uric acid. Twice in history, mutations occurred during periods of mass extinction that enhanced the activity of fructose to generate fat, with the first being a mutation in vitamin C metabolism during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction (65 million years ago) and the second being a mutation in uricase that occurred during the Middle Miocene disruption (12–14 million years ago). Today, the excessive intake of fructose due to the availability of refined sugar and high‐fructose corn syrup is driving ‘burden of life style’ diseases, including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Content List ‐ This is an article from the symposium: “Bioinspirational medicine”.
Although fish consumption may have an influence on specific mortality of major chronic diseases, the relationship between fish consumption and all-cause mortality remains inconsistent.
We performed a ...systematic search of publications using PubMed and Web of science up to 31 December 2014. Summary relative risk (RR) for the highest versus lowest category of fish consumption on risk of all-cause mortality was calculated by using a random effects model. Potential nonlinear relation was tested by modeling fish intake using restricted cubic splines with three knots at fixed percentiles of the distribution.
Twelve prospective cohort studies with 672,389 participants and 57,641 deaths were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with the lowest category, the highest category of fish intake was associated with about a 6% significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality (RR=0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.90, 0.98; I(2)=39.1%, P=0.06). The dose-response analysis indicated a nonlinear relationship between fish consumption and all-cause mortality. Compared with never consumers, consumption of 60 g of fish per day was associated with a 12% reduction (RR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.83, 0.93) in risk of total death.
These results imply that fish consumption was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality.
Like other cancers, aberrant gene regulation features significantly in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were recently found to regulate gene expression at the ...post-transcriptional/translational levels. The expression profiles of 157 miRNAs were examined in 19 HCC patients, and 19 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated miRNAs were found to be associated with HCC. Putative gene targets of these 22 miRNAs were predicted in silico and were significantly enriched in 34 biological pathways, most of which are frequently dysregulated during carcinogenesis. Further characterization of microRNA-224 (miR-224), the most significantly up-regulated miRNA in HCC patients, revealed that miR-224 increases apoptotic cell death as well as proliferation and targets apoptosis inhibitor-5 (API-5) to inhibit API-5 transcript expression. Significantly, miR-224 expression was found to be inversely correlated with API-5 expression in HCC patients (p < 0.05). Hence, our findings define a true in vivo target of miR-224 and reaffirm the important role of miRNAs in the dysregulation of cellular processes that may ultimately lead to tumorigenesis.
We simulate the radiation belt electron flux enhancements during selected Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) challenge events to quantitatively compare the major processes involved in relativistic ...electron acceleration under different conditions. Van Allen Probes observed significant electron flux enhancement during both the storm time of 17–18 March 2013 and non–storm time of 19–20 September 2013, but the distributions of plasma waves and energetic electrons for the two events were dramatically different. During 17–18 March 2013, the SYM‐H minimum reached −130 nT, intense chorus waves (peak Bw ~140 pT) occurred at 3.5 < L < 5.5, and several hundred keV to several MeV electron fluxes increased by ~2 orders of magnitude mostly at 3.5 < L < 5.5. During 19–20 September 2013, the SYM‐H remained higher than −30 nT, modestly intense chorus waves (peak Bw ~80 pT) occurred at L > 5.5, and electron fluxes at energies up to 3 MeV increased by a factor of ~5 at L > 5.5. The two electron flux enhancement events were simulated using the available wave distribution and diffusion coefficients from the GEM focus group Quantitative Assessment of Radiation Belt Modeling. By comparing the individual roles of local electron heating and radial transport, our simulation indicates that resonant interaction with chorus waves is the dominant process that accounts for the electron flux enhancement during the storm time event particularly near the flux peak locations, while radial diffusion by ultralow‐frequency waves plays a dominant role in the enhancement during the non–storm time event. Incorporation of both processes reasonably reproduces the observed location and magnitude of electron flux enhancement.
Key Points
Energetic electron fluxes are enhanced during storm and non–storm time events, but wave and electron structures are dramatically different
Local heating by whistler mode chorus wave is the major contributor to the flux enhancement near the peak during 17–18 March 2013
Radial diffusion by ultralow‐frequency wave is the major contributor to the observed flux enhancement during 19–20 September 2013
MicroRNA-224 (miR-224) is frequently over-expressed in liver and colorectal cancers. We and others have previously described the role of miR-224 over-expression in cell proliferation in vitro but we ...have yet to identify the relevant miR-224 direct target. In this study, we further demonstrated that miR-224 up-regulation promotes cell proliferation using both in vitro assays and in vivo tumor growth models. We systematically screened for high confidence miR-224 targets by overlapping in silico predicted targets from multiple algorithms and significantly down-regulated genes in miR-224-expressing cells from whole genome expression microarrays. A total of 72 high confidence miR-224 targets were identified and found to be enriched in various cancer-related processes. SMAD family member 4 (SMAD4) is experimentally validated as the direct cellular target through which miR-224 promotes cell proliferation. The clinical relevance of our experimental observations was supported by a statistically significant inverse correlation between miR-224 and SMAD4 transcript expression in tumor versus paired adjacent non-tumorous tissues from HCC patients (p<0.001, r= -0.45, R(2) =0.122). Furthermore, miR-224 up-regulation and SMAD4 down-regulation is significantly associated with poorer patient survival (p<0.05). In summary, miR-224/SMAD4 pathway is a clinically relevant pathway to provide new insights in understanding HCC. (191 words).
More than two billion people worldwide have suffered thyroid disorders from either iodine deficiency or excess. By creating the national map of groundwater iodine throughout China, we reveal the ...spatial responses of diverse health risks to iodine in continental groundwater. Greater non-carcinogenic risks relevant to lower iodine more likely occur in the areas of higher altitude, while those associated with high groundwater iodine are concentrated in the areas suffered from transgressions enhanced by land over-use and intensive anthropogenic overexploitation. The potential roles of groundwater iodine species are also explored: iodide might be associated with subclinical hypothyroidism particularly in higher iodine regions, whereas iodate impacts on thyroid risks in presence of universal salt iodization exhibit high uncertainties in lower iodine regions. This implies that accurate iodine supply depending on spatial heterogeneity and dietary iodine structure optimization are highly needed to mitigate thyroid risks in iodine-deficient and -excess areas globally.
We present first results of the H2O Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS), using the Mopra Radio Telescope with a broad-band backend and a beam size of about 2 arcmin. We have observed 100 deg2 of ...the southern Galactic plane at 12 mm (19.5-27.5 GHz), including spectral line emission from H2O masers, multiple metastable transitions of ammonia, cyanoacetylene, methanol and radio recombination lines. In this paper, we report on the characteristics of the survey and H2O maser emission. We find 540 H2O masers, of which 334 are new detections. The strongest maser is 3933 Jy and the weakest is 0.7 Jy, with 62 masers over 100 Jy. In 14 maser sites, the spread in the velocity of the H2O maser emission exceeds 100 km s−1. In one region, the H2O maser velocities are separated by 351.3 km s−1. The rms noise levels are typically between 1 and 2 Jy, with 95 per cent of the survey under 2 Jy. We estimate completeness limits of 98 per cent at around 8.4 Jy and 50 per cent at around 5.5 Jy. We estimate that there are between 800 and 1500 H2O masers in the Galaxy that are detectable in a survey with similar completeness limits to HOPS. We report possible masers in NH3 (11,9) and (8,6) emission towards G19.61−0.23 and in the NH3 (3,3) line towards G23.33−0.30.
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