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
Crohn's disease (CD) is frequently associated with malnutrition, inflammation and a deficiency of vitamin D (VD) with the relationships between these symptoms being poorly defined. VD is a ...modulator of the immune system and is associated with the onset of CD and disease activity. The level of serum VD may have potential in the assessment of CD activity. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between VD, nutritional status and inflammation, and to identify more accurate VD thresholds.
Methods
The study included 76 outpatients with CD diagnosed between October 2018 and October 2020 and 76 healthy volunteers. Levels of serum 25(OH)D and nutritional indicators, as well as biochemical and disease activity assessments, were conducted.
Results
Patients with CD and healthy participants were found to differ significantly in their 25(OH)D levels as well in levels of nutritional and inflammatory indicators. The optimal VD cut‐off value was found to be 46.81 nmol/L for CD development and 35.32 nmol/L for disease activity. Levels of 25(OH)D were correlated with both nutritional status and inflammation.
Conclusions
The VD level is likely to be a useful additional tool in the evaluation of CD patients and predicting the disease activity and clinical response. The VD level may relate both to the nutritional status and levels of inflammation in CD patients, and disease progression.
Highlights
1.
This study included the NRS‐2002 and PG‐SGA scores to provide a comprehensive picture of the nutritional status with Crohn's disease (CD).
2.
We found serum 25(OH)D levels were associated with both nutritional status and inflammation.
3.
Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the optimal vitamin D cut‐off values for predicting CD development and assessing disease activity.
Objective
To assess the efficacy of metformin in megestrol acetate (MA)‐based fertility‐sparing treatment for patients with atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) and endometrioid endometrial cancer ...(EEC).
Design
A randomised, single‐centre, open‐label, controlled trial conducted between October 2013 and December 2017.
Setting
Shanghai OBGYN Hospital of Fudan University, China.
Population
A total of 150 patients (18–45 years old) with primary AEH or well‐differentiated EEC were randomised into an MA group (n = 74) and an MA plus metformin group (n = 76).
Methods
Patients with AEH or EEC were firstly stratified, then randomised to receive MA (160 mg orally, daily) or MA (160 mg orally, daily) plus metformin (500 mg orally, three times a day).
Main outcomes and measures
The primary efficacy parameter was the cumulate complete response (CR) rate within 16 weeks of treatment (16w‐CR rate); the secondary efficacy parameters were 30w‐CR rate and adverse events.
Results
The 16w‐CR rate was higher in the metformin plus MA group than in the MA‐only group (34.3 versus 20.7%, odds ratio OR 2.0, 95% confidence interval CI 0.89–4.51, P = 0.09) but the difference was more significant in 102 AEH patients (39.6 versus 20.4%, OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.06–6.21, P = 0.04). This effect of metformin was also significant in non‐obese (51.4 versus 24.3%, OR 3.28, 95% CI 1.22–8.84, P = 0.02) and insulin‐sensitive (54.8 versus 28.6%, OR 3.04, 95% CI 1.03–8.97, P = 0.04) subgroups of AEH women. No significant result was found in secondary endpoints.
Conclusion
As a fertility‐sparing treatment, metformin plus MA was associated with a higher early CR rate compared with MA alone in AEH patients.
Tweetable
For AEH patients, metformin plus MA might be a better fertility‐sparing treatment to achieve a higher early CR rate compared with MA alone.
Tweetable
For AEH patients, metformin plus MA might be a better fertility‐sparing treatment to achieve higher early CR rate compared with MA alone.
Tumor metastasis is the main reason of cancer-related death for gastric cancer (GC) patients and gene expression microarray data indicate that kinesin family member 26B (KIF26B) is one of the most ...upregulated genes in metastatic GC samples. Specifically, KIF26B expression was upregulated in a stepwise manner from non-tumorous gastric mucosa, primary GC tissues without metastasis, via primary GC tissues with metastasis, to secondary lymph node metastatic (LNM) foci. Increased expression of KIF26B was correlated with tumor size, positive LNM or distant metastases and poor prognosis. KIF26B, negatively regulated by miR-372, promoted GC cell proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic investigations confirmed that the main target of KIF26B was the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway, particularly by inhibition or overexpression of VEGFA, PXN, FAK, PIK3CA, BCL2 and CREB1. Thus, KIF26B, a novel oncogene regulated by miR-372, promotes proliferation and metastasis through the VEGF pathway in GC.
Double Star/TC‐1 and Cluster data show that both component reconnection and anti‐parallel reconnection occur at the magnetopause when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is predominantly ...dawnward. The occurrence of these different features under these very similar IMF conditions are further confirmed by a statistical study of 290 fast flows measured in both the low and high latitude magnetopause boundary layers. The directions of these fast flows suggest a possible S‐shaped configuration of the reconnection X‐line under such a dawnward dominated IMF orientation.
Abstract
Bulk Bi
0.5
Sr
0.5
Fe
0.5
Cr
0.5
O
3
(BSFCO) is a new compound comprising the
R3c
structure. The structural, magnetic property and exchange bias (EB) details are investigated. The material ...was in the super-paramagnetic (SP) state at room temperature. Exchange bias usually occurs at the boundary between different magnetic states after field cooling (
H
FC
) acts on the sample. Here the result shows that changing
H
FC
from 1 to 6 T reduces the
H
EB
value by 16% at 2 K at the same time. Meanwhile,
H
EB
diminishes as the ferromagnetic layer thickness increases. The variation of (the thickness of ferromagnetic layer)
t
FM
with the change of
H
FC
leads to the tuning of
H
EB
by
H
FC
in BSFCO bulk. These effects are obviously different from the phenomenon seen in other oxide types.
Dapsone is used in the treatment of infections and inflammatory diseases. The dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, which is associated with a reported mortality of 9.9%, develops in about 0.5 to 3.6% ...of persons treated with the drug. Currently, no tests are available to predict the risk of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome.
We performed a genomewide association study involving 872 participants who had received dapsone as part of multidrug therapy for leprosy (39 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 833 controls), using log-additive tests of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and imputed HLA molecules. For a replication analysis, we genotyped 24 SNPs in an additional 31 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 1089 controls and performed next-generation sequencing for HLA-B and HLA-C typing at four-digit resolution in an independent series of 37 participants with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome and 201 controls.
Genomewide association analysis showed that SNP rs2844573, located between the HLA-B and MICA loci, was significantly associated with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy (odds ratio, 6.18; P=3.84×10(-13)). HLA-B*13:01 was confirmed to be a risk factor for the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (odds ratio, 20.53; P=6.84×10(-25)). The presence of HLA-B*13:01 had a sensitivity of 85.5% and a specificity of 85.7% as a predictor of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome, and its absence was associated with a reduction in risk by a factor of 7 (from 1.4% to 0.2%). HLA-B*13:01 is present in about 2 to 20% of Chinese persons, 1.5% of Japanese persons, 1 to 12% of Indians, and 2 to 4% of Southeast Asians but is largely absent in Europeans and Africans.
HLA-B*13:01 was associated with the development of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy. (Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.).
Topological materials with exotic quantum properties are promising candidates for quantum spin electronics. Different classes of topological materials, including Weyl semimetal, topological ...superconductor, topological insulator and Axion insulator, etc., can be connected to each other via quantum phase transition. For example, it is believed that a trivial band insulator can be twisted into topological phase by increasing spin-orbital coupling or changing the parameters of crystal lattice. With the results of LDA calculation and measurement by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we demonstrate in this work that the electronic structure of SrSn2As2 single crystal has the texture of band inversion near the critical point. The results indicate the possibility of realizing topological quantum phase transition in SrSn2As2 single crystal and obtaining different exotic quantum states.
Objectives
We aimed to evaluate the relationship between baseline renal function and changes in telomere length in Han Chinese.
Methods
The telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length of leukocytes in ...the peripheral blood was measured in healthy volunteers recruited in 2014. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated based on serum creatinine (Scr) and serum cystatin C (CysC)-eGFRcys and eGFRScr-cys through the Cockcroft-Gault formula (eGFRC-G) or the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI / eGFRCKD-EPI) equation. The correlation between telomere length changes over time and renal function was analyzed.
Results
Leukocyte TRF lengths were negatively correlated to age (r = -0.393, p < 0.001) and serum CysC (r = -0.180, p < 0.01), while positively associated with eGFRCKD-EPI, eGFRC-G, eGFRcys, and eGFRScr-cys (r = 0.182, 0.122, 0.290, and 0.254 respectively, p < 0.01). The 3-year change of telomere length was 46 bp/years. When adjusted for age, the associations between telomere length changes and baseline, subsequent TRF lengths, and serum CysC were no longer present. No association was observed between TRF length changes and renal function.
Conclusion
The rate of telomere length changes was affected by age and baseline telomere length. The telomere length changes might be important markers for aging.
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