Global health impacts of ambient fine particulate pollution associated with climate variability

Air pollution is a key global environmental problem raising human health concern. It is essential to comprehensively assess the long-term characteristics of air pollution and the resultant health impacts. We first assessed the global trends of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during 1980-2020 using a monthly global PM2.5 reanalysis dataset, and evaluated their association with three types of climate variability including El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole and North Atlantic Oscillation. We then estimated PM2.5-attributable premature deaths using integrated exposure-response functions. Results show a significant increasing trend of ambient PM2.5 during 1980-2020 due to increases in anthropogenic emissions. Ambient PM2.5 caused a total of ∼ 135 million premature deaths globally during the four decades. Occurrence of air pollution episodes was strongly associated with climate variability, which were associated with up to 14 % increase in annual global PM2.5-attributable premature deaths.

[Studies on clinicopathological features of duodenal-type follicular lymphoma of 18 patients]

To investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics of duodenal-type follicular lymphoma (D-FL), and to deepen the understanding of Duodenal-type follicular lymphoma. The clinical symptoms, endoscopic features, pathologic features, immunophenotype, molecular pathological features and treatment follow-up of 18 D-FL patients diagnosed in Department of Pathology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University between January 2020 and July 2023 were summarized. A total of 18 patients with D-FL were included, including 10 males and 8 females. The median age was 49 (32-69) years respectively. Most of the patients were found during gastroenteroscopy or presented with the common gastrointestinal symptoms of stomach pain, acid reflux, vomiting and diarrhea. Most endoscopic findings were multiple small gray and white polyposis. In the pathological morphology, the mucous layer and submucous layer showed lymphoid follicular structures with full and strained follicles. The immunophenotype showed that the tumor cells strongly expressed CD20 and BCL2 and had low proliferation activity. Immunoglobulin clonal analysis of 1 case showed IgK monoclonal rearrangement (1/1). FISH showed 1 case of BCL2 gene rearrangement (1/3). All patients did not receive targeted chemotherapy and adopted a wait-and-see strategy. Median follow-up was 12 (2-34) months. This study shows that D-FL is an indolent lymphoma, which tends to occur in the duodenum and has a good prognosis.

[Imaging and cerebrospinal fluid features of two cases with lymphomatosis cerebri]

This article reported the clinical experience of diagnosis and treatment for two patients with lymphomatosis cerebri. Case 1 was female and aged 53 years old, while case 2 was male and aged 69 years old. Progressive cognitive impairment was the main clinical manifestation in both patients. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggested leukoencephalopathy with patchy or mass enhancement. Cerebral blood flow was reduced on perfusion imaging in one patient. Brain biopsy confirmed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in both cases. The concentration of interleukin-10 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of two patients was significantly increased, however, the result of CSF flow cytology was negative. The current study suggests that interleukin-10 in CSF is an important biological indicator for the diagnosis of lymphomatosis cerebri, but CSF flow cytometry may not be helpful. Moreover, cerebral hypoperfusion can be present in patients with lymphomatosis cerebri.

[The outcomes of Tiantan first-aid protocol on critically ill patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma]

Objective: To examine the outcomes of Tiantan first-aid protocol on critically ill patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). Methods: The clinical data of 18 patients with PCNSL who were treated according to Tiantan first-aid protocol at Department of Neurosurgery,Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University from November 2019 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 9 males and 9 females, aged (56.9±11.1)years (range: 29 to 77 years). The median Karnofsky performance status(KPS) score at admission was 40 (range: 20 to 60). Three patients were mild coma, 3 were lethargy and 12 were conscious. The mean midline shift was 0.7 cm (range: 0 to 1.8 cm). After admission, all patients were treated according to the plan of rapid biopsy, rapid routine pathology and rapid salvage chemotherapy. The treatment procedures, clinical and radiographic outcomes, KPS score and adverse reactions of patients after chemotherapy were collected. Results: All of the 18 patients completed the first-aid treatment. The median duration from admission to the biopsy was 1 day (range: 0 to 5 days), from biopsy to routine pathological diagnosis was 1 day (range: 1 to 4 days) and from routine pathology to salvage chemotherapy was 1 day (range: 0 to 4 days). All the patients were pathologically confirmed with diffuse large B cell lymphoma, 1 patient was double-hit lymphoma. Seventeen patients underwent clinical remission and 1 died of cardiac dysfunction. The successful salvage rate was 17/18. Radiologically, complete remission was observed in 1 case, partial remission in 16 cases, and stable disease in 1 case. The median KPS score at discharge was 60 (range: 30 to 80). The mild gastrointestinal, hematological and hepatic adverse effects were observed after chemotherapy. Conclusion: Tiantan first-aid protocol is effective for critically ill patients with PCNSL, which has the merit to be popularly used and improved.

Suppression of αvβ6 downregulates P-glycoprotein and sensitizes multidrug-resistant breast cancer cells to anticancer drugs

Multidrug resistance (MDR) in breast cancer treatment is the major cause leading to the failure of chemotherapy. P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the product of the human MDR1 gene, plays a key role in resistance to chemotherapy and confers cross-resistance to many structurally unrelated anticancer drugs. We have previously reported that integrin αvβ6 plays a critical role in breast cancer invasion and metastasis. However, whether and how αvβ6 is associated with P-gp and regulated by potential genetic mechanisms in breast cancer remains unclear. In the present study, we further investigated the reversal effect and underlying mechanisms of MDR in breast cancer. Two small interfering RNA constructs (pSUPER-β6shRNAs) targeting two different regions of the β6 gene have been designed to inhibit αvβ6 expression by transfecting them into adriamycin-resistant MCF-7/ADR cell lines. Suppression of αvβ6 dramatically downregulated the levels of MDR1 gene mRNA and P-gp. In particular, β6shRNA-mediated silencing of αvβ6 gene increased significantly the cellular accumulation of Rhodamine 123 and markedly decreased drug efflux ability, suggesting that β6shRNAs indeed inhibit P-gp mediated drug efflux and effectively overcome drug resistance. In addition, inhibition of integrin αvβ6 suppressed the expression of ERK1/2. Interestingly, our data demonstrate that suppression of integrin αvβ6 caused significant downregulation of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and upregulation of caspase 3, Bad, accompanied by increasing activity of cytochrome C. A possible connection between αvβ6 and P-gp in drug resistance biology is suggested. Taken together, β6shRNA could efficiently inhibit αvβ6 and MDR1 expression in vitro and these findings may offer specifically useful means to reverse MDR in breast cancer therapy.

Vector Form of Symmetry Degree

Symmetry degree is utilized to characterize the asymmetry of a physical system with respect to a symmetry group. The scalar form of symmetry degree (SSD) based on Frobenius-norm has been introduced recently to present a quantitative description of symmetry. Here we present the vector form of the symmetry degree (VSD) which possesses more advantages than the SSD. Mathematically, the dimension of VSD is defined as the conjugacy class number of the symmetry group, the square length of the VSD gives rise to the SSD and the direction of VSD is determined by the orders of the conjugacy classes. The merits of applying VSD both for finite and infinite symmetry groups include the additional information of broken symmetry operators with single symmetry breaking perturbation, and the capability of distinguishing distinct symmetry breaking perturbations which exactly give rise to degenerate SSD. Additionally, the VSD for physical systems under symmetry breaking perturbations can be regarded as a projection of the initial VSD without any symmetry breaking perturbations, which can be described by an evolution equation. There are the same advantages by applying VSD for the accidental degeneracy and spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Frobenius-norm-based measures of quantum coherence and asymmetry

We formulate the Frobenius-norm-based measures for quantum coherence and asymmetry respectively. In contrast to the resource theory of coherence and asymmetry, we construct a natural measure of quantum coherence inspired from optical coherence theory while the group theoretical approach is employed to quantify the asymmetry of quantum states. Besides their simple structures and explicit physical meanings, we observe that these quantities are intimately related to the purity (or linear entropy) of the corresponding quantum states. Remarkably, we demonstrate that the proposed coherence quantifier is not only a measure of mixedness, but also an intrinsic (basis-independent) quantification of quantum coherence contained in quantum states, which can also be viewed as a normalized version of Brukner-Zeilinger invariant information. In our context, the asymmetry of N-qubit quantum systems is considered under local independent and collective transformations. In- triguingly, it is illustrated that the collective effect has a significant impact on the asymmetry measure, and quantum correlation between subsystems plays a non-negligible role in this circumstance.

Gender difference of childhood overweight and obesity in predicting the risk of incident asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aims of our meta-analysis were (i) to quantify the predictability of childhood overweight and obesity on the risk of incident asthma; and (ii) to evaluate the gender difference on this relationship. The selection criteria included prospective cohort paediatric studies which use age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) as a measure of childhood overweight and the primary outcome of incident asthma. A total of 1,027 studies were initially identified through online database searches, and finally 6 studies met the inclusion criteria. The combined result of reported relative risk from the 6 included studies revealed that overweight children conferred increased risks of incident asthma as compared with non-overweight children (relative risk, 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.37). The relationship was further elevated for obesity vs. non-obesity (relative risk, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.16-3.50). A dose-responsiveness of elevated BMI on asthma incidence was observed (P for trend, 0.004). Obese boys had a significantly larger effect than obese girls (relative risk, boys: 2.47; 95% CI, 1.57-3.87; girls: 1.25; 95% CI, 0.51-3.03), with significant dose-dependent effect. Proposed mechanisms of gender difference could be through pulmonary mechanics, sleep disordered breathing and leptin. Further research might be needed to better understand the exact mechanism of gender difference on the obesity-asthma relationship.

Obesity enhanced respiratory health effects of ambient air pollution in Chinese children: the Seven Northeastern Cities study

OBJECTIVE

Experimental data suggest that obesity enhances the effects of ambient air pollutants on exacerbation of asthma; however, there is little supporting epidemiological evidence. The aim of present study is to evaluate whether obesity modifies the association between ambient air pollution and respiratory symptoms and asthma in children.

METHODS

In Northeast China, 30 056 children aged 2-14 years were selected from 25 districts of seven cities. Parents of the children completed questionnaires that characterized the children's histories of respiratory symptoms and illness, and associated risk factors. Overweight and obesity were calculated with an age and sex-specific body mass index (BMI, kg m(-2)), with BMIs of greater than the 85th and 95th percentiles defining overweight and obesity, respectively. Average annual ambient exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter 10 μm (PM(10)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), nitrogen dioxides (NO(2)) and ozone (O(3)) was estimated from data collected at monitoring stations in each of the 25 study districts.

RESULTS

We observed consistent and significant interactions between exposure and obesity on respiratory symptoms and asthma. The associations between each pollutant's yearly concentrations and respiratory symptoms and asthma were consistently larger for overweight/obese children than for normal-weight children, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 1.17 per 31 μg m(-3) for PM(10) on wheeze (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01, 1.36) to 1.50 per 10 μg m(-3) for NO(2) on phlegm (95% CI: 1.21, 1.87) and cough (95% CI: 1.24, 1.81).

CONCLUSION

These results showed that overweight/obesity enhanced respiratory health effects of air pollution in the study children.