Analysis of IgE level influencing factors of common allergens for allergic rhinitis in northeastern China.

OBJECTIVES: This thesis aims to provide patients with a preventive and therapeutic basis by analyzing IgE level influencing factors of common allergens for Allergic Rhinitis (AR). METHOD: Multiple linear regression analysis is made upon questionnaires among 749 cases of AR patients that are divided into 5 age-based groups. Perform serum-specific IgE content testing on patients. RESULTS: Cockroach being an allergen, AR patients' IgE Level is influenced by allergic history, home-raised plants and animals. For AR patients with mugwort as an allergen, allergy and asthma history could increase IgE level, respectively, ß = 4.291 and ß = 4.364. If the allergen turns out to be peanut, allergic history would increase the IgE level (ß = 0.171), however, the level would be lower in female patients compared with male patients (ß = -0.078). For patients with egg as an allergen, allergic history, home-raised plants and animals (pets) would all affect the IgE level, respectively, ß = 0.182, ß = 0.118 and ß = -0.101. CONCLUSIONS: IgE level varies according to allergic history, home-raised plants & animals, gender, furniture renewal, asthma, and ages for patients with different allergens including cockroach, mold, mugwort, peanut, egg and crab. For each kind of allergen, the IgE levels react differently to different influencing factors, thus requiring a thorough analysis of each AR patient's allergen and allergenic factors.

Leucosolenia qingdaoensis sp. nov. (Porifera, Calcarea, Calcaronea, Leucosolenida, Leucosoleniidae), a new species from China.

A new species of Leucosoleniidae, Leucosolenia qingdaoensis sp. nov., is described. This new species was collected in a scallop-breeding pond from the Yellow Sea and preserved in 75% ethanol. This sponge consists of a dense reticulation of ascon tubes, with the surface minutely hispid and the consistency soft and fragile. Spiculation of the new species consists of diactines, which are smooth, straight or sometimes slightly curved, triactines of two types, and tetractines with short and curved apical actines; spiculation also slightly overlaps and is somewhat irregularly assembled. Together these form a thin layer of skeleton, with a small number of cells, which results in a transparent, white sponge. As a typical asconoid feature, all internal cavities of the sponge are lined with choanocytes, and there is no fully developed inhalant system. Comparisons with other Leucosolenia reported from the Pacific Ocean are also made.

Tauroursodeoxycholic acid attenuates endoplasmic reticulum stress and protects the liver from chronic intermittent hypoxia induced injury.

Obstructive sleep apnea that characterized by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) has been reported to associate with chronic liver injury. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) exerts liver-protective effects in various liver diseases. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that TUDCA could protect liver against CIH injury. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to intermittent hypoxia for eight weeks and applied with TUDCA by intraperitoneal injection. The effect of TUDCA on liver histological changes, liver function, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, hepatocyte apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress were investigated. The results showed that administration of TUDCA attenuated liver pathological changes, reduced serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase level, suppressed reactive oxygen species activity, decreased tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1ß level and inhibited hepatocyte apoptosis induced by CIH. TUDCA also inhibited CIH-induced ER stress in liver as evidenced by decreased expression of ER chaperone 78 kDa glucose-related protein, unfolded protein response transducers and ER proapoptotic proteins. Altogether, the present study described a liver-protective effect of TUDCA in CIH mice model, and this effect seems at least partly through the inhibition of ER stress.

Multiple quay cranes scheduling for double cycling in container terminals.

Double cycling is an efficient tool to increase the efficiency of quay crane (QC) in container terminals. In this paper, an optimization model for double cycling is developed to optimize the operation sequence of multiple QCs. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the ship handling operation considering the ship balance constraint. To solve the model, an algorithm based on Lagrangian relaxation is designed. Finally, we compare the efficiency of the Lagrangian relaxation based heuristic with the branch-and-bound method and a genetic algorithm using instances of different sizes. The results of numerical experiments indicate that the proposed model can effectively reduce the unloading and loading times of QCs. The effects of the ship balance constraint are more notable when the number of QCs is high.

Distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments of the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site in Hong Kong.

The concentration of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (∑PAHs) and the 16 US EPA priority individual PAH compounds were analyzed in surface sediments from the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay, Ramsar Site of Hong Kong from December 2001 to Jun 2005, to investigate the spatial variability of anthropogenic pollutants. ∑PAHs concentrations ranged from 36.5 to 256.3 ng g(-1) dry weight with an average of 148.9 ng g(-1), comparable to other urbanized areas of the world, and there was little difference among different sampling times from December 2001 to June 2005. Based on comparison to the results from earlier study, it appears that a decrease of total PAHs concentration has occurred since 1992. Meanwhile, the concentrations of ∑PAHs were positive correlated with total organic carbon contents except sites F and G, suggesting the characteristics of the sediment influences the distribution and concentration of PAHs. There was relatively a good relationship among the individual PAHs and the compounds of fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene and indeno[cd]pyrene yielded a good correlation (r(2) > 0.5) with total PAHs. Principal component analysis and specific PAHs compound ratios (Phe/Ant vs. Flt/Pyr) indicate the pyrogenic origins, especially traffic exhausts, are the dominant sources of PAHs in the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Nature Reserve.