Cold Air Mass Analysis of the Record-Breaking Cold Surge Event over East Asia in January 2016

An extreme cold surge event caused record-breaking low temperatures in East Asia during 20-25 January 2016. The planetary- and synoptic-scale feature of the event is investigated quantitatively using the isentropic cold air mass analysis with a threshold potential temperature of 280 K. Because cold air mass is an adiabatically conservative quantity, it is suitable for tracing and examining the extreme cold surges. We further introduced a metric named mean wind of cold air mass, which divides the factor of cold air mass evolution into convergence and advection parts. The new metric allowed us to trace the evolution of the cold air mass with dynamic consistency for a period of more than a week.  A thick cold air mass built up over southern Sakha by a convergent cold air mass flow during 16-18 January. It migrated westward and reached Lake Baikal. On 20 January, an intense Siberian High developed, with an eastward-moving mid-upper-level ridge, producing a strong surface pressure gradient over the coastal regions of the Asian continent. This ridge and a cutoff low to the adjacent east formed a northerly flow in the mid-upper troposphere. The resultant southward flow through the troposphere blew the cold air mass over 480 hPa in thickness to the subtropical region of East Asia, causing strong cold surges there on 24 and 25 January.  The abnormality of the event is further quantified using extreme value theory. The cold air mass gradually became rare along the path of the cold air mass from Lake Baikal to eastern China, which experienced as thick a cold air mass as once in 200 years. The cold air mass itself shows little change in thickness. Therefore, the migration of a cold air mass over 540 hPa in thickness from northern Siberia is the major cause of this cold surge extreme

Overexpression of BMI-1 Promotes Cell Growth and Resistance to Cisplatin Treatment in Osteosarcoma

Background: BMI-1 is a member of the polycomb group of genes (PcGs), and it has been implicated in the development and progression of several malignancies, but its role in osteosarcoma remains to be elucidated. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the present study, we found that BMI-1 was overexpressed in different types of osteosarcomas. Downregulation of BMI-1 by lentivirus mediated RNA interference (RNAi) significantly impaired cell viability and colony formation in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo of osteosarcoma cells. BMI-1 knockdown sensitized cells to cisplatininduced apoptosis through inhibition of PI3K/AKT pathway. Moreover, BMI-1-depletion-induced phenotype could be rescued by forced expression of BMI-1 wobble mutant which is resistant to inhibition by the small interfering RNA (siRNA). Conclusions/Significance: These findings suggest a crucial role for BMI-1 in osteosarcoma pathogenesis

Comparison of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient and T2 Relaxation Time Variation Patterns in Assessment of Age and Disc Level Related Intervertebral Disc Changes

Purpose To compare the variation patterns of ADC and T2 values in different age and intervertebral disc (IVD) levels, thus to identify their sensitivities in assessing age and disc level related IVDs changes. Materials and Methods The T2 and ADC values were recorded from 345 IVDs of 69 volunteers. Kendall's correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between age and T2/ADC mean values respectively. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc analysis was then applied to test the differences of T2 and ADC values among different IVD levels and age groups, followed by linear regression analysis between age (45 years) and T2/ADC mean values. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Results: Significant negative correlation was observed between age and T2/ADC mean values. The T2 and ADC values showed significant differences among IVD levels and among age groups except for T2 values in age group 1 (25–34 years) and group 2 (35–44 years), and for ADC values at L1–2 level. Both T2 and ADC values showed significant differences between young (age45 years) at each IVD level. A linear relationship was observed between age and T2/ADC mean values in the elderly group as well as in the young group for the ADC mean values, while no such tendency was identified in the young group for the T2 mean values. Conclusions: ADC values may be a more sensitive parameter than T2 in assessing age and disc level related intervertebral disc changes

Acupuncture therapies for cancer-related fatigue: A Bayesian network meta-analysis and systematic review

BackgroundCancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most commonly reported symptoms impacting cancer survivors. This study evaluated and compared the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatments for CRF.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, and WanFang Database from inception to November 2022 to identify eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acupuncture treatments with sham interventions, waitlist (WL), or usual care (UC) for CRF treatment. The outcomes included the Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and pair-wise and Bayesian network meta-analyses were performed using STATA v17.0.ResultsIn total, 34 randomized controlled trials featuring 2632 participants were included. In the network meta-analysis, the primary analysis using CFS illustrated that point application (PA) + UC (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −1.33, 95% CI = −2.02, −0.63) had the highest probability of improving CFS, followed by manual acupuncture (MA) + PA (SMD = −1.21, 95% CI = −2.05, −0.38) and MA + UC (SMD = −0.80, 95% CI = −1.50, −0.09). Moreover, the adverse events of these interventions were acceptable.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that acupuncture was effective and safe on CRF treatment. However, further studies are still warranted by incorporating more large-scale and high-quality RCTs.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO, identifier CRD42022339769

Zonal shift in the cold airmass stream of the East Asian winter monsoon

The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) exhibits long-term variations in intensity and spatial pattern, though the latter one is less understood. To investigate the long-term spatial variations of the EAWM and their possible causes, we propose a new position index of the EAWM by quantifying the low-level East Asian stream (EAS) of cold airmass in the Lagrangian sense. Based on the new-defined index, we find that the EAS undergoes an evident zonal shift between two channels over the land and coast. At interdecadal timescale, the peak location of the EAS is displaced eastward, with an increasing southward cold airmass flux at the coast since the mid-1960s. The interannual shift of the EAS presents not only the zonal oscillation of peak location between two channels but also the width changes of coastal channel over the northwestern Pacific. These shifts in the EAS are related to the strength changes of two source cold airmass streams from Siberia or Bering Sea, which are associated with the phase changes in the upper-tropospheric atmospheric teleconnections. At interdecadal timescale, the phase change in the North Atlantic Oscillation modulates the zonal shift in the EAS via the East Atlantic-West Russia teleconnection. At interannual timescale, the Pacific/North American teleconnection becomes the dominant factor altering the zonal shift and width change of the EAS