A Pre-Landing Assessment of Regolith Properties at the InSight Landing Site

This article discusses relevant physical properties of the regolith at the Mars InSight landing site as understood prior to landing of the spacecraft. InSight will land in the northern lowland plains of Mars, close to the equator, where the regolith is estimated to be ≥3--5 m thick. These investigations of physical properties have relied on data collected from Mars orbital measurements, previously collected lander and rover data, results of studies of data and samples from Apollo lunar missions, laboratory measurements on regolith simulants, and theoretical studies. The investigations include changes in properties with depth and temperature. Mechanical properties investigated include density, grain-size distribution, cohesion, and angle of internal friction. Thermophysical properties include thermal inertia, surface emissivity and albedo, thermal conductivity and diffusivity, and specific heat. Regolith elastic properties not only include parameters that control seismic wave velocities in the immediate vicinity of the Insight lander but also coupling of the lander and other potential noise sources to the InSight broadband seismometer. The related properties include Poisson’s ratio, P- and S-wave velocities, Young’s modulus, and seismic attenuation. Finally, mass diffusivity was investigated to estimate gas movements in the regolith driven by atmospheric pressure changes. Physical properties presented here are all to some degree speculative. However, they form a basis for interpretation of the early data to be returned from the InSight mission.Additional co-authors: Nick Teanby and Sharon Keda

Relationship between Responses to Bronchodilation Testing and to Nasal Decongestion Testing in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis Alone

A remarkable relationship exists between upper and lower airways. Bronchial obstruction is a paramount feature of asthma as well as nasal obstruction of allergic rhinitis (AR). This study aims to evaluate the response to both bronchodilation and decongestion testing and their relationships in a large group of patients with moderate-severe persistent AR alone. Two hundred eleven patients with moderate-severe persistent AR were prospectively and consecutively evaluated. Clinical examination, skin prick test, spirometry, bronchodilation test, rhinomanometry, and decongestion test were performed on all patients. Seventeen subjects (8%) did not respond to any of the tests, 55 subjects (26.1%) were responders only to the decongestion test, 31 (14.7%) only to the bronchodilation test, and 108 subjects (51.2%) responded to both these tests. Longer AR duration was significantly associated with positive response to both tests (p<0.01). In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence that patients with moderate-severe persistent AR may frequently show reversibility to both bronchodilation and decongestion tests

Adiposity in the older population and the risk of dementia : The Rotterdam Study

Introduction: We determined associations of total and regional adiposity with incident dementia among older adults. Methods: Within the population-based Rotterdam Study, adiposity was measured as total, android, and gynoid fat mass using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 3408 men and 4563 women, every 3 to 6 years between 2002 and 2016. Incident dementia was recorded until 2020. Results: Higher adiposity measures were associated with a decreased risk of dementia in both sexes. After excluding the first 5 years of follow-up, only the association of gynoid fat among women remained significant (hazard ratio 0.85 [95% confidence interval 0.75–0.97] per standard deviation increase). No major differences in trajectories of adiposity measures were observed between dementia cases and dementia-free controls. Discussion: Higher total and regional fat mass related to a decreased risk of dementia. These results may be explained by reverse causality, although a protective effect of adiposity cannot be excluded. Highlights: Total and regional adiposity were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans in 7971 older adults. All adiposity measures were associated with a decreased risk of dementia. The results suggest a beneficial effect of gynoid fat on the risk of dementia in women. Reverse causation and competing risk may explain these inverse associations

Induction of interleukin 10 by sublingual immunotherapy for house dust mites: a preliminary report

Background: Subcutaneous specific immunotherapy has been demonstrated to be capable of inducing T-cell regulatory response. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) plays a crucial role in inducing allergen-specific tolerance; however, no previous studies have examined IL-10 production after sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). Objective: To evaluate T-cell proliferation and IL-10 production in patients successfully treated with SLIT for house dust mites (HDMs). Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from patients after at least 3 years of successful HDM SLIT and from matched untreated allergic patients and healthy control subjects. After 3 and 6 days of in vitro stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), Candida albicans, and Dermatophagoides farinae, proliferation and production of IL-10 were measured. Results: Patients treated with SLIT showed a significant reduction of proliferation induced by C albicans compared with untreated atopic patients (P < .001), but a significant reduction was also demonstrated in healthy controls compared with untreated atopic patients (P < .001). Patients treated with SLIT also showed a significant increase of IL-10 production after Candida and PHA stimuli compared with patients with untreated rhinitis (P < .001 for both). Patients with untreated rhinitis did not produce IL-10. Conclusion: This preliminary study confirms reduced T-cell proliferation and preliminarily provides the first evidence, to our knowledge, of peripheral IL-10 production in allergic patients successfully treated with HDM SLIT

Sublingual immunotherapy-induced IL-10 production is associated with improvement of nasal airflow resistance: Preliminary report

Background: Sublingual immunotherapy has been demonstrated to be able of inducing a regulatory T cell (Treg) response as evidenced by IL-10 production. Nasal obstruction may be measured by rhinomanometry. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the association of sublingual immunotherapy-induced IL-10 production with nasal airflow resistances. Methods: 19 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis were studied: 9 successfully assumed sublingual immunotherapy for 3 years, 10 were considered as control. In vitro IL-10 production was evaluated after sublingual immunotherapy. Rhinomanometry was performed in all subjects before and after 3 years. Results: After 3 years, sublingual immunotherapy-patients showed a significant decrease of nasal resistances (0.048). The comparison with non-treated allergic patients shows significant differences (p = 0.02). In addition, the percentages of reversibility were associated with IL-10 levels (p = 0.0016). Conclusions: This study provides the first evidence of an association between improved nasal resistances and Treg-induced IL-10 production after sublingual immunotherapy in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis