Comorbid asthma is associated with rhinitis severity in children exposed to air pollutants.

Background: The impact of asthma on the severity of rhinitis when children with allergic rhinitis (AR) are exposed to air pollutants has not been studied.

Methods: Children with AR (65 with asthma, 208 without asthma), aged 6-13 years, were recruited from a hospital in Taichung, Taiwan, between 2007 and 2011. Correlations between Pediatric-Rhinoconjunctivitis-Quality-of-Life score, nasal peak expiratory flow, and air pollutants were compared.

Allergic rhinitis children with obesity are more vulnerable to air pollution: a cross sectional study.

The association between air pollution, allergic rhinitis (AR), and obesity has not been studied. From 2007 to 2011, 52 obese and 152 non-obese children (7-17 years old) with AR were recruited. Pediatric-Rhinoconjunctivitis-Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (PRQLQ) and nasal peak expiratory flow (NPEF) were tested.

Sensing Trace-Level Metal Elements in Water Using Chirped Femtosecond Laser Pulses in the Filamentation Regime.

Femtosecond filament-induced breakdown spectroscopy (FIBS) is an efficient approach in remote and in situ detection of a variety of trace elements, but it was recently discovered that the FIBS of water is strongly dependent on the large-bandgap semiconductor property of water, making the FIBS signals sensitive to laser ionization mechanisms. Here, we show that the sensitivity of the FIBS technique in monitoring metal elements in water can be efficiently improved by using chirped femtosecond laser pulses, but an asymmetric enhancement of the FIBS intensity is observed for the negatively and positively chirped pulses. We attribute the asymmetric enhancement to their different ionization rates of water, in which the energy of the photons participating in the ionization process in the front part of the negatively chirped pulse is higher than that in the positively chirped pulse.

Probing ultrafast dynamics of soot in situ in a laminar diffusion flame using a femtosecond near-infrared laser pump and multi-color Rayleigh scattering probe spectroscopy.

Soot nanoparticles result from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, and have been exhibited, when released into the atmosphere, to be detrimental to air quality and human health. However, because of the inert and non-luminescent properties, probing the dynamics of soot in situ is still a challenge. Here we report a strong near-infrared laser pump and multi-color Rayleigh scattering probe approach to reveal soot dynamics in situ in a n-pentanol/air laminar diffusion flame at femtosecond time resolution.

Extremely enhanced N lasing in a filamentary plasma grating in ambient air.

Cavity-free air lasing offers a promising route towards the realization of atmospheric lasers for various applications such as remote sensing and standoff spectroscopy; however, achieving efficient generation and control of air lasing in ambient air is still a challenge. Here we show the experimental realization of a giant lasing enhancement by three to four orders of magnitude in ambient air for the self-seeded 2+ lasing at 428 nm, assigned to the +(=0) and +(=1) emission, by modulating the spatiotemporal overlap of ultrashort near-infrared control-pump pulses in a filamentary plasma grating; meanwhile, the spontaneous emission from the same transition is only enhanced by three to four times. We find that this enhancement is sensitive to the relative polarization and interference time of the two pulses, and reveal that the formation of the plasma grating induces different population variations in the +(=0) and +(=1) levels, resulting in an enormous population inversion between the two levels, thereby a higher gain for the giant enhancement of 2+ lasing in ambient air.

Robust and ultralow-energy-threshold ignition of a lean mixture by an ultrashort-pulsed laser in the filamentation regime.

Laser ignition (LI) allows for precise manipulation of ignition timing and location and is promising for green combustion of automobile and rocket engines and aero-turbines under lean-fuel conditions with improved emission efficiency; however, achieving completely effective and reliable ignition is still a challenge. Here, we report the realization of igniting a lean methane/air mixture with a 100% success rate by an ultrashort femtosecond laser, which has long been regarded as an unsuitable fuel ignition source. We demonstrate that the minimum ignition energy can decrease to the sub-mJ level depending on the laser filamentation formation, and reveal that the resultant early OH radical yield significantly increases as the laser energy reaches the ignition threshold, showing a clear boundary for misfire and fire cases.

Lactobacillus Attenuate the Progression of Pancreatic Cancer Promoted by Porphyromonas Gingivalis in Transgenic Mice.

Accumulating evidence suggests that there is a link between the host microbiome and pancreatic carcinogenesis, and that increases the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. The aim of the current study was to clarify the role of in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer and the potential immune modulatory effects of probiotics. The six-week-old LSL-K-rasG12D; Pdx-1-cre (KC) mice smeared P.

The synergistic tumor growth-inhibitory effect of probiotic Lactobacillus on transgenic mouse model of pancreatic cancer treated with gemcitabine.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal and chemo-resistant cancers worldwide. Growing evidence supports the theory that the gut microbiota plays an essential role in modulating the host response to anti-cancer therapy. The present study aimed to explore the effect of probiotics as an adjuvant during chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.

Asymmetric enhancement of N lasing in intense, birefringence-modulating elliptical laser fields.

We experimentally demonstrate an asymmetric enhancement of the N lasing at 391 nm for the transition between the BΣu (v = 0) and XΣg (v" = 0) states in an intense laser field with the ellipticity, ε, modulated by a 7-order quarter-wave plate (7-QWP). It is found that when the 7-QWP is rotated from α = 0 to 90°, where α is the angle between the polarization direction of the input laser and the slow axis of the 7-QWP, the intensity of the 391-nm lasing is optimized at ε ∼ 0.3 with α∼ 10°-20° and 70°-80° respectively, but the optimization intensity at α∼ 10°-20° is about 4 times smaller than that at α∼ 70°-80°.

Early Gut Microbiota Changes in Preterm Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: A Pilot Case-Control Study.

Objective: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a complex chronic lung disease that primarily affects premature or critically ill infants. This pilot study investigated early changes in gut microbiota composition in BPD patients and explored the potential risk factors associated with these changes.

Study Design: Preterm infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit with a gestational age of 26 to 32 weeks were prospectively surveyed and eligible for stool collection on days 7 and 28 of postnatal age between February 2016 and June 2017.

The Risk of Developing Constipation After Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a complex and lethal inflammatory bowel necrosis that primarily affects premature infants. Gut dysbiosis has been implicated in the pathogenesis of NEC. We aim to assess the association between NEC and two other diseases in children, including allergic diseases and constipation, considered to be associated with the alterations in gut microbiota composition.

Minimally invasive surfactant therapy versus intubation for surfactant administration in very low birth weight infants with respiratory distress syndrome.

Background: Minimally invasive surfactant therapy (MIST) is a new mode of surfactant administration without intubation to spontaneously breathing preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility, efficacy and safety of using MIST to give surfactant for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with RDS.

Methods: In total, 53 VLBW infants who were born before 32 gestational weeks with spontaneous breathing, respiratory distress, and requiring surfactant therapy were divided into two groups.

Association between allergic disease, sleep-disordered breathing, and childhood nocturnal enuresis: a population-based case-control study.

Background: Little is known about the associations between allergic disease, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and childhood nocturnal enuresis (NE). We examined whether allergic disease and SDB were associated with childhood NE.

Methods: Data were assessed from the 2007-2012 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.

Impact of Sjogren's syndrome on Parkinson's disease: A nationwide case-control study.

Objective: To investigate whether Sjogren's syndrome would have an influence on the development of Parkinson's disease.

Methods: A population-based case-control study was conducted. Participants consisted of 7716 subjects with newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease and a population of 75129 matched control subjects between 2000 and 2010.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Diagnostic Imaging in Infants Younger Than 2 Months Old Hospitalized With a First Febrile Urinary Tract Infection: A Population-based Comparative Study.

Background: Data on urinary tract infection (UTI) in infants ≤2 months of age are limited. We examined clinical characteristics, antimicrobial resistance, imaging findings and clinical outcomes in infants ≤2 months of age and children 2-24 months of age hospitalized with the first febrile UTI.

Methods: Children ≤24 months of age hospitalized with their first-diagnosed febrile UTI were prospectively studied.

Faecal calprotectin as a novel biomarker for differentiating between inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

The present study aimed to investigate faecal calprotectin as a diagnostic marker to differentiate between patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A total of 20 healthy control subjects, 26 patients with IBS and 58 patients with IBD, including 22 with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 36 with Crohn's disease (CD), were recruited for the present study. Calprotectin was analysed in stool samples, and C-reactive protein (CRP) and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were assessed in blood samples.

Clinical characteristics and outcome in norovirus gastroenteritis.

Objective: To examine differences in clinical characteristics among children with norovirus, rotavirus, and bacterial gastroenteritis and investigate the outcomes in children with sporadic norovirus gastroenteritis.

Methods: The study included patients aged 4 mo to 14 y who had acute gastroenteritis and were admitted to a tertiary care center between April 2008 and July 2009. The clinical features and laboratory findings of acute gastroenteritis were recorded.

Association between the growth rate of renal cysts/angiomyolipomas and age in the patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Purpose: Renal manifestations of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) occur with a high frequency and a wide range of severity. The onset and complications of each affected organ depend on the age. This study aimed to investigate the associations between comorbidities, frequency, and size of cysts/angiomyolipomas of TSC and the patients in the different ages.