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A warming climate cause changes in regional climate and climate extremes. However, understanding how future warming can affect the arid climate and drought in Asia is still unclear. Global warming (GW) impacts on shifts in arid regions and change patterns of drought in the Asia region are investigated using the shared socioeconomic pathway 5–8.5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. The variations in the arid region are explored under potential GW targets above preindustrial levels (+ 0.66 °C for the reference period and + 1.5 °C, + 2.5 °C, + 3.0 °C for future periods). We examine changes in precipitation and temperature indices related to drought, the drought patterns corresponding to consistent arid zones and arid-wet shifting zones based on GW scenarios. The results indicate that warming climates influence temperature and precipitation, and consequently alter climate distribution toward an expansion of the arid region. Due to shifts in climate zones, arid regions may expand by 2.6% relative to the reference climate in response to 3.0 °C of warming. Changes in precipitation indices contribute to the spatial patterns and magnitude of drought changes. Future drought features induced by meteorological conditions exhibit different behaviors according to arid-wet shifts and drought events. Especially, drought features throughout Asia are likely to be aggravated in terms of both severity and frequency in response to a greater degree of GW, especially in arid regions and regarding extreme droughts. This study provides valuable information on the relationship between regional climate and drought features in a world affected by GW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Garlic juice is one of the most popular health drinks in Asia. Garlic juice processing waste (GJPW) is a potential feed ingredient for aquaculture, because it is rich in bioactive chemicals, which makes it an attractive alternative to synthetic antibiotics and/or antioxidants. This study investigates the effects of various dietary levels of garlic juice processing waste on the growth performance and health status of juvenile black (Sebastes schlegelii). On the basis of the results, rockfish fed diets supplemented with GJPW show improvement in growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, and growth and antioxidant-related gene expression. Therefore, considering the effects on the overall performance of juvenile rockfish, GJPW is a promising useful additive, and 2.5 g kg−1 dietary GJPW was found to be a suitable dietary level for juvenile rockfish black rockfish. An 8-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of various dietary levels of garlic juice processing waste (GJPW) on the growth, feed utilization, digestive and antioxidant enzyme activity, growth- and antioxidant-related gene expression, and resistance to Streptococcus iniae infection of juvenile black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii). A total of 450 juvenile rockfish were randomly distributed into 30 L rectangular tanks (30 fish per tank). Five experimental diets were prepared in triplicate. The fish were fed experimental diets supplemented with GJPW at concentrations of 0 (GJPW0, control), 2.5 (GJPW2.5), 5 (GJPW5), 7.5 (GJPW7.5), and 10 g kg−1 (GJPW10) diet. All of the GJPW-supplemented treatments (2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 g kg−1) significantly enhanced weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency ratio (PER), and digestive enzyme activity (amylase, trypsin, and lipase). A decreasing trend was seen in plasma aspartate aminotransferase (ALT), alanine aminotransferase (AST), and glucose (GLU) content with increasing dietary levels of GJPW. In contrast, plasma lysozyme and antioxidant enzyme activities were significantly increased with increasing dietary GJPW levels. Furthermore, GJPW administration significantly upregulated the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) in the liver of rockfish. A challenge test with S. iniae showed significantly higher resistance in the GJPW-supplemented treatments than in the control. In short, dietary supplementation GJPW enhanced growth performance and antioxidant response in juvenile black rockfish, with suitable effects in fish fed with 2.5 g kg−1 GJPW for 8 weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monospecific assemblages of non-avian theropod tracks are relatively rare in the Cretaceous of Korea, where assemblages dominated by the tracks of diverse tetrapods (birds, sauropods, ornithopods, and pterosaurs) are well known and widely distributed in the Haman and Jindong formations (Hayang Group). To date, few high-density assemblages of theropod tracks have been documented. A Haman Formation site on Adu Island reveals a small high-density assemblage of Grallator tracks (~29 tracks/m2). The tracks, which indicate registration on a sandy substrate infused with microbial mat, are indistinguishable from Grallator tracks known from a few other Lower Cretaceous sites in China and east Asia. Early and Middle Jurassic Grallator-dominated assemblages are common in east Asia, and persist into the Late Jurassic- Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) transition in China, where they are typically only associated with sauropodomorph tracks. Post-Neocomian (Aptian-Albian) Cretaceous assemblages from Korea are much more diverse, and characterised by tracks of sauropod and ornithopod dinosaurs, non-avian and avian theropods (birds), pterosaurs and other tetrapods. Post-Neocomian assemblages dominated by theropod tracks, are rare and no large monospecific grallatorid assemblages are currently known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of global circulation model data have been increased for climate change adaptation and natural hazard mitigation. Constructed analog is one of a common statistical downscaling methodology for spatial downscaling of large domain. It has challenges to reproduce extreme climate and wet‐dry conditions due to combination of multiple analogs. To address this challenge, localized constructed analog (LOCA) method was developed. The global applicability of LOCA has not been reviewed, and there is a limitation in that the analog domain is spatially discontinuous and too extensive for localization. Therefore, in this study, the global applicability of the localized analog method was evaluated for the Asia region, and the bias corrected climate informed analog (BCIA) method, a localized analog method based on climate information, was proposed to overcome the limitation of existed method. The localized analogs have 7–36% higher skill for monthly and seasonal climate and at least 20 higher skill score for climate indices than unlocalized analog. Localized methods have significant advantages in reproducing the extreme and the wet‐dry indices. Therefore, the global applicability of the localized analog method was confirmed. The analog dates in BCIA showed highly better qualities than those of LOCA. In downscaling performance, BCIA was superior to LOCA, and, it has a significant advantage in the index related to precipitations by more than 10% in skill score. Therefore, in the global application of localized techniques, BCIA can be utilized as a promising method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is challenging to estimate how the regional climate will be shifted under future global warming. To reduce the potential risk of regional climate shift under future climates, examining the change in climate features over Asia is important, as approximately 60% of the world's population resides there. In this study, climate shifts are assessed over the Asian monsoon region under global mean temperature warming targets from 1.5°C to 5.0°C above preindustrial (PI) levels based on different shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios. Global warming impacts the individual climate variables, and consequently, it impacts the regional climate features across the Asian region. Temperature change patterns are more dominant contributors to the spatial extent and magnitude of climate shifts than precipitation change patterns. Changes in regional climates show different behaviors according to the degree of global warming rather than the type of SSP scenario. Climate shifts are intensified under a higher level of global warming that is above the PI levels. The largest climate shifts in this region are shown under global warming of 5.0°C based on the SSP5‐8.5 scenario, especially in current polar climate zones. Future change patterns in individual climate zone can differ. Regions with tropical climates and arid climates are likely to be expanded, whereas some regions with warm temperate climates, cold climates, and polar climates are likely to shrink under global warming conditions. Therefore, this study supports the necessity of mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and establishing an adaptation plan for future global warming conditions. Key Points: Potential global warming based on CMIP6 causes the significant changes in regional climates and consequently climate shifts over AsiaPace of climate zone shifts will become faster as the global warms, but the differences exist among the regional climate featuresCharacteristics of climate shifts are more sensitive to the degree of global mean temperature increase than the type of SSP scenarios [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the influence of global warming on regional hydroclimatic extremes is challenging. To reduce the potential risk of extremes under future climate states, assessing the change in extreme climate events is important, especially in Asia, due to spatial variability of climate and its seasonal variability. Here, the changes in hydroclimatic extremes are assessed over the Asian monsoon region under global mean temperature warming targets of 1.5 and 2.0 ∘ C above preindustrial levels based on representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. Analyses of the subregions classified using regional climate characteristics are performed based on the multimodel ensemble mean (MME) of five bias-corrected global climate models (GCMs). For runoff extremes, the hydrologic responses to 1.5 and 2.0 ∘ C global warming targets are simulated based on the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model. Changes in temperature extremes show increasing warm extremes and decreasing cold extremes in all climate zones with strong robustness under global warming conditions. However, the hottest extreme temperatures occur more frequently in low-latitude regions with tropical climates. Changes in mean annual precipitation and mean annual runoff and low-runoff extremes represent the large spatial variations with weak robustness based on intermodel agreements. Global warming is expected to consistently intensify maximum extreme precipitation events (usually exceeding a 10 % increase in intensity under 2.0 ∘ C of warming) in all climate zones. The precipitation change patterns directly contribute to the spatial extent and magnitude of the high-runoff extremes. Regardless of regional climate characteristics and RCPs, this behavior is expected to be enhanced under the 2.0 ∘ C (compared with the 1.5 ∘ C) warming scenario and increase the likelihood of flood risk (up to 10 %). More importantly, an extra 0.5 ∘ C of global warming under two RCPs will amplify the change in hydroclimatic extremes on temperature, precipitation, and runoff with strong robustness, especially in cold (and polar) climate zones. The results of this study clearly show the consistent changes in regional hydroclimatic extremes related to temperature and high precipitation and suggest that hydroclimatic sensitivities can differ based on regional climate characteristics and type of extreme variables under warmer conditions over Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retroglossal obstruction is one of the etiologies causing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and can be addressed by removing some tissues of the tongue base. However, because of its deep-seated location, its surgical removal is still challenging. Although coblation technique has been introduced, its efficacy and morbidity need further evaluation, particularly in Asians. This study aimed to assess its safety and effectiveness and to identify outcome prognosticators. Forty-seven OSA patients who underwent coblation lingual tonsil removal were included. Retroglossal obstruction was confirmed by drug-induced sleep videofluoroscopy. Attended full-night polysomnography was performed twice; before and 6 months after surgery in 27 patients. The tongue base was fully exposed with three deep-seated traction sutures, visualized with a 30° or 70° endoscope, and ablated using a coblator. Surgical success was defined with postoperative apnea hypopnea index (AHI) <20 and reduction >50 %. Postoperative morbidities were evaluated. Demographic and polysomnographic parameters between success and failure groups were compared. None of the patients had immediate postoperative hemorrhage. Postoperatively, one patient had delayed hemorrhage and one patient severe respiratory difficulty. Taste loss, tongue dysmotility, dental injury or severe oropharyngeal stricture were absent. A mean AHI decreased from 37.7 ± 18.6 to 18.7 ± 14.8/h ( P < 0.001). The success rate was 55.6 %. Their mean minimal oxygen saturation was significantly lower ( P = 0.004) in the failure group. Coblation lingual tonsil removal technique showed minimal morbidity and favorable outcome in Koreans. The surgical outcome might be associated with the severity of single respiratory events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the simulation of regional climate change is one of the high-priority areas of climate study because regional information is needed for climate change impact assessments. Such information is especially important for the region covered by the East Asian monsoon where there is high variability in both space and time. To this end, the Regional Climate Model Intercomparison Project (RMIP) for Asia has been established to evaluate and improve regional climate model (RCM) simulations of the monsoon climate. RMIP operates under joint support of the Asia–Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), the Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and several projects of participating nations. The project currently involves 10 research groups from Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, as well as scientists from India, Italy, Mongolia, North Korea, and Russia. RMIP has three simulation phases: March 1997–August 1998, which covers a full annual cycle and extremes in monsoon behavior; January 1989–December 1998, which examines simulated climatology; and a regional climate change scenario, involving nesting with a global model. This paper is a brief report of RMIP goals, implementation design, and some initial results from the first phase studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dementia shows sex difference in its epidemiology. Childbirth, a distinctive experience of women, is associated with the risk for various diseases. However, its association with the risk of dementia in women has rarely been studied.Methods: We harmonized and pooled baseline data from 11 population-based cohorts from 11 countries over 3 continents, including 14,792 women aged 60 years or older. We investigated the association between parity and the risk of dementia using logistic regression models that adjusted for age, educational level, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cohort, with additional analyses by region and dementia subtype.Results: Across all cohorts, grand multiparous (5 or more childbirths) women had a 47% greater risk of dementia than primiparous (1 childbirth) women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.10-1.94), while nulliparous (no childbirth) women and women with 2 to 4 childbirths showed a comparable dementia risk to primiparous women. However, there were differences associated with region and dementia subtype. Compared to women with 1 to 4 childbirths, grand multiparous women showed a higher risk of dementia in Europe (OR = 2.99, 95% CI = 1.38-6.47) and Latin America (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.04-2.12), while nulliparous women showed a higher dementia risk in Asia (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.33-3.47). Grand multiparity was associated with 6.9-fold higher risk of vascular dementia in Europe (OR = 6.86, 95% CI = 1.81-26.08), whereas nulliparity was associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer disease (OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.07-3.39) and non-Alzheimer non-vascular dementia (OR = 3.47, 95% CI = 1.44-8.35) in Asia.Conclusion: Parity is associated with women's risk of dementia, though this is not uniform across regions and dementia subtypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change influences the changes in drought features. This study assesses the changes in severe drought characteristics over the Asian monsoon region responding to 1.5 and 2.0 °C of global average temperature increases above preindustrial levels. Based on the selected 5 global climate models, the drought characteristics are analyzed according to different regional climate zones using the standardized precipitation index. Under global warming, the severity and frequency of severe drought (i.e., SPI <−1.5) are modulated by the changes in seasonal and regional precipitation features regardless of the region. Due to the different regional change trends, global warming is likely to aggravate (or alleviate) severe drought in warm (or dry/cold) climate zones. For seasonal analysis, the ranges of changes in drought severity (and frequency) are −11.5%~6.1% (and −57.1%~23.2%) under 1.5 and 2.0 °C of warming compared to reference condition. The significant decreases in drought frequency are indicated in all climate zones due to the increasing precipitation tendency. In general, drought features under global warming closely tend to be affected by the changes in the amount of precipitation as well as the changes in dry spell length. As the warming enhanced, the spatial variation of drought severity will be increased across climate zones, which can lead to increased water stress over Asia. This study demonstrates that precipitation characteristic changes can explicitly modulate severe regional drought features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterfowl represent the natural reservoir of all subtypes of influenza A viruses, including H5N1. Ducks are especially considered major contributors to the spread of H5N1 influenza A viruses because they exhibit diversity in morbidity and mortality. Therefore, as a preventive strategy against endemic as well as pandemic influenza, it is important to reduce the spread of H5N1 influenza A viruses in duck populations. Here, we describe the pathogenicity of dominant clades (clades 1 and 2) of H5N1 influenza A viruses circulating in birds in Asia. Four representatives of dominant clades of the viruses cause symptomatic infection but lead to different profiles of lethality in domestic ducks. We also demonstrate the efficacy, cross-protectiveness, and immunogenicity of three different inactivated oil emulsion whole-virus H5 influenza vaccines (derived by implementing reverse genetics) to the viruses in domestic ducks. A single dose of the vaccines containing 1 mug of hemagglutinin protein provides complete protection against a lethal A/Duck/Laos/25/06 (H5N1) influenza virus challenge, with no evidence of morbidity, mortality, or shedding of the challenge virus. Moreover, two of the three vaccines achieved complete cross-clade or cross-subclade protection against the heterologous avian influenza virus challenge. Interestingly, the vaccines induce low or undetectable titers of hemagglutination inhibition (HI), cross-HI, and/or virus neutralization antibodies. The mechanism of complete protection in the absence of detectable antibody responses remains an open question.

Background: In a previous study to determine the feasibility of common reference intervals in Asia, we found significant differences among populations from 6 cities. In this study, we attempted to define the sources of these differences., Methods: We enrolled 580 healthy volunteers (279 men, 301 women, 20-62 years old), after a selection process that was based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines, and used a lifestyle questionnaire. All sera were obtained at a basal state and frozen at -80 degrees C until the collective assay was done. We measured 21 basic chemical analytes and 10 serum proteins., Results: We used 3-level nested ANOVA to separate the variation (SD) into between-city (SD-city), between-sex (SD-sex), between-age (SD-age), and between-individual (SD-indiv) components. SD-indiv corresponds to one-quarter of the "pure" reference interval obtained after removing variations due to city, sex, and age. The SD-sex to SD-indiv ratio was >0.8 for creatinine, urate, retinol-binding protein, and transthyretin. We observed high SD-city to SD-indiv ratios, ranging from 0.4 to 0.7, for 11 analytes including lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), electrolytes, IgG, and complement components and SD-age to SD-indiv ratios >0.4 for LDH, alkaline phosphatase, and total cholesterol. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated several other relevant sources of variation, including body mass index, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking, although their contributions were generally smaller than those for sex, region, or age., Conclusion: We observed unacceptably large regional differences in measured values of some analytes even after adjustment for age, sex, and lifestyle variables. Genetic and environmental factors may account for the residual differences.