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The killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR), which mediates the killing function of NK cells, is an attractive candidate for adoptive cellular therapy. The ethnic distribution for China provides a unique opportunity to investigate KIR gene distribution.The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between population history and the rapidly evolving KIR genetic diversity.8050 Chinese donors from 184 hospitals were included to analyse frequency, haplotype, and B-content data of 16 KIR genes, by PCR-SSP for KIR genotyping.KIR gene carrier frequencies were found similar to those observed in other studies on Han, but different from Thais, Japanese, Africans, and populations of West Eurasian ancestry. High-frequency KIR genotype profiles found in the present population were consistent with other studies on Han populations but different from those conducted on other cohorts. The majority of our cohort carried group A KIR gene motifs. Additionally, populations with similar geographic locations in China were shown clustered together, while Hainan and Xinjiang provinces were slightly separated from these.The distribution of KIR genes varies by geographic region, and different ethnic groups may be a confounding factor of KIR diversity.

Ambient PM2.5 was reported to be related to numerous negative health outcomes, leading to adverse public health impacts in many countries such as China. Despite the apparent reduction in PM2.5 levels over China due to its emission control policies in recent years, the health burdens were not reduced as much as expected. This calls for a comprehensive analysis to explain the reasons behind to provide a useful reference for formulating effective emission control strategies. Taking central China as an example due to its large population and high levels of PM2.5, this study quantified the spatiotemporal dynamics of premature mortality associated with PM2.5 pollution in central China for each year during 2003-2018 and applied a decomposition analysis to dissect the contribution of various driving factors including ambient PM2.5 level, demographic distribution and baseline incidence rate of four diseases related to air pollution. Results show significant spatiotemporal variations in PM2.5-attributed health impact in central China, including Henan, Hubei, and Hunan provinces. Five Henan cities had the largest PM2.5-attributable premature mortality (∼8-12 K premature mortalities), while three Hubei cities and one Hebei city had the least chronic PM2.5-related all-cause mortality numbers (

Rationale: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is an aggressive malignancy that is almost always fatal and lacks effective systemic treatment options. Current treatments of ATC include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, used in combination when possible. In the aspect of immunotherapy, the biomarker of TMB-H and MSI-H may suggest that patients benefit from pembrolizumab. Programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is highly expressed in ATC but has not been written into the guidelines or approved by the FDA as a biomarker for thyroid cancer immunotherapy. Patient concerns: A 55-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of a slight right-sided neck enlargement in November 2019. Diagnoses: The clinical diagnosis was ATC, pT3bN0M0, and stage IVB. Interventions: Oral administration of apatinib (250 mg 3 times daily) was initiated after surgery, but some unpleasant side effects emerged after 1 month of treatment. Next-generation sequencing revealed that the tumor harbored 2 mutations, HRAS p.Q61R and TP53 p.P278S, and PD-L1 staining was positive with a high expression. Thus, camrelizumab (programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor) was combined with apatinib, and apatinib was changed to 250 mg once a day from March 2020. Outcomes: No adverse reactions were observed after the treatment immunotherapy combined with antiangiogenic drugs. Currently, the survival time of patients is more than 11 months, and the quality of life is not affected. Conclusion: This case suggests that immunotherapy in patients with ATC based upon PD-L1 evaluation provides a therapeutic option. Targeting programmed cell death protein 1/PD-L1 may provide a much-needed treatment option for patients with advanced ATC.

Satellite aerosol retrievals have been a popular alternative to monitoring surface PM2.5 concentration due to its extensive spatial and temporal coverage. Satellite-derived PM2.5 estimation strongly relies on an accurate representation of the relationship between ground PM2.5 and satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD). Due to the limitation of satellite AOD data, most studies examined the relationship at a coarse-resolution (i.e., ≥ 10 km) scale; more effort is still needed to better understand the relationship between in-situ PM2.5 and AOD at finer spatial scales. While PM2.5 and AOD could have obvious temporal variations, few studies have examined the diurnal variation in their relationship. Considerable uncertainty therefore still exists in satellite-derived PM2.5 estimation due to these research gaps. Taking advantage of the newly released fine-spatial-resolution satellite AOD data derived by the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm and real-time ground aerosol and PM2.5 measurements, this study explicitly explored the relationship between PM2.5 and AOD and its plausible impact factors including meteorological parameters and topography in mainland China during 2019, at various spatial and temporal scales. Coefficient of variation, Pearson correlation coefficient and slope of linear regression model were used. Spatially, stronger correlations mainly occurred in northern and eastern China and linear slope in northern inland regions was on average larger than those in other areas. Temporally, the PM2.5-AOD correlation peaked in the noon and afternoon and reached the maximum in winter. Simultaneously considering relative humidity (RH) and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) in the relationship can improve the correlation but the effect of RH and PBLH on the correlation varied spatially and temporally, both in strength and direction. In addition, the largest correlation occurred at 400–600 m primarily in basin terrain such as Sichuan Basin, Shanxi-Shaanxi Basins and Junggar Basin. MAIAC 1-km AOD can better represent the ground-level fine particulate matter in most domains with exceptions such as in very high terrain i.e. Tibetan Plateau and north-central China i.e. Qinghai and Gansu. Findings in this study have useful implications for satellite-based PM2.5 monitoring and will further inform the understanding of the aerosol variation and PM2.5 pollution status in mainland China.

Satellite aerosol retrievals have been a popular alternative to monitoring the surface-based PM2.5 concentration due to their extensive spatial and temporal coverage. Satellite-derived PM2.5 estimations strongly rely on an accurate representation of the relationship between ground-level PM2.5 and satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD). Due to the limitations of satellite AOD data, most studies have examined the relationship at a coarse resolution (i.e., ≥ 10 km); thus, more effort is still needed to better understand the relationship between “in situ” PM2.5 and AOD at finer spatial scales. While PM2.5 and AOD could have obvious temporal variations, few studies have examined the diurnal variation in their relationship. Therefore, considerable uncertainty still exists in satellite-derived PM2.5 estimations due to these research gaps. Taking advantage of the newly released fine-spatial-resolution satellite AOD data derived from the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm and real-time ground aerosol and PM2.5 measurements, this study explicitly explored the relationship between PM2.5 and AOD as well as its plausible impact factors, including meteorological parameters and topography, in mainland China during 2019, at various spatial and temporal scales. The coefficient of variation, the Pearson correlation coefficient and the slope of the linear regression model were used. Spatially, stronger correlations mainly occurred in northern and eastern China, and the linear slope was larger on average in northern inland regions than in other areas. Temporally, the PM2.5–AOD correlation peaked at noon and in the afternoon, and reached a maximum in winter. Simultaneously, considering relative humidity (RH) and the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) in the relationship can improve the correlation, but the effect of RH and the PBLH on the correlation varied spatially and temporally with respect to both strength and direction. In addition, the largest correlation occurred at 400–600 m primarily in basin terrain such as the Sichuan Basin, the Shanxi–Shaanxi basins and the Junggar Basin. MAIAC 1 km AOD can better represent the ground-level fine particulate matter in most domains with exceptions, such as in very high terrain (i.e., Tibetan Plateau) and northern central China (i.e., Qinghai and Gansu). The findings of this study have useful implications for satellite-based PM2.5 monitoring and will further inform the understanding of the aerosol variation and PM2.5 pollution status of mainland China.