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Trace metals in aerosol particles impact Earth's radiative budget, human health, and ocean biogeochemistry. Semi-continuous measurements of the elemental composition of fine-mode (PM 2.5) aerosols were conducted using an automated X-ray fluorescence analyzer on a remote island of Japan during the spring of 2018. Temporal variations in mass concentrations of geochemically important elements for this period, such as Pb, Cu, Si, Fe, and Mn, and their relationships with the emission tracers, carbon monoxide (CO) and black carbon (BC), were reported. The Integrated Massively Parallel Atmospheric Chemical Transport (IMPACT) model was used to evaluate the source apportionment of these components and was evaluated in terms of emissions and wet removal processes. Pb and Cu originated mainly from anthropogenic sources (98 % and 93 % on average, respectively) over the East Asian continent. Positive correlations of Pb and Cu with BC and CO and the similarity of their concentration-weighted trajectories indicated that the emission sources of these metals share the region where the large CO (and BC) emission sources are located and that CO can be regarded as a tracer of continental anthropogenic emissions. The air masses with minimized impacts of the wet removal during transport were extracted to elucidate the "top-down" emission ratio of Pb and Cu to CO, which were, for the first time, evaluated as 152.7 and 63.1 µg g -1 , respectively, during the spring of 2018 in the East Asian outflow. The analysis of the tagged tracer simulations by the IMPACT model confirmed that BC and Si could be used as tracers for anthropogenic and dust emissions, respectively, during the observation period. The source apportionment of Fe and Mn in PM 2.5 aerosols was conducted using Si and BC tracers, which revealed that the anthropogenic contribution was 17 % and 44 % on average, respectively. Based on the air mass origins of Fe and Mn, their anthropogenic fraction varied from 2 % to 29 % and 9 % to 68 %, respectively, during the high-PM 2.5 -concentration periods. However, despite the non-dominant anthropogenic contributions of Fe, they could adversely affect human health and ocean biogeochemistry, owing to their higher water solubility. The modeled BC, Pb, Cu, and Fe were evaluated by separately diagnosing their emission and transport. Ratios of modeled to observed concentrations for these components were analyzed in terms of the accumulated precipitation along the transport from the East Asian continent. The current model simulations were found to overestimate the emissions (based on the Community Emissions Data System, CEDS v2021-02-05) of BC by 44 % and underestimate Cu by 45 %, anthropogenic Fe by 28 % in East Asia, and the wet deposition rates for BC and Pb. Overall, Cu in East Asia exhibited a different nature from BC and Pb in terms of emission sources and wet removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trace metals in aerosol particles impact ocean biogeochemistry. Therefore, semi-continuous measurements of the elemental composition of fine mode (PM2.5) aerosols were conducted using an automated X-ray fluorescence analyzer on a remote island of Japan during the spring of 2018. The temporal variations of mass concentrations of geochemically important elements for this period, such as S, Pb, Cu, Si, and Fe, and their relationships with emission tracers carbon monoxide (CO) and black carbon (BC), were reported. The Integrated Massively Parallel Atmospheric Chemical Transport (IMPACT) model was used to evaluate the source apportionment of these components and was evaluated in terms of emissions and wet removal processes. Pb and Cu were found to have originated mainly from anthropogenic sources (98 % and 93 % on average, respectively) over the East Asian continent. A positive correlation of Pb and Cu with BC and CO was found during the study period, indicating that the emission sources of these metals share the region where the large CO (and BC) emission sources are located. The air masses with minimized impacts of the wet removal during the transport were extracted to elucidate the emission ratio of Pb and Cu to CO, which were, for the first time, evaluated as 152.7 and 63.1 µg g-1, respectively, during the spring of 2018 in the East Asian outflow. The analysis of the tagged tracer simulations by the IMPACT model confirmed that BC and Si can be used as tracers for anthropogenic and dust emissions, respectively, during the observation period. The source apportionment of Fe and Mn in PM2.5 aerosols was conducted using Si and BC tracers, which revealed that the anthropogenic contribution was 17 % and 44 % on average, respectively. Based on the air mass origins of Fe and Mn, their anthropogenic fraction varied from 2 % to 29 % and 9 % to 68 %, respectively, during the high PM2.5 concentration periods. However, despite minor anthropogenic contributions of Fe, they can adversely affect human health and ocean biogeochemistry owing to their higher water solubility. The modeled BC, Pb, Cu, and Fe were evaluated by separately diagnosing their emission and transport. Ratios of modeled to observed concentrations for these components were analyzed in terms of the accumulated precipitation along the transport from the East Asian continent. The current model simulations were found to overestimate the emissions (based on Community Emissions Data System, CEDS v2021-02-05) of BC by 44 % and underestimate Cu by 45 %, anthropogenic Fe by 28 % in East Asia, and the wet deposition rates for BC and Pb. Overall, Cu in East Asia exhibited a different nature from BC and Pb in terms of emission sources and wet removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) from the Asia-Pacific region often exhibit characteristics distinct from those of patients from the West. Moreover, as the region itself is heterogeneous, the ITP landscape among individual Asia-Pacific countries can be diverse. The recently released international consensus report on ITP places new emphasis on ITP, but does not address the unique ITP landscape in the Asia-Pacific region, which is home to 60% of the world's population. In an attempt to characterize how the ITP landscape differs between the West and the Asia-Pacific region, an expert panel with representatives from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia was convened. Important differences were identified between the guidance provided in the international consensus report and experience in the Asia-Pacific region, namely diagnostic practices, incidence and approach to ITP secondary to H. pylori infection, systemic lupus erythematosus-related ITP, the use of bone marrow examination, initial treatment strategies, and the role of splenectomy, rituximab, and thrombopoietin receptor agonists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sources of elemental (EC) and organic carbon (OC) aerosols in Asian outflow were investigated in the spring of 2015 in terms of radiocarbon (14C) and molecular marker analyses. The contribution of fossil fuel (FF) sources to carbonaceous aerosols (TC) significantly increased in polluted air masses with enhancements in the concentrations of carbon monoxide. For EC, FF sources dominated in the polluted air masses. For OC, the contributions of non-FF sources other than biomass burning (BB) were found to be significant (comparable to or higher than those of FF sources), especially in air masses with higher values of the water-soluble fraction of OC (f WSOC) and 14C concentrations (F14C). Positive correlations between f WSOC and F14C indicate that the origins of TC (mainly OC) have great impacts on the water solubility variability and the subsequent cloud formation processes of OC during transport. We found the importance of natural sources as possible origins of OC in non-polluted (i.e., background) air. This study raises the need to further investigate the source apportionment of OC, especially its natural origins, for more accurately assessing the climatic impacts of EC and OC in East Asia. Image 2 • Source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols in Asian outflow in the spring of 2015 was investigated in a Japanese remote island. • Biomass burning was not dominant emission process of carbonaceous aerosols at the observation site through the observation period. • Black carbon aerosols were mostly emitted from fossil fuel (FF) sources. (~90%). • 4Organic carbon (OC) aerosols were significantly affected by non-FF sources as well as FF sources. • Major portion of non-FF-derived OC was likely originated from natural sources such as ocean and land vegetation. • Mixing between polluted and background air masses in Asian outflow regulated the water-soluble fraction of OC as well as source apportionment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common and disabling psychiatric disorder. MDD is a multifactorial disorder with multiple genetic and environmental factors with relatively small effects. To date, only a small number of loci have been identified to be significantly (P < 5.0E-8) associated with MDD. To further understand of the genetic basis of MDD, we conducted a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) in East Asia with more than ten thousand participants of Japanese ancestry. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on their medical history and health conditions that included the 6-item Kessler screening scale (K6) for depressive state (cut-off point 4/5; 4,071, depressive group [cases]; 6,749, non-depressive group [controls]). The genomic DNA of the participants was extracted from saliva and was genotyped for Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) using Illumina HumanCore BeadChip (about 300,000 SNPs with add-on 5,000 SNPs). SNPs were excluded if the call rate was < 90%, the minor allele frequency (MAF) was < 1%, or if the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium P values were < 0.001. A total of 229,276 SNPs from 10,892 individuals were used. We sought for depressive state susceptibility loci and their closest genes. A genome-wide significant association (P=8.8E-9) was observed for a locus in chromosome 20, upstream of WAP-type four-disulfide core 10B (WFDC10B), a member of the WFDC domain family, which has been reported to play a regulatory role in inflammation. On the other hand, there were no SNPs with genome-wide significant associations with past medical history of MDD (898, diagnosed group [cases]; 9,992, non-diagnosed group [controls]). This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first large-scale GWAS using data from direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests carried out in a population not of European-ancestry. The present study detected a novel locus significantly associated with depressive state, but further research is necessary to replicate the current findings. This study suggests that DTC genetic tests with self-reported trait data can contribute to revealing genetic basis for MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]