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He, Ben, Jiayue Feng, Yan Shu, Lichun Yang, Zepin He, Kanxiu Liao, Hui Zhuo, and Hui Li. Prevalence and risk factors of hyperuricemia among young and middle-aged Tibetan men living at ultrahigh altitudes: a cross-sectional study. High Alt Med Biol. 25:42–48, 2024. Background: Few studies have examined the prevalence or risk factors of hyperuricemia among populations living at ultrahigh altitudes. Here we examined the prevalence of hyperuricemia and factors associated with it among young and middle-aged Tibetan men living at ultrahigh altitudes. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 672 Tibetan men 18–60 years old living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (mean altitude 4,014 m) within the county of Litang in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Sichuan Province, China. Demographic and clinical data were collected from self-administered questionnaires, physical examinations and laboratory tests. Participants whose blood uric acid (UA) contained >420 μmol/l were classified as having hyperuricemia. Results: Of the 672 men analyzed, 332 (49.4%) had hyperuricemia. Multivariate logistic regression showed risk of hyperuricemia to correlate positively with body mass index (per 1 U increase: odds ratio [OR] 1.172, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1066–1.243), triglycerides (OR 1.408, 95% CI 1.084–1.828), red blood cell count (OR 1.376, 95% CI 1.009–1.875), and creatinine level (per 1 U increase: OR 1.051, 95% CI 1.033–1.070). Conversely, risk of hyperuricemia correlated negatively with the presence of diabetes mellitus (OR 0.412, 95% CI 0.175–0.968). Subgroup analyses showed that prevalence of hyperuricemia was significantly higher among those with polycythemia than among those without it, and that UA levels correlated positively with hematocrit and hemoglobin levels. Conclusions: Hyperuricemia is an important public health problem among Tibetan men living at ultrahigh altitudes in Ganzi autonomous prefecture. The region urgently requires appropriate prevention and management efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of hyperhomocysteinemia among Tibetan residents in the west of Xizang Ali. Methods By using the method of multi-stage cluster random sampling, Tibetan residents were randomly selected from the western area of Xizang Ali for physical examination and questionnaire survey, and blood routine and biochemical indexes were collected. The prevalence and influencing factors of hyperhomocysteinemia in this area were analyzed by chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression. Results A total of 1 362 Tibetan residents in the western region of Xizang Ali were investigated. The results showed that there were 1 044 patients with hyperhomocysteinemia, with a prevalence rate of 76.7%. The prevalence rate of males (84.8%) was higher than that of females (71.5%). Smoking (OR=1.988, 95%CI: 1.076-3.675), poor household (OR = 1.775, 95%CI: 1.204-2.540), hyperuricemia (OA =3.416, 95%CI: 2.494-4.679), hypercholesterolemia (OA =4.051, 95%CI: 2.811-5.838), and hypertriglyceridemia (OR=2.589, 95%CI: 1.765-3.798) were risk factors of hyperhomocysteinemia. Female (0R=0.538, 95%CI: 0.384-0.752) and agricultural and pastoral areas (OR = 0.312, 95%CI: 0.156-0.625) were protective factors. Conclusion The prevalence rate of hyperhomocysteinemia is high in the western region of Xizang Ali. Sex, residence, smoking, and poor households are the influencing factors of hyperhomocys- teinemia. Hyperhomocysteinemia is significantly associated with hyperuricemia, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and other diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Manual bone age assessment (BAA) is associated with longer interpretation time and higher cost and variability, thus posing challenges in areas with restricted medical facilities, such as the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) for automating BAA could facilitate resolving this issue. This study aimed to develop an AI-based BAA model for Han and Tibetan children. Methods: A model named "EVG-BANet" was trained using three datasets, including the Radiology Society of North America (RSNA) dataset (training set n = 12611, validation set n = 1425, and test set n = 200), the Radiological Hand Pose Estimation (RHPE) dataset (training set n = 5491, validation set n = 713, and test set n = 79), and a self-established local dataset [training set n = 825 and test set n = 351 (Han n = 216 and Tibetan n = 135)]. An open-access state-of-the-art model BoNet was used for comparison. The accuracy and generalizability of the two models were evaluated using the abovementioned three test sets and an external test set (n = 256, all were Tibetan). Mean absolute difference (MAD) and accuracy within 1 year were used as indicators. Bias was evaluated by comparing the MAD between the demographic groups. Results: EVG-BANet outperformed BoNet in the MAD on the RHPE test set (0.52 vs. 0.63 years, p < 0.001), the local test set (0.47 vs. 0.62 years, p < 0.001), and the external test set (0.53 vs. 0.66 years, p < 0.001) and exhibited a comparable MAD on the RSNA test set (0.34 vs. 0.35 years, p = 0.934). EVG-BANet achieved accuracy within 1 year of 97.7% on the local test set (BoNet 90%, p < 0.001) and 89.5% on the external test set (BoNet 85.5%, p = 0.066). EVG-BANet showed no bias in the local test set but exhibited a bias related to chronological age in the external test set. Conclusion: EVG-BANet can accurately predict the bone age (BA) for both Han children and Tibetan children living in the Tibetan Plateau with limited healthcare facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ge Sa-er (also known as Gesar) saga has been handed down for above 1000 years by Tibetan Chinese, Mongolian Chinese, the Tu and the Naxi, describing a heroic story in present-day Kangba Tibetan area. This article analyse the English translation of social discourse in the Ge Sa-er version retold by Alai (2009). Due to different knowledge shared by source and target readers, it is difficult to represent the source social meaning in the English translation. Aiming to resolve the translation problems revealed by social cognition, this article uses statistical methods together with corpus to conduct stylistic analyses on Ge Sa-er Wang (Alai, 2009). An unexpected finding of this research is that the data from statistical methods can better predict the translation difficulties of Ge Sa-er Wang than the data from corpus. Based on the stylistic features of Ge Sa-er Wang, we propose a social discourse translation model for Chinese ethnic minority literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article assesses five proposals for the development of Tibetic zl , which has modern reflexes including Lhasa Tibetan /_(ⁿ)d/. My assessment considers on their ability to account for zl 's modern reflexes, their plausibility from the perspective of phonetics, and their congruence with typological observations. I conclude that, at present, Bialek (2018)'s proposal is the most plausible. However, future research may produce comparative evidence that support Gong (2016)'s proposal. At the end, I outline a methodology for investigating the role of functional load in Tibetic consonant cluster mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundPortal hypertension (PHT) presents a challenging issue of liver cirrhosis. This study aims to identify novel biomarkers for severe PHT (SPHT) and explore the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PHT progression.MethodsTwenty-three Tibetan cirrhotic patients who underwent hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement were included. Eleven patients had an HVPG between 5 mmHg and 15 mmHg (MPHT), while 12 had an HVPG ≥16 mmHg (SPHT). Peripheral sera were analyzed using liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer for metabolomic assessment. An additional 14 patients were recruited for validation of metabolites.ResultsSeven hundred forty-five metabolites were detected and significant differences in metabolomics between MPHT and SPHT patients were observed. Employing a threshold of p 1, 153 differential metabolites were identified. A significant number of these metabolites were lipids and lipid-like molecules. Pisumionoside and N-decanoylglycine (N-DG) exhibited the highest area under the curve (AUC) values (0.947 and 0.9091, respectively). Additional differential metabolites with AUC >0.8 included 6-(4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenoxy)-3,4,5-trihydroxyoxane-2-carboxylic acid, sphinganine 1-phosphate, 4-hydroxytriazolam, 4,5-dihydroorotic acid, 6-hydroxy-1H-indole-3-acetamide, 7alpha-(thiomethyl)spironolactone, 6-deoxohomodolichosterone, glutaminylisoleucine, taurocholic acid 3-sulfate, and Phe Ser. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay further confirmed elevated levels of sphinganine 1-phosphate, N-DG, and serotonin in SPHT patients. Significant disruptions in linoleic acid, amino acid, sphingolipid metabolisms, and the citrate cycle were observed in SPHT patients.ConclusionPisumionoside and N-DG are identified as promising biomarkers for SPHT. The progression of PHT may be associated with disturbances in lipid, linoleic acid, and amino acid metabolisms, as well as alterations in the citrate cycle.

Compared with lowlander migrants, native Tibetans have a higher reproductive success at high altitude though the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we compared the transcriptome and histology of full-term placentas between native Tibetans and Han migrants. We found that the placental trophoblast shows the largest expression divergence between Tibetans and Han, and Tibetans show decreased immune response and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Remarkably, we detected a sex-biased expression divergence, where the male-infant placentas show a greater between-population difference than the female-infant placentas. The umbilical cord plays a key role in the sex-biased expression divergence, which is associated with the higher birth weight of the male newborns of Tibetans. We also identified adaptive histological changes in the male-infant placentas of Tibetans, including larger umbilical artery wall and umbilical artery intima and media, and fewer syncytial knots. These findings provide valuable insights into the sex-biased adaptation of human populations, with significant implications for medical and genetic studies of human reproduction.

Acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE, OMIM 201100) is a rare autosomal recessive dermatosis characterized by periorificial dermatitis, diarrhea, alopecia, and hypozincaemia due to pathogenic variants of SLC39A4. Herein, we present a case series describing four unrelated patients with AE from Han, Yi, and Tibetan ethnicities in Sichuan region of southwestern China, speculate the hotspot variants of SLC39A4 causing AE in Sichuan region and highlight physicians should be alerted to unusual presentations of AE, such as the absence of hypozincaemia and the presence of acne-like lesions. Serum alkaline phosphatase and genetic testing should be considered to accurately evaluate the zinc deficiency in human body and help make the correct diagnosis.

BackgroundHigh-altitude populations exhibit distinct cellular, respiratory, and cardiovascular phenotypes, some of which provide adaptive advantages to hypoxic conditions compared to populations with sea-level ancestry. Studies performed in populations with a history of high-altitude residence, such as Tibetans, support the idea that many of these phenotypes may be shaped by genomic features that have been positively selected for throughout generations. We hypothesize that such traits observed in Tibetans at high altitude also occur in Tibetans living at intermediate altitude, even in the absence of severe sustained hypoxia.MethodologyWe studied individuals of high-altitude ancestry (Tibetans, n = 17 females; n = 12 males) and sea-level ancestry (Han Chinese, n = 6 females; n = 10 males), both who had been living at ∼1300 m (∼4327 ft) for at least 18 months. We measured hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]), hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR), and hypoxic heart rate response (HHRR) with end-tidal CO2 (PetCO2) held constant (isocapnia) or allowed to decrease with hypoxic hyperventilation (poikilocapnia). We also quantified the contribution of CO2 on ventilation and heart rate by calculating the differences of isocapnic versus poikilocapnic hypoxic conditions (Δ V˙I/ΔPetCO2 and ΔHR/ΔPetCO2, respectively).ResultsMale Tibetans had lower [Hb] compared to Han Chinese males (p < 0.05), consistent with reports for individuals from these populations living at high altitude and sea level. Measurements of ventilation (resting ventilation, HVR, and PetCO2) were similar for both groups. Heart rate responses to hypoxia were similar in both groups during isocapnia; however, HHRR in poikilocapnia was reduced in the Tibetan group (p < 0.03), and the heart rate response to CO2 in hypoxia was lower in Tibetans relative to Han Chinese (p < 0.01).ConclusionThese results suggest that Tibetans living at intermediate altitude have blunted cardiac responses in the context of hypoxia. Hence, only some of the phenotypes observed in Tibetans living at high altitude are observed in Tibetans living at intermediate altitude. Whereas blunted cardiac responses to hypoxia is revealed at intermediate altitudes, manifestation of other physiological adaptations to high altitude may require exposure to more severe levels of hypoxia.

Abstract Background Wild edible plants (WEPs) play a crucial role in communities with limited communication with the outside world, where unstable factors, such as poor food supply and insufficient access to timely nutritional supplementation, are common, as in the Himalayan region. To document the traditional knowledge of WEPs and explore their significance for communities with minimal global economic exchange, an ethnobotanical study was conducted in the town of Rongjia, which lies in a narrow valley near Mount Everest, Tibet, China. Methods This ethnobotanical study was conducted in three villages in the Rongjia River Valley between August 2021 and June 2023. Semi-structured interviews and participatory observations were used to collect information on WEPs. The fieldwork was performed with the assistance of local guides. Voucher specimens were collected from each documented plant species for taxonomic identification. We used the use report (UR) and relative frequency of citations (RFC) to evaluate the comprehensive utilization value of WEPs. Results We interviewed 161 informants who provided us with 2499 use reports. We collected 50 WEPs belonging to 28 families and 42 genera used by the Tibetan people in the Rongjia River Valley. WEPs are used in vegetables, fruits, seasonings, healthcare foods, substitute grains, and beverages. Wild vegetables were the most commonly used, followed by wild fruits. Leaves were the most commonly consumed part of the plant. The three most important WEPs ordered by RFC values were Rosa sericea var. glandulosa Osmaston (RFC = 0.76), Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. (RFC = 0.75), and Urtica hyperborea Jacquem. ex Wedd. (RFC = 0.71). Other than that, we also document some of WEPs used in the past. Arisaema erubescens Schott, Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Makino, and Satyrium nepalense var. ciliatum (Lindl.) Hook. f. used to serve as important substitute grains, are no longer in use, however, they remain vivid in the memories of older people. Conclusions WEPs included wild vegetables, fruits, seasonings, healthcare food, and substitute grains for Tibetan people in the Rongjia River Valley. Some WEPs have become important cultural symbols for older people, which can help in understanding the relationship between plants and local people in the past. In addition, WEPs can increase the resilience of local people living in remote areas when facing sudden destabilizing events in future. This is the significance of WEPs for communities with minimal global economic exchange. Therefore, we suggest that future studies focus more on WEPs in communities with limited communication with the world to improve their resilience.

Abstract Background Domestication and introduction of dairy animals facilitated the permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau. Yet the history of dairy pastoralism in the Tibetan Plateau remains poorly understood. Little is known how Tibetans adapted to milk and dairy products. Results We integrated archeological evidence and genetic analysis to show the picture that the dairy ruminants, together with dogs, were introduced from West Eurasia into the Tibetan Plateau since ~ 3600 years ago. The genetic admixture between the exotic and indigenous dogs enriched the candidate lactase persistence (LP) allele 10974A > G of West Eurasian origin in Tibetan dogs. In vitro experiments demonstrate that − 13838G > A functions as a LP allele in Tibetans. Unlike multiple LP alleles presenting selective signatures in West Eurasians and South Asians, the de novo origin of Tibetan-specific LP allele − 13838G > A with low frequency (~ 6–7%) and absence of selection corresponds − 13910C > T in pastoralists across eastern Eurasia steppe. Conclusions Results depict a novel scenario of genetic and cultural adaptations to diet and expand current understanding of the establishment of dairy pastoralism in the Tibetan Plateau.

The verbs གསོལ་ gsol `request' and གནང་ gnaṅ `agree, grant', because of theircomplementary semantics and parallel syntax, provide a convenient windowthrough which to caste light on the two forms of subordinate clausesthat they both govern, namely infinitives and terminative verbal nouns.

Abstract Introduction Metabolomic signatures of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Tibetan Chinese population, a group with high diabetes burden, remain largely unclear. Identifying the serum metabolite profile of Tibetan T2DM (T-T2DM) individuals may provide novel insights into early T2DM diagnosis and intervention. Methods Hence, we conducted untargeted metabolomics analysis of plasma samples from a retrospective cohort study with 100 healthy controls and 100 T-T2DM patients by using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results The T-T2DM group had significant metabolic alterations that are distinct from known diabetes risk indicators, such as body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin levels. The optimal metabolite panels for predicting T-T2DM were selected using a tenfold cross-validation random forest classification model. Compared with the clinical features, the metabolite prediction model provided a better predictive value. We also analyzed the correlation of metabolites with clinical indices and found 10 metabolites that were independently predictive of T-T2DM. Conclusion By using the metabolites identified in this study, we may provide stable and accurate biomarkers for early T-T2DM warning and diagnosis. Our study also provides a rich and open-access data resource for optimizing T-T2DM management.

Background: Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) deficiency is a rare cause of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA). The incidence of this condition varies based on region and ethnicity. In the early stages, patients typically do not exhibit any symptoms, and HPA is identified only through newborn screening for diseases. It is important to distinguish BH4 deficiency from phenylketonuria (PKU, MIM # 261600). Timely diagnosis and treatment of BH4 deficiency are crucial for the prognosis of patients. Case presentation: We present two rare cases of Chinese Tibetan children with BH4D, diagnosed through biochemical tests and genetic sequencing. Case 1 is a male infant, 2 months old, with a newborn screening (NBS) Phe level of 1212 μmol/L (reference range T (p.Pro87Ser), rs104894276, ClinVar variation ID: 480]. The patient was treated with a Phe-reduced diet and oral sapropterin, madopar and is currently 3 years and 4 months old, showing mild global developmental delay. Case 2 is a 40-day-old female infant with a Phe level of 2442.11 μmol/L and dihydropteridine reductase (DHPR) activity of 0.84 nmol/(min. 5 mm disc) (reference range: 1.02–3.35 nmol/min.5 mm disc. Gene sequencing revealed a compound heterozygous genotype [NM_000320.3(QDPR): c.68G > A (p.Gly23Asp), rs104893863, ClinVar Variation ID: 490] and [NM_000320.3(QDPR) c.419C > A (p. Ala140Asp), ClinVar ID: 2444501]. The patient was treated with a Phe-reduced diet and oral madopar, 5-hydroxytryptophan. At the age of 1 year, she exhibited severe global developmental delay with seizures. Conclusion: We identified and treated two cases of BH4D in Tibetan populations in China, marking the first confirmed instances. Our report emphasizes the significance of conducting differential diagnosis tests for BH4D.

Purpose: We sought to identify distinct risk factors for hyperuricemia in native Tibetan and immigrant Han populations in Tibet, China. Methods: Three cohorts of male participants aged between 20 and 40 years were enrolled in this study. Biochemical parameters including serum uric acid (UA), fasting plasma glucose, insulin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), thyroxin, blood cell count, aminotransferase, and lipid profiles were analyzed. The association of risk factors with UA levels was evaluated using a multivariable line regression model. The effect of UA level on the biochemical parameters between the Hans and Tibetans was evaluated by two-way ANOVA. Results: The prevalence of hyperuricemia (=420 mmol/L) was 24.8% (62/250) in the Hans, similar to 23.8% (29/136) in the Tibetans. In the regression analysis, the risk factors that were significantly associated with UA in Hans did not apply to Tibetans. Tibetans had higher fasting insulin (P<0.05) and LDH (P<0.01) levels, in contrast with lower levels of triglycerides (P<0.05), total cholesterol (P<0.01), and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (P<0.01) than Hans in normal UA populations. Biochemistry analysis revealed lower albumin levels (P<0.001) and higher levels of all aminotransaminase and especially alkaline phosphatase (P<0.01) in Tibetans than in Hans in both populations. Compared with Hans, Tibetans had lower serum levels of urea, creatinine, and electrolytes in the normal UA population, which were further exacerbated in the high UA population. Tibetans had comparable white blood cell counts as Hans in both normal and high UA populations. In contrast, the red blood cell count and hemoglobin concentration were much lower in Tibetans than in Hans under high UA conditions. Conclusions: The distinctive biochemistry between Tibetans and Hans may underlie the different etiologies of hyperuricemia in Tibet, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Qinghai--Tibet Plateau is one of the last terrestrial environments conquered by modern humans. Tibetans are among the few high-altitude settlers in the world, and understanding the genetic profile of Tibetans plays a pivotal role in studies of anthropology, genetics, and archaeology. Methods: In this study, we investigated the maternal genetic landscape of Tibetans based on the whole mitochondrial genome collected from 145 unrelated native Lhasa Tibetans. Molecular diversity indices, haplotype diversity (HD), Tajima's D and Fu's Fs were calculated and the Bayesian Skyline Plot was obtained to determining the genetic profile and population fluctuation of Lhasa Tibetans. To further explore the genetic structure of Lhasa Tibetans, we collected 107 East Asian reference populations to perform principal component analysis (PCA), multidimensional scaling (MDS), calculated Fst values and constructed phylogenetic tree. Results: The maternal genetic landscape of Tibetans showed obvious East Asian characteristics, M9a (28.28%), R (11.03%), F1 (12.41%), D4 (9.66%), N (6.21%), and M62 (4.14%) were the dominant haplogroups. The results of PCA, MDS, Fst and phylogenetic tree were consistent: Lhasa Tibetans clustered with other highland Tibeto-Burman speakers, there was obvious genetic homogeneity of Tibetans in Xizang, and genetic similarity between Tibetans and northern Han people and geographically adjacent populations was found. In addition, specific maternal lineages of Tibetans also be determined in this study. Discussion: In general, this study further shed light on long-time matrilineal continuity on the Tibetan Plateau and the genetic connection between Tibetans and millet famers in the Yellow River Basin, and further revealed that multiple waves of population interaction and admixture during different historical periods between lowland and highland populations shaped the maternal genetic profile of Tibetans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explore the correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and execution function (EF) of Chinese Tibetan adolescents at high altitude (HA) areas. A cross-sectional survey was used to study 1138 participants aged 13–18 (47.72% boys) at baseline. Lhasa (3650 m), Nagqu (4500 m), Qamdo (3500 m), and Nyingchi (3100 m) in China were chosen. CRF was measured by the 20 m shuttle run test (20mSRT) and a subsequent estimation of their maximal oxygen consumption (V ̇ O 2max) was calculated using the Léger equations. The three core EFs (inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were tested by a modified Eriksen flanker, N-back, and a more-odd shifting. The association between CRF and EF was explored by Pearson correlation, one-way ANOVA, and stratified regression. The reaction time (RT) of 1-back, cognitive flexibility with V ̇ O 2max showed a declining trend, (F = 34.475, 27.498, P < 0.01). Interestingly, 2-back RT went up and then went down with V ̇ O 2max. (F = 29.55, P < 0.01). After increasing V ̇ O 2max as a variable, a stratified regression analysis with the RT for 1-back, 2-back, and cognitive flexibility showed that Δ R 2 equaled 0.107 ms, 0.071 ms, and 0.091 ms, respectively (P < 0.01). With V ̇ O 2max increased by 1 mL/kg/min, the RT of 1-back, 2-back, and cognitive flexibility shortened 14.697 ms, 15.689 ms, and 11.771 ms, respectively. CRF was positively associated with working memory, and cognitive flexibility development among Chinese Tibetan adolescents living at HA areas, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Domestication and introduction of dairy animals facilitated the permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau. Yet the history of dairy pastoralism in the Tibetan Plateau remains poorly understood. Little is known how Tibetans adapted to milk and dairy products. Results: We integrated archeological evidence and genetic analysis to show the picture that the dairy ruminants, together with dogs, were introduced from West Eurasia into the Tibetan Plateau since ~ 3600 years ago. The genetic admixture between the exotic and indigenous dogs enriched the candidate lactase persistence (LP) allele 10974A > G of West Eurasian origin in Tibetan dogs. In vitro experiments demonstrate that − 13838G > A functions as a LP allele in Tibetans. Unlike multiple LP alleles presenting selective signatures in West Eurasians and South Asians, the de novo origin of Tibetan-specific LP allele − 13838G > A with low frequency (~ 6–7%) and absence of selection corresponds − 13910C > T in pastoralists across eastern Eurasia steppe. Conclusions: Results depict a novel scenario of genetic and cultural adaptations to diet and expand current understanding of the establishment of dairy pastoralism in the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tibetan Plateau is populated by diverse ethnic groups, but most of them are underrepresented in genomics studies compared with the Tibetans (TIB). Here, to gain further insight into the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of the people living in the Tibetan Plateau, we sequenced 54 whole genomes of the Deng people with high coverage (30–60×) and analyzed the data together with that of TIB and Sherpas, as well as 968 ancient Asian genomes and available archaic and modern human data. We identified 17.74 million novel single-nucleotide variants from the newly sequenced genomes, although the Deng people showed reduced genomic diversity and a relatively small effective population size. Compared with the other Tibetan highlander groups which are highly admixed, the Deng people are dominated by a sole ancestry that could be traced to some ancient northern East Asian populations. The divergence between Deng and Tibetan people (∼4,700–7,200 years) was more recent than that between highlanders and the Han Chinese (Deng-HAN, ∼9,000–14,000 years; TIB-HAN, 7,200–10,000 years). Adaptive genetic variants (AGVs) identified in the Deng are only partially shared with those previously reported in the TIB like HLA-DQB1 , whereas others like KLHL12 were not reported in TIB. In contrast, the top candidate genes harboring AGVs as previously identified in TIB, like EPAS1 and EGLN1 , do not show strong positive selection signals in Deng. Interestingly, Deng also showed a different archaic introgression scenario from that observed in the TIB. Our results suggest that convergent adaptation might be prevalent on the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA methylation (DNAm) is one of the major epigenetic mechanisms in humans and is important in diverse cellular processes. The variation of DNAm in the human population is related to both genetic and environmental factors. However, the DNAm profiles have not been investigated in the Chinese population of diverse ethnicities. Here, we performed double-strand bisulfite sequencing (DSBS) for 32 Chinese individuals representing four major ethnic groups including Han Chinese, Tibetan, Zhuang, and Mongolian. We identified a total of 604,649 SNPs and quantified DNAm at more than 14 million CpGs in the population. We found global DNAm-based epigenetic structure is different from the genetic structure of the population, and ethnic difference only partially explains the variation of DNAm. Surprisingly, non-ethnic-specific DNAm variations showed stronger correlation with the global genetic divergence than these ethnic-specific DNAm. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) among these ethnic groups were found around genes in diverse biological processes. Especially, these DMR-genes between Tibetan and non-Tibetans were enriched around high-altitude genes including EPAS1 and EGLN1, suggesting DNAm alteration plays an important role in high-altitude adaptation. Our results provide the first batch of epigenetic maps for Chinese populations and the first evidence of the association of epigenetic changes with Tibetans' high-altitude adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To explore the influence of altitude on the bone growth and development of children and adolescents. Methods From September 2013 to December 2021, children and adolescents with normal development were included from the following regions with three different altitudes:Beijing (Peking Union Medical College Hospital) at 43.5 m above sea level, Lhasa (People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region) at 3 650 m, and Nagqu (People's Hospital of Nagqu and People's Hospital of Nima County) over 4 500 m. Their demographic information and left wrist radiographs were retrospectively analyzed. Assisted by an artificial intelligence bone age (BA) software, a radiologist with 10 years of BA experience interpreted the BA using the Greulich-Pyle method. The differences between BA and chronological age (CA) in different age groups among different altitudes were calculated and statistically analyzed. Results A total of 1 013 participants (671 boys and 342 girls) consisting of 407 Han from Beijing, 456 Tibetan from Lhasa and 150 Tibetan from Nagqu were included. Generally, the BA of children and adolescents in Beijing conformed to the CA, while the average BA of Tibetan children in Lhasa and Naqu lagged behind the CA by 0.50 and 1.33 years, respectively. Compared with those in Beijing, the BA of most age groups (7-18 years old) of Tibetan boys and girls lagged further behind the CA with the increase of altitude. Conclusions The BA of Tibetan children in plateau area lags behind their CA and the gap becomes larger with the increase of altitude.

Abstract Background Tibetans are genetically adapted to high-altitude environments. Though many studies have been conducted, the genetic basis of the adaptation remains elusive due to the poor reproducibility for detecting selective signatures in the Tibetan genomes. Results Here, we present whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data of 1001 indigenous Tibetans, covering the major populated areas of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau in China. We identify 35 million variants, and more than one-third of them are novel variants. Utilizing the large-scale WGS data, we construct a comprehensive map of allele frequency and linkage disequilibrium and provide a population-specific genome reference panel, referred to as 1KTGP. Moreover, with the use of a combined approach, we redefine the signatures of Darwinian-positive selection in the Tibetan genomes, and we characterize a high-confidence list of 4320 variants and 192 genes that have undergone selection in Tibetans. In particular, we discover four new genes, TMEM132C, ATP13A3, SANBR, and KHDRBS2, with strong signals of selection, and they may account for the adaptation of cardio-pulmonary functions in Tibetans. Functional annotation and enrichment analysis indicate that the 192 genes with selective signatures are likely involved in multiple organs and physiological systems, suggesting polygenic and pleiotropic effects. Conclusions Overall, the large-scale Tibetan WGS data and the identified adaptive variants/genes can serve as a valuable resource for future genetic and medical studies of high-altitude populations.

BackgroundWestern China has undergone substantial sociodemographic change, yet little is known about the health status of ethnic minority populations living in these areas.MethodsWe report findings from two cross-sectional surveys conducted with female Tibetan nomads living in rural areas of Western China/Eastern Tibet. We present results of descriptive analyses of data collected from reproductive-aged females who attended community health fairs in 2014 (n = 193) and 2016 (n = 298).ResultsOn average, sexual debut preceded marriage among study participants, with fertility near replacement levels (2.7 and 2.1 in 2014 and 2016, respectively). Contraceptive use was common, and dominated by use of IUDs and female sterilization. Although over three-quarters (76%) of 2016 survey participants reported ever having at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptom, there was low awareness of STIs (59%) and action to prevent STIs (21%). Younger women (

Sentence Boundary Disambiguation (SBD) is crucial for building datasets for tasks such as machine translation, syntactic analysis, and semantic analysis. Currently, most automatic sentence segmentation in Tibetan adopts the methods of rule-based and statistical learning, as well as the combination of the two, which have high requirements on the corpus and the linguistic foundation of the researchers and are more costly to annotate manually. In this study, we explore Tibetan SBD using deep learning technology. Initially, we analyze Tibetan characteristics and various subword techniques, selecting Byte Pair Encoding (BPE) and Sentencepiece (SP) for text segmentation and training the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) pre-trained language model. Secondly, we studied the Tibetan SBD based on different BERT pre-trained language models, which mainly learns the ambiguity of the shad (“།”) in different positions in modern Tibetan texts and determines through the model whether the shad (“།”) in the texts has the function of segmenting sentences. Meanwhile, this study introduces four models, BERT-CNN, BERT-RNN, BERT-RCNN, and BERT-DPCNN, based on the BERT model for performance comparison. Finally, to verify the performance of the pre-trained language models on the SBD task, this study conducts SBD experiments on both the publicly available Tibetan pre-trained language model TiBERT and the multilingual pre-trained language model (Multi-BERT). The experimental results show that the F1 score of the BERT (BPE) model trained in this study reaches 95.32% on 465,669 Tibetan sentences, nearly five percentage points higher than BERT (SP) and Multi-BERT. The SBD method based on pre-trained language models in this study lays the foundation for establishing datasets for the later tasks of Tibetan pre-training, summary extraction, and machine translation.

ObjectiveThis study aims to review the blood routine and biochemical indicators of the plateau population for three consecutive years, and analyze the impact of the plateau on these blood indicators of the Tibetan population and the Han immigrant population.MethodThese parameters were extracted from the Laboratory Department of Ali District People’s Hospital in Tibet from January 2019 to December 2021, including blood routine, liver and kidney function, blood lipids, myocardial enzyme spectrum, and rheumatic factor indicators. Changes in these parameters were analyzed over 3 consecutive years according to inclusion and exclusion criteria.ResultA total of 114 Tibetans and 93 Hans participated in the study. These parameters were significantly different between Tibetan and Han populations. Red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), mean hemoglobin content (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes (LYMPH) and monocytes (MONO) were significantly higher in Hans than Tibetans (p

Objective To explore; the relationship between bone; mineral density (Bone; Mineral Density, BMD) anel blooel lipiel inele;xe;s anel different types erf elyslipieiemia in Tibe;tan population at high altituele; in Tibe;t. Methods Using the; me;thoel erf multi-stage; stratifie;el random sampling, 648 Tibe;tan rcsielcnts were; randomly sclentcel from lour high - altituele; enunties in Tibe;t. The; subjects were; elivielcel intei four groups aenoreling to the; type; erf'elyslipieiemia, inelueling one; normal blooel lipiel group (normal centred group) anel three; elyslipieiemia groups; hypercholesterolemia (Total Cholesterol, TC) group, hypcrtriglyenrieicmia (Triglyccrieie;, TG) group anel mixeel hypcrlipielcmia group. The; differences erf the; mean values of BMD in each group were; compared. Using Spe;arman rank sum test to analyze; the; correlation between blooel lipiel inele;x anel BMD in each group. Results The; results shewed that the; mean le;ve;l erf BMD in the; mixeel hypcrlipielcmia gremp was higher than that in the; newmal control group (P < 0. 001). The; mean le;ve;l erf BMD in mixe;el hyperlipidemia group wets higher than that in hypcrchedcstcrolemia group (P <0. 001). The; mean le;ve;l erf BMD in the; hypcrtriglyenrieicmia group was higher than that in the; normal control group (P = 0. 045). TC (rs = 0. 120, P = 0. 012), TG (rs = 0. 266, P < 0. 001) anel LDL - C (rs = 0. 223, P <0. 001) were; positively correlated with BMD, while; HDL - C (rs = -0. 222, P < 0. 001) was negatively correlate*! with BMD. Conclusion In the; Tibe;tan population at high altituele; in this stuely, the; levels erf blooel lipiel inele;xe;s TC anel HDL - C are; higher than the; average; levels of TC anel HDL - C erf elomestie; aelidts. The; changes of TC, TG anel LDL - C are; pesitivedy enrredatexi with BMD, while; HDL - C anel BMD are; negatively correlate*!. This correlation may be; relate*! to local uniepte; eating habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and change in the other-race effect (ORE) in different age groups have always been a focus of researchers. Previous studies have mainly focused on the influence of maturity of life (from infancy to early adulthood) on the ORE, while few researchers have explored the ORE in older people. Therefore, this study used behavioral and eye movement techniques to explore the influence of age on the ORE and the visual scanning pattern of Han subjects recognizing own- and other-ethnicity faces. All participants were asked to complete a study-recognition task for faces, and the behavioral results showed that the ORE of elderly Han subjects was significantly lower than that of young Han subjects. The results of eye movement showed that there were significant differences in the visual scanning pattern of young subjects in recognizing the faces of individuals of their own ethnicity and other ethnicities, which were mainly reflected in the differences in looking at the nose and mouth, while the differences were reduced in the elderly subjects. The elderly subjects used similar scanning patterns to recognize the own- and other-ethnicity faces. This indicates that as age increases, the ORE of older people in recognizing faces of those from different ethnic groups becomes weaker, and elderly subjects have more similar visual scanning patterns in recognizing faces of their own and other ethnicities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To determine the characteristics of Tibetan patients with orthodontic treatment in Shangri-la of Diqing prefecture, and provide scientific evidence for dentists. Methods 249 Tibetan orthodontic patients （90 males and 136 females） between the ages of 12-20 were selected in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture People’s Hospital. By analyzing and evaluating case data, information on gender, age, oral health status, bad habits, Angle’s classification, clinical presentation classification, and reasons for seeking treatment were organized and recorded. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS 25.0 software. Results The results showed that among the Tibetan orthodontic patients who sought treatment, females aged 11 to 18 were the majority. The highest occurrence of dental caries was observed in oral health. Mouth breathing was the most common bad habit. Angle’s Class I malocclusion was the most common, while Class III was the least common. The most common clinical presentations were crowded teeth, deep overbite, and deep overjet. The main reasons for seeking treatment were aesthetic requirements and parental demands. There was no statistically significant difference between males and females （P > 0.05）. Conclusions There was a certain characteristic in Tibetan patients with orthodontic treatment in Shangri-la of Diqin prefecture. Dentists can take this as scientific evidence to obtain better therapeutic effects, in addition, it is necessary to increase the intensity of oral health publicity and education and input of medical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Metabolomic signatures of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Tibetan Chinese population, a group with high diabetes burden, remain largely unclear. Identifying the serum metabolite profile of Tibetan T2DM (T-T2DM) individuals may provide novel insights into early T2DM diagnosis and intervention. Methods: Hence, we conducted untargeted metabolomics analysis of plasma samples from a retrospective cohort study with 100 healthy controls and 100 T-T2DM patients by using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results: The T-T2DM group had significant metabolic alterations that are distinct from known diabetes risk indicators, such as body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin levels. The optimal metabolite panels for predicting T-T2DM were selected using a tenfold cross-validation random forest classification model. Compared with the clinical features, the metabolite prediction model provided a better predictive value. We also analyzed the correlation of metabolites with clinical indices and found 10 metabolites that were independently predictive of T-T2DM. Conclusion: By using the metabolites identified in this study, we may provide stable and accurate biomarkers for early T-T2DM warning and diagnosis. Our study also provides a rich and open-access data resource for optimizing T-T2DM management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State schooling is currently transforming Tibetans' perceptions and everyday experiences in Western China. Based on interviews with rural Tibetan parents and grandparents, and using subjectification as an analytical concept, this paper argues that schooling, alongside socio-economic changes, powerfully shapes the subjectivities of Tibetan parents and grandparents. Against their own sense of exclusion due to lack of schooling, they justified their support of schooling with recourse to promises of state schooling for their children to 'be included among the people' through social mobility. Set in the context of the School Consolidation Policy(SCP), this study illustrates the 'double directionality' of this subjectification process where participants were made into as well as becoming certain kinds of subjects through navigations of their social arena. Trivialising the SCP's challenging implications observed around rural China, participants supported schooling for the perceived better quality education under the SCP. Meanwhile, they were making contingent negotiations to ensure children learn Tibetan culture and language through school education as well as other mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the expression and its significance of H3K27me3 in Tibetan patients with gastric cancer. Methods Clinical and pathological data were retrospectively collected from Tibetan patients with gastric cancer in the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital from August 2019 to August 2021 and Tibetan non-gastric cancer patients during the same period. The expression of H3K27me3 in gastric cancer tissues, corresponding adjacent normal gastric mucosa and normal gastric mucosa of Tibetan patients with non-gastric cancer tissues was detected by immunohistochemical method, and the differences of H3K27me3 expression between gastric cancer patients with different clinical and pathological characteristics was compared. Results A total of 54 Tibetan gastric cancer patients and 55 Tibetan non-gastric cancer patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled. H3K27me3 was localized in the nucleus, and the nucleus showed brownish-yellow granular staining when positively expressed. The high expression rate of H3K27me3 in gastric cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal gastric mucosa tissue[64.8%(35/54) vs. 29.6%(16/54), P < 0.001]and normal gastric mucosal tissue of Tibetan patients with non-gastric cancer[64.8%(35/54) vs. 34.5%(19/55), P=0.002], and the high expression rate of H3K27me3 in the adjacent normal gastric mucosa tissue was not significantly different from that in normal gastric mucosal tissue of Tibetan patients with non-gastric cancer(P=0.683). H3K27me3 expression in gastric cancer tissues was not related to gender, age, degree of differentiation, depth of invasion, maximum tumor size, Lauren's classification, lymph node metastasis, vascular and nerve invasion and TNM stage. Conclusions H3K27me3 is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues of Tibetan people in Tibet. There is no significant difference in H3K27me3 positive expression cells in adjacent tissues and normal gastric mucosa. The significance of H3K27me3 in Tibetan patients with gastric cancer is uncertain and requires further investigations.

Abstract Background Gyirong Valley known as the “Back Garden of the Himalayas” is located in the core area of the Everest National Nature Reserve. It is also one of the important ports from ancient Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal, since ancient times. Over the years, the Tibetans of Gyirong had accumulated sufficient traditional knowledge about local plant resources. However, there is almost no comprehensive report available on ethnobotanical knowledge about the local people. The purposes of this study were to (1) conduct a comprehensive study of wild plants used by Tibetan people in Gyirong Valley and record the traditional knowledge associated with wild useful plants, (2) explore the influence of Tibetan traditional culture and economic development on the use of wild plants by local people, and (3) explore the characteristics of traditional knowledge about wild plants of Tibetans in Gyirong. Methods Ethnobotanical data were documented through free listings, key informant interviews and semi-structured interviews during fieldwork. The culture importance index and the informant consensus factor index were used as quantitative indices. Results In total, 120 informants (61 women and 59 men) and 3333 use reports and 111 wild plant species belonging to 39 families and 81 genera were included. These use reports were then classified into 27 categories belonging to three major categories. The use category that contained the most plant species was edible plants (62), followed by medicinal plants (32) and economic plants (22), and other uses (71). Plants with high CI included Allium prattii, Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora, Gymnadenia orchidis, Rhododendron anthopogon and Fritillaria cirrhosa. Thirty-six species of plants in the catalog of Gyirong and Yadong were the same, but only 17 species were the same in Gyirong and Burang. There were only 11 overlapping species between all the three regions. Conclusion Tibetans of Gyirong have rich and unique knowledge about plant use, and wild edible and medicinal plants play an important role in the nutrition and health protection of local people. However, traditional knowledge is slowly being lost and is being hit by modern tourism. In the future, more attention needs to be paid to the important role of traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation.

The paper examines to what extent expressing information sources with a fully grammaticalized evidential system or with lexical means may have a different pragmatic impact in conversation. A contrastive corpus of Tibetan (TSC) and English (CSC/LAC) allows me to investigate several dimensions: frequency, semantic schematicity, optionality, economy, and information hierarchy. The data from the contrastive corpus indicate that Tibetan evidentials are on average 6.7 times more frequent than English evidentials. Tibetan evidentials are also functionally more schematic, since English evidentials usually contain more semantic features. This compels English speakers to be more specific when referring to their information sources. Grammatical evidential systems may be less optional than lexical systems, but the degree of optionality differs depending on the linguistic level. The morpho-syntactic obligatoriness of many Tibetan evidentials may indeed be compensated by the availability of evidentially neutral forms in the same paradigm. However, evidentiality seems to be pragmatically less optional in Tibetan than in English. Tibetan evidentials are also more economical on a morpho-phonetic, syntactic, and cognitive level. Finally, all these parameters influence the informational status of evidentials. Because they are more frequent, schematic, obligatory, and economical, Tibetan evidentials appear more backgrounded. • Tibetan evidentials are on average 6.7 times more frequent than English evidentials. • Tibetan evidentials are semantically more schematic than English evidentials. • Tibetan evidentials are pragmatically more optional than English evidentials. • Tibetan evidentials are more economical than English evidentials. • Tibetan evidentials tend to be more backgrounded than English evidentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the heretofore unacknowledged similarity of mirative-like and contrastive-focus-like functions by describing data from Denjongke (Tibetic, sip), Bih (Chamic, Vietnam, ibh) and Nepali (Indo-Aryan, nep). The similarity between mirative-like and contrastive-focus-like functions in the aforementioned languages is captured by the notion of something being brought to the forefront of attention. Mirative-like semantics are shown to be epiphenomenal to attention-oriented phenomena, and the functional domain in which the morphemes operate is shown to be attention rather than knowledge structure. The morphemes in the study are described in terms of three parameters, which are put forward as potentially useful tools for describing similar morphemes in other languages: speaker versus addressee orientation, clausal versus phrasal scope, and anaphoric versus cataphoric use. The first two parameters form a fourfold table in which the heuristically named "mirative-like function" has clausal scope and is speaker-oriented (i.e. speaker signals that something has come to the forefront of their attention). "Contrastive-focus-like function", on the other hand, has phrasal scope and is addressee-oriented (i.e. speaker intends to bring something to the forefront of the addressee's attention). Cognitively, contrastive-focus-like function is shown to establish joint attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the linguistic landscape (LL) of a multi-ethnolinguistic city in China, namely Shangri-La City, where Tibetan, Han (Mandarin Chinese), English and several other minority languages are used. As one of the most well-known Chinese tourist cities by Western travellers, a city with rapid socioeconomic development, and a city that issued a signage policy recently, the LL of Shangri-La is affected by multiple factors (e.g. tourism, globalisation, language policy). In light of this, the study purposefully examines the LL of four different functional areas of the city, including a local community, a central administrative street, a tourist spot and a commercial street, to demonstrate different factors and their degree of influence on local LL. Data includes 1,064 signage photos and 53 interviews with government officials and sign-owners. The findings indicate that although the recent signage policy has increased the presence of Tibetan, it has also re-consolidated the existing linguistic hierarchy and further marginalised other minority languages in the region. The findings also reveal the negative views of local residents on the abuse of Tibetan in tourist domains. As such, a critical lens on the commodification of minority languages in tourism is proposed in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundant research supports the benefits of participating in mindfulness meditation training programs including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. However, these well researched programs include a narrow range of meditation practices and research to date has minimally examined how home practice associates with favorable outcomes. The present study evaluated the 3 Doors Compassion Project (3DCP), a structured 9-months meditation program that teaches Tibetan Mind-Body practices and examined how frequency and duration of home practice associated with favorable outcomes. Twenty-seven medical and mental healthcare professionals completed assessments prior to, during, and following participation in the 3DCP program and recorded daily meditation practices. Study aims were to test general effectiveness of the 3DCP program and to test the hypotheses that frequency and duration of meditation home-practice would associate with improvements on mindfulness, stress, and depression. General linear mixed modeling demonstrated significant improvements throughout the duration of the 3DCP program for mindfulness, depression (p <.001) and stress (p <.05), with each variable evidencing incremental monthly improvements. Frequency of meditation (i.e., days practiced per month), but not time (i.e., minutes per month) was significantly associated with improvements throughout the 3DCP program. Results provide support for the benefits of the 3DCP while offering clinically useful information that can inform current guidelines for meditation home practice. As predicted, the 3DCP was associated with significant improvements on all outcomes. Favorable outcomes were linked to frequency, but not total time of meditation practice, which suggests that consistent meditation may be more helpful than extended meditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To explore the influence of altitude on the bone growth and development of children and adolescents. Methods From September 2013 to December 2021, children and adolescents with normal development were included from the following regions with three different altitudes:Beijing (Peking Union Medical College Hospital) at 43.5 m above sea level, Lhasa (People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region) at 3 650 m, and Nagqu (People's Hospital of Nagqu and People's Hospital of Nima County) over 4 500 m. Their demographic information and left wrist radiographs were retrospectively analyzed. Assisted by an artificial intelligence bone age (BA) software, a radiologist with 10 years of BA experience interpreted the BA using the Greulich-Pyle method. The differences between BA and chronological age (CA) in different age groups among different altitudes were calculated and statistically analyzed. Results A total of 1 013 participants (671 boys and 342 girls) consisting of 407 Han from Beijing, 456 Tibetan from Lhasa and 150 Tibetan from Nagqu were included. Generally, the BA of children and adolescents in Beijing conformed to the CA, while the average BA of Tibetan children in Lhasa and Naqu lagged behind the CA by 0.50 and 1.33 years, respectively. Compared with those in Beijing, the BA of most age groups (7-18 years old) of Tibetan boys and girls lagged further behind the CA with the increase of altitude. Conclusions The BA of Tibetan children in plateau area lags behind their CA and the gap becomes larger with the increase of altitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Hypertension is a major risk factor for coronary, cerebrovascular, and the greatest cause of stroke. Half of stroke events are the result of cerebrovascular atherosclerosis, including carotid plaques. It is of major importance to detect which plaques are vulnerable, even though not yet ruptured. Due to the particularity of the Tibetan population, this study evaluated the elasticity of asymptomatic carotid plaques in Tibetan hypertension patients using shear wave elastography (SWE) and explored associated risk factors. Methods: A total of 91 Tibetan patients were divided into normotension, grade 1-2, and grade 3 hypertension groups based on the level of blood pressure. All subjects underwent common duplex ultrasonic examination and SWE evaluation for carotid plaques. Elasticity of carotid plaque was assessed by Young's modulus. Results: The final analysis included 126 plaques as representative plaques according to Total Plaque Risk Score. Themean and maximum Young's modulus in the grade 3 hypertension group were smaller, and more plaques with irregularity surface compared with the other two groups (p < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed drinking butter tea (β = -0.220, p = 0.009; ß =-0.240, p = 0.004, respectively) was the independent factor associated withmean and maximumYoung's modulus. Conclusions: SWE is feasible for measurement of Young's modulus of carotid plaques. Plaques in the grade 3 hypertension group were more likely to become vulnerable ones. In hypertension Tibetan patients, drinking butter tea was an independent factor associated with mean and maximum Young's modulus of asymptomatic carotid plaque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic activities, such as grazing and fencing, have been known to alter the productivity and biodiversity of grassland ecosystems, potentially affecting their functioning. However, the impact of these activities on aboveground biomass (AGB) and plant diversity in alpine grasslands at different altitudes, as well as how they may be affected by soil nutrients and environmental climate, is not well understood. To address this knowledge gap, a study was conducted in the Lhasa Valley of Tibet. In 2013, twelve metal fences were set up at mountainous transects, and field surveys were conducted at twelve paired sites in early August 2021. The results of the study showed that AGB was slightly higher in fenced sites compared to grazed sites at altitudes from 4000 to 5100 m, but decreased with altitude at a slower rate in grazed sites. Plant diversity indices exhibited a unimodal pattern with increasing altitude, with no significant differences between fenced and grazed sites. Soil nutrients and environmental climate were found to be positively correlated with plant diversity indices and AGB at both fenced and grazed sites. Multiple linear regression models revealed that AGB and the Shannon index were largely influenced by soil nutrients (AP and AN) rather than by growing season soil temperature at fenced sites, while AGB and the Shannon index were more impacted by growing season soil temperature than by soil nutrients at grazed sites. These findings provide important insights into the impacts of grazing and fencing on above-ground biomass and plant diversity in mountainous environments.

EGLN1 encodes the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway prolyl hydroxylase 2 (PHD2) that serves as an oxygen-sensitive regulator of HIF activity. The EGLN1 locus exhibits a signature of positive selection in Tibetan and Andean populations and is associated with hemoglobin concentration in Tibetans. Recent reports provide evidence for functional roles of protein-coding variants within the first exon of EGLN1 (rs186996510, rs12097901) that are linked to an adaptive signal in Tibetans, yet whether these same variants are present and contribute to adaptation in Andean highlanders is unknown. We determined the frequencies of these adaptive Tibetan alleles in Quechua Andeans resident at high altitude (4,350 m) in addition to individuals of Nepali ancestry resident at sea level. The rs186996510 C (minor) allele previously found at high frequency in Tibetans is absent in Andean (G: 100%) and rare among Nepali (C: 11.8%, G: 88.2%) cohorts. The minor G allele of rs12097901 is found at similarly low frequencies in Andeans (G: 12.7%, C: 87.3%) and Nepalis (G: 23.5%, C: 76.5%) compared to Tibetans. These results suggest that adaptation involving EGLN1 in Andeans involves different mechanisms than those described in Tibetans. The precise Andean adaptive variants remain to be determined.

Lu Tan,1 Taomei Li,1 Lian Luo,1 Xiaofang Xue,2,3 Fei Lei,1 Rong Ren,1 Ye Zhang,1 Jiaming He,2,3 Konrad E Bloch,4 Xiangdong Tang1,5– 7 1Sleep Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Emergency, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefectural People’s Hospital, Shangri-La, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Intensive Care Unit, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefectural People’s Hospital, Shangri-La, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sleep Disorders Center, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 5Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 7State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiangdong Tang, Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 28 Dian Xin Nan Jie, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-28-85422733, Fax +86-28-85422632, Email 2372564613@qq.comPurpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common both at low and high altitude. Since adaptations to high altitude and respiratory control may differ among Tibetans and Hans, we compared characteristics of sleep-disordered breathing in the two ethnic groups at high altitude.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study including 86 Tibetan and Han long-term (> 5 years) high altitude residents with chief complaints of snoring and/or witnessed apnea underwent clinical evaluation and polysomnography at 3200 meters in Shangri-La, China.Results: In 42 Tibetans, 38 men, median (quartiles) age was 50.0 (41.0; 56.0)y, total apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) 53.9 (32.0; 77.5)/h, obstructive AHI 51.0 (28.0; 72.2)/h and central AHI 1.5 (0.2; 3.1)/h. In 44 Hans, 32 men, median (quartiles) age was 47.0 (43.5; 51.0)y, total AHI 22.2 (12.8; 39.2)/h, obstructive AHI 17.7 (12.0; 33.0)/h and central AHI 2.4 (0.5; 3.4)/h (p < 0.001 total and obstructive AHI vs Tibetans). In Tibetans, mean nocturnal oxygen saturation was lower [median 85.0 (83.0; 88.0)% vs 88.5 (87.0; 90.0)%] and obstructive apnea and hypopnea duration was longer [22.0 (19.6; 24.8) sec vs 18.3 (16.7; 20.6) sec] than in Hans (all p < 0.001). In regression analysis, Tibetan ethnicity, neck circumference and high-altitude living duration were the predictors of total AHI. We also found that with every 10/h increase in total AHI, there were an approximately 0.9 beat/min and 0.8 beat/min increase in mean heart rate during rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep and 1.9 mmHg and 2.0 mmHg increase in evening and morning systolic blood pressure.Conclusion: Our data suggest that Tibetans presented more severe obstructive sleep apnea, hypoxemia and longer apnea duration compared to Hans at 3200 meters, which was correlated with higher heart rate and blood pressure suggesting a greater cardiovascular risk.Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, high altitude, Tibetan, long-term Han resident

Despite the ongoing debate on the inconsistent and controversial effects of Tibetan diet on blood lipid levels at high altitude, this cross-sectional study was conducted to analyze the relationship between dietary practices and blood lipid levels among Jiarong Tibetan population. A total of 476 Jiarong Tibetan residents were included, in which basic demographic data, physical activity records, simplified food frequency questionnaire, and biochemical data were collected. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, the potential associations between the variables were examined, and it was found that fat energy supply ratio increased with the elevation of altitude, while the lipid level showed an inverted U-shaped variation. However, the findings suggested that a diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids might balance the effects of the Tibetan diet on the risk of lipid metabolism disorders. Therefore, it is crucial to concentrate on the fat composition rather than the amount of fat E% intake on the plateau. The results highlighted the importance of investigating the interaction between environment and genes in lipid levels among plateau Tibetan population. However, further large-scale prospective studies are required for better understanding of the complexities involved in dietary practices and their influences on blood lipid levels.

This article discusses the implications of a landmark judgement of Delhi High Court on 22 December 2010 which declared that Tibetans born in India between 1959 and 1987 were eligible for Indian citizenship. A majority of Tibetans in India steadfastly refuse to avail of this facility as a mark of patriotism to their fatherland Tibetan. The Tibetan Exile Government's discouragement of Tibetans acquiring Indian citizenship needs to be understood as apprehensions based on erroneous conflation of citizenship with nationality. Drawing from ethnographic interactions with Tibetan Bhutias from Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal, who have always been Indian citizens, as well as Tibetan nomads in Ladakh, I argue that for Tibetans in India the choices of aspiring for citizenship or retaining refugee status are pragmatic, contingent ones as they navigate through bureaucracies, lived realities of their lives in India and their aspirations as Tibetans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]