Rationale: Unprecedented pollution control actions during the Beijing Olympics provided a quasi-experimental opportunity to examine biologic responses to drastic changes in air pollution levels. Objectives: To determine whether changes in levels of biomarkers reflecting pulmonary inflammation and pulmonary and systemic oxidative stress were associated with changes in air pollution levels in healthy young adults. Methods: We measured fractional exhaled nitric oxide, a number of exhaled breath condensate markers (H 1 , nitrite, nitrate, and 8-isoprostane), and urinary 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine in 125 participants twice in each of the pre-(high pollution), during-(low pollution), and post-Olympic (high pollution) periods. We measured concentrations of air pollutants near where the participants lived and worked. We used mixed-effects models to estimate changes in biomarker levels across the three periods and to examine whether changes in biomarker levels were associated with changes in pollutant concentrations, adjusting for meteorologic parameters. Measurements and Main Results: From the pre-to the during-Olympic period, we observed significant and often large decreases (ranging from 24.5% to 272.5%) in levels of all the biomarkers. From the during-Olympic to the post-Olympic period, we observed significant and larger increases (48-360%) in levels of these same biomarkers. Moreover, increased pollutant concentrations were consistently associated with statistically significant increases in biomarker levels. Conclusions: These findings support the important role of oxidative stress and that of pulmonary inflammation in mediating air pollution health effects. The findings demonstrate the utility of novel and noninvasive biomarkers in the general population consisting largely of healthy individuals.Keywords: air pollution; inflammation; oxidative stress; respiratory health; the Beijing Olympics Increased air pollution concentrations have previously been associated with increased cardiorespiratory mortality and morbidity (1-5). However, observational and experimental studies in humans or animals have generated limited and somewhat inconsistent data supporting several postulated pathophysiologic pathways (6-10). One of these is the hypothesis that inhaled pollutants can react rapidly with extracelluar macromolecules or cell constituents in the airway epithelium to generate reactive oxygen or nitrogen species (e.g., free radicals and peroxides), inducing local and systemic oxidative or nitrosative stress and subsequent inflammation (11).Pulmonary inflammation and oxidative stress responses to air pollution have been examined in human studies using several noninvasive biomarkers in exhaled breath and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) (7,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Increased air pollution levels have been associated with increased levels of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FE NO ), reflecting pulmonary inflammation, in children and the elderly (12)(13)(14)(15)(19)(20)(21)(22). Traffic pollution exposure has been associated...

Background: Epidemiologic evidence for a causative association between black carbon (BC) and health outcomes is limited.Objectives: We estimated associations and exposure–response relationships between acute respiratory inflammation in schoolchildren and concentrations of BC and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in ambient air before and during the air pollution intervention for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.Methods: We measured exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) as an acute respiratory inflammation biomarker and hourly mean air pollutant concentrations to estimate BC and PM2.5 exposure. We used 1,581 valid observations of 36 subjects over five visits in 2 years to estimate associations of eNO with BC and PM2.5 according to generalized estimating equations with polynomial distributed-lag models, controlling for body mass index, asthma, temperature, and relative humidity. We also assessed the relative importance of BC and PM2.5 with two-pollutant models.Results: Air pollution concentrations and eNO were clearly lower during the 2008 Olympics. BC and PM2.5 concentrations averaged over 0–24 hr were strongly associated with eNO, which increased by 16.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), 14.1–19.2%] and 18.7% (95% CI, 15.0–22.5%) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in BC (4.0 μg/m3) and PM2.5 (149 μg/m3), respectively. In the two-pollutant model, estimated effects of BC were robust, but associations between PM2.5 and eNO decreased with adjustment for BC. We found that eNO was associated with IQR increases in hourly BC concentrations up to 10 hr after exposure, consistent with effects primarily in the first hours after exposure.Conclusions: Recent exposure to BC was associated with acute respiratory inflammation in schoolchildren in Beijing. Lower air pollution levels during the 2008 Olympics also were associated with reduced eNO.

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The Chinese context is in many ways fundamentally different from other countries where freedom of information laws and regulations are currently implemented. The authors, Suzanne Piotrowski, Yahong Zhang, and Weiwei Lin of Rutgers University – Newark, and Wenxuan Yu of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, identify the primary issues surrounding implementation of China’s new Open Government Information (OGI) regulations and compare the key concerns with those that have emerged in other contexts. The research included a survey of mid‐ and upper‐level Chinese government bureaucrats. The authors compare their findings to an established international framework of freedom of information implementation. The essay concludes that while the Chinese context is unique, the key issues surrounding implementation of the OGI regulations mirror in many ways what is found in other countries.

This meta-analysis provides quantitative evidence that, in children, gas cooking increases the risk of asthma and indoor NO2 increases the risk of current wheeze.

Polyploidy in Gossypium hirsutum conferred different properties from its diploid ancestors under the regulation of transcription factors. The NAC transcription factor is a plant-specific family that can be related to plant growth and development. So far, little is known about the NAC family in cotton. This study identified 495 NAC genes in three cotton species and investigated the evolution and expansion of different genome-derived NAC genes in cotton. We revealed 15 distinct NAC subfamilies in cotton. Different subfamilies had different gene proportions, expansion rate, gene loss rate, and orthologous exchange rate. Paleohexaploidization (35%) and cotton-specific decaploidy (32%) might have primarily led to the expansion of the NAC family in cotton. Half of duplication events in G. hirsutum were inherited from its diploid ancestor, and others might have occurred after interspecific hybridization. In addition, NAC genes in the At and Dt subgenomes displayed asymmetric molecular evolution, as evidenced by their different gene loss rates, orthologous exchange, evolutionary rates, and expression levels. The dominant duplication event was different during the cotton evolutionary history. Different genome-derived NACs might have interacted with each other, which ultimately resulted in morphogenetic evolution. This study delineated the expansion and evolutionary history of the NAC family in cotton and illustrated the different fates of NAC genes during polyploidization.

This study examined the effectiveness of several financial strategies for nonprofit organizations in fighting the Great Recession. Using data from human services and community improvement organizations in the state of New Jersey, we tested hypotheses about the relationships between three measures of financial sustainability and various fundraising efforts and financial indicators. We found that (1) except for strong external funding relationships, funding efforts were generally not effective in enhancing financial sustainability during the crisis; (2) higher operating margin and equity ratio improved an organization's ability to generate revenue and maintain expense levels, but higher debt ratio and administrative cost ratio were generally harmful; and (3) revenue diversification might aggravate fiscal stress and cause more expense cuts in a severe crisis. These findings improve our understanding of the mechanics of nonprofit management during times of harsh fiscal conditions and suggest useful ways for nonprofit organizations to navigate future financial crises.