Global trends in the incidence of psoriasis from 1990 to 2019

Background: The global, regional, and national burden of psoriasis was investigated based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. Objectives: To report the incidence of psoriasis in 204 countries and territories from 21 regions according to age, sex, region, country, and socialdemographic index (SDI) between 1990 and 2019. Materials & Methods: Estimates from the GBD 2019 study were used to analyse the incidence of psoriasis at the global, regional, and national levels. The estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) in the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) were calculated to quantify trends between 1990 and 2019. Results: From 1990 to 2019, the global incidence of psoriasis increased by 26.53%, but the ASIR of psoriasis decreased, with an EAPC of -0.77 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.78 to -0.76). In 2019, the highest ASIRs of psoriasis (112.58 per 100,000 population; 95% uncertainty interval, 108.89 to 116.07) were observed in high-SDI regions. The male-to-female ratio for psoriasis incidence peaked globally in the 50-54-year-old age group and peaked in the 75-79-year-old age group in high-SDI regions. Regionally, Central Sub-Saharan Africa (EAPC, -0.57; 95% CI: -0.67 to -0.48) and Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (EAPC, -0.36; 95% CI, -0.38 to -0.34) had the largest decrease in ASIR of psoriasis from 1990 to 2019. Nationally, increases in the ASIR of psoriasis was observed only in Japan (EAPC, 0.04; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.05). Conclusion: Globally, the incidence of psoriasis showed an increasing trend, but the ASIR of psoriasis decreased significantly from 1990 to 2019. Only Japan showed an unfavourable increasing trend.

Histochemical and ultrastructural observations of respiratory epithelium and gland in yak (Bos grunniens).

Submucous glands and epithelial mucous cells of yak (Bos grunniens) respiratory tract have been studied by a variety of histochemical methods and transmission electron microscopy for differentiating and characterizing serous and mucous cells. By light microscopy, the distribution, numbers of mucous cells, volume of mucous glands (Reid index), and the ratio of mucous cell to serous cell in the bronchial tree were measured with different staining. Histochemically, a majority of mucous cells, presented in the surface epithelium of bronchi and glands, secreted neutral and acid mucosubstances, only a few sulfated mucosubstances were present. No mucus-producing cells were observed from the terminal to respiratory bronchiolar level. Ultrastructurally, serous cells in glands of the lamina propria had two distinct forms: one type filled with many round dense secretory granules, plentiful RER and few other organelles, similar to other animals; the other type contained some oval mitochondrial and distended RER, the granules resembled the former. The mucous cells in gland were similar to that of epithelium, which containing abundant secretory granules with an eccentric core. The mucous cells of the surface epithelium differ from other animals in the structure and histochemistry of their secretory granules. Analysis of the size and distribution of the secretory granules and other organelles of serous cells suggested that differences represent different phases of a secretory cycle, not various populations of cell or granules.

Laser-induced fluorescence detection system for microfluidic chips based on an orthogonal optical arrangement.

In this work, a simple LIF detection system based on an orthogonal optical arrangement for microfluidic chips was developed. Highly sensitive detection was achieved by detecting the fluorescence light emitted in the microchannel through the sidewall of the chip to reduce scattered light interference from the laser source. A special crossed-channel configuration, with a 1.5-mm distance from the separation channel to the sidewall of the glass chip, was designed in order to facilitate collection of emitted fluorescence light through the sidewall. The significant difference in intensity distribution of scattered laser light on the chip plane observed in this study was fully exploited to optimize S/N ratio of detected signals by rejection of scattered light, both through systematic measurements and employing ray-tracing simulation. A fluorescence collection angle of 45 degrees in the chip plane gave the best result, with a scattered light intensity 1/38 of that obtained at an angle of 90 degrees. Sodium fluorescein and fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled amino acids were used as model samples to demonstrate the performance of the LIF system. A detection limit (S/N = 3) of 1.1 pM fluorescein was obtained, which is comparable to that of optimized confocal LIF systems for chip-based capillary electrophoresis. Apart from the high detection power, the system also has the advantages of simple optical structure, compactness, and ease in building.