[The auxiliary diagnostic value of ECP and MPO expression in nasal secretions in different types of rhinitis].

Objective:To evaluate the expression of eosinophil cationic protein and myeloperoxidase in nasal secretions in different types of rhinitis, and to explore their values in the differential diagnosis of different types of rhinitis. Methods:Six hundred and eighty-four subjects were selected, including 62 subjects in the acute rhinitis group, 378 subjects in the allergic rhinitis group, 94 subjects in the vasomotor rhinitis group, 70 subjects in the eosinophilic non-allergic rhinitis group, and 80 subjects in the control group. Nasal secretion samples were collected from the five groups, and the percentages of inflammatory cells were counted by Rachel's staining, and the expression of ECP/MPO was detected by colloidal gold assay. The correlation between the clinical diagnosis, the inflammatory cells in the nasal secretions and the expression of ECP/MPO was analyzed. Results:Nasal cytological smears showed that compared with the control group, the percentage of eosinophils in the AR and NARES groups were significantly higher （P<0.05）, while the percentage of neutrophils was not different （P>0.05）; the percentage of neutrophils was significantly higher in the acute rhinitis group compared with the control group （P<0.05）, while the percentage of eosinophils was not statistically different （P>0.05）; in vasomotor rhinitis group, the eosinophils and neutrophils were not statistically different compared with the control group（P> 0.05）. The colloidal gold results showed that there were differences in the expression of ECP/MPO in different types of rhinitis, among which 49 cases （79.0%） in the acute rhinitis group expressed ECP+/MPO+; 267 cases （70.6%） in the AR group and 56 cases （75.7%） in the NARES group expressed ECP+/MPO-; 80 cases （85.1%） in the vasomotor rhinitis group and 69 cases （86.3%） in the control group expressed ECP-/MPO-. Conclusion:The differences in ECP and MPO expression between different types of rhinitis have certain reference value for the differential diagnosis of different types of rhinitis and the selection of treatment programs.

A Preliminary Study in Immune Response of BALB/c and C57BL/6 Mice with a Locally Allergic Rhinitis Model.

BACKGROUND: BALB/c and C57BL/6 mouse strains are commonly used in allergy research. The current study investigated the immunological differences between these two mouse strains with a locally allergic rhinitis model. METHODS: Eighteen BALB/c and eighteen C57BL/6 mice received different doses of ovalbumin (OVA) intranasally for eight weeks (each mouse strain has three subgroups, 25 mg/mL group, 0.25 mg/mL group, and the PBS group). The allergic symptoms, OVA-specific serum antibody (IgE, IgG1, IgG2a), cytokines (IL-4, IFN-γ, IL-10) in the splenic culture supernatant, infiltrating eosinophils and goblet cells in local nasal mucosa were measured. RNA-seq technology was applied to detect differential gene expression in the local nasal mucosa. RESULTS: With the same dose of OVA stimulation, the exacerbation of allergic symptoms was more pronounced in C57BL/6 than in BALB/c. BALB/c serum IgE, IgG1, and IgG2a gradually increased, and C57BL/6 produced fewer serum antibodies IgE and IgG1, while IgG2a never increased. BALB/c spleen cell culture supernatant IL-4 and IL-10 increased with increasing dose, and IFN-γ increased significantly in the intermediate dose group, while IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ did not increase in C57BL/6. The infiltration of eosinophils and goblet cells in both mice was proportional to the dose, while C57BL/6 was elevated more than BALB/c. RNA-seq suggested that the innate immune response, immune system process function, Jun kinase (JNK) pathway, and MAPKK pathway were upregulated in C57BL/6 compared to BALB/c. The core genes responsible for the differential immune response in both mice with allergic rhinitis were Kng2, Kng1, Gnb3, Lpar3, Lpar1, Pik3r1, Pf4, Apob, Rps9, and Fbxo2. CONCLUSION: There are significant differences in the immunologic responses between BALB/c mice and C57BL/6 mice. BALB/c mice developed mild local allergic inflammatory reactions and strong systemic immune responses. In contrast, C57BL/6 mice had stronger local allergic inflammatory responses and relatively mild systemic immune responses. Different mice strains can be selected according to the research purpose.

[Establishment of local allergic rhinitis tolerance in mouse model].

Objective:To establish a mouse model of local allergic rhinitis tolerance by intranasal infusion of allergen, and study its immunological indexes and characteristics. Methods:The mice were given ovalbumin（OVA） and phosphate buffer solution（PBS） daily, and their allergic symptoms were recorded. OVA-specific antibodies（IgE, IgG1, IgG2a） in serum and cytokine（IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ） in splenic culture supernatant were detected. The infiltration of eosinophils and goblet cells in nasal mucosa were observed, and the changes in local nasal mucosa genes were analyzed by RNA-seq technique. Results:Mice first showed aggravation of allergic symptoms when stimulated with OVA. The serum OVA-specific antibodies IgE, IgG1, IgG2a and the cytokine（IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ） Iin splenic culture supernatant were increased, the eosinophils and goblet cells in nasal mucosa were significantly increased. The expression of encoding IL-10, TGF-ß gene and eosinophils activation gene in nasal mucosa were up-regulated. As the duration of nasal dripping increased, the allergic symptoms gradually decreased, serum OVA-specific antibodies IgE, IgG1, IgG2a continued to increase. Splenic culture supernatant IL-4 decreased, IL-10 increased, IFN-γ had a downward trend. In nasal mucosa, goblet cells decreased significantly. Genes involved in eosinophils activation were significantly down-regulated. The encoding tolerance genes such as IL-10 and TGF-ß genes remained highly expressed. Ten core genes associated with immune tolerance in localized allergic rhinitis were screened, Rps27a, Uba52, Kng2, Gnal, C3, Rtp4, Reep1, Rtp2, Rtp1, Reep5. Conclusion:The mice first develop an allergy and then develop immune tolerance by continuous local drops of the allergen. The generation of immune tolerance may be induced by the continuous action of allergens, which induced systemic and local immune tolerance effects.

Temporal manipulation of light propagation via cross-intensity modulation in unbalanced fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers.

We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach to achieve temporal manipulation of light propagation via cross-intensity modulation (XIM) effect in an unbalanced fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). By changing the optical loss indices (which can also be gain indices theoretically) discrepantly in the two branches of the MZI, we can obtain the largest time shifts at the minima of the transmission frequency spectrum, while there shows no time shifts at the maxima. This scheme provides a flexibility of ultra-wide bandwidth operation both on optical wavelength and modulation frequency.

Self-starting ultrafast fiber lasers mode-locked with alcohol.

We report a novel saturable absorber (SA) based on anhydrous alcohol for mode-locked fiber lasers (MLFLs). The SA is an optical ferrule with one alcoholic end-facet sealed by a polyethylene (PE) film. Its modulation depth is measured to be 5.9%. Also, a self-starting MLFL using such an alcohol-SA has been demonstrated to generate 972-fs pulses at 1594.6 nm. The single pulse energy is up to 1.8 nJ with the repetition rate of 20.97 MHz, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is higher than 50 dB. The MLFL exhibits the performance of self-starting, good stability, and high pulse energy. Such a cost-effective and easily-prepared SA with high damage threshold may find wide applications for ultrafast lasers. Besides, it may arouse wide considerations of the mode-locking function of organic liquids for ultrafast lasers.

Harmonic mode locking of bound solitons.

We systematically investigate the passive harmonic mode locking (HML) of the bound states of two solitons in a fiber laser that has been mode locked by nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR). The experiment shows that the stable HML state of the bound solitons (BSs) with a fixed and discrete separation is obtained. The repetition rate changes by increasing the pump power and slightly altering the polarization state in the cavity. The dynamic is similar to the HML of a single-pulse operation. In our experiment, the repetition rate can be turned from the fundamental mode locking up to ninth-order HML when the pump power is increased from 168 to 476.1 mW. Once the BSs are obtained, their separation is fixed at 1.5 ps, regardless of the HML order. Under the direct BS interaction, the BS trains are very stable and easily reproducible. This HML behavior of BSs confirms that the BS is another intrinsic feature of the laser, except for the single soliton.