Competitive Uptake of Dimethylamine and Trimethylamine against Ammonia on Acidic Particles in Marine Atmospheres.

Alkaline gases such as NH3 and amines play important roles in neutralizing acidic particles in the atmosphere. Here, two common gaseous amines (dimethylamine (DMA) and trimethylamine (TMA)), NH3, and their corresponding ions in PM2.5 were measured semicontinuously using an ambient ion monitor-ion chromatography (AIM-IC) system in marine air during a round-trip cruise of approximately 4000 km along the coastline of eastern China. The concentrations of particulate DMA, detected as DMAH+, varied from <4 to 100 ng m-3 and generally decreased with increasing atmospheric NH3 concentrations. Combining observations with thermodynamic equilibrium calculations using the extended aerosol inorganics model (E-AIM) indicated that the competitive uptake of DMA against NH3 on acidic aerosols generally followed thermodynamic equilibria and appeared to be sensitive to DMA/NH3 molar ratios, resulting in molar ratios of DMAH+ to DMA + DMAH+ of 0.31 ± 0.16 (average ± standard deviation) at atmospheric NH3 concentrations over 1.8 µg m-3 (with a corresponding DMA/NH3 ratio of (1.8 ± 1.0) × 10-3), 0.80 ± 0.15 at atmospheric NH3 concentrations below 0.3 µg m-3 (with a corresponding DMA/NH3 ratio of (1.3 ± 0.6) × 10-2), and 0.56 ± 0.19 in the remaining cases. Particulate TMA concentrations, detected as TMAH+, ranged from <2 to 21 ng m-3 and decreased with increasing concentrations of atmospheric NH3. However, TMAH+ was depleted concurrently with the formation of NH4NO3 under low concentrations of atmospheric NH3, contradictory to the calculated increase in the equilibrated concentration of TMAH+ by the E-AIM.

Gingival plasma cell granuloma: a case report.

Plasma cell granuloma is extremely rare in the oral cavity. This paper reports a case of plasma cell granuloma in the oral cavity and reviews the literature. In this case, the plasma cell granuloma occurred in the gingiva, which was bright red and granular. The lesion was resected and diagnosed as gingival plasma cell granuloma by clinical pathological examination. Four months follow-up after operation surgery showed no signs of recurrence. Although gingival plasma cell granuloma is rare, it is easily confused with related diseases and should be identified and followed up closely.

Differences in Brain Structural Covariance Network Characteristics in Children and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Systematically describing the structural topological configuration of human brain during development is an essential task. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a powerful challenge for psychiatry and neuroscience researchers. In this study, we investigated variations in the structural covariance network properties of 441 patients with ASD ranging in age from 7 to 45 years and in 426 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) using structural magnetic resonance neuroimaging from the ABIDE database. We applied a sliding window approach to study topological variation during development using comprehensive graph theoretical analysis. The main findings are as follows: (1) Cross-sectional trajectories of the network characteristics exhibited inverted U-shapes in both HCs and participants with ASD, with the latter exhibiting a 7-year delay in reaching the maximum value, (2) network resilience to targeted attacks peaked at 18' and 19' in the HCs and at 25' in the participants with ASD, and the weakest resilience occurred at age 7', (3) the HCs and participants with ASD exhibited normalized mean degree differences in the right amygdala, and (4) significant differences in the network characteristics were observed in the 18' age group at most of the densities analyzed. We used cross-sectional analysis to infer distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories in ASD in the brain structural connectome. Our findings are consistent with the notion that adolescence is a sensitive period of brain development with strong potential for brain plasticity, offering opportunities for environmental adaptation and social integration and for increasing vulnerability. ASD may be a product of susceptibility. LAY SUMMARY: We used cross-sectional analysis to preliminarily infer distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories in ASD in the brain structural connectome. The main findings are as follows: (1) Cross-sectional trajectories of the network characteristics exhibited inverted U-shapes in both HCs and participants with ASD, with the latter exhibiting a 7-year delay in reaching the maximum value, (2) Network resilience to targeted attacks peaked at 18' and 19' in the HCs and at 25' in the participants with ASD, and the weakest resilience occurred at age 7', (3) The HCs and participants with ASD exhibited normalized mean degree differences in the right amygdala, and (4) significant differences in the network characteristics were observed in the 18' age group at most of the densities analyzed.