Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a global health problem that causes major illnesses and disabilities worldwide. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of AR has increased progressively over the last few decades in more developed countries and currently affects up to 40% of the population worldwide. Likewise, a rising trend of AR has also been observed over the last 2–3 decades in developing countries including China, with the prevalence of AR varying widely in these countries. A survey of self-reported AR over a 6-year period in the general Chinese adult population reported that the standardized prevalence of adult AR increased from 11.1% in 2005 to 17.6% in 2011. An increasing number of original articles and imporclinical trials on the epidemiology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, diagnosis, management and comorbidities of AR in Chinese subjects have been published in international peer-reviewed journals over the past 2 decades, and substantially added to our understanding of this disease as a global problem. Although guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in Chinese subjects have also been published, they have not been translated into English and therefore not generally accessible for reference to non-Chinese speaking international medical communities. Moreover, methods for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in China have not been standardized entirely and some patients are still treated according to regional preferences. Thus, the present guidelines have been developed by the Chinese Society of Allergy to be accessible to both national and international medical communities involved in the management of AR patients. These guidelines have been prepared in line with existing international guidelines to provide evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of AR in China.

Novel three-dimensional (3D) urchin-like a-Fe 2 O 3 superstructures were successfully prepared by a template-free hydrothermal synthetic route using FeSO 4 ?7H 2 O and NaClO 3 as reagents. The as-obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and vibrating sample magnetometry. It is shown that the superstructures consisted of well-aligned a-Fe 2 O 3 nanorods growing radially from the cores of the superstructures. The a-Fe 2 O 3 nanorods have an average length of about 800 nm and a mean diameter of about 80 nm. Magnetic hysteresis measurement reveal that the urchin-like a-Fe 2 O 3 superstructures display weak ferromagnetic behavior with a remanence of 4.6783 6 10 23 emu g 21 and a coercivity of 92.235 Oe at room temperature. The formation mechanism of the 3D urchin-like a-Fe 2 O 3 superstructures was also discussed.

Uniform-sized, monodisperse, and single-crystal magnetite hollow spheres with a diameter of 200-300 nm and a shell thickness of ∼50 nm have been successfully synthesized in high yield using a template-free solvothermal route. The reaction duration and the ethylenediamine amount are shown to play important roles in the formation of the magnetite hollow spheres. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier tranform IR, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution TEM were used to characterize the products. The results show that the prepared single-crystalline hollow spheres are composed of well-aligned magnetite and have a cubic structure. The magnetite hollow spheres show a high saturation magnetization of ca. 68 emu/g, a remnant magnetization of ca. 13 emu/g, and a coercivity of ca. 94 Oe at room temperature. A possible mechanism for the formation of magnetite hollow spherical structures is proposed based on the experimental observations. The prepared magnetite hollow spheres have promising applications in biomedical fields due to their above characteristics.