Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common in young children but there has been report of a second age peak in adolescence years. United States
As the most common form of soft tissue sarcoma, RMS affects around 4.5 people per million individuals under the age of 20 in the United States. From 1975 to 2005 in the United States, there is a lower incidence rate of rhabdomyosarcoma and better 5-year survival rates in Native Indian/Alaskan Native/Asian/Pacific Islander children compared to white or black children; however, Native Indian/Alaskan Native/Asian/Pacific Islander make up only 6.5% of the total population studied. Global
The incidence of RMS in Europe is similar to that of the United States, while the incidence in some parts of Asia is half of the United States. Etiology
Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma results from copy number alterations as well as mutations in the RAS pathway. Genomic patterns associated with ERMS include the gains in chromosomes 8, 2, 11, 12, 13, and/or 20 and losses in chromosomes 10 and 15. Another common genomic alteration is loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 11p, the short arm of chromosome 11. It is believed that some of the identifying genetic mutations that can cause ERMS include p53 loss, RAS pathway activation, MYOD1 mutations. Patients in the fusion-negative group had different genetic mutation profiles than those in the fusion-positive group.Focusing on the fusion negative population, it was shown that the most fusion-negative tumors were caused by RAS isoform mutations.
Thunderstorm asthma (also referred to in the media as thunder fever or a pollen bomb) is the triggering of an asthma attack by environmental conditions directly caused by a local thunderstorm. It has been proposed that during a thunderstorm, pollen grains can absorb moisture and then burst into much smaller fragments with these fragments being easily dispersed by wind. While larger pollen grains are usually filtered by hairs in the nose, the smaller pollen fragments are able to pass through and enter the lungs, triggering the asthma attack. History
The phenomenon has been recognised for a significant period of time with a study of an event in Birmingham, England, noting the correlation between thunderstorms and hospitalisations. This fact that these were not isolated events and were part of an ongoing pattern of events is clearly documented in the review "Thunderstorm asthma, an overview of the evidence base". A significant impetus in the study of the phenomenon occurred after an event in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. Since then there have been further reports of widespread thunderstorm asthma in Wagga Wagga, Australia; London, England; Naples, Italy; Atlanta, United States; and Ahvaz, Iran. The outbreak in Melbourne, in November 2016, that overwhelmed the ambulance system and some local hospitals, resulted in at least nine deaths. There was a similar incident in Kuwait in early December, 2016 with at least 5 deaths and many admissions to the ICU.