The Rapid Induction of Cancers in the Hairless Mouse Utilizing the Principle of Photoaugmentation

We report a method for rapidly inducing cancer in the hairless mouse utilizing regimen in which an exposure to highly erythemogenic, but otherwise clinically non-injurious, dose of broad spectrum (290–400 nm) ultraviolet light is increased by 20% every 6th day. Clinical and histological observations reveal the presence of squamous cell cancer after as little as 18days of irradiation. The rate of cancer induction is enhanced by the 320–400nm component and this enhancement is shown to be a photoaugmentative effect. The results support the idea that stratum corneum and/or malpighian layer thickening produced in early stages of tumor induction tends to protect against the detrimental effects of UV radiation. Strict monitoring of both the spectral distribution and output of the radiation source is imperative for reproducible rates of tumor induction

The Rapid Induction of Cancers in the Hairless Mouse Utilizing the Principle of Photoaugmentation

We report a method for rapidly inducing cancer in the hairless mouse utilizing regimen in which an exposure to highly erythemogenic, but otherwise clinically non-injurious, dose of broad spectrum (290–400 nm) ultraviolet light is increased by 20% every 6th day. Clinical and histological observations reveal the presence of squamous cell cancer after as little as 18days of irradiation. The rate of cancer induction is enhanced by the 320–400nm component and this enhancement is shown to be a photoaugmentative effect. The results support the idea that stratum corneum and/or malpighian layer thickening produced in early stages of tumor induction tends to protect against the detrimental effects of UV radiation. Strict monitoring of both the spectral distribution and output of the radiation source is imperative for reproducible rates of tumor induction

Cyclic cycle systems of the complete multipartite graph

In this paper, we study the existence problem for cyclic $\ell$-cycle decompositions of the graph $K_m[n]$, the complete multipartite graph with $m$ parts of size $n$, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for their existence in the case that $2\ell \mid (m-1)n$

Technical note : an inverse method to relate organic carbon reactivity to isotope composition from serial oxidation

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 14 (2017): 5099-5114, doi:10.5194/bg-14-5099-2017.Serial oxidation coupled with stable carbon and radiocarbon analysis of sequentially evolved CO2 is a promising method to characterize the relationship between organic carbon (OC) chemical composition, source, and residence time in the environment. However, observed decay profiles depend on experimental conditions and oxidation pathway. It is therefore necessary to properly assess serial oxidation kinetics before utilizing decay profiles as a measure of OC reactivity. We present a regularized inverse method to estimate the distribution of OC activation energy (E), a proxy for bond strength, using serial oxidation. Here, we apply this method to ramped temperature pyrolysis or oxidation (RPO) analysis but note that this approach is broadly applicable to any serial oxidation technique. RPO analysis directly compares thermal reactivity to isotope composition by determining the E range for OC decaying within each temperature interval over which CO2 is collected. By analyzing a decarbonated test sample at multiple masses and oven ramp rates, we show that OC decay during RPO analysis follows a superposition of parallel first-order kinetics and that resulting E distributions are independent of experimental conditions. We therefore propose the E distribution as a novel proxy to describe OC thermal reactivity and suggest that E vs. isotope relationships can provide new insight into the compositional controls on OC source and residence time.This research was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program grant no. 2012126152 (Jordon D. Hemingway), NASA Astrobiology grant no. NNA13AA90A and NSF grant no. EAR-1338810 (Daniel H. Rothman), and the WHOI Independent Study Award (Valier V. Galy)

Spectroscopy and dissociative recombination of the lowest rotational states of H3+

The dissociative recombination of the lowest rotational states of H3+ has been investigated at the storage ring TSR using a cryogenic 22-pole radiofrequency ion trap as injector. The H3+ was cooled with buffer gas at ~15 K to the lowest rotational levels, (J,G)=(1,0) and (1,1), which belong to the ortho and para proton-spin symmetry, respectively. The rate coefficients and dissociation dynamics of H3+(J,G) populations produced with normal- and para-H2 were measured and compared to the rate and dynamics of a hot H3+ beam from a Penning source. The production of cold H3+ rotational populations was separately studied by rovibrational laser spectroscopy using chemical probing with argon around 55 K. First results indicate a ~20% relative increase of the para contribution when using para-H2 as parent gas. The H3+ rate coefficient observed for the para-H2 source gas, however, is quite similar to the H3+ rate for the normal-H2 source gas. The recombination dynamics confirm that for both source gases, only small populations of rotationally excited levels are present. The distribution of 3-body fragmentation geometries displays a broad part of various triangular shapes with an enhancement of ~12% for events with symmetric near-linear configurations. No large dependences on internal state or collision energy are found.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Proceeding

X ray based displacement measurement for hostile environments

A new method on noncontacting, high temperature extensometry based on the focus and scanning of x rays is currently under development and shows great promise of overcoming limitations associated with available techniques. The chief advantage is the ability to make undisturbed measurements through stratified or flowing gases, smoke, and flame. The system is based on the ability to focus and scan low energy, hard x rays such as those emanating from copper or molybdenum sources. The x rays are focused into a narrow and intense line image which can be scanned onto targets that fluoresce secondary x ray radiation. The final goal of the system is the ability to conduct macroscopic strain measurements in hostile environments by utilizing two or more fluorescing targets. Current work is limited to displacement measurement of a single target with a resolution of 1.25 micro-m and a target temperature of 1200 C, directly through an open flame. The main advantage of the technique lies in the penetrating nature of x rays which are not affected by the presence of refracting gas layers, smoke, flame, or intense thermal radiation, all of which could render conventional extensometry methods inoperative or greatly compromise their performance

The Seven-sphere and its Kac-Moody Algebra

We investigate the seven-sphere as a group-like manifold and its extension to a Kac-Moody-like algebra. Covariance properties and tensorial composition of spinors under $S^7$ are defined. The relation to Malcev algebras is established. The consequences for octonionic projective spaces are examined. Current algebras are formulated and their anomalies are derived, and shown to be unique (even regarding numerical coefficients) up to redefinitions of the currents. Nilpotency of the BRST operator is consistent with one particular expression in the class of (field-dependent) anomalies. A Sugawara construction is given.Comment: 22 pages. Macropackages used: phyzzx, epsf. Three epsf figure files appende

Anisotropic fragmentation in low-energy dissociative recombination

On a dense energy grid reaching up to 75 meV electron collision energy the fragmentation angle and the kinetic energy release of neutral dissociative recombination fragments have been studied in a twin merged beam experiment. The anisotropy described by Legendre polynomials and the extracted rotational state contributions were found to vary on a likewise narrow energy scale as the rotationally averaged rate coefficient. For the first time angular dependences higher than 2$^{nd}$ order could be deduced. Moreover, a slight anisotropy at zero collision energy was observed which is caused by the flattened velocity distribution of the electron beam.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; The Article will be published in the proceedings of DR 2007, a symposium on Dissociative Recombination held in Ameland, The Netherlands (18.-23. July 2008); Reference 19 has been published meanwhile in S. Novotny, PRL 100, 193201 (2008

Potent and Broad Inhibition of HIV-1 by a Peptide from the gp41 Heptad Repeat-2 Domain Conjugated to the CXCR4 Amino Terminus.

HIV-1 entry can be inhibited by soluble peptides from the gp41 heptad repeat-2 (HR2) domain that interfere with formation of the 6-helix bundle during fusion. Inhibition has also been seen when these peptides are conjugated to anchoring molecules and over-expressed on the cell surface. We hypothesized that potent anti-HIV activity could be achieved if a 34 amino acid peptide from HR2 (C34) were brought to the site of virus-cell interactions by conjugation to the amino termini of HIV-1 coreceptors CCR5 or CXCR4. C34-conjugated coreceptors were expressed on the surface of T cell lines and primary CD4 T cells, retained the ability to mediate chemotaxis in response to cognate chemokines, and were highly resistant to HIV-1 utilization for entry. Notably, C34-conjugated CCR5 and CXCR4 each exhibited potent and broad inhibition of HIV-1 isolates from diverse clades irrespective of tropism (i.e., each could inhibit R5, X4 and dual-tropic isolates). This inhibition was highly specific and dependent on positioning of the peptide, as HIV-1 infection was poorly inhibited when C34 was conjugated to the amino terminus of CD4. C34-conjugated coreceptors could also inhibit HIV-1 isolates that were resistant to the soluble HR2 peptide inhibitor, enfuvirtide. When introduced into primary cells, CD4 T cells expressing C34-conjugated coreceptors exhibited physiologic responses to T cell activation while inhibiting diverse HIV-1 isolates, and cells containing C34-conjugated CXCR4 expanded during HIV-1 infection in vitro and in a humanized mouse model. Notably, the C34-conjugated peptide exerted greater HIV-1 inhibition when conjugated to CXCR4 than to CCR5. Thus, antiviral effects of HR2 peptides can be specifically directed to the site of viral entry where they provide potent and broad inhibition of HIV-1. This approach to engineer HIV-1 resistance in functional CD4 T cells may provide a novel cell-based therapeutic for controlling HIV infection in humans

A restatement of the natural science evidence base concerning grassland management, grazing livestock and soil carbon storage

Approximately a third of all annual greenhouse gas emissions globally are directly or indirectly associated with the food system, and over a half of these are linked to livestock production. In temperate oceanic regions, such as the UK, most meat and dairy is produced in extensive systems based on pasture. There is much interest in the extent to which such grassland may be able to sequester and store more carbon to partially or completely mitigate other greenhouse gas emissions in the system. However, answering this question is difficult due to context-specificity and a complex and sometimes inconsistent evidence base. This paper describes a project that set out to summarize the natural science evidence base relevant to grassland management, grazing livestock and soil carbon storage potential in as policy-neutral terms as possible. It is based on expert appraisal of a systematically assembled evidence base, followed by a wide stakeholders engagement. A series of evidence statements (in the appendix of this paper) are listed and categorized according to the nature of the underlying information, and an annotated bibliography is provided in the electronic supplementary material