Persistence of intense, climate-driven runoff late in Mars history

Mars is dry today, but numerous precipitation-fed paleo-rivers are found across the planet’s surface. These rivers’ existence is a challenge to models of planetary climate evolution. We report results indicating that, for a given catchment area, rivers on Mars were wider than rivers on Earth today. We use the scale (width and wavelength) of Mars paleo-rivers as a proxy for past runoff production. Using multiple methods, we infer that intense runoff production of >(3–20) kg/m 2 per day persisted until 1 Ga. Our improved history of Mars’ river runoff places new constraints on the unknown mechanism that caused wet climates on Mars

The Environmental Influence on the Evolution of Local Galaxies

The results of an Halpha photometric survey of 30 dwarf galaxies of various morphologies in the Centaurus A and Sculptor groups are presented. Of these 30, emission was detected in 13: eight are of late-type, two are early-type and three are of mixed-morphology. The typical flux detection limit of 2e-16 erg s-1 cm-2, translates into a Star Formation Rate (SFR) detection limit of 4e-6 M_sol yr-1 . In the light of these results, the morphology-density relation is reexamined: It is shown that, despite a number of unaccounted parameters, there are significant correlations between the factors determining the morphological type of a galaxy and its environment. Dwarf galaxies in high density regions have lower current SFR and lower neutral gas content than their low density counterparts, confirming earlier results from the Local Group and other denser environments. The effect of environment is also seen in the timescale formed from the ratio of blue luminosity to current SFR - dwarfs in higher density environments have larger values, indicating relatively higher past average SFR. The influence of environment extends very far and no dwarfs from our sample can be identified as 'field' objects.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, accepted in A

Towards 3D printed multifunctional immobilization for proton therapy: initial materials characterization

Purpose: 3D printing technology is investigated for the purpose of patient immobilization during proton therapy. It potentially enables a merge of patient immobilization, bolus range shifting, and other functions into one single patient-speci c structure. In this rst step, a set of 3D printed materials is characterized in detail, in terms of structural and radiological properties, elemental composition, directional dependence, and structural changes induced by radiation damage. These data will serve as inputs for the design of 3D printed immobilization structure prototypes. Methods: Using four di erent 3D printing techniques, in total eight materials were subjected to testing. Samples with a nominal dimension of 20×20×80 mm3 were 3D printed. The geometrical printing accuracy of each test sample was measured with a dial gage. To assess the mechanical response of the samples, standardized compression tests were performed to determine the Young’s modulus. To investigate the e ect of radiation on the mechanical response, the mechanical tests were performed both prior and after the administration of clinically relevant dose levels (70 Gy), multiplied with a safety factor of 1.4. Dual energy computed tomography (DECT) methods were used to calculate the relative electron density to water ρe, the e ective atomic number Ze , and the proton stopping power ratio (SPR) to water SPR. In order to validate the DECT based calculation of radiological properties, beam measurements were performed on the 3D printed samples as well. Photon irradiations were performed to measure the photon linear attenuation coe cients, while proton irradiations were performed to measure the proton range shift of the samples. The direc- tional dependence of these properties was investigated by performing the irradiations for di erent orientations of the samples. Results: The printed test objects showed reduced geometric printing accuracy for 2 materials (deviation > 0.25 mm). Compression tests yielded Young’s moduli ranging from 0.6 to 2940 MPa. No deterioration in the mechanical response was observed after exposure of the samples to 100 Gy in a therapeutic MV photon beam. The DECT-based characterization yielded Ze ranging from 5.91 to 10.43. The SPR and ρe both ranged from 0.6 to 1.22. The measured photon attenuation coe cients at clinical energies scaled linearly with ρe. Good agreement was seen between the DECT estimated SPR and the measured range shift, except for the higher Ze . As opposed to the photon attenuation, the proton range shifting appeared to be printing orientation dependent for certain materials. Conclusions: In this study, the rst step toward 3D printed, multifunctional immobilization was performed, by going through a candidate clinical work ow for the rst time: from the material printing to DECT characterization with a veri cation through beam measurements. Besides a proof of concept for beam modi cation, the mechanical response of printed materials was also investigated to assess their capabilities for positioning functionality. For the studied set of printing techniques and materials, a wide variety of mechanical and radiological properties can be selected from for the intended purpose. Moreover the elaborated hybrid DECT methods aid in performing in-house quality assurance of 3D printed components, as these methods enable the estimation of the radiological properties relevant for use in radiation therapy

Community perspectives on the benefits and risks of technologically enhanced communicable disease surveillance systems: A report on four community juries

Background Outbreaks of infectious disease cause serious and costly health and social problems. Two new technologies – pathogen whole genome sequencing (WGS) and Big Data analytics – promise to improve our capacity to detect and control outbreaks earlier, saving lives and resources. However, routinely using these technologies to capture more detailed and specific personal information could be perceived as intrusive and a threat to privacy. Method Four community juries were convened in two demographically different Sydney municipalities and two regional cities in New South Wales, Australia (western Sydney, Wollongong, Tamworth, eastern Sydney) to elicit the views of well-informed community members on the acceptability and legitimacy of: making pathogen WGS and linked administrative data available for public health research using this information in concert with data linkage and machine learning to enhance communicable disease surveillance systems Fifty participants of diverse backgrounds, mixed genders and ages were recruited by random-digit-dialling and topic-blinded social-media advertising. Each jury was presented with balanced factual evidence supporting different expert perspectives on the potential benefits and costs of technologically enhanced public health research and communicable disease surveillance and given the opportunity to question experts. Results Almost all jurors supported data linkage and WGS on routinely collected patient isolates for the purposes of public health research, provided standard de-identification practices were applied. However, allowing this information to be operationalised as a syndromic surveillance system was highly contentious with three juries voting in favour, and one against by narrow margins. For those in favour, support depended on several conditions related to system oversight and security being met. Those against were concerned about loss of privacy and did not trust Australian governments to run secure and effective systems. Conclusions Participants across all four events strongly supported the introduction of data linkage and pathogenomics to public health research under current research governance structures. Combining pathogen WGS with event-based data surveillance systems, however, is likely to be controversial because of a lack of public trust, even when the potential public health benefits are clear. Any suggestion of private sector involvement or commercialisation of WGS or surveillance data was unanimously rejected

Risk factors for noma disease: a 6-year, prospective, matched case-control study in Niger

Background Noma is a poorly studied disease that leads to severe facial tissue destruction in children in developing countries, but the cause remains unknown. We aimed to identify the epidemiological and microbiological risk factors associated with noma disease. Methods We did a prospective, matched, case-control study in Niger between Aug 1, 2001, and Oct 31, 2006, in children younger than 12 years to assess risk factors for acute noma. All acute noma cases were included and four controls for each case were matched by age and home village. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained at study inclusion. We undertook matched-paired analyses with conditional logistic regression models. Findings We included 82 cases and 327 controls. Independent risk factors associated with noma were: severe stunting (odds ratio [OR] 4·87, 95% CI 2·35–10·09) or wasting (2·45, 1·25–4·83); a high number of previous pregnancies in the mother (1·16, 1·04–1·31); the presence of respiratory disease, diarrhoea, or fever in the past 3 months (2·70, 1·35–5·40); and the absence of chickens at home (1·90, 0·93–3·88). After inclusion of microbiological data, a reduced proportion of Fusobacterium (4·63, 1·61–13·35), Capnocytophaga (3·69, 1·48–9·17), Neisseria (3·24, 1·10–9·55), and Spirochaeta in the mouth (7·77, 2·12–28·42), and an increased proportion of Prevotella (2·53, 1·07–5·98), were associated with noma. We identifi ed no specifi c single bacterial or viral pathogen in cases. Interpretation Noma is associated with indicators of severe poverty and altered oral microbiota. The predominance of specifi c bacterial commensals is indicative of a modifi cation of the oral microbiota associated with reduced bacterial diversity.Funding Gertrude Hirzel Foundation

Idiosyncratic features in tRNAs participating in bacterial cell wall synthesis

The FemXWv aminoacyl transferase of Weissella viridescens initiates the synthesis of the side chain of peptidoglycan precursors by transferring l-Ala from Ala-tRNAAla to UDP-MurNAc-pentadepsipeptide. FemXWv is an attractive target for the development of novel antibiotics, since the side chain is essential for the last cross-linking step of peptidoglycan synthesis. Here, we show that FemXWv is highly specific for incorporation of l-Ala in vivo based on extensive analysis of the structure of peptidoglycan. Comparison of various natural and in vitro-transcribed tRNAs indicated that the specificity of FemXWv depends mainly upon the sequence of the tRNA although additional specificity determinants may include post-transcriptional modifications and recognition of the esterified amino acid. Site-directed mutagenesis identified cytosines in the G1–C72 and G2–C71 base pairs of the acceptor stem as critical for FemXWv activity in agreement with modeling of tRNAAla in the catalytic cavity of the enzyme. In contrast, semi-synthesis of Ala-tRNAAla harboring nucleotide substitutions in the G3–U70 wobble base pair showed that this main identity determinant of alanyl-tRNA synthetase is non-essential for FemXWv. The different modes of recognition of the acceptor stem indicate that specific inhibition of FemXWv could be achieved by targeting the distal portion of tRNAAla for the design of substrate analogues

Antiprotozoal Activities of Organic Extracts from French Marine Seaweeds

Marine macrophytes contain a variety of biologically active compounds, some reported to have antiprotozoal activity in vitro. As a part of a screening program to search for new natural antiprotozoals, we screened hydroalcoholic and ethyl acetate extracts of 20 species of seaweeds from three phyla (Rhodophyta, Heterokontophyta and Chlorophyta), sampled along the Normandy (France) coast. We tested them in vitro against the protozoa responsible for three major endemic parasitic diseases: Plasmodium falciparum, Leishmania donovani and Trypanosoma cruzi. The selectivity of the extracts was also evaluated by testing on a mammalian cell line (L6 cells). Ethyl acetate extracts were more active than hydroalcoholic ones. Activity against T. cruzi and L. donovani was non-existent to average, but almost half the extracts showed good activity against P. falciparum. The ethyl acetate extract of Mastocarpus stellatus showed the best antiplasmodial activity as well as the best selectivity index (IC50 = 2.8 μg/mL; SI > 30). Interestingly, a red algae species, which shares phylogenetic origins with P. falciparum, showed the best antiplasmodial activity. This study is the first to report comparative antiprotozoal activity of French marine algae. Some of the species studied here have not previously been biologically evaluated

Dimension rigidity in conformal structures

Let $\Lambda$ be the limit set of a conformal dynamical system, i.e. a Kleinian group acting on either finite- or infinite-dimensional real Hilbert space, a conformal iterated function system, or a rational function. We give an easily expressible sufficient condition, requiring that the limit set is not too much bigger than the radial limit set, for the following dichotomy: $\Lambda$ is either a real-analytic manifold or a fractal in the sense of Mandelbrot (i.e. its Hausdorff dimension is strictly greater than its topological dimension). Our primary focus is on the infinite-dimensional case. An important component of the strategy of our proof comes from the rectifiability techniques of Mayer and Urba\'nski ('03), who obtained a dimension rigidity result for conformal iterated function systems (including those with infinite alphabets). In order to handle the infinite dimensional case, both for Kleinian groups and for iterated function systems, we introduce the notion of pseudorectifiability, a variant of rectifiability, and develop a theory around this notion similar to the theory of rectifiable sets. Our approach also extends existing results in the finite-dimensional case, where it unifies the realms of Kleinian groups, conformal iterated function systems, and rational functions. For Kleinian groups, we improve on the rigidity result of Kapovich ('09) by substantially weakening its hypothesis of geometrical finiteness. Moreover, our proof, based on rectifiability, is entirely different than that of Kapovich, which depends on homological algebra. Another advantage of our approach is that it allows us to use the "demension" of \v{S}tan$'$ko ('69) as a substitute for topological dimension. For example, we prove that any dynamically defined version of Antoine's necklace must have Hausdorff dimension strictly greater than 1 (i.e. the demension of Antoine's necklace)

Fusion between Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania major Parasitophorous Vacuoles: Live Imaging of Coinfected Macrophages

Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania alternate between flagellated, elongated extracellular promastigotes found in insect vectors, and round-shaped amastigotes enclosed in phagolysosome-like Parasitophorous Vacuoles (PVs) of infected mammalian host cells. Leishmania amazonensis amastigotes occupy large PVs which may contain many parasites; in contrast, single amastigotes of Leishmania major lodge in small, tight PVs, which undergo fission as parasites divide. To determine if PVs of these Leishmania species can fuse with each other, mouse macrophages in culture were infected with non-fluorescent L. amazonensis amastigotes and, 48 h later, superinfected with fluorescent L. major amastigotes or promastigotes. Fusion was investigated by time-lapse image acquisition of living cells and inferred from the colocalization of parasites of the two species in the same PVs. Survival, multiplication and differentiation of parasites that did or did not share the same vacuoles were also investigated. Fusion of PVs containing L. amazonensis and L. major amastigotes was not found. However, PVs containing L. major promastigotes did fuse with pre-established L. amazonensis PVs. In these chimeric vacuoles, L. major promastigotes remained motile and multiplied, but did not differentiate into amastigotes. In contrast, in doubly infected cells, within their own, unfused PVs metacyclic-enriched L. major promastigotes, but not log phase promastigotes - which were destroyed - differentiated into proliferating amastigotes. The results indicate that PVs, presumably customized by L. major amastigotes or promastigotes, differ in their ability to fuse with L. amazonensis PVs. Additionally, a species-specific PV was required for L. major destruction or differentiation – a requirement for which mechanisms remain unknown. The observations reported in this paper should be useful in further studies of the interactions between PVs to different species of Leishmania parasites, and of the mechanisms involved in the recognition and fusion of PVs