Development and collapse of an Oscillatoria bloom in Loch Leven during July 1994

During 1994, weekly spot-sampling of open water sites on Loch Leven took place from 16th March onwards. Very little difference between spot-sampling sites was observed from 16th March to 5th July. Throughout April and May there was a slow increase in levels of chlorophyll-a, followed by a rapid increase through June, reaching a maximum of 230 micrograms per litre. On 8th July there was a very rapid rise in water temperature, with a corresponding increase in dissolved oxygen and pH. At 0915 hours on 9th July there was a drop in all three variables. These changes were coincident with a marked reduction in chlorophyll-a values falling to 70 micrograms per litre on 12th July. On 16th July evidence of a resurgence of photosynthesis was observed

Economic Impact of Wildlife-Associated Recreation Expenditures in the Southeast United States: A General Equilibrium Analysis

The economic impact of wildlife-associated recreation in the Southeast United States was evaluated using a general equilibrium model. Exogenous demand shocks to the regional economy were based on estimates of expenditures by wildlife recreationists on hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching activities. Counterfactual simulations were carried out, making alternative assumptions about labor and capital mobility and their supply. Without wildlife-associated recreation expenditures, regional employment would have been smaller by up to 783 thousand jobs, and value added would have been $22 to$48 billion less. These findings underscore the significance of regional factor market conditions in economic impact and general equilibrium analysis.general equilibrium modeling, input-output analysis, regional economic impact, wildlife-associated recreation activities, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, R13, R15, Q26,

Development and collapse of an Oscillatoria bloom in Loch Leven during July 1994

Loch Leven lies in a glacial depression 35 kilometres north of Edinburgh,Scotland. It has a large surface area, 13.3 km², but is generally shallowwith a mean depth of 3.9 metres, although there are two deeper "holes"where the depth reaches 25 metres. Land use in the 145 km² catchmentdraining to the loch is predominantly arable farming, with some roughgrazing in the headwaters and with three small towns close to the loch.The physical characteristics of Loch Leven are fully described by Smith(1974); it is a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special ScientificInterest, and is cited under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland site ofinternational importance

Cerebrospinal fluid cortisol levels are higher in patients with delirium versus controls

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High plasma cortisol levels can cause acute cognitive and neuropsychiatric dysfunction, and have been linked with delirium. CSF cortisol levels more closely reflect brain exposure to cortisol, but there are no studies of CSF cortisol levels in delirium. In this pilot study we acquired CSF specimens at the onset of spinal anaesthesia in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery, and compared CSF and plasma cortisol levels in delirium cases versus controls.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Delirium assessments were performed the evening before or on the morning of operation with a standard battery comprising cognitive tests, mental status assessments and the Confusion Assessment Method. CSF and plasma samples were obtained at the onset of the operation and cortisol levels measured. Twenty patients (15 female, 5 male) aged 62 - 93 years were studied. Seven patients were diagnosed with delirium. The mean ages of cases (81.4 (SD 7.2)) and controls (80.5 (SD 8.7)) were not significantly different (p = 0.88). The median (interquartile range) CSF cortisol levels were significantly higher in cases (63.9 (40.4-102.1) nmol/L) than controls (31.4 (21.7-43.3) nmol/L; Mann-Whitney U, p = 0.029). The median (interquartile range) of plasma cortisol was also significantly higher in cases (968.8 (886.2-1394.4) nmol/L, than controls (809.4 (544.0-986.4) nmol/L; Mann Whitney U, p = 0.036).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings support an association between higher CSF cortisol levels and delirium. This extends previous findings linking higher plasma cortisol and delirium, and suggests that more definitive studies of the relationship between cortisol levels and delirium are now required.</p

Mesoproterozoic surface oxygenation accompanied major sedimentary manganese deposition at 1.4 and 1.1 Ga

This research was funded by the Australian Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) as part of The Distal Footprints of Giant Ore Systems: UNCOVER Australia Project (RP04-063)—Capricorn Distal Footprints. EAS also thanks the donors of The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for partial support of this research (61017-ND2).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Microfibres and macroscopic films from the coordination-driven hierarchical self-assembly of cylindrical micelles

Anisotropic nanoparticles prepared from block copolymers are of growing importance as building blocks for the creation of synthetic hierarchical materials. However, the assembly of these structural units is generally limited to the use of amphiphilic interactions. Here we report a simple, reversible coordination-driven hierarchical self-assembly strategy for the preparation of micron-scale fibres and macroscopic films based on monodisperse cylindrical block copolymer micelles. Coordination of Pd(0) metal centres to phosphine ligands immobilized within the soluble coronas of block copolymer micelles is found to induce intermicelle crosslinking, affording stable linear fibres comprised of micelle subunits in a staggered arrangement. The mean length of the fibres can be varied by altering the micelle concentration, reaction stoichiometry or aspect ratio of the micelle building blocks. Furthermore, the fibres aggregate on drying to form robust, self-supporting macroscopic micelle-based thin films with useful mechanical properties that are analogous to crosslinked polymer networks, but on a longer length scale

Analytical performance of an immunoprofiling assay based on RNA models

As immuno-oncology drugs grow more popular in the treatment of cancer, better methods are needed to quantify the tumor immune cell component to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from treatment. Methods such as flow cytometry can accurately assess the composition of infiltrating immune cells; however, they show limited use in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens. This article describes a novel hybrid-capture RNA sequencing assay, ImmunoPrism, that estimates the relative percentage abundance of eight immune cell types in FFPE solid tumors. Immune health expression models were generated using machine learning methods and used to uniquely identify each immune cell type using the most discriminatively expressed genes. The analytical performance of the assay was assessed using 101 libraries from 40 FFPE and 32 fresh-frozen samples. With defined samples, ImmunoPrism had a precision of ±2.72%, a total error of 2.75%, and a strong correlation (

Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: overview and implications for policy makers

This Series has examined the health implications of policies aimed at tackling climate change. Assessments of mitigation strategies in four domains-household energy, transport, food and agriculture, and electricity generation-suggest an important message: that actions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions often, although not always, entail net benefits for health. In some cases, the potential benefits seem to be substantial. This evidence provides an additional and immediate rationale for reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions beyond that of climate change mitigation alone. Climate change is an increasing and evolving threat to the health of populations worldwide. At the same time, major public health burdens remain in many regions. Climate change therefore adds further urgency to the task of addressing international health priorities, such as the UN Millennium Development Goals. Recognition that mitigation strategies can have substantial benefits for both health and climate protection offers the possibility of policy choices that are potentially both more cost effective and socially attractive than are those that address these priorities independently