Comments on some recent measurements of anomalously steep N2O and O3tracer spectra in the stratospheric surf zone

Recent aircraft measurements, primarily in the extratropics, of the horizontal variance of nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3) in the middle stratosphere indicate that horizontal spectra of the tracer variance scale nearly as k−2, where k is the spatial wavenumber along the aircraft flight track [Strahan and Mahlman, 1994; Bacmeister et al., 1996]. This spectral scaling has been regarded as inconsistent with the accepted picture of stratospheric tracer motion; large-scale quasi-two-dimensional tracer advection typically yields a k−1 scaling (i.e., the classical Batchelor spectrum). In this paper it is argued that the nearly k−2 scaling seen in the measurements is a natural outcome of quasi-two-dimensional filamentation of the polar vortex edge. The accepted picture of stratospheric tracer motion can thus be retained: no additional physical processes are needed to account for deviations from the Batchelor spectrum. Our argument is based on the finite lifetime of tracer filaments and on the “singularity spectrum” associated with a one-dimensional field composed of randomly spaced jumps in concentration

Expansion of the R4 Water Maser Arc Near Cepheus A HW 2

We present new (April 2000) MERLIN observations of the H2O masers located near the protostar Cepheus A HW2. The MERLIN observations detect many of the structures found in earlier (1996) VLBA observations of Torrelles and collaborators, and the changed positions of these structures are compatible with the VLBA proper motions and astrometric uncertainties. The radius of curvature of the R4 structure of maser arcs appears to have grown by a factor of two, and the displacement of the arcs between 1996 and 2000 are compatible with expansion about a common center. In addition, the MERLIN observations detect red-shifted masers not previously found; taken with the newly discovered masers, the R4 structure now resembles patchy emission from an elliptical ring. We demonstrate that a simple bow-shock model cannot simultaneously account for the shape and the velocity gradient of the R4 structure. A model involving a slow, hydromagnetic shock propagating into a rotating, circumstellar disk better describes the maser spot kinematics and luminosities. In this model, the central mass is 3 solar masses, and we demonstrate that the mass of the disk is negligible in comparison. The expansion velocity of the post-shock gas, roughly 5 km / s, is slow compared to the average shock velocity (roughly 13 km / s) suggesting that the post-shock gas is magnetically supported with a characteristic field strength of roughly 30 mG. We speculate that the expanding maser rings R4 and R5 may be generated by periodic, instability-driven winds from young stars that periodically send spherical shocks into the surrounding circumstellar material.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Uses emulateapj5.sty. Updated: removed previews from postscript figures to make them more arxiv-friendl

How homogeneous and isotropic is stratospheric mixing? Comparison of CRISTA-1 observations with transport studies based on the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS)

The Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) is used for the interpretation of N2O observed during the CRISTA-1 experiment in early November 1994. By comparing CRISTA data with CLaMS simulations, the impact of the large-scale horizontal deformations on mixing is studied. Using the probability density function technique (PDF) quantifying the statistics of N2O variability, the critical deformation gamma(c) was inferred that triggers the mixing algorithm in CLaMS. The critical deformation gamma(c) measures the ratio between the major and minor axes of the ellipse resulting from the stretching of a circle surrounding a given Lagrangian air parcel, i.e. only deformations stronger than gamma(c) are relevant for mixing in CLaMS.The PDF derived from CRISTA observations at 700 K and on horizontal scales of the order of 200 km is characterized by a Gaussian core and non-Gaussian tails indicating filamentary structures typical for 2D turbulence. The PDFs obtained from CLaMS simulations strongly depend on gamma(c) but only weakly on the horizontal resolution r(0) that was varied between 45 and 200 km. The choice gamma(c) = 0.8 in the model best reproduces the observed PDE This implies that the large-scale isentropic transport leads to scale collapse and subsequent mixing in those parts of the flow where on a time scale approximate to 12 hours and a spatial scale approximate to 200 km the flow stretches a circle to an ellipse with the ratio between the major and minor axes exceeding 5. Owing to the spatial resolution of the CRISTA instrument that smooths out the non-Gaussian tails, the elongation rate approximate to 5 estimates only the lower bound of the critical deformation.Furthermore, our simulations show that air masses of low N2O amounts observed by CRISTA between 20 degrees and 40 degrees S are fragments of the polar vortex that have been peeled from the vortex edge. The history of these fragments can be divided into two phases: formation and mixing of filaments at the vortex edge where gamma > gamma(c) and pure advection of the remnants of such filaments into midlatitudes in flow regions with gamma < gamma(c). Here, the lifetime of such remnants may exceed two weeks due to negligible mixing in these parts of the flow

Transmission of HIV drug resistance and the predicted effect on current first-line regimens in Europe

Numerous studies have shown that baseline drug resistance patterns may influence the outcome of antiretroviral therapy. Therefore, guidelines recommend drug resistance testing to guide the choice of initial regimen. In addition to optimizing individual patient management, these baseline resistance data enable transmitted drug resistance (TDR) to be surveyed for public health purposes. The SPREAD program systematically collects data to gain insight into TDR occurring in Europe since 2001. Demographic, clinical, and virological data from 4140 antiretroviral-naive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals from 26 countries who were newly diagnosed between 2008 and 2010 were analyzed. Evidence of TDR was defined using the WHO list for surveillance of drug resistance mutations. Prevalence of TDR was assessed over time by comparing the results to SPREAD data from 2002 to 2007. Baseline susceptibility to antiretroviral drugs was predicted using the Stanford HIVdb program version 7.0. The overall prevalence of TDR did not change significantly over time and was 8.3% (95% confidence interval, 7.2%-9.5%) in 2008-2010. The most frequent indicators of TDR were nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) mutations (4.5%), followed by nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) mutations (2.9%) and protease inhibitor mutations (2.0%). Baseline mutations were most predictive of reduced susceptibility to initial NNRTI-based regimens: 4.5% and 6.5% of patient isolates were predicted to have resistance to regimens containing efavirenz or rilpivirine, respectively, independent of current NRTI backbones. Although TDR was highest for NRTIs, the impact of baseline drug resistance patterns on susceptibility was largest for NNRTIs. The prevalence of TDR assessed by epidemiological surveys does not clearly indicate to what degree susceptibility to different drug classes is affected

Limited cross-border infections in patients newly diagnosed with HIV in Europe

Background: International travel plays a role in the spread of HIV-1 across Europe. It is, however, not known whether international travel is more important for spread of the epidemic as compared to endogenous infections within single countries. In this study, phylogenetic associations among HIV of newly diagnosed patients were determined across Europe.Results: Data came from the SPREAD programme which collects samples of newly diagnosed patients that are representative for national HIV epidemics. 4260 pol sequences from 25 European countries and Israel collected in 2002-2007 were included.We identified 457 clusters including 1330 persons (31.2% of all patients). The cluster size ranged between 2 and 28. A number of 987 patients (74.2%) were part of a cluster that consisted only of patients originating from the same country. In addition, 135 patients (10.2%) were in a cluster including only individuals from neighboring countries. Finally, 208 patients (15.6%) clustered with individuals from countries without a common border. Clustering with patients from the same country was less prevalent in patients being infected with B subtype (P-value &lt;0.0001), in men who have sex with men (P-value &lt;0.0001), and in recently infected patients (P-value =0.045).Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the transmission of HIV-1 in Europe is predominantly occurring between patients from the same country. This could have implications for HIV-1 transmission prevention programmes. Because infections through travelling between countries is not frequently observed it is important to have good surveillance of the national HIV-1 epidemics. © 2013 Frentz et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd