Data rescue of rainfall records from the Dutch East Indies

Through trilateral cooperation between Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Japan, we have been working on data rescue of rainfall observation records from the Dutch East Indies in the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Digitized daily rainfall data from the beginning of the 20th century revealed clear seasonal changes between rainy seasons and dry seasons at six sites near the equator as well as large differences in annual rainfall and year-by-year changes among the sites. These indicate that the rainfall was influenced by geographical conditions such as the northwest monsoon, the southeast monsoon, and the surrounding seas

The London, Paris and De Bilt sub‐daily pressure series

The construction of sub-daily pressure series is described for the cities of London (GB) and Paris (FR). The series extend back 1692 and 1748, respectively, and as such they represent two of the longest sub-daily series of barometric pressure available. These series are updated from the previously documented London and Paris daily series and offer more homogeneous series, and in the case of the London series a more temporally complete sequence of data. A pairwise homogenization procedure has been applied to the two series alongside the long series of pressure that exists for De Bilt (NL). The De Bilt series has been available for some time in the International Surface Pressure Dataset (ISPD), but further quality control and homogeneity-checking procedures have been applied to the data in this paper and therefore the three series are released together in this dataset. The series are of immediate interest for understanding changes to storm activity across the English Channel and North Atlantic region over an extended timeframe but may also be assimilated into reanalysis datasets such as the 20th-century reanalysis

Substrate stiffness engineered to replicate disease conditions influence senescence and fibrotic responses in primary lung fibroblasts

In fibrosis remodelling of ECM leads to changes in composition and stiffness. Such changes can have a major impact on cell functions including proliferation, secretory profile and differentiation. Several studies have reported that fibrosis is characterised by increased senescence and accumulating evidence suggests that changes to the ECM including altered composition and increased stiffness may contribute to premature cellular senescence. This study investigated if increased stiffness could modulate markers of senescence and/or fibrosis in primary human lung fibroblasts. Using hydrogels representing stiffnesses that fall within healthy and fibrotic ranges, we cultured primary fibroblasts from non-diseased lung tissue on top of these hydrogels for up to 7 days before assessing senescence and fibrosis markers. Fibroblasts cultured on stiffer (±15 kPa) hydrogels showed higher Yes-associated protein-1 (YAP) nuclear translocation compared to soft hydrogels. When looking at senescence-associated proteins we also found higher secretion of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) but no change in transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) or connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression and higher decorin protein deposition on stiffer matrices. With respect to genes associated with fibrosis, fibroblasts on stiffer hydrogels compared to soft had higher expression of smooth muscle alpha (α)-2 actin (ACTA2), collagen (COL) 1A1 and fibulin-1 (Fbln1) and higher Fbln1 protein deposition after 7 days. Our results show that exposure of lung fibroblasts to fibrotic stiffness activates genes and secreted factors that are part of fibrotic responses and part of the Senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). This overlap may contribute to the creation of a feedback loop whereby fibroblasts create a perpetuating cycle reinforcing progression of a fibrotic response

Regulation of Cellular Senescence Is Independent from Profibrotic Fibroblast-Deposited ECM

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating lung disease with poor survival. Age is a major risk factor, and both alveolar epithelial cells and lung fibroblasts in this disease exhibit features of cellular senescence, a hallmark of ageing. Accumulation of fibrotic extracellular matrix (ECM) is a core feature of IPF and is likely to affect cell function. We hypothesize that aberrant ECM deposition augments fibroblast senescence, creating a perpetuating cycle favouring disease progression. In this study, primary lung fibroblasts were cultured on control and IPF-derived ECM from fibroblasts pretreated with or without profibrotic and prosenescent stimuli, and markers of senescence, fibrosis-associated gene expression and secretion of cytokines were measured. Untreated ECM derived from control or IPF fibroblasts had no effect on the main marker of senescence p16(Ink4a) and p21(Waf1/Cip1). However, the expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (ACTA2) and proteoglycan decorin (DCN) increased in response to IPF-derived ECM. Production of the proinflammatory cytokines C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 8 (CXCL8) by lung fibroblasts was upregulated in response to senescent and profibrotic-derived ECM. Finally, the profibrotic cytokines transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were upregulated in response to both senescent- and profibrotic-derived ECM. In summary, ECM deposited by IPF fibroblasts does not induce cellular senescence, while there is upregulation of proinflammatory and profibrotic cytokines and differentiation into a myofibroblast phenotype in response to senescent- and profibrotic-derived ECM, which may contribute to progression of fibrosis in IPF

Collagen type XIV is proportionally lower in the lung tissue of patients with IPF

Abnormal deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) in lung tissue is a characteristic of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Increased collagen deposition is also accompanied by altered collagen organization. Collagen type XIV, a fibril-associated collagen, supports collagen fibril organization. Its status in IPF has not been described at the protein level yet. In this study, we utilized publicly available datasets for single-cell RNA-sequencing for characterizing collagen type XIV expression at the gene level. For protein level comparison, we applied immunohistochemical staining for collagen type XIV on lung tissue sections from IPF patients and compared it to lung tissue sections from never smoking and ex-smoking donors. Analyzing the relative amounts of collagen type XIV at the whole tissue level, as well as in parenchyma, airway wall and bronchial epithelium, we found consistently lower proportions of collagen type XIV in all lung tissue compartments across IPF samples. Our study suggests proportionally lower collagen type XIV in IPF lung tissues may have implications for the assembly of the ECM fibers potentially contributing to progression of fibrosis.</p

Differential roles for lysyl oxidase (like), family members in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; from gene and protein expression to function:from gene and protein expression to function

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by long-term airflow obstruction with cigarette smoke as a key risk factor. Extracellular matrix (ECM) alterations in COPD may lead to small airway wall fibrosis. Altered collagen cross-linking, potentially mediated by the lysyl oxidase (LO) family of enzymes (LOX, LOXL1-4), orchestrates disturbed ECM homeostasis. In this study, we investigated the effects of smoking status and presence and severity of COPD on LOs gene and protein expression in the airways and the impact of LOs inhibition on airway contraction in an ex vivo mouse model. We used gene expression data from bronchial brushings, airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells in vitro and immunohistochemistry in lung tissue to assess smoke- and COPD-associated differences in LOs gene and protein expression in the small airways. We found higher LOX expression in current- compared to ex-smokers and higher LOXL1 expression in COPD compared to non-COPD patients. LOX and LOXL2 expression were upregulated in COPD ASM cells treated with cigarette smoke extract. LOXL1 and LOXL2 protein levels were higher in small airways from current- compared to non-smokers. In COPD patients, higher LOXL1 and lower LOX protein levels were observed, but no differences for LOXL2, LOXL3, and LOXL4 protein were detected in small airways. Inhibiting LOs activity increased airway contraction in murine lung slices. COPD-associated changes in LOs, in particular LOX and LOXL1, may be related to smoking and contribute to impaired airway function, providing potential novel targets for preventing or treating small airways changes in COPD

Age-associated differences in the human lung extracellular matrix

Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling has been associated with chronic lung diseases. However, information about specific age-associated differences in lung ECM is currently limited. In this study, we aimed to identify and localize age-associated ECM differences in human lungs using comprehensive transcriptomic, proteomic, and immunohistochemical analyses. Our previously identified age-associated gene expression signature of the lung was re-analyzed limiting it to an aging signature based on 270 control patients (37-80 years) and focused on the Matrisome core geneset using geneset enrichment analysis. To validate the age-associated transcriptomic differences on protein level, we compared the age-associated ECM genes (false discovery rate, FDR &lt; 0.05) with a profile of age-associated proteins identified from a lung tissue proteomics dataset from nine control patients (49-76 years) (FDR &lt; 0.05). Extensive immunohistochemical analysis was used to localize and semi-quantify the age-associated ECM differences in lung tissues from 62 control patients (18-82 years). Comparative analysis of transcriptomic and proteomic data identified seven ECM proteins with higher expression with age at both gene and protein levels: COL1A1, COL6A1, COL6A2, COL14A1, FBLN2, LTBP4, and LUM. With immunohistochemistry, we demonstrated higher protein levels with age for COL6A2 in whole tissue, parenchyma, airway wall, and blood vessel, for COL14A1 and LUM in bronchial epithelium, and COL1A1 in lung parenchyma. Our study revealed that higher age is associated with lung ECM remodeling, with specific differences occurring in defined regions within the lung. These differences may affect lung structure and physiology with aging and as such may increase susceptibility to developing chronic lung diseases. NEW &amp; NOTEWORTHY We identified seven age-associated extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, i.e., COL1A1, COL6A1, COL6A2 COL14A1, FBLN2, LTBP4, and LUM with higher transcript and protein levels in human lung tissue with age. Extensive immunohistochemical analysis revealed significant age-associated differences for COL6A2 in whole tissue, parenchyma, airway wall, and vessel, for COL14A1 and LUM in bronchial epithelium, and COL1A1 in parenchyma. Our findings lay a new foundation for the investigation of ECM differences in age-associated chronic lung diseases. </p

The International Surface Pressure Databank version 2

The International Surface Pressure Databank (ISPD) is the world's largest collection of global surface and sea-level pressure observations. It was developed by extracting observations from established international archives, through international cooperation with data recovery facilitated by the Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) initiative, and directly by contributing universities, organizations, and countries. The dataset period is currently 1768–2012 and consists of three data components: observations from land stations, marine observing systems, and tropical cyclone best track pressure reports. Version 2 of the ISPD (ISPDv2) was created to be observational input for the Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project (20CR) and contains the quality control and assimilation feedback metadata from the 20CR. Since then, it has been used for various general climate and weather studies, and an updated version 3 (ISPDv3) has been used in the ERA-20C reanalysis in connection with the European Reanalysis of Global Climate Observations project (ERA-CLIM). The focus of this paper is on the ISPDv2 and the inclusion of the 20CR feedback metadata. The Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research provides data collection and access for the ISPDv2, and will provide access to future versions