106 research outputs found

    Pathways and mechanisms of offshore water intrusions on the Espírito Santo Basin shelf (18°S–22°S, Brazil)

    Get PDF
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 (2016): 5134–5163, doi:10.1002/2015JC011468.The pathways and physical mechanisms associated with intrusions of cold, nutrient-rich South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) on the continental shelf of the Espírito Santo Basin (ESB), off southeast Brazil (18°S–22°S), are investigated. To this end, a set of process-oriented, Primitive-Equation (PE) numerical models are used, together with an independent and more complete PE model, available observations and simple theoretical ideas. SACW enters the model ESB shelf mostly through two preferential pathways along the Tubarão Bight (TB, 19.5°S–22°S). These pathways are found to be locations where an equatorward along-isobath pressure gradient force (PGFy*) of inline image m s−2) develops in response to steady wind forcing. This equatorward PGFy* is essentially in geostrophic balance, inducing onshore flow across the shelf edge, and most of the shelf proper. The Brazil Current (BC) imparts an additional periodic (in the along-shelf direction) PGFy* on the shelf. The intrinsic pycnocline uplifting effect of the BC in making colder water available at the shelf edge is quantified. The BC also induces local intrusions by inertially overshooting the shelf edge, consistent with estimated Rossby numbers of inline image0.3–0.5. In addition, the planetary β-effect is related to a background equatorward PGFy*. A modified Arrested Topographic Wave model is shown to be a plausible rationalization for the shelf-wide spreading of the pressure field imparted by the BC at the shelf edge. The deep-ocean processes examined here are found to enhance the onshore transport of SACW, while wind forcing is found to dominate it at leading order.The first author acknowledges support from the S~ao Paulo Research Foundation (Fundac¸~ao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de S~ao Paulo, FAPESP), via grants 2013/11465–4 and 2014/03451–6. Kenneth Brink acknowledges support from NSF (grant OCE-1433953). Ilson da Silveira acknowledges support from FAPESP 08/58101–9, CNPq 3071122/2010–7, and CAPES 2201/2014. Wilton Arruda acknowledges support from CNPq (MCTI/CNPq/Universal 14/2014, grant 443162/2014–0), and from INCT–Mar– COI, MCTI/CNPq grant 565062/2010–7. Renato Martins acknowledges support from Petr oleo Brasileiro S/A (AMBES Project, PT–133.01.10636).2017-01-3

    The Grizzly, September 5, 2002

    Get PDF
    143 Students Call Richter / North Hall Home • Under Construction Again: Field House Floor to be Redone • Orientation 2002 a Success for Freshmen and OAs • Bridge Program Unique and Important at Ursinus • Y100 at Ursinus • Freshmen Give Three Thumbs Up to Their So-Called Overcrowded Rooms • Opinions: Dirty Rooms Make Move-in Extra Grungy; What\u27s it Liked to be Named Bart?; Enemy Combatant Declarations: Wrong Policy for America • Bored? Get Some Brotherly Love in Your Life • Comparative Pricing Report: Snack Foods • Field Hockey Makes a Move to Centennial Conference • X-Country Boys and Girls Ranked 8th in Conference • Volleyball Jumps Out to Positive Start • Men\u27s Soccer Regroups with New Coach • Women\u27s Soccer go 2-0 in First Weekend of Play • Bearcock\u27s Rugby Returns for Second Season • Football Team Prepares for big Season Opener Against Washington & Jefferson • Roller Hockey Club to Play in PCRHL • Dougherty Sets Course Record in Brian Dennis Memorial X-Country Meethttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1517/thumbnail.jp

    Preoperative Brain Tumor Imaging:Models and Software for Segmentation and Standardized Reporting

    Get PDF
    For patients suffering from brain tumor, prognosis estimation and treatment decisions are made by a multidisciplinary team based on a set of preoperative MR scans. Currently, the lack of standardized and automatic methods for tumor detection and generation of clinical reports, incorporating a wide range of tumor characteristics, represents a major hurdle. In this study, we investigate the most occurring brain tumor types: glioblastomas, lower grade gliomas, meningiomas, and metastases, through four cohorts of up to 4,000 patients. Tumor segmentation models were trained using the AGU-Net architecture with different preprocessing steps and protocols. Segmentation performances were assessed in-depth using a wide-range of voxel and patient-wise metrics covering volume, distance, and probabilistic aspects. Finally, two software solutions have been developed, enabling an easy use of the trained models and standardized generation of clinical reports: Raidionics and Raidionics-Slicer. Segmentation performances were quite homogeneous across the four different brain tumor types, with an average true positive Dice ranging between 80 and 90%, patient-wise recall between 88 and 98%, and patient-wise precision around 95%. In conjunction to Dice, the identified most relevant other metrics were the relative absolute volume difference, the variation of information, and the Hausdorff, Mahalanobis, and object average symmetric surface distances. With our Raidionics software, running on a desktop computer with CPU support, tumor segmentation can be performed in 16-54 s depending on the dimensions of the MRI volume. For the generation of a standardized clinical report, including the tumor segmentation and features computation, 5-15 min are necessary. All trained models have been made open-access together with the source code for both software solutions and validation metrics computation. In the future, a method to convert results from a set of metrics into a final single score would be highly desirable for easier ranking across trained models. In addition, an automatic classification of the brain tumor type would be necessary to replace manual user input. Finally, the inclusion of post-operative segmentation in both software solutions will be key for generating complete post-operative standardized clinical reports

    Differential Actions of Chlorhexidine on the Cell Wall of Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli

    Get PDF
    Chlorhexidine is a chlorinated phenolic disinfectant used commonly in mouthwash for its action against bacteria. However, a comparative study of the action of chlorhexidine on the cell morphology of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria is lacking. In this study, the actions of chlorhexidine on the cell morphology were identified with the aids of electron microscopy. After exposure to chlorhexidine, numerous spots of indentation on the cell wall were found in both Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. The number of indentation spots increased with time of incubation and increasing chlorhexidine concentration. Interestingly, the dented spots found in B. subtilis appeared mainly at the hemispherical caps of the cells, while in E. coli the dented spots were found all over the cells. After being exposed to chlorhexidine for a prolonged period, leakage of cellular contents and subsequent ghost cells were observed, especially from B subtilis. By using 2-D gel/MS-MS analysis, five proteins related to purine nucleoside interconversion and metabolism were preferentially induced in the cell wall of E. coli, while three proteins related to stress response and four others in amino acid biosynthesis were up-regulated in the cell wall materials of B. subtilis. The localized morphological damages together with the biochemical and protein analysis of the chlorhexidine-treated cells suggest that chlorhexidine may act on the differentially distributed lipids in the cell membranes/wall of B. subtilis and E. coli

    Common genetic determinants of intraocular pressure and primary open-angle Glaucoma

    Get PDF
    10.1371/journal.pgen.1002611PLoS Genetics85

    Spousal Influences on Parents' Non-Market Time Choices

    Full text link
    This paper considers the effect of spouse's characteristics on three aggregated non-paid time uses, active leisure time; child caregiving time; and home production time, using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). The time diary of each married individual with children under the age of 13 (mothers and fathers) is analyzed, both in terms of the level of non-paid time and the wife's share of the total level of the daily activity for the couple. Three spousal variables: the relative wage of the wife compared to her husband, spouses' weekly hours of employment; and, in the level equations only, the spouses' time in the same activity are considered. Each of these spousal variables needs to be estimated in order to address issues of both endogeneity and missing data. Three alternative strategies to address these problems are explored: predictions within the sample, predictions from outside the sample and propensity matching which marries mothers with time diaries to fathers with time diaries who have propensity scores similar to the women's husband. The results show very little effect of one spouse on the level of other spouse's unpaid time use. This absence of spousal effects is similar to the reduction of spousal effects in employment time described in Blau and Kahn (2005). In terms of the share of wife's time in the activity, we find higher relative wages of the mother compared to her husband leads to a greater share of child care done by the mother on both weekdays and weekends. No consistent effect of relative wages is found on the mother's share of leisure or home production

    Bacterial Heat-Stable Enterotoxins: Translation of Pathogenic Peptides into Novel Targeted Diagnostics and Therapeutics

    Get PDF
    Heat-stable toxins (STs) produced by enterotoxigenic bacteria cause endemic and traveler’s diarrhea by binding to and activating the intestinal receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GC-C). Advances in understanding the biology of GC-C have extended ST from a diarrheagenic peptide to a novel therapeutic agent. Here, we summarize the physiological and pathophysiological role of GC-C in fluid-electrolyte regulation and intestinal crypt-villus homeostasis, as well as describe translational opportunities offered by STs, reflecting the unique characteristics of GC-C, in treating irritable bowel syndrome and chronic constipation, and in preventing and treating colorectal cancer

    The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement:208 Evidence-based conclusions about the disorder

    Get PDF
    Background: Misconceptions about ADHD stigmatize affected people, reduce credibility of providers, and prevent/delay treatment. To challenge misconceptions, we curated findings with strong evidence base. Methods: We reviewed studies with more than 2000 participants or meta-analyses from five or more studies or 2000 or more participants. We excluded meta-analyses that did not assess publication bias, except for meta-analyses of prevalence. For network meta-analyses we required comparison adjusted funnel plots. We excluded treatment studies with waiting-list or treatment as usual controls. From this literature, we extracted evidence-based assertions about the disorder. Results: We generated 208 empirically supported statements about ADHD. The status of the included statements as empirically supported is approved by 80 authors from 27 countries and 6 continents. The contents of the manuscript are endorsed by 366 people who have read this document and agree with its contents. Conclusions: Many findings in ADHD are supported by meta-analysis. These allow for firm statements about the nature, course, outcome causes, and treatments for disorders that are useful for reducing misconceptions and stigma.</p

    Adaptive preconditioning in neurological diseases -­ therapeutic insights from proteostatic perturbations

    Get PDF
    International audienceIn neurological disorders, both acute and chronic neural stress can disrupt cellular proteostasis, resulting in the generation of pathological protein. However in most cases, neurons adapt to these proteostatic perturbations by activating a range of cellular protective and repair responses, thus maintaining cell function. These interconnected adaptive mechanisms comprise a 'proteostasis network' and include the unfolded protein response, the ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy. Interestingly, several recent studies have shown that these adaptive responses can be stimulated by preconditioning treatments, which confer resistance to a subsequent toxic challenge - the phenomenon known as hormesis. In this review we discuss the impact of adaptive stress responses stimulated in diverse human neuropathologies including Parkinson´s disease, Wolfram syndrome, brain ischemia, and brain cancer. Further, we examine how these responses - and the molecular pathways they recruit - might be exploited for therapeutic gai

    High-pitch dual-source CT angiography of the aortic valve-aortic root complex without ECG-synchronization.

    Full text link
    PURPOSE: To compare image quality and radiation dose of high-pitch computed tomography angiography(CTA) of the aortic valve-aortic root complex with and without prospective ECG-gating compared to a retrospectively ECG-gated standard-pitch acquisition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 120 patients(mean age 68 +/- 13 years) were examined using a 128-slice dual-source CT system using prospectively ECG-gated high-pitch(group A; n = 40), non-ECG-gated high-pitch(group B; n = 40) or retrospectively ECG-gated standard-pitch(C; n = 40) acquisition techniques. Image quality of the aortic root, valve and ascending aorta including the coronary ostia was assessed by two independent readers. Image noise was measured, radiation dose estimates were calculated. RESULTS: Interobserver agreement was good(kappa = 0.64-0.78). Image quality was diagnostic in 38/40 patients(group A), 37/40(B) and 38/40(C) with no significant difference in number of patients with diagnostic image quality among all groups (p = 0.56). Significantly more patients showed excellent image quality in group A compared to groups B and C(each, p < 0.01). Average image noise was significantly different between all groups(p < 0.05). Mean radiation dose estimates in groups A and B(each; 2.4 +/- 0.3 mSv) were significantly lower compared to group C(17.5 +/- 4.4 mSv; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: High-pitch dual-source CTA provides diagnostic image quality of the aortic valve-aortic root complex even without ECG-gating at 86% less radiation dose when compared to a standard-pitch ECG-gated acquisition
    corecore