Lidar technology measurements and technology: Report of panel

Lidar is ready to make an important contribution to tropospheric chemistry research with a variety of spaceborne measurements that complement the measurements from passive instruments. Lidar can now be considered for near-term and far-term space missions dealing with a number of scientifically important issues in tropospheric chemistry. The evolution in the lidar missions from space are addressed and details of these missions are given. The laser availability for space missions based upon the technical data is assessed

Solid Freeform Fabrication of Transparent Fused Quartz using a Filament Fed Process

Glass is a critical material for many scientific and engineering applications including optics, communications, electronics, and hermetic seals. Despite this technological relevance, there has been minimal research toward Additive Manufacturing (AM) of glass, particularly optically transparent glass. Additive Manufacturing of transparent glass offers potential advantages for lower processing costs for small production volumes, increased design freedom, and the ability to locally vary the optical properties of the part. Compared to common soda lime glass, fused quartz is better for AM since it has lower thermal expansion and higher index homogeneity. This paper presents a study of additive manufacturing of transparent fused quartz by a filament fed process. A CW CO2 laser (10.6 µm) is used to melt glass filaments layer by layer. The laser couples to phononic modes in the glass and is well absorbed. The beam and melt pool are stationary while the work piece is scanned using a standard lab motion system. Representative parts are built to explore the effects of variable laser power on the properties of printed fused quartz. During printing the incandescent emission from the melt pool is measured using a spectrometer. This permits process monitoring and identifies potential chemical changes in the glass during printing. After deposition, the printed parts are polished and the transmission measured to calculate the absorption/scattering coefficient. Finally, a low-order thermal analysis is presented and correlated to experimental results, including an energy balance and finite volume analysis using Fluent. These results suggest that optical quality fused quartz parts with low absorption and high index of refraction uniformity may be printed using the filament-fed process

Large-scale discovery of enhancers from human heart tissue.

Development and function of the human heart depend on the dynamic control of tissue-specific gene expression by distant-acting transcriptional enhancers. To generate an accurate genome-wide map of human heart enhancers, we used an epigenomic enhancer discovery approach and identified ∼6,200 candidate enhancer sequences directly from fetal and adult human heart tissue. Consistent with their predicted function, these elements were markedly enriched near genes implicated in heart development, function and disease. To further validate their in vivo enhancer activity, we tested 65 of these human sequences in a transgenic mouse enhancer assay and observed that 43 (66%) drove reproducible reporter gene expression in the heart. These results support the discovery of a genome-wide set of noncoding sequences highly enriched in human heart enhancers that is likely to facilitate downstream studies of the role of enhancers in development and pathological conditions of the heart

Development and Validation of a 28-gene Hypoxia-related Prognostic Signature for Localized Prostate Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia is associated with a poor prognosis in prostate cancer. This work aimed to derive and validate a hypoxia-related mRNA signature for localized prostate cancer. METHOD: Hypoxia genes were identified in vitro via RNA-sequencing and combined with in vivo gene co-expression analysis to generate a signature. The signature was independently validated in eleven prostate cancer cohorts and a bladder cancer phase III randomized trial of radiotherapy alone or with carbogen and nicotinamide (CON). RESULTS: A 28-gene signature was derived. Patients with high signature scores had poorer biochemical recurrence free survivals in six of eight independent cohorts of prostatectomy-treated patients (Log rank test P \u3c .05), with borderline significances achieved in the other two (P \u3c .1). The signature also predicted biochemical recurrence in patients receiving post-prostatectomy radiotherapy (n = 130, P = .007) or definitive radiotherapy alone (n = 248, P = .035). Lastly, the signature predicted metastasis events in a pooled cohort (n = 631, P = .002). Prognostic significance remained after adjusting for clinic-pathological factors and commercially available prognostic signatures. The signature predicted benefit from hypoxia-modifying therapy in bladder cancer patients (intervention-by-signature interaction test P = .0026), where carbogen and nicotinamide was associated with improved survival only in hypoxic tumours. CONCLUSION: A 28-gene hypoxia signature has strong and independent prognostic value for prostate cancer patients

Proper Motions of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging. III: Measurement for Ursa Minor

This article presents a measurement of the proper motion of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy determined from images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in two distinct fields.Comment: AJ, accepted; 23 pages, 17 figures (Fig. 1 abridged), 5 table

Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite in high-SiO2 sedimentary rock at Gale crater

Tridymite, a SiO2 mineral that crystallizes at low pressures and high temperatures (>870 °C) from high-SiO2 materials, was detected at high concentrations in a sedimentary mudstone in Gale crater, Mars. Mineralogy and abundance were determined by X-ray diffraction using the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. Terrestrial tridymite is commonly associated with silicic volcanism where high temperatures and high-silica magmas prevail, so this occurrence is the first in situ mineralogical evidence for martian silicic volcanism. Multistep processes, including high-temperature alteration of silica-rich residues of acid sulfate leaching, are alternate formation pathways for martian tridymite but are less likely. The unexpected discovery of tridymite is further evidence of the complexity of igneous petrogenesis on Mars, with igneous evolution to high-SiO2 compositions

The Airborne Metagenome in an Indoor Urban Environment

The indoor atmosphere is an ecological unit that impacts on public health. To investigate the composition of organisms in this space, we applied culture-independent approaches to microbes harvested from the air of two densely populated urban buildings, from which we analyzed 80 megabases genomic DNA sequence and 6000 16S rDNA clones. The air microbiota is primarily bacteria, including potential opportunistic pathogens commonly isolated from human-inhabited environments such as hospitals, but none of the data contain matches to virulent pathogens or bioterror agents. Comparison of air samples with each other and nearby environments suggested that the indoor air microbes are not random transients from surrounding outdoor environments, but rather originate from indoor niches. Sequence annotation by gene function revealed specific adaptive capabilities enriched in the air environment, including genes potentially involved in resistance to desiccation and oxidative damage. This baseline index of air microbiota will be valuable for improving designs of surveillance for natural or man-made release of virulent pathogens

Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite in high-SiO_2 sedimentary rock at Gale crater

Tridymite, a low-pressure, high-temperature (>870 °C) SiO_2 polymorph, was detected in a drill sample of laminated mudstone (Buckskin) at Marias Pass in Gale crater, Mars, by the Chemistry and Mineralogy X-ray diffraction instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. The tridymitic mudstone has ∼40 wt.% crystalline and ∼60 wt.% X-ray amorphous material and a bulk composition with ∼74 wt.% SiO_2 (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer analysis). Plagioclase (∼17 wt.% of bulk sample), tridymite (∼14 wt.%), sanidine (∼3 wt.%), cation-deficient magnetite (∼3 wt.%), cristobalite (∼2 wt.%), and anhydrite (∼1 wt.%) are the mudstone crystalline minerals. Amorphous material is silica-rich (∼39 wt.% opal-A and/or high-SiO_2 glass and opal-CT), volatile-bearing (16 wt.% mixed cation sulfates, phosphates, and chlorides−perchlorates−chlorates), and has minor TiO_2 and Fe_2O_3T oxides (∼5 wt.%). Rietveld refinement yielded a monoclinic structural model for a well-crystalline tridymite, consistent with high formation temperatures. Terrestrial tridymite is commonly associated with silicic volcanism, and detritus from such volcanism in a “Lake Gale” catchment environment can account for Buckskin’s tridymite, cristobalite, feldspar, and any residual high-SiO_2 glass. These cogenetic detrital phases are possibly sourced from the Gale crater wall/rim/central peak. Opaline silica could form during diagenesis from high-SiO_2 glass, as amorphous precipitated silica, or as a residue of acidic leaching in the sediment source region or at Marias Pass. The amorphous mixed-cation salts and oxides and possibly the crystalline magnetite (otherwise detrital) are primary precipitates and/or their diagenesis products derived from multiple infiltrations of aqueous solutions having variable compositions, temperatures, and acidities. Anhydrite is post lithification fracture/vein fill

Sequencing of prostate cancers identifies new cancer genes, routes of progression and drug targets

Prostate cancer represents a substantial clinical challenge because it is difficult to predict outcome and advanced disease is often fatal. We sequenced the whole genomes of 112 primary and metastatic prostate cancer samples. From joint analysis of these cancers with those from previous studies (930 cancers in total), we found evidence for 22 previously unidentified putative driver genes harboring coding mutations, as well as evidence for NEAT1 and FOXA1 acting as drivers through noncoding mutations. Through the temporal dissection of aberrations, we identified driver mutations specifically associated with steps in the progression of prostate cancer, establishing, for example, loss of CHD1 and BRCA2 as early events in cancer development of ETS fusion-negative cancers. Computational chemogenomic (canSAR) analysis of prostate cancer mutations identified 11 targets of approved drugs, 7 targets of investigational drugs, and 62 targets of compounds that may be active and should be considered candidates for future clinical trials