Sedimentary and Geomorphic Origin and Development of Plum Island, Massachusetts: An Example of a Barrier Island Sytem

Guidebook for field trips to the Boston area and vicinity : 68th annual meeting, New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, October 8-10, 1976: Trip A-8; B-

Reconstruction of the spatial dependency of dielectric and geometrical properties of adhesively bonded structures

An inverse problem motivated by the nondestructive testing of adhesively bonded structures used in the aircraft industry is studied. Using transmission line theory, a model is developed which, when supplied with electrical and geometrical parameters, accurately predicts the reflection coefficient associated with such structures. Particular attention is paid to modelling the connection between the structures and the equipment used to measure the reflection coefficient. The inverse problem is then studied and an optimization approach employed to recover these electrical and geometrical parameters from experimentally obtained data. In particular the approach focuses on the recovery of spatially varying geometrical parameters as this is paramount to the successful reconstruction of electrical parameters. Reconstructions of structure geometry using this method are found to be in close agreement with experimental observations

Surface distribution of Foraminifera in a New England salt marsh: Plum Island, Massachusetts

Salt marsh agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages, floristie zones and environmental subdivisions along the Plum Island barrier island system in Massachusetts resemble the zonation pattern for coastal marshes in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Forty-three surface samples from high marsh, low marsh, tidal channel margin and elevated surface environments yielded seven species: Trochanmina macrescens, Tr. Inflate, Miliammina fusca. Tiphotrocha comprimata. Amotium sal sum, Haplophragmoides bonplandi, and Arenoparelia mexicana. Analysis of the dead to living ratios does not show a significant preservational difference among the salt marsh environments. Analysis of the total distributions indicates significant differences among the foraminiferal assemblages as a function of surface environments. The high marsh is characterized by Trochanmina macrescens, Tiphotrocha comprimata and two of the lesa common species. The low marsh is characterized by Miliammina fusca, Trochanmina inflate, and Ammotium salsum. The tidal channel margin assemblage is similar to that of the low marsh except that Ammotium salsum is no longer significant. Although the elevated marsh surfaces contained no living specimens, a high marsh type assemblage of dead specimens was present. These cosmopolitan foraminiferal assemblages should be valid discriminators for the reconstruction of Holocene salt marsh paleoenvironments in many regions. RÉSUMÉ Dans les marais salants longeant le système de flèches littoralea de Plum Island, au Massachusetts, les assemblages de foraminifères agglutinants, les zones floristiques et les subdivisions environneroentales observés ressemblent au zonage des marais côtlers des Maritimes. Quarante-trois écbantillons de surface des slikkes, schorres, chenaux de marée et bancs de surface élevés ont livre sept espèces: Trochanmina macrescens, Tr. Inflate, Miliammina fusca. Tiphotrocha comprimata. Amotium sal sum, Haplophragmoides bonplandi, et Arenoparelia mexicana. Une analyse des rapports morts/vivants ne montre aucune différence notable entre les environneraents de marais salants. Une analyse des distributions totales indique des différences notables entre les assemblages de foraminifères en fonction des environmements de surface. La schorre se caractérise par T. macrescens, T. comprimata et deux especes moins communes. La slikke se distingue par M. fusca. T. infJata et A. salsum. Les assemblages de bordure des chenaux de marées ressemblent à la slikke bien qu' A. salsum n'y soit plus preponderant. Bien que les bancs élevés du marais ne contiennent aucun spécimen vivant, on y rencontre un assemblage de spécimens morts typique de la schorre. Ces assemblages cosmopolites de foraminifères devraient pouvoir servir d'indicateurs valides lors de la reconstitution des paléomilieux de marais salants holocènes dans plusieurs régions. [Traduit par le journal

Multispectral fingerprinting for improved in vivo cell dynamics analysis

Background: Tracing cell dynamics in the embryo becomes tremendously difficult when cell trajectories cross in space and time and tissue density obscure individual cell borders. Here, we used the chick neural crest (NC) as a model to test multicolor cell labeling and multispectral confocal imaging strategies to overcome these roadblocks. Results: We found that multicolor nuclear cell labeling and multispectral imaging led to improved resolution of in vivo NC cell identification by providing a unique spectral identity for each cell. NC cell spectral identity allowed for more accurate cell tracking and was consistent during short term time-lapse imaging sessions. Computer model simulations predicted significantly better object counting for increasing cell densities in 3-color compared to 1-color nuclear cell labeling. To better resolve cell contacts, we show that a combination of 2-color membrane and 1-color nuclear cell labeling dramatically improved the semi-automated analysis of NC cell interactions, yet preserved the ability to track cell movements. We also found channel versus lambda scanning of multicolor labeled embryos significantly reduced the time and effort of image acquisition and analysis of large 3D volume data sets. Conclusions: Our results reveal that multicolor cell labeling and multispectral imaging provide a cellular fingerprint that may uniquely determine a cell's position within the embryo. Together, these methods offer a spectral toolbox to resolve in vivo cell dynamics in unprecedented detail

Extracellular free water and glutathione in first-episode psychosis-a multimodal investigation of an inflammatory model for psychosis.

Evidence has been accumulating for an immune-based component to the etiology of psychotic disorders. Advancements in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have enabled estimation of extracellular free water (FW), a putative biomarker of neuroinflammation. Furthermore, inflammatory processes may be associated with altered brain levels of metabolites, such as glutathione (GSH). Consequently, we sought to test the hypotheses that FW is increased and associated with decreased GSH in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (SZ) compared with healthy controls (HC). SZ (n = 36) and HC (n = 40) subjects underwent a multi-shell diffusion MRI scan on a Siemens 3T scanner. 1H-MR spectroscopy data were acquired using a GSH-optimized MEGA-PRESS editing sequence and GSH/creatine ratios were calculated for DLPFC (SZ: n = 33, HC: n = 37) and visual cortex (SZ: n = 29, HC: n = 35) voxels. Symptoms and functioning were measured using the SANS, SAPS, BPRS, and GSF/GRF. SZ demonstrated significantly elevated FW in whole-brain gray (p = .001) but not white matter (p = .060). There was no significant difference between groups in GSH in either voxel. However, there was a significant negative correlation between DLPFC GSH and both whole-brain and DLPFC-specific gray matter FW in SZ (r = -.48 and -.47, respectively; both p < .05), while this relationship was nonsignificant in HC and in both groups in the visual cortex. These data illustrate an important relationship between a metabolite known to be important for immune function-GSH-and the diffusion extracellular FW measure, which provides additional support for these measures as neuroinflammatory biomarkers that could potentially provide tractable treatment targets to guide pharmacological intervention

Management of Children With Chronic Wet Cough and Protracted Bacterial Bronchitis CHEST Guideline and Expert Panel Report

BACKGROUND: Wet or productive cough is common in children with chronic cough. We formulated recommendations based on systematic reviews related to the management of chronic wet cough in children (aged METHODS: We used the CHEST expert cough panel\u27s protocol for systematic reviews and the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) methodologic guidelines and GRADE framework (the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). Data from the systematic reviews in conjunction with patients\u27 values and preferences and the clinical context were used to form recommendations. Delphi methodology was used to obtain consensus for the recommendations/suggestions made. RESULTS: Combining data from the systematic reviews, we found high-quality evidence in children aged 4 weeks\u27 duration) wet/productive cough that using appropriate antibiotics improves cough resolution, and further investigations (eg, flexible bronchoscopy, chest CT scans, immunity tests) should be undertaken when specific cough pointers (eg, digital clubbing) are present. When the wet cough does not improve following 4 weeks of antibiotic treatment, there is moderate-quality evidence that further investigations should be considered to look for an underlying disease. New recommendations include the recognition of the clinical diagnostic entity of protracted bacterial bronchitis. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the 2006 Cough Guidelines, there is now high-quality evidence for some, but not all, aspects of the management of chronic wet cough in specialist settings. However, further studies (particularly in primary health) are required

Treating and Preventing Influenza in Aged Care Facilities: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

PMCID: PMC3474842This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited