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Carbonyl sulfide (OCS): Large-scale distributions over North America during INTEX-NA and relationship to CO2
An extensive set of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) observations were made as part of the NASA Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America (INTEX-NA) study, flown from 1 July to 14 August 2004 mostly over the eastern United States and Canada. These data show that summertime OCS mixing ratios at low altitude were dominated by surface drawdown and were highly correlated with CO2. Although local plumes were observed on some low-altitude flight legs, anthropogenic OCS sources were small compared to this sink. These INTEX-NA observations were in marked contrast to the early springtime 2001 Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific experiment, which sampled Asian outflow dominated by anthropogenic OCS emissions. To test the gridded OCS fluxes used in past models, the INTEX-NA observations were combined with the sulfur transport Eulerian model (STEM) regional atmospheric chemistry model for a top-down assessment of bottom-up OCS surface fluxes for North America. Initial STEM results suggest that the modeled fluxes underestimate the OCS plant sink by more than 200%. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union
Blockade of insulin-like growth factors increases efficacy of paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer
Breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in women owing to metastasis and the development of resistance to established therapies. Macrophages are the most abundant immune cells in the breast tumor microenvironment and can both inhibit and support cancer progression. Thus, gaining a better understanding of how macrophages support cancer could lead to the development of more effective therapies. In this study, we find that breast cancer-associated macrophages express high levels of insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGFs) and are the main source of IGFs within both primary and metastatic tumors. In total, 75% of breast cancer patients show activation of insulin/IGF-1 receptor signaling and this correlates with increased macrophage infiltration and advanced tumor stage. In patients with invasive breast cancer, activation of Insulin/IGF-1 receptors increased to 87%. Blocking IGF in combination with paclitaxel, a chemotherapeutic agent commonly used to treat breast cancer, showed a significant reduction in tumor cell proliferation and lung metastasis in pre-clinical breast cancer models compared to paclitaxel monotherapy. Our findings provide the rationale for further developing the combination of paclitaxel with IGF blockers for the treatment of invasive breast cancer, and Insulin/IGF1R activation and IGF+ stroma cells as potential biomarker candidates for further evaluation
Winter wheat roots grow twice as deep as spring wheat roots, is this important for N uptake and N leaching losses?
Cropping systems comprising winter catch crops followed by spring wheat could reduce N leaching risks compared to traditional winter wheat systems in humid climates. We studied the soil mineral N (Ninorg) and root growth of winter- and spring wheat to 2.5 m depth during three years. Root depth of winter wheat (2.2 m) was twice that of spring wheat, and this was related to much lower amounts of Ninorg in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after winter wheat (81 kg Ninorg ha-1 less). When growing winter catch crops before spring wheat, N content in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after spring wheat was not different from that after winter wheat. The results suggest that by virtue of its deep rooting, winter wheat may not lead to high levels of leaching as it is often assumed in humid climates. Deep soil and root measurements (below 1 m) in this experiment were essential to answer the questions we posed
Heavy Squarks at the LHC
The LHC, with its seven-fold increase in energy over the Tevatron, is capable
of probing regions of SUSY parameter space exhibiting qualitatively new
collider phenomenology. Here we investigate one such region in which first
generation squarks are very heavy compared to the other superpartners. We find
that the production of these squarks, which is dominantly associative, only
becomes rate-limited at mSquark > 4(5) TeV for L~10(100) fb-1. However,
discovery of this scenario is complicated because heavy squarks decay primarily
into a jet and boosted gluino, yielding a dijet-like topology with missing
energy (MET) pointing along the direction of the second hardest jet. The result
is that many signal events are removed by standard jet/MET anti-alignment cuts
designed to guard against jet mismeasurement errors. We suggest replacing these
anti-alignment cuts with a measurement of jet substructure that can
significantly extend the reach of this channel while still removing much of the
background. We study a selection of benchmark points in detail, demonstrating
that mSquark= 4(5) TeV first generation squarks can be discovered at the LHC
with L~10(100)fb-1
Charge asymmetries of top quarks at hadron colliders revisited
A sizeable difference in the differential production cross section of top-
compared to antitop-quark production, denoted charge asymmetry, has been
observed at the Tevatron. The experimental results seem to exceed the theory
predictions based on the Standard Model by a significant amount and have
triggered a large number of suggestions for "new physics". In the present paper
the Standard Model predictions for Tevatron and LHC experiments are revisited.
This includes a reanalysis of electromagnetic as well as weak corrections,
leading to a shift of the asymmetry by roughly a factor 1.1 when compared to
the results of the first papers on this subject. The impact of cuts on the
transverse momentum of the top-antitop system is studied. Restricting the ttbar
system to a transverse momentum less than 20 GeV leads to an enhancement of the
asymmetries by factors between 1.3 and 1.5, indicating the importance of an
improved understanding of the -momentum distribution. Predictions for
similar measurements at the LHC are presented, demonstrating the sensitivity of
the large rapidity region both to the Standard Model contribution and effects
from "new physics".Comment: 23 pages. Final version to appear in JHE
QCD Coherence and the Top Quark Asymmetry
Coherent QCD radiation in the hadroproduction of top quark pairs leads to a
forward--backward asymmetry that grows more negative with increasing transverse
momentum of the pair. This feature is present in Monte Carlo event generators
with coherent parton showering, even though the production process is treated
at leading order and has no intrinsic asymmetry before showering. In addition,
depending on the treatment of recoils, showering can produce a positive
contribution to the inclusive asymmetry. We explain the origin of these
features, compare them in fixed-order calculations and the Herwig++, Pythia and
Sherpa event generators, and discuss their implications.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, 2 table
Variation in Prices Charged to Patients for Specialty Intraocular Lenses Inserted during Universally Covered Cataract Surgery
Patients often pay for specialty intraocular lenses (IOLs) for cataract surgery covered by universal insurance. This practice creates the potential for inequitable pricing where the medical service provider is also the retailer. We measured the variation in prices between cataract surgeons for the same IOL and associated testing.We telephoned every cataract surgeon in Ontario, Canada, and asked their price for the most common type of specialty IOL as a prospective patient. We measured the total prices quoted and variation between providers.We contacted 404 ophthalmologists. There were 256 that performed cataract surgery but 127 offered the most commonly employed specialty IOL and would provide a price to patients over the telephone. We obtained prices from all 127 ophthalmologists. Prices for the same lens and associated testing varied substantially between ophthalmologists from 2790 (median 528-$915). There was variation in all components of the total out-of-pocket price, including the price for the IOL itself, charges for uninsured eye measurements, and non-specific supplemental fees.Although cataract surgery is covered by public health insurance, some ophthalmologists charge much more than others for the same specialty IOL and associated testing. Greater access to price information and better regulatory control could help ensure patients receive fair value for out-of-pocket health expenses
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