Future change in extreme precipitation in East Asian spring and Mei-yu seasons in two high-resolution AGCMs

Precipitation in the spring and Mei-yu seasons, the main planting and growing period in East Asia, is crucial to water resource management. Changes in spring and Mei-yu extreme precipitation under global warming are evaluated based on two sets of high-resolution simulations with various warming pattern of sea surface temperature (SST'spa). In the spring season, extreme precipitation exhibits larger enhancements over the northern flank of the present-day prevailing rainy region and a tendency of increased occurrence and enhanced intensity in the probability distribution. These changes imply a northward extension of future spring rainband. Although the mean precipitation shows minor change, enhanced precipitation intensity, less total rainfall occurrence, and prolonged consecutive dry days suggest a more challenging water resource management in the warmer climate. The projected enhancement in precipitation intensity is robust compared with the internal variability related to initial conditions (σˆint) and the uncertainty caused by SST'spa (σˆΔSST). In the Mei-yu season, extreme precipitation strengthens and becomes more frequent over the present-day prevailing rainband region. The thermodynamic component of moisture flux predominantly contributes to the changes in the spring season. In the Mei-yu season, both the thermodynamic and dynamic components of moisture flux enhance the moisture transport and intensify the extreme precipitation from southern China to northeast Asia. Compared with spring season, projecting future Mei-yu precipitation is more challenging because of its higher uncertainty associated with 1) the σˆint and σˆΔSST embedded in the projections and 2) the model characteristics of present-day climatology that determines the spatial distribution of precipitation enhancement.publishedVersio

POWER: PhylOgenetic WEb Repeater—an integrated and user-optimized framework for biomolecular phylogenetic analysis

POWER, the PhylOgenetic WEb Repeater, is a web-based service designed to perform user-friendly pipeline phylogenetic analysis. POWER uses an open-source LAMP structure and infers genetic distances and phylogenetic relationships using well-established algorithms (ClustalW and PHYLIP). POWER incorporates a novel tree builder based on the GD library to generate a high-quality tree topology according to the calculated result. POWER accepts either raw sequences in FASTA format or user-uploaded alignment output files. Through a user-friendly web interface, users can sketch a tree effortlessly in multiple steps. After a tree has been generated, users can freely set and modify parameters, select tree building algorithms, refine sequence alignments or edit the tree topology. All the information related to input sequences and the processing history is logged and downloadable for the user's reference. Furthermore, iterative tree construction can be performed by adding sequences to, or removing them from, a previously submitted job. POWER is accessible at

Role of pirenoxine in the effects of catalin on in vitro ultraviolet-induced lens protein turbidity and selenite-induced cataractogenesis in vivo

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the biochemical pharmacology of pirenoxine (PRX) and catalin under in vitro selenite/calcium- and ultraviolet (UV)-induced lens protein turbidity challenges. The systemic effects of catalin were determined using a selenite-induced cataractogenesis rat model. Methods: In vitro cataractogenesis assay systems (including UVB/C photo-oxidation of lens crystallins, calpain-induced proteolysis, and selenite/calcium-induced turbidity of lens crystallin solutions) were used to screen the activity of PRX and catalin eye drop solutions. Turbidity was identified as the optical density measured using spectroscopy at 405 nm. We also determined the in vivo effects of catalin on cataract severity in a selenite-induced cataract rat model. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) was applied to analyze the integrity of crystallin samples. Results: PRX at 1,000 μM significantly delayed UVC-induced turbidity formation compared to controls after 4 h of UVC exposure (p<0.05), but not in groups incubated with PRX concentrations of <1,000 μM. Results were further confirmed by SDS–PAGE. The absolute γ-crystallin turbidity induced by 4 h of UVC exposure was ameliorated in the presence of catalin equivalent to 1~100 μM PRX in a concentration-dependent manner. Samples with catalin-formulated vehicle only (CataV) and those containing PRX equivalent to 100 μM had a similar protective effect after 4 h of UVC exposure compared to the controls (p<0.05). PRX at 0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 μM significantly delayed 10 mM selenite- and calcium-induced turbidity formation compared to controls on days 0~4 (p<0.05). Catalin (equivalent to 32, 80, and 100 μM PRX) had an initial protective effect against selenite-induced lens protein turbidity on day 1 (p<0.05). Subcutaneous pretreatment with catalin (5 mg/kg) also statistically decreased the mean cataract scores in selenite-induced cataract rats on post-induction day 3 compared to the controls (1.3±0.2 versus 2.4±0.4; p<0.05). However, catalin (equivalent to up to 100 μM PRX) did not inhibit calpain-induced proteolysis activated by calcium, and neither did 100 μM PRX. Conclusions: PRX at micromolar levels ameliorated selenite- and calcium-induced lens protein turbidity but required millimolar levels to protect against UVC irradiation. The observed inhibition of UVC-induced turbidity of lens crystallins by catalin at micromolar concentrations may have been a result of the catalin-formulated vehicle. Transient protection by catalin against selenite-induced turbidity of crystallin solutions in vitro was supported by the ameliorated cataract scores in the early stage of cataractogenesis in vivo by subcutaneously administered catalin. PRX could not inhibit calpain-induced proteolysis activated by calcium or catalin itself, and may be detrimental to crystallins under UVB exposure. Further studies on formulation modifications of catalin and recommended doses of PRX to optimize clinical efficacy by cataract type are warranted

Search for B0B^{0} decays to invisible final states at Belle

We report a search for $B^{0}$ decays into invisible final states using a data sample of $657 \times 10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider. The signal is identified by fully reconstructing a hadronic decay of the accompanying $B$ meson and requiring no other particles in the event. No significant signal is observed, and we obtain an upper limit of $1.3 \times 10^{-4}$ at the 90% confidence level for the branching fraction of invisible $B^{0}$ decay.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures (9 figure files

Mesurement of the B0 - anti-B0 Mixing Parameter Delta m_d using Semileptonic B0 Decays

We present a measurement of the B^0-B^0bar mixing parameter Delta m_d using neutral B meson pairs in a 29.1 fb^{-1} data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^+e^- collider. We exclusively reconstruct one neutral B meson in the semileptonic B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^+\nu decay mode and identify the flavor of the accompanying B meson from its decay products. From the distribution of the time intervals between the two flavor-tagged B meson decay points, we obtain Delta m_d = (0.494 +- 0.012 +- 0.015) ps^{-1}, where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, Published in Phys.Rev.Lett. 89, 251803 (2002

Is impaired energy regulation the core of the metabolic syndrome in various ethnic groups of the USA and Taiwan?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The metabolic syndrome (MetS) concept is widely used in public health and clinical settings without an agreed pathophysiology. We have re-examined the MetS in terms of body fuels, so as to provide a coherent cross-cultural pathogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2001-2) with n = 2254 and Taiwanese National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sub-set for hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia assessment (TwSHHH 2002), n = 5786, were used to compare different ethnicities according to NCEP-ATPIII (NCEP-tw) criteria for METS. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal components (PC) was employed to differentiate and unify MetS components across four ethnicities, gender, age-strata, and urban-rural settings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The first two factors from the PC analysis (PCA) accounted for from 55.2% (non-Hispanic white) to 63.7% (Taiwanese) of the variance. Rotated factor loadings showed that the six MetS components provided three clusters: the impaired energy regulation (IER) components (waist circumference, WC, fasting triglycerides, TG, and fasting plasma glucose, FPG), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BPs), and HDL-cholesterol, where the IER components accounted for 25-26% of total variance of MetS components. For the three US ethnic subgroups, factor 1 was mainly determined by IER and HDL-cholesterol, and factor 2 was related to the BP components. For Taiwanese, IER was determinant for both factors, and BPs and HDL-cholesterol were related to factors 1 and 2 respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is a MetS core which unifies populations. It comprises WC, TG and FPG as a core, IER, which may be expressed and modulated in various second order ways.</p