ENSO hindcast skill in the DWD - MPI-M - UHH seasonal prediction system

KlimawandelWe present an assessment of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) hindcast skill in the DWD - MPI-M - UHH seasonal prediction system based on the earth system model MPI-ESM. The system is initialised from re-analysis in the atmospheric, oceanic and sea-ice component of the model. We use a hindcast ensemble with semi-annual start dates between 1981 and 2014 (10 member ensembles started every May and November for 6 months each). We find hindcast skill for Niño 3.4 sea surface temperatures up to 6 months ahead. Hindcast skill is higher for November start dates than for May start dates. In addition to the Niño 3.4 Index, we also assess hindcast skill for Niño3, the West Pacific Warm Water Volume and the zonal wind variability. In particular we focus on the difference in the hindcast skill in the May start dates for the 1997/98 and the 2014 November conditions - though for these two periods overall similar conditions were observed, the subsequent development with a strong El Niño in 1997/98 and a very weak El Niño in 2014 differed considerably

Human breast cancer cell lines as models of growth regulation and disease progression

The routine isolation and culture of human breast cancer cells from patients samples has been a goal of breast cancer cell biologists for over 30 years. Despite extensive work in this area and the development of many human breast cancer cell lines, the proportion of patient samples that give rise to immortalized breast cancer cell lines is still disappointingly low. The majority of human breast cancer cell lines that have been established were isolated many years ago and have been grown continuously under poorly defined culture conditions. These cell lines have been useful for studies of the estrogen receptor biology in human breast cancer cells, in identifying growth factors synthesized by breast cancer cells, and for the characterization of genetic alterations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes present in these cells. More recently, tissue culture methods have improved, resulting in the ability to culture routinely normal human mammary epithelial cells of specific lineages and this has resulted in the development of new human breast cancer cell lines. The ability to isolate and culture normal and neoplastic human mammary epithelial cells under similar culture conditions has improved these models dramatically and has resulted in the identification of altered cellular phenotypes of human breast cancer cells.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44963/1/10911_2005_Article_BF02096306.pd