Crater population and resurfacing of the Martian north polar layered deposits

Present-day accumulation in the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) is thought to occur via deposition on the north polar residual cap. Understanding current mass balance in relation to current climate would provide insight into the climatic record of the NPLD. To constrain processes and rates of NPLD resurfacing, a search for craters was conducted using images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera. One hundred thirty craters have been identified on the NPLD, 95 of which are located within a region defined to represent recent accumulation. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images of craters in this region reveal a morphological sequence of crater degradation that provides a qualitative understanding of processes involved in crater removal. A classification system for these craters was developed based on the amount of apparent degradation and infilling and where possible depth/diameter ratios were determined. The temporal and spatial distribution of crater degradation is interpreted to be close to uniform. Through comparison of the size-frequency distribution of these craters with the expected production function, the craters are interpreted to be an equilibrium population with a crater of diameter D meters having a lifetime of ~30.75D^(1.14) years. Accumulation rates within these craters are estimated at 7.2D^(−0.14) mm/yr, which corresponds to values of ~3–4 mm/yr and are much higher than rates thought to apply to the surrounding flat terrain. The current crater population is estimated to have accumulated in the last ~20 kyr or less

Evaluation of health in pregnancy grants in Scotland: A protocol for a natural experiment

Introduction: A substantial proportion of low birth weight is attributable to the mother's cultural and socioeconomic circumstances. Early childhood programmes have been widely developed to improve child outcomes. In the UK, the Health in Pregnancy (HiP) grant, a universal conditional cash transfer of £190, was introduced for women reaching the 25th week of pregnancy with a due date on/or after 6 April 2009 and subsequently withdrawn for women reaching the 25th week of pregnancy on/or after 1 January 2011. The current study focuses on the evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the HiP grant.<p></p> Methods and analysis: The population under study will be all singleton births in Scotland over the periods of January 2004 to March 2009 (preintervention), April 2009 to April 2011 (intervention) and May 2011 to December 2013 (postintervention). Data will be extracted from the Scottish maternity and neonatal database. The analysis period 2004–2013 should yield over 585 000 births. The primary outcome will be birth weight among singleton births. Other secondary outcomes will include gestation at booking, booking before 25 weeks; measures of size and stage; gestational age at delivery; weight-for-dates, term at birth; birth outcomes and maternal smoking. The main statistical method we will use is interrupted time series. Outcomes will be measured on individual births nested within mothers, with mothers themselves clustered within data zones. Multilevel regression models will be used to determine whether the outcomes changed during the period in which the HiP grants was in effect. Subgroup analyses will be conducted for those groups most likely to benefit from the payments.<p></p> Ethics and dissemination: Approval for data collection, storage and release for research purpose has been given (6 May 2014, PAC38A/13) by the Privacy Advisory Committee. The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications in journals, national and international conferences

The formation of gullies on Mars today

A decade of high-resolution monitoring has revealed extensive activity in fresh Martian gullies. Flows within the gullies are diverse: they can be relatively light, neutral or dark, colourful or bland, and range from superficial deposits to 10 m-scale topographic changes. We observed erosion and transport of material within gullies, new terraces, freshly eroded channel segments, migrating sinuous curves, channel abandonment, and lobate deposits. We also observed early stages of gully initiation, demonstrating that these processes are not merely modifying pre-existing land-forms. The timing of activity closely correlates with the presence of seasonal CO2 frost, so the current changes must be part of ongoing gully formation that is driven largely by its presence. We suggest that the cumulative effect of many flows erodes alcoves and channels, and builds lobate aprons, with no involvement of liquid water. Instead, flows may be fluidized by sublimation of entrained CO2 ice or other mechanisms. The frequent activity is likely to have erased any features dating from high-obliquity periods, so fresh gully geomorphology at middle and high latitudes is not evidence for past liquid water. CO2 ice-driven processes may have been important throughout Martian geological history and their deposits could exist in the rock record, perhaps resembling debris-flow sediments.Mars Data Analysis Program [NNH13AV85I]; Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE project12 month embargo; published 27 November 2017This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Explaining trends in Scottish coronary heart disease mortality between 2000 and 2010 using IMPACTSEC model: retrospective analysis using routine data.

Objective To quantify the contributions of prevention and treatment to the trends in mortality due to coronary heart disease in Scotland. Design Retrospective analysis using IMPACTSEC, a previously validated policy model, to apportion the recent decline in coronary heart disease mortality to changes in major cardiovascular risk factors and to increases in more than 40 treatments in nine non-overlapping groups of patients. Setting Scotland. Participants All adults aged 25 years or over, stratified by sex, age group, and fifths of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Main outcome measure Deaths prevented or postponed. Results 5770 fewer deaths from coronary heart disease occurred in 2010 than would be expected if the 2000 mortality rates had persisted (8042 rather than 13813). This reflected a 43% fall in coronary heart disease mortality rates (from 262 to 148 deaths per 100000). Improved treatments accounted for approximately 43% (95% confidence interval 33% to 61%) of the fall in mortality, and this benefit was evenly distributed across deprivation fifths. Notable treatment contributions came from primary prevention for hypercholesterolaemia (13%), secondary prevention drugs (11%), and chronic angina treatments (7%). Risk factor improvements accounted for approximately 39% (28% to 49%) of the fall in mortality (44% in the most deprived fifth compared with only 36% in the most affluent fifth). Reductions in systolic blood pressure contributed more than one third (37%) of the decline in mortality, with no socioeconomic patterning. Smaller contributions came from falls in total cholesterol (9%), smoking (4%), and inactivity (2%). However, increases in obesity and diabetes offset some of these benefits, potentially increasing mortality by 4% and 8% respectively. Diabetes showed strong socioeconomic patterning (12% increase in the most deprived fifth compared with 5% for the most affluent fifth). Conclusions Increases in medical treatments accounted for almost half of the large recent decline in mortality due to coronary heart disease in Scotland. Furthermore, the Scottish National Health Service seems to have delivered these benefits equitably. However, the substantial contributions from population falls in blood pressure and other risk factors were diminished by adverse trends in obesity and diabetes. Additional population-wide interventions are urgently needed to reduce coronary heart disease mortality and inequalities in future decades

Alpha-v-containing integrins are host receptors for the Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite surface protein, TRAP.

Malaria-causing Plasmodium sporozoites are deposited in the dermis by the bite of an infected mosquito and move by gliding motility to the liver where they invade and develop within host hepatocytes. Although extracellular interactions between Plasmodium sporozoite ligands and host receptors provide important guidance cues for productive infection and are good vaccine targets, these interactions remain largely uncharacterized. Thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) is a parasite cell surface ligand that is essential for both gliding motility and invasion because it couples the extracellular binding of host receptors to the parasite cytoplasmic actinomyosin motor; however, the molecular nature of the host TRAP receptors is poorly defined. Here, we use a systematic extracellular protein interaction screening approach to identify the integrin αvβ3 as a directly interacting host receptor for Plasmodium falciparum TRAP. Biochemical characterization of the interaction suggests a two-site binding model, requiring contributions from both the von Willebrand factor A domain and the RGD motif of TRAP for integrin binding. We show that TRAP binding to cells is promoted in the presence of integrin-activating proadhesive Mn2+ ions, and that cells genetically targeted so that they lack cell surface expression of the integrin αv-subunit are no longer able to bind TRAP. P. falciparum sporozoites moved with greater speed in the dermis of Itgb3-deficient mice, suggesting that the interaction has a role in sporozoite migration. The identification of the integrin αvβ3 as the host receptor for TRAP provides an important demonstration of a sporozoite surface ligand that directly interacts with host receptors. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS

Water induced sediment levitation enhances downslope transport on Mars

On Mars, locally warm surface temperatures (~293 K) occur, leading to the possibility of (transient) liquid water on the surface. However, water exposed to the martian atmosphere will boil, and the sediment transport capacity of such unstable water is not well understood. Here, we present laboratory studies of a newly recognized transport mechanism: “levitation” of saturated sediment bodies on a cushion of vapor released by boiling. Sediment transport where this mechanism is active is about nine times greater than without this effect, reducing the amount of water required to transport comparable sediment volumes by nearly an order of magnitude. Our calculations show that the effect of levitation could persist up to ~48 times longer under reduced martian gravity. Sediment levitation must therefore be considered when evaluating the formation of recent and present-day martian mass wasting features, as much less water may be required to form such features than previously thought

Reading, Trauma and Literary Caregiving 1914-1918: Helen Mary Gaskell and the War Library

This article is about the relationship between reading, trauma and responsive literary caregiving in Britain during the First World War. Its analysis of two little-known documents describing the history of the War Library, begun by Helen Mary Gaskell in 1914, exposes a gap in the scholarship of war-time reading; generates a new narrative of "how," "when," and "why" books went to war; and foregrounds gender in its analysis of the historiography. The Library of Congress's T. W. Koch discovered Gaskell's ground-breaking work in 1917 and reported its successes to the American Library Association. The British Times also covered Gaskell's library, yet researchers working on reading during the war have routinely neglected her distinct model and method, skewing the research base on war-time reading and its association with trauma and caregiving. In the article's second half, a literary case study of a popular war novel demonstrates the extent of the "bitter cry for books." The success of Gaskell's intervention is examined alongside H. G. Wells's representation of textual healing. Reading is shown to offer sick, traumatized and recovering combatants emotional and psychological caregiving in ways that she could not always have predicted and that are not visible in the literary/historical record

On the algebraic K-theory of the complex K-theory spectrum

Let p>3 be a prime, let ku be the connective complex K-theory spectrum, and let K(ku) be the algebraic K-theory spectrum of ku. We study the p-primary homotopy type of the spectrum K(ku) by computing its mod (p,v_1) homotopy groups. We show that up to a finite summand, these groups form a finitely generated free module over a polynomial algebra F_p[b], where b is a class of degree 2p+2 defined as a higher Bott element.Comment: Revised and expanded version, 42 pages

Wide Hybridization in Legumes at ICRISAT

Attempts were made to cross Cajanus cajan with Atylosia species, and to investigate causes of, and develop techniques to overcome, intergeneric incompatibility. Pods formed following some interspecific hybridizations contained shriveled seeds, and hybrid embryos were cultured. Seeds were obtained from some interspecific crosses with chickpea. Hormone treatment at pollination was used to produce hybrid embryos from crosses between A. hypogaea and distantly related tetraploid wild species. Ovule and embryo culture was used to produce hybrid callus and shoots, but effective roots were not induced. Hybrid shoots were grafted onto groundnut seedlings. Compatible diploid wild species were used as sources of resistance, and a number of high-yielding, disease-resistant lines were produced following ploidy and genome manipulations

Columbus crater and other possible groundwater-fed paleolakes of Terra Sirenum, Mars

Columbus crater in the Terra Sirenum region of the Martian southern highlands contains light-toned layered deposits with interbedded sulfate and phyllosilicate minerals, a rare occurrence on Mars. Here we investigate in detail the morphology, thermophysical properties, mineralogy, and stratigraphy of these deposits; explore their regional context; and interpret the crater's aqueous history. Hydrated mineral-bearing deposits occupy a discrete ring around the walls of Columbus crater and are also exposed beneath younger materials, possibly lava flows, on its floor. Widespread minerals identified in the crater include gypsum, polyhydrated and monohydrated Mg/Fe-sulfates, and kaolinite; localized deposits consistent with montmorillonite, Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates, jarosite, alunite, and crystalline ferric oxide or hydroxide are also detected. Thermal emission spectra suggest abundances of these minerals in the tens of percent range. Other craters in northwest Terra Sirenum also contain layered deposits and Al/Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates, but sulfates have so far been found only in Columbus and Cross craters. The region's intercrater plains contain scattered exposures of Al-phyllosilicates and one isolated mound with opaline silica, in addition to more common Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates with chlorides. A Late Noachian age is estimated for the aqueous deposits in Columbus, coinciding with a period of inferred groundwater upwelling and evaporation, which (according to model results reported here) could have formed evaporites in Columbus and other craters in Terra Sirenum. Hypotheses for the origin of these deposits include groundwater cementation of crater-filling sediments and/or direct precipitation from subaerial springs or in a deep (∼900 m) paleolake. Especially under the deep lake scenario, which we prefer, chemical gradients in Columbus crater may have created a habitable environment at this location on early Mars