The 5-6 December 1991 FIRE IFO 2 Jet Stream Cirrus Case Study: Possible Influences of Volcanic Aerosols

In presenting an overview of the cirrus clouds comprehensively studied by ground based and airborne sensors from Coffeyville, Kansas, during the 5-6 December 1992 First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) intensive field observation (IFO) case study period, evidence is provided that volcanic aerosols from the June 1991 Pinatubo eruptions may have significantly influenced the formation and maintenance of the cirrus. Following the local appearance of a spur of stratospheric volcanic debris from the subtropics, a series of jet streaks subsequently conditioned the troposphere through tropopause foldings with sulfur based particles that became effective cloud forming nuclei in cirrus clouds. Aerosol and ozone measurements suggest a complicated history of stratospheric-tropospheric exchanges embedded with the upper level flow, and cirrus cloud formation was noted to occur locally at the boundaries of stratospheric aerosol enriched layers that became humidified through diffusion, precipitation, or advective processes. Apparent cirrus cloud alterations include abnormally high ice crystal concentrations (up to approximately 600 L(exp. 1)), complex radial ice crystal types, and relatively large haze particles in cirrus uncinus cell heads at temperatures between -40 and -50 degrees C. Implications for volcanic-cirrus cloud climate effects and unusual (nonvolcanic) aerosol jet stream cirrus cloud formation are discussed

Evolutionary Dead End in the Galápagos: Divergence of Sexual Signals in the Rarest of Darwin's Finches

Understanding the mechanisms underlying speciation remains a challenge in evolutionary biology. The adaptive radiation of Darwin's finches is a prime example of species formation, and their study has revealed many important insights into evolutionary processes. Here, we report striking differences in mating signals (songs), morphology and genetics between the two remnant populations of Darwin's mangrove finch Camarhynchus heliobates, one of the rarest species in the world. We also show that territorial males exhibited strong discrimination of sexual signals by locality: in response to foreign songs, males responded weaker than to songs from their own population. Female responses were infrequent and weak but gave approximately similar results. Our findings not only suggest speciation in the mangrove finch, thereby providing strong support for the central role of sexual signals during speciation, but they have also implications for the conservation of this iconic bird. If speciation is complete, the eastern species will face imminent extinction, because it has a population size of only 5–10 individuals

Clinical, Epidemiologic, Histopathologic and Molecular Features of an Unexplained Dermopathy

BACKGROUND: Morgellons is a poorly characterized constellation of symptoms, with the primary manifestations involving the skin. We conducted an investigation of this unexplained dermopathy to characterize the clinical and epidemiologic features and explore potential etiologies. METHODS: A descriptive study was conducted among persons at least 13 years of age and enrolled in Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) during 2006-2008. A case was defined as the self-reported emergence of fibers or materials from the skin accompanied by skin lesions and/or disturbing skin sensations. We collected detailed epidemiologic data, performed clinical evaluations and geospatial analyses and analyzed materials collected from participants' skin. RESULTS: We identified 115 case-patients. The prevalence was 3.65 (95% CI = 2.98, 4.40) cases per 100,000 enrollees. There was no clustering of cases within the 13-county KPNC catchment area (p = .113). Case-patients had a median age of 52 years (range: 17-93) and were primarily female (77%) and Caucasian (77%). Multi-system complaints were common; 70% reported chronic fatigue and 54% rated their overall health as fair or poor with mean Physical Component Scores and Mental Component Scores of 36.63 (SD = 12.9) and 35.45 (SD = 12.89), respectively. Cognitive deficits were detected in 59% of case-patients and 63% had evidence of clinically significant somatic complaints; 50% had drugs detected in hair samples and 78% reported exposure to solvents. Solar elastosis was the most common histopathologic abnormality (51% of biopsies); skin lesions were most consistent with arthropod bites or chronic excoriations. No parasites or mycobacteria were detected. Most materials collected from participants' skin were composed of cellulose, likely of cotton origin. CONCLUSIONS: This unexplained dermopathy was rare among this population of Northern California residents, but associated with significantly reduced health-related quality of life. No common underlying medical condition or infectious source was identified, similar to more commonly recognized conditions such as delusional infestation

Comparative Bacterial Proteomics: Analysis of the Core Genome Concept

While comparative bacterial genomic studies commonly predict a set of genes indicative of common ancestry, experimental validation of the existence of this core genome requires extensive measurement and is typically not undertaken. Enabled by an extensive proteome database developed over six years, we have experimentally verified the expression of proteins predicted from genomic ortholog comparisons among 17 environmental and pathogenic bacteria. More exclusive relationships were observed among the expressed protein content of phenotypically related bacteria, which is indicative of the specific lifestyles associated with these organisms. Although genomic studies can establish relative orthologous relationships among a set of bacteria and propose a set of ancestral genes, our proteomics study establishes expressed lifestyle differences among conserved genes and proposes a set of expressed ancestral traits

Differences in the carcinogenic evaluation of glyphosate between the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Programme identifies chemicals, drugs, mixtures, occupational exposures, lifestyles and personal habits, and physical and biological agents that cause cancer in humans and has evaluated about 1000 agents since 1971. Monographs are written by ad hoc Working Groups (WGs) of international scientific experts over a period of about 12 months ending in an eight-day meeting. The WG evaluates all of the publicly available scientific information on each substance and, through a transparent and rigorous process,1 decides on the degree to which the scientific evidence supports that substance's potential to cause or not cause cancer in humans. For Monograph 112,2 17 expert scientists evaluated the carcinogenic hazard for four insecticides and the herbicide glyphosate.3 The WG concluded that the data for glyphosate meet the criteria for classification as a probable human carcinogen. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the primary agency of the European Union for risk assessments regarding food safety. In October 2015, EFSA reported4 on their evaluation of the Renewal Assessment Report5 (RAR) for glyphosate that was prepared by the Rapporteur Member State, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). EFSA concluded that ?glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans and the evidence does not support classification with regard to its carcinogenic potential?. Addendum 1 (the BfR Addendum) of the RAR5 discusses the scientific rationale for differing from the IARC WG conclusion. Serious flaws in the scientific evaluation in the RAR incorrectly characterise the potential for a carcinogenic hazard from exposure to glyphosate. Since the RAR is the basis for the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) conclusion,4 it is critical that these shortcomings are corrected

First results from recent JET experiments in Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Deuterium plasmas

The hydrogen campaign completed at JET in 2016 has demonstrated isotope ratio control in JET-ILW using gas puffing and pellets for fuelling, Neutral Beam Injection alone or in combination, with D/H spectroscopy as a diagnostic. The plasma properties such as confinement, L-H threshold, density limit depend on the isotope composition. The L-H transition power increases with the hydrogen concentration with a wide plateau in the range 0.2<nH/(nD+nH)<0.8. Energy confinement is significantly lower in hydrogen than in comparable deuterium ELMy H-mode plasmas, suggesting an isotope mass scaling that is stronger than in IPB98(y,2). In L-mode, the isotope dependence of confinement is weaker. The H-mode density limit in hydrogen is up to 35% lower than in heuterium, whilst it is found to be higher in L-mode. The lower ion mass leads to reduced tungsten sputtering in hydrogen plasmas. During the campaign, the nD/(nD+nH) ratio dropped to ~1% in only a few discharges after the last deliberate introduction of deuterium, although it was seen to rise again to ~2% with several seconds of exposure of the divertor tiles to ~10MW of auxiliary heating. Several ICRH scenarios were also tested in hydrogen plasmas

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children