Habitability: CAMELOT 4

During 1988 to 1989 the NASA/USRA Advanced Design Program sponsored research and design efforts aimed at developing habitability criteria and at defining a habitability concept as a useful tool in understanding and evaluating dwellings for prolonged stays in extraterrestrial space. The Circulating Auto sufficient Mars-Earth Luxurious Orbital Transport (CAMELOT) was studied as a case in which the students would try to enhance the quality of life of the inhabitants by applying architectural design methodology. The study proposed 14 habitability criteria considered necessary to fulfill the defined habitability concept, which is that state of equilibrium that results from the interaction between components of the Individual Architecture Mission Complex, which allows a person to sustain physiological homeostatis, adequate performance, and acceptable social relationships. Architecture, design development, refinements and revisions to improve the quality of life, new insights on artificial gravity, form and constitution problems, and the final design concept are covered

Ion Beam irradiation of copper nitride: electronic vs elastic-collision mechanism

Copper nitride is a metastable material which results very attractive because of their potential to be used in functional device. Cu3 N easily decomposes into Cu and N2 by annealing [1] or irradiation (electron, ions, laser) [2, 3]. Previous studies carried out in N-rich Cu3 N films irradiated with Cu at 42MeV evidence a very efficient sputtering of N whose yield (5×10 3 atom/ion), for a film with a thickness of just 100 nm, suggest that the origin of the sputtering has an electronic nature. This N depletion was observed to be responsible for new phase formation ( Cu2 O) and pure Cu [4

Compositional, structural and morphological modifications of N-rich Cu3N films induced by irradiation with Cu at 42 MeV

N-rich Cu3N films were irradiated with Cu at 42 MeV in the fluences range from 4 × 1011 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. The radiation-induced changes in the chemical composition, structural phases, surface morphology and optical properties have been characterized as a function of ion fluence, substrate temperature and angle of incidence of the incoming ion by means of ion-beam analysis (IBA), x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, profilometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy techniques. IBA methods reveal a very efficient sputtering of N whose yield (5 × 103 atom/ion) is almost independent of substrate temperature (RT-300 °C) but slightly depends on the incidence angle of the incoming ion. The Cu content remains essentially constant within the investigated fluence range. All data suggest an electronic mechanism to be responsible for the N depletion. The release of nitrogen and the formation of Cu2O and metallic Cu are discussed on the basis of existing models

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: CO(J = 3 - 2) mapping and lens modeling of an ACT-selected dusty star-forming galaxy

We report Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) CO($J = 3 - 2$) observations of the dusty star-forming galaxy ACT-S\,J020941+001557 at $z = 2.5528$, which was detected as an unresolved source in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) equatorial survey. Our spatially resolved spectral line data support the derivation of a gravitational lens model from 37 independent velocity channel maps using a pixel-based algorithm, from which we infer a velocity-dependent magnification factor $\mu \approx 7-22$ with a luminosity-weighted mean \left\approx 13. The resulting source-plane reconstruction is consistent with a rotating disk, although other scenarios cannot be ruled out by our data. After correction for lensing, we derive a line luminosity $L^{\prime}_{\rm CO(3-2)}= (5.53\pm 0.69) \times 10^{10}\,{\rm \,K\,km\,s^{-1}\,pc^{2}}$, a cold gas mass $M_{{\rm gas}}= (3.86 \pm 0.33) \times 10^{10}\,M_{\odot}$, a dynamical mass $M_{\rm dyn}\,{\rm sin}^2\,i = 3.9^{+1.8}_{-1.5} \times 10^{10}\,M_{\odot}$, and a gas mass fraction $f_{\rm gas}\,{\rm csc}^2\,i = 1.0^{+0.8}_{-0.4}$. The line brightness temperature ratio of $r_{3,1}\approx 1.6$ relative to a Green Bank Telescope CO($J=1-0$) detection may be elevated by a combination of external heating of molecular clouds, differential lensing, and/or pointing errors.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Ap

First insights into the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from HIV-infected Mexican patients and mutations causing multidrug resistance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of infections with <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>(MTb) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species in HIV-infected patients in Mexico is unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of MTb and NTM species in HIV-infected patients from Mexico City, to evaluate the genotypic diversity of the <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>complex strains, to determine their drug resistance profiles by colorimetric microplate Alamar Blue assay (MABA), and finally, to detect mutations present in <it>kat</it>G, <it>rpo</it>B and <it>inh</it>A genes, resulting in isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF) resistance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 67 mycobacterial strains isolated, 48 were identified as MTb, 9 as <it>M. bovis</it>, 9 as <it>M. avium </it>and 1 as <it>M. intracellulare</it>. IS<it>6110</it>-RFLP of 48 MTb strains showed 27 profiles. Spoligotyping of the 48 MTb strains yielded 21 patterns, and 9 <it>M. bovis </it>strains produced 7 patterns. Eleven new spoligotypes patterns were found. A total of 40 patterns were produced from the 48 MTb strains when MIRU-VNTR was performed. Nineteen (39.6%) MTb strains were resistant to one or more drugs. One (2.1%) multidrug-resistant (MDR) strain was identified. A novel mutation was identified in a RIF-resistant strain, GAG → TCG (Glu → Ser) at codon 469 of <it>rpo</it>B gene.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first molecular analysis of mycobacteria isolated from HIV-infected patients in Mexico, which describe the prevalence of different mycobacterial species in this population. A high genetic diversity of MTb strains was identified. New spoligotypes and MIRU-VNTR patterns as well as a novel mutation associated to RIF-resistance were found. This information will facilitate the tracking of different mycobacterial species in HIV-infected individuals, and monitoring the spread of these microorganisms, leading to more appropriate measures for tuberculosis control.</p

Functional and molecular characterization of inherited platelet disorders in the Iberian Peninsula: results from a collaborative study

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic evaluation of inherited platelet disorders (IPDs) is complicated and time-consuming, resulting in a relevant number of undiagnosed and incorrectly classified patients. In order to evaluate the spectrum of IPDs in individuals with clinical suspicion of these disorders, and to provide a diagnostic tool to centers not having access to specific platelets studies, we established the project "Functional and Molecular Characterization of Patients with Inherited Platelet Disorders" under the scientific sponsorship of the Spanish Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. PATIENTS/METHODS: Subjects were patients from a prospective cohort of individuals referred for clinical suspicion of IPDs as well as healthy controls. Functional studies included light transmission aggregation, flow cytometry, and when indicated, Western-blot analysis of platelet glycoproteins, and clot retraction analysis. Genetic analysis was mainly performed by sequencing of coding regions and proximal regulatory regions of the genes of interest. RESULTS: Of the 70 cases referred for study, we functionally and molecularly characterized 12 patients with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, 8 patients with Bernard Soulier syndrome, and 8 with other forms of IPDs. Twelve novel mutations were identified among these patients. The systematic study of patients revealed that almost one-third of patients had been previously misdiagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides a global picture of the current limitations and access to the diagnosis of IPDs, identifies and confirms new genetic variants that cause these disorders, and emphasizes the need of creating reference centers that can help health care providers in the recognition of these defects

Re-framing the climate change debate in the livestock sector: mitigation and adaptation options

Livestock play a key role in the climate change debate. As with crop-based agriculture, the sector is both a net greenhouse gas emitter and vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, it is an essential food source for millions of people worldwide, with other functions apart from food security such as savings and insurance. By comparison with crop-based agriculture, the interactions of livestock and climate change have been much less studied. The debate around livestock is confusing due to the coexistence of multiple livestock farming systems with differing functions for humans, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profiles and different characteristics and boundary issues in their measurement, which are often pooled together. Consequently, the diversity of livestock farming systems and their functions to human systems are poorly represented and the role of the livestock sector in the climate change debate has not been adequately addressed. In this article, building upon the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC 5AR) findings, we review recent literature on livestock and climate change so as better to include this diversity in the adaptation and mitigation debate around livestock systems. For comparative purposes we use the same categories of managerial, technical, behavioral and policy-related action to organize both mitigation and adaptation options. We conclude that different livestock systems provide different functions to different human systems and require different strategies, so they cannot readily be pooled together. We also observe that, for the different livestock systems, several win-win strategies exist that effectively tackle both mitigation and adaptation options as well as food security