Forest Biodiversity Assessment in Peruvian Andean Montane Cloud Forest

Cloud forests are unusual and fragile habitats, being one of the least studied and least understood ecosystems. The tropical Andean dominion is considered one of the most significant places in the world as rega rds biological diversity, with a very high level of endemism. The biodiversity was analysed in an isolated remnant area of a tropical montane cloud forest known as the ?Bosque de Neblina de Cuyas?, in the North of the Peruvian Andean range. Composition, structure and dead wood were measured or estimated. The values obtained were compared with other cloud forests. The study revealed a high level of forest biodiversity, although the level of biodiversity differs from one area to another: in the inner areas, where human pressure is almost inexistent, the biodiversity values increase. The high species richness and the low dominance among species bear testimony to this montane cloud forest as a real enclave of biodiversity

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

AQUEOUS PROCESSING OF THORIUM FUELS. PART II

The status of aqueous processing methods for Th fuels is reviewed. A specially designed 320 ton shear was successfully tested for chopping full size simulated Consolidated Edison type unirradiated assemblies into 0.25-1.5 in. lengths. Pieces about 0.5-in. long are preferred since the core pellets are more severely crushed during the chopping operation, and consequently, the rate of core dissolution is enhanced. The Darex (dtlute aqua regia) and Sulfex (4 to 6 M sulfuric acid) processes for dissolution of stainless steel claddings were developed on a small engineering scale with unirradiated fuel. In hot cell tests on stainless steel clad ThO/sub 2/-UO/sub 2/ fuel pins irradiated up to 22,000 Mwd/ton of fuel, the core pellets were severely fractured and losses of U and Th to the Sulfex and Darex solutions were approximates 0.3% and 3 to 5%, respectively. The latter losses are easily recovered in the extraction system. U and Th can be recovered from graphite base fuels by burning and dissoiution of the ash in HNO/sub 3/ or by grinding to approximates 200 mesh followed by HNO/sub 3/ leaching. The Acid Thorex extraction process was developed to recover both U and Th using tributyl phosphate (TBP) as the solvent and the Acid Interim 23 process to recover only the U using either TBP or disecbutyl phenyl phosphate as the solvent. The Acid'' processes use HNO/sub 3/ rather than Al as the salting agent. (auth