Cities, traffic, and CO2: A multidecadal assessment of trends, drivers, and scaling relationships

Emissions of CO2 from road vehicles were 1.57 billion metric tons in 2012, accounting for 28% of US fossil fuel CO2 emissions, but the spatial distributions of these emissions are highly uncertain. We develop a new emissions inventory, the Database of Road Transportation Emissions (DARTE), which estimates CO2 emitted by US road transport at a resolution of 1 km annually for 1980-2012. DARTE reveals that urban areas are responsible for 80% of on-road emissions growth since 1980 and for 63% of total 2012 emissions. We observe nonlinearities between CO2 emissions and population density at broad spatial/temporal scales, with total on-road CO2 increasing nonlinearly with population density, rapidly up to 1,650 persons per square kilometer and slowly thereafter. Per capita emissions decline as density rises, but at markedly varying rates depending on existing densities. We make use of DARTE's bottom-up construction to highlight the biases associated with the common practice of using population as a linear proxy for disaggregating national- or state-scale emissions. Comparing DARTE with existing downscaled inventories, we find biases of 100% or more in the spatial distribution of urban and rural emissions, largely driven by mismatches between inventory downscaling proxies and the actual spatial patterns of vehicle activity at urban scales. Given cities' dual importance as sources of CO2 and an emerging nexus of climate mitigation initiatives, high-resolution estimates such as DARTE are critical both for accurately quantifying surface carbon fluxes and for verifying the effectiveness of emissions mitigation efforts at urban scales.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421723112Published versio

Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40, a single chain antibody Pseudomonas fusion protein directed at interleukin 2 receptor bearing cells

Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 is a chimeric single chain immunotoxin in which anti-Tac variable heavy and light chains held together by a peptide linker are attached to PE40, a truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin. This molecule was shown to be extremely cytotoxic for interleukin 2 (IL2) receptor bearing cells in tissue culture (Chaudhary, V. K., Queen, C., Junghans, R. P., Waldmann, T. A., FitzGerald, D. J., and Pastan, I. (1989) Nature 339, 394-397). Here we describe various forms of anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 protein in which the order of the variable domains of anti-Tac has been switched and also three different types of peptide linkers have been used. All these proteins were purified to near homogeneity and were found to have similar cytotoxic activities against various human cells expressing the p55 subunit of the IL2 receptor. Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 was also found to have a very potent suppressive activity against phytohemagglutinin-activated human lymphoblasts and in a human mixed lymphocyte reaction. Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 appeared in the blood rapidly in mice after intraperitoneal administration and could be detected in the blood for up to 8 h. Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 warrants evaluation as an anti-tumor and immunosuppressive agent in humans

ANTIBODY-MEDIATED SUPPRESSION OF GRAFTED LYMPHOMA CELLS : II. PARTICIPATION OF MACROPHAGES

Specific alloantibody admixed with a grafted murine lymphoma is suppressive of the graft in mice of the inbred strain native to the tumor. Suppressive capacity of the host is obviated in mice given 500 R whole body irradiation before tumor inoculation but is restored when normal peritoneal macrophages are admixed with the tumor-antibody inoculum. Other normal cell types admixed with the tumor-antibody inoculum are not effective in restoring suppressive capacity

Social influence and moment-to-moment changes in young adults’ mood and psychotic symptoms

Background: • Social situations can have a significant impact on young people’s mood and mental experiences. • More specifically, we want to know how someone’s perceived social influence in social situations relates to their mood and psychotic symptoms. • Past studies have found connections between lower perceived social status (rank, comparison, and related concepts) and psychotic symptoms anxiety, depression, and other mood related psychopathology. • We use experience sampling methods to capture moment-to-moment changes in mood and psychotic symptoms in a variety of social settings

Measuring perceived exercise capability and investigating its relationship with childhood obesity: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: According to the COM-B ('Capability', 'Opportunity', 'Motivation' and 'Behaviour') model of behaviour, three factors are essential for behaviour to occur: capability, opportunity and motivation. Obese children are less likely to feel capable of exercising. The implementation of a new methodological approach to investigate the relationship between perceived exercise capability (PEC) and childhood obesity was conducted, which involved creating a new instrument, and demonstrating how it can be used to measure obesity intervention outcomes. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A questionnaire aiming to measure perceived exercise capability, opportunity and motivation was systematically constructed using the COM-B model and administered to 71 obese children (aged 9-17 years (12.24±0.2.01), body mass index (BMI) standard deviation scores (SDS) 2.80±0.660) at a weight-management camp in northern England. Scale validity and reliability was assessed. Relationships between PEC, as measured by the questionnaire, and BMI SDS were investigated for the children at the weight-management camp, and for 45 Spanish schoolchildren (aged 9-13 years, (10.52±1.23), BMI SDS 0.80±0.99). A pilot study, demonstrating how the questionnaire can be used to measure the effectiveness of an intervention aiming to bring about improved PEC for weight-management camp attendees, was conducted. No participants withdrew from these studies. RESULTS: The questionnaire domain (exercise capability, opportunity and motivation) composite scales were found to have adequate internal consistency (a=0.712-0.796) and construct validity (χ(2)/degrees of freedom=1.55, root mean square error of approximation=0.072, comparative fit index=0.92). Linear regression revealed that low PEC was associated with higher baseline BMI SDS for both UK (b=-0.289, P=0.010) and Spanish (b=-0.446, P=0.047) participants. Pilot study findings provide preliminary evidence for PEC improvements through intervention being achievable, and measurable using the questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence is presented for reliability and validity of the questionnaire, and for feasibility of its use in the context of a childhood obesity intervention. Future research could investigate the link between PEC and childhood obesity further

Rapid Optical Fluctuations in the Black Hole Binary, V4641 Sgr

We report on unprecedented short-term variations detected in the optical flux from the black hole binary system, V4641 Sgr. Amplitudes of the optical fluctuations were larger at longer time scales, and surprisingly reached ~60% around a period of ~10 min. The power spectra of fluctuations are characterized by a power law. It is the first case in black hole binaries that the optical emission was revealed to show short-term and large-amplitude variations given by such a power spectrum. The optical emission from black hole binaries is generally dominated by the emission from the outer portion of an accretion disc. The rapid optical fluctuations however indicate that the emission from an inner accretion region significantly contributes to the optical flux. In this case, cyclo-synchrotron emission associated with various scales of magnetic flares is the most promising mechanism for the violently variable optical emission.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Generation of angiostatin-like fragments from plasminogen by prostate-specific antigen

Angiostatin, a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis, tumour growth and metastasis, is a biologically active fragment of plasminogen, containing the kringle domains 1–4. It is generated from plasminogen by limited proteolysis. We show that prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a serine proteinase secreted by human prostate and human prostate cancer cells, is able to convert Lys-plasminogen to biologically active angiostatin-like fragments, containing kringles 1–4, by limited proteolysis of peptide bond Glu439–Ala440 in vitro. In an in vitro morphogenesis assay, the purified angiostatin-like fragments inhibited proliferation and tubular formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells with the same efficacy as angiostatin. This finding might help to understand growth characteristics of prostate cancer, which usually has low microvessel density and slow proliferation. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig