Life just got complicated

The fossil record of ancient life is, in general, poor. Certainly, fossils are abundant in many rock successions and may reveal remarkable details about evolution and environmental change, but they typically consist of disarticulated or broken skeletal material, such as shells, bones and teeth. Even worse, the record of entirely (or largely) soft-bodied organisms, such as jellyfish and worms, is extremely scant, despite the fact that such animals dominate modern marine environments and presumably did so in the past. The reason is obvious — such organisms are highly susceptible to post-mortem decay and typically decompose more rapidly than the ‘normal’ processes of fossilisation operate. This significantly blurs our view of ancient life, with obvious consequences for those interested in understanding evolution and past ecosystems

Dihydrocodeine for detoxification and maintenance treatment in illicit opiate-dependent individuals

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To investigate the effects of dihydrocodeine (DHC) in comparison to other pharmaceutical opioids and placebos in the detoxification of opiate-dependent individuals, as well as in maintenance substitution therapy. © 2016 The Cochrane Collaboration

A comparative study of eight human auditory models of monaural processing

A number of auditory models have been developed using diverging approaches, either physiological or perceptual, but they share comparable stages of signal processing, as they are inspired by the same constitutive parts of the auditory system. We compare eight monaural models that are openly accessible in the Auditory Modelling Toolbox. We discuss the considerations required to make the model outputs comparable to each other, as well as the results for the following model processing stages or their equivalents: Outer and middle ear, cochlear filter bank, inner hair cell, auditory nerve synapse, cochlear nucleus, and inferior colliculus. The discussion includes a list of recommendations for future applications of auditory models.Comment: Revision 1 of the manuscrip

Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on four research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 PO1 GM14940-05)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL 22-009-304)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TO1 GM01555-05)Boston City Hospital Purchase Order 10656B-D Electrodyne Division, Becton Dickinson and Compan

Assessing Attitudes Towards Tobacco Advertising in Winooski, VT

Introduction. Smoking rates are 15% in Vermont and higher in low-income populations. Winooski, Vermont is vulnerable to high tobacco use rates given that 23.6% of Winooski residents live below the poverty line. Tobacco advertising, which has been shown to have a direct, dose-dependent association with youth tobacco use, is highly prevalent in stores in Winooski.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1091/thumbnail.jp

Characterizing the Chemistry of the Milky Way Stellar Halo: Detailed Chemical Analysis of a Metal-Poor Stellar Stream

We present the results of a detailed abundance analysis of one of the confirmed building blocks of the Milky Way stellar halo, a kinematically-coherent metal-poor stellar stream. We have obtained high resolution and high S/N spectra of 12 probable stream members using the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan-Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the 2dCoude spectrograph on the Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory. We have derived abundances or upper limits for 51 species of 46 elements in each of these stars. The stream members show a range of metallicity (-3.4 < [Fe/H] < -1.5) but are otherwise chemically homogeneous, with the same star-to-star dispersion in [X/Fe] as the rest of the halo. This implies that, in principle, a significant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halo could have formed from accreted systems like the stream. The stream stars show minimal evolution in the alpha or Fe-group elements over the range of metallicity. This stream is enriched with material produced by the main and weak components of the rapid neutron-capture process and shows no evidence for enrichment by the slow neutron-capture process.Comment: v2: Removed references to M15 after learning that the source kinematic data for M15 were incorrect in an earlier paper. M15 is not related to this stream. (ApJ, accepted; 31 pages, 18 figures, 11 tables

Chemical Inhomogeneities in the Milky Way Stellar Halo

We have compiled a sample of 699 stars from the recent literature with detailed chemical abundance information (spanning -4.2 < [Fe/H] < +0.3), and we compute their space velocities and Galactic orbital parameters. We identify members of the inner and outer stellar halo populations in our sample based only on their kinematic properties and then compare the abundance ratios of these populations as a function of [Fe/H]. In the metallicity range where the two populations overlap (-2.5 < [Fe/H] < -1.5), the mean [Mg/Fe] of the outer halo is lower than the inner halo by ~0.1 dex. For [Ni/Fe] and [Ba/Fe], the star-to-star abundance scatter of the inner halo is consistently smaller than in the outer halo. The [Na/Fe], [Y/Fe], [Ca/Fe], and [Ti/Fe] ratios of both populations show similar means and levels of scatter. Our inner halo population is chemically homogeneous, suggesting that a significant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halo originated from a well-mixed ISM. In contrast, our outer halo population is chemically diverse, suggesting that another significant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halo formed in remote regions where chemical enrichment was dominated by local supernova events. We find no abundance trends with maximum radial distance from the Galactic center or maximum vertical distance from the Galactic disk. We also find no common kinematic signature for groups of metal-poor stars with peculiar abundance patters, such as the alpha-poor stars or stars showing unique neutron-capture enrichment patterns. Several stars and dSph systems with unique abundance patterns spend the majority of their time in the distant regions of the Milky Way stellar halo, suggesting that the true outer halo of the Galaxy may have little resemblance to the local stellar halo.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. Full tables available upon reques

Changes in white cell estimates and plasma chemistry measurements following oral or external dosing of double-crested cormorants, \u3ci\u3ePhalacocorax auritus\u3c/i\u3e, with artificially weathered MC252 oil

Scoping studies were designed whereby double-crested cormorants (Phalacocorax auritus) were dosed with artificially weathered Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil either daily through oil injected feeder fish, or by application of oil directly to feathers every three days. Preening results in oil ingestion, and may be an effective means of orally dosing birds with toxicant to improve our understanding of the full range of physiological effects of oral oil ingestion on birds. Blood samples collected every 5–6 days were analyzed for a number of clinical endpoints including white blood cell (WBC) estimates and differential cell counts. Plasma biochemical evaluations were performed for changes associated with oil toxicity. Oral dosing and application of oil to feathers resulted in clinical signs and statistically significant changes in a number of biochemical endpoints consistent with petroleum exposure. In orally dosed birds there were statistically significant decreases in aspartate amino transferase (AST) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities, calcium, chloride, cholesterol, glucose, and total protein concentrations, and increases in plasma urea, uric acid, and phosphorus concentrations. Plasma electrophoresis endpoints (pre-albumin, albumin, alpha-2 globulin, beta globulin, and gamma globulin concentrations and albumin: globulin ratios) were decreased in orally dosed birds. Birds with external oil had increases in urea, creatinine, uric acid, creatine kinase (CK), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), phosphorus, calcium, chloride, potassium, albumin, alpha-1 globulin and alpha-2 globulin. Decreases were observed in AST, beta globulin and glucose. WBC also differed between treatments; however, this was in part driven by monocytosis present in the externally oiled birds prior to oil treatment

Changes in white cell estimates and plasma chemistry measurements following oral or external dosing of double-crested cormorants, \u3ci\u3ePhalacocorax auritus\u3c/i\u3e, with artificially weathered MC252 oil

Scoping studies were designed whereby double-crested cormorants (Phalacocorax auritus) were dosed with artificially weathered Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil either daily through oil injected feeder fish, or by application of oil directly to feathers every three days. Preening results in oil ingestion, and may be an effective means of orally dosing birds with toxicant to improve our understanding of the full range of physiological effects of oral oil ingestion on birds. Blood samples collected every 5–6 days were analyzed for a number of clinical endpoints including white blood cell (WBC) estimates and differential cell counts. Plasma biochemical evaluations were performed for changes associated with oil toxicity. Oral dosing and application of oil to feathers resulted in clinical signs and statistically significant changes in a number of biochemical endpoints consistent with petroleum exposure. In orally dosed birds there were statistically significant decreases in aspartate amino transferase (AST) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities, calcium, chloride, cholesterol, glucose, and total protein concentrations, and increases in plasma urea, uric acid, and phosphorus concentrations. Plasma electrophoresis endpoints (pre-albumin, albumin, alpha-2 globulin, beta globulin, and gamma globulin concentrations and albumin: globulin ratios) were decreased in orally dosed birds. Birds with external oil had increases in urea, creatinine, uric acid, creatine kinase (CK), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), phosphorus, calcium, chloride, potassium, albumin, alpha-1 globulin and alpha-2 globulin. Decreases were observed in AST, beta globulin and glucose. WBC also differed between treatments; however, this was in part driven by monocytosis present in the externally oiled birds prior to oil treatment