Impacts of the amount of hybrid cattail (Typha x glauca) litter on abiotic and biotic conditions in prairie pothole wetlands

Hybrid cattail (Typha x glauca) is an invasive emergent macrophyte that spreads quickly and forms monodominant stands in wetlands, and alters their abiotic and biotic conditions. I examined the role that cattail litter has on abiotic and biotic conditions. Specifically, I studied experimentally the effects of the amount of litter in a mesocosm complex and a prairie pothole wetland. At both sites, I established three litter treatments (high, control, and low litter amounts) and examined how the amount of litter effects litter decomposition, cattail shoot number and height, temperature (at the sediment surface, as well as 10cm above and 10cm below), soil redox potential, dissolved oxygen, and percent oxygen saturation. I hypothesized that when litter increased at a site, there would be a corresponding decrease in soil and water temperature, redox potential, dissolved oxygen, and percent oxygen saturation and consequently in the rate of litter decomposition. I also hypothesized that the number of cattail shoots and cattail shoot heights would decrease with increasing litter. There was no significant difference among the litter treatments in litter decomposition rates at either location. Temperatures varied across treatments, with a greater mean maximum and minimum in the low treatment at all three depths (+10cm, 0cm, -10cm) at the mesocosm complex, but not at Anderson Lake. Redox potential, dissolved oxygen, and percent oxygen saturation in the low treatments at the mesocosm complex were significantly higher than in either the high or control treatments, but again not at Anderson Lake. The number of cattail shoots was significantly higher in the low treatments than in the high and control treatments in the mesocosm complex and between the low and high treatments at Anderson Lake

Predicting macrobending loss for large-mode area photonic crystal fibers

We report on an easy-to-evaluate expression for the prediction of the bend-loss for a large mode area photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a triangular air-hole lattice. The expression is based on a recently proposed formulation of the V-parameter for a PCF and contains no free parameters. The validity of the expression is verified experimentally for varying fiber parameters as well as bend radius. The typical deviation between the position of the measured and the predicted bend loss edge is within measurement uncertainty.Comment: Accepted for Optics Expres

Long-term outcome among men with conservatively treated localised prostate cancer

Optimal management of clinically localised prostate cancer presents unique challenges, because of its highly variable and often indolent natural history. There is an urgent need to predict more accurately its natural history, in order to avoid unnecessary treatment. Medical records of men diagnosed with clinically localised prostate cancer, in the UK, between 1990 and 1996 were reviewed to identify those who were conservatively treated, under age 76 years at the time of pathological diagnosis and had a baseline prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurement. Diagnostic biopsy specimens were centrally reviewed to assign primary and secondary Gleason grades. The primary end point was death from prostate cancer and multivariate models were constructed to determine its best predictors. A total of 2333 eligible patients were identified. The most important prognostic factors were Gleason score and baseline PSA level. These factors were largely independent and together, contributed substantially more predictive power than either one alone. Clinical stage and extent of disease determined, either from needle biopsy or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) chips, provided some additional prognostic information. In conclusion, a model using Gleason score and PSA level identified three subgroups comprising 17, 50, and 33% of the cohort with a 10-year prostate cancer specific mortality of <10, 10–30, and >30%, respectively. This classification is a substantial improvement on previous ones using only Gleason score, but better markers are needed to predict survival more accurately in the intermediate group of patients

Wind environment evaluation on major town of Malaysia

This study focus on wind flow or wind environment of residential areas in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Natural wind flow is one of the most effective methods to help achieve the energy saving in large cities especially under the tropical climate like Malaysia. The weather in Malaysia is characterized by four monsoon regimes, namely, the southwest monsoon, northeast monsoon and two shorter periods of inter-monsoon seasons. For this study, the data of wind velocity in twentytwo (22) weather station in Malaysia obtained from Meteorological Department and considered in wind environment evaluations. Then that data of wind velocities will convert to 1.5 in height at all measuring points were calculated by using the law. The result compared by Table 2.2 in previous researches (Kubota and Miura et al., 2002). From the study, it was found out, in Malaysia there are only two type of wind. First type is weak wind means that area are discomfort thermal and the second type is comfort range to strong wind means that area are comfort thermal. The minimum value of mean wind speed from 2005 to 2009 is O.mis in mean temperature is over 2C at Sitiawan. For the maximum value of mean wind speed is I .7m/s in average value of mean temperature is 276C at Mersing. Base on results, it can be concluded that when considering wind flow at a residential area, terrace housing is not a suitable option for towns located on the south of the Peninsular. It was prefer for high-rise building because it was considered this location of towns was weak wind condition. On the other hand, the major towns exclude the south of the Peninsular including Sabah and Sarawak, they was under the comfort thermal. So, terrace housing or high-rise building is suitable option

Suitability of PSA-detected localised prostate cancers for focal therapy: Experience from the ProtecT study

This article is available through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Copyright @ 2011 Cancer Research UK.Background: Contemporary screening for prostate cancer frequently identifies small volume, low-grade lesions. Some clinicians have advocated focal prostatic ablation as an alternative to more aggressive interventions to manage these lesions. To identify which patients might benefit from focal ablative techniques, we analysed the surgical specimens of a large sample of population-detected men undergoing radical prostatectomy as part of a randomised clinical trial. Methods: Surgical specimens from 525 men who underwent prostatectomy within the ProtecT study were analysed to determine tumour volume, location and grade. These findings were compared with information available in the biopsy specimen to examine whether focal therapy could be provided appropriately. Results: Solitary cancers were found in prostatectomy specimens from 19% (100 out of 525) of men. In addition, 73 out of 425 (17%) men had multiple cancers with a solitary significant tumour focus. Thus, 173 out of 525 (33%) men had tumours potentially suitable for focal therapy. The majority of these were small, well-differentiated lesions that appeared to be pathologically insignificant (38–66%). Criteria used to select patients for focal prostatic ablation underestimated the cancer's significance in 26% (34 out of 130) of men and resulted in overtreatment in more than half. Only 18% (24 out of 130) of men presumed eligible for focal therapy, actually had significant solitary lesions. Conclusion: Focal therapy appears inappropriate for the majority of men presenting with prostate-specific antigen-detected localised prostate cancer. Unifocal prostate cancers suitable for focal ablation are difficult to identify pre-operatively using biopsy alone. Most lesions meeting criteria for focal ablation were either more aggressive than expected or posed little threat of progression.National Institute for Health Researc

Targeted metagenomics of active microbial populations with stable-isotope probing

The ability to explore microbial diversity and function has been enhanced by novel experimental and computational tools. The incorporation of stable isotopes into microbial biomass enables the recovery of labeled nucleic acids from active microorganisms, despite their initial abundance and culturability. Combining stable-isotope probing (SIP) with metagenomics provides access to genomes from microorganisms involved in metabolic processes of interest. Studies using metagenomic analysis on DNA obtained from DNA-SIP incubations can be ideal for the recovery of novel enzymes for biotechnology applications, including biodegradation, biotransformation, and biosynthesis. This chapter introduces metagenomic and DNA-SIP methodologies, highlights biotechnology-focused studies that combine these approaches, and provides perspectives on future uses of these methods as analysis tools for applied and environmental microbiology

Review of Large Carnivore Conservation: Integrating Science and Policy in the North American West

The management and conservation of large carnivores is of worldwide concern and is as much about human values, interactions, and governance as carnivore biology. Susan Clark and Murray Rutherford continue their work on coexisting with large carnivores ( Clark et al. 2005 ) with a new edited volume Large Carnivore Conservation: Integrating Science and Policy in the North American West . Large Carnivore Conservation that expands on the same themes as their previous work with case studies from Arizona to the Yukon. While focusing on the North American West, Clark and Rutherford hope to provide a holistic approach to carnivore management in general

Prostate-specific antigen patterns in US and European populations:Comparison of six diverse cohorts

Objective: To determine whether there are differences in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels at diagnosis or changes in PSA levels between US and European populations of men with and without prostate cancer (PCa). Subjects and Methods: We analysed repeated measures of PSA from six clinically and geographically diverse cohorts of men: two cohorts with PSA-detected PCa, two cohorts with clinically detected PCa and two cohorts without PCa. Using multilevel models, average PSA at diagnosis and PSA change over time were compared among study populations. Results: The annual percentage PSA change of 4-5% was similar between men without cancer and men with PSA-detected cancer. PSA at diagnosis was 1.7 ng/mL lower in a US cohort of men with PSA-detected PCa (95% confidence interval 1.3-2.0 ng/mL), compared with a UK cohort of men with PSA-detected PCa, but there was no evidence of a different rate of PSA change between these populations. Conclusion: We found that PSA changes over time are similar in UK and US men diagnosed through PSA testing and even in men without PCa. Further development of PSA models to monitor men on active surveillance should be undertaken in order to take advantage of these similarities. We found no evidence that guidelines for using PSA to monitor men cannot be passed between US and European studies