A life worth writing about

Craig Venter's autobiography recounts the conflict and controversy that have contributed to his celebrity

Groundwater vulnerability : from scientific concept to practical application

The International conference on “Groundwater Vulnerability—From Scientific Concept to Practical Application” was the second on contemporary groundwater vulnerability issues to be organised in Ustroń, Poland. In fact, it was the third IAH conference on groundwater vulnerability organised in Poland by the University of Silesia. The first on “Karst-fractured Aquifers—Vulnerability and Sustainability” was held in Katowice and Ustroń in 1996. This conference was focused on techniques and strategies of investigation, protection and effective management of karst-fractured aquifers. Twenty-nine papers presented at this conference were published in a special volume of University of Silesia Scientific Works No. 1563 (Różkowski et al. 1996). The second one was also held in Ustroń in 2004. Eighty-six abstracts (including five keynote papers) of the papers presented at this conference were published in the conference abstract book (Witkowski et al. 2004). The best three papers were published in Environmental Geology (Volume 53, No. 3, November 2007) (Witkowski 2007), and the next 23 papers in Vol. 11 of IAH Selected Papers under the title “Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping” (Witkowski et al. 2007)

Vascular miR‐181b controls tissue factor‐dependent thrombogenicity and inflammation in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is characterized by chronic vascular inflammation leading to pathological expression of the thrombogenic full length (fl) tissue factor (TF) and its isoform alternatively-spliced (as) TF. Blood-borne TF promotes factor (F) Xa generation resulting in a pro-thrombotic state and cardiovascular complications. MicroRNA (miR)s impact gene expression on the post-transcriptional level and contribute to vascular homeostasis. Their distinct role in the control of the diabetes-related procoagulant state remains poorly understood. METHODS: In a cohort of patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (n = 46) plasma levels of miR-181b were correlated with TF pathway activity and markers for vascular inflammation. In vitro, human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC)-1 and human monocytes (THP-1) were transfected with miR-181b or anti-miR-181b and exposed to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α or lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Expression of TF isoforms, vascular adhesion molecule (VCAM) 1 and nuclear factor (NF) κB nuclear translocation was assessed. Moreover, aortas, spleen, plasma, and bone marrow-derived macrophage (BMDM)s of mice carrying a deletion of the first miR-181b locus were analyzed with respect to TF expression and activity. RESULTS: In patients with type 2 diabetes, plasma miR-181b negatively correlated with the procoagulant state as evidenced by TF protein, TF activity, D-dimer levels as well as markers for vascular inflammation. In HMEC-1, miR-181b abrogated TNFα-induced expression of flTF, asTF, and VCAM1. These results were validated using the anti-miR-181b. Mechanistically, we confirmed a miR-181b-mediated inhibition of importin-α3 (KPNA4) leading to reduced nuclear translocation of the TF transcription factor NFκB. In THP-1, miR-181b reduced both TF isoforms and FXa generation in response to LPS due to targeting phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), a principal inducer for TF in monocytes. Moreover, in miR-181-/- animals, we found that reduced levels of miR-181b were accompanied by increased TF, VCAM1, and KPNA4 expression in aortic tissue as well as increased TF and PTEN expression in spleen. Finally, BMDMs of miR-181-/- mice showed increased TF expression and FXa generation upon stimulation with LPS. CONCLUSIONS: miR-181b epigenetically controls the procoagulant state in diabetes. Reduced miR-181b levels contribute to increased thrombogenicity and may help to identify individuals at particular risk for thrombosis

Groundwater vulnerability: from scientific concept to practical application

The International conference on “Groundwater Vulnerability—From Scientific Concept to Practical Application” was the second on contemporary groundwater vulnerability issues to be organised in Ustroń, Poland. In fact, it was the third IAH conference on groundwater vulnerability organised in Poland by the University of Silesia. The first on “Karst-fractured Aquifers—Vulnerability and Sustainability” was held in Katowice and Ustroń in 1996. This conference was focused on techniques and strategies of investigation, protection and effective management of karst-fractured aquifers. Twenty-nine papers presented at this conference were published in a special volume of University of Silesia Scientific Works No. 1563 (Różkowski et al. 1996). The second one was also held in Ustroń in 2004. Eighty-six abstracts (including five keynote papers) of the papers presented at this conference were published in the conference abstract book (Witkowski et al. 2004). The best three papers were published in Environmental Geology (Volume 53, No. 3, November 2007) (Witkowski 2007), and the next 23 papers in Vol. 11 of IAH Selected Papers under the title “Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping” (Witkowski et al. 2007)

Analysis and calibration of absorptive images of Bose-Einstein condensate at non-zero temperatures

We describe the method allowing quantitative interpretation of absorptive images of mixtures of BEC and thermal atoms which reduces possible systematic errors associated with evaluation of the contribution of each fraction. By using known temperature dependence of the BEC fraction, the analysis allows precise calibration of the fitting results. The developed method is verified in two different measurements and compares well with theoretical calculations and with measurements performed by another group.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure