Water Quality Sampling, Analysis and Annual Load Determinations for TSS, Nitrogen and Phosphorus at the Washington County Road 195 Bridge on the West Fork of the White River

A water quality sampling station was installed at the Washington County road 195 bridge on the West Fork of the White River just above the confluence of the three main forks of the Upper White River in December 2001. The Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) was approved by EPA Region six on March 2002 and sampling was begun at that time. This station is coordinated with a USGS gauging station at the same location. This station was instrumented to collect samples at sufficient intervals across the hydrograph to accurately estimate the flux of total suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus into the upper end of Beaver Lake from the West Fork of the White River. The West Fork is listed on Arkansas\u27 1998 303d list as impaired from sediment. The Upper White was designated as the states highest priority watershed in the 1999 Unified Watershed Assessment. Accurate determination of stream nutrients and sediment is critical for future determinations of TMDLs, effectiveness of best management practices and trends in water quality

Murine Lewis Lung Carcinoma-Derived Endothelium Expresses Markers of Endothelial Activation and Requires Tumor-Specific Extracellular Matrix In Vitro

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to identify characteristics specific to tumor-derived endothelium that may be important in tumor biology, or for the development of targeted therapeutics or imaging agents. Normal C57BI/6 murine heart or lung endothelium, or C57BI/6 murine Lewis lung carcinoma tumor-derived endothelium was isolated from excised tissues using specific antibodies. The endothelium was cultured using either native fibronectin, or the oncofetal form of fibronectin. Cell surface adhesion molecule expression was analyzed by flow cytometry, and the cellular distribution of specific molecules was examined using indirect immunofluorescence staining. Oncofetal fibronectin was critical for maintaining the phenotype of tumor-derived endothelium, which demonstrated an elongated morphology in vitro, with few cell-cell contacts. They expressed high levels of CD31, CD102, and vascular endothelial cadherin, and constitutively expressed CD62E, CD54, and CD106, indicating an “activated” phenotype. Moreover, they expressed significantly greater levels of Sca-1 and Flk-1 than normal murine endothelium. Cellular distribution of CD31, β-catenin, and CD106 in tumor-derived endothelium was not continuous at cell borders, as observed in cultures of murine heart endothelium. In conclusion, Lewis lung carcinoma-derived tumor endothelium exhibits a specific phenotype in vitro, distinct from normal endothelium, and could be used as an in vitro tool for developing targeted agents

Cross-genus amplification and characterisation of microsatellite loci in the large-eared free tailed bat, Otomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from Africa and Madagascar

Primers developed for the Brazilian free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, were successfully used to cross-amplify microsatellite loci in two Afro-tropical Otomops species. Seventy one (71) bats from two species were genotyped for two dinucleotide and four tetranucleotide loci, yielding 1 to 15 alleles per locus. For the combined sample, the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.125 to 1.000 and 0.125 to 0.919, respectively. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values were 0.295 to 0.905 (mean 0.687) for Otomops martiensseni and 0.110 to 0.797 (mean 0.442) for Otomops madagascariensis. Five O. martiensseni loci deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These six loci provide genetic markers that will be useful in investigating the population genetic structure of Afro-Arabian O. martiensseni and Malagasy O. madagascariensis, with potential application to Asian species of Otomops and possibly other genera within the Molossidae.Keywords: Bats, Otomops, Chiroptera, microsatellites, Molossidae, cross-genus amplificationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(27), pp. 4233-423

Resonance sweeping by a decelerating Galactic bar

We provide the first quantitative evidence for the deceleration of the Galactic bar from local stellar kinematics in agreement with dynamical friction by a typical dark matter halo. The kinematic response of the stellar disk to a decelerating bar is studied using secular perturbation theory and test particle simulations. We show that the velocity distribution at any point in the disk affected by a naturally slowing bar is qualitatively different from that perturbed by a steadily rotating bar with the same current pattern speed $\Omega_{\rm p}$ and amplitude. When the bar slows down, its resonances sweep through phase space, trapping and dragging along a portion of previously free orbits. This enhances occupation on resonances, but also changes the distribution of stars within the resonance. Due to the accumulation of orbits near the boundary of the resonance, the decelerating bar model reproduces with its corotation resonance the offset and strength of the Hercules stream in the local $v_R$-$v_\varphi$ plane and the double-peaked structure of mean $v_R$ in the $L_z$-$\varphi$ plane. At resonances other than the corotation, resonant dragging by a slowing bar is associated with a continuing increase in radial action, leading to multiple resonance ridges in the action plane as identified in the Gaia data. This work shows models using a constant bar pattern speed likely lead to qualitatively wrong conclusions. Most importantly we provide a quantitative estimate of the current slowing rate of the bar $d\Omega_{\rm p}/dt = (-4.5 \pm 1.4)~{\rm km} {\rm s}^{-1} {\rm kpc}^{-1} {\rm Gyr}^{-1}$ with additional systematic uncertainty arising from unmodeled impacts of e.g. spiral arms.Comment: 20 pages, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS after 1st revision. Improved quantification of bar slowing rate. Conclusions unchange