Application of Chemostratigraphic Methods to Floodplain Alluvial Deposits Within the Big Harris Creek Basin, North Carolina

Big Harris Creek, North Carolina, possesses a geomorphic history and alluvial stratigraphic record similar to many drainages in southern Appalachian Piedmont. An approximately 1 km reach of Upper Stick Elliott Creek, a tributary to Big Harris Creek, was used herein to (1) explore the use of chemostratigraphic methods to define and correlate late Holocene alluvial deposits along this relatively uncontaminated rural stream containing legacy sediments (historic, anthropogenically derived deposits), and (2) interpret depositional floodplain processes within small (\u3c10 km2), headwater drainages. The lithofacies within four floodplain sections were described in channel banks and sampled at about 5 cm intervals. The 128 collected samples were then analyzed for grain size and the concentration of 22 elements using X-ray fluorescence. Well-defined chemostratigraphic units (facies) were defined on the basis of a multi-elemental fingerprint using a principal component analysis (PCA) and verified using discriminant analysis (DA). Chemostratigraphic units did not reflect grain size at a site (by design) but marginally correlated to lithofacies defined by field descriptions. Of significant importance, chemostratigraphic units could be quantitatively correlated between the four stratigraphic sections at a much higher spatial resolution (~5 cm) than could be performed using other sedimentologic parameters alone. In combination, the lithostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic architecture of the floodplain is consistent with a previously proposed sequence of deposition for the legacy deposits in which extensive land-use change associated with the onset of cotton farming in the 1860s led to upstream incision and gully formation and downstream deposition on the floodplain surface. Deposition appears to have progressed downvalley as incision deepened, probably in the form of crevasse splay deposits or proximal sandsheets that were occasionally interbedded with vertically accreted sediments. The results indicate that chemostratigraphy represents a highly useful approach to the assessment of floodplain depositional processes over (at least) relatively small temporal and spatial scales, even in areas with minimal sediment contamination

A numerical study of the Plata River plume along the southeastern South American continental shelf

O Rio da Prata, um dos maiores rios da Terra, descarrega no oceano águas de uma bacia de drenagem que cobre uma ampla área da América do Sul. Sua pluma extende-se ao longo do norte da Argentina, Uruguay e sul do Brasil influenciando amplamente os ecossistemas costeiros. A despeito disso, pouco se sabe a respeito dos mecanismos que a controlam. Relatamos aqui simulações conduzidas com o modelo POM na investigação do papel dos ventos e da descarga fluvial na dinâmica da pluma do Prata. Descargas com valores médios climatológicos e magnitudes representativas de El Niño e La Niña foram explorados. Somente sob descarga fluvial, a velocidade média de penetração da pluma ao longo da costa foi diretamente relacionada à vazão. Sua extensão variou entre 850 e 1550 km e no caso da vazão média uma banda de baixa salinidade formou-se desde o estuário até 30ºN na plataforma continental sul brasileira. O efeito de ventos de sudoeste, que causam subsidência, e de nordeste, que promovem a ressurgência costeira, foram investigados após 130 dias de descarga fluvial. Os resultados sugerem que a distribuição de baixa salinidade é muito mais sensível à direção dos ventos do que à descarga fluvial. Ventos de sudoeste são capazes de advectar o sinal de baixa salinidade ao longo da costa. Já os ventos de nordeste demonstram ser eficientes na erosão da pluma, que é destacada da costa por deriva de Ekman. Uma intrusão anormal da pluma de baixa salinidade em direção a baixas latitudes pode ser o resultado da posição original da pluma acoplada a eventos persistentes de fortes ventos de sudoeste.The Rio de la Plata, one of the largest rivers on Earth, discharges into the ocean waters from basin that covers a large area of South America. Its plume extends along northern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil shelves strongly influencing the ecosystems. In spite of this, little is known about the mechanisms that control it. Here we report results of simulations with POM carried out to investigate the roles of wind and river discharge in Plata plume dynamics. Different outflows were explored, including an average climatological value and magnitudes representative of La Niña and El Niño. Forcing the model with river discharge the average plume speed was directly related to the outflow intensity. The Plata northward extension varied from 850 to 1550 km and for average discharge a band of low salinity waters formed from the estuary up to 30ºN of South Brazilian Shelf. Upwelling and downwelling winds were applied after 130 days. The distribution of low salinity waters over the shelf was more sensitive to the wind direction than to the river outflow variability. Downwelling winds were very capable of advecting the low salinity signal downshelf. Upwelling winds were efficient in eroding the plume, which was basically detached from the coast by Ekman drift. Abnormal plume intrusions toward low latitudes may be a result of the original plume position coupled with events of persistent strong downwelling favorable winds

A Detailed Investigation of the Sociological, Economic, and Ecological Aspects of Proposed Reservoir Sites in the Salt River Basin of Kentucky

Samples of water, bottom fauna, and fishes were collected from 66 stations in the Salt River and one of its principal tributaries, the Beech Fork and its tributary, the Chaplin River, Kentucky. Precipitation ranged from 38.86 inches (1969) to 58.04 inches (1970), an increase of nearly 50 percent with marked fluctuations in discharge. Intensive comparisons of phosphates, sulfates, specific conductance, total alkalinity, total hardness, and turbidity showed the streams to be relatively clean and healthy. Nearly 300 different kinds of benthic organisms and other macroinvertebrates have been collected and identified from the basin. Detailed studies of caddisflies and stream drift are under way along with the development of computer programs for diversity indices of the various organisms. Twenty-eight species of bivalve mussels and representatives of six genera of snails have been collected including the Asiatic clam Corbicula mülleri. Among the vertebrates, 60 species of fishes have been collected and identified along with 22 amphibians and 21 reptiles. Nearly 150 species of birds have been identified in the area. An economic study of Spencer County revealed that there has been a decrease in the human population along with a general decline in the overall economic picture of the county as indicated by a retarded rate of growth in annual per capita income and a decline in total retail sales within the county over the past decade. The highway system in the county consists of largely Class 4, 5, and 6 roads which, because of the topography, are generally narrow, crooked, and hilly. However, Spencer County is almost completely encircled by interstate highways within ten miles of its borders

Insulin and glucose play a role in foam cell formation and function

BACKGROUND: Foam cell formation in diabetic patients often occurs in the presence of high insulin and glucose levels. To test whether hyperinsulinemic hyperglycemic conditions affect foam cell differentiation, we examined gene expression, cytokine production, and Akt phosphorylation in human monocyte-derived macrophages incubated with two types of oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL), minimally modified LDL (mmLDL) and extensively oxidized LDL (OxLDL). METHODS AND RESULTS: Using Affymetrix GeneChip(® )arrays, we found that several genes directly related to insulin signaling were changed. The insulin receptor and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were upregulated by mmLDL and OxLDL, whereas insulin-induced gene 1 was significantly down-regulated. In hyperinsulinemic hyperglycemic conditions, modified LDL upregulated Akt phosphorylation and expression of the insulin-regulated aminopeptidase. The level of proinflammatory cytokines, IL-lβ, IL-12, and IL-6, and of a 5-lipoxygenase eicosanoid, 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE), was also increased. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the exposure of macrophages to modified low density lipoproteins in hyperglycemic hyperinsulinemic conditions affects insulin signaling and promotes the release of proinflammatory stimuli, such as cytokines and eicosanoids. These in turn may contribute to the development of insulin resistance

Initial characterization of a highly contaminated high explosives outfall in preparation for in situ bioremediation

In situ bioremediation is a viable, cost-effective treatment for environmental contamination of many kinds. The feasibility of using biological techniques to remediate soils contaminated with high explosives (HE) requires laboratory evaluation before proceeding to a larger scale field operation. Laboratory investigations have been conducted at pilot scale which indicate that an anaerobic process could be successful at reducing levels of HE, primarily HMX, RDX and TNT, in contaminated soils. A field demonstration project has been designed to create an anaerobic environment for the degradation of HE materials. The first step in this project, initial characterization of the test area, was conducted and is the subject of this report. The levels of HE compounds found in the samples from the test area were higher than the EPA Method 8330 was able to extract without subsequent re-precipitation; therefore, a new method was developed using a superior extractant system. The test area sampling design was relatively simple as one might expect in an initial characterization. A total of 60 samples were each removed to a depth of 4 inches using a 1 inch diameter corer. The samples were spaced at relatively even intervals across a 20 foot cross-section through the middle of four 7-foot-long adjacent plots which are designed to be a part of an in situ bioremediation experiment. Duplicate cores were taken from each location for HE extraction and analysis in order to demonstrate and measure the heterogeneity of the contamination. Each soil sample was air dried and ball-milled to provide a homogeneous solid for extraction and analysis. Several samples had large consolidated pieces of what appeared to be solid HE. These were not ball-milled due to safety concerns, but were dissolved and the solutions were analyzed. The new extraction method was superior in that results obtained for several of the contaminants were up to 20 times those obtained with the EPA extraction method. The results obtained from this study showed that the test area contamination is extremely heterogeneous, and that it contains extremely high levels of the three major contaminants, HMX, RDX and TNT. The potential for success of a bioremediation strategy is discussed

IUCN Conservation Status Does Not Predict Glucocortoid Concentrations in Reptiles and Birds

Circulating glucocorticoids (GCs) are the most commonly used biomarkers of stress in wildlife. However, their utility as a tool for identifying and/or managing at-risk species has varied. Here, we took a very broad approach to conservation physiology, asking whether International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing status (concern versus no obvious concern) and/or location within a geographic range (edge versus non-edge) predicted baseline and post-restraint concentrations of corticosterone (CORT) among many species of birds and reptiles. Even though such an approach can be viewed as coarse, we asked in this analysis whether CORT concentrations might be useful to implicate species at risk. Indeed, our effort, relying on HormoneBase, a repository of data on wildlife steroids, complements several other large-scale efforts in this issue to describe and understand GC variation. Using a phylogenetically informed Bayesian approach, we found little evidence that either IUCN status or edge/non-edge location in a geographic distribution were related to GC levels. However, we did confirm patterns described in previous studies, namely that breeding condition and evolutionary relatedness among species predicted some GC variation. Given the broad scope of our work, we are reluctant to conclude that IUCN status and location within a range are unrelated to GC regulation. We encourage future more targeted efforts on GCs in at-risk populations to reveal how factors leading to IUCN listing or the environmental conditions at range edges impact individual performance and fitness, particularly in the mammals, amphibians, and fish species we could not study here because data are currently unavailable

The TREAT-NMD advisory committee for therapeutics (TACT): an innovative de-risking model to foster orphan drug development

Despite multiple publications on potential therapies for neuromuscular diseases (NMD) in cell and animal models only a handful reach clinical trials. The ability to prioritise drug development according to objective criteria is particularly critical in rare diseases with large unmet needs and a limited numbers of patients who can be enrolled into clinical trials. TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT) was established to provide independent and objective guidance on the preclinical and development pathway of potential therapies (whether novel or repurposed) for NMD. We present our experience in the establishment and operation of the TACT. TACT provides a unique resource of recognized experts from multiple disciplines. The goal of each TACT review is to help the sponsor to position the candidate compound along a realistic and well-informed plan to clinical trials, and eventual registration. The reviews and subsequent recommendations are focused on generating meaningful and rigorous data that can enable clear go/no-go decisions and facilitate longer term funding or partnering opportunities. The review process thereby acts to comment on viability, de-risking the process of proceeding on a development programme. To date TACT has held 10 review meeting and reviewed 29 program applications in several rare neuromuscular diseases: Of the 29 programs reviewed, 19 were from industry and 10 were from academia; 15 were for novel compounds and 14 were for repurposed drugs; 16 were small molecules and 13 were biologics; 14 were preclinical stage applications and 15 were clinical stage applications. 3 had received Orphan drug designation from European Medicines Agency and 3 from Food and Drug Administration. A number of recurrent themes emerged over the course of the reviews and we found that applicants frequently require advice and education on issues concerned with preclinical standard operating procedures, interactions with regulatory agencies, formulation, repurposing, clinical trial design, manufacturing and ethics. Over the 5 years since its establishment TACT has amassed a body of experience that can be extrapolated to other groups of rare diseases to improve the community's chances of successfully bringing new rare disease drugs to registration and ultimately to marke