Aviation effects on already-existing cirrus clouds.

Determining the effects of the formation of contrails within natural cirrus clouds has proven to be challenging. Quantifying any such effects is necessary if we are to properly account for the influence of aviation on climate. Here we quantify the effect of aircraft on the optical thickness of already-existing cirrus clouds by matching actual aircraft flight tracks to satellite lidar measurements. We show that there is a systematic, statistically significant increase in normalized cirrus cloud optical thickness inside mid-latitude flight tracks compared with adjacent areas immediately outside the tracks

Asthma and COPD in cystic fibrosis intron-8 5T carriers. A population-based study

BACKGROUND: Carriers of cystic fibrosis intron-8 5T alleles with high exon-9 skipping could have increased annual lung function decline and increased risk for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: We genotyped 9131 individuals from the adult Danish population for cystic fibrosis 5T, 7T, 9T, and F508del alleles, and examined associations between 11 different genotype combinations, and annual FEV(1 )decline and risk of asthma or COPD. RESULTS: 5T heterozygotes vs. 7T homozygous controls had no increase in annual FEV(1 )decline, self-reported asthma, spirometry-defined COPD, or incidence of hospitalization from asthma or COPD. In 5T/7T heterozygotes vs. 7T homozygous controls we had 90% power to detect an increase in FEV(1 )decline of 8 ml, an odds ratio for self-reported asthma and spirometry-defined COPD of 1.9 and 1.7, and a hazard ratio for asthma and COPD hospitalization of 1.8 and 1.6, respectively. Both 5T homozygotes identified in the study showed evidence of asthma, while none of four 5T/F508del compound heterozygotes had severe pulmonary disease. 7T/9T individuals had annual decline in FEV(1 )of 19 ml compared with 21 ml in 7T homozygous controls (t-test:P = 0.03). 6.7% of 7T homozygotes without an F508del allele in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene reported asthma vs. 11% of 7T/9T individuals with an F508del allele (χ(2):P = 0.01) and 40% of 7T homozygotes with an F508del allele (P = 0.04). 7T homozygotes with vs. without an F508del allele also had higher incidence of asthma hospitalization (log-rank:P = 0.003); unadjusted and adjusted equivalent hazard ratios for asthma hospitalization were 11 (95%CI:1.5–78) and 6.3 (0.84–47) in 7T homozygotes with vs. without an F508del allele. CONCLUSION: Polythymidine 5T heterozygosity is not associated with pulmonary dysfunction or disease in the adult Caucasian population. Furthermore, our results support that F508del heterozygosity is associated with increased asthma risk independently of the 5T allele

Alternative Splicing at a NAGNAG Acceptor Site as a Novel Phenotype Modifier

Approximately 30% of alleles causing genetic disorders generate premature termination codons (PTCs), which are usually associated with severe phenotypes. However, bypassing the deleterious stop codon can lead to a mild disease outcome. Splicing at NAGNAG tandem splice sites has been reported to result in insertion or deletion (indel) of three nucleotides. We identified such a mechanism as the origin of the mild to asymptomatic phenotype observed in cystic fibrosis patients homozygous for the E831X mutation (2623G>T) in the CFTR gene. Analyses performed on nasal epithelial cell mRNA detected three distinct isoforms, a considerably more complex situation than expected for a single nucleotide substitution. Structure-function studies and in silico analyses provided the first experimental evidence of an indel of a stop codon by alternative splicing at a NAGNAG acceptor site. In addition to contributing to proteome plasticity, alternative splicing at a NAGNAG tandem site can thus remove a disease-causing UAG stop codon. This molecular study reveals a naturally occurring mechanism where the effect of either modifier genes or epigenetic factors could be suspected. This finding is of importance for genetic counseling as well as for deciding appropriate therapeutic strategies

Size-resolved observations of refractory black carbon particles in cloud droplets at a marine boundary layer site

Size-resolved observations of aerosol particles and cloud droplet residuals were studied at a marine boundary layer site (251 m a.m.s.l.) in La Jolla, San Diego, California, during 2012. A counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) was used as the inlet to sample cloud residuals while a total inlet was used to sample both cloud residuals and interstitial particles. Two cloud events totaling 10 h of in-cloud sampling were analyzed. Based on bulk aerosol particle concentrations, mass concentrations of refractory black carbon (rBC), and back trajectories, the two air masses sampled were classified as polluted marine air. Since the fraction of cloud droplets sampled by the CVI was less than 100%, the measured activated fractions of rBC should be considered as lower limits to the total fraction of rBC activated during the two cloud events. Size distributions of rBC and a coating analysis showed that sub-100 nm rBC cores with relatively thick coatings were incorporated into the cloud droplets (i.e., 95 nm rBC cores with median coating thicknesses of at least 65 nm were incorporated into the cloud droplets). Measurements also show that the coating volume fraction of rBC cores is relatively large for sub-100 nm rBC cores. For example, the median coating volume fraction of 95 nm rBC cores incorporated into cloud droplets was at least 0.9, a result that is consistent with °-Köhler theory. Measurements of the total diameter of the rBC-containing particles (rBC core and coating) suggest that the total diameter of rBC-containing particles needed to be at least 165 nm to be incorporated into cloud droplets when the core rBC diameter is g‰¥ 85 nm. This result is consistent with previous work that has shown that particle diameter is important for activation of non-rBC particles. The activated fractions of rBC determined from the measurements ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 for core rBC diameters ranging from 70 to 220 nm. This type of data is useful for constraining models used for predicting rBC concentrations in the atmosphere

Cloud partitioning of isocyanic acid (HNCO) and evidence of secondary source of HNCO in ambient air

Although isocyanic acid (HNCO) may cause a variety of health issues via protein carbamylation and has been proposed as a key compound in smoke-related health issues, our understanding of the atmospheric sources and fate of this toxic compound is currently incomplete. To address these issues, a field study was conducted at Mount Soledad, La Jolla, CA, to investigate partitioning of HNCO to clouds and fogs using an Acetate Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer coupled to a ground-based counterflow virtual impactor. The first field evidence of cloud partitioning of HNCO is presented, demonstrating that HNCO is dissolved in cloudwater more efficiently than expected based on the effective Henry's law solubility. The measurements also indicate evidence for a secondary, photochemical source of HNCO in ambient air at this site. Key PointsThe first field observation of cloud scavenging of isocyanic acid (HNCO)HNCO may be partitioning to clouds more efficiently than expectedA secondary, photochemical source of HNCO is observe

Primary marine aerosol-cloud interactions off the coast of California

Primary marine aerosol (PMA)-cloud interactions off the coast of California were investigated using observations of marine aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and stratocumulus clouds during the Eastern Pacific Emitted Aerosol Cloud Experiment (E-PEACE) and the Stratocumulus Observations of Los-Angeles Emissions Derived Aerosol-Droplets (SOLEDAD) studies. Based on recently reportedmeasurements of PMA size distributions, a constrained lognormal-mode-fitting procedure was devised to isolate PMA number size distributions fromtotal aerosol size distributions and applied to E-PEACEmeasurements. During the 12 day E-PEACE cruise on the R/V Point Sur, PMA typically contributed less than 15% of total particle concentrations. PMA number concentrations averaged 12 cm-3 during a relatively calmer period (average wind speed 12m/s1) lasting 8 days, and 71 cm-3 during a period of higher wind speeds (average 16m/s1) lasting 5 days. On average, PMA contributed less than 10% of total CCN at supersaturations up to 0.9% during the calmer period; however, during the higher wind speed period, PMA comprised 5-63% of CCN (average 16-28%) at supersaturations less than 0.3%. Sea salt was measured directly in the dried residuals of cloud droplets during the SOLEDAD study. The mass fractions of sea salt in the residuals averaged 12 to 24% during three cloud events. Comparing the marine stratocumulus clouds sampled in the two campaigns, measured peak supersaturations were 0.2 ± 0.04% during E-PEACE and 0.05-0.1% during SOLEDAD. The availablemeasurements show that cloud droplet number concentrations increased with > 100 nmparticles in E-PEACE but decreased in the three SOLEDAD cloud events