Ecological considerations for possible Martian biota

Current climatic and geological evidence suggests that, like early Earth, conditions on ancient Mars may also have been favorable for the origin and evolution of life. The primordial atmospheres of the two planets were quite similar, composed primarily of CO2, N2, and water vapor at a total atmospheric pressure of approximately 1 bar. Each of these gases are important for the evolution of biological systems. With the exception of nitrogen, there seems to have been a sufficient supply of the biogenic elements C, H, O, P, and S (CHOPS) on early Mars for life to have evolved. It was postulated that primordial Mars contained only 18 mb of nitrogen in the form of N2 given that only fixed nitrogen is utilized by living systems. Laboratory tests performed at a total pressure of 1 bar and various partial pressures of dinitrogen (pN2 1-780 mb) show that nitrogen fixing organisms grow at pN2's of 18 mb or less, although the biomass and growth rates are decreased. The calcualted in vivo Km's ranged from 46 mb to 130 mb. If organisms adapted on Earth to a pH2 of 780 mb are capable of growing at these low partial pressures, it is conceivable that nitrogen was not the limiting factor in the evolution of life on early Mars

An ancient anterior patterning system promotes Caudal repression and head formation in Ecdysozoa.

SummaryPosterior expression of Caudal is required for early embryonic development in nematodes, arthropods, and vertebrates [1–9]. In Drosophila, ectopic Caudal in anterior cells can induce head defects, and in Caenorhabditis the absence of Caudal in anterior embryonic cells is required for proper development [6, 10]. Anterior Caudal repression in these species is achieved through unrelated translational repressors, the homeodomain protein Bicoid [11] and the KH domain factor Mex-3 [6, 12], respectively. Here we report that the Mex-3 ortholog in the flour beetle Tribolium plays a crucial role in head formation and that Caudal in this species is repressed by the combined activities of Mex-3 and Zen-2, a protein sharing common ancestry with the dipteran morphogen Bicoid. We propose that Mex-3 represents an ancient “anterior” promoting factor common to all Ecdysozoa (and maybe all Bilateria), whose role has been usurped in higher dipterans by Bicoid

IFKIS - a basis for managing avalanche risk in settlements and on roads in Switzerland

After the avalanche winter of 1999 in Switzerland, which caused 17&nbsp;deaths and damage of over CHF&nbsp;600&nbsp;mill. in buildings and on roads, the project IFKIS, aimed at improving the basics of organizational measures (closure of roads, evacuation etc.) in avalanche risk management, was initiated. <P style='line-height: 20px;'> The three main parts of the project were the development of a compulsory checklist for avalanche safety services, a modular education and training course program and an information system for safety services. The information system was developed in order to improve both the information flux between the national centre for avalanche forecasting, the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, and the local safety services on the one hand and the communication between avalanche safety services in the communities on the other hand. <P style='line-height: 20px;'> The results of this project make a valuable contribution to strengthening organizational measures in avalanche risk management and to closing the gaps, which became apparent during the avalanche winter of 1999. They are not restricted to snow avalanches but can also be adapted for dealing with other natural hazard processes and catastrophes

System and Process for Upgrading Hydrocarbons

In one embodiment, a system for upgrading a hydrocarbon material may include a black wax upgrade subsystem and a molten salt gasification (MSG) subsystem. The black wax upgrade subsystem and the MSG subsystem may be located within a common pressure boundary, such as within a pressure vessel. Gaseous materials produced by the MSG subsystem may be used in the process carried out within the black wax upgrade subsystem. For example, hydrogen may pass through a gaseous transfer interface to interact with black wax feed material to hydrogenate such material during a cracking process. In one embodiment, the gaseous transfer interface may include one or more openings in a tube or conduit which is carrying the black wax material. A pressure differential may control the flow of hydrogen within the tube or conduit. Related methods are also disclosed

A modular approach for automated sample preparation and chemical analysis

Changes in international relations, especially within the past several years, have dramatically affected the programmatic thrusts of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE now is addressing the environmental cleanup required as a result of 50 years of nuclear arms research and production. One major obstacle in the remediation of these areas is the chemical determination of potentially contaminated material using currently acceptable practices. Process bottlenecks and exposure to hazardous conditions pose problems for the DOE. One proposed solution is the application of modular automated chemistry using Standard Laboratory Modules (SLM) to perform Standard Analysis Methods (SAM). The Contaminant Analysis Automation (CAA) Program has developed standards and prototype equipment that will accelerate the development of modular chemistry technology and is transferring this technology to private industry

System and Process for Upgrading Hydrocarbons

In one embodiment, a system for upgrading a hydrocarbon material may include a black wax upgrade subsystem and a molten salt gasification (MSG) subsystem. The black wax upgrade subsystem and the MSG subsystem may be located within a common pressure boundary, such as within a pressure vessel. Gaseous materials produced by the MSG subsystem may be used in the process carried out within the black wax upgrade subsystem. For example, hydrogen may pass through a gaseous transfer interface to interact with black wax feed material to hydrogenate such material during a cracking process. In one embodiment, the gaseous transfer interface may include one or more openings in a tube or conduit which is carrying the black wax material. A pressure differential may control the flow of hydrogen within the tube or conduit. Related methods are also disclosed

Efficient and Specific Analysis of Red Blood Cell Glycerophospholipid Fatty Acid Composition

Red blood cell (RBC) n-3 fatty acid status is related to various health outcomes. Accepted biological markers for the fatty acid status determination are RBC phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidyletholamine. The analysis of these lipid fractions is demanding and time consuming and total phospholipid n-3 fatty acid levels might be affected by changes of sphingomyelin contents in the RBC membrane during n-3 supplementation. We developed a method for the specific analysis of RBC glycerophospholipids. The application of the new method in a DHA supplementation trial and the comparison to established markers will determine the relevance of RBC GPL as a valid fatty acid status marker in humans. Methyl esters of glycerophospholipid fatty acids are selectively generated by a two step procedure involving methanolic protein precipitation and base-catalysed methyl ester synthesis. RBC GPL solubilisation is facilitated by ultrasound treatment. Fatty acid status in RBC glycerophospholipids and other established markers were evaluated in thirteen subjects participating in a 30 days supplementation trial (510 mg DHA/d). The intra-assay CV for GPL fatty acids ranged from 1.0 to 10.5% and the inter-assay CV from 1.3 to 10.9%. Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation significantly increased the docosahexaenoic acid contents in all analysed lipid fractions. High correlations were observed for most of the mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and for the omega-3 index (r = 0.924) between RBC phospholipids and glycerophospholipids. The analysis of RBC glycerophospholipid fatty acids yields faster, easier and less costly results equivalent to the conventional analysis of RBC total phospholipids

A novel IEF peptide fractionation method reveals a detailed profile of N-terminal Acetylation in chemotherapy-responsive and -resistant ovarian cancer cells

Although acetylation is regarded as a common protein modification, a detailed proteome wide profile of this posttranslational modification may reveal important biological insight regarding differential acetylation of individual proteins. Here we optimised a novel peptide IEF fractionation method for use prior to LC-MS/MS analysis in order to obtain a more in depth coverage of N-terminally acetylated proteins from complex samples. Application of the method to the analysis of the serous ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-5 identified 341 N-terminally acetylated proteins, 23 of which are previously un-reported. The protein peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase A (PPIA) was detected in both the N-terminally acetylated and un-modified forms, and was further analysed by data independent acquisition in Carboplatin responsive parental OVCAR-5 cells and Carboplatin resistant OVCAR-5 cells. This revealed a higher ratio of un-acetylated to acetylated N-terminal PPIA in the parental compared to the Carboplatin resistant OVCAR-5 cells, and a 4.1-fold increase in PPIA abundance overall in the parental cells relative to Carboplatin-resistant OVCAR-5 cells (P = 0.015). In summary, the novel IEF peptide fractionation method presented here is robust, reproducible, and can be applied to the profiling of N-terminally acetylated proteins. All mass spectrometry data is available as a ProteomeXchange repository (PXD003547).Florian Weiland, Georgia Arentz, Manuela Klingler-Hoffmann, Peter McCarthy, Noor A. Lokman, Gurjeet Kaur, Martin K. Oehler, and Peter Hoffman