Regulating Hydraulic Fracturing Through Land Use: State Preemption Prevails

Hydraulic fracturing enables oil and gas operators to maximize hydrocarbon extraction from unconventional reservoirs. The increasing prevalence of fracturing generates robust debate and review of the environmental and economic impacts of the practice. An unbiased political dialogue of fracturing proves challenging. The technical complexity of the process and the divergent perceptions of local and state decision-makers foment regulatory tension. A division-of authority contest between the state government and home-rule cities ensues. In Colorado, state-level preemption gives courts a tool to invalidate local regulation of oil and gas activities where an operational conflict exists between the state and local law. However, Colorado cities that enjoy home-rule status under article XX of the Colorado Constitution possess plenary power to regulate matters of local concern. Zoning and land use, traditionally areas of local concern, could be utilized to effectively regulate fracturing. This Comment proposes that, notwithstanding home-rule plenary power, zoning regulations that de facto regulate oil and gas should be invalidated under the operational preemption test. The ambiguity between a permissible local land-use regulation and an impermissible local regulation of oil and gas needs greater clarity. Through express preemption, the state government can best provide this clarity by assembling the diverse collection of stakeholders required to implement the science-based regulations that fracturing demands

Attacking the role of invasion in ecology: A holistic approach

No abstract

Simulations of Woodland Grassland Transitions Caused by Elephant

In South Africa, reintroduction of wildlife on small to medium sized farms is common. A primary concern for the landowners who introduce elephant is the effects they will have on tree and grass densities. It is possible that elephant impact can exacerbate a shift from woodland to grassland. In this paper it is shown how simulations can possibly assist in understanding the possible dynamics involved

Stemming the tide of light pollution encroaching into Marine Protected Areas

Open Access journalMany marine ecosystems are shaped by regimes of natural light guiding the behaviour of their constituent species. As evidenced from terrestrial systems, the global introduction of nighttime lighting is likely influencing these behaviours, restructuring marine ecosystems, and compromising the services they provide. Yet the extent to which marine habitats are exposed to artificial light at night is unknown. We quantified nightime artificial light across the world's network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Artificial light is widespread and increasing in a large percentage of MPAs. While increases are more common among MPAs associated with human activity, artificial light is encroaching into a large proportion of even those marine habitats protected with the strongest legislative designations. Given the current lack of statutory tools, we propose that allocating ‘marine dark sky park’ status to MPAs will help incentivize responsible authorities to hold back the advance of artificial light.European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013

Global trends in exposure to light pollution in natural terrestrial ecosystems

This is a freely-available open access publication. Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.The rapid growth in electric light usage across the globe has led to increasing presence of artificial light in natural and semi-natural ecosystems at night. This occurs both due to direct illumination and skyglow - scattered light in the atmosphere. There is increasing concern about the effects of artificial light on biological processes, biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. We combine intercalibrated Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) images of stable night-time lights for the period 1992 to 2012 with a remotely sensed landcover product (GLC2000) to assess recent changes in exposure to artificial light at night in 43 global ecosystem types. We find that Mediterranean-climate ecosystems have experienced the greatest increases in exposure, followed by temperate ecosystems. Boreal, Arctic and montane systems experienced the lowest increases. In tropical and subtropical regions, the greatest increases are in mangroves and subtropical needleleaf and mixed forests, and in arid regions increases are mainly in forest and agricultural areas. The global ecosystems experiencing the greatest increase in exposure to artificial light are already localized and fragmented, and often of particular conservation importance due to high levels of diversity, endemism and rarity. Night time remote sensing can play a key role in identifying the extent to which natural ecosystems are exposed to light pollution.European Research Council/ European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013

Common European birds are declining rapidly while less abundant species' numbers are rising

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Biodiversity is undergoing unprecedented global decline. Efforts to slow this rate have focused foremost on rarer species, which are at most risk of extinction. Less interest has been paid to more common species, despite their greater importance in terms of ecosystem function and service provision. How rates of decline are partitioned between common and less abundant species remains unclear. Using a 30-year data set of 144 bird species, we examined Europe-wide trends in avian abundance and biomass. Overall, avian abundance and biomass are both declining with most of this decline being attributed to more common species, while less abundant species showed an overall increase in both abundance and biomass. If overall avian declines are mainly due to reductions in a small number of common species, conservation efforts targeted at rarer species must be better matched with efforts to increase overall bird numbers, if ecological impacts of birds are to be maintained.RSPBEuropean Commissio

Preclinical Activity of Eltrombopag (SB-497115), an Oral, Nonpeptide Thrombopoietin Receptor Agonist

Eltrombopag is a first-in-class, orally bioavailable, small-molecule, nonpeptide agonist of the thrombopoietin receptor (TpoR), which is being developed as a treatment for thrombocytopenia of various etiologies. In vitro studies have demonstrated that the activity of eltrombopag is dependent on expression of TpoR, which activates the signaling transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) and mitogen-activated protein kinase signal transduction pathways. The objective of this preclinical study is to determine if eltrombopag interacts selectively with the TpoR to facilitate megakaryocyte differentiation in platelets. Functional thrombopoietic activity was demonstrated by the proliferation and differentiation of primary human CD34+ bone marrow cells into CD41+ megakaryocytes. Measurements in platelets in several species indicated that eltrombopag specifically activates only the human and chimpanzee STAT pathways. The in vivo activity of eltrombopag was demonstrated by an increase of up to 100% in platelet numbers when administered orally (10 mg/kg per day for 5 days) to chimpanzees. In conclusion, eltrombopag interacts selectively with the TpoR without competing with Tpo, leading to the increased proliferation and differentiation of human bone marrow progenitor cells into megakaryocytes and increased platelet production. These results suggest that eltrombopag and Tpo may be able to act additively to increase platelet production

Genomic evidence of recent European introgression into North American farmed and wild Atlantic salmon

publishedVersio

A Pilot Phase II Study of Digoxin in Patients with Recurrent Prostate Cancer as Evident by Rising PSA

Background: Digoxin was found to inhibit prostate cancer (PCa) growth via the inhibition of HIF-1α synthesis in a mouse model. We hypothesized that a therapeutic dose of digoxin could inhibit human PCa growth and disease progression. Methods: An open label, single arm pilot study was performed. Patients (pts) with non-metastatic, biochemically relapsed PCa with prostate specific antigen doubling time (PSADT) of 3 -24 months and no hormonal therapy within the past 6 months were enrolled. All pts had testosterone 50 ng/dL at baseline. Digoxin was taken daily with dose titration to achieve a target therapeutic level (0.8 – 2 ng/ml); patients had routine follow-up including cardiac monitoring with 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) and digoxin levels. The primary endpoint was the proportion of pts at 6 months post-treatment with a PSADT 200% from the baseline. HIF-1α downstream molecule vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was measured in plasma.Results: Sixteen pts were enrolled and 14 pts finished the planned 6 months of treatment. Twenty percent (3/15) of the pts had PSA decrease 25% from baseline with a medium duration of 14 months. At 6 months, 5 of 13 (38%) pts had PSADT 200% of the baseline PSADT and were continued on study for an additional 24 weeks of treatment. Two patients had durable PSA response for more than 1 year. Digoxin was well tolerated with possible relation of one grade 3 back pain. No patients had evidence of digoxin toxicity. The digoxin dose was lowered in 2 patients for significant ECGs changes (sinus bradycardia and QT prolongation), and there were probable digoxin-related ECG changes in 3 patients. Plasma VEGF was detected in 4 (25%) patients. Conclusions: Digoxin was well tolerated and showed a prolongation of PSDAT in 38% of the patients. However, there was no significant difference comparing that of similar patients on placebo from historical data. Digoxin at the dose used in this study may have limited benefit for patients with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer

TIN-a combinatorial compound collection of synthetically feasible multicomponent synthesis products.

The synthetic feasibility of any compound library used for virtual screening is critical to the drug discovery process. TIN, a recursive acronym for \u27TIN Is Not commercial\u27, is a virtual combinatorial database enumeration of diversity-orientated multicomponent syntheses (MCR). Using a \u27one-pot\u27 synthetic technique, 12 unique small molecule scaffolds were developed, predominantly styrylisoxazoles and bis-acetylenic ketones, with extensive derivatization potential. Importantly, the scaffolds were accessible in a single operation from commercially available sources containing R-groups which were then linked combinatorially. This resulted in a combinatorial database of over 28 million product structures, each of which is synthetically feasible. These structures can be accessed through a free Web-based 2D structure search engine or downloaded in SMILES, MOL2, and SDF formats. Subsets include a 10% diversity subset, a drug-like subset, and a lead-like subset that are also freely available for download and virtual screening ( http://mmg.rcsi.ie:8080/tin )