Wider-Opening Dewar Flasks for Cryogenic Storage

Dewar flasks have been proposed as containers for relatively long-term (25 days) storage of perishable scientific samples or other perishable objects at a temperature of 175 C. The refrigeration would be maintained through slow boiling of liquid nitrogen (LN2). For the purposes of the application for which these containers were proposed, (1) the neck openings of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Dewar flasks are too small for most NASA samples; (2) the round shapes of the COTS containers give rise to unacceptably low efficiency of packing in rectangular cargo compartments; and (3) the COTS containers include metal structures that are too thermally conductive, such that they cannot, without exceeding size and weight limits, hold enough LN2 for the required long-term-storage. In comparison with COTS Dewar flasks, the proposed containers would be rectangular, yet would satisfy the long-term storage requirement without exceeding size and weight limits; would have larger neck openings; and would have greater sample volumes, leading to a packing efficiency of about double the sample volume as a fraction of total volume. The proposed containers would be made partly of aerospace- type composite materials and would include vacuum walls, multilayer insulation, and aerogel insulation

Explaining global surface aerosol number concentrations in terms of primary emissions and particle formation

We use observations of total particle number concentration at 36 worldwide sites and a global aerosol model to quantify the primary and secondary sources of particle number. We show that emissions of primary particles can reasonably reproduce the spatial pattern of observed condensation nuclei (CN) (R2=0.51) but fail to explain the observed seasonal cycle at many sites (R2=0.1). The modeled CN concentration in the free troposphere is biased low (normalised mean bias, NMB=−88%) unless a secondary source of particles is included, for example from binary homogeneous nucleation of sulfuric acid and water (NMB=−25%). Simulated CN concentrations in the continental boundary layer (BL) are also biased low (NMB=−74%) unless the number emission of anthropogenic primary particles is increased or an empirical BL particle formation mechanism based on sulfuric acid is used. We find that the seasonal CN cycle observed at continental BL sites is better simulated by including a BL particle formation mechanism (R2=0.3) than by increasing the number emission from primary anthropogenic sources (R2=0.18). Using sensitivity tests we derive optimum rate coefficients for this nucleation mechanism, which agree with values derived from detailed case studies at individual sites

Airborne measurements over the boreal forest of southern Finland during new particle formation events in 2009 and 2010

Peer reviewe

Quality control and quantification in IG/TR next-generation sequencing marker identification: protocols and bioinformatic functionalities by EuroClonality-NGS

Assessment of clonality, marker identification and measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) of immunoglobulin (IG) and T cell receptor (TR) gene rearrangements in lymphoid neoplasms using next-generation sequencing (NGS) is currently under intensive development for use in clinical diagnostics. So far, however, there is a lack of suitable quality control (QC) options with regard to standardisation and quality metrics to ensure robust clinical application of such approaches. The EuroClonality-NGS Working Group has therefore established two types of QCs to accompany the NGS-based IG/TR assays. First, a central polytarget QC (cPT-QC) is used to monitor the primer performance of each of the EuroClonality multiplex NGS assays; second, a standardised human cell line-based DNA control is spiked into each patient DNA sample to work as a central in-tube QC and calibrator for MRD quantification (cIT-QC). Having integrated those two reference standards in the ARResT/Interrogate bioinformatic platform, EuroClonality-NGS provides a complete protocol for standardised IG/TR gene rearrangement analysis by NGS with high reproducibility, accuracy and precision for valid marker identification and quantification in diagnostics of lymphoid malignancies.This work was supported by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant no. 16-34272A; computational resources were provided by the CESNET LM2015042 and the CERIT Scientific Cloud LM2015085, provided under the programme “Projects of Large Research, Development, and Innovations Infrastructures”. Analyses in Prague (JT, EF and MS) were supported by Ministry of Health, Czech Republic, grant no. 00064203, and by PRIMUS/17/MED/11. Analyses in the Monza (Centro Ricerca Tettamanti, SS, AG and GC) laboratory were supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) and Comitato Maria Letizia Verga

Low hygroscopic scattering enhancement of boreal aerosol and the implications for a columnar optical closure study

Ambient aerosol particles can take up water and thus change their optical properties depending on the hygroscopicity and the relative humidity (RH) of the surrounding air. Knowledge of the hygroscopicity effect is of crucial importance for radiative forcing calculations and is also needed for the comparison or validation of remote sensing or model results with in situ measurements. Specifically, particle light scattering depends on RH and can be described by the scattering enhancement factor f(RH), which is defined as the particle light scattering coefficient at defined RH divided by its dry value (RH <30-40 %). Here, we present results of an intensive field campaign carried out in summer 2013 at the SMEAR II station at Hyytiala, Finland. Ground-based and airborne measurements of aerosol optical, chemical and microphysical properties were conducted. The f(RH) measured at ground level by a humidified nephelometer is found to be generally lower (e.g. 1.63 +/- 0.22 at RH = 85% and lambda = 525 nm) than observed at other European sites. One reason is the high organic mass fraction of the aerosol encountered at Hyytiala to which f(RH) is clearly anti-correlated (R-2 approximate to 0.8). A simplified parametrization of f(RH) based on the measured chemical mass fraction can therefore be derived for this aerosol type. A trajectory analysis revealed that elevated values of f(RH) and the corresponding elevated inorganic mass fraction are partially caused by transported hygroscopic sea spray particles. An optical closure study shows the consistency of the ground-based in situ measurements. Our measurements allow to determine the ambient particle light extinction coefficient using the measured f(RH). By combining the ground-based measurements with intensive aircraft measurements of the particle number size distribution and ambient RH, columnar values of the particle extinction coefficient are determined and compared to columnar measurements of a co-located AERONET sun photometer. The water uptake is found to be of minor importance for the column-averaged properties due to the low particle hygroscopicity and the low RH during the daytime of the summer months. The in situ derived aerosol optical depths (AOD) clearly correlate with directly measured values of the sun photometer but are substantially lower compared to the directly measured values (factor of similar to 2-3). The comparison degrades for longer wavelengths. The disagreement between in situ derived and directly measured AOD is hypothesized to originate from losses of coarse and fine mode particles through dry deposition within the canopy and losses in the in situ sampling lines. In addition, elevated aerosol layers (above 3 km) from long-range transport were observed using an aerosol lidar at Kuopio, Finland, about 200 km east-northeast of Hyytiala. These elevated layers further explain parts of the disagreement.Peer reviewe

Osteocrin is a specific ligand of the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor that modulates bone growth

Osteocrin (Ostn) is a recently discovered secreted protein produced by cells of the osteoblast lineage that shows a well conserved homology with members of the natriuretic peptide (NP) family. We hypothesized that Ostn could interact with the NP receptors, thereby modulating NP actions on the skeleton. Ostn binds specifically and saturably to the NP peptide receptor-C (NPR-C) receptor with a K-d of similar to 5 nM with no binding to the GC-A or GC-B receptors. Deletion of several of the residues deemed important for NP binding to NPR-C led to abolition of Ostn binding, confirming the presence of a "natriuretic motif." Functionally, Ostn was able to augment C-type natriuretic peptide-stimulated cGMP production in both pre-chondrocytic (ATDC5) and osteoblastic (UMR106) cells, suggesting increased NP levels due to attenuation of NPR-C associated NP clearance. Ostn-transgenic mice displayed elongated bones and a marked kyphosis associated with elevated bone cGMP levels, suggesting that elevated natriuretic peptide activity contributed to the increased bone length possibly through an increase in growth plate chondrocyte proliferation. Thus, we have demonstrated that Ostn is a naturally occurring ligand of the NPR-C clearance receptor and may act to locally modulate the actions of the natriuretic system in bone by blocking the clearance action of NPR-C, thus locally elevating levels of C-type natriuretic peptide

Review of The Trial of Leanard Peltier.

On 26 June 1975 in a firefight on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between the FBI and AIM, two FBI agents were killed. AIM member Leonard Peltier and three other Indians were arrested. Only Peltier was convicted. The Trial of Leanard Peltier carefully documents the trial in its social and historical context

Skin Cancer Warnings and the Need for New Preventive Campaigns: A Pilot Study

Although skin cancer is one of the most preventable forms of cancer, it is the most common cancer in the world and its incidence is increasing. Nearly 5 million people in the U.S. are treated each year for skin cancer at an estimated annual cost of $8.1 billion. Melanoma is the most deadly skin cancer, responsible for more than 9,000 deaths each year. Given the treatment costs, potential deadly consequences, and well-known causal relationship between ultraviolet light and skin cancer, it is unclear why many people ignore warnings and do not protect themselves from the sun