Commentary: The History of Neurosurgery at Albany Medical College and Albany Medical Center Hospital, Albany, New York.

The origins of the Department of Neurosurgery at Albany Medical College closely parallel the development of early America and the establishment of modern health care.The tales of Washington Irving, the works of the Hudson River School of painters, and summers in the Catskill Mountains or Adirondacks are the stories that color the history of Upstate New York (Figure1). As a social, industrial, and political hub of the American colonies, New England’s need for centers providing structured medicine led to the creation of Albany Medical College in1839, one of the earliest such institutions in the young nation.1 Rapid progress in nearly every other realm of life required medical advancements as well, prompting subspecialization and the development of neurosurgery in the region

The Unusual Superconducting State at 49 K in Electron-Doped CaFe2As2 at Ambient

We report the detection of unusual superconductivity up to 49 K in single crystalline CaFe2As2 via electron-doping by partial replacement of Ca by rare-earth. The superconducting transition observed suggests the possible existence of two phases: one starting at ~ 49 K, which has a low critical field ~ 4 Oe, and the other at ~ 21 K, with a much higher critical field > 5 T. Our observations are in strong contrast to previous reports of doping or pressurizing layered compounds AeFe2As2 (or Ae122), where Ae = Ca, Sr or Ba. In Ae122, hole-doping has been previously observed to generate superconductivity with a transition temperature (Tc) only up to 38 K and pressurization has been reported to produce superconductivity with a Tc up to 30 K. The unusual 49 K phase detected will be discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Comments on the distribution of \u3ci\u3eBotrychium lunarioides\u3c/i\u3e (Ophioglossaceae) in Texas

Botrychium lunarioides (Michx.) Sw. (Ophioglossaceae) is now known to be widespread and abundant throughout the eastern portion of Texas. In 1996, Do, et al. reported ten additional county records in the central portion of the Post Oak Savannah of Texas, thereby extending the known distribution of the species up to 273 km to the west. Additional field studies during 1996 have yielded nineteen new county records for the species in Texas. These new reports are primarily from the Post Oak Savannah, Pineywoods, and Blackland Prairies of northeast Texas and from the southern portion of the Post Oak Savannah. The most notable occurrence of the species is at Lake Bastrop State Recreation Area, Bastrop County, about 45 km ESE of Austin, which extends both the western and southern known limits of the species

Radio-Continuum study of the Nearby Sculptor Group Galaxies. Part 1: NGC 300 at lambda = 20 cm

A series of new radio-continuum (lambda=20 cm) mosaic images focused on the NGC 300 galactic system were produced using archived observational data from the VLA and/or ATCA. These new images are both very sensitive (rms=60 microJy) and feature high angular resolution (<10"). The most prominent new feature is the galaxy's extended radio-continuum emission, which does not match its optical appearance. Using these newly created images a number of previously unidentified discrete sources have been discovered. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a joint deconvolution approach to imaging this complete data-set is inferior when compared to an immerge approach.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted to APSS, new version to correct the missing reference

Pressure effects on superconducting properties of single-crystalline Co doped NaFeAs

Resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements under external pressure were performed on single-crystals NaFe1-xCoxAs (x=0, 0.01, 0.028, 0.075, 0.109). The maximum Tc enhanced by pressure in both underdoped and optimally doped NaFe1-xCoxAs is the same, as high as 31 K. The overdoped sample with x = 0.075 also shows a positive pressure effect on Tc, and an enhancement of Tc by 13 K is achieved under pressure of 2.3 GPa. All the superconducting samples show large positive pressure coefficient on superconductivity, being different from Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2. However, the superconductivity cannot be induced by pressure in heavily overdoped non-superconducting NaFe0.891Co0.109As. These results provide evidence for that the electronic structure is much different between superconducting and heavily overdoped non-superconducting NaFe1-xCoxAs, being consistent with the observation by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Trends and emissions of six perfluorocarbons in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are potent greenhouse gases with global warming potentials up to several thousand times greater than CO2 on a 100-year time horizon. The lack of any significant sinks for PFCs means that they have long atmospheric lifetimes of the order of thousands of years. Anthropogenic production is thought to be the only source for most PFCs. Here we report an update on the global atmospheric abundances of the following PFCs, most of which have for the first time been analytically separated according to their isomers: c-octafluorobutane (c-C4F8), n-decafluorobutane (n-C4F10), n-dodecafluoropentane (n-C5F12), n-tetradecafluorohexane (n-C6F14), and n-hexadecafluoroheptane (n-C7F16). Additionally, we report the first data set on the atmospheric mixing ratios of perfluoro-2-methylpentane (i-C6F14). The existence and significance of PFC isomers have not been reported before, due to the analytical challenges of separating them. The time series spans a period from 1978 to the present. Several data sets are used to investigate temporal and spatial trends of these PFCs: time series of air samples collected at Cape Grim, Australia, from 1978 to the start of 2018; a time series of air samples collected between July 2015 and April 2017 at Tacolneston, UK; and intensive campaign-based sampling collections from Taiwan. Although the remote “background” Southern Hemispheric Cape Grim time series indicates that recent growth rates of most of these PFCs are lower than in the 1990s, we continue to see significantly increasing mixing ratios that are between 6 % and 27 % higher by the end of 2017 compared to abundances measured in 2010. Air samples from Tacolneston show a positive offset in PFC mixing ratios compared to the Southern Hemisphere baseline. The highest mixing ratios and variability are seen in air samples from Taiwan, which is therefore likely situated much closer to PFC sources, confirming predominantly Northern Hemispheric emissions for most PFCs. Even though these PFCs occur in the atmosphere at levels of parts per trillion molar or less, their total cumulative global emissions translate into 833 million metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent by the end of 2017, 23 % of which has been emitted since 2010. Almost two-thirds of the CO2 equivalent emissions within the last decade are attributable to c-C4F8, which currently also has the highest emission rates that continue to grow. Sources of all PFCs covered in this work remain poorly constrained and reported emissions in global databases do not account for the abundances found in the atmosphere

Effects of Bone Morphogenic Proteins on Engineered Cartilage

A report describes experiments on the effects of bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) on engineered cartilage grown in vitro. In the experiments, bovine calf articular chondrocytes were seeded onto biodegradable polyglycolic acid scaffolds and cultured in, variously, a control medium or a medium supplemented with BMP-2, BMP-12, or BMP-13 in various concentrations. Under all conditions investigated, cell-polymer constructs cultivated for 4 weeks macroscopically and histologically resembled native cartilage. At a concentration of 100 ng/mL, BMP-2, BMP-12, or BMP-13 caused (1) total masses of the constructs to exceed those of the controls by 121, 80, or 62 percent, respectively; (2) weight percentages of glycosaminoglycans in the constructs to increase by 27, 18, or 15, respectively; and (3) total collagen contents of the constructs to decrease to 63, 89, or 83 percent of the control values, respectively. BMP-2, but not BMP-12 or BMP-13, promoted chondrocyte hypertrophy. These observations were interpreted as suggesting that the three BMPs increase the growth rates and modulate the compositions of engineered cartilage. It was also concluded that in vitro engineered cartilage is a suitable system for studying effects of BMPs on chondrogenesis in a well-defined environment

The Social and Economic Long Term Monitoring Program (SELTMP) 2014: Recreation in the Great Barrier Reef

[Extract] Introduction.\ud People love to spend their recreational time visiting the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), (GBRMPA, 2009), and many people are doing it! The recent SELTMP surveys revealed that 95% of residents of coastal town adjacent to the GBR had visited the GBRWHA for recreation at least once, and 87% had visited in the previous 12 months. Many of these visits appeared to be to a mainland beach to walk, swim, and relax. However, 68% of people who told us about their recent trips had been beyond the mainland beach to islands, reefs, shoals, etc., to take part in activities such as fishing, snorkelling and diving. Other activities include boating, sailing, jet skiing, camping, kayaking, sight-seeing, photography, and wildlife viewing, to name a few. Recreational visitors are currently very satisfied with their use of the Marine Park.\ud \ud While most trips beyond the beach were made by ferry, about a third of these trips were accessed by residents' own or someone else's boat. While not everyone is using their vessel very frequently, vessel registration by coastal residents has increased substantially in recent years (Old Department of Transport, unpublished data, 2011).\ud \ud Given all of this activity, it is not surprising that recreation in the GBRWHA provides significant social and cultural benefits as well as many health and wellbeing benefits associated with the psychological interaction with nature (Synergies Economic Consulting, 2012). In economic terms, recreation (defined by Deloitte Access Economics as GBR catchment residents visiting an island, sailing, boating and fishing), contributed $126m in direct value or$243.9m value added to the Australian economy in 2011/12 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2013). This estimate did not include beach visits.\ud Importantly, recreation differs from tourism. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority define recreation as an independent visit for enjoyment that is not part of a commercial operation (GBRMPA, 2012). For the purposes of the SELTMP Surveys (outline following), any resident of the GBR catchment who visits the GBRWHA is included within recreation; while tourists are defined as those residing outside of the GBR catchment