Confirmation of a New Geometric and Kinematic Model of the San Andreas Fault at Its Southern Tip, Durmid Hill, Southern California

The southern - 100 km long Coachella section of the San Andreas fault is the only section of the fault in southern California that has not experienced a historical earthquake, and it may be the most overdue section of the fault. Numerical models of rupture propagation shows that a large earthquake with a nucleation one in the Durmid Hill field area would produce particularly destructive and deadly ground shaking in southern California. This is used as the model earthquake for the ShakeOut exercises in southern California because it is may represent the worst-case scenario for southern California but does not appear to be a very likely scenario following this research. Building on existing geologic mapping that shows major Pleistocene to Holocene contraction near the hypothesized nucleation, we use geologic mapping to develop and validate a competing geometric and kinematic model for the southern tip of the San Andreas Fault. A ladder-like-fault model explains the widespread contraction in the Durmid Hill study area as the result of contraction between the main strand of the San Andreas fault and East Shoreline strand. The East Shoreline strand of the San Andreas fault is the newly discovered fault and is dispersed across a zone between 0.5 to 1 km wide, and encompasses an area on the northeast shore of the Salton Sea. There is persistent and strong contraction across the entire - 1.5 to 3.5 km wide San Andreas fault zone because both dextral side-rail faults are counterclockwise, and in a contractional bend, relative to current plate motions. This contractional bend was previously documented for the main strand of San Andreas fault. A new digital geologic map and field studies document the stratigraphy and structures at a range of scales between Bombay Beach and Salt Creek. Numerous folds, narrow strike-slip and oblique-slip faults, and sheared damaged rocks in latest Miocene (?) to Holocene sediment lie within the wide and very complex damage zone of the main strand of the San Andreas fault zone. The East Shoreline strand of the San Andreas fault system buffers the main strand from major stress changes produced by deformation along the sinistral to sinistral-normal Extra fault array under the Salton Sea

Early Treatment with Fumagillin, an Inhibitor of Methionine Aminopeptidase-2, Prevents Pulmonary Hypertension in Monocrotaline-Injured Rats

Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a pathophysiologic condition characterized by hypoxemia and right ventricular strain. Proliferation of fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells is central to the pathology of PH in animal models and in humans. Methionine aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP2) regulates proliferation in a variety of cell types including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts. MetAP2 is inhibited irreversibly by the angiogenesis inhibitor fumagillin. We have previously found that inhibition of MetAP2 with fumagillin in bleomycin-injured mice decreased pulmonary fibrosis by selectively decreasing the proliferation of lung myofibroblasts. In this study, we investigated the role of fumagillin as a potential therapy in experimental PH. In vivo, treatment of rats with fumagillin early after monocrotaline injury prevented PH and right ventricular remodeling by decreasing the thickness of the medial layer of the pulmonary arteries. Treatment with fumagillin beginning two weeks after monocrotaline injury did not prevent PH but was associated with decreased right ventricular mass and decreased cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, suggesting a direct effect of fumagillin on right ventricular remodeling. Incubation of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (RPASMC) with fumagillin and MetAP2-targeting siRNA inhibited proliferation of RPASMC in vitro. Platelet-derived growth factor, a growth factor that is important in the pathogenesis of PH and stimulates proliferation of fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells, strongly increased expression of MetP2. By immunohistochemistry, we found that MetAP2 was expressed in the lesions of human pulmonary arterial hypertension. We propose that fumagillin may be an effective adjunctive therapy for treating PH in patients

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Transformacja jako zmiana makrostrukturalna

Transformation as a macro-structural change&nbsp;In the paper, an attempt is made at providing answer to the question whether it is possible to develop the theory of transformation as a general theory of change. After considering different theories of change, we have found P. Sztompka&rsquo;s theory of structural-functional field the most adequate. Applied to specific Polish conditions, it allows to determine change causes of exogenous changes in Soviet Union, interaction of the West and endogenous nature aspiration for political sovereignty and pressure on satisfaction of consumerist needs. The macro-structural change was also overlapped with consequences of individual and collective decisions that always include a risk factor on micro-, mezzo-, and macro-structural level.Transformation as a macro-structural change&nbsp;In the paper, an attempt is made at providing answer to the question whether it is possible to develop the theory of transformation as a general theory of change. After considering different theories of change, we have found P. Sztompka&rsquo;s theory of structural-functional field the most adequate. Applied to specific Polish conditions, it allows to determine change causes of exogenous changes in Soviet Union, interaction of the West and endogenous nature aspiration for political sovereignty and pressure on satisfaction of consumerist needs. The macro-structural change was also overlapped with consequences of individual and collective decisions that always include a risk factor on micro-, mezzo-, and macro-structural level

TransAID Deliverable 7.2: System Prototype Demonstration (Iteration 1)

This deliverable is a direct successor of Deliverable 7.1 [1], which has introduced all vehicles, test tracks and used hardware, and also proposed system architectures of the different used components. D7.1 has also introduced several system requirements for each component and for each scenario, which has to be implemented. D7.2 now shows the results of the first project integration phase. The system implementation is described for the different components of the infrastructure part as well as for the vehicle part. It is shown how both parts communicate in the real world during the first project iteration by presenting the used ASN.1 message definitions (in the Annex) and details about the communication software. Furthermore, a feasibility assessment has been performed by the project partner HMETC. For this, each scenario has been divided into test cases, which have been implemented in the real world prototypes, and demonstrated on a test track in northern Germany. Each test case is linked to related requirements set up in D7.1. During the feasibility assessment, the compliance with all requirements has been checked. In addition, the overall "look and feel" of the prototype and the performance in each test case has been rated and described. In summary, most of the requirements were met. Nevertheless, some deviations have been found. Most of those deviations will be fixed during the second iteration of the project, but there were also some minor points, which need to be reformulated during the second iteration. These points include some identified weaknesses and some needed re-interpretations of existing fields in the used messages. Altogether, it could be shown that the TransAID ideas can be put into real-world to help future automated vehicles to better cope with possible threats and to gain higher performance on the road

Reservoir Competence of the Meadow Vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae) for the Lyme Disease Spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

The reservoir competence of the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord, for the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner was established on Patience Island, RI. Meadow voles were collected from 5 locations throughout Rhode Island. At 4 of the field sites, M. pennsylvanicus represented only 4.0% (n = 141) of the animals captured. However, on Patience Island, M. pennsylvanicus was the sole small mammal collected (n = 48). Of the larval hodes scapularis Say obtained from the meadow voles on Patience Island, 62% (n = 78) was infected with B. burgdorferi. Meadow voles from all 5 locations were successfully infected with B. burgdorferi in the laboratory and were capable of passing the infection to xenodiagnostic I. scapularis larvae for 9 wk. We concluded that M. pennsylvanicus was physiologically capable of maintaining B. burgdorferi infection. However, in locations where Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque) is abundant, the role of M. pennsylvanicus as a primary reservoir for B. burgdorferi was reduced

Spatial distribution of larval Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) on Peromyscus leucopus and Microtus pennsylvanicus at two island sites

Larval blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, were collected from white footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus, on Prudence Island (where Microtus pennsylvanicus were not captured) and from meadow voles, M. pennsylvanicus, on Patience Island (where P. leucopus was absent) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island from June to October 1992. Ixodes scapularis larvae were also collected by flagging in the vicinity of host captures. On both islands, the relative density of larvae changed from July to September in samples from hosts, but not in flagging samples. Consequently, different sampling techniques can give different assessments of tick populations. Larvae were highly aggregated on both of the host species throughout the sampling period. As the mean relative density of larvae increased in the environment (based on flagging samples), larvae on the hosts became more dense and more crowded. Increased densities of larvae in the environment were not correlated with increased patchiness in the distribution of larvae among host animals on either island. Changes in the spatial distribution of larval I. scapularis on each host species had similar trends as larval densities and distributions within the environment. These results suggest that M. pennsylvanicus can serve as an alternative host for immature I. scapularis in a P. leucopus- free environment and have similar distributional characteristics

Infrastructure Supported Automated Driving in Transition Areas - a Prototypic Implementation

When an automated vehicle (AV) of level 3 and above arrives at an area on the road which is not part of its operational design domain (ODD), it is forced to perform a transition of control (ToC) to the driver. If the driver is not responding, the ToC fails and a minimum risk maneuver (MRM) needs to be executed. When the penetration rate of such AVs on the roads is high, this will negatively impact traffic efficiency and safety. In EU H2020 TransAID, infrastructure supported traffic management measures have been investigated which reduce these negative impacts. The measures and their effects are tested intensively in simulation. To demonstrate that the measures could also be applied to the real world, feasibility assessments with real-world prototypes have been performed. This paper shows how the measures have been implemented in ITS-G5 communication, infrastructure and connected automated vehicles (CAV), and how the prototypes have been tested