The utility of continuous atmospheric measurements for identifying biospheric CO 2 flux variability

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95026/1/jgrd16859.pd

FISH Mapping of Two Putative Keratin Gene Clusters on Cat (Felis catus) Chromosomes

Genes encoding keratins are evolutionary highly conserved and clustered in two linkage groups in mammalian genomes. Canine keratin 9 (K-9) and keratin 2e (K-2) cosmid-derived gene probes were used to localize the acidic and basic-neutral keratin gene clusters to cat chromosomes E1q12 and B4q15, respectively. The status of the physical map of the cat genome is discusse

Comment On Legacy Nitrogen May Prevent Achievement Of Water Quality Goals In The Gulf Of Mexico

Van Meter et al. (Reports, 27 April 2018, p. 427) warn that achieving nitrogen reduction goals in the Gulf of Mexico will take decades as a result of legacy nitrogen effects. We discuss limitations of the modeling approach and demonstrate that legacy effects ranging from a few years to decades are equally consistent with observations. The presented time scales for system recovery are therefore highly uncertain

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection as a zoonotic disease: transmission between humans and elephants.

Between 1994 and 1996, three elephants from an exotic animal farm in Illinois died of pulmonary disease due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In October 1996, a fourth living elephant was culture-positive for M. tuberculosis. Twenty-two handlers at the farm were screened for tuberculosis (TB); eleven had positive reactions to intradermal injection with purified protein derivative. One had smear-negative, culture-positive active TB. DNA fingerprint comparison by IS6110 and TBN12 typing showed that the isolates from the four elephants and the handler with active TB were the same strain. This investigation indicates transmission of M. tuberculosis between humans and elephants

Hyperphosphorylated tau in patients with refractory epilepsy correlates with cognitive decline: a study of temporal lobe resections

Temporal lobe epilepsy, the most prevalent form of chronic focal epilepsy, is associated with a high prevalence of cognitive impairment but the responsible underlying pathological mechanisms are unknown. Tau, the microtubule-associated protein, is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We hypothesized that hyperphosphorylated tau pathology is associated with cognitive decline in temporal lobe epilepsy and explored this through clinico-pathological study. We first performed pathological examination on tissue from 33 patients who had undergone temporal lobe resection between ages 50 and 65 years to treat drug-refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. We identified hyperphosphorylated tau protein using AT8 immunohistochemistry and compared this distribution to Braak patterns of Alzheimer’s disease and patterns of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We quantified tau pathology using a modified tau score created specifically for analysis of temporal lobectomy tissue and the Braak staging, which was limited without extra-temporal brain areas available. Next, we correlated tau pathology with pre- and postoperative cognitive test scores and clinical risk factors including age at time of surgery, duration of epilepsy, history of secondary generalized seizures, history of head injury, handedness and side of surgery. Thirty-one of 33 cases (94%) showed hyperphosphorylated tau pathology in the form of neuropil threads and neurofibrillary tangles and pre-tangles. Braak stage analysis showed 12% of our epilepsy cohort had a Braak staging III-IV compared to an age-matched non-epilepsy control group from the literature (8%). We identified a mixture of tau pathology patterns characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We also found unusual patterns of subpial tau deposition, sparing of the hippocampus and co-localization with mossy fibre sprouting, a feature of temporal lobe epilepsy. We demonstrated that the more extensive the tau pathology, the greater the decline in verbal learning (Spearman correlation, r = −0.63), recall (r = −0.44) and graded naming test scores (r = −0.50) over 1-year post-temporal lobe resection (P < 0.05). This relationship with tau burden was also present when examining decline in verbal learning from 3 months to 1 year post-resection (r = −0.54). We found an association between modified tau score and history of secondary generalized seizures (likelihood-ratio χ2, P < 0.05) however there was no clear relationship between tau pathology and other clinical risk factors assessed. Our findings suggest an epilepsy-related tauopathy in temporal lobe epilepsy, which contributes to accelerated cognitive decline and has diagnostic and treatment implications

Luminous infrared galaxies as possible sources of the UHE cosmic rays

Ultra High Energy (UHE) particles coming from discrete extragalactic sources are potential candidates for EAS events above a few tens of EeV. In particular, galaxies with huge infrared luminosity triggered by collision and merging processes are possible sites of UHECR acceleration. Using the PSCz catalogue of IR galaxies we calculate a large scale anisotropy of UHE protons originating in the population of the luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). Small angle particle scattering in weak irregular extragalactic magnetic fields as well as deflection by regular Galactic field are taken into account. We give analytical formulae for deflection angles with included energy losses on cosmic microwave background (CMB). The hypotheses of the anisotropic and isotropic distributions of the experimental data above 40 EeV from AGASA are checked, using various statistical tests. We show that on the basis of the small scale clustering analysis there is a much better correlation of the UHECRs data below GZK cut-off with the predictions of the LIRG origin than with those of isotropy. We derive analytical formulae for a probability of a given number of doublets, triplets and quadruplets for any density distribution of independent events on the sky. The famous AGASA UHE triple event is found to be very well correlated on the sky with the brightest extragalactic infrared source within 70 Mpc - merger galaxies Arp 299 (NGC 3690 + IC 694).Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publ: Journal of Physics

Which Depressive Symptoms and Medication Side Effects Are Perceived by Patients as Interfering Most with Occupational Functioning?

Background. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with significant impairment in occupational functioning. This study sought to determine which depressive symptoms and medication side effects were perceived by patients with MDD to have the greatest interference on work functioning. Methods. 164 consecutive patients with MDD by DSM-IV criteria completed a standard assessment that included a self-rated questionnaire about the degree to which symptoms and side effects interfered with work functioning. Results. The symptoms perceived by patients as interfering most with work functioning were fatigue and low energy, insomnia, concentration and memory problems, anxiety, and irritability. The medication side effects rated as interfering most with work functioning were daytime sedation, insomnia, headache, and agitation/anxiety. There were no differences between men and women in symptoms or side effects that were perceived as interfering with work functioning. Limitations. This was a cross-sectional study; only subjective assessments of work functioning were obtained; the fact that patients were using varied medications acts as a potential confound. Conclusions. Specific depressive symptoms and medication side effects were perceived by patients as interfering more with occupational functioning than others. These factors should be considered in treatment selection (e.g., in the choice of antidepressant) in working patients with MDD

Evaluation of simulated soil carbon dynamics in Arctic-Boreal ecosystems

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Huntzinger, D. N., Schaefer, K., Schwalm, C., Fisher, J. B., Hayes, D., Stofferahn, E., Carey, J., Michalak, A. M., Wei, Y., Jain, A. K., Kolus, H., Mao, J., Poulter, B., Shi, X., Tang, J., & Tian, H. Evaluation of simulated soil carbon dynamics in Arctic-Boreal ecosystems. Environmental Research Letters, 15(2), (2020): 025005, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab6784.Given the magnitude of soil carbon stocks in northern ecosystems, and the vulnerability of these stocks to climate warming, land surface models must accurately represent soil carbon dynamics in these regions. We evaluate soil carbon stocks and turnover rates, and the relationship between soil carbon loss with soil temperature and moisture, from an ensemble of eleven global land surface models. We focus on the region of NASA's Arctic-Boreal vulnerability experiment (ABoVE) in North America to inform data collection and model development efforts. Models exhibit an order of magnitude difference in estimates of current total soil carbon stocks, generally under- or overestimating the size of current soil carbon stocks by greater than 50 PgC. We find that a model's soil carbon stock at steady-state in 1901 is the prime driver of its soil carbon stock a hundred years later—overwhelming the effect of environmental forcing factors like climate. The greatest divergence between modeled and observed soil carbon stocks is in regions dominated by peat and permafrost soils, suggesting that models are failing to capture the frozen soil carbon dynamics of permafrost regions. Using a set of functional benchmarks to test the simulated relationship of soil respiration to both soil temperature and moisture, we find that although models capture the observed shape of the soil moisture response of respiration, almost half of the models examined show temperature sensitivities, or Q10 values, that are half of observed. Significantly, models that perform better against observational constraints of respiration or carbon stock size do not necessarily perform well in terms of their functional response to key climatic factors like changing temperature. This suggests that models may be arriving at the right result, but for the wrong reason. The results of this work can help to bridge the gap between data and models by both pointing to the need to constrain initial carbon pool sizes, as well as highlighting the importance of incorporating functional benchmarks into ongoing, mechanistic modeling activities such as those included in ABoVE.This work was supported by NASA'S Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE; https://above.nasa.gov); NNN13D504T. Funding for the Multi-scale synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP; https://nacp.ornl.gov/MsTMIP.shtml) activity was provided through NASA ROSES Grant #NNX10AG01A. Data management support for preparing, documenting, and distributing model driver and output data was performed by the Modeling and Synthesis Thematic Data Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (MAST-DC; https://nacp.ornl.gov), with funding through NASA ROSES Grant #NNH10AN681. Finalized MsTMIP data products are archived at the ORNL DAAC (https://daac.ornl.gov). We also acknowledge the modeling groups that provided results to MsTMIP. The synthesis of site-level soil respiration, temperature, and moisture data reported in Carey et al 2016a, 2016b) was funded by the US Geological Survey (USGS) John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis Award G13AC00193. Additional support for that work was also provided by the USGS Land Carbon Program. JBF carried out the research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged