Circulation induced by diffused aeration in a shallow lake

Field surveys were carried out to investigate the surface jet flows and the resulting circulation patterns generated by diffused aeration in a shallow lake. In conrast to previous studies, the experimental conditions included point-source bubble plumes with very high air flow rates (100–400 L/min) relative to the shallow water depth (1.5 m). The results indicate that the surface jet velocity can be described by linear profiles. The decay of this velocity with distance displayed a similar behaviour to that reported in the literature, but the surface jet spread much faster under the present conditions. Combining our results with published data allowed for the generation of dimensionless correlations for the velocity and depth of the surface jet. A good agreement between the total circulation flow rates predicted by using the proposed correlations and integral modelling was also obtained. Lastly, a simple returning flow model was proposed to describe the circulation flow patterns induced by the bubble plumes. The results were also applied to assess the impact of circulation on vertical algae migration, which is important for water quality management.Keywords: aeration, algae migration, bubbles, jets, plume

Structural phase transition in IrTe2_2: A combined study of optical spectroscopy and band structure calculations

Ir$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$Te$_2$ is an interesting system showing competing phenomenon between structural instability and superconductivity. Due to the large atomic numbers of Ir and Te, the spin-orbital coupling is expected to be strong in the system which may lead to nonconventional superconductivity. We grew single crystal samples of this system and investigated their electronic properties. In particular, we performed optical spectroscopic measurements, in combination with density function calculations, on the undoped compound IrTe$_2$ in an effort to elucidate the origin of the structural phase transition at 280 K. The measurement revealed a dramatic reconstruction of band structure and a significant reduction of conducting carriers below the phase transition. We elaborate that the transition is not driven by the density wave type instability but caused by the crystal field effect which further splits/separates the energy levels of Te (p$_x$, p$_y$) and Te p$_z$ bands.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

STMN1 (stathmin 1)

Review on STMN1 (stathmin 1), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

IRS1 (insulin receptor substrate 1)

Review on IRS1 (insulin receptor substrate 1), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

Syntaxin 16 is a master recruitment factor for cytokinesis

Recently it was shown that both recycling endosome and endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) components are required for cytokinesis, in which they are believed to act in a sequential manner to bring about secondary ingression and abscission, respectively. However, it is not clear how either of these complexes is targeted to the midbody and whether their delivery is coordinated. The trafficking of membrane vesicles between different intracellular organelles involves the formation of soluble N-ethylmalei­mide–sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complexes. Although membrane traffic is known to play an important role in cytokinesis, the contribution and identity of intracellular SNAREs to cytokinesis remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that syntaxin 16 is a key regulator of cytokinesis, as it is required for recruitment of both recycling endosome–associated Exocyst and ESCRT machinery during late telophase, and therefore that these two distinct facets of cytokinesis are inextricably linked

An inhomogeneous toy-model of the quantum gravity with explicitly evolvable observables

An inhomogeneous (1+1)-dimensional model of the quantum gravity is considered. It is found, that this model corresponds to a string propagating against some curved background space. The quantization scheme including the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and the "particle on a sphere" type of the gauge condition is suggested. In the quantization scheme considered, the "problem of time" is solved by building of the quasi-Heisenberg operators acting in a space of solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and the normalization of the wave function corresponds to the Klein-Gordon type. To analyze the physical consequences of the scheme, a (1+1)-dimensional background space is considered for which a classical solution is found and quantized. The obtained estimations show the way to solution of the cosmological constant problem, which consists in compensation of the zero-point oscillations of the matter fields by the quantum oscillations of the scale factor. Along with such a compensation, a slow global evolution of a background corresponding to an universe expansion exists.Comment: 18 page

Association between congenital toxoplasmosis and preterm birth, low birthweight and small for gestational age birth.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between congenital toxoplasmosis and preterm birth, low birthweight and small for gestational age birth. DESIGN: Multicentre prospective cohort study. SETTING: Ten European centres offering prenatal screening for toxoplasmosis. POPULATION: Deliveries after 23 weeks of gestation in 386 women with singleton pregnancies who seroconverted to toxoplasma infection before 20 weeks of gestation. Deliveries after 36 weeks in 234 women who seroconverted at 20 weeks or later, and tested positive before 37 weeks. METHODS: Comparison of infected and uninfected births, adjusted for parity and country of birth. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in gestational age at birth, birthweight and birthweight centile. RESULTS: Infected babies were born or delivered earlier than uninfected babies: the mean difference for seroconverters before 20 weeks was -5.4 days (95% CI: -1.4, -9.4), and at 20 weeks or more, -2.6 days (95% CI: -0.5, -4.7). Congenital infection was associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery when seroconversion occurred before 20 weeks (OR 4.71; 95% CI: 2.03, 10.9). No significant differences were detected for birthweight or birthweight centile. CONCLUSION: Babies with congenital toxoplasmosis were born earlier than uninfected babies but the mechanism leading to shorter length of gestation is unknown. Congenital infection could precipitate early delivery or prompt caesarean section or induction of delivery. We found no evidence for a significant association between congenital toxoplasmosis and reduced birthweight or small for gestational age birth

New detrital petrographic and thermochronologic constraints on the Late Cretaceous-Neogene erosional history of the equatorial margin of Brazil: Implications for the surface evolution of a complex rift margin

The equatorial margin of Brazil is an example of a rift margin with a complex landscape, dominated by an escarpment perpendicular to the continental margin, which testifies to an equally complex rift and post-rift surface and tectonic evolution. This has been the focus of a long debate on the driving mechanism for post-rift tectonics and on the amount of exhumation. This study contributes to this debate with new petrographic and thermochronologic data on 152 samples from three basins, Para-Maranhao, Barreirinhas and Ceara, on the offshore continental platform. Our detrital record goes back to the rift time at ca. 100 Ma ago and outlines three major evolutionary phases of a changing landscape: a rift phase, with the erosion of a moderate rift escarpment, a Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene post-rift phase of major drainage reorganization and significant vertical erosion and a Late Oligocene-to-Recent post-rift phase of moderate vertical erosion and river headwater migration. We estimate that along the equatorial margin of Brazil, over a large onshore area, exhumation since the Late Cretaceous has totalled locally up to 2-2.5 km and since the late Oligocene did not exceed 1 km

Screening for hotspot mutations in PI3K, JAK2, FLT3 and NPM1 in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

INTRODUCTION: Myelodysplastic syndromes encompass a heterogeneous group of clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, refractory cytopenia and a tendency to progress toward acute myeloid leukemia. The accumulation of genetic alterations is closely associated with the progression of myelodysplastic syndromes toward acute myeloid leukemia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence of mutations in the points most frequent for mutations (hotspot mutations) in phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) and nucleophosmin (NPM1), which are involved in leukemia and other cancers, in a population of Brazilian MDS patients. METHODS: Fifty-one myelodysplastic syndromes patients were included in the study. According to French-American-British classification, the patients were distributed as follows: 31 with refractory anemia, 8 with refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts, 7 with refractory anemia with excess blasts, 3 with refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation and 2 with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Bone marrow samples were obtained and screened for the presence of hotspot mutations using analysis based on amplification with the polymerase chain reaction, sequencing, fragment size polymorphisms or restriction enzyme digestion. All patients were screened for mutations at the time of diagnosis, and 5 patients were also screened at the time of disease progression. RESULTS: In the genes studied, no mutations were detected in the patients at the time of diagnosis. One patient with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia was heterozygous for a Janus kinase 2 mutation after disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that hotspot mutations in the PI3K, JAK2, FLT3 and NPM1 genes are not common in MDS patients; nevertheless, JAK2 mutations may be present in myelodysplasia during disease progression