The impact of Cenozoic cooling on assemblage diversity in planktonic foraminifera

© 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

The importance of parameter choice in modelling dynamics of the eye lens

The lens provides refractive power to the eye and is capable of altering ocular focus in response to visual demand. This capacity diminishes with age. Current biomedical technologies, which seek to design an implant lens capable of replicating the function of the biological lens, are unable as yet to provide such an implant with the requisite optical quality or ability to change the focussing power of the eye. This is because the mechanism of altering focus, termed accommodation, is not fully understood and seemingly conflicting theories require experimental support which is difficult to obtain from the living eye. This investigation presents finite element models of the eye lens based on data from human lenses aged 16 and 35 years that consider the influence of various modelling parameters, including material properties, a wide range of angles of force application and capsular thickness. Results from axisymmetric models show that the anterior and posterior zonules may have a greater impact on shape change than the equatorial zonule and that choice of capsular thickness values can influence the results from modelled simulations

Proxy evidence for state-dependence of climate sensitivity in the Eocene greenhouse

Despite recent advances, the link between the evolution of atmospheric CO2 and climate during the Eocene greenhouse remains uncertain. In particular, modelling studies suggest that in order to achieve the global warmth that characterised the early Eocene, warmer climates must be more sensitive to CO2 forcing than colder climates. Here, we test this assertion in the geological record by combining a new high-resolution boron isotope-based CO2 record with novel estimates of Global Mean Temperature. We find that Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) was indeed higher during the warmest intervals of the Eocene, agreeing well with recent model simulations, and declined through the Eocene as global climate cooled. These observations indicate that the canonical IPCC range of ECS (1.5 to 4.5 °C per doubling) is unlikely to be appropriate for high-CO2 warm climates of the past, and the state dependency of ECS may play an increasingly important role in determining the state of future climate as the Earth continues to warm

Acetaminophen Modulates the Transcriptional Response to Recombinant Interferon-β

BACKGROUND: Recombinant interferon treatment can result in several common side effects including fever and injection-site pain. Patients are often advised to use acetaminophen or other over-the-counter pain medications as needed. Little is known regarding the transcriptional changes induced by such co-administration. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We tested whether the administration of acetaminophen causes a change in the response normally induced by interferon-beta treatment. CD-1 mice were administered acetaminophen (APAP), interferon-beta (IFN-beta) or a combination of IFN-beta+APAP and liver and serum samples were collected for analysis. Differential gene expression was determined using an Agilent 22 k whole mouse genome microarray. Data were analyzed by several methods including Gene Ontology term clustering and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. We observed a significant change in the transcription profile of hepatic cells when APAP was co-administered with IFN-beta. These transcriptional changes included a marked up-regulation of genes involved in signal transduction and cell differentiation and down-regulation of genes involved in cellular metabolism, trafficking and the IkappaBK/NF-kappaB cascade. Additionally, we observed a large decrease in the expression of several IFN-induced genes including Ifit-3, Isg-15, Oasl1, Zbp1 and predicted gene EG634650 at both early and late time points. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A significant change in the transcriptional response was observed following co-administration of IFN-beta+APAP relative to IFN-beta treatment alone. These results suggest that administration of acetaminophen has the potential to modify the efficacy of IFN-beta treatment