Potential structural materials and design concepts for light airplanes Final report

Potential structural materials and design concepts evaluated for light aircraft application

Potential Structural Materials and Design Concepts for Light Airplanes

Potential structural materials and design considerations for helicopters and light general aircraf

The coming and going of a marl lake: multi-indicator palaeolimnology reveals abrupt ecological change and alternative views of reference conditions

Eutrophication is the most pressing threat to highly calcareous (marl) lakes in Europe. Despite their unique chemistry and biology, comprehensive studies into their unimpacted conditions and eutrophication responses are underrepresented in conservation literature. A multi-indicator palaeolimnological study spanning ca. 1260–2009 was undertaken at Cunswick Tarn (UK), a small, presently eutrophic marl lake, in order to capture centennial timescales of impact. Specific aims were to (1) establish temporal patterns of change (gradual/abrupt) across biological groups, thereby testing theories of resistance of marl lake benthic communities to enrichment, and (2) compare the core record of reference condition with prevailing descriptions of high ecological status. Analyses of sediment calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), pigments, diatoms, testate amoebae, cladocerans, and macrofossils, revealed three abrupt changes in ecosystem structure. The first (1900s), with biomass increases in charophytes and other benthic nutrient-poor indicators, supported ideas of resistance to eutrophication in Chara lakes. The second transition (1930s), from charophyte to angiosperm dominance, occurred alongside reductions in macrophyte cover, increases in eutrophic indicators, and a breakdown in marling, in support of ideas of threshold responses to enrichment. Core P increased consistently into the 1990s when rapid transitions into pelagic shallow lake ecology occurred and Cunswick Tarn became biologically unidentifiable as a marl lake. The moderate total P at which these changes occurred suggests high sensitivity of marl lakes to eutrophication. Further, the early record challenges ideas of correlation between ecological condition, charophyte biomass and sediment Ca. Instead, low benthic production, macrophyte cover, and Ca sedimentation, was inferred. Management measures must focus on reducing external nutrient and sediment loads at early stages of impact in order to preserve marl lakes

Interleukin 7 from Maternal Milk Crosses the Intestinal Barrier and Modulates T- Cell Development in Offspring

Background Breastfeeding protects against illnesses and death in hazardous environments, an effect partly mediated by improved immune function. One hypothesis suggests that factors within milk supplement the inadequate immune response of the offspring, but this has not been able to account for a series of observations showing that factors within maternally derived milk may supplement the development of the immune system through a direct effect on the primary lymphoid organs. In a previous human study we reported evidence suggesting a link between IL-7 in breast milk and the thymic output of infants. Here we report evidence in mice of direct action of maternally-derived IL-7 on T cell development in the offspring. Methods and Findings  We have used recombinant IL-7 labelled with a fluorescent dye to trace the movement in live mice of IL-7 from the stomach across the gut and into the lymphoid tissues. To validate the functional ability of maternally derived IL- 7 we cross fostered IL-7 knock-out mice onto normal wild type mothers. Subsets of thymocytes and populations of peripheral T cells were significantly higher than those found in knock-out mice receiving milk from IL-7 knock-out mothers. Conclusions/Significance Our study provides direct evidence that interleukin 7, a factor which is critical in the development of T lymphocytes, when maternally derived can transfer across the intestine of the offspring, increase T cell production in the thymus and support the survival of T cells in the peripheral secondary lymphoid tissue

Immunomagnetic t-lymphocyte depletion (ITLD) of rat bone marrow using OX-19 monoclonal antibody

Graft versus host disease (GVHD) may be abrogated and host survival prolonged by in vitro depletion of T lymphocytes from bone marrow (BM) prior to allotransplantation. Using a mouse anti-rat pan T-lymphocyte monoclonal antibody (0×19) bound to monosized, magnetic, polymer beads, T lymphocytes were removed in vitro from normal bone marrow. The removal of the T lymphocytes was confirmed by flow cytometry. Injection of the T-lymphocyte-depleted bone marrow into fully allogeneic rats prevents the induction of GVHD and prolongs host survival. A highly efficient technique of T-lymphocyte depletion using rat bone marrow is described. It involves the binding of OX-19, a MoAb directed against all rat thy-mocytes and mature peripheral T lymphocytes, to monosized, magnetic polymer spheres. Magnetic separation of T lymphocytes after mixing the allogeneic bone marrow with the bead/OX-19 complex provides for a simple, rapid depletion of T lymphocytes from the bone marrow. In vitro studies using flow cytometry and the prevention of GVHD in a fully allogeneic rat bone marrow model have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the depletion procedure. © 1989 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted

Breast milk nutrient content and infancy growth.

AIM: Benefits of human breast milk (HM) in avoiding rapid infancy weight gain and later obesity could relate to its nutrient content. We tested the hypothesis that differential HM total calorie content (TCC) or macronutrient contents may be associated with infancy growth. METHODS: HM hindmilk samples were collected at ages 4-8 weeks from 614 mothers participating in a representative birth cohort, with repeated infancy anthropometry. HM triglyceride (fat), lipid analytes and lactose (carbohydrate) were measured by (1) H-NMR, and protein content by the Dumas method. TCC and %macronutrients were determined. RESULTS: In 614 HM samples, fat content was as follows: [median(IQR)]: 2.6 (1.7-3.6) g/100 mL, carbohydrate: 8.6 (8.2-8.8) g/100 mL, protein: 1.2 (1.1-1.2) g/100 mL; TCC: 61.8 (53.7-71.3) kcal/100 mL. HM of mothers exclusively breast feeding vs. mixed feeding was more calorific with higher %fat, lower %carbohydrate and lower %protein. Higher HM TCC was associated with lower 12-months body mass index (BMI)/adiposity, and lower 3-12 months gains in weight/BMI. HM %fat was inversely related to 3-12 months gains in weight, BMI and adiposity, whereas %carbohydrate was positively related to these measures. HM %protein was positively related to 12-months BMI. CONCLUSION: HM analysis showed wide variation in %macronutrients. Although data on milk intakes were unavailable, our findings suggest functional relevance of HM milk composition to infant growth.PP was supported by a MRC Clinical Training Fellowship (G1001995). The Cambridge Baby Growth Study has been supported by the European Union, the World Cancer Research Foundation International, the Medical Research Council, the NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, the Newlife Foundation for disabled children, the Mothercare Group Foundation, and Mead Johnson Nutrition.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via https://doi.org/ 10.1111/apa.1336

Global datasets of leaf photosynthetic capacity for ecological and earth system research

The maximum rate of Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax) determines leaf photosynthetic capacity and is a key parameter for estimating the terrestrial carbon cycle, but its spatial information is lacking, hindering global ecological research. Here, we convert leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) retrieved from satellite data to Vcmax, based on plants’ optimal distribution of nitrogen between light harvesting and carboxylation pathways. We also derive Vcmax from satellite (GOME-2) observations of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) as a proxy of leaf photosynthesis using a data assimilation technique. These two independent global Vcmax products agree well (r 2=0.79, RMSE=15.46 μmol m-2 s -1 25 , P<0.001) and compare well with 3672 ground-based measurements (r2=0.68, RMSE=13.55 μmol m-2 s -1 and P<0.001 for SIF; r2=0.55, RMSE=17.55 μmol m-2 s -1 and P<0.001 for LCC). The LCC-derived Vcmax product is also used to constrain the retrieval of Vcmax from TROPOMI SIF data to produce an optimized Vcmax product using both SIF and LCC information. The global distributions of these products are compatible with Vcmax computed from an ecological optimality theory using meteorological variables, but importantly reveal additional information on the influence of land cover, irrigation, soil pH and leaf nitrogen on leaf photosynthetic capacity. These satellite-based approaches and spatial Vcmax products are primed to play a major role in global ecosystem research. The three remote sensing Vcmax products based on SIF, LCC and SIF+LCC are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6466968 (Chen et al., 2020) and the code for implementing the ecological optimality theory is available at https://github.com/SmithEcophysLab/optimal_vcmax_R (Smith, 2020)