Halogenated organic species over the tropical South American rainforest

Airborne measurements of the halogenated trace gases methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were conducted over the Atlantic Ocean and about 1000 km of pristine tropical rainforest in Suriname and French Guyana (3–6° N, 51–59° W) in October 2005. In the boundary layer (0–1.4 km), maritime air masses, advected over the forest by southeasterly trade winds, were measured at various distances from the coast. Since the organohalogens presented here have relatively long atmospheric lifetimes (0.4–1.0 years) in comparison to the advection times from the coast (1–2 days), emissions will accumulate in air traversing the rainforest. The distributions of methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were analyzed as a function of time the air spent over land and the respective relationship used to determine net fluxes from the rainforest for one week within the long dry season. <br><br> Net fluxes from the rainforest ecosystem have been calculated for methyl chloride and chloroform as 9.5 (±3.8 2σ) and 0.35 (±0.15 2σ)μg m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. No significant flux was observed for methyl bromide within the limits of these measurements. <br><br> The global budget of methyl chloride contains large uncertainties, in particular with regard to a possible source from tropical vegetation. Our measurements are used in a large-scale approach to determine the net flux from a tropical ecosystem to the planetary boundary layer. The obtained global net flux of 1.5 (±0.6 2σ) Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> for methyl chloride is at the lower end of current estimates for tropical vegetation sources, which helps to constrain the range of tropical sources and sinks (0.82 to 8.2 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> from tropical plants, 0.03 to 2.5 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> from senescent/dead leaves and a sink of 0.1 to 1.6 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> by soil uptake). Nevertheless, these results show that the contribution of the rainforest ecosystem is the major source in the global budget of methyl chloride. <br><br> For chloroform, the extrapolated global net flux from tropical ecosystems is 56 (±23 2σ) Gg yr<sup>−1</sup>, which is of minor importance compared to the total global sources and might be already contained in the soil emission term

Halogenated organic species over the tropical rainforest

International audienceAirborne measurements of the halogenated trace gases methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were conducted over the Atlantic Ocean and 1000 km of pristine tropical rainforest in Suriname and French Guyana (3–6° N, 51–59° W) in October 2005. In the boundary layer (0–1.4 km), maritime air masses initially low in forest hydrocarbons, advected over the forest by southeasterly trade winds, were measured at various distances from the coast. Since the organohalogens presented here have relatively long atmospheric lifetimes (0.4–1.0 years) in comparison to the transport times (1–2 days), emissions will accumulate in air traversing the rainforest. The distributions of methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were analyzed as a function of forest contact time and the respective relationship used to determine fluxes from the rainforest during the long dry season. Emission fluxes have been calculated for methyl chloride and chloroform as 9.4 (±4.0 2s) and 0.34 (0.14± 2s) µg m-2 h-1, respectively. No significant flux from the rainforest was observed for methyl bromide within the limits of these measurements. The flux of methyl chloride was in general agreement with the flux measured over the same region in March 1998 during the LBA Claire project using a different analytical system. This confirms that the rainforest is a strong source for methyl chloride and suggests that this emission is relatively uniform throughout the year. In contrast the chloroform flux derived here is a factor of three less than previous measurements made in March 1998 suggesting a pronounced ecosystem variation. The differences in chloroform fluxes could not be attributed to either temperature or rainfall changes. The global extrapolation of the derived fluxes led to 1.5 (±0.6 2s) Tg yr-1 for methyl chloride, which is in the range of the missing source postulated by previous model studies and 55 (±22 2s) Gg yr-1 for chloroform

GHRS and ORFEUS-II Observations of the Highly Ionized Interstellar Medium Toward ESO141-055

We present Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and ORFEUS-II measurements of Si IV, CIV, N V, and O VI absorption in the interstellar medium of the Galactic disk and halo toward the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy ESO141-055. The high ionization absorption is strong, with line strengths consistent with the spectral signature expected for hot (log T = 5-6) collisionally ionized gas in either a ``Galactic fountain'' or an inhomogeneous medium containing a mixture of conductive interfaces and turbulent mixing layers. The total O VI column density of log N ~ 15 suggests that the scale height of O VI is large (>3 kpc) in this direction. Comparison of the high ion column densities with measurements for other sight lines indicates that the highly ionized gas distribution is patchy. The amount of O VI perpendicular to the Galactic plane varies by at least a factor of ~4 among the complete halo sight lines thus far studied. In addition to the high ion absorption, lines of low ionization species are also present in the spectra. With the possible exception of Ar I, which may have a lower than expected abundance resulting from partial photoionization of gas along the sight line, the absorption strengths are typical of those expected for the warm, neutral interstellar medium. The sight line intercepts a cold molecular cloud with log N(H2) ~ 19. The cloud has an identifiable counterpart in IRAS 100-micron emission maps of this region of the sky. We detect a Ly-alpha absorber associated with ESO141-055 at z = 0.03492. This study presents an enticing glimpse into the interstellar and intergalactic absorption patterns that will be observed at high spectral resolution by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.Comment: 24 pages + 8 figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Accepted for publication in Ap

Observaciones en la línea de 21 cm. del hidrógeno neutro en la región del polo sur celeste (δ ≤ -85°)

Data from the observation of the 21-cm neutral hydrogen line are presented for the region 297º <l< 309º, -22º<b<-32º, and -90 < v < 90 km/s. Shown are 143 profiles of the zone and isophotes at constant l, constant b, and constant velocity from -36 to +12 km/s, every 4 km/s.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí

Galectin-3 interacts with the cell surface glycoprotein CD146 (MCAM, MUC18) and induces secretion of metastasis-promoting cytokines from vascular endothelial cells

The galactoside-binding protein galectin-3 is increasingly recognized as an important player in cancer development, progression, and metastasis via its interactions with various galactoside-terminated glycans. We have shown previously that circulating galectin-3, which is increased up to 30-fold in cancer patients, promotes blood-borne metastasis in an animal cancer model. This effect is partly attributable to the interaction of galectin-3 with unknown receptor(s) on vascular endothelial cells and causes endothelial secretion of several metastasis-promoting cytokines. Here we sought to identify the galectin-3-binding molecule(s) on the endothelial cell surface responsible for the galectin-3-mediated cytokine secretion. Using two different galectin-3 affinity purification processes, we extracted four cell membrane glycoproteins, CD146/melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM)/MUC18, CD31/platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1), CD144/VE-cadherin, and CD106/Endoglin, from vascular endothelial cells. CD146 was the major galectin-3-binding ligand and strongly co-localized with galectin-3 on endothelial cell surfaces treated with exogenous galectin-3. Moreover, galectin-3 bound to N-linked glycans on CD146 and induced CD146 dimerization and subsequent activation of AKT signaling. siRNA-mediated suppression of CD146 expression completely abolished the galectin-3-induced secretion of IL-6 and G-CSF cytokines from the endothelial cells. Thus, CD146/MCAM is the functional galectin-3-binding ligand on endothelial cell surfaces responsible for galectin-3-induced secretion of metastasis-promoting cytokines. We conclude that CD146/MCAM interactions with circulating galectin-3 may have an important influence on cancer progression and metastasis

The Object Management Group Ontology Definition Metamodel

Report of a submission being made to a major international software engineering standards group, the Object Management Group which ties together OMG standards with World-Wide Web Consortium and International Standards Organization standards. Major industry bodies including IBM are collaborating, and the submission has the support of 24 companies. OMG, W3C and ISO standards strongly influence the industry, especially in combination. Colomb was a major contributor, responsible for 30% of the submission, and the primary author of the paper

Observaciones en la línea de 21 cm. del hidrógeno neutro en la región del polo sur celeste (δ ≤ -85°)

Data from the observation of the 21-cm neutral hydrogen line are presented for the region 297º <l< 309º, -22º<b<-32º, and -90 < v < 90 km/s. Shown are 143 profiles of the zone and isophotes at constant l, constant b, and constant velocity from -36 to +12 km/s, every 4 km/s.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí

A radio continuum survey of the southern sky at 1420 MHz. Observations and data reduction

We describe the equipment, observational method and reduction procedure of an absolutely calibrated radio continuum survey of the South Celestial Hemisphere at a frequency of 1420 MHz. These observations cover the area 0h < R.A. < 24h for declinations less than -10 degree. The sensitivity is about 50 mK T_B (full beam brightness) and the angular resolution (HPBW) is 35.4', which matches the existing northern sky survey at the same frequency.Comment: 9 pages with 9 figures, A&A, in pres

The Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) Survey of Galactic HI: Final data release of the combined LDS and IAR surveys with improved stray-radiation corrections

We present the final data release of observations of lambda 21-cm emission from Galactic neutral hydrogen over the entire sky, merging the Leiden/Dwingeloo Survey (LDS: Hartmann & Burton, 1997) of the sky north of delta = -30 deg with the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia Survey (IAR: Arnal et al., 2000, and Bajaja et al., 2005) of the sky south of delta = -25 deg. The angular resolution of the combined material is HPBW ~ 0.6 deg. The LSR velocity coverage spans the interval -450 km/s to +400 km/s, at a resolution of 1.3 km/s. The data were corrected for stray radiation at the Institute for Radioastronomy of the University of Bonn, refining the original correction applied to the LDS. The rms brightness-temperature noise of the merged database is 0.07 - 0.09 K. Residual errors in the profile wings due to defects in the correction for stray radiation are for most of the data below a level of 20 - 40 mK. It would be necessary to construct a telescope with a main beam efficiency of eta_{MB} > 99% to achieve the same accuracy. The merged and refined material entering the LAB Survey of Galactic HI is intended to be a general resource useful to a wide range of studies of the physical and structural characteristices of the Galactic interstellar environment. The LAB Survey is the most sensitive Milky Way HI survey to date, with the most extensive coverage both spatially and kinematically.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysic