A Reconnaissance Survey of the Environmental Chemistry in East-Central Ellesmere Island, N.W.T.

Snow-pack and surface water samples were collected from east-central Ellesmere Island near Cape Herschel between May and August in 1979-81 to ascertain whether anthropogenic pollution was detectable in a remote "pristine" arctic environment. Snow-pack samples were analyzed for organochlorine pesticide residues, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and chlorophenoxy acid herbicides. Precipitation and surface water samples were analyzed to determine whether the region has been subjected to "acid rain". In addition, the surface water samples were analyzed for as many as 35 inorganic parameters to provide background data on the water quality of the region. Measurable concentrations of Lindane (gamma BHC) and its isomer alpha BHC, HEOD (dieldrin), and DDT were detected at a number of sites, but no polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or chlorophenoxy acid herbicides were detected. The pattern of pesticide residues in this remote area of the Arctic is presumptive evidence that the residues are globally dispersed through the atmosphere. Only copper and the lithophilic metals aluminum and iron were consistently detectable in the snow-pack and surface water samples; all other metals were at or below their detection limits. Thus anthropogenic inputs of metal contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, and vanadium, via atmospheric deposition, were not detected in this region. Although "acid rain" was not in evidence in the study area, the surface waters of the local ponds and lakes, many of which are ombrogenic, are potentially susceptible to changes in the acidity of the atmospheric aerosol of the high Arctic.Key words: snow-pack, precipitation, pesticides, PAHs, acid rain, water chemistry, metals, Arctic, Ellesmere IslandMots clés: manteau nival, précipitation, pesticides, HAP, pluis acides, chimie aquatique, métaux, Arctique, l'île d'Ellesmer

Optimizing the vertebrate vestibular semicircular canal: could we balance any better?

The fluid-filled semicircular canals (SCCs) of the vestibular system are used by all vertebrates to sense angular rotation. Despite masses spanning seven decades, all mammalian SCCs are nearly the same size. We propose that the SCC represents a sensory organ that evolution has `optimally designed'. Four geometric parameters are used to characterize the SCC, and `building materials' of given physical properties are assumed. Identifying physical and physiological constraints on SCC operation, we find that the most sensitive SCC has dimensions consistent with available data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Growth or decline in the Church of England during the decade of Evangelism: did the Churchmanship of the Bishop matter?

The Decade of Evangelism occupied the attention of the Church of England throughout the 1990s. The present study employs the statistics routinely published by the Church of England in order to assess two matters: the extent to which these statistics suggest that the 43 individual dioceses finished the decade in a stronger or weaker position than they had entered it and the extent to which, according to these statistics, the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Evangelical tradition differed from the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Catholic tradition. The data demonstrated that the majority of dioceses were performing less effectively at the end of the decade than at the beginning, in terms of a range of membership statistics, and that the rate of decline varied considerably from one diocese to another. The only exception to the trend was provided by the diocese of London, which experienced some growth. The data also demonstrated that little depended on the churchmanship of the diocesan bishop in shaping diocesan outcomes on the performance indicators employed in the study

Intravenous iron or placebo for anaemia in intensive care: the IRONMAN multicentre randomized blinded trial. A randomized trial of IV iron in critical illness

PURPOSE: Both anaemia and allogenic red blood cell transfusion are common and potentially harmful in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Whilst intravenous iron may decrease anaemia and RBC transfusion requirement, the safety and efficacy of administering iron intravenously to critically ill patients is uncertain. METHODS: The multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded Intravenous Iron or Placebo for Anaemia in Intensive Care (IRONMAN) study was designed to test the hypothesis that, in anaemic critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit, early administration of intravenous iron, compared with placebo, reduces allogeneic red blood cell transfusion during hospital stay and increases the haemoglobin level at the time of hospital discharge. RESULTS: Of 140 patients enrolled, 70 were assigned to intravenous iron and 70 to placebo. The iron group received 97 red blood cell units versus 136 red blood cell units in the placebo group, yielding an incidence rate ratio of 0.71 [95 % confidence interval (0.43-1.18), P = 0.19]. Overall, median haemoglobin at hospital discharge was significantly higher in the intravenous iron group than in the placebo group [107 (interquartile ratio IQR 97-115) vs. 100 g/L (IQR 89-111), P = 0.02]. There was no significant difference between the groups in any safety outcome. CONCLUSIONS: In patients admitted to the intensive care unit who were anaemic, intravenous iron, compared with placebo, did not result in a significant lowering of red blood cell transfusion requirement during hospital stay. Patients who received intravenous iron had a significantly higher haemoglobin concentration at hospital discharge. The trial was registered at http://www.anzctr.org.au as # ACTRN12612001249842

Structure and mechanics of supporting cells in the guinea pig organ of Corti.

The mechanical properties of the mammalian organ of Corti determine its sensitivity to sound frequency and intensity, and the structure of supporting cells changes progressively with frequency along the cochlea. From the apex (low frequency) to the base (high frequency) of the guinea pig cochlea inner pillar cells decrease in length incrementally from 75-55 µm whilst the number of axial microtubules increases from 1,300-2,100. The respective values for outer pillar cells are 120-65 µm and 1,500-3,000. This correlates with a progressive decrease in the length of the outer hair cells from >100 µm to 20 µm. Deiters'cell bodies vary from 60-50 µm long with relatively little change in microtubule number. Their phalangeal processes reflect the lengths of outer hair cells but their microtubule numbers do not change systematically. Correlations between cell length, microtubule number and cochlear location are poor below 1 kHz. Cell stiffness was estimated from direct mechanical measurements made previously from isolated inner and outer pillar cells. We estimate that between 200 Hz and 20 kHz axial stiffness, bending stiffness and buckling limits increase, respectively,~3, 6 and 4 fold for outer pillar cells, ~2, 3 and 2.5 fold for inner pillar cells and ~7, 20 and 24 fold for the phalangeal processes of Deiters'cells. There was little change in the Deiters'cell bodies for any parameter. Compensating for effective cell length the pillar cells are likely to be considerably stiffer than Deiters'cells with buckling limits 10-40 times greater. These data show a clear relationship between cell mechanics and frequency. However, measurements from single cells alone are insufficient and they must be combined with more accurate details of how the multicellular architecture influences the mechanical properties of the whole organ

Athena MIMOS II Mossbauer spectrometer investigation

Mössbauer spectroscopy is a powerful tool for quantitative mineralogical analysis of Fe-bearing materials. The miniature Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS II is a component of the Athena science payload launched to Mars in 2003 on both Mars Exploration Rover missions. The instrument has two major components: (1) a rover-based electronics board that contains power supplies, a dedicated central processing unit, memory, and associated support electronics and (2) a sensor head that is mounted at the end of the instrument deployment device (IDD) for placement of the instrument in physical contact with soil and rock. The velocity transducer operates at a nominal frequency of 25 Hz and is equipped with two 57Co/Rh Mössbauer sources. The reference source (5 mCi landed intensity), reference target (alpha-Fe2O3 plus alpha-Fe0), and PIN-diode detector are configured in transmission geometry and are internal to the instrument and used for its calibration. The analysis Mössbauer source (150 mCi landed intensity) irradiates Martian surface materials with a beam diameter of 1.4 cm. The backscatter radiation is measured by four PIN-diode detectors. Physical contact with surface materials is sensed with a switch-activated contact plate. The contact plate and reference target are instrumented with temperature sensors. Assuming 18% Fe for Martian surface materials, experiment time is 6–12 hours during the night for quality spectra (i.e., good counting statistics); 1–2 hours is sufficient to identify and quantify the most abundant Fe-bearing phases. Data stored internal to the instrument for selectable return to Earth include Mössbauer and pulse-height analysis spectra (512 and 256 channels, respectively) for each of the five detectors in up to 13 temperature intervals (65 Mössbauer spectra), engineering data for the velocity transducer, and temperature measurements. The total data volume is 150 kB. The mass and power consumption are 500 g (400 g for the sensor head) and 2 W, respectively. The scientific measurement objectives of the Mössbauer investigation are to obtain for rock, soil, and dust (1) the mineralogical identification of iron-bearing phases (e.g., oxides, silicates, sulfides, sulfates, and carbonates), (2) the quantitative measurement of the distribution of iron among these iron-bearing phases (e.g., the relative proportions of iron in olivine, pyroxenes, ilmenite, and magnetite in a basalt), (3) the quantitative measurement of the distribution of iron among its oxidation states (e.g., Fe2+, Fe3+, and Fe6+), and (4) the characterization of the size distribution of magnetic particles. Special geologic targets of the Mössbauer investigation are dust collected by the Athena magnets and interior rock and soil surfaces exposed by the Athena Rock Abrasion Tool and by trenching with rover wheels

Comprehensive annotation of the Parastagonospora nodorum reference genome using next-generation genomics, transcriptomics and proteogenomics

Parastagonospora nodorum, the causal agent of Septoria nodorum blotch (SNB), is an economically important pathogen of wheat (Triticum spp.), and a model for the study of necrotrophic pathology and genome evolution. The reference P. nodorum strain SN15 was the first Dothideomycete with a published genome sequence, and has been used as the basis for comparison within and between species. Here we present an updated reference genome assembly with corrections of SNP and indel errors in the underlying genome assembly from deep resequencing data as well as extensive manual annotation of gene models using transcriptomic and proteomic sources of evidence (https://github.com/robsyme/Parastagonospora_nodorum_SN15). The updated assembly and annotation includes 8,366 genes with modified protein sequence and 866 new genes. This study shows the benefits of using a wide variety of experimental methods allied to expert curation to generate a reliable set of gene models

Linking mental and primary health care in rural areas

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44091/1/10488_2005_Article_BF02254827.pd