methane concentrations and source strengths in urban locations

Higher atmospheric concentrations of methane are found in air samples from urban locations than in contemporary samples at the same latitude in remote locations. Higher concentrations of several trace chlorocarbon gases are also found in the same urban samples than in the corresponding remote samples. The “urban excess”, i.e. urban concentration minus remote concentration, is generally 1000 to 2000 times larger on a molar basis for CH4 than for CCl3F. Because almost all CCl3F is emitted in urban environments, the urban release of CH4 is estimated from the observed molar ratios to be 30 to 60 megatons per year world‐wide. The fraction of world‐wide methane release occurring in the urban environment can be estimated from the concentration ratios, urban to remote, for CH4 vs. CCl3F. About 8% to 15% of the atmospheric methane release is observed to occur in urban locations. Copyright 1984 by the American Geophysical Union

Microarray resources for genetic and genomic studies in chicken: a review

Advent of microarray technologies revolutionized the nature and scope of genetic and genomic research in human and other species by allowing massively parallel analysis of thousands of genomic sites. They have been used for diverse purposes such as for transcriptome analysis, CNV detection, SNP and CNV genotyping, studying DNA-protein interaction, and detection of genome methylation. Microarrays have also made invaluable contributions to research in chicken which is an important model organism for studying embryology, immunology, oncology, virology, evolution, genetics, and genomics and also for other avian species. Despite their huge contributions in life science research, the future of microarrays is now being questioned with the advent of massively parallel next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, which promise to overcome some of the limitations of microarray platforms. In this article we review the various microarray resources developed for chicken and their past and potential future applications. We also discuss about the future of microarrays in the NGS era particularly in the context of livestock genetics. We argue that even though NGS promises some major advantages-in particular, offers the opportunity to discover novel elements in the genome-microarrays will continue to be major tools for research and practice in the field of livestock genetics/genomics due to their affordability, high throughput nature, mature established technologies and ease of application. Moreover, with advent of new microarray technologies like capture arrays, the NGS and microarrays are expected to complement each other in future research in life science

Patterns of CO2 and radiocarbon across high northern latitudes during International Polar Year 2008

High-resolution in situ CO2 measurements were conducted aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the ARCTAS/POLARCAT field campaign, a component of the wider 2007-2008 International Polar Year activities. Data were recorded during large-scale surveys spanning the North American sub-Arctic to the North Pole from 0.04 to 12 km altitude in spring and summer of 2008. Influences on the observed CO2 concentrations were investigated using coincident CO, black carbon, CH3CN, HCN, O3, C2Cl4, and Δ14CO2 data, and the FLEXPART model. In spring, the CO2 spatial distribution from 55̊N to 90̊N was largely determined by the long-range transport of air masses laden with Asian anthropogenic pollution intermingled with Eurasian fire emissions evidenced by the greater variability in the mid-to-upper troposphere. At the receptor site, the enhancement ratios of CO2 to CO in pollution plumes ranged from 27 to 80 ppmv ppmv-1 with the highest anthropogenic content registered in plumes sampled poleward of 80̊N. In summer, the CO2 signal largely reflected emissions from lightning-ignited wildfires within the boreal forests of northern Saskatchewan juxtaposed with uptake by the terrestrial biosphere. Measurements within fresh fire plumes yielded CO2 to CO emission ratios of 4 to 16 ppmv ppmv-1 and a mean CO2 emission factor of 1698 ± 280 g kg-1 dry matter. From the 14C in CO2 content of 48 whole air samples, mean spring (46.6 ± 4.4%) and summer (51.5 ± 5%) D14CO2 values indicate a 5%seasonal difference. Although the northern midlatitudes were identified as the emissions source regions for the majority of the spring samples, depleted Δ14CO2 values were observed in <1% of the data set. Rather, ARCTAS Δ14CO2 observations (54%) revealed predominately a pattern of positive disequilibrium (1-7%) with respect to background regardless of season owing to both heterotrophic respiration and fire-induced combustion of biomass. Anomalously enriched Δ14CO2 values (101-262%) measured in emissions from Lake Athabasca and Eurasian fires speak to biomass burning as an increasingly important contributor to the mass excess in Δ14CO2 observations in a warming Arctic, representing an additional source of uncertainty in the quantification of fossil fuel CO2

Deformation of the Fermi surface in the extended Hubbard model

The deformation of the Fermi surface induced by Coulomb interactions is investigated in the t-t'-Hubbard model. The interplay of the local U and extended V interactions is analyzed. It is found that exchange interactions V enhance small anisotropies producing deformations of the Fermi surface which break the point group symmetry of the square lattice at the Van Hove filling. This Pomeranchuck instability competes with ferromagnetism and is suppressed at a critical value of U(V). The interaction V renormalizes the t' parameter to smaller values what favours nesting. It also induces changes on the topology of the Fermi surface which can go from hole to electron-like what may explain recent ARPES experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 ps figure

Hyaluronic Acid Instillation Following Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Double-blinded, Randomised Controlled Study.

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of hyaluronic acid instillation after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction for improving pain, range of movement, and function of the knee. METHODS: 28 men and 4 women underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction for isolated ACL rupture (partial or complete) and instability after recreational sports injury 2 to 120 months earlier. They were randomised to undergo arthroscopic ACL reconstruction followed by intra-articular viscoseal instillation (13 men and 3 women) or arthroscopic ACL reconstruction alone (15 men and 1 woman). The knee injury osteoarthritis outcome score (for pain, symptoms, activities of daily living, sport and recreation function, and quality of life), range of movement, knee circumference, and analgesic use were assessed on days -1, 1, and 2, and weeks 2, 6 and 12. RESULTS: Patient demographics were similar at baseline. At postoperative days 1 and 2, all subscales of the knee injury osteoarthritis outcome score (except for quality of life) were significantly higher in the viscoseal group. At weeks 2, 6, and 12, improvement in both groups equalised. Knee swelling (change in knee circumference) was significantly less in the viscoseal group at days 1 and 2 (p=0.009 and p=0.038, respectively, Mann-Whitney U test). Only one patient in the viscoseal group had a limited range of movement. No patient developed any adverse reaction. CONCLUSION: Intra-articular viscoseal instillation improved pain control and swelling 2 days after arthroscopic ACL reconstruction.published_or_final_versio

Diabetes incidence and prevalence in Hong Kong, China during 2006-2014

postprin

A 10-year study reveals clinical and laboratory evidence for the 'semi-invasive' properties of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis

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Metabolomic Profiling of Plasma from Melioidosis Patients Using UHPLC-QTOF MS Reveals Novel Biomarkers for Diagnosis

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.To identify potential biomarkers for improving diagnosis of melioidosis, we compared plasma metabolome profiles of melioidosis patients compared to patients with other bacteremia and controls without active infection, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the metabolomic profiles of melioidosis patients are distinguishable from bacteremia patients and controls. Using multivariate and univariate analysis, 12 significant metabolites from four lipid classes, acylcarnitine (n = 6), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LysoPE) (n = 3), sphingomyelins (SM) (n = 2) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) (n = 1), with significantly higher levels in melioidosis patients than bacteremia patients and controls, were identified. Ten of the 12 metabolites showed area-under-receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) >0.80 when compared both between melioidosis and bacteremia patients, and between melioidosis patients and controls. SM(d18:2/16:0) possessed the largest AUC when compared, both between melioidosis and bacteremia patients (AUC 0.998, sensitivity 100% and specificity 91.7%), and between melioidosis patients and controls (AUC 1.000, sensitivity 96.7% and specificity 100%). Our results indicate that metabolome profiling might serve as a promising approach for diagnosis of melioidosis using patient plasma, with SM(d18:2/16:0) representing a potential biomarker. Since the 12 metabolites were related to various pathways for energy and lipid metabolism, further studies may reveal their possible role in the pathogenesis and host response in melioidosis.published_or_final_versio