The fine-scale structure of the trade wind cumuli over Barbados – An introduction to the CARRIBA project

The CARRIBA (Cloud, Aerosol, Radiation and tuRbulence in the trade wInd regime over BArbados) project, focused on high resolution and collocated measurements of thermodynamic, turbulent, microphysical, and radiative properties of trade wind cumuli over Barbados, is introduced. The project is based on two one-month field campaigns in November 2010 (climatic wet season) and April 2011 (climatic dry season). Observations are based on helicopter-borne and ground-based measurements in an area of 100 km2 off the coast of Barbados. CARRIBA is accompanied by long-term observations at the Barbados Cloud Observatory located at the East coast of Barbados since early in 2010 and which provides a longer-term context for the CARRIBA measurements. The deployed instrumentation and sampling strategy are presented together with a classification of the meteorological conditions. The two campaigns were influenced by different air masses advected from the Caribbean area, the Atlantic Ocean, and the African continent which led to distinct aerosol conditions. Pristine conditions with low aerosol particle number concentrations of ∼100 cm3 were alternating with periods influenced by Saharan dust or aerosol from biomass burning resulting in comparably high number concentrations of ∼ 500 cm3. The biomass burning aerosol was originating from both the Caribbean area and Africa. The shallow cumulus clouds responded to the different aerosol conditions with a wide range of mean droplet sizes and number concentrations. Two days with different aerosol and cloud microphysical properties but almost identical meteorological conditions have been analyzed in detail. The differences in the droplet number concentration and droplet sizes appear not to show any significant change for turbulent cloud mixing, but the relative roles of droplet inertia and sedimentation in initiating coalescence, as well as the cloud reflectivity, do change substantially. © Author(s) 2013

The fine-scale structure of the trade wind cumuli over Barbados – An introduction to the CARRIBA project

The CARRIBA (Cloud, Aerosol, Radiation and tuRbulence in the trade wInd regime over BArbados) project, focused on high resolution and collocated measurements of thermodynamic, turbulent, microphysical, and radiative properties of trade wind cumuli over Barbados, is introduced. The project is based on two one-month field campaigns in November 2010 (climatic wet season) and April 2011 (climatic dry season). Observations are based on helicopter-borne and ground-based measurements in an area of 100 km2 off the coast of Barbados. CARRIBA is accompanied by long-term observations at the Barbados Cloud Observatory located at the East coast of Barbados since early in 2010 and which provides a longer-term context for the CARRIBA measurements. The deployed instrumentation and sampling strategy are presented together with a classification of the meteorological conditions. The two campaigns were influenced by different air masses advected from the Caribbean area, the Atlantic Ocean, and the African continent which led to distinct aerosol conditions. Pristine conditions with low aerosol particle number concentrations of ∼100 cm3 were alternating with periods influenced by Saharan dust or aerosol from biomass burning resulting in comparably high number concentrations of ∼ 500 cm3. The biomass burning aerosol was originating from both the Caribbean area and Africa. The shallow cumulus clouds responded to the different aerosol conditions with a wide range of mean droplet sizes and number concentrations. Two days with different aerosol and cloud microphysical properties but almost identical meteorological conditions have been analyzed in detail. The differences in the droplet number concentration and droplet sizes appear not to show any significant change for turbulent cloud mixing, but the relative roles of droplet inertia and sedimentation in initiating coalescence, as well as the cloud reflectivity, do change substantially

Prostate-specific antigen testing in Tyrol, Austria: prostate cancer mortality reduction was supported by an update with mortality data up to 2008

Objectives: The objective of this study was to update an in-depth analysis of the time trend for prostate cancer (PCA) mortality in the population of Tyrol by 5 years, namely to 2008. In Tyrol, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests were introduced in 1988/89; more than three-quarters of all men in the age group 45–74 had at least one PSA test in the past decade. Methods: We applied the same model as in a previous publication, i.e., an age-period-cohort model using Poisson regression, to the mortality data covering more than three decades from 1970 to 2008. Results: For Tyrol from 2004 to 2008 in the age group 60+ period terms show a significant reduction in prostate cancer mortality with a risk ratio of 0.70 (95% confidence interval 0.57, 0.87) for Tyrol, and for Austria excluding Tyrol a moderate reduction with a risk ratio of 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.87, 0.97), each compared to the mortality rate in the period 1989–1993. Conclusions: This update strengthens our previously published results, namely that PSA testing offered to a population at no charge can reduce prostate cancer mortality. The extent of mortality reduction is in line with that reported in the other recent publications. However, our data do not permit us to fully assess the harms associated with PCA screening, and no recommendation for PSA screening can be made without a careful evaluation of overdiagnosis and overtreatment

Strangeness production in proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions

In these lectures we discuss the investigation of the strange meson production in proton-proton ($pp$) and in proton-nucleus ($pA$) reactions within an effective Lagrangian model. The kaon production proceeds mainly via the excitations of $N^*$(1650), $N^*$(1710), and $N^*$(1720) resonant intermediate nucleonic states, in the collision of two initial state nucleons. Therefore, the strangeness production is expected to provide information about the resonances lying at higher excitation energies. For beam energies very close to the kaon production threshold the hyperon-proton final state interaction effects are quite important. Thus, these studies provide a check on the models of hyperon-nucleon interactions. The in-medium production of kaons show strong sensitivity to the self energies of the intermediate mesons.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Talk presented in the workshop on Hadron Physics, Puri, India, March 7-17,200

B cell-specific conditional expression of Myd88(p.L252P) leads to the development of diffuse large B cell lymphoma in mice

The adaptor protein MYD88 is critical to relay activation of Toll-like receptor signaling to NF-{kappa}B activation.MYD88 mutations, particularly the p.L265P mutation, have been described in numerous distinct B cell malignancies, including diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). 29% of activated B cell (ABC)-type DLBCL, which is characterized by constitutive activation of the NF-{kappa}B pathway, carry the p.L265P mutation. In addition, ABC-DLBCL frequently displays focal copy number gains affecting BCL2. Here, we generated a novel mouse model, in which Cre-mediated recombination, specifically in B cells, leads to the conditional expression of Myd88(p.L252P)(the orthologous position of the human MYD88(p.L265P) mutation) from the endogenous locus. These animals develop a lympho-proliferative disease, and occasional transformation into clonal lymphomas. The clonal disease displays morphological and immunophenotypical characteristics of ABC-DLBCL. Lymphomagenesis can be accelerated by crossing in a further novel allele, which mediates conditional overexpression ofBCL2 Cross-validation experiments in human DLBCL samples revealed that bothMYD88andCD79Bmutations are substantially enriched in ABC-DLBCL, compared to germinal center B cell DLBCL. Furthermore, analyses of human DLBCL genome sequencing data confirmed that BCL2 amplifications frequently co-occur with MYD88 mutations, further validating our approach. Lastly,in silicoexperiments revealed that particularly MYD88-mutant ABC-DLBCL cells display an actionable addiction to BCL2. Altogether, we generated a novel autochthonous mouse model of ABC-DLBCL, which could be used as a preclinical platform for the development and validation of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of ABC-DLBCL

Variations in Denitrification and Ventilation Within the Arabian Sea Oxygen Minimum Zone During the Holocene

The continental slope of India is exposed to an intense perennial oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) supporting pelagic denitrification. Sediments that are presently in contact with the lower boundary of the denitrification zone indicate marked changes in the intermediate and bottom waters ventilation of OMZ during the past 9,500 years. The δ15N of sediment suggests that the OMZ waters were less ventilated during the early Holocene (between 9.5 and 8.5 ka BP) resulting in intensified denitrifying conditions with an average δ15N value of 7.8‰, while at the same time stable Mo isotope composition (average δ98Mo of -0.02‰) indicates that the bottom waters that were in contact with the sediments were better oxygenated. By the mid-Holocene OMZ became more oxygenated suppressing denitrification (average δ15N of 6.2‰), while bottom waters gradually became less oxygenated (average δ98Mo of 1.7‰). The mid-Holocene reduction in denitrification coincided with a global decrease in atmospheric N2O as inferred from ice core records, which is consistent with a decreased contribution from the Arabian Sea. Since ~5.5 ka BP OMZ waters have again been undergoing progressive deoxygenation accompanied by increasing denitrification

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Atmospheric and Surface Processes, and Feedback Mechanisms Determining Arctic Amplification: A Review of First Results and Prospects of the (AC)3 Project

Mechanisms behind the phenomenon of Arctic amplification are widely discussed. To contribute to this debate, the (AC)3 project has been established in 2016. It comprises modeling and data analysis efforts as well as observational elements. The project has assembled a wealth of ground-based, airborne, ship-borne, and satellite data of physical, chemical, and meteorological properties of the Arctic atmosphere, cryosphere, and upper ocean that are available for the Arctic climate research community. Short-term changes and indications of long-term trends in Arctic climate parameters have been detected using existing and new data

Standard Model Physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

The successful operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the excellent performance of the ATLAS, CMS, LHCb and ALICE detectors in Run-1 and Run-2 with $pp$ collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV as well as the giant leap in precision calculations and modeling of fundamental interactions at hadron colliders have allowed an extraordinary breadth of physics studies including precision measurements of a variety physics processes. The LHC results have so far confirmed the validity of the Standard Model of particle physics up to unprecedented energy scales and with great precision in the sectors of strong and electroweak interactions as well as flavour physics, for instance in top quark physics. The upgrade of the LHC to a High Luminosity phase (HL-LHC) at 14 TeV center-of-mass energy with 3 ab$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity will probe the Standard Model with even greater precision and will extend the sensitivity to possible anomalies in the Standard Model, thanks to a ten-fold larger data set, upgraded detectors and expected improvements in the theoretical understanding. This document summarises the physics reach of the HL-LHC in the realm of strong and electroweak interactions and top quark physics, and provides a glimpse of the potential of a possible further upgrade of the LHC to a 27 TeV $pp$ collider, the High-Energy LHC (HE-LHC), assumed to accumulate an integrated luminosity of 15 ab$^{-1}$