Book Notes

Matt Tomlinson In God\u27s Image: The Metaculture of Fijian Christianity 2009 Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press Reviewed by Michael A. Rynkiewich S. T. Kimbrough Jr. and Kenneth G. C. Newport, eds. The Manuscript Journal of the Reverend Charles Wesley, M.A. Vols. 1,2 2008. Nashville: Kingswood Books John R. Tyson Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley 2007 Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Reviewed by Kenneth J. Collins Brian Stanley The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910 Studies in the History of Christian Missions 2009. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Reviewed by Marcella Hoesl Geordan Hanunond and David Rainey, eds. Wesley & Methodist Studies. Volume I 2009. Manchester, UK- Didsbury Press Reviewed by Howard A. Snyde

Coupling thermodynamics and digital image models to simulate hydration and microstructure development of portland cement pastes

Equilibrium thermodynamic calculations, coupled to a kinetic model for the dissolution rates of clinker phases, have been used in recent years to predict time-dependent phase assemblages in hydrating cement pastes. We couple this approach to a 3D microstructure model to simulate microstructure development during the hydration of ordinary portland cement pastes. The combined simulation tool uses a collection of growth/dissolution rules to approximate a range of growth modes at material interfaces, including growth by weighted mean curvature and growth by random aggregation. The growth rules are formulated for each type of material interface to capture the kinds of cement paste microstructure changes that are typically observed. We make quantitative comparisons between simulated and observed microstructures for two ordinary portland cements, including bulk phase analyses and two-point correlation functions for various phases. The method is also shown to provide accurate predictions of the heats of hydration and 28 day mortar cube compressive strengths. The method is an attractive alternative to the cement hydration and microstructure model CEMHYD3D because it has a better thermodynamic and kinetic basis and because it is transferable to other cementitious material system

Surface and Uniaxial Electrical Measurements on Layered Cementitious Composites having Cylindrical and Prismatic Geometries

Electrical measurements are becoming a common method to assess the transport properties of concrete. For a saturated homogenous system, the surface resistance and the uniaxial resistance measurements provide equivalent measures of resistivity once geometry is appropriately taken into account. However, cementitious systems are not always homogenous. This article compares bulk and surface resistance measurements in cementitious materials intentionally composed of layered materials (i.e., layers with different resistivities). For this study, layered systems were composed of paste and mortar layers, representing the heterogeneity that can exist in the surface layers of field applications as a result of differences in moisture content, segregation, ionic ingress, carbonation, finishing operations, or ionic leaching. The objective of this article is to illustrate that these electrical measures can differ in layered systems (with sharp layer boundaries) and to demonstrate the impact of the surface layer properties on the estimation for the underlying material properties, for both cylindrical and prismatic specimens. Accounting for the effects of a surface layer requires a separate correction in addition to the overall specimen geometry corrections

Apportionment of primary and secondary organic aerosols in Southern California during the 2005 Study of Organic Aerosols in Riverside (SOAR-1)

Ambient sampling was conducted in Riverside, California during the 2005 Study of Organic Aerosols in Riverside to characterize the composition and sources of organic aerosol using a variety of state-of-the-art instrumentation and source apportionment techniques. The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass is estimated by elemental carbon and carbon monoxide tracer methods, water soluble organic carbon content, chemical mass balance of organic molecular markers, and positive matrix factorization of high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer data. Estimates obtained from each of these methods indicate that the organic fraction in ambient aerosol is overwhelmingly secondary in nature during a period of several weeks with moderate ozone concentrations and that SOA is the single largest component of PM1 aerosol in Riverside. Average SOA/OA contributions of 70−90% were observed during midday periods, whereas minimum SOA contributions of ~45% were observed during peak morning traffic periods. These results are contrary to previous estimates of SOA throughout the Los Angeles Basin which reported that, other than during severe photochemical smog episodes, SOA was lower than primary OA. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed

Restoration of seagrass habitat leads to rapid recovery of coastal ecosystem services

There have been increasing attempts to reverse habitat degradation through active restoration, but few largescale successes are reported to guide these efforts. Here, we report outcomes from a unique and very successful seagrass restoration project: Since 1999, over 70 million seeds of a marine angiosperm, eelgrass (Zostera marina), have been broadcast into mid-western Atlantic coastal lagoons, leading to recovery of 3612 ha of seagrass. Well-developed meadows now foster productive and diverse animal communities, sequester substantial stocks of carbon and nitrogen, and have prompted a parallel restoration for bay scallops (Argopecten irradians). Restored ecosystem services are approaching historic levels, but we also note that managers value services differently today than they did nine decades ago, emphasizing regulating in addition to provisioning services. Thus, this study serves as a blueprint for restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems to safeguard multiple benefits, including co-benefits that may emerge as management priorities over time

Micro-Scale Distribution of CA4+ in Ex vivo Human Articular Cartilage Detected with Contrast-Enhanced Micro-Computed Tomography Imaging

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CE mu CT) with cationic and anionic contrast agents reveals glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content and distribution in articular cartilage (AC). The advantage of using cationic stains (e.g., CA4+) compared to anionic stains (e.g., Hexabrix (R)), is that it distributes proportionally with GAGs, while anionic stain distribution in AC is inversely proportional to the GAG content. To date, studies using cationic stains have been conducted with sufficient resolution to study its distributions on the macro-scale, but with insufficient resolution to study its distributions on the micro-scale. Therefore, it is not known whether the cationic contrast agents accumulate in extra/pericellular matrix and if they interact with chondrocytes. The insufficient resolution has also prevented to answer the question whether CA4+ accumulation in chondrons could lead to an erroneous quantification of GAG distribution with low-resolution mu CT setups. In this study, we use high-resolution mu CT to investigate whether CA4+ accumulates in chondrocytes, and further, to determine whether it affects the low-resolution ex vivo mu CT studies of CA4+ stained human AC with varying degree of osteoarthritis. Human osteochondral samples were immersed in three different concentrations of CA4+ (3 mgI/ml, 6 mgI/ml, and 24 mgI/ml) and imaged with high-resolution mu CT at several timepoints. Different uptake diffusion profiles of CA4+ were observed between the segmented chondrons and the rest of the tissue. While the X-ray -detected CA4+ concentration in chondrons was greater than in the rest of the AC, its contribution to the uptake into the whole tissue was negligible and in line with macro-scale GAG content detected from histology. The efficient uptake of CA4+ into chondrons and surrounding territorial matrix can be explained by the micro-scale distribution of GAG content. CA4+ uptake in chondrons occurred regardless of the progression stage of osteoarthritis in the samples and the relative difference between the interterritorial matrix and segmented chondron area was less than 4%. To conclude, our results suggest that GAG quantification with CE mu CT is not affected by the chondron uptake of CA4+. This further confirms the use of CA4+ for macro-scale assessment of GAG throughout the AC, and highlight the capability of studying chondron properties in 3D at the micro scale.Peer reviewe

Family-specific, novel, deleterious germline variants provide a rich resource to identify genetic predispositions for BRCAx familial breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Genetic predisposition is the primary risk factor for familial breast cancer. For the majority of familial breast cancer, however, the genetic predispositions remain unknown. All newly identified predispositions occur rarely in disease population, and the unknown genetic predispositions are estimated to reach up to total thousands. Family unit is the basic structure of genetics. Because it is an autosomal dominant disease, individuals with a history of familial breast cancer must carry the same genetic predisposition across generations. Therefore, focusing on the cases in lineages of familial breast cancer, rather than pooled cases in disease population, is expected to provide high probability to identify the genetic predisposition for each family. METHODS: In this study, we tested genetic predispositions by analyzing the family-specific variants in familial breast cancer. Using exome sequencing, we analyzed three families and 22 probands with BRCAx (BRCA-negative) familial breast cancer. RESULTS: We observed the presence of family-specific, novel, deleterious germline variants in each family. Of the germline variants identified, many were shared between the disease-affected family members of the same family but not found in different families, which have their own specific variants. Certain variants are putative deleterious genetic predispositions damaging functionally important genes involved in DNA replication and damaging repair, tumor suppression, signal transduction, and phosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that the predispositions for many BRCAx familial breast cancer families can lie in each disease family. The application of a family-focused approach has the potential to detect many new predispositions

Regulation of expression of the rat orthologue of mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) by H2O2-induced oxidative stress in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes.

The Mdm2 ubiquitin ligase is an important regulator of p53 abundance and p53-dependent apoptosis. Mdm2 expression is frequently regulated by a p53 Mdm2 autoregulatory loop whereby p53 stimulates Mdm2 expression and hence its own degradation. Although extensively studied in cell lines, relatively little is known about Mdm2 expression in heart where oxidative stress (exacerbated during ischemia-reperfusion) is an important pro-apoptotic stimulus. We demonstrate that Mdm2 transcript and protein expression are induced by oxidative stress (0.2 mm H(2)O(2)) in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes. In other cells, constitutive Mdm2 expression is regulated by the P1 promoter (5' to exon 1), with inducible expression regulated by the P2 promoter (in intron 1). In myocytes, H(2)O(2) increased Mdm2 expression from the P2 promoter, which contains two p53-response elements (REs), one AP-1 RE, and two Ets REs. H(2)O(2) did not detectably increase expression of p53 mRNA or protein but did increase expression of several AP-1 transcription factors. H(2)O(2) increased binding of AP-1 proteins (c-Jun, JunB, JunD, c-Fos, FosB, and Fra-1) to an Mdm2 AP-1 oligodeoxynucleotide probe, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed it increased binding of c-Jun or JunB to the P2 AP-1 RE. Finally, antisense oligonucleotide-mediated reduction of H(2)O(2)-induced Mdm2 expression increased caspase 3 activation. Thus, increased Mdm2 expression is associated with transactivation at the P2 AP-1 RE (rather than the p53 or Ets REs), and Mdm2 induction potentially represents a cardioprotective response to oxidative stress

Discussions and Reviews : Theorizing about theory in international politics

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66906/2/10.1177_002200276000400405.pd