Measurement of Planetary Boundary Layer Winds with Scanning Doppler Lidar

The accurate measurement of wind profiles in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is important not only for numerical weather prediction, but also for air quality modeling. Two wind retrieval methods using scanning Doppler light detection and ranging (lidar) measurements were compared and validated with simultaneous radiosonde soundings. A comparison with 17 radiosonde sounding profiles showed that the sine-fitting method was able to retrieve a larger number of data points, but the singular value decomposition method showed significantly smaller bias (0.57 m s(-1)) and root-mean-square error (1.75 m s(-1)) with radiosonde soundings. Increasing the averaging time interval of radial velocity for obtaining velocity azimuth display scans to 15 min resulted in better agreement with radiosonde soundings due to the signal averaging effect on noise. Simultaneous measurements from collocated wind Doppler lidar and aerosol Mie-scattering lidar revealed the temporal evolution of PBL winds and the vertical distribution of aerosols within the PBL

SPIN90 Knockdown Attenuates the Formation and Movement of Endosomal Vesicles in the Early Stages of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Endocytosis

The finding that SPIN90 colocalizes with epidermal growth factor (EGF) in EEA1-positive endosomes prompted us to investigate the role of SPIN90 in endocytosis of the EGF receptor (EGFR). In the present study, we demonstrated that SPIN90 participates in the early stages of endocytosis, including vesicle formation and trafficking. Stable HeLa cells with knockdown of SPIN90 displayed significantly higher levels of surface EGFR than control cells. Analysis of the abundance and cellular distribution of EGFR via electron microscopy revealed that SPIN90 knockdown cells contain residual EGFR at cell membranes and fewer EGFR-containing endosomes, both features that reflect reduced endosome formation. The delayed early endosomal targeting capacity of SPIN90 knockdown cells led to increased EGFR stability, consistent with the observed accumulation of EGFR at the membrane. Small endosome sizes and reduced endosome formation in SPIN90 knockdown cells, observed using fluorescent confocal microscopy, strongly supported the involvement of SPIN90 in endocytosis of EGFR. Overexpression of SPIN90 variants, particularly the SH3, PRD, and CC (positions 643 - 722) domains, resulted in aberrant morphology of Rab5-positive endosomes (detected as small spots located near the cell membrane) and defects in endosomal movement. These findings clearly suggest that SPIN90 participates in the formation and movement of endosomes. Consistent with this, SPIN90 knockdown enhanced cell proliferation. The delay in EGFR endocytosis effectively increased the levels of endosomal EGFR, which triggered activation of ERK1/2 and cell proliferation via upregulation of cyclin D1. Collectively, our findings suggest that SPIN90 contributes to the formation and movement of endosomal vesicles, and modulates the stability of EGFR protein, which affects cell cycle progression via regulation of the activities of downstream proteins, such as ERK1/2, after EGF stimulation

Fiber Type Specific Presence of GIutathione Transferase Isoenzymes in the Rat SkeIetaI Musele Tissue

Glutathione transferases (GST) are a group of enzymes, majorly responsible for biochemical detoxification by conjugating glutathione to a set of hydrophobic ligands. The tissue isoenzyme pattern of the enzymes has been well illustrated with their significance of histological localization. But in the cases of muscle tissue, the GST isoenzyme pattern has not yet been clearly studied. In the present experiment, we have carried out an immunohistochemical analysis on the distribution of GST isoenzymes using anti GST-P and anti GST-L antibodies on cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle tissues. The results showed that the intestinal smooth muscle and cardiac muscles are very weakly immunostained for both anti GST-L and P antibodies. In contrast, major bundles of skeletal muscles were positively responsive to GST-L antibody. Therefore, we compared the expression of GST-L in the muscle tissues of the soleus and plantaris, which were composed dominantly of type I fiber and type II fiber, respectively. The data indicated that only type II fibers in the plantaris muscle tissue were positive to GST-L antibody, which was confirmed by specific ATPase staining. And the soleus muscle, consisting mainly of type I fibers, contains a higher amount of GST-P isoenzyme than the plantaris muscle. Therefore, it can be suggested that the expression of GST isoenzyme can be used as a type-specific marker for the type II fiber of skeletal muscles. And moreover, the differential pattern of GST isoenzymes in those muscle tissues according to fiber types may contribute to explaining the differences in fatigue-sensitivity of muscles to exercise

Adaptor Protein 2 (Ap-2) Complex is Essential for Functional Axogenesis in Hippocampal Neurons

The complexity and diversity of a neural network requires regulated elongation and branching of axons, as well as the formation of synapses between neurons. In the present study we explore the role of AP-2, a key endocytic adaptor protein complex, in the development of rat hippocampal neurons. We found that the loss of AP-2 during the early stage of development resulted in impaired axon extension and failed maturation of the axon initial segment (AIS). Normally the AIS performs two tasks in concert, stabilizing neural polarity and generating action potentials. In AP-2 silenced axons polarity is established, however there is a failure to establish action potential firing. Consequently, this impairs activity-driven Ca2+ influx and exocytosis at nerve terminals. In contrast, removal of AP-2 from older neurons does not impair axonal growth or signaling and synaptic function. Our data reveal that AP-2 has important roles in functional axogenesis by proper extension of axon as well as the formation of AIS during the early step of neurodevelopment

Could Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Test be Useful in Predicting Inhaled Corticosteroid Responsiveness in Chronic Cough? A Systematic Review

© 2016 Background Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) is a safe and convenient test for assessing T H 2 airway inflammation, which is potentially useful in the management of patients with chronic cough. Objective To summarize the current evidence on the diagnostic usefulness of FENO for predicting inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) responsiveness in patients with chronic cough. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted to identify articles published in peer-reviewed journals up to February 2015, without language restriction. We included studies that reported the usefulness of FENO (index test) for predicting ICS responsiveness (reference standard) in patients with chronic cough (target condition). The data were extracted to construct a 2 × 2 accuracy table. Study quality was assessed with Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2. Results We identified 5 original studies (2 prospective and 3 retrospective studies). We identified considerable heterogeneities in study design and outcome definitions, and thus were unable to perform a meta-analysis. The proportion of ICS responders ranged from 44% to 59%. Sensitivity and specificity ranged from 53% to 90%, and from 63% to 97%, respectively. The reported area under the curve ranged from abou t 0.60 to 0.87; however, studies with a prospective design and a lower prevalence of asthma had lower area under the curve values. None measured placebo effects or objective cough frequency. Conclusions We did not find strong evidence to support the use of FENO tests for predicting ICS responsiveness in chronic cough. Further studies need to have a randomized, placebo-controlled design, and should use validated measurement tools for cough. Standardization would facilitate the development of clinical evidence

The MR imaging diagnosis of liver diseases using gadoxetic acid: Emphasis on hepatobiliary phase

Hepatocyte specific contrast agents including gadoxetic acid and gadobenate dimeglumine are very useful to diagnose various benign and malignant focal hepatic lesions and even helpful to estimate hepatic functional reservoir. The far delayed phase image referred to as the hepatobiliary phase makes the sensitivity of detection for malignant focal hepatic lesions increased, but specificity of malignant diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma, metastasis and cholangiocarcinoma, characterization remained to be undetermined

Iron-Fur complex suppresses the expression of components of the cyclo-(Phe-Pro)-signaling regulatory pathway in Vibrio vulnificus

In the human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus, the quorum-sensing (QS) signal molecule cyclo-(L-phenylalanine-L-proline) (cFP) plays a critical role in triggering a signaling pathway involving the components LeuO-vHUαβ-RpoS-KatG via the membrane signal receptor ToxR. In this study, we investigated the impact of iron on the expression of these signaling components. We found that the transcription of the membrane sensor protein ToxR was not significantly affected by Fur-iron. However, Fur-iron repressed the transcription of genes encoding all the downstream cytoplasmic components in this pathway by binding to the upstream regions of these genes. Consequently, the expression of genes regulated by the alternative sigma factor RpoS, as well as the resistance to hydrogen peroxide conferred by KatG, were repressed. Additionally, we observed that in Vibrio cholerae, genes dependent on ToxR showed higher expression levels in a fur-deletion mutant compared to the wild type. These findings indicate that iron, in association with Fur, represses virtually all the cytoplasmic components responsible for the ToxR-dependent cFP-signaling pathways in these two pathogenic Vibrio species. This study, along with our previous reports demonstrating the repression of components involved in AI-2 dependent QS signaling by Fur-iron, highlights the crucial role of iron in quorum-sensing regulation, which is closely associated with the pathogenicity of this human pathogen

Spatio-Temporal Variability of Aerosol Optical Depth, Total Ozone and NO(2)Over East Asia: Strategy for the Validation to the GEMS Scientific Products

In this study, the spatio-temporal variability of aerosol optical depth (AOD), total column ozone (TCO), and total column NO2(TCN) was identified over East Asia using long-term datasets from ground-based and satellite observations. Based on the statistical results, optimized spatio-temporal ranges for the validation study were determined with respect to the target materials. To determine both spatial and temporal ranges for the validation study, we confirmed that the observed datasets can be statistically considered as the same quantity within the ranges. Based on the thresholds of R-2>0.95 (temporal) and R>0.95 (spatial), the basic ranges for spatial and temporal scales for AOD validation was within 30 km and 30 min, respectively. Furthermore, the spatial scales for AOD validation showed seasonal variation, which expanded the range to 40 km in summer and autumn. Because of the seasonal change of latitudinal gradient of the TCO, the seasonal variation of the north-south range is a considerable point. For the TCO validation, the north-south range is varied from 0.87 degrees in spring to 1.05 degrees in summer. The spatio-temporal range for TCN validation was 20 min (temporal) and 20-50 km (spatial). However, the nearest value of satellite data was used in the validation because the spatio-temporal variation of TCN is large in summer and autumn. Estimation of the spatio-temporal variability for respective pollutants may contribute to improving the validation of satellite products