Optical properties of cirrus clouds from satellite imagery and radiative transfer calculations

December 1987.Includes bibliographical references.Sponsored by NSF ATM-8519160

A Consumer Test of Canned Seasoned Salad Tomatoes

Consumer, Canned Tomatoes, Salad Tomatoes, Seasoned Tomatoes, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The check-up: in-person, computerized, and telephone adaptations of motivational enhancement treatment to elicit voluntary participation by the contemplator

Countless barriers come between people who are struggling with substance abuse and those charged with providing substance abuse treatment. The check-up, a form of motivational enhancement therapy, is a harm reduction intervention that offers a manner of supporting individuals by lowering specific barriers to reaching those who are untreated. The check-up was originally developed to reach problem drinkers who were neither seeking treatment nor self-initiating change. The intervention, marketed as an opportunity to take stock of one's experiences, involves an assessment and personalized feedback delivered with a counseling style termed motivational interviewing. Check-ups can be offered in care settings to individuals who, as a result of screening, manifest risk factors for specific disorders such as alcoholism. They can also be free-standing and publicized widely to the general public. This paper will discuss illustrations of in-person, computerized, in-school, and telephone applications of the free-standing type of check-up with reference to alcohol consumers, adult and adolescent marijuana smokers, and gay/bisexual males at risk for sexual transmission of HIV. The paper's major focus is to highlight how unique features of each application have the potential of reducing barriers to reaching specific at-risk populations. Also considered are key policy issues such as how check-up services can be funded, which venues are appropriate for the delivery of check-up interventions, pertinent competency criteria in evaluating staff who deliver this intervention, how marketing can be designed to reach contemplators in untreated at-risk populations, and how a check-up's success ought to be defined

Secondary Lead Poisoning in Golden Eagle and Ferruginous Hawk Chicks consuming Shot Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming

Recreational shooting of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) is a common activity at Thunder Basin National Grassland (TBNG), Wyoming. The prairie dog carcasses left in the area are scavenged by coyotes (Canis latrans), raptors, and other animals. These scavengers are susceptible to lead (Pb) poisoning if they consume Pb bullet fragments or Pb shot when scavenging the shooter-killed prairie dogs. In 2000, a local rehabilitator noted an increase of Pb poisoning cases in raptors (L.Layton, pers. comm. 3/30/01) from the area. We collected several shooter-killed prairie dog carcasses from TBNG for determining if Pb fragments remained embedded in the tissue that potentially would be consumed by raptors. Radiographs showed fragments consistent with Pb to be present. In 2002, we conducted a more in-depth study to determine if Pb poisoning was occurring in raptors at TBNG by documenting the number of raptors on prairie dogs at colonies where shooting occurred, assaying bullet fragments in shot prairie dogs to determine Pb content, and analyzing blood and feather samples of ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) nestlings and feathers from burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) for clinical signs of Pb poisoning. We observed raptors foraging at prairie dog colonies and collected data on the number of shooters shooting at prairie dog colonies. To determine if raptors preferred foraging on shot prairie dogs, we compared raptor use at prairie dog colonies where shooting occurred to raptor use at prairie dog colonies where shooting did not occur. Shooter intensity did not predict raptor use. We also collected prairie dog carcasses and examined them for Pb shot fragments. We detected metal fragments in four of ten prairie dog carcasses. The total weight of the fragments found in each carcass ranged from 10 – 146 mg. Copper was the primary metal detected in 3 of 4 carcasses; but, significant amounts of Pb (20 mg, 28 mg, and 124 mg) were found in the three carcasses. Blood Pb concentrations in ferruginous hawk nestlings were below sub-clinical levels at TBNG and the control site near Rawlins, Wyoming. Analysis of red blood cell delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity, hemoglobin levels, and protoporphyrin levels also did not indicate Pb poisoning in ferruginous hawk nestlings. Additionally, blood and feather samples from golden eagle nestlings and feather samples from burrowing owls (juveniles and adults) at TBNG did not indicate Pb poisoning. Although ferruginous hawks and golden eagles (and possibly burrowing owls) scavenge on the carcasses of shot prairie dogs and some carcasses contained Pb-bullet fragments, we did not detect Pb poisoning in any of the birds. Lead poisoning may become important if the availability of alternate food sources decreases or shooter intensity increases

Recycling Industrial Sites in Erie County: Meeting the Challenge of Brownfield Redevelopment

This is an updated version of a report originally released in May, 1994, which was prepared in cooperation with Richard M. Tobe, Erie County Commissioner of Environment and Planning. The authors were members of the Spring, 1994 Environment and Development seminar. This updated version is still in the form of a report. A fuller historical and analytical treatment of many of the issues presented here can be found in the forthcoming article, Comment, Urban Decay and the Role of Superfund: Legal Barriers to Redevelopment and the Prospects for Change, 43 BuFF.L.RBv. _ (1995), written by Julia A. Solo, one of the authors of this report. We want to acknowledge substantial contributions made to this report by earlier drafts of that article. We received many helpful comments on drafts of the original report and particularly wish to thank Barry Boyer, Peter Pitegoff, John Sheffer and Rich Tobe

In Situ Type I Oligomeric Collagen Macroencapsulation Promotes Islet Longevity and Function in Vitro and in Vivo

Widespread use of pancreatic islet transplantation for treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is currently limited by requirements for long-term immunosuppression, limited donor supply, and poor long-term engraftment and function. Upon isolation from their native microenvironment, islets undergo rapid apoptosis, which is further exacerbated by poor oxygen and nutrient supply following infusion into the portal vein. Identifying alternative strategies to restore critical microenvironmental cues, while maximizing islet health and function, is needed to advance this cellular therapy. We hypothesized that biophysical properties provided through type I oligomeric collagen macroencapsulation are important considerations when designing strategies to improve islet survival, phenotype, and function. Mouse islets were encapsulated at various Oligomer concentrations (0.5–3.0 mg/ml) or suspended in media and cultured for 14 days, after which viability, protein expression, and function were assessed. Oligomer-encapsulated islets showed a density-dependent improvement in in vitro viability, cytoarchitecture, and insulin secretion, with 3 mg/ml yielding values comparable to freshly isolated islets. For transplantation into streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice, 500 islets were mixed in Oligomer and injected subcutaneously, where rapid in situ macroencapsulation occurred, or injected with saline. Mice treated with Oligomer-encapsulated islets exhibited rapid (within 24 h) diabetes reversal and maintenance of normoglycemia for 14 (immunocompromised), 90 (syngeneic), and 40 days (allogeneic). Histological analysis showed Oligomer-islet engraftment with maintenance of islet cytoarchitecture, revascularization, and no foreign body response. Oligomer-islet macroencapsulation may provide a useful strategy for prolonging the health and function of cultured islets and has potential as a subcutaneous injectable islet transplantation strategy for treatment of T1D

SRAdb: query and use public next-generation sequencing data from within R

Abstract Background The Sequence Read Archive (SRA) is the largest public repository of sequencing data from the next generation of sequencing platforms including Illumina (Genome Analyzer, HiSeq, MiSeq, .etc), Roche 454 GS System, Applied Biosystems SOLiD System, Helicos Heliscope, PacBio RS, and others. Results SRAdb is an attempt to make queries of the metadata associated with SRA submission, study, sample, experiment and run more robust and precise, and make access to sequencing data in the SRA easier. We have parsed all the SRA metadata into a SQLite database that is routinely updated and can be easily distributed. The SRAdb R/Bioconductor package then utilizes this SQLite database for querying and accessing metadata. Full text search functionality makes querying metadata very flexible and powerful. Fastq files associated with query results can be downloaded easily for local analysis. The package also includes an interface from R to a popular genome browser, the Integrated Genomics Viewer. Conclusions SRAdb Bioconductor package provides a convenient and integrated framework to query and access SRA metadata quickly and powerfully from within R.</p