Salt-marsh testate amoebae as precise and widespread indicators of sea-level change

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Salt-marsh sediments are routinely used to reconstruct sea-level changes over past millennia. These reconstructions bridge an important gap between geological and instrumental sea-level records, and provide insights into the role of atmospheric, oceanic, climatic and anthropogenic sea-level drivers, thereby improving understanding of contemporary and future sea-level changes. Salt-marsh foraminifera, diatoms and testate amoebae are three of the proxies capable of accurately reconstructing former sea level over decadal to millennial timescales. Datasets of surface assemblages are collated along elevational gradients to provide modern analogues that can be used to infer former marsh-surface elevations from fossil assemblages. Testate amoebae are the most recently developed proxy and existing studies suggest that they are at least as precise as the two other proxies. This study provides a synthesis of sea-level research using testate amoebae and collates and analyses existing surface datasets of intertidal salt-marsh testate amoebae from sites throughout the North Atlantic. We test the hypothesis that intertidal testate amoebae demonstrate cosmopolitan intertidal zonation across wide geographical areas in a way that is unique to this proxy. Testate amoebae assemblages are harmonised under a unified taxonomy and standardised into a single basin-wide training set suitable for reconstructing sea-level changes from salt-marsh sediments across the North Atlantic. Transfer functions are developed using regression modelling and show comparable performance values to published local training sets of foraminifera, diatoms and testate amoebae. When used to develop recent (last 100 years) sea-level reconstructions for sites in Norway and Quebec, Canada, the testate amoebae-based transfer function demonstrated prediction uncertainties of ± 0.26 m and ± 0.10 m respectively. These uncertainties equate to 10% and 11% of the tidal ranges at each site, which is of comparable precision to other published sea-level reconstructions based on foraminifera or diatoms. There is great scope for further developing intertidal testate amoebae as precise sea-level indicators and their application should be tested at sites beyond the North Atlantic.Our work on salt-marsh testate amoebae was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant GR9/03426 to WRG and DJC) and by Plymouth University studentships (to RLB and TLN). Datasets from the Magdalen Islands were originally collected using funding from the Coastal Geoscience Research Chair at the Université du Québec à Rimouski

Infant Botulism

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66984/2/10.1177_000992289303201105.pd

Revisiting Estimates of CTL Killing Rates In Vivo

Recent experimental advances have allowed the estimation of the in vivo rates of killing of infected target cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). We present several refinements to a method applied previously to quantify killing of targets in the spleen using a dynamical model. We reanalyse data previously used to estimate killing rates of CTL specific for two epitopes of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in mice and show that, contrary to previous estimates the “killing rate” of effector CTL is approximately twice that of memory CTL. Further, our method allows the fits to be visualized, and reveals one potentially interesting discrepancy between fits and data. We discuss extensions to the basic CTL killing model to explain this discrepancy and propose experimental tests to distinguish between them

In-Vivo Visualization of Tumor Microvessel Density and Response to Anti-Angiogenic Treatment by High Resolution MRI in Mice

Purpose: Inhibition of angiogenesis has shown clinical success in patients with cancer. Thus, imaging approaches that allow for the identification of angiogenic tumors and the detection of response to anti-angiogenic treatment are of high clinical relevance. Experimental Design: We established an in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach that allows us to simultaneously image tumor microvessel density and tumor vessel size in a NSCLC model in mice. Results: Using microvessel density imaging we demonstrated an increase in microvessel density within 8 days after tumor implantation, while tumor vessel size decreased indicating a switch from macro- to microvessels during tumor growth. Moreover, we could monitor in vivo inhibition of angiogenesis induced by the angiogenesis inhibitor PTK787, resulting in a decrease of microvessel density and a slight increase in tumor vessel size. Conclusions: We present an in vivo imaging approach that allows us to monitor both tumor microvessel density and tumor vessel size in the tumor. Moreover, this approach enables us to assess, early-on, treatment effects on tumor microvessel density as well as on tumor vessel size. Thus, this imaging-based strategy of validating anti-angiogenic treatment effects ha

Large-Scale Model-Based Assessment of Deer-Vehicle Collision Risk

Ungulates, in particular the Central European roe deer Capreolus capreolus and the North American white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, are economically and ecologically important. The two species are risk factors for deer–vehicle collisions and as browsers of palatable trees have implications for forest regeneration. However, no large-scale management systems for ungulates have been implemented, mainly because of the high efforts and costs associated with attempts to estimate population sizes of free-living ungulates living in a complex landscape. Attempts to directly estimate population sizes of deer are problematic owing to poor data quality and lack of spatial representation on larger scales. We used data on 74,000 deer–vehicle collisions observed in 2006 and 2009 in Bavaria, Germany, to model the local risk of deer–vehicle collisions and to investigate the relationship between deer–vehicle collisions and both environmental conditions and browsing intensities. An innovative modelling approach for the number of deer–vehicle collisions, which allows nonlinear environment–deer relationships and assessment of spatial heterogeneity, was the basis for estimating the local risk of collisions for specific road types on the scale of Bavarian municipalities. Based on this risk model, we propose a new “deer–vehicle collision index” for deer management. We show that the risk of deer–vehicle collisions is positively correlated to browsing intensity and to harvest numbers. Overall, our results demonstrate that the number of deer–vehicle collisions can be predicted with high precision on the scale of municipalities. In the densely populated and intensively used landscapes of Central Europe and North America, a model-based risk assessment for deer–vehicle collisions provides a cost-efficient instrument for deer management on the landscape scale. The measures derived from our model provide valuable information for planning road protection and defining hunting quota. Open-source software implementing the model can be used to transfer our modelling approach to wildlife–vehicle collisions elsewhere

Exercise and manual auricular acupuncture: a pilot assessor-blind randomised controlled trial. (The acupuncture and personalised exercise programme (APEP) Trial)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence supports the use of exercise for chronic low back pain (CLBP); however, adherence is often poor due to ongoing pain. Auricular acupuncture is a form of pain relief involving the stimulation of points on the outer ear corresponding with specific body parts. It may be a useful adjunct to exercise in managing CLBP; however, there is only limited evidence to support its use with this patient group.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This study was designed to test the feasibility of an assessor-blind randomised controlled trial which assess the effects on clinical outcomes and exercise adherence of adding manual auricular acupuncture to a personalised and supervised exercise programme (PEP) for CLBP. No sample size calculation has been carried out as this study aims to identify CLBP referral rates within the catchment area of the study site. The researchers aim to recruit four cohorts of n = 20 participants to facilitate a power analysis for a future randomised controlled trial. A computer generated random allocation sequence will be prepared centrally and used to allocate participants by cohort to one of the following interventions: 1) six weeks of PEP <it>plus </it>manual auricular acupuncture; 2) six weeks of PEP alone. Both groups will also complete a further six weeks of self-paced exercise with telephone follow-up support. In addition to a baseline and exit questionnaire at the beginning and end of the study, the following outcomes will be collected at baseline, and after 7, 13 and 25 weeks: pain frequency and bothersomeness, back-specific function, objective assessment and recall of physical activity, use of analgesia, perceived self-efficacy, fear avoidance beliefs, and beliefs about the consequences of back pain. Since this is a feasibility study, significance tests will not be presented, and treatment effects will be represented by point estimates and confidence intervals. For each outcome variable, analysis of covariance will be performed on the data, conditioning on the baseline value.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The results of this study investigating the adjuvant effects of auricular acupuncture to exercise in managing CLBP will be used to inform the design of a future multi-centre randomised controlled trial.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN94142364.</p

Energy security and shifting modes of governance

The concept of energy security fits uneasily into contemporary security debates. It is neither a clearly traditional nor a fully ‘non-traditional’ security issue. There are also limits to the social constructedness of the concept. This article argues that, while it is important to identify the differing securitizations of energy, these must be contextualized within the material realities and the differing historical modes of governance of the political economy of resources. This is essential for understanding the differing meanings accorded to energy security, the shifting modes through which energy is governed, and the extent to which energy security concerns drive international politics. In this context, contemporary concerns over energy security have both material and ideological dimensions: anxiety over the dual shift of power from West to East and from resource-importing to resource-exporting countries; and concern over the normative weakening of the neo-liberal mode of energy governance

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns