Bench to bedside: A role for erythropoietin in sepsis

Sepsis is the systemic inflammatory response to infection and can result in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome with associated high mortality, morbidity and health costs. Erythropoietin is a well-established treatment for the anaemia of renal failure due to its anti-apoptotic effects on red blood cells and their precursors. The extra-haemopoietic actions of erythropoietin include vasopressor, anti-apoptotic, cytoprotective and immunomodulating actions, all of which could prove beneficial in sepsis. Attenuation of organ dysfunction has been shown in several animal models and its vasopressor effects have been well characterised in laboratory and clinical settings. Clinical trials of erythropoietin in single organ disorders have suggested promising cytoprotective effects, and while no randomised trials have been performed in patients with sepsis, good quality data exist from studies on anaemia in critically ill patients, giving useful information of its pharmacokinetics and potential for harm. An observational cohort study examining the microvascular effects of erythropoietin is underway and the evidence would support further phase II and III clinical trials examining this molecule as an adjunctive treatment in sepsis

Design analysis of levitation facility for space processing applications

Containerless processing facilities for the space laboratory and space shuttle are defined. Materials process examples representative of the most severe requirements for the facility in terms of electrical power, radio frequency equipment, and the use of an auxiliary electron beam heater were used to discuss matters having the greatest effect upon the space shuttle pallet payload interfaces and envelopes. Improved weight, volume, and efficiency estimates for the RF generating equipment were derived. Results are particularly significant because of the reduced requirements for heat rejection from electrical equipment, one of the principal envelope problems for shuttle pallet payloads. It is shown that although experiments on containerless melting of high temperature refractory materials make it desirable to consider the highest peak powers which can be made available on the pallet, total energy requirements are kept relatively low by the very fast processing times typical of containerless experiments and allows consideration of heat rejection capabilities lower than peak power demand if energy storage in system heat capacitances is considered. Batteries are considered to avoid a requirement for fuel cells capable of furnishing this brief peak power demand

Quantifying microcracks on fractured bone surfaces – Potential use in forensic anthropology

Bone fracture surface morphology (FSM) can provide valuable information on the cause of failure in forensic and archaeological applications and it depends primarily on three factors, the loading conditions (like strain rate), the ambient conditions (wet or dry bone material) and the quality of bone material itself. The quality of bone material evidently changes in taphonomy as a result of the decomposition process and that in turn is expected to affect FSM. Porcine bones were fractured by a standardised impact during the course of soft tissue decomposition, at 28-day intervals, over 140 days (equivalent to 638 cooling degree days). Measurements of the associated microcracks on the fractured cortical bone surfaces indicated a progressive increase in mean length during decomposition from around 180 μm–375 μm. The morphology of these microcracks also altered, from multiple intersecting microcracks emanating from a central point at 0–28 cumulative cooling degree days, to longer linear cracks appearing to track lamellae as soft tissue decomposition progressed. The implications of these findings are that taphonomic changes of bone may offer the real possibility of distinguishing perimortem and taphonomic damage and also provide a new surrogate parameter for estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI) in forensics

Simultaneous analysis of the elastic scattering and breakup channel for the reaction 11Li + 208Pb at energies near the Coulomb barrier

We present a detailed analysis of the elastic scattering and breakup channel for the reaction of 11Li on 208Pb at incident laboratory energies of 24.3 and 29.8 MeV, measured at the radioactive ion beam facility of TRIUMF, in Vancouver, Canada. A large yield of 9Li fragments was detected by four charged particle telescopes in a wide angular range. The experimental angular and energy distributions of these 9Li fragments have been compared to coupled-reaction-channel and continuum-discretized coupled-channel calculations. The large production of 9Li fragments at small angles can be explained by considering a direct breakup mechanism, while at medium-large angles a competition between direct breakup and neutron transfer to the continuum of the 208Pb target was observed

Measurement of the 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section in the burning energy region for X-ray bursts

The 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction provides one of the main HCNO-breakout routes into the rp-process in X-ray bursts. The 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section has been determined for the first time in the Gamow energy region for peak temperatures T=2GK by measuring its time-reversal reaction 21Na(p,a)18Ne in inverse kinematics. The astrophysical rate for ground-state to ground-state transitions was found to be a factor of 2 lower than Hauser-Feshbach theoretical predictions. Our reduced rate will affect the physical conditions under which breakout from the HCNO cycles occurs via the 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication on Physical Review Letter

Cancer stem cells in melanoma

The identification of cancer stem cells in various malignancies led to the hypothesis that these cells have the exclusive ability of self-renewal, contribute to the plasticity of the tumours and may be the cause for ineffective cancer therapies. Several markers of melanoma stem cells have been described in recent studies including CD133, CD166, Nestin and BMI-1. Further studies are necessary to identify, better define and understand the origin and function of cancer stem cells. If confirmed that cancer stem cells play an important role in malignancy, therapeutic strategies may need to be redirected towards these cells to circumvent the failure of conventional therapies

Beta-delayed deuteron emission from 11Li: decay of the halo

The deuteron-emission channel in the beta-decay of the halo-nucleus 11Li was measured at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF by implanting post-accelerated 11Li ions into a segmented silicon detector. The events of interest were identified by correlating the decays of 11Li with those of the daughter nuclei. This method allowed the energy spectrum of the emitted deuterons to be extracted, free from contributions from other channels, and a precise value for the branching ratio B_d = 1.30(13) x 10-4 to be deduced for E(c.m.) > 200 keV. The results provide the first unambiguous experimental evidence that the decay takes place essentially in the halo of 11Li, and that it proceeds mainly to the 9Li + d continuum, opening up a new means to study of the halo wave function of 11Li.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Final State Interactions and CP Violation in KL→π+π−e+e−K_L \to \pi^+ \pi^- e^+ e^-

Using chiral perturbation theory we calculate the imaginary parts of the $K_L \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^- e^+ e^-$ form factors that arise from $\pi \pi \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^-$ and $\pi \pi \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma^*$ rescattering. We discuss their influence on CP violating variables in $K_L \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^- e^+ e^-$.Comment: ; 12 pages, 2 figures, TeX format; uses epsf.tex, tables.tex, and phyzzx.te

Simulated Spectra for Autonomous Arctic Infrared Observer

Polar regions are characterized by their remoteness, making measurements challenging, but an improved knowledge of clouds and radiation is necessary to understand polar climate change. Infrared radiance spectrometers can operate continuously from the surface and have low power requirements relative to active sensors. Here we explore the feasibility of retrieving cloud height with an infrared spectrometer that would be designed for use in remote polar locations. Using a wide variety of simulated spectra of mixed-phase polar clouds at varying instrument resolutions, retrieval accuracy is explored using the CO2 slicing/sorting and the minimum local emissivity variance (MLEV) methods. In the absence of imposed errors and for clouds with optical depths greater than  ∼  0.3, cloud-height retrievals from simulated spectra using CO2 slicing/sorting and MLEV are found to have roughly equivalent high accuracies: at an instrument resolution of 0.5 cm−1, mean biases are found to be  ∼  0.2 km for clouds with bases below 2 and −0.2 km for higher clouds. Accuracy is found to decrease with coarsening resolution and become worse overall for MLEV than for CO2 slicing/sorting; however, the two methods have differing sensitivity to different sources of error, suggesting an approach that combines them. For expected errors in the atmospheric state as well as both instrument noise and bias of 0.2 mW/(m2 sr cm−1), at a resolution of 4 cm−1, average retrieval errors are found to be less than  ∼  0.5 km for cloud bases within 1 km of the surface, increasing to  ∼  1.5 km at 4 km. This sensitivity indicates that a portable, surface-based infrared radiance spectrometer could provide an important complement in remote locations to satellite-based measurements, for which retrievals of low-level cloud are challenging

Beyond a warming fingerprint: individualistic biogeographic responses to heterogeneous climate change in California.

Understanding recent biogeographic responses to climate change is fundamental for improving our predictions of likely future responses and guiding conservation planning at both local and global scales. Studies of observed biogeographic responses to 20th century climate change have principally examined effects related to ubiquitous increases in temperature - collectively termed a warming fingerprint. Although the importance of changes in other aspects of climate - particularly precipitation and water availability - is widely acknowledged from a theoretical standpoint and supported by paleontological evidence, we lack a practical understanding of how these changes interact with temperature to drive biogeographic responses. Further complicating matters, differences in life history and ecological attributes may lead species to respond differently to the same changes in climate. Here, we examine whether recent biogeographic patterns across California are consistent with a warming fingerprint. We describe how various components of climate have changed regionally in California during the 20th century and review empirical evidence of biogeographic responses to these changes, particularly elevational range shifts. Many responses to climate change do not appear to be consistent with a warming fingerprint, with downslope shifts in elevation being as common as upslope shifts across a number of taxa and many demographic and community responses being inconsistent with upslope shifts. We identify a number of potential direct and indirect mechanisms for these responses, including the influence of aspects of climate change other than temperature (e.g., the shifting seasonal balance of energy and water availability), differences in each taxon's sensitivity to climate change, trophic interactions, and land-use change. Finally, we highlight the need to move beyond a warming fingerprint in studies of biogeographic responses by considering a more multifaceted view of climate, emphasizing local-scale effects, and including a priori knowledge of relevant natural history for the taxa and regions under study