Isolation of viruses responsible for the demise of an Emiliania huxleyi bloom in the English Channel

This study used analytical flow cytometry (AFC) to monitor the abundance of phytoplankton, coccoliths, bacteria and viruses in a transect that crossed a high reflectance area in the western English Channel. The high reflectance area, observed by satellite, was caused by the demise of an Emiliania huxleyi bloom. Water samples were collected from depth profiles at four stations, one station outside and three stations inside the high reflectance area. Plots of transect data revealed very obvious differences between Station 1, outside, and Stations 2–4, inside the high reflectance area. Inside, concentrations of viruses were higher; E. huxleyi cells were lower; coccoliths were higher; bacteria were higher and virus:bacteria ratio was lower than at Station 1, outside the high reflectance area. This data can simply be interpreted as virus-induced lysis of E. huxleyi cells in the bloom causing large concentrations of coccoliths to detach, resulting in the high reflectance observed by satellite imagery. This interpretation was supported by the isolation of two viruses, EhV84 and EhV86, from the high reflectance area that lysed cultures of E. huxleyi host strain CCMP1516. Basic characterization revealed that they were lytic viruses approximately 170 nm–190 nm in diameter with an icosahedral symmetry. Taken together, transect and isolation data suggest that viruses were the major contributor to the demise of the E. huxleyi population in the high reflectance area. Close coupling between microalgae, bacteria and viruses contributed to a large organic carbon input. Consequent cycling influenced the succession of an E. huxleyi-dominated population to a more characteristic mixed summer phytoplankton community

Abnormal hemoglobins in Malta : the significance of two fetal and an adult variant

The study of human hemoglobin variants has a special place in hemoglobin research. The discovery of hemoglobin F (Malta) by Cauchi et al. (1969) and the high incidence of this hemoglobin in Maltese newborns gave us the opportunity to initiate a systematic study of a fetal hemoglobin variant. During the course of our screening of cord blood samples we have found a new fetal variant, hemoglobin F-Malta-II. We have also found that some families with Hb-F-Malta-II have a new adult hemoglobin variant, which we have called "Hemoglobin St. Luke's". We have redesignated Hb F(Malta) as Hb-F-Malta-I. The purpose of this article is to give briefly the relevance of Hb-F-Malta-I and Hb-F-Malta-II to current concepts of the genetics of the γ-chain of fetal hemoglobin (Huisman et aI., 1972), and to give a brief description of Hb St. Luke's (Bannister et al., 1972).peer-reviewe

Evaluation of simulated O-3 production efficiency during the KORUS-AQ campaign: Implications for anthropogenic NOx emissions in Korea

We examine O3 production and its sensitivity to precursor gases and boundary layer mixing in Korea by using a 3-D global chemistry transport model and extensive observations during the KORea-US cooperative Air Quality field study in Korea, which occurred in May–June 2016. During the campaign, observed aromatic species onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft, especially toluene, showed high mixing ratios of up to 10 ppbv, emphasizing the importance of aromatic chemistry in O3 production. To examine the role of VOCs and NOx in O3 chemistry, we first implement a detailed aromatic chemistry scheme in the model, which reduces the normalized mean bias of simulated O3 mixing ratios from –26% to –13%. Aromatic chemistry also increases the average net O3 production in Korea by 37%. Corrections of daytime PBL heights, which are overestimated in the model compared to lidar observations, increase the net O3 production rate by ~10%. In addition, increasing NOx emissions by 50% in the model shows best performance in reproducing O3 production characteristics, which implies that NOx emissions are underestimated in the current emissions inventory. Sensitivity tests show that a 30% decrease in anthropogenic NOx emissions in Korea increases the O3 production efficiency throughout the country, making rural regions ~2 times more efficient in producing O3 per NOx consumed. Simulated O3 levels overall decrease in the peninsula except for urban and other industrial areas, with the largest increase (~6 ppbv) in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). However, with simultaneous reductions in both NOx and VOCs emissions by 30%, O3 decreases in most of the country, including the SMA. This implies the importance of concurrent emission reductions for both NOx and VOCs in order to effectively reduce O3 levels in Korea

Making Sense of Commodity Markets: FAPRI-MU Outlook and Policy Implications

Declining prices have followed two recent price spikes in 2007/08 and 2010/11 to 2012/13 that brought an era of higher and more volatile commodity prices that is quite different from the previous years of depressed prices. Declining petroleum prices  combined with excellent global harvests brought the lowest market prices in many years. Are current policies tuned to these market conditions? We begin with a review of past policy evolution that took place in the European Union (EU) and United States (US), and then look at recent reforms and prospects for policy changes in the context of likely changes in the global market and policy environment over the next decade. Since agricultural policies generally evolve in response to internal and external pressures in a political economy context, we explore how the outlook of commodity markets may influence the directions of policies and the decision making environment for farmers

Developing an e-infrastructure for social science

We outline the aims and progress to date of the National Centre for e-Social Science e-Infrastructure project. We examine the challenges faced by the project, namely in ensuring outputs are appropriate to social scientists, managing the transition from research projects to service and embedding software and data within a wider infrastructural framework. We also provide pointers to related work where issues which have ramifications for this and similar initiatives are being addressed

Synergistic drug combinations from electronic health records and gene expression.

ObjectiveUsing electronic health records (EHRs) and biomolecular data, we sought to discover drug pairs with synergistic repurposing potential. EHRs provide real-world treatment and outcome patterns, while complementary biomolecular data, including disease-specific gene expression and drug-protein interactions, provide mechanistic understanding.MethodWe applied Group Lasso INTERaction NETwork (glinternet), an overlap group lasso penalty on a logistic regression model, with pairwise interactions to identify variables and interacting drug pairs associated with reduced 5-year mortality using EHRs of 9945 breast cancer patients. We identified differentially expressed genes from 14 case-control human breast cancer gene expression datasets and integrated them with drug-protein networks. Drugs in the network were scored according to their association with breast cancer individually or in pairs. Lastly, we determined whether synergistic drug pairs found in the EHRs were enriched among synergistic drug pairs from gene-expression data using a method similar to gene set enrichment analysis.ResultsFrom EHRs, we discovered 3 drug-class pairs associated with lower mortality: anti-inflammatories and hormone antagonists, anti-inflammatories and lipid modifiers, and lipid modifiers and obstructive airway drugs. The first 2 pairs were also enriched among pairs discovered using gene expression data and are supported by molecular interactions in drug-protein networks and preclinical and epidemiologic evidence.ConclusionsThis is a proof-of-concept study demonstrating that a combination of complementary data sources, such as EHRs and gene expression, can corroborate discoveries and provide mechanistic insight into drug synergism for repurposing

Solid malignancies among etanercept‐treated patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's): Long‐term followup of a multicenter longitudinal cohort

Objective An association between therapeutic inhibition of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and solid malignancies was observed during the Wegener's Granulomatosis Etanercept Trial (WGET), which included 180 patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (GPA). The present study was conducted to determine the malignancy risk beyond the time of exposure to study therapy. Methods The occurrence and type of solid malignancies were ascertained using a standardized data form. Data collected included vital status, histologic findings, and therapeutic interventions. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End‐Results database was used to estimate a standardized incidence rate (SIR) for solid malignancies. Results Post‐trial followup data were available for 153 patients (85% of the original cohort), with a median followup time of 43 months. Fifty percent of these patients had received etanercept. There were no differences in demographic characteristics between the etanercept and placebo groups. Thirteen new solid malignancies were detected, 8 in the etanercept group and 5 in the placebo group. Compared to the general population, the risk of solid malignancies in the etanercept group was increased (SIR 3.92 [95% confidence interval 1.69–7.72]), but was not different from the risk in the placebo group compared to the general population (SIR 2.89 [95% confidence interval 0.94–6.73]). All solid malignancies occurred in patients who had been exposed to cyclophosphamide. The overall duration of disease and a history of malignancy before trial enrollment were associated with the development of malignancy during post‐trial followup. Conclusion The incidence of solid malignancy remained increased during long‐term followup of the WGET cohort. However, this could not be attributed solely to etanercept exposure during the trial. Anti‐TNF therapy with etanercept appears to further increase the risk of malignancy observed in patients with GPA treated with cytotoxic agents and should be avoided in these patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87143/1/30394_ftp.pd