Molecular Distribution, 13C-Isotope, and Enantiomeric Compositions of Carbonaceous Chondrite Monocarboxylic Acids

The watersoluble organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites constitute a record of the synthetic reactions occurring at the birth of the solar system and those taking place during parent body alteration and may have been important for the later origins and development of life on Earth. In this present work, we have developed a novel methodology for the simultaneous analysis of the molecular distribution, compoundspecific 13C, and enantiomeric compositions of aliphatic monocarboxylic acids (MCA) extracted from the hotwater extracts of 16 carbonaceous chondrites from CM, CR, CO, CV, and CK groups. We observed high concentrations of meteoritic MCAs, with total carbon weight percentages which in some cases approached those of carbonates and insoluble organic matter. Moreover, we found that the concentration of MCAs in CR chondrites is higher than in the other meteorite groups, with acetic acid exhibiting the highest concentration in all samples. The abundance of MCAs decreased with increasing molecular weight and with increasing aqueous and/or thermal alteration experienced by the meteorite sample. The 13C isotopic values of MCAs ranged from 52 to +27, and aside from an inverse relationship between 13C value and carbon straightchain length for C3C6 MCAs in Murchison, the 13Cisotopic values did not correlate with the number of carbon atoms per molecule. We also observed racemic compositions of 2methylbutanoic acid in CM and CR chondrites. We used this novel analytical protocol and collective data to shed new light on the prebiotic origins of chondritic MCAs

Methods And Sources For Underpinning Airport Ground Movement Decision Support Systems

The airport Ground Movement problem is concerned with the allo- cation of routes to aircraft for their travel along taxiways between the runway and the stands. It is important to find high quality solutions to this problem because it has a strong influence on the capacity of an airport and upon the environmental impact. The problem is particularly challenging. It has multiple objectives (such as minimising taxi time and fuel consumption). It also has considerable uncertainty, which arises from the complex operations of an airport. It is an active and topical area of research. A barrier to scientific research in this area is the lack of publicly available realistic data and benchmark problems. The reason for this is often concerned with commercial sensitivities. We have worked with airports and service providers to address this issue, by exploring several sources of freely-available data and developing algorithms for cleaning and processing the data into a more suitable form. The result is a system to generate datasets that are realistic, and that facilitate research with the potential to improve on real-world problems, without the confidentiality and commercial licensing issues usually associated with real airport data. Case studies with several international airports demonstrate the usefulness of the datasets. The algorithms have been implemented within three tools and made freely-available for researchers. A benchmark Ground Movement problem has also been made available, with results for an existing Ground Movement algorithm. It is intended that these contributions will underpin the advance of research in this difficult application area

Irrigated agriculture and future climate change effects on groundwater recharge, northern High Plains aquifer, USA

Understanding the controls of agriculture and climate change on recharge rates is critically important to develop appropriate sustainable management plans for groundwater resources and coupled irrigated agricultural systems. In this study, several physical (total potential (ψT) time series) and chemical tracer and dating (3H, Cl−, Br−, CFCs, SF6, and 3H/3He) methods were used to quantify diffuse recharge rates beneath two rangeland sites and irrigation recharge rates beneath two irrigated corn sites along an east-west (wet-dry) transect of the northern High Plains aquifer, Platte River Basin, central Nebraska. The field-based recharge estimates and historical climate were used to calibrate site-specific Hydrus-1D models, and irrigation requirements were estimated using the Crops Simulation Model (CROPSIM). Future model simulations were driven by an ensemble of 16 global climate models and two global warming scenarios to project a 2050 climate relative to the historical baseline 1990 climate, and simulate changes in precipitation, irrigation, evapotranspiration, and diffuse and irrigation recharge rates. Although results indicate statistical differences between the historical variables at the eastern and western sites and rangeland and irrigated sites, the low warming scenario (+1.0 °C) simulations indicate no statistical differences between 2050 and 1990. However, the high warming scenarios (+2.4 °C) indicate a 25% and 15% increase in median annual evapotranspiration and irrigation demand, and decreases in future diffuse recharge by 53% and 98% and irrigation recharge by 47% and 29% at the eastern and western sites, respectively. These results indicate an important threshold between the low and high warming scenarios that if exceeded could trigger a significant bidirectional shift in 2050 hydroclimatology and recharge gradients. The bidirectional shift is that future northern High Plains temperatures will resemble present central High Plains temperatures and future recharge rates in the east will resemble present recharge rates in the western part of the northern High Plains aquifer. The reductions in recharge rates could accelerate declining water levels if irrigation demand and other management strategies are not implemented. Findings here have important implications for future management of irrigation practices and to slow groundwater depletion in this important agricultural region

Perianal Pigmented Variant of Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a low-to-intermediate grade cutaneous sarcoma with reported at 3 per 1,000,000 individuals. It is a locally aggressive tumor which originates in the dermis and invades deeper structures. Up to 90% of cases of DFSP are associated with a translocation between chromosomes 17 and 22. These tumors have a high risk of local recurrence but very rarely exhibit metastatic spread. Several histologic variants exist, including fibrosarcomatous DFSP, and in this case, pigmented DSFP. Pigmented dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, otherwise also known as a Bednar tumor, is a rare variant of DFSP first described in 1956 which accounts for less than 5% of all DSFP cases. It is distinguished by the presence of melanin containing dendritic cells within the tumor. Histologically, tumor cells are arranged in compact spindle shaped bundles. These tumors may be derived from neuroectodermal cells although no consensus has been reached. DSFP occurs equally in men and women and most commonly occurs in young to middle aged adults. These cutaneous sarcomas typically present on the trunk, back and shoulders as a slow-growing mass or plaque that may be hyperpigmented. Less that 1% present on genitalia, and only two DSFP cases to date have been reported involving the perianal region.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2019caserpt/1085/thumbnail.jp

Methods And Sources For Underpinning Airport Ground Movement Decision Support Systems

The airport Ground Movement problem is concerned with the allo- cation of routes to aircraft for their travel along taxiways between the runway and the stands. It is important to find high quality solutions to this problem because it has a strong influence on the capacity of an airport and upon the environmental impact. The problem is particularly challenging. It has multiple objectives (such as minimising taxi time and fuel consumption). It also has considerable uncertainty, which arises from the complex operations of an airport. It is an active and topical area of research. A barrier to scientific research in this area is the lack of publicly available realistic data and benchmark problems. The reason for this is often concerned with commercial sensitivities. We have worked with airports and service providers to address this issue, by exploring several sources of freely-available data and developing algorithms for cleaning and processing the data into a more suitable form. The result is a system to generate datasets that are realistic, and that facilitate research with the potential to improve on real-world problems, without the confidentiality and commercial licensing issues usually associated with real airport data. Case studies with several international airports demonstrate the usefulness of the datasets. The algorithms have been implemented within three tools and made freely-available for researchers. A benchmark Ground Movement problem has also been made available, with results for an existing Ground Movement algorithm. It is intended that these contributions will underpin the advance of research in this difficult application area

Altered sense of humor in dementia.

Sense of humor is potentially relevant to social functioning in dementias, but has been little studied in these diseases. We designed a semi-structured informant questionnaire to assess humor behavior and preferences in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD; n = 15), semantic dementia (SD; n = 7), progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA; n = 10), and Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 16) versus healthy age-matched individuals (n = 21). Altered (including frankly inappropriate) humor responses were significantly more frequent in bvFTD and SD (all patients) than PNFA or AD (around 40% of patients). All patient groups liked satirical and absurdist comedy significantly less than did healthy controls. This pattern was reported premorbidly for satirical comedy in bvFTD, PNFA, and AD. Liking for slapstick comedy did not differ between groups. Altered sense of humor is particularly salient in bvFTD and SD, but also frequent in AD and PNFA. Humor may be a sensitive probe of social cognitive impairment in dementia, with diagnostic, biomarker and social implications

The ABCD of obesity: An EASO position statement on a diagnostic term with clinical and scientific implications

Obesity is a frequent, serious, complex, relapsing, and chronic disease process that represents a major public health problem. The coining of obesity as an adiposity-based chronic disease (ABCD) is of particular relevance being in line with EASO’s proposal to improve the International Classification of Diseases ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for obesity based on three dimensions, namely etiology, degree of adiposity, and health risks. The body mass index as a unique measurement of obesity does not reflect the whole complexity of the disease. Obesity complications are mainly determined by 2 pathological processes, i.e., physical forces (fat mass disease) as well as endocrine and immune responses (sick fat disease), which are embedded in a cultural and physical context leading to a specific ABCD stage