Pliocene Wood from the Gray Fossil Site

The Gray Fossil Site in northeastern Tennessee preserves materials from a 5-million-year-old ecosystem, including wood from nearby trees. This study consists of three parts: conservation of wood remains, identification of taxonomic groups represented by the fossil wood, and measuring the organic content of fossil wood from the Gray Fossil Site. When excavated, wood specimens from the site are saturated due to a high local water table. After testing seven different techniques to dry wood specimens, wrapping a specimen in string and allowing it to dry slowly was the method least likely to cause warping and cracking. Microscopic examination of wood cross sections reveal tree rings with distinct anatomical features, with implications for taxonomic identification. Tentatively identified taxa that are present at the Gray Fossil Site are similar to those present in pre-modern forests of northeastern Tennessee. Finally, loss on ignition tests indicate that the Gray Fossil Site wood lacks extensive permineralization or mineral replacement. The presence of alpha-cellulose, albeit stained with iron oxides, illustrates the potential for future stable isotope analyses

Wood Conservation at the Gray Fossil Site in Northeastern Tennessee

The Gray Fossil Site in northeastern Tennessee preserves materials from a 5-million-year-old ecosystem, including wood from nearby trees. When excavated, the wood is saturated due to a modern local high water table. Moisture in the wood prevents further dendroecological research, which would provide important, annual-scale climate information from tree rings visible in the wood. In order to analyze climate-sensitive wood variables, wood samples must be dried with minimal cracking prior to further research. To test the best method for drying wood samples, a variety of methods were studied. Cotton string, wrapped firmly around a sample, and a sandbox, comprised of a sample surrounded equally on all sides by sand within a five gallon container, were both be used to test the effects of minimizing expansion and contraction during drying. A vacuum oven, a microwave, and a refrigerator were used to monitor the rate at which the wood dries under different temperature conditions, and a control sample was dried in a fume hood as a comparison. An alcohol replacement test provided data on the rate of non-water evaporation. Drying methods were evaluated by measuring the drying speed of each sample and the degree of visible surface cracking. Of the methods tested, wrapping wood samples in cotton string at an even pressure, then allowing the sample to dry in a fume hood is the best practice for drying the wood from the Gray Fossil Site. The string resulted in the least cracking, and one of the shorter drying times without destroying the sample, as the vacuum oven and microwave tests did. This work not only provides a comparison of standard drying methods for saturated fossils of the non-wood varieties, but lays the groundwork for further studies examining the wood, tree rings, and climate at the Gray Fossil Site

Second-order rotational effects on the r-modes of neutron stars

Techniques are developed here for evaluating the r-modes of rotating neutron stars through second order in the angular velocity of the star. Second-order corrections to the frequencies and eigenfunctions for these modes are evaluated for neutron star models. The second-order eigenfunctions for these modes are determined here by solving an unusual inhomogeneous hyperbolic boundary-value problem. The numerical techniques developed to solve this unusual problem are somewhat non-standard and may well be of interest beyond the particular application here. The bulk-viscosity coupling to the r-modes, which appears first at second order, is evaluated. The bulk-viscosity timescales are found here to be longer than previous estimates for normal neutron stars, but shorter than previous estimates for strange stars. These new timescales do not substantially affect the current picture of the gravitational radiation driven instability of the r-modes either for neutron stars or for strange stars.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, revte

The postcranial skeleton of monolophosaurus jiangi (dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Xinjiang, China, and a review of Middle Jurassic Chinese theropods

The Middle Jurassic was a critical time in the evolution of theropod dinosaurs, highlighted by the origination and radiation of the large-bodied and morphologically diverse Tetanurae. Middle Jurassic tetanurans are rare but have been described from Europe, South America and China. In particular, China has yielded a number of potential basal tetanurans, but these have received little detailed treatment in the literature. Here we redescribe the postcranial skeleton of one of the most complete Chinese Middle Jurassic theropods, Monolophosaurus. Several features confirmthe tetanuran affinities of Monolophosaurus, but the possession of ‘primitive’ traits such as a double-faceted pubic peduncle of the ilium and a hood-like supracetabular crest suggest a basal position within Tetanurae. This conflicts with most published cladistic analyses that place Monolophosaurus in a more derived position within Allosauroidea.We review the Middle Jurassic record of Chinese theropods and compare Monolophosaurus to other Middle Jurassic theropods globally. These comparisons suggest that Monolophosaurus and Chuandongocoelurus formed an endemic theropod clade limited to the Middle Jurassic of Asia. Other Middle Jurassic Chinese theropods deserve further study

Gravitational wave bursts induced by r-mode spin-down of hybrid stars

We show that sudden variations in the composition and structure of an hybrid star can be triggered by its rapid spin-down, induced by r-mode instabilities. The discontinuity of this process is due to the surface tension between hadronic and quark matter and in particular to the overpressure needed to nucleate new structures of quark matter in the mixed phase. The consequent mini-collapses in the star can produce highly energetic gravitational wave bursts. The possible connection between the predictions of this model and the burst signal found by EXPLORER and NAUTILUS detectors during the year 2001 is also investigated.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, revised version, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Constraining the physics of the r-mode instability in neutron stars with X-ray and UV observations

Rapidly rotating Neutron Stars in Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) may be an interesting source of Gravitational Waves (GWs). In particular, several modes of stellar oscillation may be driven unstable by GW emission, and this can lead to a detectable signal. Here we illustrate how current X-ray and ultra-violet (UV) observations can constrain the physics of the r-mode instability. We show that the core temperatures inferred from the data would place many systems well inside the unstable region predicted by standard physical models. However, this is at odds with theoretical expectations. We discuss different mechanisms that could be at work in the stellar interior, and we show how they can modify the instability window and make it consistent with the inferred temperatures.Comment: Submitted to MNRA

Pharamcological inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B protects against atherosclerotic plaque formation in LDLR-/- mouse model of atherosclerosis

The authors wish to thank Professor Nicholas Tonks for providing the PTP1B inhibitor trodusquemine; Linda Robertson for her help with the aorta histology; Dr Fiona Grieg for tuition into aortic dissection and Dr James Hislop for critical reading of this manuscript. We also wish to thank the British Heart Foundation (PG/14/43/30889) for supporting this researchPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Mortality in Aransas-Wood Buffalo Whooping Cranes: Timing, Location, and Causes

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo Population (AWBP) of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) has experienced a population growth rate of approximately 4% for multiple decades (Butler et al., 2014a; Miller et al., 1974). Population growth for long-lived species of birds is generally highly sensitive to variation in adult mortality rates (Sæther and Bakke, 2000). A population model for endangered Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) in Japan conforms to this pattern, where growth rate is most sensitive to adult mortality (Masatomi et al., 2007). Earlier analyses observed that the AWBP growth rate increased in the mid-1950s and that this increase was likely caused by reduced annual mortality rates, even while the population experienced slightly decreasing natality (Binkley and Miller, 1988; Miller et al., 1974). A more contemporary analysis of the AWBP determined that approximately 50% of variation in annual population growth could be explained by variation in annual mortality (Butler et al., 2014a). Therefore, as a vital rate, mortality is critical to the maintained growth of the AWBP

Photothermal treatment of glioma; an in vitro study of macrophage-mediated delivery of gold nanoshells

One of the major factors that limits the treatment effectiveness for gliomas is the presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) which protects infiltrating glioma cells from the effects of anti-cancer agents. Circulating monocytes/macrophages (Ma) have a natural ability to traverse the intact and compromised BBB and loaded with anti cancer agents could be used as vectors to target tumors and surrounding tumor infiltrated tissue. Nanoshells (NS) are composed of a dielectric core (silica) coated with an ultrathin gold layer which converts absorbed near-infrared light (NIR) to heat with an extremely high efficacy and stability. We have investigated the effects of exposure to laser NIR on multicell human glioma spheroids infiltrated with empty (containing no nanoshells) or nanoshell loaded macrophages. Our results demonstrated that; (1) macrophages could efficiently take up bare or coated (PEGylated) gold NS: (2) NS loaded macrophages infiltrated into glioma spheroids to the same or, in some cases, to a greater degree than empty Ma; (3) NIR laser irradiation of spheroids incorporating NS loaded macrophages resulted in complete growth inhibition in an irradiance dependent manner, and (4) spheroids infiltrated with empty macrophages had growth curves identical to untreated control cultures. The results of this study provide proof of concept for the use of macrophages as a delivery vector of NS into gliomas for photothermal ablation and open the possibility of developing such regimens for patient treatment