Active Amplification of the Terrestrial Albedo to Mitigate Climate Change: An Exploratory Study

This study explores the potential to enhance the reflectance of solar insolation by the human settlement and grassland components of the Earth's terrestrial surface as a climate change mitigation measure. Preliminary estimates derived using a static radiative transfer model indicate that such efforts could amplify the planetary albedo enough to offset the current global annual average level of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases by as much as 30 percent or 0.76 W/m2. Terrestrial albedo amplification may thus extend, by about 25 years, the time available to advance the development and use of low-emission energy conversion technologies which ultimately remain essential to mitigate long-term climate change. However, additional study is needed to confirm the estimates reported here and to assess the economic and environmental impacts of active land-surface albedo amplification as a climate change mitigation measure.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. In press with Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, N

Cardiopulmonary assessment of patients with systemic sclerosis for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: recommendations from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Autoimmune Diseases Working Party and collaborating partners.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare disabling autoimmune disease with a similar mortality to many cancers. Two randomized controlled trials of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) for SSc have shown significant improvement in organ function, quality of life and long-term survival compared to standard therapy. However, transplant-related mortality (TRM) ranged from 3-10% in patients undergoing HSCT. In SSc, the main cause of non-transplant and TRM is cardiac related. We therefore updated the previously published guidelines for cardiac evaluation, which should be performed in dedicated centers with expertize in HSCT for SSc. The current recommendations are based on pre-transplant cardiopulmonary evaluations combining pulmonary function tests, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and invasive hemodynamic testing, initiated at Northwestern University (Chicago) and subsequently discussed and endorsed within the EBMT ADWP in 2016

Over-expression of cathepsin E and trefoil factor 1 in sessile serrated adenomas of the colorectum identified by gene expression analysis

Sessile serrated adenomas are now recognised as precursor lesions of a substantial subset of colorectal cancers arising via a so-called “serrated pathway”. However, their biological markers remain to be defined. The aim of our study was to identify differentially expressed genes in sessile serrated adenomas and conventional adenomas. Gene expression analysis demonstrated molecular differences between polyp types. Further studies using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction on cathepsin E (CTSE) demonstrated a significantly (p < 0.05) higher expression in sessile serrated adenomas as compared to hyperplastic polyp and tubular adenomas. Trefoil Factor 1 showed the same trend of expression for sessile serrated adenomas as compared to hyperplastic polyps and was significantly higher in both polyps compared to tubular adenomas. Immunohistochemistry for both proteins demonstrated strong cytoplasmic staining of abnormal crypts in all sessile serrated adenomas, while staining in tubular adenomas and hyperplastic polyps was absent or weak and focal. BRAF and KRAS mutation analysis were employed to further validate polyp discrimination. The findings demonstrated the positive association of the BRAF mutation, V600E, with sessile serrated adenomas and KRAS mutations with tubular adenomas (p < 0.05). This study demonstrates the over-expression in CTSE, in particular, and TFF1 in sessile serrated adenomas compared to both hyperplastic polyps and tubular adenomas.Maria Caruso, James Moore, Gregory J. Goodall, Michelle Thomas, Stuart Phillis, Anna Tyskin, Glenice Cheetham, Nancy Lerda, Hiroyuki Takahashi and Andrew Ruszkiewic