River catchments worldwide are heavily fragmented by anthropogenic barriers, reducing their longitudinal connectivity and contributing to the decline of migratory fish populations. Direct impacts of ...individual barriers on migratory fish are well-established, but barrier impacts on onward migration are poorly understood, despite their relevance to evidence-based, catchment-scale, management of threatened species. This study investigated the upstream spawning migration of 352 acoustic tagged river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis), translocated upstream of two key barriers (R2: n = 60 & 59; R3: n = 59 & 52) compared to a control group (R1: n = 61 & 59), across two contrasting (dry and wet, n = 180 and 172) years in the River Yorkshire Ouse, England, to reveal the impact of barriers on the onward migration of upstream migrating fish. Release further upstream increased the degree of catchment penetration, with median distance upstream of R1 56.1% and 68.6% greater for lamprey released at R2 and R3 respectively. Median delays at the two downstream-most main river barriers by the control group were 23.8 and 5.4 days (2018/19) and 9.3 and 11.4 days (2019/20). However, impacts of delay were only observed on the time to reach spawning habitat, time to reach final assumed spawning location and speed of movement in one upper catchment tributary during 2019/20 whilst they were only observed on time to reach spawning habitat during 2018/19 and on assumed spawning location distance during 2019/20 in the other. Ultimately, limited impacts of delay at barriers on onward fish migration post-passage were observed but median catchment penetration was increased with consecutive release upstream. This study demonstrated the importance of a true understanding of barrier impacts to inform catchment-wide planning, evidence vital for management worldwide. Although the findings of this study do support the use of trap and transport as a measure to remediate barrier impacts on migration, fish passage engineering improvements or barrier removal, at structures shown to be the most inhibiting to fish migration should be considered the best and most sustainable option to improve barrier passage.
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•The impact of two river barriers on onward fish migration compared to controls.•Anadromous river lamprey (n = 352) tracked in two contrasting years (dry and wet).•Translocation past downstream-most barriers increased catchment penetration.•Migration delays at downstream-most barriers increased during dry conditions.•Limited impacts of delay on onward fish migration post-passage were observed.
Here we present experimental results on laser-driven ion acceleration from relativistically transparent, overdense plasmas in the break-out afterburner (BOA) regime. Experiments were preformed at the ...Trident ultra-high contrast laser facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and at the Texas Petawatt laser facility, located in the University of Texas at Austin. It is shown that when the target becomes relativistically transparent to the laser, an epoch of dramatic acceleration of ions occurs that lasts until the electron density in the expanding target reduces to the critical density in the non-relativistic limit. For given laser parameters, the optimal target thickness yielding the highest maximum ion energy is one in which this time window for ion acceleration overlaps with the intensity peak of the laser pulse. A simple analytic model of relativistically induced transparency is presented for plasma expansion at the time-evolving sound speed, from which these times may be estimated. The maximum ion energy attainable is controlled by the finite acceleration volume and time over which the BOA acts.
The potential of particle therapy due to focused dose deposition in the Bragg peak has not yet been fully realized due to inaccuracies in range verification. The purpose of this work was to correlate ...the Bragg peak location with target structure, by overlaying the location of the Bragg peak onto a standard ultrasound image. Pulsed delivery of 50 MeV protons was accomplished by a fast chopper installed between the ion source and the cyclotron inflector. The chopper limited the train of bunches so that 2 Gy were delivered in Formula: see text. The ion pulse generated thermoacoustic pulses that were detected by a cardiac ultrasound array, which also produced a grayscale ultrasound image. A filtered backprojection algorithm focused the received signal to the Bragg peak location with perfect co-registration to the ultrasound images. Data was collected in a room temperature water bath and gelatin phantom with a cavity designed to mimic the intestine, in which gas pockets can displace the Bragg peak. Phantom experiments performed with the cavity both empty and filled with olive oil confirmed that displacement of the Bragg peak due to anatomical change could be detected. Thermoacoustic range measurements in the waterbath agreed with Monte Carlo simulation within 1.2 mm. In the phantom, thermoacoustic range estimates and first-order range estimates from CT images agreed to within 1.5 mm.
In outer space down to the altitudes routinely flown by larger aircrafts, radiation can pose serious issues for microelectronics circuits. The 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National ...Laboratory is a sector-focused cyclotron and home of the Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects Facility, where the effects of energetic particles on sensitive microelectronics are studied with the goal of designing electronic systems for the space community. This paper describes the flexibility of the facility and its capabilities for testing the bombardment of electronics by heavy ions, light ions, and neutrons. Experimental capabilities for the generation of neutron beams from deuteron breakups and radiation testing of carbon nanotube field effect transistor will be discussed.
Multimodal pain management is an integral part of enhanced recovery pathways. The most effective pain management strategies have not been determined.
The purpose of this study was to compare ...liposomal bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane block with epidural analgesia in patients undergoing colorectal surgery.
This is a single-institution, open-label randomized (1:1) trial.
This study compared liposomal bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane block with epidural analgesia in patients undergoing elective open and minimally invasive colorectal surgery in an enhanced recovery pathway.
Two hundred were enrolled. Following randomization, allocation, and follow-up, there were 92 patients with transversus abdominis plane block and 87 patients with epidural analgesia available for analysis.
The interventions comprised liposomal bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane block versus epidural analgesia.
The primary outcomes measured were numeric pain scores and the overall benefit of analgesia scores.
There were no significant differences in the Numeric Pain Scale and Overall Benefit of Analgesia Score between groups. Time trend analysis revealed that patients with transversus abdominis plane block had higher numeric pain scores on the day of surgery, but that the relationship was reversed later in the postoperative period. Opioid use was significantly less in the transversus abdominis plane block group (206.84 mg vs 98.29 mg, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in time to GI recovery, hospital length of stay, and postoperative complications. Cost was considerably more for the epidural analgesia group.
This study was conducted at a single institution.
This randomized trial shows that perioperative pain management with liposomal bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane block is as effective as epidural analgesia and is associated with less opioid use and less cost. These data and the more favorable risk profile suggest that liposomal bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane block is a viable multimodal perioperative pain management option for this patient population in an established enhanced recovery pathway.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02591407). See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/A737.
It is difficult to identify genes that predispose to prostate cancer due to late age at diagnosis, presence of phenocopies within high-risk pedigrees and genetic complexity. A genome-wide scan of ...large, high-risk pedigrees from Utah has provided evidence for linkage to a locus on chromosome 17p. We carried out positional cloning and mutation screening within the refined interval, identifying a gene, ELAC2, harboring mutations (including a frameshift and a nonconservative missense change) that segregate with prostate cancer in two pedigrees. In addition, two common missense variants in the gene are associated with the occurrence of prostate cancer. ELAC2 is a member of an uncharacterized gene family predicted to encode a metal-dependent hydrolase domain that is conserved among eukaryotes, archaebacteria and eubacteria. The gene product bears amino acid sequence similarity to two better understood protein families, namely the PSO2 (SNM1) DNA interstrand crosslink repair proteins and the 73-kD subunit of mRNA 3' end cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF73).
We present follow-up observations and analysis of the recently discovered short period low-mass eclipsing binary, SDSS J001641-000925. With an orbital period of 0.19856 days, this system has one of ...the shortest known periods for an M dwarf binary system. Medium-resolution spectroscopy and multi-band photometry for the system are presented. Markov Chain Monte Carlo modeling of the light curves and radial velocities yields estimated masses for the stars of M sub(1) = 0.54 + or - 0.07 M sub(middot in circle) and M sub(2) = 0.34 + or - 0.04 M sub(middot in circle), and radii of R sub(1) = 0.68 + or - 0.03 R sub(middot in circle) and R sub(2) = 0.58 + or - 0.03 R sub(middot in circle), respectively. This solution places both components above the critical Roche overfill limit, providing strong evidence that SDSS J001641-000925 is the first verified M-dwarf contact binary system. Within the follow-up spectroscopy we find signatures of non-solid body rotation velocities, which we interpret as evidence for mass transfer or loss within the system. In addition, our photometry samples the system over nine years, and we find strong evidence for period decay at the rate of P ~ 8 s yr super(-1). Both of these signatures raise the intriguing possibility that the system is in over-contact, and actively losing angular momentum, likely through mass loss. This places SDSS J001641-000925 as not just the first M-dwarf over-contact binary, but one of the few systems of any spectral type known to be actively undergoing coalescence. Further study of SDSS J001641-000925 is ongoing to verify the nature of the system, which may prove to be a unique astrophysical laboratory.
A dense fossil rodent database and new paleomagnetic data from the Meade Basin of southwestern Kansas document the transition from a Pliocene community characterized by cricetids of southern aspect ...and archaic arvicolids with rooted molars to a Pleistocene community with cricetids of temperate aspect and arvicolids with ever-growing molars. This new information suggests a revised date for the Blancan–Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age boundary between 2.06 and 1.95 Ma, coincident with the extinction of the
Sigmodon minor lineage and the immigration of
Microtus. Carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of paleosol carbonates indicate the faunal changes occurred during the final expansion of C
4 grasses in the Great Plains to modern abundance and a strong cooling trend reflecting the end of the early Pliocene warm interval and onset of northern hemisphere glaciation. Although extinctions balance originations through the study period, pulses of enhanced extinction and origination occurring near the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary strongly suggest environmental change as the likely forcing mechanism for rodent community compositional shifts. The Meade Basin rodent sequence provides the most complete history of any terrestrial vertebrate group in North America for this period of time.
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