SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive) radiometer observations at ~40 km resolution are routinely assimilated into the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model to generate the 9-km SMAP Level-4 Soil ...Moisture product. This study demonstrates that adding high-resolution radar observations from Sentinel-1 to the SMAP assimilation can increase the spatio-temporal accuracy of soil moisture estimates. Radar observations were assimilated either separately from or simultaneously with radiometer observations. Assimilation impact was assessed by comparing 3-hourly, 9-km surface and root-zone soil moisture simulations with
measurements from 9-km SMAP core validation sites and sparse networks, from May 2015 to December 2016. The Sentinel-1 assimilation consistently improved surface soil moisture, whereas root-zone impacts were mostly neutral. Relatively larger improvements were obtained from SMAP assimilation. The joint assimilation of SMAP and Sentinel-1 observations performed best, demonstrating the complementary value of radar and radiometer observations.
Knee osteoarthritis patient phenotyping is relevant to developing targeted treatments and assessing the treatment efficacy of total knee arthroplasty (TKA). This study aimed to identify clusters ...among TKA candidates based on demographic and knee mechanic features during gait, and compare gait changes between clusters postoperatively. TKA patients underwent 3D gait analysis 1‐week pre (n = 134) and 1‐year post‐TKA (n = 105). Principal component analysis was applied to frontal and sagittal knee angle and moment waveforms, extracting major patterns of variability. Age, sex, body mass index, gait speed, and frontal and sagittal pre‐TKA angle and moment PC scores previously identified as relevant to TKA outcomes were standardized (mean = 0, SD = 1, 134 × 15). Multidimensional scaling and machine learning‐based hierarchical clustering were applied. Final clusters were validated by examining intercluster differences pre‐TKA and gait feature changes (PostPCscore – PrePCscore) by k‐way Χ2 and ANOVA tests. Four TKA candidate phenotypes yielded optimum clustering metrics, interpreted as higher and lower functioning clusters that were predominantly male and female. Higher functioning clusters pre‐TKA (clusters 1 and 4) had more dynamic sagittal flexion moment (p < 0.001) and frontal plane adduction moment (p < 0.001) loading/un‐loading patterns during stance. Post‐TKA, higher functioning clusters demonstrated less knee mechanic improvements during gait (flexion angle p < 0.001; flexion moment p < 0.001). TKA candidates can be characterized by four clusters, predominately separated by sex and knee joint biomechanics. Post‐TKA knee kinematics and kinetics improvements were cluster‐specific; lower functioning clusters experienced more improvement. Cluster‐based patient profiling may aid in triaging and developing OA management and surgical strategies meeting group‐level function needs.
Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in white-tailed deer (
Odocoileus virginianus) in northeastern Michigan, USA, and research suggests transmission to cattle. Prevalence of the disease in deer is ...estimated at 1.8%, but as prevalence decreases the difficulty of detection increases. Research suggests coyotes (
Canis latrans) have a higher prevalence of bTB in Michigan than deer and sampling coyotes may be a more efficient surveillance tool to detect presence or spread of the disease. Coyotes possess suitable ecological characteristics to serve as a sentinel species, assuming transmission between coyotes is not significant. The question of whether free-ranging coyotes shed
Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bTB, has not been previously addressed. We actively used coyotes as a sentinel to detect bTB in infected and uninfected counties in Michigan's Northeastern Lower Peninsula. We determined whether bTB infection was present through bacteriologic culture of lymph nodes and tissues containing lesions and cultured oral/nasal swabs and feces to establish shedding. Seventeen of 171 coyotes were
M. bovis culture positive, one of which was from a previously uninfected county. All oral, nasal secretions and feces were culture negative suggesting minimal, if any, shedding of
M. bovis. Thus, infection of coyotes is likely to occur through ingestion of infected deer carcasses and not from interaction with conspecifics. These findings support previous research suggesting that coyotes are useful sentinels for bTB. The use of coyotes as a sentinel, may allow wildlife managers to detect the spread of bTB into naïve counties. With earlier detection managers may be able to take proactive surveillance measures to detect the disease in deer and reduce the potential risk to domestic livestock and captive deer herds.
We present Mg/Ca data for Globigerina bulloides from 10 core top sites in the southwest Pacific Ocean analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICPMS). Mg/Ca values ...in G. bulloides correlate with observed ocean temperatures (7°C–19°C), and when combined with previously published data, an integrated Mg/Ca–temperature calibration for 7°C–31°C is derived where Mg/Ca (mmol/mol) = 0.955 × e0.068 × T (r2 = 0.95). Significant variability of Mg/Ca values (20%–30%) was found for the four visible chambers of G. bulloides, with the final chamber consistently recording the lowest Mg/Ca and is interpreted, in part, to reflect changes in the depth habitat with ontogeny. Incipient and variable dissolution of the thin and fragile final chamber, and outermost layer concomitantly added to all chambers, caused by different cleaning techniques prior to solution‐based ICPMS analyses, may explain the minor differences in previously published Mg/Ca–temperature calibrations for this species. If the lower Mg/Ca of the final chamber reflects changes in depth habitat, then LA‐ICPMS of the penultimate (or older) chambers will most sensitively record past changes in near‐surface ocean temperatures. Mean size‐normalized G. bulloides test weights correlate negatively with ocean temperature (T = 31.8 × e−30.5×wtN; r2 = 0.90), suggesting that in the southwest Pacific Ocean, temperature is a prominent control on shell weight in addition to carbonate ion levels.
Key Points
Core‐top Mg/Ca temperature calibrations by LA‐ICPMS are reliable
Variability in Mg/Ca values of individual foraminifera reflect other controls
Mean weight and size‐normalized weight of G. bulloides correlate with ocean temp
Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for ...new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore, the international Antarctic community came together to ‘scan the horizon’ to identify the highest priority scientific questions that researchers should aspire to answer in the next two decades and beyond. Wide consultation was a fundamental principle for the development of a collective, international view of the most important future directions in Antarctic science. From the many possibilities, the horizon scan identified 80 key scientific questions through structured debate, discussion, revision and voting. Questions were clustered into seven topics: i) Antarctic atmosphere and global connections, ii) Southern Ocean and sea ice in a warming world, iii) ice sheet and sea level, iv) the dynamic Earth, v) life on the precipice, vi) near-Earth space and beyond, and vii) human presence in Antarctica. Answering the questions identified by the horizon scan will require innovative experimental designs, novel applications of technology, invention of next-generation field and laboratory approaches, and expanded observing systems and networks. Unbiased, non-contaminating procedures will be required to retrieve the requisite air, biota, sediment, rock, ice and water samples. Sustained year-round access to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean will be essential to increase winter-time measurements. Improved models are needed that represent Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the Earth System, and provide predictions at spatial and temporal resolutions useful for decision making. A co-ordinated portfolio of cross-disciplinary science, based on new models of international collaboration, will be essential as no scientist, programme or nation can realize these aspirations alone.
Abstract Homozygous and compound heterozygous mutations in SLC34A3 , the gene encoding the sodium-dependent co-transporter NaPi-IIc, cause hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets with hypercalciuria ...(HHRH), a disorder characterized by renal phosphate-wasting resulting in hypophosphatemia, elevated 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D levels, hypercalciuria, rickets/osteomalacia, and frequently kidney stones or nephrocalcinosis. Similar albeit less severe biochemical changes are also observed in heterozygous carriers, which are furthermore indistinguishable from those encountered in idiopathic hypercalciuria (IH). We now searched for SLC34A3 mutations (exons and introns) in two previously not reported HHRH kindreds, which resulted in the identification of three novel mutations. The affected members of kindred A were compound heterozygous for two different mutations, c.1046_47del and the intronic mutation c.560+23_561-42del, while the index case in kindred B was homozygous for the nonsense SLC34A3 mutation c.1764C>G (p.Y588X). The patient in kindred C was diagnosed with IH because of bilateral medullary nephrocalcinosis, suppressed PTH levels, and hypercalciuria; she was found to have a novel heterozygous c.1571_1880del mutation. The HHRH patients in kindred A were treated for up to 7 years with oral phosphate, which led to reversal of hypophosphatemia, hypercalciuria, and prevention or healing of the mild bone abnormalities. PTH levels were normal throughout the observation period, while 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D levels remained elevated and may thus be helpful for assessing treatment efficacy and patient compliance in HHRH.
The overall accuracies of vector wind measurements from the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) are quantified by comparisons with collocated data from operational U.S. National Data Buoy Center ocean buoys. ...A vector correlation statistic is used to examine the geographical distribution of full‐mission NSCAT‐buoy differences. The dependences of the vector correlation on collocation radius and scatterometer errors such as wind speed offset and random component errors are quantified. For purposes of NSCAT validation, 30 ocean moored buoys having high full‐mission sample correlations are considered. When applied to this set of ocean buoys, a nonlinear analysis shows that the 25‐km resolution NSCAT wind speeds have unity gain, an offset of −0.3 m s−1, an rms error of 1.3 m s−1, and component standard deviations of ∼1.3 m s−1. For wind speeds greater than 6 m s−1, fewer than 3% of all collocated solutions have significant ambiguity removal errors. The rms directional difference for the remaining vectors is less than 17°. At lower wind speeds the frequency of ambiguity removal errors increases and the directional accuracy of the “correct” vectors decreases with decreasing wind speed, consistent with the assumptions of the random error model underlying the nonlinear wind speed regression approach. While the primary emphasis of this paper is on determining the quantitative accuracy of the NSCAT wind velocity measurements, the analysis techniques and interpretations have more general application to validation studies involving vector quantities.
Revealing the Winds under the Rain. Part I Hristova-Veleva, S. M.; Callahan, P. S.; Dunbar, R. S. ...
Journal of applied meteorology and climatology,
12/2013, Letnik:
52, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Scatterometer ocean surface winds have been providing very valuable information to researchers and operational weather forecasters for over 10 years. However, the scatterometer wind retrievals are ...compromised when rain is present. Merely flagging all rain-affected areas removes the most dynamic and interesting areas from the wind analysis. Fortunately, theAdvanced Earth Observing Satellite II (ADEOS-II)mission carried a radiometer the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) and a scatterometer, allowing for independent, collocated retrievals of rain. The authors developed an algorithm that uses AMSR observations to estimate the rain inside the scatterometer beam. This is the first in a series of papers that describe their approach to providing rain estimation and correction to scatterometer observations. This paper describes the retrieval algorithm and evaluates it using simulated data. Part II will present its validation when applied to AMSR observations. This passive microwave rain retrieval algorithm addresses the issues of nonuniform beam filling and hydrometeor uncertainty in a novel way by 1) using a large number of soundings to develop the retrieval database, thus accounting for the geographically varying atmospheric parameters; 2) addressing the spatial inhomogeneity of rain by developing multiple retrieval databases with different built-in inhomogeneity and rain intensity, along with a “rain indicator” to select the most appropriate database for each observed scene; 3) developing a new cloud-versus-rain partitioning that allows the use of a variety of drop size distribution assumptions to account for some of the natural variability diagnosed from the soundings; and 4) retrieving atmospheric and surface parameters just outside the rainy areas, thus providing information about the environment to help decrease the uncertainty of the rain estimates.
This study was initiated to identify signaling proteins used by the receptors for vascular endothelial cell growth factor KDR/Flk1, and Flt1. Two-hybrid cloning and immunoprecipitation from human ...umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) showed that KDR binds to and promotes the tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase Cγ (PLCγ). Neither placental growth factor, which activates Flt1, epidermal growth factor (EGF), or fibroblast growth factor (FGF) induced tyrosine phosphorylation of PLCγ, indicating that KDR is uniquely important to PLCγ activation in HUVEC. By signaling through KDR, VEGF promoted the tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase, induced activation of Akt, protein kinase Cε (PKCε), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and promoted thymidine incorporation into DNA. VEGF activates PLCγ, PKCε, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase independently of one another. MEK, PLCγ, and to a lesser extent PKC, are in the pathway through which KDR activates MAPK. PLCγ or PKC inhibitors did not affect FGF- or EGF-mediated MAPK activation. MAPK/ERK kinase inhibition diminished VEGF-, FGF-, and EGF-promoted thymidine incorporation into DNA. However, blockade of PKC diminished thymidine incorporation into DNA induced by VEGF but not FGF or EGF. Signaling through KDR/Flk1 activates signaling pathways not utilized by other mitogens to induce proliferation of HUVEC.
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