This study examines the radar-indicated structures and other features of extreme rain events in the United States over a 3-yr period. A rainfall event is defined as 'extreme' when the 24-h ...precipitation total at one or more stations surpasses the 50-yr recurrence interval amount for that location. This definition yields 116 such cases from 1999 to 2001 in the area east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding Florida. Two-kilometer national composite radar reflectivity data are then used to examine the structure and evolution of each extreme rain event. Sixty-five percent of the total number of events are associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). While a wide variety of organizational structures (as indicated by radar reflectivity data) are seen among the MCS cases, two patterns of organization are observed most frequently. The first type has a line, often oriented east-west, with 'training' convective elements. It also has a region of adjoining stratiform rain that is displaced to the north of the line. The second type has a back-building or quasi-stationary area of convection that produces a region of stratiform rain downstream. Surface observations and composite analysis of Rapid Update Cycle Version 2 (RUC-2) model data reveal that training line/adjoining stratiform (TL/AS) systems typically form in a very moist, unstable environment on the cool side of a preexisting slow-moving surface boundary. On the other hand, back-building/quasi-stationary (BB) MCSs are more dependent on mesoscale and storm-scale processes, particularly lifting provided by storm-generated cold pools, than on preexisting synoptic boundaries.
Abstract
The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, forms reefs that provide critical services to the surrounding ecosystem. These reefs are at risk from climate change, in part because altered ...rainfall patterns may amplify local fluctuations in salinity, impacting oyster recruitment, survival, and growth. As in other marine organisms, warming water temperatures might interact with these changes in salinity to synergistically influence oyster physiology. In this study, we used comparative transcriptomics, measurements of physiology, and a field assessment to investigate what phenotypic changes C. virginica uses to cope with combined temperature and salinity stress in the Gulf of Mexico. Oysters from a historically low salinity site (Sister Lake, LA) were exposed to fully crossed temperature (20°C and 30°C) and salinity (25, 15, and 7 PSU) treatments. Using comparative transcriptomics on oyster gill tissue, we identified a greater number of genes that were differentially expressed (DE) in response to low salinity at warmer temperatures. Functional enrichment analysis showed low overlap between genes DE in response to thermal stress compared with hypoosmotic stress and identified enrichment for gene ontologies associated with cell adhesion, transmembrane transport, and microtubule-based process. Experiments also showed that oysters changed their physiology at elevated temperatures and lowered salinity, with significantly increased respiration rates between 20°C and 30°C. However, despite the higher energetic demands, oysters did not increase their feeding rate. To investigate transcriptional differences between populations in situ, we collected gill tissue from three locations and two time points across the Louisiana Gulf coast and used quantitative PCR to measure the expression levels of seven target genes. We found an upregulation of genes that function in osmolyte transport, oxidative stress mediation, apoptosis, and protein synthesis at our low salinity site and sampling time point. In summary, oysters altered their phenotype more in response to low salinity at higher temperatures as evidenced by a higher number of DE genes during laboratory exposure, increased respiration (higher energetic demands), and in situ differential expression by season and location. These synergistic effects of hypoosmotic stress and increased temperature suggest that climate change will exacerbate the negative effects of low salinity exposure on eastern oysters.
The effluent of 17 sewage treatment works (STW) across Norway, Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland was studied for the presence of estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), ...ethinylestradiol (EE2) and nonylphenol (NP). Treatment processes included primary and chemical treatment only, submerged aerated filter, oxidation ditch, activated sludge (AS) and combined trickling filter with activated sludge. The effluent strength ranged between 87 and 846
L/PE (population equivalent), the total hydraulic retention time (HRT) ranged between 4 and 120
h, sludge retention time (SRT) between 3 and 30
d, and water temperature ranged from 12 to 21
°C. The highest estrogen values were detected in the effluent of the STW which only used primary treatment (13
ng/L E2 and 35
ng/L E1) and on one occasion in one of the STW using the AS system (6.5
ng/L E2, 50.5
ng/L E1, but on three other occasions the concentrations in this STW were at least a factor of 6 lower). For the 16 STW employing secondary treatment E2 was only detected in the effluent of six works during the study period (average 0.7–5.7
ng/L). E1 was detected in the effluent of 13 of the same STW. The median value for E1 for the 16 STW with secondary treatment was 3.0
ng/L. EE2 was only detected in two STW (1.1, <0.8–2.8
ng/L). NP could be detected in the effluent of all 14 STW where this measurement was attempted, with a median of 0.31
μg/L and values ranging from 0.05 to 1.31
μg/L. A comparison of removal performance for E1 was carried out following prediction of the probable influent concentration. A weak but significant (
α<5%) correlation between E1 removal and HRT or SRT was observed.
The first-in-class inhibitor of ALK, c-MET and ROS1, crizotinib (Xalkori), has shown remarkable clinical efficacy in treatment of ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer. However, in neuroblastoma, ...activating mutations in the ALK kinase domain are typically refractory to crizotinib treatment, highlighting the need for more potent inhibitors. The next-generation ALK inhibitor PF-06463922 is predicted to exhibit increased affinity for ALK mutants prevalent in neuroblastoma. We examined PF-06463922 activity in ALK-driven neuroblastoma models in vitro and in vivo In vitro kinase assays and cell-based experiments examining ALK mutations of increasing potency show that PF-06463922 is an effective inhibitor of ALK with greater activity towards ALK neuroblastoma mutants. In contrast to crizotinib, single agent administration of PF-06463922 caused dramatic tumor inhibition in both subcutaneous and orthotopic xenografts as well as a mouse model of high-risk neuroblastoma driven by Th-ALK(F1174L)/MYCN Taken together, our results suggest PF-06463922 is a potent inhibitor of crizotinib-resistant ALK mutations, and highlights an important new treatment option for neuroblastoma patients.
Probing the Damage Zone at Parkfield Delorey, Andrew A.; Guyer, Robert A.; Bokelmann, Götz H. R. ...
Geophysical research letters,
16 July 2021, Letnik:
48, Številka:
13
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Rocks are heterogeneous materials that exhibit nonlinear elastic (anelastic) behavior at scales ranging from the laboratory to Earth. In the laboratory, typical, complex relationships exist between ...stress and strain that include hysteresis, finite relaxation times, strain rate, and history dependence. These behaviors are linked to important characteristics such as stress, porosity, permeability, material integrity, and material failure. We adopted a “pump‐probe” type experiment common in laboratory studies, using solid earth tides as the low‐frequency pump and empirical Green's function as the high‐frequency probe. By probing the velocity at different points in the pump cycle, we constrained important information about the strain‐modulus relationship. Near the San Andreas Fault, we observed strongly nonlinear elastic behavior that characterizes the damage zone. We also constrained important aspects of hysteretic behavior that are related to damage properties and possibly pore pressure. Away from the fault, the nonlinear behavior is diminished.
Plain Language Summary
When intact materials are slightly squeezed or stretched, the amount of the material compresses or extends is typically some multiple of the applied force. Damaged materials have internal fractures, which makes this relationship more complicated. This is because fractures can be open or closed, each contributing differently to the overall material behavior. The more internal fractures exist, the more complicated the material behavior will be. By measuring complexity in how a material deforms when a force is applied, we can learn something about how damaged it is. We apply this analysis to rocks in the subsurface using seismic waves and solid earth tides. Solid earth tides are the stretching and compressing of the Earth due to the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. As the Earth is stretched and compressed, fractures in the Earth can open and close. We use seismic waves to measure how the Earth becomes softer or stiffer as these fractures open and close. The amount of this softening or stiffening tells us something about the material damage along the San Andreas Fault, and may also tell us something about the earthquake cycle.
Key Points
The subsurface along the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, California exhibits inhomogeneous nonlinear elastic behavior
The magnitude of nonlinear response increases with decreasing distance to the San Andreas Fault
We constrain key properties of modulus‐strain hysteresis in the damage zone of the San Andreas Fault
To study the incidence of sepsis and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) costs as a function of the human milk (HM) dose received during the first 28 days post birth for very low birth weight (VLBW) ...infants.
Prospective cohort study of 175 VLBW infants. The average daily dose of HM (ADDHM) was calculated from daily nutritional data for the first 28 days post birth (ADDHM-Days 1-28). Other covariates associated with sepsis were used to create a propensity score, combining multiple risk factors into a single metric.
The mean gestational age and birth weight were 28.1 ± 2.4 weeks and 1087 ± 252 g, respectively. The mean ADDHM-Days 1-28 was 54 ± 39 ml kg(-1) day(-1) (range 0-135). Binary logistic regression analysis controlling for propensity score revealed that increasing ADDHM-Days 1-28 was associated with lower odds of sepsis (odds ratio 0.981, 95% confidence interval 0.967-0.995, P=0.008). Increasing ADDHM-Days 1-28 was associated with significantly lower NICU costs.
A dose-response relationship was demonstrated between ADDHM-Days 1-28 and a reduction in the odds of sepsis and associated NICU costs after controlling for propensity score. For every HM dose increase of 10 ml kg(-1) day(-1), the odds of sepsis decreased by 19%. NICU costs were lowest in the VLBW infants who received the highest ADDHM-Days 1-28.
Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets Butler, R. P; Wright, J. T; Marcy, G. W ...
The Astrophysical journal,
07/2006, Letnik:
646, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We present a catalog of nearby exoplanets. It contains the 172 known low-mass companions with orbits established through radial velocity and transit measurements around stars within 200 pc. We ...include five previously unpublished exoplanets orbiting the stars HD 11964, HD 66428, HD 99109, HD 107148, and HD 164922. We update orbits for 83 additional exoplanets, including many whose orbits have not been revised since their announcement, and include radial velocity time series from the Lick, Keck, and Anglo-Australian Observatory planet searches. Both these new and previously published velocities are more precise here due to improvements in our data reduction pipeline, which we applied to archival spectra. We present a brief summary of the global properties of the known exoplanets, including their distributions of orbital semimajor axis, minimum mass, and orbital eccentricity.
A high precision calibration of the nonlinearity in the energy response of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment’s antineutrino detectors is presented in detail. The energy nonlinearity originates ...from the particle-dependent light yield of the scintillator and charge-dependent electronics response. The nonlinearity model is constrained by γ calibration points from deployed and naturally occurring radioactive sources, the β spectrum from 12B decays, and a direct measurement of the electronics nonlinearity with a new flash analog-to-digital converter readout system. Less than 0.5% uncertainty in the energy nonlinearity calibration is achieved for positrons of kinetic energies greater than 1 MeV.
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