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Arthroplasty for tenosynovial giant cell tumors.
Background and purpose - Tenosynovial giant cell tumors (t-GCTs) can behave aggressively locally and affect joint function and quality of life. The role of arthroplasty in the treatment of t-GCT is uncertain. We report the results of arthroplasty in t-GCT patients. Patients and methods - t-GCT patients (12 knee, 5 hip) received an arthroplasty between 1985 and 2015. Indication for arthroplasty, recurrences, complications, quality of life, and functional scores were evaluated after a mean follow-up time of 5.5 (0.2-15) years. Results - 2 patients had recurrent disease. 2 other patients had implant loosening. Functional scores showed poor results in almost half of the knee patients. 4 of the hip patients scored excellent and 1 scored fair. Quality of life was reduced in 1 or more subscales for 2 hip patients and for 5 knee patients. Interpretation - In t-GCT patients with extensive disease or osteoarthritis, joint arthroplasty is an additional treatment option. However, recurrences, implant loosening, and other complications do occur, even after several years.
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pubmed_arxiv
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NASA's Dawn project team recently earned two prestigious awards, honoring its successful mission to giant asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.On March 8, the Dawn project team was chosen to receive the prestigious National Aeronautic Association Robert J. Collier Trophy. This award is presented annually "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year." Established in 1911, the 8-foot tall trophy resides at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington and is engraved with the names of recipients. Dawn competed with a field of nine finalists to win this year's award. The award will be presented on June 9.Previous Collier Trophy recipients involving JPL missions include the teams from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (2012) and Voyager (1980)."We are grateful for this tremendous honor, recognizing the hard work, determination and unwavering commitment of this team to achieve mission success and advance the spirit of exploration," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.On March 11, the Dawn project team was honored with the National Space Club and Foundation's Nelson P. Jackson Award, presented annually for "a significant contribution to the missile, aircraft or space field." The Dawn team accepted the award at the organization's 59th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington."Dawn is a historic mission: The first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets and the first to encounter a dwarf planet. The Dawn team excelled at these challenges, and our legacy of spectacular scientific data and strong public engagement has been exhilarating. We are truly honored to receive these recognitions," said Christopher Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles.The spacecraft is currently exploring Ceres in its low-altitude mapping orbit, at an altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers).Dawn's mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington."The technical achievements of the Dawn mission have provided the scientific community with global datasets of two large bodies in the main asteroid belt, said Dawn Program Scientist Michael Kelley. "Unlike most objects in this region of the solar system, Vesta and Ceres are intact, which means that the spatial relationships of their surface features and internal layers are preserved. The unique datasets for these objects obtained by the Dawn mission provide a valuable look back to the earliest part of solar system history."Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For a complete list of mission participants, visit:http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/missionMore information about Dawn is available at the following sites:http://dawn.jpl.nasa.govhttp://www.nasa.gov/dawn
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nasa_news
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WASHINGTON -- Building on the success of Curiosity's Red Planet landing, NASA has announced plans for a robust multi-year Mars program, including a new robotic science rover set to launch in 2020. This announcement affirms the agency's commitment to a bold exploration program that meets our nation's scientific and human exploration objectives."The Obama administration is committed to a robust Mars exploration program," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s."The planned portfolio includes the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers; two NASA spacecraft and contributions to one European spacecraft currently orbiting Mars; the 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere; the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars; and participation in ESA's 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing "Electra" telecommunication radios to ESA's 2016 mission and a critical element of the premier astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.The plan to design and build a new Mars robotic science rover with a launch in 2020 comes only months after the agency announced InSight, which will launch in 2016, bringing a total of seven NASA missions operating or being planned to study and explore our Earth-like neighbor.The 2020 mission will constitute another step toward being responsive to high-priority science goals and the president's challenge of sending humans to Mars orbit in the 2030s.The future rover development and design will be based on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) architecture that successfully carried the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface this summer. This will ensure mission costs and risks are as low as possible, while still delivering a highly capable rover with a proven landing system. The mission will constitute a vital component of a broad portfolio of Mars exploration missions in development for the coming decade.The mission will advance the science priorities of the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey and responds to the findings of the Mars Program Planning Group established earlier this year to assist NASA in restructuring its Mars Exploration Program."The challenge to restructure the Mars Exploration Program has turned from the seven minutes of terror for the Curiosity landing to the start of seven years of innovation," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This mission concept fits within the current and projected Mars exploration budget, builds on the exciting discoveries of Curiosity, and takes advantage of a favorable launch opportunity."The specific payload and science instruments for the 2020 mission will be openly competed, following the Science Mission Directorate's established processes for instrument selection. This process will begin with the establishment of a science definition team that will be tasked to outline the scientific objectives for the mission.This mission fits within the five-year budget plan in the president's Fiscal Year 2013 budget request, and is contingent on future appropriations.Plans also will include opportunities for infusing new capabilities developed through investments by NASA's Space Technology Program, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and contributions from international partners.For information about NASA Mars activities, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/mars
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nasa_news
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HSV-1 ICP27 induces apoptosis by promoting Bax translocation to mitochondria through interacting with 14-3-3θ.
The subcellular localization of Bax plays a crucial role during apoptosis. In response to apoptotic stimuli, Bax translocates from the cytoplasm to the mitochondria, where it promotes the release of cytochrome c to the cytoplasm. In cells infected with HSV-1, apoptosis is triggered or blocked by diverse mechanisms. In this study, we demonstrate how HSV-1 ICP27 induces apoptosis and modulates mitochondrial membrane potential in HEK 293T cells. We found that ICP27 interacts with 14-3-3θ which sequesters Bax to the cytoplasm. In addition, ICP27 promotes the translocation of Bax to the mitochondria by inhibiting the interaction between 14-3-3θ and Bax. Our findings may provide a novel apoptotic regulatory pathway induced by ICP27 during HSV-1 infection. [BMB Reports 2017; 50(5): 257-262].
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pubmed_arxiv
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NASA is sending scientists around the world in 2016 - from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific - to delve into challenging questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.While Earth science field experiments are nothing new for NASA, the next six months will be a particularly active period with eight major new campaigns taking researchers around the world on a wide range of science investigations. The public is invited to follow this journey of exploration online through NASA's social media channels and the new Earth Expeditions web page, which will feature regular video, photos and blog posts from these missions and other ongoing field activities."Combining the long-term global view from space with detailed measurements from field experiments is a powerful way of deciphering what's happening in our world," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in Washington. "Scientists worldwide use NASA Earth science field data together with satellite data and computer models to tackle many of today's environmental challenges and advance our knowledge of how the Earth works as a complex, integrated system."NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future with a fleet of orbiting satellites and instruments. To gain a more complete picture of how and why our planet is changing, NASA also sponsors intensive field studies targeting critical science issues that can benefit from a deeper look.The first of the new projects, currently in the field, is an examination of the extent to which the oceans around Greenland are melting the edges of the ice sheet from below. The Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team is now conducting its first airborne survey of the ice edge around the entire coast of Greenland. This fall, they will return to measure coastal water temperatures by dropping sensors into the sea from a plane.Air quality is the focus of the Korea U.S.-Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign in South Korea, which begins in May. This joint study between NASA and the Republic of Korea will advance our ability to monitor air pollution from space, with coordinated observations from aircraft, ground sites, ships and satellites.Also in May, the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) takes to the sea and air for the second year to study how the world's largest plankton bloom gives rise to small organic particles that influence clouds and climate.Throughout much of this year, teams of scientists working on the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will be in the tundra and forests of Alaska and northwestern Canada investigating the role of climate in wildfires, thawing permafrost, wildlife migration habits and insect outbreaks.In June, the COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) project team will begin testing airborne and in-water instruments in Hawaii to assess the condition of threatened coral-based ecosystems. CORAL's next stop, in the fall, will be Australia's Great Barrier Reef.Three airborne research campaigns will take to the skies this summer, focusing on critical climate-related components of the atmosphere. Flying tracks over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans thousands of miles long, the team of the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission will gather measurements of more than 200 different chemical species from the ocean surface to approximately seven miles (11 kilometers) high in the atmosphere to understand how the movement and transformation of short-lived greenhouse gases, such as ozone and methane, contribute to climate change.Focusing on the skies over the eastern half of the United States, the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport - America (ACT-America) research team will track the movement of atmospheric carbon to better understand the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. Flights will originate from Louisiana, Nebraska and Virginia.The Observations of Clouds above Aerosols and their Interactions (ORACLES) study will use airborne instruments to probe the impact on climate and rainfall of the interaction between clouds over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and smoke from massive vegetation burning in southern Africa. A better understanding of how the smoke particles alter stratocumulus clouds that play a key role in regional and global surface temperatures and precipitation will help improve current climate models.KORUS-AQ and ABoVE originated from NASA's ongoing research program in the Earth Science Division. The other six new experiments are the latest in a series of multi-year NASA Earth Venture Suborbital investigations selected in 2014. Earth Venture projects provide the U.S. scientific community with regular opportunities to accommodate new Earth science research priorities. Earth Venture is part of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program managed at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.To follow all the NASA Earth Expeditions, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/earthexpeditionsor check out the NASA Earth Expeditions blog at:Earth Expeditions blog
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nasa_news
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Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, or exoplanet. A stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes."This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system -- a warm stratosphere -- also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres," said Mark Marley, study co-author based at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system."Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study WASP-121b, a type of exoplanet called a "hot Jupiter." Its mass is 1.2 times that of Jupiter, and its radius is about 1.9 times Jupiter's -- making it puffier. But while Jupiter revolves around our sun once every 12 years, WASP-121b has an orbital period of just 1.3 days. This exoplanet is so close to its star that if it got any closer, the star's gravity would start ripping it apart. It also means that the top of the planet's atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals. The WASP-121 system is estimated to be about 900 light years from Earth - a long way, but close by galactic standards.WASP-121b: The Planet With an Atmosphere of Glowing Water (4K 360° view) | At-Bristol Science CentrePrevious researchfound possible signs of a stratosphere on the exoplanet WASP-33b as well as some other hot Jupiters. The new study presents the best evidence yet because of the signature of hot water molecules that researchers observed for the first time."Theoretical models have suggested stratospheres may define a distinct class of ultra-hot planets, with important implications for their atmospheric physics and chemistry," said Tom Evans, lead author and research fellow at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. "Our observations support this picture."To study the stratosphere of WASP-121b, scientists analyzed how different molecules in the atmosphere react to particular wavelengths of light, using Hubble's capabilities for spectroscopy. Water vapor in the planet's atmosphere, for example, behaves in predictable ways in response to certain wavelengths of light, depending on the temperature of the water.Starlight is able to penetrate deep into a planet's atmosphere, where it raises the temperature of the gas there. This gas then radiates its heat into space as infrared light. However, if there is cooler water vapor at the top of the atmosphere, the water molecules will prevent certain wavelengths of this light from escaping to space. But if the water molecules at the top of the atmosphere have a higher temperature, they will glow at the same wavelengths."The emission of light from water means the temperature is increasing with height," said Tiffany Kataria, study co-author based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "We're excited to explore at what longitudes this behavior persists with upcoming Hubble observations."The phenomenon is similar to what happens with fireworks, which get their colors from chemicals emitting light. When metallic substances are heated and vaporized, their electrons move into higher energy states. Depending on the material, these electrons will emit light at specific wavelengths as they lose energy: sodium produces orange-yellow and strontium produces red in this process, for example. The water molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-121b similarly give off radiation as they lose energy, but in the form of infrared light, which the human eye is unable to detect.In Earth's stratosphere, ozone gas traps ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which raises the temperature of this layer of atmosphere. Other solar system bodies have stratospheres, too; methane is responsible for heating in the stratospheres of Jupiter and Saturn's moon Titan, for example.In solar system planets, the change in temperature within a stratosphere is typically around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 56 degrees Celsius). On WASP-121b, the temperature in the stratosphere rises by 1,000 degrees (560 degrees Celsius). Scientists do not yet know what chemicals are causing the temperature increase in WASP-121b's atmosphere. Vanadium oxide and titanium oxide are candidates, as they are commonly seen in brown dwarfs, "failed stars" that have some commonalities with exoplanets. Such compounds are expected to be present only on the hottest of hot Jupiters, as high temperatures are needed to keep them in a gaseous state."This super-hot exoplanet is going to be a benchmark for our atmospheric models, and it will be a great observational target moving into the Webb era," said Hannah Wakeford, study co-author who worked on this research while at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.For more information about Hubble, visit:https://nasa.gov/hubblehttp://hubblesite.orgFor more information about exoplanets, visit:https://exoplanets.nasa.gov
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nasa_news
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NASA will mark the worldwide observance of International Asteroid Day at 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT) Friday, June 30, with a special television program featuring the agency's Planetary Defense Coordination Office and other projects working to find and study near-Earth objects (NEOs). The program will air on NASA Television and the agency'swebsite.Viewers will learn how NASA-funded researchers find, track and characterize NEOs -- asteroids and comets that come within the vicinity of Earth's orbit and could pose an impact hazard to Earth -- and how NASA is working to get our nation prepared to respond to a potential impact threat.The program will include segments on NASA's NEO projects from multiple locations, including the agency's Headquarters in Washington and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Viewers may submit questions during the program using #AskNASA.The broadcast will be part of a 24-hour Asteroid Day program from Broadcasting Center Europe, beginning at 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. June 29 EDT, 1 a.m. June 30 GMT) and streaming online at:https://asteroidday.org/live"At NASA, every day is an asteroid day, but we value the international collaboration for a designated day to call attention to the importance of detecting and tracking hazardous asteroids," said Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson at NASA Headquarters.NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is responsible for finding, tracking and characterizing potentially hazardous asteroids and comets coming near Earth, issuing warnings about possible impacts, and assisting coordination of U.S. government response planning, should there be an actual impact threat.For more information visit:https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefenseFor asteroid news and updates, follow AsteroidWatch on Twitter:https://www.twitter.com/AsteroidWatch
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nasa_news
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Ever want to get in on the celestial feature-naming action? Now is your chance. The European Space Agency is inviting the public to suggest a name for the site where the Rosetta mission's Philae lander will touch down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12. The winner of the competition will have an opportunity to travel to the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, to follow the landing live from the mission's control center.The competition will end on Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT). The winner will be announced on Nov. 3 on the main Rosetta web page:www.esa.int/rosettaFor details of the competition and to enter, visit:http://sci.esa.int/rosetta-competition/Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives since arriving at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko earlier this month have been to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and following the landing, track the comet's changes as it sweeps past the sun.Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when our sun and its planets formed. Rosetta's lander will obtain the first images taken from a comet's surface and will provide comprehensive analysis of the comet's possible primordial composition by drilling into the surface. Rosetta also will be the first spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation. Observations will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the role comets may have played in seeding Earth with water, and perhaps even life.Rosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; National Center of Space Studies of France (CNES), Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit:http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.govMore information about Rosetta is available at:http://www.esa.int/rosetta
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nasa_news
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Lung functional development and asthma trajectories.
Early life environmental risk factors are associated with chronic respiratory morbidity in child- and adulthood. A possible mechanism for this sustained effect is their influence on early life lung functional growth and development, a susceptible phase of rapid lung growth with increased plasticity. We summarize evidence of hereditary and environmental ante-, peri-, and early postnatal factors on lung functional development, such as air pollution, tobacco exposure, nutrition, intrauterine growth retardation, prematurity, early life infections, microbiome, and allergies and their effect on lung functional trajectories. While some of the factors (e.g., prematurity) directly impair lung growth, the influence of many environmental factors is mediated through inflammatory processes (e.g., recurrent infections or oxidative stress). The timing and nature of these influences and their impact result in degrees of impaired maximal lung functional capacity in early adulthood; and they potentially impact future long-term respiratory morbidity such as chronic asthma or chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD). We discuss possibilities to prevent or modify such early abnormal lung functional growth trajectories and the need for future studies and prevention programs.
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pubmed_arxiv
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PASADENA, Calif. -- Examination of the Martian atmosphere by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover confirms that some meteorites that have dropped to Earth really are from the Red Planet.A key new measurement of the inert gas argon in Mars' atmosphere by Curiosity's laboratory provides the most definitive evidence yet of the origin of Mars meteorites while at the same time providing a way to rule out Martian origin of other meteorites.The new measurement is a high-precision count of two forms of argon -- argon-36 and argon-38 -- accomplished by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument inside the rover. These lighter and heavier forms, or isotopes, of argon exist naturally throughout the solar system. On Mars the ratio of light to heavy argon is skewed because much of that planet's original atmosphere was lost to space. The lighter form of argon was taken away more readily because it rises to the top of the atmosphere more easily and requires less energy to escape. That left the Martian atmosphere relatively enriched in the heavier isotope, argon-38.Years of past analyses by Earth-bound scientists of gas bubbles trapped inside Martian meteorites had already narrowed the Martian argon ratio to between 3.6 and 4.5 (that is 3.6 to 4.5 atoms of argon-36 to every one of argon-38). Measurements by NASA's Viking landers in the 1970s put the Martian atmospheric ratio in the range of four to seven. The new SAM direct measurement on Mars now pins down the correct argon ratio at 4.2."We really nailed it," said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, lead author of an Oct. 16 paper reporting the finding in Geophysical Research Letters. "This direct reading from Mars settles the case with all Martian meteorites."One reason scientists have been so interested in the argon ratio in Martian meteorites is that it was -- before Curiosity -- the best measure of how much atmosphere Mars has lost since the planet's wetter, warmer days billions of years ago. Figuring out the planet's atmospheric loss would enable scientists to better understand how Mars transformed from a once water-rich planet, more like our own, into today's drier, colder and less-hospitable world.Had Mars held onto all of its atmosphere and its original argon, its ratio of the gas would be the same as that of the sun and Jupiter. Those bodies have so much gravity that isotopes can't preferentially escape, so their argon ratio -- which is 5.5 -- represents that of the primordial solar system.While argon makes up only a tiny fraction of the gas lost to space from Mars, it is special because it's a noble gas. That means the gas is inert, not reacting with other elements or compounds, and therefore a more straightforward tracer of the history of the Martian atmosphere."Other isotopes measured by SAM on Curiosity also support the loss of atmosphere, but none so directly as argon," said Atreya. "Argon is the clearest signature of atmospheric loss because it's chemically inert and does not interact or exchange with the Martian surface or the interior. This was a key measurement that we wanted to carry out on SAM."The Curiosity measurements do not directly measure the current rate of atmospheric escape, but NASA's next mission to Mars, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), is designed to do so. That mission is being prepared at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch-opportunity period that begins on Nov. 18.Curiosity landed inside Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 and is investigating evidence about habitable environments there. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission and built the rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover's SAM suite of instruments was developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., with instrument contributions from Goddard, JPL and the University of Paris in France.For more information about the mission, visithttp://www.nasa.gov/mslandhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. To learn more about the SAM instrument, visit:http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/sam/index.html.You can follow Curiosity's mission on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/marscuriosityand on Twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.
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nasa_news
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Indocyanine Green Dye Filling Time for Polypoidal Lesions in Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy Affects the Visibility of the Lesions on OCT Angiography.
To elucidate the factors that affect the visibility of polypoidal lesions on OCT angiography (OCTA) based on indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) findings in eyes with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Retrospective, consecutive case series. Thirty-one eyes of 31 patients with PCV diagnosed on ICGA. We compared the numbers of polyps visible on ICGA and on OCTA. The following time points and durations were determined: first appearance of dye in the choroidal arteries, first appearance of dye within a polyp, and the time it took the dye to fill entire lesions. Then we compared visible and invisible polyps on OCTA in these respects. The visibility of polypoidal lessons on OCTA and, in relation to this, the time it took the indocyanine green dye to fill the polypoidal lesions. The total number of polyps detected on ICGA was 62, and 49 of these (79.0%) were imaged on OCTA. The time points determined were not significantly different, but elapsed time from the first appearance of the dye in the choroidal arteries to the first appearance of the dye within a polyp was significantly longer for the polyps that were not detected on OCTA than for those that were (5.15±2.30 seconds vs. 2.08±1.08 seconds; P < 0.001). The visibility of polyps on OCTA decreases when blood flow is slower as manifested by a longer choroid-to-polyp dye infusion time on ICGA.
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pubmed_arxiv
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NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory's drill."This temporary increase in methane -- sharply up and then back down -- tells us there must be some relatively localized source," said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, a member of the Curiosity rover science team. "There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock."Researchers used Curiosity's onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory a dozen times in a 20-month period to sniff methane in the atmosphere. During two of those months, in late 2013 and early 2014, four measurements averaged seven parts per billion. Before and after that, readings averaged only one-tenth that level.Curiosity also detected different Martian organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars. These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites.Organic molecules, which contain carbon and usually hydrogen, are chemical building blocks of life, although they can exist without the presence of life. Curiosity's findings from analyzing samples of atmosphere and rock powder do not reveal whether Mars has ever harbored living microbes, but the findings do shed light on a chemically active modern Mars and on favorable conditions for life on ancient Mars."We will keep working on the puzzles these findings present," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Can we learn more about the active chemistry causing such fluctuations in the amount of methane in the atmosphere? Can we choose rock targets where identifiable organics have been preserved?"Researchers worked many months to determine whether any of the organic material detected in the Cumberland sample was truly Martian. Curiosity's SAM lab detected in several samples some organic carbon compounds that were, in fact, transported from Earth inside the rover. However, extensive testing and analysis yielded confidence in the detection of Martian organics.Identifying which specific Martian organics are in the rock is complicated by the presence of perchlorate minerals in Martian rocks and soils. When heated inside SAM, the perchlorates alter the structures of the organic compounds, so the identities of the Martian organics in the rock remain uncertain."This first confirmation of organic carbon in a rock on Mars holds much promise," said Curiosity Participating Scientist Roger Summons of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "Organics are important because they can tell us about the chemical pathways by which they were formed and preserved. In turn, this is informative about Earth-Mars differences and whether or not particular environments represented by Gale Crater sedimentary rocks were more or less favorable for accumulation of organic materials. The challenge now is to find other rocks on Mount Sharp that might have different and more extensive inventories of organic compounds."Researchers also reported that Curiosity's taste of Martian water, bound into lakebed minerals in the Cumberland rock more than three billion years ago, indicates the planet lost much of its water before that lakebed formed and continued to lose large amounts after.SAM analyzed hydrogen isotopes from water molecules that had been locked inside a rock sample for billions of years and were freed when SAM heated it, yielding information about the history of Martian water. The ratio of a heavier hydrogen isotope, deuterium, to the most common hydrogen isotope can provide a signature for comparison across different stages of a planet's history."It's really interesting that our measurements from Curiosity of gases extracted from ancient rocks can tell us about loss of water from Mars," said Paul Mahaffy, SAM principal investigator of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of a report published online this week by the journal ScienceThe ratio of deuterium to hydrogen has changed because the lighter hydrogen escapes from the upper atmosphere of Mars much more readily than heavier deuterium. In order to go back in time and see how the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in Martian water changed over time, researchers can look at the ratio in water in the current atmosphere and water trapped in rocks at different times in the planet's history.Martian meteorites found on Earth also provide some information, but this record has gaps. No known Martian meteorites are even close to the same age as the rock studied on Mars, which formed about 3.9 billion to 4.6 billion years ago, according to Curiosity's measurements.The ratio that Curiosity found in the Cumberland sample is about one-half the ratio in water vapor in today's Martian atmosphere, suggesting much of the planet's water loss occurred since that rock formed. However, the measured ratio is about three times higher than the ratio in the original water supply of Mars, based on the assumption that supply had a ratio similar to that measured in Earth's oceans. This suggests much of Mars' original water was lost before the rock formed.Curiosity is one element of NASA's ongoing Mars research and preparation for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s. Caltech manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and JPL manages Curiosity rover science investigations for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The SAM investigation is led by Paul Mahaffy of Goddard. Two SAM instruments key in these discoveries are the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer, developed at Goddard, and the Tunable Laser Spectrometer, developed at JPL.The results of the Curiosity rover investigation into methane detection and the Martian organics in an ancient rock were discussed at a news briefing Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union's convention in San Francisco. The methane results are described in a paper published online this week in the journal Science by NASA scientist Chris Webster of JPL, and co-authors.A report on organics detection in the Cumberland rock by NASA scientist Caroline Freissinet, of Goddard, and co-authors, is pending publication.For copies of the new Science papers about Mars methane and water, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1cbk35XFor more information about Curiosity, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/mslandhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/Learn about NASA's Journey to Mars at:http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars/
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PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun.New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars. Voyager is in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects from our sun are still evident. A report on the analysis of this new data, an effort led by Don Gurnett and the plasma wave science team at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, is published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science."Now that we have new, key data, we believe this is mankind's historic leap into interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The Voyager team needed time to analyze those observations and make sense of them. But we can now answer the question we've all been asking -- 'Are we there yet?' Yes, we are."Voyager 1 first detected the increased pressure of interstellar space on the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles surrounding the sun that reaches far beyond the outer planets, in 2004. Scientists then ramped up their search for evidence of the spacecraft's interstellar arrival, knowing the data analysis and interpretation could take months or years.Voyager 1 does not have a working plasma sensor, so scientists needed a different way to measure the spacecraft's plasma environment to make a definitive determination of its location. A coronal mass ejection, or a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields, that erupted from the sun in March 2012 provided scientists the data they needed. When this unexpected gift from the sun eventually arrived at Voyager 1's location 13 months later, in April 2013, the plasma around the spacecraft began to vibrate like a violin string. On April 9, Voyager 1's plasma wave instrument detected the movement. The pitch of the oscillations helped scientists determine the density of the plasma. The particular oscillations meant the spacecraft was bathed in plasma more than 40 times denser than what they had encountered in the outer layer of the heliosphere. Density of this sort is to be expected in interstellar space.The plasma wave science team reviewed its data and found an earlier, fainter set of oscillations in October and November 2012. Through extrapolation of measured plasma densities from both events, the team determined Voyager 1 first entered interstellar space in August 2012."We literally jumped out of our seats when we saw these oscillations in our data -- they showed us the spacecraft was in an entirely new region, comparable to what was expected in interstellar space, and totally different than in the solar bubble," Gurnett said. "Clearly we had passed through the heliopause, which is the long-hypothesized boundary between the solar plasma and the interstellar plasma."The new plasma data suggested a timeframe consistent with abrupt, durable changes in the density of energetic particles that were first detected on Aug. 25, 2012. The Voyager team generally accepts this date as the date of interstellar arrival. The charged particle and plasma changes were what would have been expected during a crossing of the heliopause."The team's hard work to build durable spacecraft and carefully manage the Voyager spacecraft's limited resources paid off in another first for NASA and humanity," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We expect the fields and particles science instruments on Voyager will continue to send back data through at least 2020. We can't wait to see what the Voyager instruments show us next about deep space."Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Both spacecraft flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, launched before Voyager 1, is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 9.5 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from our sun.Voyager mission controllers still talk to or receive data from Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 every day, though the emitted signals are currently very dim, at about 23 watts -- the power of a refrigerator light bulb. By the time the signals get to Earth, they are a fraction of a billion-billionth of a watt. Data from Voyager 1's instruments are transmitted to Earth typically at 160 bits per second, and captured by 34- and 70-meter NASA Deep Space Network stations. Traveling at the speed of light, a signal from Voyager 1 takes about 17 hours to travel to Earth. After the data are transmitted to JPL and processed by the science teams, Voyager data are made publicly available."Voyager has boldly gone where no probe has gone before, marking one of the most significant technological achievements in the annals of the history of science, and adding a new chapter in human scientific dreams and endeavors," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "Perhaps some future deep space explorers will catch up with Voyager, our first interstellar envoy, and reflect on how this intrepid spacecraft helped enable their journey."Scientists do not know when Voyager 1 will reach the undisturbed part of interstellar space where there is no influence from our sun. They also are not certain when Voyager 2 is expected to cross into interstellar space, but they believe it is not very far behind.JPL built and operates the twin Voyager spacecraft. The Voyagers Interstellar Mission is a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. NASA's Deep Space Network, managed by JPL, is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions.The cost of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions -- including launch, mission operations and the spacecraft's nuclear batteries, which were provided by the Department of Energy -- is about $988 million through September.For a sound file of the oscillations detected by Voyager in interstellar space, animations and other information, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/voyagerandhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/interstellarvoyager/.For an image of the radio signal from Voyager 1 on Feb. 21 by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array, which links telescopes from Hawaii to St. Croix, visit:http://www.nrao.edu.
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Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase
Synonyms or Keywords: GGT; GGTP; gamma-GT; gamma-glutamyl transferase
# Overview
Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT or GGTP, or Gamma-GT) (EC 2.3.2.2) is primarily a liver enzyme.
# Function
It is involved in the transfer of amino acids across the cellular membrane. It is also involved in glutathione metabolism by transferring the glutamyl moiety to a variety of acceptor molecules including water, certain L-amino acids and peptides. Leaving the cysteine product to preserve intracellular homeostasis of oxidative stress.
# Location
GGT is found on the cell surface on all cells, with particularly high concentrations in the liver, bile ducts, and kidney.
The enzyme is also present in other tissues, such as the epididymis.
# Clinical significance
Its level in the blood may be tested for, as an elevated level may indicate an abnormality in the liver, though this can be caused by a number of conditions including:
- congestive heart failure
- cholestasis (congestion of the bile ducts)
- cirrhosis of the liver
- Restricted blood flow to the liver
- restricted venous outflow from liver like Budd-Chiari syndrome
- Necrosis of the liver
- Liver tumors
- hepatitis
- hepatotoxic drugs
Its levels are increased in chronic and acute alcohol abuse.
# Differential Diagnosis
In alphabetical order.
## Increased
- Alcohol
- Brain tumor
- Ceftazidime
- Cholestasis
- Chronic inflammatory bowel disease
- Cirrhosis
- Congestive heart failure, particularly right sided heart failure, or "shock liver"
- Cytomegalovirus infections
- Diabetes Mellitus
- Disorders of the lipid metabolism
- Fatty liver
- Hepatic necrosis
- Hepatitis
- Hepatocellular carcinoma
- Hepatotoxic drugs
- Hyperthyroidism
- Infectious mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr Virus)
- Inflammation
- Jaundice
- Myocardial Infarction
- Nephritis
- Obesity
- Pancreatic cancer
- Pancreatitis
- Pneumonia
- Porphyria
- Portal vein thrombosis
- Prostate cancer
- Ritonavir
- Restricted blood flow to the liver
- Restricted venous outflow from liver like Budd-Chiari syndrome
- Right ventricular failure causing hepatic congestion, also known as "shock liver"
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The Mars Global Surveyor project has resumed scientific observations of the surface of Mars and has scheduled opportunities to image four selected sites: the Viking 1 and 2 landing sites, the Mars Pathfinder landing site and the Cydonia region.Three opportunities to image each of the four sites using the spacecraft's high-resolution camera will take place over the next month, beginning on April 3 at 1:58 a.m. Pacific time, when Global Surveyor passes over the Viking 1 landing site. The spacecraft will next pass over the Viking 2 landing site at 1:37 p.m. Pacific time on April 3. On April 4, Global Surveyor will try to image the now-silent Mars Pathfinder spacecraft at 1:16 a.m. Pacific time. It will then capture a portion of the Cydonia region of Mars, location of the so-called "Face on Mars," on April 5 at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time.Attempts to rephotograph the sites will occur during two additional opportunities falling about nine days apart. A detailed schedule of the imaging attempts is listed below. Uncertainties in both the spacecraft's pointing and the knowledge of the spacecraft's ground track from its navigation data will provide only a 30- to- 50-percent chance of capturing the images of each site.All of the selected targets are located south of Global Surveyor's periapsis, or point of closest approach to the Martian surface. Shortly before the spacecraft reaches this point, the Global Surveyor spacecraft will rotate slightly so that when it nears the selected target, the camera's field-of-view will sweep across the target as the spacecraft flies south and rises away.The spacecraft will begin transmitting to Earth data stored on its onboard solid-state recorders about seven hours after the images are acquired, concluding about three hours later. Currently it takes radio signals from Mars Global Surveyor about 20 minutes to travel from the spacecraft to Earth.Data will be received at one of NASA's Deep Space Network tracking stations at Goldstone, CA, near Madrid, Spain or near Canberra, Australia, and then sent by satellite to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. There the images, along with all of the rest of Global Surveyor's science and engineering data, are placed in the project database for access by flight controllers. This process takes only seconds for each bit of data. Consequently, the image data will not be available be on the ground until about 10.5 hours after they are acquired. Data received overnight will not be retrieved until 9 a.m. Pacific time on the following workday.When image data are retrieved by camera operators, the information is assembled into "raw" images. Raw images may contain data errors or drop-outs introduced by noise in the telecommunications channel between the spacecraft and the ground, as well as very slight picture element variations inherent in the camera. This data processing takes about 30 minutes.Raw images will posted on three web sites: JPL's Mars news site athttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews, the Mars Global Surveyor project home page athttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov, and NASA's Planetary Photojournal site athttp://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov. Information identifying the acquisition time, predicted center latitude and longitude of the target location, and the local solar time will accompany these images. Contrast enhancement will be performed by JPL's Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and posted on World Wide Web a few hours later. The Global Surveyor project home page also contains spacecraft orbital velocity and distance to the planet in real time.Images of the Viking and Mars Pathfinder landing sites will not be posted until image enhancement and identification of the vehicles have been completed, because the small spacecraft will be at the limits of the camera's resolution. This process will take about 24 hours.Mars Global Surveyor is part of a sustained program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program. The mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO, which developed and operates the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.Mars Global Surveyor Imaging ScheduleFirst opportunityDate Time(UTC/Pacific) OrbitNumber Target ApproximateInternetPosting4-3-98 09:58/1:58 a.m. 216 Viking Lander 1 April 64-3-98 21:37/1:37 p.m. 217 Viking Lander 2 April 74-4-98 09:16/1:16 a.m. 218 Mars Pathfinder April 74-5-98 08:33/12:33 a.m. 220 Cydonia April 6 (mid-a.m.)Second opportunityDate Time(UTC/Pacific) OrbitNumber Target ApproximateInternetPosting4-12-98 15:23/ 8:23 a.m. 235 Viking Lander 1 April 144-13-98 03:01/ 8:01 p.m. 236 Viking Lander 2 April 154-13-98 14:40/ 7:40 a.m. 237 Mars Pathfinder April 154-14-98 13:57/ 6:57 a.m. 239 Cydonia April 14 (mid-p.m.)Third opportunityDate Time(UTC/Pacific) OrbitNumber Target ApproximateInternetPosting4-21-98 20:45/1:45 p.m. 254 Viking Lander 1 April 234-22-98 08:23/1:23 a.m. 255 Viking Lander 2 April 244-22-98 20:02/1:02 p.m. 256 Mars Pathfinder April 244-23-98 19:18/12:18 p.m. 258 Cydonia April 24 (mid-a.m.)818-354-5011
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May 22, 20181:44 pm PDT - Ground controllers have acquired signals from both GRACE Follow-On satellites.1 pm PDT - NASA's GRACE Follow-On twin satellites have successfully separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket over the Pacific Ocean. The satellites are slowly moving away from each other and toward their operational separation distance, approximately 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart.12:47 pm PDT - NASA's GRACE Follow-On mission has launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. At 11 minutes 47 seconds after liftoff, the two GRACE Follow-On satellites will separate from the rocket.--------------------------------------------------------Twin satellites that will monitor Earth's water cycle are scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Central California on Tuesday, May 22, in a unique rideshare arrangement. The two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission (GRACE-FO) spacecraft will join five Iridium NEXT communications satellites as the payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4E is targeted for 12:47 p.m. PDT (3:47 p.m. EDT), with an instantaneous launch window. If needed, an additional launch opportunity is available on Wednesday, May 23.The twin satellites of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on, or GRACE-FO, will track the movement of water around Earth. This short video explains how and why it's important.GRACE-FO, a collaborative mission of NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), continues the work of the original GRACE mission in observing the movement of water and other mass around our planet by tracking the changing pull of gravity very precisely.Launch TimelineOn liftoff, the Falcon 9 first-stage engines will burn for approximately 2 minutes and 45 seconds before shutting down at main engine cutoff (MECO). The Falcon 9's first and second stages will separate seconds later. Then, the second-stage engine will ignite for the first time (SES1) and burn until the vehicle reaches the altitude of the injection orbit, 305 miles (490 kilometers).While this burn is going on, the payload fairing -- the launch vehicle's nose cone - will separate into two halves like a clamshell and fall away.When the rocket's second stage has completed its ascent to the injection orbit altitude, it will pitch down (its nose points down) 30 degrees and roll so that one of the twin GRACE-FO satellites is facing down, toward Earth, and the other is facing up, toward space. Then the second stage engine will cut off (SECO).About 10 minutes after liftoff, a separation system on the second stage will deploy the GRACE-FO satellites. Separation will occur over the Pacific Ocean at about 17.5 degrees North latitude, 122.6 degrees West longitude. The first opportunity to receive data from the spacecraft will occur at NASA's tracking station at McMurdo, Antarctica, about 23 minutes after separation.After the GRACE-FO satellites are deployed, the Falcon 9 second stage will coast for half an orbit before reigniting its engine (SES2) to take the Iridium NEXT satellites to a higher orbit for deployment.From Deployment to Science Separation DistanceAt deployment, the GRACE-FO satellites will be released from their payload dispenser in opposite directions at a rate of 0.8 to 1 foot per second each (0.25 to 0.30 meters). The Earth-facing satellite will be pushed down into a lower orbit that is faster on average, while the space-facing satellite will be pushed up into a higher orbit that is slower on average.For the first few days after launch, the lower, faster satellite will pull slowly ahead of the other until the two satellites are approximately 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart -- the optimal separation distance for science operations. Then the lower, leading satellite will be raised into the same orbit as the higher, trailing satellite. This maneuver will keep the two spacecraft from continuing to drift farther apart, so that the two continue to orbit on the same track, one following the other.For more information about the mission, visit:https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.govhttps://www.nasa.gov/missions/grace-foThe GRACE-FO press kit is available online at:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/grace-fo/Video and images related to the mission are available at:https://vimeo.com/266146377https://nasa.gov/gracefo
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Carisoprodol detailed information
Carisoprodol is a centrally-acting skeletal muscle relaxant whose active metabolite is meprobamate. Although several case reports have shown that carisoprodol has abuse potential, it continues to be widely prescribed (except in the United Kingdom where use of benzodiazepines is preferred). Carisoprodol is a colourless, crystalline powder, having a mild, characteristic odor and a bitter taste. It is slightly soluble in water and freely soluble in alcohol, chloroform and acetone. Its solubility is practically independent of pH.
Carisoprodol is marketed in the United States under the brand name Soma, and in the United Kingdom and other countries under the brand names Sanoma and Carisoma. Carisoprodol is especially useful against various types of pain (whether or not related to muscle spasm) for its analgesic-sparing (potentiating) effect on opioid analgesics such as codeine, dihydrocodeine, hydrocodone &c. Carisoprodol is available by itself or mixed with aspirin and in one preparation (Soma Compound With Codeine®) along with codeine and caffeine as well.
# History
Carisoprodol seems to be more effective as a muscle relaxant than meprobamate but it also has the effects of the latter drug (trade name Miltown®) which is a non-barbiturate and non-benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic. Carisoprodol and meprobamate can produce a glutethemide-like euphoria in certain dose ranges; a euphoriant dose of either drug will rapidly produce somnolence and the patient can be in a deep sleep mere moments after euphoria, anxiolysis, and other side effects manifest. However, the usual dose of 350 mg will not do this or will only do so for the first one to three doses. At higher doses, in some patients, and/or early in therapy, carisoprodol can have the full spectrum of sedative-hypnotic side effects (and often to an extent to which the patient may not be fully aware) and can dangerously impair the patient's ability to operate an automobile, motorcycle, and other machinery of various types; slurred speech is also a side effect which manifests rather rapidly. The intensity of these side effects tends to lessen and/or become very predictable as therapy continues as is the case with many other drugs.
Meprobamate and other muscle relaxing drugs often were subjects of misuse and abuse in the 1950s and 1960s. Overdose cases were reported as early as 1957 and have been reported on several occasions since then.
On June 1, 1959 several American pharmacologists convened at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan to discuss a new drug. The drug, originally thought to have antiseptic properties, was found to have central muscle relaxing properties. It had been developed by Dr. Frank M. Berger at Wallace laboratories and had been named carisoprodol (trade name Soma).
Carisoprodol was developed on the basis of meprobamate, in the hope that it would have better muscle relaxing properties, less potential for abuse, and less risk of overdose than meprobamate. The substitution of one hydrogen atom with an isopropyl group on one of the carbamyl nitrogens was intended to yield a molecule with new pharmacological properties.
The brand name SOMA is shared with the fictional drug featured in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
# Chemistry
It is a carbamic acid ester. Carisoprodol is a racemic mixture of two stereoisomers.
# Effects
- Analgesia
- Relief from hypertonia
# Side effects
These are somewhat rare when used at normal doses.
- Somnolence
- Ataxia
# Pharmacokinetics
Carisoprodol has a rapid, 30 minute onset of action, with the aforementioned effects lasting for approximately 2–6 hours. It is metabolized in the liver via the cytochrome P450 oxidase isozyme CYP2C19, excreted by the kidneys and has an approximate 8 hour half-life. A considerable proportion of carisoprodol is metabolized to meprobamate, which is a known drug of abuse and dependence; this could account for the abuse potential of carisoprodol.
# Notes
- ↑ Bramness JG, Furu K, Engeland A, Skurtveit S. (2007). "Carisoprodol use and abuse in Norway. A pharmacoepidemiological study". Br J Clin Pharmacol (2): 210–218. Unknown parameter |vol= ignored (|volume= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
- ↑ Kamin I, Shaskan D. (1959). "Death due to massive overdose of meprobamate". Am J Psychiatry. 115 (12): 1123–1124.
- ↑ Hollister LE (1983). "The pre-benzodiazepine era". J Psychoactive Drugs. 15 (1–2): 9–13.
- ↑ Gaillard Y, Billault F, Pepin G (1997). "Meprobamate overdosage: a continuing problem. Sensitive GC-MS quantitation after solid phase extraction in 19 fatal cases". Forensic Sci.Int. 86 (3): 173–180.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Allen MD, Greenblatt DJ, Noel BJ (1977). "Meprobamate overdosage: a continuing problem". Clin Toxicol. 11 (5): 501–515.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Kintz P, Tracqui A, Mangin P, Lugnier AA (1988). "Fatal meprobamate self-poisoning". Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 9 (2): 139–140.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Eeckhout E, Huyghens L, Loef B, Maes V, Sennesael J (1988). "Meprobamate poisoning, hypotension and the Swan-Ganz catheter". Intensive Care Med. 14 (4): 437–438.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Lhoste F, Lemaire F, Rapin M (1977). "Treatment of hypotension in meprobamate poisoning". N Engl J Med. 296 (17): 1004.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Bedson H (1959). "Coma due to meprobamate intoxication. Report of a case confirmed by chemical analysis". Lancet. 273 (1): 288–290.
- ↑ Blumberg A, Rosett H, Dobrow A (1959). "Severe hypotension reactions following meprobamate overdosage". Ann Intern Med. 51: 607–612.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Miller JG, ed. The pharmacology and clinical usefulness of carisoprodol. Detroit:Wayne State University; 1959.
- ↑ Berger F, Kletzkin M, Ludwig B, Margolin S. The history, chemistry, and pharmacology of carisoprodol. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1959;86:90-107
- ↑ "Brave New Soma - TIME". Retrieved 2007-08-20.
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Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have discovered a unique and baffling object that may be either an unusual asteroid or an extinct comet.The object, designated 1996 PW, was detected by astronomers using data from the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program that employs a JPL-developed camera mounted on a U.S. Air Force telescope atop Mt. Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii.Puzzled scientists are still striving to understand exactly what object 1996 is and where it came from. "This is a misfit in the grand scheme of things," according to Eleanor Helin, a planetary astronomer at JPL and the NEAT principal investigator.At first look, the object, which has a diameter of about 8 to 16 kilometers (about 5 to 10 miles), appears to be an asteroid, a chunk of rock that orbits the sun, said Helin. However, unlike most typical asteroids, which inhabit orbits no farther out than Jupiter, 1996 PW has a highly elongated, comet- like orbit that stretches into the vast outer reaches of the solar system, far beyond Neptune and Pluto. Its orbit has a period currently estimated at 5,000 years, according to JPL research scientist Dr. Michael Keesey.Although 1996 PW is in an orbit resembling that of a long- period comet, no gaseous emissions or other comet-like activity, such as a dust come, has been observed, even during its current closest approach to the Sun, Helin said.Helin and other astronomers studying the object believe that this raises the possibility that it was once an active comet, but is now inert, either because its ice and gases have been stripped away or because it is covered and insulated by non-volatile materials.This puzzling object was discovered through a combination of high-tech telescopes, sophisticated software and human detective work. The NEAT program at Haleakala, carried out under the direction of Helin and task manager Dr. Steven Pravdo, also of JPL, is the world's first fully autonomous near-Earth object imaging system. It consists of a computer controller and a highly sensitive CCD camera sensor mounted on a telescope. The system is designed to discover and track asteroids and comets as they approach Earth from deep space.The NEAT system is mounted on the U.S. Air Force's Ground- Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance System's one-meter telescope at the Maui facility.Observational data from NEAT on the night of August 9 recorded the appearance of 1996 PW, along with similar observations of 150 more typical asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. More observations were made three nights later. While computer-processing the data at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gareth Williams noticed the object had an unusual apparent motion.Due to the current position in space of 1996 PW, scientists will have an excellent window of opportunity to study the object more thoroughly over the next six months.Further observations were made at Haleakala by NEAT and by an Italian amateur astronomer, who learned of the object from the Minor Planet Center's World Wide Web site. JPL's David Rabinovitz provided positional and color information on the discovery. Vital operational work on the incoming data was handled by JPL's Ken Lawrence, with results reviewed by team members.The NEAT camera was installed at the Air Force's Maui facility in December 1995 to conduct a systematic search for asteroids and comets that come near Earth. With its short exposure time and fast electronics, NEAT is able to achieve wide- sky coverage. It can also detect objects much fainter than was possible with the photographic Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory in Southern California, which Helin used to conduct asteroid searches for 20 years.NEAT was built and is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.The electronic image that led to the discovery of 1996 PW is available on the NEAT Program's Internet Home Page at:http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/~spravdo/neat.html818-354-5011
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Using a suite of microwave remote sensing instruments aboard satellites, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the University of Montana, Missoula, have observed a recent trend of earlier thawing across the northern high latitudes.This regional thawing trend, advancing almost one day a year since 1988, has the potential to alter the cycle of atmospheric carbon dioxide intake and release by vegetation and soils across the region, potentially resulting in changes in Earth's climate. The lengthening growing season appears to be promoting more carbon uptake by the vegetation than is being released into the atmosphere for the region. How long this trend will occur depends on whether soils continue to remain cold and wet.Research scientists have been studying the freeze/thaw dynamics in North America and Eurasia's boreal forests and tundra to decipher effects on the timing and length of the growing season. These regions encompass almost 30 percent of global land area. They store a major portion of Earth's carbon in vegetation,, in seasonally frozen and permafrost soils. Large expanses of boreal forest and tundra are underlain by permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen soil found underneath the active, seasonally thawed soil."Frozen soil can store carbon for hundreds to thousands of years," said lead author Dr. Kyle McDonald of JPL, "but when the permafrost thaws and begins to dry out, it releases the carbon back into the atmosphere." The concern is that eventually carbon released from the soil will prevail over the amount being taken in by growing plants. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would increase at an accelerated rate, fostering even greater warming of the region and affecting global climate.With help from NASA radars and other orbiting satellite microwave remote sensing instruments, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Special Scanning Microwave/Imager, scientists can monitor growing season dynamics of the global boreal forest and tundra daily. These instruments sense the electrical properties of water in the landscape, allowing scientists to determine exactly when and where the springtime thaw occurs.Because of the large extent and location of boreal forest and tundra, and the global reservoir of carbon stored in their vegetation and soils, this region is extremely sensitive to environmental change. It has the capacity to dramatically impact Earth's climate."If global climate change is happening, here's where you would expect to see it first," McDonald said.As the research team observed, the earlier the spring thaw occurs, the longer the growing season. These changes appear to be promoting plant growth for the region. The longer growing season allows plants to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a longer period of time.Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas that, if left in the atmosphere, would promote additional warming. The plants release oxygen and store the carbon as biomass that eventually decomposes and transfers the carbon into the soil. Soil microbes decompose dead plant material, returning a portion of the soil carbon back into the atmosphere. The rate at which soil microbes decompose plant material and release carbon to the atmosphere is also very sensitive to temperature. It could potentially increase with warming temperatures and longer growing seasons.From this general study, McDonald, Dr. John Kimball of the University of Montana, and JPL's Erika Podest have lead three different investigations, each focusing on different noticeable changes in the boreal region. Results of three related papers on this research will be presented to the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting this week in San Francisco.The research is funded by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The Enterprise is dedicated to understanding the Earth as an integrated system and applying Earth System Science to improve prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards using the unique vantage point of space.For information about NASA's Earth Science Enterprise on the Internet, visit:http://www.earth.nasa.gov.The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.For information about NASA, visit:http://www.nasa.gov.
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In this image, taken on June 13, 2019, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the starboard legs and wheels - otherwise known as the mobility suspension - on the Mars 2020 rover. They installed the port suspension later that day."Nowthat'sa Mars rover," said David Gruel, the Mars 2020 assembly, test, and launch operations manager at JPL. "With the suspension on, not only does it look like a rover, but we have almost all our big-ticket items for integration in our rearview mirror - if our rover had one."Within the next few weeks, the team expects to install the vehicle's robotic arm, the mast-mounted SuperCam instrument and the Sample Caching System, which includes 17 separate motors and will collect samples of Martian rock and soil that will be returned to Earth by a future mission.Both of the rover's legs (the starboard leg's black tubing can be seen above the wheels) are composed of titanium tubing formed with the same process used to make high-end bicycle frames. The wheels in this picture are engineering models and will not make the trip to Mars. They will be swapped out for flight models of the wheels sometime next year.Made of aluminum, each of the six wheels (each 20.7 inches, or 52.5 centimeters, in diameter) features 48 grousers, or cleats, machined into its surface to provide excellent traction both in soft sand and on hard rocks. Every wheel has its own motor. The two front and two rear wheels also have individual steering motors that enable the vehicle to turn a full 360 degrees in place.When driving over uneven terrain, the suspension system - called a "rocker-bogie" system due to its multiple pivot points and struts -maintains a relatively constant weight on each wheel and minimizes rover tilt for stability. Rover drivers avoid terrain that would cause a tilt of more than 30 degrees, but even so, the rover can withstand a 45-degree tilt in any direction without tipping over. With its suspension, the rover can also roll over rocks and other obstacles as well as through depressions the size of its wheels.Mars 2020 will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in July of 2020. It will land at Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA's Artemislunar exploration planwill establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028. We will use what we learn on the Moon to prepare to send astronauts to Mars.JPL is building and will manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.If you want to send your name to Mars with NASA's 2020 mission, you can do so until Sept. 30, 2019. Add your name to the list and obtain a souvenir boarding pass to Mars here:https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020PassFor more information about the mission, go to:https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
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A joint
U.S./German space mission to track the continuous movement of water and other changes
in Earth's mass on and beneath the planet's surface successfully launched at 12:47
p.m. PDT (3:47 p.m. EDT) Tuesday from the California coast.The twin
spacecraft of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO),
a joint NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) mission, lifted off
on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air
Force Base in California, sharing their ride into space with five Iridium NEXT communications
satellites.Ground stations
have acquired signals from both GRACE-FO spacecraft. Initial telemetry shows
the satellites are performing as expected. The GRACE-FO satellites are at an
altitude of about 305 miles (490 kilometers), traveling about 16,800 mph (7.5
kilometers per second). They are in a near-polar orbit, circling Earth once
every 90 minutes.3-2-1 liftoff of Falcon 9 with GRACE-FO! NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on, or GRACE-FO, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's Central Coast on May 22, 2018. The twin orbiters shared a ride to space with five Iridium NEXT communications satellites. GRACE-FO will continue a study begun by the original GRACE mission, which proved that water movement can be tracked with high precision by its effect on Earth's gravitational field. GRACE-FO will continue the record of regional variations in gravity, telling us about changes in glaciers, ground water, sea levels and the health of our planet as a whole."GRACE-FO will
provide unique insights into how our complex planet operates," said Thomas
Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Just as important, because the mission
monitors many key aspects of the Earth's water cycle, GRACE-FO data will be
used throughout the world to improve people's lives -- from better predictions
of drought impacts to higher-quality information on use and management of water
from underground aquifers."Over its
five-year mission, GRACE-FO will monitor the movement of mass around our planet
by measuring where and how the moving mass changes Earth's gravitational pull. The
gravity changes cause the distance between the two satellites to vary slightly.
Although the two satellites orbit 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart, advanced instruments
continuously measure their separation to within the width of a human red blood
cell.GRACE-FO continues
the U.S./German partnership of the originalGRACEmission, which operated from 2002 through 2017. "This
mission continues and advances an amazing achievement of science and technology
pioneered by the United States and Germany," said Zurbuchen.For 15 years,
GRACE's monthly maps of regional gravity variations provided new insights into
how the Earth system functions and responds to change.Among its
innovations, GRACE was the first mission to measure the amount of ice being
lost from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The mission improved our
understanding of the processes responsible for sea level rise and ocean
circulation, provided insights into where global groundwater resources are shrinking
or growing, showed where dry soils are contributing to drought, and monitored
changes in the solid Earth, such as from earthquakes.Frank Webb, GRACE-FO
project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
noted that to understand changes taking place in the climate system, scientists
need data records several decades long."Extending
the data record from GRACE will allow us to better distinguish short-term
variability from longer-term trends," he said.The GRACE-FO
satellites will spend their first few days in space moving to the separation
distance needed to perform their mission. When they reach this distance, the
mission will begin an 85-day, in-orbit checkout phase. Mission managers will evaluate
the instruments and satellite systems and perform calibration and alignment
procedures. Then the satellites will begin gathering and processing science
data. The first science data are expected to be released in about seven months.JPL
manages the GRACE-FO mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington, under the direction of the Earth Systematic Missions Program Office
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The spacecraft
were built by Airbus Defence and Space in Friedrichshafen, Germany, under
subcontract to JPL. GFZ contracted GRACE-FO launch services from Iridium. GFZ subcontracted
mission operations to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which operates the
German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.For more
information about GRACE-FO, visit:https://www.nasa.gov/gracefo
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Pharyngeal recess
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# Overview
Behind the ostium of the auditory tube is a deep recess, the pharyngeal recess (fossa of Rosenmüller).
# Clinical significance
At the base of this recess is the retropharyngeal lymph node (the Node of Rouvier.) This is clinically significant in that it may be involved in certain head and neck cancers, notably Nasopharyngeal cancer.
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guidelines
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Counting the Burden: Atopic Dermatitis and Health-related Quality of Life.
Atopic dermatitis is the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin condition globally. The burden of atopic dermatitis on children and adults is extensive and there is also significant impact on the lives of patient caregivers and family members. It is important to be able to measure this impact to inform clinical decisions and to plan appropriate patient and carer support. The current impact of atopic dermatitis on children and adults can be measured using several different quality of life questionnaires: the most frequently used are the Dermatology Quality of Life (DLQI), Children's Dermatology Quality of Life and Infants Dermatology Quality of Life. The impact on partners and family can be measured using several atopic dermatitis specific questionnaires or the Family DLQI or the generic Family Reported Outcome Measure, FROM-16.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Ophiopogonin D inhibits cell proliferation, causes cell cycle arrest at G2/M, and induces apoptosis in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells.
To investigate the effects of ophiopogonin D on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Cell viability was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and colony formation experiments. Cell cycle was measured with cell cycle flow cytometry and a living cell assay. Apoptosis and terminal deoxynucleoitidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assays were performed to detect the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells induced by ophiopogonin D. Finally, Western blotting was used to explore the mechanism. Exposure of cells to ophiopogonin D resulted in marked decreases in viable cells and colony formation with a dose-dependent manner. Treatment of these cells with ophiopogonin D also resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G(2)/M phase, and increased apoptosis. Mechanistically, ophiopogonin D-induced G(2)/M cell cycle arrest was associated with down-regulation of cyclin B1. Furthermore, activation of caspase-8 and caspase-9 was involved in ophiopogonin D-induced apoptosis. The data suggested that ophiopogonin D inhibits MCF-7 cell growth via the induction of cell cycle arrest at the G(2)/M phase.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Thomas Graham (chemist)
Thomas Graham FRS (December 21, 1805 – September 16, 1869) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Graham's father was a successful textile manufacturer, and wanted his son to enter into the Church of Scotland. Instead, defying his father's wishes, Graham became a student at the University of Glasgow in 1819. There he developed a strong interest in chemistry, and left the University after receiving his M.A. in 1826. He later became a professor of chemistry at numerous colleges, including the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of London.
Graham also founded the Chemical Society of London in 1841.
His final postition was as the Master of the Mint, where he stayed for 15 years until his death. He was the last person to hold that position.
# Scientific work
Thomas Graham is best known for two things:
1. His studies on the diffusion of gases resulted in "Graham's Law", which states that the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molar mass.
2. His discovery of dialysis, which is used in many medical facilities today, was the result of Graham's study of colloids. This work resulted in Graham's ability to separate colloids and crystalloids using a so-called "dialyzer", the precursor of today's dialysis machine. This study initiated the scientific field known as colloid chemistry, of which Graham is credited as the founder.
# Honours, activities, and recognition
- Fellow of the Royal Society (1836)
- First President of the Chemical Society of London (1841)
- Royal Medal of the Royal Society (1837 and 1863)
- Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1862)
- Prix Jecker of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1862)
- (Unofficial Honour) Statue of Graham in Glasgow ("given" in 1872)
- The University of Strathclyde, where Graham worked at one of its precursor institutions, has named the building housing the chemistry department after him.
- The headquarters of the Royal Society of Chemistry in Cambridge, UK is the Thomas Graham House.
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guidelines
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Antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation ability of Salmonella serotypes isolated from beef, mutton, and meat contact surfaces at retail.
In this study, Salmonella isolates recovered from meat (beef and mutton) and meat contact surfaces at retail were investigated to determine their serotype, antibiotic resistance, and biofilm formation ability. Salmonella was found in 29 (24.17%) samples out of 120 samples including 14/50 (28%) of beef, 10/40 (25%) of mutton, and 5/30 (16.67%) of meat contact surfaces. Seven isolates were identified as S. Enteritidis, three as S. Typhimurium, and two as S. Typhi, while the rest of the isolates were considered as other Salmonella spp. All of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent and 48.27% of them were identified as multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella. All (100%) of meat contact surfaces isolates, 42.8% of beef isolates, and 30% of mutton isolates were found to be MDR Salmonella. Resistance to nalidixic acid (100%), tetracycline (79.3%), and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim (44.8%) were observed. The gyrA gene was detected in 19 of 29 isolates, but tetA was found in one isolate. All of the serotypes were able to form biofilm (75.86 % moderate and 24.14 % strong) and S. Enteritidis was the strongest biofilm producer. The findings indicated that the majority of Salmonella isolates in this study were MDR and biofilm producer. Then, safety measures such as cleaning and disinfection must be taken to control Salmonella and promote public health. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The present study provides useful information on the prevalence of Salmonella serotypes in meat and meat contact surfaces and their antibiotic resistance patterns as well as biofilm formation capacities. Improving hygiene practices in livestock, slaughterhouses, and at retails may reduce the risk of meat contamination to Salmonella. Meanwhile, high levels of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella isolates emphasized on the improper use of antibiotics.
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pubmed_arxiv
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GLP-1 improves the supportive ability of astrocytes to neurons by promoting aerobic glycolysis in Alzheimer's disease.
Astrocytes actively participate in energy metabolism in the brain, and astrocytic aerobic glycolysis disorder is associated with the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). GLP-1 has been shown to improve cognition in AD; however, the mechanism remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to assess GLP-1's glycolytic regulation effects in AD and reveal its neuroprotective mechanisms. The Morris water maze test was used to evaluate the effects of liraglutide (an analog of GLP-1) on the cognition of 4-month-old 5×FAD mice, and a proteomic analysis and Western blotting were used to assess the proteomic profile changes. We constructed an astrocytic model of AD by treating primary astrocytes with Aβ 1-42 . The levels of NAD+ and lactate were examined, and the oxidative levels were assessed by a Seahorse examination. Astrocyte-neuron co-culture was performed to evaluate the effects of GLP-1 on astrocytes' neuronal support. GLP-1 improved cognition in 4-month-old 5×FAD mice by enhancing aerobic glycolysis and reducing oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) levels and oxidative stress in the brain. GLP-1 also alleviated Aβ-induced glycolysis declines in astrocytes, which resulted in reduced OXPHOS levels and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The mechanism involved the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway by GLP-1. Elevation in astrocytic glycolysis improved astrocyte cells' support of neurons and promoted neuronal survival and axon growth. Taken together, we revealed GLP-1's capacity to regulate astrocytic glycolysis, providing mechanistic insight into one of its neuroprotective roles in AD and support for the feasibility of energy regulation treatments for AD.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated With Corneal Perforation in Chronic Ocular Graft-Versus-Host-Disease.
To determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with corneal perforation in patients with chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease (oGVHD). We reviewed the case records of 405 patients diagnosed with chronic oGVHD over 8 years at a single academic center and assessed the prevalence of corneal perforation in the cohort. We reviewed patient demographics, indication for and type of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), time elapsed between HSCT and perforation, and clinical characteristics including oGVHD severity scores, ocular comorbidities, and topical medications at the time of perforation. Data were analyzed to determine the characteristics of patients with corneal perforation and establish the risk factors. Of the 405 patients with chronic oGVHD, 15 (3.7%) developed a corneal perforation. The mean age of patients at the time of perforation was 64 ± 11 years and 10 (67%) were men. The median time to corneal perforation was 3.3 years post-HSCT. Although perforation occurred unilaterally in all cases, 44% had epithelial defects and 38% had stromal abnormalities in the contralateral eye. Of the patients with corneal perforation, 9 (60%) had a National Institute of Health oGVHD severity score of 2 and 6 (40%) had a score of 3. Patients with chronic oGVHD on antiglaucoma drops had a significantly higher risk of corneal perforation (P < 0.001). Corneal perforation is a rare but vision-threatening complication of chronic oGVHD. Our study emphasizes the need for frequent and long-term follow-up of patients with oGVHD regardless of the severity of disease. In particular, patients with chronic oGVHD on topical antiglaucoma medications should be monitored closely due to a higher risk for corneal perforation.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Near Earth spacecraft can be used not only to predict the occurrence of sun-caused magnetic storms but also the time they will occur and their magnitude, Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist said Wednesday.Dr. Bruce Tsurutani prepared paper for presentation before the 1989 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union at San Francisco.The paper, entitled "The Interplanetary Features Causing Magnetic Storms and Substorms: How Can We Forecast Them?" was co authored by Drs. Edward J. Smith, also of JPL, and Walter D. Gonzalez of the Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Frances Tang of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.Plasma and field data from near-Earth spacecraft can be used to predict major and moderate storms, Tsurutani said.Magnetic storms arising from interaction of the sun's solar wind with the Earth's magnetic field cause radio blackouts and prevent the use of over-the-horizon radar by interfering with the ionosphere. They also cause power surges which can be damaging to power installations.Additionally, the Van Allen belt of charged particles becomes more intense as the result of increased solar wind activity and that presents hazard to orbiting satellites and manned space flight.Tsurutani said solar radiation reaches levels during solar surges sufficiently high to be harmful to astronauts or to interfere with spacecraft and space shuttle computers.Magnetic storms also are associated with the colorful auroras. During intense magnetic storms the auroras can be seen as far south as Mexico.The ability to predict such solar activity diminishes with the distance of the spacecraft from Earth, however, Tsurutani said. But spacecraft at about four times the distance of the moon's orbit, such as the NASA/ESA International Sun Earth Explorer (ISEE-3) can still predict storms accurately.Remote sensing from Earth also can be used, he said. As one example, high solar wind streams close to the sun can be detected from Earth by radio scintillation techniques -- such as looking at radio emissions by spacecraft on the other side of the sun, or looking at the fluctuations of radio emissions from some stars to determine velocity and density of the solar stream interfering with those emissions.While such measurements can be used to indicate when there will be statistically higher percentage of storms, they are not sufficient to determine if storm will occur or not, he said.To accurately forecast the magnitude of impending solar storms, scientists need the prediction of the interplanetary field and the velocity of the solar stream as it strikes the Earth's magnetic field.To be able to use ground-based or near-Earth satellite observations of the solar corona and sun, he said, computer modeling will be necessary to determine the effects of the normal solar wind stream and the intense surges of activity as they interact and propagate to the distance of Earth's orbit.The study was performed at JPL under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.818-354-5011
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= Love American Style ( Dexter ) =
" Love American Style " is the fifth episode of the first season of the American television drama series Dexter , which first aired on October 29 , 2006 on Showtime in the United States . The episode was written by Melissa Rosenberg and was directed by Robert Lieberman . In the episode , Dexter Morgan ( Michael C. Hall ) hunts down Jorge Castillo ( José Zúñiga ) , a human trafficker and murderer . His sister , Ofr . Debra Morgan ( Jennifer Carpenter ) , attempts to extract information from a security guard whose limbs were amputated by the " Ice Truck Killer " .
The episode was the first to be written by Rosenberg ; it was her first for a cable show , and she finished writing the script five weeks early . Filming took place at numerous locations in and around Miami , Florida and Los Angeles , California . The scenes filmed in Florida were shot in July 2006 and those in California were shot later . " Love American Style " received generally positive reviews from critics and was watched by 6 @.@ 7 million people when it was broadcast by CBS eighteen months after its Showtime premiere .
= = Plot = =
Dexter is called to a crime scene at the abandoned hospital where , last night , the Ice Truck Killer left security guard Tony Tucci ( Brad William Henke ) strapped to a table for Dexter to kill . Instead , Dexter had reported the crime scene and Tucci had been hospitalized after the Killer had amputated his hand and leg . Debra and Sgt. James Doakes ( Erik King ) question Tucci when he wakes up in hospital , but Doakes is unimpressed with Debra 's ways of extracting information from Tucci . He disapproves of her suggestion to blindfold Tucci to help him to remember his encounter with the Killer , but after she confronts him about his attitude toward her , he agrees to blindfold Tucci , who remembers that the Killer used throat lozenges . They return to the crime scene and find a lozenge wrapper , on which forensics expert Vince Masuka ( C.S. Lee ) finds a partial fingerprint .
Dexter 's girlfriend Rita Bennett ( Julie Benz ) comforts her upset co @-@ worker , Yelina ( Monique Curnen ) , and learns that Yelina 's fiancé , who was immigrating from Cuba illegally with the help of a coyote , is missing . Rita asks Dexter to look into the problem using his police connections , and he finds a list of subjects from a past police case . He investigates Jorge Castillo , a salvage yard owner , and after Yelina 's fiancé washes up dead on a beach , he discovers that Castillo is murdering the smuggled immigrants who cannot pay for their freedom . Dexter leads Castillo into a trailer in his salvage yard , but as he prepares to kill him , Castillo 's wife Valerie ( Valerie Dillman ) arrives . Dexter realizes that the couple are working together , and decides to kill both Jorge and Valerie in the trailer . After killing them , he dumps their bodies in the ocean and frees their Cuban prisoners , not noticing the person watching him from the trunk of a car in the yard .
In flashbacks , a teenage Dexter ( Devon Graye ) learns how to fake joy in a romantic date with a girl from his father Harry ( James Remar ) .
= = Production = =
" Love American Style " was written by Melissa Rosenberg and directed by Robert Lieberman . The episode was Rosenberg 's first for the series and her first on a show written for a premium network . Having had over 10 years ' experience in writing for free @-@ to @-@ air commercial networks — which typically have 22 – 26 episodes per season rather than 12 , with a much tighter schedule — she finished writing the script five weeks before it was due for preparation . She said that " There was time to think about storytelling . I never had that on any show ; it 's just wonderful . "
Filming took place in both Los Angeles and Miami . The scenes filmed in Miami were shot in July 2006 ; those in Los Angeles were shot later . Scenes at the beach where Yelina talks with Rita and where her fiancé 's body washes up were filmed at South Beach Park in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , north of Miami . A waterfront house on Hibiscus Island in Biscayne Bay , Florida stood in for the Castillos ' home . The abandoned hospital where Dexter and the police find Tucci was filmed at the former Linda Vista Community Hospital in East Los Angeles , and Dexter 's childhood home was filmed at a house in a residential neighborhood of Long Beach , California , where Rita 's house is also filmed . Scenes in the salvage yard were filmed at LA Japanese Auto Parts in Sun Valley , California . The Airstream trailer in which Dexter commits the double murder was brought into the salvage yard for filming externally , but was assembled on a studio sound stage for shooting scenes inside the trailer .
= = Reception = =
" Love American Style " attracted 6 @.@ 7 million viewers when broadcast on CBS in March 2008 , 18 months after its original broadcast on Showtime .
IGN 's Eric Goldman felt that the episode 's juggling of multiple storylines was " satisfying " , and that the scene in which Dexter prepares to kill Castillo was " terrific " . Though he praised Debra and Doakes ' storyline with Tucci , he wrote that " it was a bit disappointing to then see Deb be a bit too quickly vindicated at the end " . Paula Paige , writing for TV Guide , said that the episode " will go down in cable history as Dexter 's finest [ episode ] to date " . She was pleased with Debra 's character development and the " downright stylish " cinematography , but thought that Jorge and Valerie 's final , passionate words to each other were " too much for me " . Ray Ellis of Blogcritics believed that the episode " takes the series into a more three @-@ dimensional direction " . He described the episode 's subplots and themes as what " make Dexter compelling " , and wrote that Debra 's character reached a more " empathic level " in the episode . TV Squad critic Keith McDuffee praised the increasing complexity of Dexter 's relationship with his father through flashbacks , and thought that Dexter 's voiceovers were " the best thing about this show " . Jeff Lindsay , author of Darkly Dreaming Dexter upon which the show is based , was initially upset with the episode 's plot . In an interview , he said that " I was about to be really unhappy with [ the episode ] . But the twist at the end " , referring to the person watching Dexter from the car trunk , " That was wonderful . "
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wikitext
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Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters in obese children and adolescents with masked hypertension.
We aimed to compare the demographic, laboratory, and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) parameters of patients with masked hypertension (MHT), define factors predicting MHT, and determine the ABPM parameters affecting left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in obese youth. Data of obese patients were evaluated retrospectively. Patients with ambulatory hypertension (AHT), white-coat hypertension (WCHT), MHT, or normotension (NT) were determined. Demographic and laboratory findings, office and ABPM measurements, blood pressure variability (BPV), and heart rate variability (HRV) were compared between the groups. The factors predicting MHT and the association between LVMI and ABPM, BPV/HRV parameters were analyzed. None of the 118 patients (M/F: 52/66) had WCHT. Three groups were formed: AHT (n: 60, 51%), MHT (n: 46, 39%), and NT (n: 12, 10%). Striae were significantly more frequent in AHT and MHT groups (P: 0.003). Cut-off levels for office BP measurements predicting MHT were 0.85 and 0.76 for systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP) indexes, respectively. Most of the ABPM parameters of MHT group were as high as those of AHT group. On regression analysis, only daytime MAP had a positive (β: 0.340; P < 0.01) and diastolic dip (β: -0.204; P < 0.01) had a significantly negative association with LVMI. Stria and cut-off levels for office SBP/DBP indexes, which were defined for the first time in this study, may determine the patients at risk of MHT. Although BPV or HRV had no relation to LVMI, daytime MAP and diastolic dip represented independent associations with LVMI.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Ocean waves, the hot sun, sea breezes -- the right combination makes a great day at the beach. A different combination makes a killer hurricane. The complex interactions of the ocean and the air above it that can create such different outcomes are not yet fully known. Scientists would especially like to understand the role that the daily heat of the sun plays in creating winds.In a few months, NASA will send an ocean wind-monitoring instrument to a berth on the International Space Station. That unique vantage point will give ISS-RapidScat, short for the International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer, the ability to observe daily (also called diurnal) cycles of wind created by solar heat.Winds contribute to motion in the ocean on every scale, from individual waves to currents extending thousands of miles. They affect local weather as well as large-scale, long-term climate patterns such as El Niño. Across the tropical Pacific, winds help or hinder local economies by allowing nutrient-rich water to well up from the ocean depths, nourishing marine life to the benefit of coastal fisheries, or blocking its upwelling.Since the hours of daylight are totally predictable, you might expect their influence on winds to be equally obvious. But that's not the case. According to Sarah Gille, an oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, "There's an enormous amount of diurnal wind variation between 30 degrees north and south of the equator, and we don't understand the timing. It's clear that the winds aren't just triggered every day at noon [when the sun is highest]."Scatterometer observations from satellites have proven invaluable for understanding ocean winds. A scatterometer is a type of radar that bounces microwaves off Earth's surface and measures the strength and direction of return signals. The more uneven the surface, the stronger the return signals. On the ocean, higher winds create larger waves and therefore stronger return signals. The return signal also tells scientists the direction of the wind, because waves line up in the direction the wind is blowing.The reason spaceborne scatterometers haven't helped much with the specific question of daily wind cycles has to do with their orbits. All modern instruments have been in sun-synchronous orbits, in which a satellite is always oriented at the same angle relative to the sun. In this type of orbit, a satellite passes over every location at the same fixed times, for example, 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. over the equator. The resulting data can't throw much light on the question of how winds develop over the course of a day.For six months in 2003, there were two scatterometers of the same type in space, collecting data at different times of day. From that data, Gille and her colleagues were able to recognize some patterns. "We could see, for example, how sea breezes converge over a large body of water like the Mediterranean or Black Sea. It was a nice window into diurnal variability, but we only had six months of data." That's inadequate to observe differences between summer and winter patterns, among other things.In its berth on the space station, the two-year RapidScat mission, built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, will be the first modern spaceborne scatterometer not locked in a sun-synchronous orbit. Each time the space station passes over a spot on Earth, it's at a different time of day than on the previous visit.RapidScat came into being because in 2009, NASA's previous scatterometer mission, an instrument called SeaWinds on the QuikScat satellite, stopped collecting ocean wind data following more than a decade of faithful service. Its antenna rotation mechanism wore out and stopped working. While the SeaWinds instrument itself is still functioning, its view is limited to a very narrow beam.During QuikScat's decade of full operation, the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, U.S. Navy, and other users relied on its data (among other data sources) to produce forecasts and warnings of everything from El Niño to hurricanes to iceberg movements. "When QuikScat stopped spinning, the user community began looking at ways to get a scatterometer going again," said Stacey Boland, a RapidScat project systems engineer at JPL.In 2012, NASA's space station program manager offered scientists at JPL a berth for a replacement scatterometer and a free ride into space in 2014 on a scheduled commercial cargo mission to resupply the space station. "The community had extensively evaluated many types of opportunities and was well aware of the benefit of the space station orbit," Boland said.The entire instrument has been designed and built in the two years since then -- hence the adjective "Rapid" in its name. RapidScat's instrument is essentially the same as the durable SeaWinds instrument on QuikScat. RapidScat will give QuikScat's user community the same vital data, and eventually it will supply the long-awaited answers on diurnal winds.Boland explained how the RapidScat data will accumulate to provide those answers. "We get near-complete spatial coverage every two days over the range of latitudes observable from the space station." (The station orbit ranges from 51.6 degrees north to 51.6 degrees south.) "The coverage at any particular spot is at a slightly different local time of day on each orbit. In about two months, we will have sampled 24 hours of local time at each spot."Once RapidScat has gathered enough cycles of observations, Gille said, "When we average the data, it will tell us what the average conditions are and how much of the observed wind looks like a diurnal pattern."Gille added, "We're very interested in putting time into an analysis to understand how diurnal winds change from season to season or year to year. Understanding the variability of these processes is a critical part of understanding weather."For more information about ISS-RapidScat, visit:http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/RapidScat/RapidScat is the third of five NASA Earth science missions scheduled to be launched this year, the most new NASA Earth-observing mission launches in the same year in more than a decade. NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet. For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow
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nasa_news
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Intentional binding coincides with explicit sense of agency.
Sense of agency, a feeling of generating actions and events by oneself, stems from action-outcome congruence. An implicit marker of sense of agency is intentional binding, which is compression of subjective temporal interval between action and outcome. We investigated relationships between intentional binding and explicit sense of agency. Participants pressed a key triggering auditory (Experiment 1) or visual outcome (Experiment 2) that occurred after variable delays. In each trial, participants rated their agency over the outcome and estimated the keypress-outcome temporal interval. Results showed that delays decreased agency ratings and intentional binding. There was inter-individual correlation between sensitivities to outcome delay (i.e., regression slope) of agency rating and intentional binding in the auditory but not visual domain. Importantly, we found intra-individual correlations between agency rating and intentional binding on a trial-by-trial basis in both outcome modalities. These results suggest that intentional binding coincides with explicit sense of agency.
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pubmed_arxiv
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NASA is on the hunt for an asteroid to capture with a robotic spacecraft, redirect to a stable orbit around the moon, and send astronauts to study in the 2020s -- all on the agency's human Path to Mars. Agency officials announced on Thursday, June 19, recent progress to identify candidate asteroids for its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), increase public participation in the search for asteroids, and advance the mission's design.NASA plans to launch the ARM robotic spacecraft in 2019 and will make a final choice of the asteroid for the mission about a year before the spacecraft launches. NASA is working on two concepts for the mission: The first is to fully capture a very small asteroid in open space, and the second is to collect a boulder-sized sample off of a much larger asteroid. Both concepts would require redirecting an asteroid less than 32 feet (10 meters) in size into the moon's orbit. The agency will choose between these two concepts in late 2014 and further refine the mission's design.The agency will award a total of $4.9 million for concept studies addressing components of ARM. Proposals for the concept studies were solicited through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) released in March, and selected in collaboration with NASA's Space Technology and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorates. The studies will be completed over a six-month period beginning in July, during which time system concepts and key technologies needed for ARM will be refined and matured. The studies also will include an assessment of the feasibility of potential commercial partners to support the robotic mission."With these system concept studies, we are taking the next steps to develop capabilities needed to send humans deeper into space than ever before, and ultimately to Mars, while testing new techniques to protect Earth from asteroids," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.For more information about the BAA and award recipients, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1sr6sRnNASA's Spitzer Space Telescope made recent observations of an asteroid designated 2011 MD, which bears the characteristics of a good candidate for the full capture concept. While NASA will continue to look for other candidate asteroids during the next few years as the mission develops, astronomers are making progress to find suitable candidate asteroids for humanity's next destination into the solar system."Observing these elusive remnants that may date from the formation of our solar system as they come close to Earth is expanding our understanding of our world and the space it resides in," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Closer study of these objects challenges our capabilities for future exploration and will help us test ways to protect our planet from impact. The Spitzer observatory is one of our tools to identify and characterize potential candidate targets for the asteroid mission."Analysis of Spitzer's infrared data shows 2011 MD is roughly 20 feet (6 meters) in size and has a remarkably low density -- about the same as water, which supports the analysis of observations taken in 2011.The asteroid appears to have a structure perhaps resembling a pile of rocks, or a "rubble pile." Since solid rock is about three times as dense as water, this suggests about two-thirds of the asteroid must be empty space. The research team behind the observation says the asteroid could be a collection of small rocks, held loosely together by gravity, or it may be one solid rock with a surrounding halo of small particles. In both cases, the asteroid mass could be captured by the ARM capture mechanism and redirected into lunar orbit.The findings based on the Spitzer observation were published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. For more information, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1lJ61Z2To date, nine asteroids have been identified as potential candidates for the mission, having favorable orbits and measuring the right size for the ARM full capture option. With these Spitzer findings on 2011 MD, sizes now have been established for three of the nine candidates. Another asteroid -- 2008 HU4 -- will pass close enough to Earth in 2016 for interplanetary radar to determine some of its characteristics, such as size, shape and rotation. The other five will not get close enough to be observed again before the final mission selection, but NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program is finding several potential candidate asteroids per year. One or two of these get close enough to Earth each year to be well characterized.Boulders have been directly imaged on all larger asteroids visited by spacecraft so far, making retrieval of a large boulder a viable concept for ARM. During the next few years, NASA expects to add several candidates for this option, including asteroid Bennu, which will be imaged up close by the agency's Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission in 2018.NASA's search for candidate asteroids for ARM is a component of the agency's existing efforts to identify all NEOs that could pose a threat to the Earth. Some of these NEOs could become candidates for ARM because they are in orbits similar to Earth's. More than 11,140 NEOs have been discovered as of June 9. Approximately 1,483 of those have been classified as potentially hazardous.In June 2013, NASA announced an Asteroid Grand Challenge (AGC) to accelerate this observation work through non-traditional collaborations and partnerships. On the first anniversary of the grand challenge this week, NASA officials announced new ways the public can contribute to the Asteroid Grand Challenge, building on the successes of the challenge to date. To that end, NASA will host a two-day virtual workshop -- dates to be determined -- on emerging opportunities through the grand challenge, in which the public can participate."There are great ways for the public to help with our work to identify potentially hazardous asteroids," said Jason Kessler, program executive for NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge. "By tapping into the innovative spirit of people around the world, new public-private partnerships can help make Earth a safer place, and perhaps even provide valuable information about the asteroid that astronauts will visit."For more information about the workshop and public opportunities through the grand challenge, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1lJ5SonThe Asteroid Grand Challenge and Asteroid Redirect Mission comprise NASA's Asteroid Initiative. Capabilities advanced and tested through the Asteroid Initiative will help astronauts reach Mars in the 2030s. For more information about the Asteroid Initiative and NASA's human Path to Mars, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiativeNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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nasa_news
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Therapeutic effect of methane and its mechanism in disease treatment.
Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It is abundant in marsh gas, livestock rumination, and combustible ice. Little is known about the use of methane in human disease treatment. Current research indicates that methane is useful for treating several diseases including ischemia and reperfusion injury, and inflammatory diseases. The mechanisms underlying the protective effects of methane appear primarily to involve anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and anti-apoptosis. In this review, we describe the beneficial effects of methane on different diseases, summarize possible mechanisms by which methane may act in these conditions, and discuss the purpose of methane production in hypoxic conditions. Then we propose several promising directions for the future research.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Subclinical cardiopulmonary dysfunction in stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
Reduced exercise capacity is well documented in end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD), preceded by changes in cardiac morphology in CKD stage 3. However, it is unknown whether subclinical cardiopulmonary dysfunction occurs in CKD stage 3 independently of heart failure. Prospective observational cross-sectional study of exercise capacity assessed by cardiopulmonary exercise testing in 993 preoperative patients. Primary outcome was peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak). Anaerobic threshold (AT), oxygen pulse and exercise-evoked measures of autonomic function were analysed, controlling for CKD stage 3, age, gender, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. CKD stage 3 was present in 93/993 (9.97%) patients. Diabetes mellitus (RR 2.49 (95% CI 1.59 to 3.89); p<0.001), and hypertension (RR 3.20 (95% CI 2.04 to 5.03); p<0.001)) were more common in CKD stage 3. Cardiac failure (RR 0.83 (95% CI 0.30 to 2.24); p=0.70) and ischaemic heart disease (RR 1.40 (95% CI 0.97 to 2.02); p=0.09) were not more common in CKD stage 3. Patients with CKD stage 3 had lower predicted VO2peak (mean difference: 6% (95% CI 1% to 11%); p=0.02), lower peak heart rate (mean difference:9 bpm (95% CI 3 to 14); p=0.03)), lower AT (mean difference: 1.1 mL/min/kg (95% CI 0.4 to 1.7); p<0.001) and impaired heart rate recovery (mean difference: 4 bpm (95% CI 1 to 7); p<0.001)). Subclinical cardiopulmonary dysfunction in CKD stage 3 is common. This study suggests that maladaptive cardiovascular/autonomic dysfunction may be established in CKD stage 3, preceding pathophysiology reported in end-stage CKD.
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pubmed_arxiv
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New paleoecological inferences based on the Early Pleistocene amphibian and reptile assemblage from Dmanisi (Georgia, Lesser Caucasus).
Dmanisi (Georgia) is one of the oldest Early Paleolithic sites discovered out of Africa. In addition, it is the best site to understand the first Homo deme out of Africa and the first hominin occupation of Central to Western Eurasia. It has produced more than 40 hominin remains, including several very informative skulls, found in direct association with faunal remains and numerous lithic artifacts. To date, fossil amphibians and reptiles are one of the few proxies that have been used to propose quantitative climate reconstructions for the time where the hominins were living at Dmanisi. The aim of the present study is to review and amplify the previous paleoclimatic interpretation given by Blain et al. (2014), with an enhanced methodology using geographic information system and based on uncertain distribution area-occupied distribution area discrimination technique. This procedure permits to approach to a more precise common species distribution area and then using the WorldClim v. 2.1 climate database to propose for the first time monthly reconstructions for temperature and rainfall, in addition to annual parameters. The same technique is used to infer dominant ecoregions through the study area and potential tree coverage. Dmanisi climate is newly reconstructed as warm and semi-arid, similar to the present-day Mediterranean climate. New estimates however suggest warmer temperatures than previously reconstructed, together with a slightly higher but much more irregular amount of rainfall. The aridity indexes suggest a six months dry period, from May to October. Associated regional paleoenvironment is mainly characterized by Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub, and the potential tree coverage is around 25%, that is, much less forested than today. New estimates agree with the 'Iberian' hominin ecological model, and with other proxies (large mammals, small mammals and archaeobotanical remains) that indicate a period of increased aridity contemporaneous with human occupations of the site.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Testing is underway on NASA's next mission on the journey to Mars, a stationary lander scheduled to launch in March 2016.The lander is called InSight, an abbreviation for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. It is about the size of a car and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the Red Planet. Examining the planet's deep interior could reveal clues about how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved.The current testing will help ensure InSight can operate in and survive deep space travel and the harsh conditions of the Martian surface. The spacecraft will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and land on Mars about six months later.The technical capabilities and knowledge gained from Insight, and other Mars missions, are crucial to NASA's journey to Mars, which includes sending astronauts to the Red Planet in the 2030s."Today, our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way, making great progress on the journey to Mars," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Together, humans and robotics will pioneer Mars and the solar system."During the environmental testing phase at Lockheed Martin's Space Systems facility near Denver, the lander will be exposed to extreme temperatures, vacuum conditions of nearly zero air pressure simulating interplanetary space, and a battery of other tests over the next seven months. The first will be a thermal vacuum test in the spacecraft's "cruise" configuration, which will be used during its seven-month journey to Mars. In the cruise configuration, the lander is stowed inside an aeroshell capsule and the spacecraft's cruise stage - for power, communications, course corrections and other functions on the way to Mars -- is fastened to the capsule."The assembly of InSight went very well and now it's time to see how it performs," said Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. "The environmental testing regimen is designed to wring out any issues with the spacecraft so we can resolve them while it's here on Earth. This phase takes nearly as long as assembly, but we want to make sure we deliver a vehicle to NASA that will perform as expected in extreme environments."Other tests include vibrations simulating launch and checking for electronic interference between different parts of the spacecraft. The testing phase concludes with a second thermal vacuum test in which the spacecraft is exposed to the temperatures and atmospheric pressures it will experience as it operates on the Martian surface.The mission's science team includes U.S. and international co-investigators from universities, industry and government agencies."It's great to see the spacecraft put together in its launch configuration," said InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "Many teams from across the globe have worked long hours to get their elements of the system delivered for these tests. There still remains much work to do before we are ready for launch, but it is fantastic to get to this critical milestone."The InSight mission is led by JPL's Bruce Banerdt. The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, France's space agency, and the German Aerospace Center are each contributing a science instrument to the two-year scientific mission. InSight's international science team includes researchers from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company built the lander.For addition information about the mission, visit:http://insight.jpl.nasa.govMore information about NASA's journey to Mars is available online at:https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars
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nasa_news
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PASADENA, Calif. - Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and making other scientific measurements.The new video is available online at:http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1041. Best viewed with red-blue glasses, the video incorporates images from Dawn's framing camera from July to August 2011. It was created by Dawn team member Ralf Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).The images were obtained when Dawn was making its approach to Vesta, and while orbiting the giant asteroid in its first science orbit, known as survey orbit, at an altitude of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The video begins with a global view of Vesta from the plane of its equator, where a mysterious band of linear ridges and troughs can be seen. The movie cuts to a flyover of young craters in the northern hemisphere, whose peculiar alignment has led some scientists to refer to them as the "snowman." Then this virtual tour of Vesta takes the viewer around a massive mountain at the south pole of Vesta that is about 16 miles (25 kilometers) high, or more than twice the height of Mt. Everest."If you want to know what it's like to explore a new world like Vesta, this new video gives everyone a chance to see it for themselves," Jaumann said. "Scientists are poring over these images to learn more about how the craters, hills, grooves and troughs we see were created."Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn is currently spiraling down to its low altitude mapping orbit, which will bring the spacecraft to about 130 miles (210 kilometers) above Vesta's surface."Dawn's data thus far have revealed the rugged topography and complex textures of the surface of Vesta, as can be seen in this video," said Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Soon, we'll add other pieces of the puzzle such as the chemical composition, interior structure, and geologic age to be able to write the history of this remnant protoplanet and its place in the early solar system."Dawn launched in September 2007 and arrived at Vesta on July 15, 2011. Following a year at Vesta, the spacecraft will depart in July 2012 for the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.For more information about the Dawn mission, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/dawnandhttp://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov.To follow the mission on Twitter, visit:http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Dawn.
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nasa_news
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NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to investigate the possibility of using commercial Mars-orbiting satellites to provide telecommunications capabilities for future robotic missions to the Red Planet."We are looking to broaden participation in the exploration of Mars to include new models for government and commercial partnerships," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Depending on the outcome, the new model could be a vital component in future science missions and the path for humans to Mars."The RFI details possible new business models that would involve NASA contracting to purchase services from a commercial service provider, which would own and operate one or more communication relay orbiters. The solicitation is open to all types of organizations including U.S. industry, universities, nonprofits, NASA centers, and federally funded research and development centers, in addition to U.S. government and international organizations.NASA is interested in exploring alternative models to sustain and evolve its Mars' communications relay infrastructure to avoid a communications gap in the 2020s. The RFI encourages innovative ideas for cost-effective approaches that provide relay services for existing landers, as well as significantly improving communications performance.One possible area for improvement is laser or optical communications. NASA successfully demonstrated laser communications technology in October 2013 with its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. LADEE made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over 239,000 miles from the moon to Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps).Mars landers and rovers currently transmit their science data and other information to Earth either by a direct communication link or via orbiting satellites acting as relay stations. The direct link is severely limited because of mass, volume, and power limits on the rovers. To address these limits, NASA's Mars Exploration Program currently uses relay radios on its Mars science orbiters. The spacecraft carry high-gain antennas and higher power transmitters that provide very high-rate, energy-efficient links between orbiters and surface missions as the obiters pass overhead.NASA currently is operating two Mars science orbiters with relay capabilities -- Odyssey, launched in 2001, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched in 2005. These spacecraft enable communication links from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers on Mars' surface. This approach will continue with the Sept. 21 arrival of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, and the 2016 arrival of the European Space Agency's ExoMars/Trace Gas Orbiter."This Mars relay strategy has been extremely successful in providing the science and engineering data returned from the Martian surface over the past decade," said Lisa May, lead program executive for Mars Exploration Program in Washington.Because NASA has launched science orbiters to Mars on a steady cadence, the current strategy has been cost effective. However, NASA has no scheduled Mars science orbiters after MAVEN arrives on the Red Planet in the fall. This creates the need to identify cost-effective options to ensure continuity of reliable, high-performance telecommunications relay services for the future."Looking ahead, we need to seriously explore the possibility of the commercialization of Mars communications services," said May. "This will offer advantages to NASA, while also providing appropriate return-on-investment to the service provider."The RFI is for planning and information purposes only. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the government pay for information solicited.To view the complete RFI, visit:http://go.nasa.gov/1kV6KYjFor more information on NASA Mars missions, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/marsFor information on the LADEE mission, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/ladeeNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, Opportunity and Curiosity missions. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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nasa_news
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Astronomers have discovered a veritable rogues' gallery of odd exoplanets -- from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to frigid ice balls.And while the hunt continues for the elusive "blue dot" -- a planet with roughly the same characteristics as Earth -- new research reveals that life might actually be able to survive on some of the many exoplanetary oddballs that exist."When we're talking about a habitable planet, we're talking about a world where liquid water can exist," said Stephen Kane, a scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "A planet needs to be the right distance from its star -- not too hot and not too cold." Determined by the size and heat of the star, this temperature range is commonly referred to as the "habitable zone" around a star.Kane and fellow Exoplanet Science Institute scientist Dawn Gelino have created a resource called the "Habitable Zone Gallery." It calculates the size and distance of the habitable zone for each exoplanetary system that has been discovered and shows which exoplanets orbit in this so-called "goldilocks" zone. The Habitable Zone Gallery can be found atwww.hzgallery.org. The study describing the research appears in the Astrobiology journal and is available athttp://arxiv.org/abs/1205.2429.But not all exoplanets have Earth-like orbits that remain at a fairly constant distance from their stars. One of the unexpected revelations of planet hunting has been that many planets travel in very oblong, eccentric orbits that vary greatly in distance from their stars."Planets like these may spend some, but not all of their time in the habitable zone," Kane said. "You might have a world that heats up for brief periods in between long, cold winters, or you might have brief spikes of very hot conditions."Though planets like these would be very different from Earth, this might not preclude them from being able to support alien life. "Scientists have found microscopic life forms on Earth that can survive all kinds of extreme conditions," Kane said. "Some organisms can basically drop their metabolism to zero to survive very long-lasting, cold conditions. We know that others can withstand very extreme heat conditions if they have a protective layer of rock or water. There have even been studies performed on Earth-based spores, bacteria and lichens, which show they can survive in both harsh environments on Earthand the extreme conditions of space."Kane and Gelino's research suggests that habitable zone around stars might be larger than once thought, and that planets that might be hostile to human life might be the perfect place for extremophiles, like lichens and bacteria, to survive. "Life evolved on Earth at a very early stage in the planet's development, under conditions much harsher than they are today," Kane said.Kane explained that many life-harboring worlds might not be planets at all, but rather moons of larger, gas-giant planets like Jupiter in our own solar system. "There are lots of giant planets out there, and all of them may have moons, if they are like the giant planets in the solar system," Kane says. "A moon of a planet that is in or spends time in a habitable zone can be habitable itself."As an example, Kane mentioned Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, which, despite its thick atmosphere, is far too distant from the sun and too cold for life as we know it to exist on its surface. "If you moved Titan closer in to the sun, it would have lots of water vapor and very favorable conditions for life."Kane is quick to point out that there are limits to what scientists can presently determine about habitability on already-discovered exoplanets. "It's difficult to really know about a planet when you don't have any knowledge about its atmosphere," he said. For example, both Earth and Venus experience an atmospheric "greenhouse effect" -- but the runaway effect on Venus makes it the hottest place in the solar system. "Without analogues in our own solar system, it's difficult to know precisely what a habitable moon or eccentric planet orbit would look like."Still, the research suggests that habitability might exist in many forms in the galaxy -- not just on planets that look like our own. Kane and Gelino are hard at work determining which already-discovered exoplanets might be candidates for extremophile life or habitable moons. "There are lots of eccentric and gas giant planet discoveries," Kane says. "We may find some surprises out there as we start to determine exactly what we consider habitable."NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech manages time allocation on the Keck Telescope for NASA. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages NASA's Exoplanet Exploration program office. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. More information about exoplanets and NASA's planet-finding program is athttp://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov.
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nasa_news
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You don't need wheels to explore Mars.After touching down in November, NASA's InSight spacecraft will spread its solar panels, unfold a robotic arm ... and stay put. Unlike the space agency's rovers, InSight is a lander designed to study an entire planet from just one spot.This sedentary science allows InSight to detect geophysical signals deep below the Martian surface, including marsquakes and heat. Scientists will also be able to track radio signals from the stationary spacecraft, which vary based on the wobble in Mars' rotation. Understanding this wobble could help solve the mystery of whether the planet's core is solid.Here are five things to know about how InSight conducts its science.1. InSight Can Measure Quakes Anywhere on the PlanetQuakes on Earth are usually detected using networks of seismometers. InSight has only one - calledSEIS(Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) - so its science team will use some creative measurements to analyze seismic waves as they occur anywhere on the planet.SEIS will measure seismic waves from marsquakes and meteorite strikes as they move through Mars. The speed of those waves changes depending on the material they're traveling through, helping scientists deduce what the planet's interior is made of.Seismic waves come in a surprising number of flavors. Some vibrate across a planet's surface, while others ricochet off its center. They also move at different speeds. Seismologists can use each type as a tool to triangulate where and when a seismic event has happened.This means InSight could have landed anywhere on Mars and, without moving, gathered the same kind of science.2. InSight's Seismometer Needs Peace and QuietSeismometers are touchy by nature. They need to be isolated from "noise" in order to measure seismic waves accurately.SEIS is sensitive enough to detect vibrations smaller than the width of a hydrogen atom. It will be the first seismometer ever set on the Martian surface, where it will be thousands of times more accurate than seismometers that sat atopthe Viking landers.To take advantage of this exquisite sensitivity, engineers have given SEIS a shell: a wind-and-thermal shield that InSight's arm will place over the seismometer. This protective dome presses down when wind blows over it; a Mylar-and-chainmail skirt keeps wind from blowing in. It also gives SEIS a cozy place to hide away from Mars' intense temperature swings, which can create minute changes in the instrument's springs and electronics.3. InSight Has a Self-Hammering NailHave you ever tried to hammer a nail? Then you know holding it steady is key. InSight carries a nail that also needs to be held steady.This unique instrument, calledHP3(Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package), holds a spike attached to a long tether. A mechanism inside the spike will hammer it up to 16 feet (5 meters) underground, dragging out the tether, which is embedded with heat sensors.At that depth, it can detect heat trapped inside Mars since the planet first formed. That heatshaped the surfacewith volcanoes, mountain ranges and valleys. It may even have determined where rivers ran early in Mars' history.4. InSight Can Land in a Safe SpotBecause InSight needs stillness - and because it can collect seismic and heat data from anywhere on the planet - the spacecraft is free to land in the safest location possible.InSight's team selected a location on Mars' equator called Elysium Planitia - as flat and boring a spot as any on Mars. That makes landing just a bit easier, as there's less to crash into, fewer rocks to land on and lots of sunlight to power the spacecraft. The fact that InSight doesn't use much power and should have plenty of sunlight at Mars' equator means it can provide lots of data for scientists to study.5. InSight Can Measure Mars' WobbleInSight has two X-band antennas on its deck that make up a third instrument, called RISE (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment). Radio signals from RISE will be measured over months, maybe even years, to study the tiny "wobble" in the rotation of the planet. That wobble is a sign of whether Mars' core is liquid or solid - a trait that could also shed light on the planet's thin magnetic field.Collecting detailed data on this wobble hasn't happened since Mars Pathfinder's three-month mission in 1997 (although the Opportunity rover made a few measurements in 2011 while it remained still, waiting out the winter). Every time a stationary spacecraft sends radio signals from Mars, it can help scientists improve their measurements.About InSightJPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), support the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument.For more information about InSight, visit:https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/
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nasa_news
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Remarks on the lifespan of the solutions to some models of incompressible fluid mechanics
We give lower bounds for the lifespan of a solution to the inviscid Boussinesq system. In dimension two, we point out that it tends to infinity when the initial (relative) temperature tends to zero. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first result of this kind for the inviscid Boussinesq system. In passing, we provide continuation criteria (of independent interest) in the $N$-dimensional case. In the second part of the paper, our method is adapted to handle the axisymmetric incompressible Euler equations with swirl.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Molecular tests potentially improving HPV screening and genotyping for cervical cancer prevention.
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers can be averted by type-specific vaccination (primary prevention) and/or through detection and ablation of precancerous cervical lesions (secondary prevention). This review presents current challenges to cervical cancer screening programs, focusing on recent molecular advances in HPV testing and potential improvements on risk stratification. Areas covered: High-risk (HR)-HPV DNA detection has been progressively incorporated into cervix cancer prevention programs based on its increased sensitivity. Advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) are being rapidly applied to HPV typing. However, current HPV DNA tests lack specificity for identification of cervical precancer (CIN3). HPV typing methods were reviewed based on published literature, with a focus on these applications for screening and risk stratification in the emerging complex clinical scenario post-vaccine introduction. In addition, the potential for NGS technologies to increase specificity is discussed in regards to reflex testing of specimens for emerging biomarkers for cervix precancer/cancer. Expert commentary: Integrative multi-disciplinary molecular tests accurately triaging exfoliated cervical specimens will improve cervical cancer prevention programs while simplifying healthcare procedures in HPV-infected women. Hence, the concept of a 'liquid-biopsy' (i.e., 'molecular' Pap test) highly specific for early identification of cervical precancerous lesions is of critical importance in the years to come.
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pubmed_arxiv
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= Appian Way Productions =
Appian Way Productions is a film production company in West Hollywood , California , established by actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio . The company 's first film was The Assassination of Richard Nixon ( 2004 ) . It then released the 2004 biopic The Aviator , starring DiCaprio as Howard Hughes . The film was a critical and commercial success , and earned several Academy Award nominations , including Best Picture . Its following productions were released three years later — the comedy drama Gardener of Eden ( 2007 ) and the documentary The 11th Hour ( 2007 ) . This was followed by the commercial successes of the psychological horror Orphan ( 2009 ) , the psychological thriller Shutter Island ( 2010 ) and the dark fantasy film Red Riding Hood ( 2011 ) . The company had three releases in 2013 , including the crime thriller Runner Runner and the thriller film Out of the Furnace ( 2013 ) , both of which performed poorly at the box @-@ office . Appian Way released the biopic The Wolf of Wall Street ( 2013 ) , a critical and commercial success , which was nominated for several Academy Awards , including Best Picture .
= = History = =
Appian Way Productions was founded by Leonardo DiCaprio . Its first film was The Assassination of Richard Nixon ( 2004 ) , starring Sean Penn as Samuel Byck who attempted to assassinate president Richard Nixon in 1974 . It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival . The company 's next film was the 2004 biopic The Aviator , produced in association with Forward Pass , Intermedia , and Initial Entertainment Group . Based on the 1993 non @-@ fiction book Howard Hughes : The Secret Life by Charles Higham , the film depicted the life of Howard Hughes ( DiCaprio ) , an aviation pioneer who became a successful film producer between the late 1920s and late 1940s while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive – compulsive disorder . Writing for The Daily Telegraph , Sukhdev Sandhu described the film as " a gorgeous tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood " even though it " tips the balance of spectacle versus substance in favour of the former . " He praised Martin Scorsese 's direction , DiCaprio and the supporting cast but panned Kate Beckinsale 's performance . With a worldwide gross of $ 213 @.@ 7 million against a budget of $ 110 million , the film proved to be a commercial success . The film earned a total of eleven nominations at the 77th Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Director ( Scorsese ) and Best Actor ( DiCaprio ) , and won five of them , including a Best Supporting Actress award for Cate Blanchett .
Appian Way 's next film was released three years later — the comedy drama Gardener of Eden which , according to The Hollywood Reporter 's Frank Scheck , " lacks the necessary dramatic urgency or black humor to connect with audiences " . A few months later , it released The 11th Hour , a documentary about global warming . The film featured 50 experts on environmental issues and the solutions , and won the Earthwatch Environmental Film Award through the National Geographic Channel in March 2008 . DiCaprio wrote a three @-@ season television series Greensburg ( 2008 – 10 ) which was produced by the company . The company , along with Dark Castle Entertainment , released the 2009 psychological horror film Orphan , which told the story of a couple who , after the death of their unborn child , adopt a mysterious 9 @-@ year @-@ old girl . The film 's content , depicting a murderous adoptee , created controversy among the adoption community , which stated that it promotes negative stereotypes about orphans . Although the film received mixed reviews , it was a commercial success . Scorsese reunited with the company to make the film Shutter Island ( 2010 ) , a psychological thriller based on the 2003 novel of same name by Dennis Lehane . DiCaprio played U.S. Marshal Edward " Teddy " Daniels , who investigates a psychiatric facility located on an island but eventually comes to question his own sanity . A commercial success , the film received generally positive reviews ; Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised the film 's direction and performances but criticized its " silly twist ending " , calling it " supremely exasperating " .
Red Riding Hood , directed by Catherine Hardwicke , was Appian Way 's first release in 2011 . In the film , which is set in a village haunted by werewolves , a young girl falls in love with an orphan woodcutter , much to her family 's displeasure . Earlier in production , the film was titled The Girl with the Red Riding Hood . Although it was poorly received by critics — Mary Pols of Time named it one of the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011 — it performed modestly at the box @-@ office . The company 's final release in 2011 was Detachment , a Tony Kaye @-@ directed drama on high school education system . Three films were produced by the company in 2013 ; the first was Runner Runner , an ensemble crime thriller , which The Guardian 's Xan Brooks described as " a lazy , trashy film that barely goes through the motions " . The thriller Out of the Furnace , the company 's second release , was also negatively received by critics and was a box office bomb . Scorsese directed the company 's final film in 2013 — The Wolf of Wall Street , a biopic on the life of Jordan Belfort ( DiCaprio ) , a New York stockbroker who runs a firm that engages in securities fraud and money laundering on Wall Street in the 1990s . The screenplay was adapted by Terence Winter from Belfort 's memoir of the same name . The film was banned in Kenya , Malaysia and Nepal for its controversial depiction of events , explicit sexual content , profanity , and hard drug use . Nonetheless , it was a major commercial success and it went on to be the 17th @-@ highest @-@ grossing film of 2013 . According to copyright infringement tracking site Excipio , the film was the most widely infringed of 2014 , as it was downloaded illegally over 30 million times via torrent sites . The film was nominated for several Academy Awards , including Best Picture and Best Actor , although it failed to win in any category .
In 2015 , DiCaprio produced and starred in the biographical western thriller The Revenant , which is based on in part on Michael Punke 's 2002 novel of the same name , which itself is inspired by the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass . The film was well received by critics , with Justin Change of Variety reviewing : " Bleak as hell but considerably more beautiful , this nightmarish plunge into a frigid , forbidding American outback is a movie of pitiless violence , grueling intensity and continually breathtaking imagery " . As of October 2015 , the company is filming Live by Night , a crime film based on the 2012 novel of same name .
In May 2016 , Appian Way Productions signed a three @-@ year , first @-@ look production deal with Paramount Pictures .
= = Films = =
= = Television = =
Greensburg ( 2008 – 10 )
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I=2 Two-Pion Wave Functions with Non-zero Total Momentum
We calculate the two-pion wave function for the I=2 $S$-wave two-pion system with a finite scattering momentum and estimate the interaction range between two pions. It allows us to examine the validity of the necessary condition for the finite-volume method for the scattering phase shift. A calculation is carried out with a plaquette gauge action for gluons and a clover-improved Wilson action for quarks at $1/a=1.63 {\rm GeV}$ on $32^3\times 120$ lattice in the quenched approximation. We conclude that the necessary condition is satisfied within statistical errors for the lattice size $L\ge 32$, when the quark mass is in the range $m_\pi^2=0.176 - 0.345 {\rm GeV}^2$ and the scattering momentum in $k^2 < 0.026 {\rm GeV}^2$. We also find that the energy dependence of the interaction range is small and it takes $1.2-1.7 {\rm fm}$ for our simulation parameters. We obtain the phase shift from the two-pion wave function with a smaller statistical error than that from the conventional analysis with the two-pion time correlator.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Having trekked 3.2 billion kilometers (2 billion miles) across cold, radiation-charged and interstellar-dust-swept space in just under five years, NASA's Stardust spacecraft is closing in on the main target of its mission -- a comet flyby."As the saying goes, 'We are good to go,'" said project manager Tom Duxbury at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "There are significant milestones ahead that we need to achieve before we reach the comet on Jan. 2, but we have a great team of engineers and scientists that have trained hard for this moment, and we have a spacecraft that is in great shape."All this intense earthly preparation is directed at Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt 2), a ball of dirty ice and rock, about as big as 20 Titanics laid end-to-end. Discovered in 1978, Wild 2 orbits the Sun once every 6.39 years on a trajectory that carries it nearly as close to the Sun as Mars is, and as far away from the Sun as Jupiter.On Jan. 2 at 11:40:35 am PST, the 5.4-kilometer-wide (3.3- mile) comet will sail past the 5-meter-long (16-foot) Stardust spacecraft at a distance of about 300 kilometers (186 miles) and at a relative speed of 21,960 kilometers per hour (13,650 miles per hour). The plan is thus because Stardust is a sample return mission."In recent decades, spacecraft have passed fairly close to comets and provided us with excellent data," said Dr. Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, principal investigator for the Stardust mission. "Stardust, however, marks the first time that we have ever collected samples from a comet and brought them back to Earth for study."Clad for battle behind specially designed armored shielding, Stardust will document its passage through the hailstorm of comet debris with two scientific instruments that will scrutinize the size, number and composition of dust particles in the coma - the region of dust and gas surrounding the comet's nucleus. Along with these instruments, the spacecraft's optical navigation camera will be active during the flyby and should provide images of the dark mass of the comet's nucleus. Data from all three will be recorded onboard Stardust and beamed back to Earth soon after the encounter.The chain of events began nine days out from the comet when Stardust deployed its "cometary catcher's mitt," a tennis- racket-shaped particle catcher of more than 1,000 square centimeters (160 square inches) of collection area filled with a material called aerogel. Made of pure silicon dioxide, like sand and glass, aerogel is a thousand times less dense than glass because it is 99.8 percent air. The high-tech material has enough "give" in it to slow and stop particles without altering them radically."The samples we will collect are extremely small, 10 to 300 microns in diameter, and can only be adequately studied in laboratories with sophisticated analytical instruments," said Brownlee. "Even if a ton of sample were returned, the main information in the solids would still be recorded at the micron level, and the analyses would still be done a single grain at a time."After the sample has been collected, the collector will fold down into a return capsule, which will close like a clamshell to secure the sample for a soft landing at the U.S. Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range in January 2006. The capsule, holding microscopic particles of comet and interstellar dust, will be taken to the planetary material curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, where the samples will be carefully stored and examined.Scientists believe in-depth terrestrial analysis of cometary samples will reveal a great deal not only about comets but also related to the earliest history of the solar system. Locked within the cometary particles is unique chemical and physical information that could provide a record of the formation of the planets and the materials from which they were made.Stardust, a project under NASA's Discovery Program of low- cost, highly focused science missions, was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.More information on the Stardust mission is available athttp://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov.
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An international team of astronomers led by NASA scientists successfully completed the first global exercise using a real asteroid to test global response capabilities.Planning for the so-called "TC4 Observation Campaign" started in April, under the sponsorship of NASA'sPlanetary Defense Coordination Office.The exercise commenced in earnest in late July, when the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope recovered the asteroid. The finale was a close approach to Earth in mid-October. The goal: to recover, track and characterize a real asteroid as a potential impactor -- and to test theInternational Asteroid Warning Networkfor hazardous asteroid observations, modeling, prediction and communication.The target of the exercise was asteroid 2012 TC4 -- a small asteroid originally estimated to be between 30 and 100 feet (10 and 30 meters) in size, which was known to be on a very close approach to Earth. On Oct. 12, TC4 safely passed Earth at a distance of only about 27,200 miles (43,780 kilometers) above Earth's surface. In the months leading up to the flyby, astronomers from the U.S., Canada, Colombia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and South Africa all tracked TC4 from ground- and space-based telescopes to study its orbit, shape, rotation and composition."This campaign was an excellent test of a real threat case. I learned that in many cases we are already well-prepared; communication and the openness of the community was fantastic," said Detlef Koschny, co-manager of the near-Earth object (NEO) segment in the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Space Situational Awareness program. "I personally was not prepared enough for the high response from the public and media -- I was positively surprised by that! It shows that what we are doing is relevant.""The 2012 TC4 campaign was a superb opportunity for researchers to demonstrate willingness and readiness to participate in serious international cooperation in addressing the potential hazard to Earth posed by NEOs," said Boris Shustov, science director for the Institute of Astronomy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. "I am pleased to see how scientists from different countries effectively and enthusiastically worked together toward a common goal, and that the Russian-Ukrainian observatory in Terskol was able to contribute to the effort." Shustov added, "In the future I am confident that such international observing campaigns will become common practice."Using the observations collected during the campaign, scientists at NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California were able to precisely calculate TC4's orbit, predict its flyby distance on Oct. 12, and look for any possibility of a future impact. "The high-quality observations from optical and radar telescopes have enabled us to rule out any future impacts between the Earth and 2012 TC4," said Davide Farnocchia from CNEOS, who led the orbit determination effort. "These observations also help us understand subtle effects such as solar radiation pressure that can gently nudge the orbit of small asteroids."A network of optical telescopes also worked together to study how fast TC4 rotates. Given that TC4 is small, astronomers expected it to be rotating fast, but were surprised when they found that TC4 was not only spinning once every 12 minutes, it was also tumbling. "The rotational campaign was a true international effort. We had astronomers from several countries working together as one team to study TC4's tumbling behavior," said Eileen Ryan, director of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory. Her team tracked TC4 for about 2 months using the 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) telescope in Socorro, New Mexico.The observations that revealed the shape and confirmed the composition of the asteroid came from astronomers using NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Network antenna in California and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's 330-foot (100-meter) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. "TC4 is a very elongated asteroid that's about 50 feet (15 meters) long and roughly 25 feet (8 meters) wide," said Marina Brozovic, a member of the asteroid radar team at JPL.Finding out what TC4 is made of turned out to be more challenging. Due to adverse weather conditions, traditional NASA assets studying asteroid composition -- such as the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii -- were unable to narrow down what TC4 was made of: either dark, carbon-rich or bright igneous material."Radar has the ability to identify asteroids with surfaces made of highly reflective rocky or metallic materials," said Lance Benner, who led the radar observations at JPL. "We were able to show that radar scattering properties are consistent with a bright rocky surface, similar to a particular class of meteorites that reflect as much as 50 percent of the light falling on them."In addition to the observation campaign, NASA used this exercise to test communications between the many observers and also to test internal U.S. government messaging and communications up through the executive branch and across government agencies, as it would during an actual predicted impact emergency."We demonstrated that we could organize a large, worldwide observing campaign on a short timeline, and communicate results efficiently," said Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, who led the observation campaign. Michael Kelley, TC4 exercise lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington added, "We are much better prepared today to deal with the threat of a potentially hazardous asteroid than we were before the TC4 campaign."NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office administers the Near-Earth Object Observations Program and is responsible for finding, tracking and characterizing potentially hazardous asteroids and comets coming near Earth, issuing warnings about possible impacts, and assisting coordination of U.S. government response planning, should there be an actual impact threat.
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nasa_news
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Breakdown by a magnetic field of the superconducting fluctuations in the normal state: A simple phenomenological explanation
We first summarize our recent observations, through magnetization measurements in different low-Tc superconductors, of a rather sharp disappearance of the superconducting fluctuations in the normal state when the magnetic field approaches Hc2(0), the upper critical field extrapolated to T=0K. We propose that a crude phenomenological description of the observed effects may be obtained if the quantum limits associated with the uncertainty principle are introduced in the Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau description of the fluctuation-induced magnetization.
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pubmed_arxiv
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A group ofNASAandNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)scientists, including scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, are teaming up this month for an airborne mission focused on studying severe storm processes and intensification. The Hands-On Project Experience (HOPE) Eastern Pacific Origins and Characteristics of Hurricanes (EPOCH) field campaign will use NASA's Global Hawk autonomous aircraft to study storms in the Northern Hemisphere to learn more about how storms intensify as they brew out over the ocean.The scope of the mission initially focused only on the East Pacific region, but was expanded to both the Gulf and Atlantic regions to give the science team broader opportunities for data collection."Our key point of interest is still the Eastern Pacific, but if the team saw something developing off the East Coast that may have high impact to coastal communities, we would definitely recalibrate to send the aircraft to that area," said Amber Emory, NASA's principal investigator.Having a better understanding of storm intensification is an important goal of HOPE EPOCH. The data will help improve models that predict storm impact to coastal regions, where property damage and threat to human life can be high.NASA has led the campaign through integration of the HOPE EPOCH science payload onto the Global Hawk platform and maintained operational oversight for the six planned mission flights. NOAA's role will be to incorporate data from dropsondes -- devices dropped from aircraft to measure storm conditions -- into NOAA National Weather Service operational models to improve storm track and intensity forecasts that will be provided to the public.NOAA first used the Global Hawk to study Hurricane Gaston in 2016.With the Global Hawk flying at altitudes of 60,000 feet (18,300 meters), the team will conduct six 24-hour-long flights, three of which are being supported and funded through a partnership with NOAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems program.NASA's autonomous Global Hawk is operated from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California and was developed for the U.S. Air Force by Northrop Grumman. It is ideally suited for high-altitude, long-duration Earth science flights.The ability of the Global Hawk to autonomously fly long distances, remain aloft for extended periods of time and carry large payloads brings a new capability to the science community for measuring, monitoring and observing remote locations of Earth not feasible or practical with piloted aircraft or space satellites.The science payload consists of a variety of instruments that will measure different aspects of storm systems, including wind velocity, pressure, temperature, humidity, cloud moisture content and the overall structure of the storm system.Many of the science instruments have flown previously on the Global Hawk, including the High-Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), a microwave sounder instrument that takes vertical profiles of temperature and humidity; and the Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsondes, which are released from the aircraft to profile temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction.New to the science payload is the ER-2 X-band Doppler Radar (EXRAD) instrument that observes vertical velocity of a storm system. EXRAD has one conically scanning beam as well as one nadir beam, which looks down directly underneath the aircraft. EXRAD now allows researchers to get direct retrievals of vertical velocities directly underneath the plane.The EXRAD instrument is managed and operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and the HAMSR instrument is managed by JPL. The National Center for Atmospheric Research developed the AVAPS dropsonde system, and the NOAA team will manage and operate the system for the HOPE EPOCH mission.Besides the scientific value that the HOPE EPOCH mission brings, the campaign also provides a unique opportunity for early-career scientists and project managers to gain professional development.HOPE is a cooperative workforce development program sponsored by the Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) program and NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The HOPE Training Program provides an opportunity for a team of early-entry NASA employees to propose, design, develop, build and launch a suborbital flight project over the course of 18 months. This opportunity enables participants to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to manage NASA's future flight projects.Emory started as a NASA Pathways Intern in 2009. The HOPE EPOCH mission is particularly exciting for her, as some of her first science projects at NASA began with the Global Hawk program.The NASA Global Hawk had its first flights during the 2010 Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) campaign. Incidentally, the first EPOCH science flight targeted Tropical Storm Franklin as it emerged from the Yucatan peninsula into the Gulf of Campeche along a track almost identical to that of Hurricane Karl in 2010, which was targeted during GRIP and where Emory played an important role."It's exciting to work with people who are so committed to making the mission successful," Emory said. "Every mission has its own set of challenges, but when people come to the table with new ideas on how to solve those challenges, it makes for a very rewarding experience and we end up learning a lot from one another."
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nasa_news
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Deviated septum
# Overview
A deviated septum is a common physical disorder of the nose, involving a displacement of the nasal septum.
# Causes
It is most frequently caused by impact trauma, such as by a blow to the face. It can also be a congenital disorder.
# Presentation
The nasal septum is the membranous ridge of cartilage in the nose that separates the nasal cavity into the two nostrils. Normally, the septum lies centrally, and thus the nasal passages are symmetrical. A deviated septum is an abnormal condition in which the top of the cartilaginous ridge leans to the left or the right, causing obstruction of the affected nasal passage. The condition can result in poor drainage of the sinuses, leading to frequent infections or the growth of nasal polyps. Patients can also complain of difficulty breathing easily, or of sleeping disorders such as snoring or sleep apnea.
It is common for nasal septa to depart from the exact centerline; the septum is only considered deviated if the shift is substantial or is adversely affecting the patient. Many people with a deviation are unaware they have it until some discomfort is produced. But by itself a deviated septum can go undetected for years and thus be without any real need for correction.
# Treatment
In most cases a deviated septum can be corrected with a minor surgical procedure known as a septoplasty, which enters through the nostrils and cuts away the obtruding matter. The surgery is performed quickly but the patient may take several days to recover.
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guidelines
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Radar imaging at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in the California desert on Dec. 11 and 12, 2010, revealed defining characteristics of recently discovered asteroid 2010 JL33. The images have been made into a short movie that shows the celestial object's rotation and shape. A team led by Marina Brozovic, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., made the discovery."Asteroid 2010 JL33 was discovered on May 6 by the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona, but prior to the radar observations, little was known about it," said Lance Benner, a scientist at JPL. "By using the Goldstone Solar System Radar, we can obtain detailed images that reveal the asteroid's size, shape and rotational rate, improve its orbit, and even make out specific surface features."Data from the radar reveal 2010 JL33 to be an irregular, elongated object roughly 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) wide that rotates once every nine hours. The asteroid's most conspicuous feature is a large concavity that may be an impact crater. The images in the movie span about 90 percent of one rotation.At the time it was imaged, the asteroid was about 22 times the distance between Earth and the moon (8.5 million kilometers, or 5.3 million miles). At that distance, the radio signals from the Goldstone radar dish used to make the images took 56 seconds to make the roundtrip from Earth to the asteroid and back to Earth again.The 70-meter (230-foot) Goldstone antenna in California's Mojave Desert, part of NASA's Deep Space network, is one of only two facilities capable of imaging asteroids with radar. The other is the National Science Foundation’s 1,000-foot-diameter (305 meters) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The capabilities of the two instruments are complementary. The Arecibo radar is about 20 times more sensitive, can see about one-third of the sky, and can detect asteroids about twice as far away. Goldstone is fully steerable, can see about 80 percent of the sky, can track objects several times longer per day, and can image asteroids at finer spatial resolution. To date, Goldstone and Arecibo have observed 272 near-Earth asteroids and 14 comets with radar. JPL manages the Goldstone Solar System Radar and the Deep Space Network for NASA.More information about asteroid radar research is at:http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/.More information about the Deep Space Network is at:http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn.
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nasa_news
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The small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the asteroid's path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be closest to Earth on Feb. 15, at about 11:24 a.m. PST (2:24 p.m. EST and 1924 UTC), when it will be at a distance of about 27,700 kilometers (17,200 miles) above Earth's surface. Although this is close enough for the asteroid to pass inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites, located about 35,800 kilometers (22,200 miles) above the equator, it will still be well above the vast majority of satellites, including the International Space Station. At its closest, the asteroid will be only about 1/13th of the distance to the moon. The asteroid will fly by our planet quite rapidly, at a speed of about 17,400 mph (7.8 kilometers per second) in a south-to-north direction with respect to Earth.Even though 2012 DA14 is coming remarkably close, it will still only appear as a point of light in the biggest of optical telescopes, because of its small size. Based on its brightness, astronomers estimate that it is only about 45 meters (150 feet) across. It will brighten only to magnitude 7.5, too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but easily visible with a good set of binoculars or a small telescope. The best viewing location for the closest approach will be Indonesia, from which the asteroid will be seen to move at a rate of almost 1 degree per minute against the star background. Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia are also well situated to see the asteroid around its closest approach. But by the time Earth rotates enough for observers in the continental United States to have a chance to see the asteroid, it will have receded and faded to about the 11th magnitude. Radar astronomers plan to take images of the asteroid about eight hours after closest approach using the Goldstone antenna in California's Mojave Desert, which is part of NASA's Deep Space Network.2012 DA14 has not been in the catalogues for very long -- it was discovered in February of 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Sky Survey program in southern Spain and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which designates minor bodies in our solar system. At the time of the discovery, the asteroid had just made a fairly distant passage by Earth, about seven times farther than the distance to the moon. Since 2012 DA14's orbital period around the sun has been about 368 days, which is very similar to Earth's, the asteroid made a series of annual close approaches. This year's is the closest approach, and is the closest the asteroid will come for at least three decades. But this encounter will shorten 2012 DA14's orbital period to about 317 days, changing its orbital class from Apollo to Aten, and its future close approaches will follow a different pattern.This passage of 2012 DA14 by Earth is a record close approach for a known object of this size. A few other known asteroids have flown by Earth even closer, but those asteroids were smaller. On average, we expect an object of this size to get this close to Earth about once every 40 years. An actual Earth collision by an object of this size would be expected much less frequently, about once every 1,200 years, on average.
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nasa_news
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Editor's note: Text in the fifth paragraph of this story was expanded to account for when Comet NEOWISE will begin to make its appearance in the evening.A comet visiting from the most distant parts of our solar system is putting on a spectacular display. Named Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, the comet made its once-in-our-lifetimes close approach to the Sun on July 3, 2020, and will cross outside Earth's orbit on its way back to the outer parts of the solar system by mid-August.The comet cruised just inside Mercury's orbit on July 3. This very close passage by the Sun is cooking the comet's outermost layers, causing gas and dust to erupt off the icy surface and creating a large tail of debris. And yet the comet has managed to survive this intense roasting.Observers all over the world are racing to see the natural fireworks display before the comet speeds away into the depths of space. Even the astronauts aboard the International Space Stationspotted itfrom their vantage point high above Earth's atmosphere.People wishing to catch a glimpse of the glowing comet can spot it as it swings through the inner solar system, but its nearness to the Sun creates some observing challenges.For the next few days it will be visible about an hour before sunrise, close to the horizon in the northeastern sky in the United States. Observers might be able to see the comet's central core, or nucleus, with the naked eye in dark skies; using binoculars will give viewers a good look at the fuzzy comet and its long, streaky tail. As it speeds away from the Sun, Comet NEOWISE will begin to make its appearance in the evening sky shortly after sunset on July 11 or July 12, depending on local conditions.NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission discovered the icy visitor on March 27, 2020, using its two infrared channels, which are sensitive to the heat signatures given off by the object as the Sun started to turn up the heat.The spacecraft was launched in December 2009 and was originally named the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). WISE was not designed to study asteroids and comets and is now long past its expected lifetime of 7 months. Although incapable of discovering large numbers of near-Earth asteroids and comets, the spacecraft has provided information on their numbers and sizes based on a sample of them and was repurposed for this use in 2013 by what is now known as NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office."In its discovery images, Comet NEOWISE appeared as a glowing, fuzzy dot moving across the sky even when it was still pretty far away," said Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator at the University of Arizona. "As soon as we saw how close it would come to the Sun, we had hopes that it would put on a good show."The search for asteroids or comets that could potentially impact Earth also expands the science of these primitive solar system bodies. In this case, Comet NEOWISE will pass by Earth at a harmless distance of 64 million miles (103 million kilometers) while giving astronomers the opportunity to learn more about its composition and structure. The NEOWISE mission's infrared data complements images taken at visible-light wavelengths by observers on the ground."From its infrared signature, we can tell that it is about 5 kilometers [3 miles] across, and by combining the infrared data with visible-light images, we can tell that the comet's nucleus is covered with sooty, dark particles left over from its formation near the birth of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago," said Joseph Masiero, NEOWISE deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.The NEOWISE mission is not expected to last much longer due to natural orbital precession and will eventually harmlessly re-enter Earth's atmosphere. The University of Arizona and JPL are now working on developing a highly capable next-generation space-based telescopic survey called the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM). If fully funded, NEOSM would greatly expand NASA's ability to identify, track, and characterize asteroids and comets that could potentially impact Earth. This would help the agency reach a near-Earth asteroid discovery goal set before it by Congress, and would complement existing and planned ground-based efforts.NEOSM would optimize the NEOWISE mission's architecture for the study of near-Earth objects, improving it by using next-generation infrared sensors and strategic operations that would allow it to search a much larger swath of space around Earth's orbit.NEOWISE is a project of JPL, a division of Caltech, and the University of Arizona, supported by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.For more information about NEOWISE, visit:https://www.nasa.gov/neowisehttp://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu/For more information about NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, visit:https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense
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nasa_news
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Plk4 Regulates Centriole Asymmetry and Spindle Orientation in Neural Stem Cells.
Defects in mitotic spindle orientation (MSO) disrupt the organization of stem cell niches impacting tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. Mutations in centrosome genes reduce MSO fidelity, leading to tissue dysplasia and causing several diseases such as microcephaly, dwarfism, and cancer. Whether these mutations perturb spindle orientation solely by affecting astral microtubule nucleation or whether centrosome proteins have more direct functions in regulating MSO is unknown. To investigate this question, we analyzed the consequences of deregulating Plk4 (the master centriole duplication kinase) activity in Drosophila asymmetrically dividing neural stem cells. We found that Plk4 functions upstream of MSO control, orchestrating centriole symmetry breaking and consequently centrosome positioning. Mechanistically, we show that Plk4 acts through Spd2 phosphorylation, which induces centriole release from the apical cortex. Overall, this work not only reveals a role for Plk4 in regulating centrosome function but also links the centrosome biogenesis machinery with the MSO apparatus.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Activation of the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway by curcumin inhibits oxidative stress in human nasal fibroblasts exposed to urban particulate matter.
Particulate matter (PM) can cause various negative acute and chronic diseases of the respiratory system, including the upper airways. Curcumin has been reported to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects; therefore, we investigated the effects of curcumin on nasal fibroblasts exposed to urban PM (UPM). Samples of inferior turbinate tissue were obtained from six patients. Flow cytometry was used to assess the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) following the treatment of nasal fibroblasts with UPM and/or curcumin. We evaluated the effects of UPM and/or curcumin on the expression of phosphorylated ERK, Nrf2, HO-1, and SOD2 in fibroblasts by Western blotting. When UPM was applied to nasal fibroblasts, ROS production was significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner. UPM-exposed fibroblasts caused the activation of ERK to increase HO-1 expression and decrease SOD2 expression. Treatment with curcumin reduced the UPM-mediated increase in ROS; this decrease in ROS occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The UPM-induced activation of ERK was inhibited by curcumin. Nrf2 production was also promoted to increase the expression of HO-1 and SOD2 by curcumin. Curcumin reduced ROS production caused by UPM in human nasal fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that curcumin has anti-oxidative effects and may be useful in the treatment of nasal diseases caused by UPM, such as allergic and chronic rhinitis.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Acute and Chronic Sarcoid Arthropathies: Characteristics and Treatments From a Retrospective Nationwide French Study.
Introduction: We aimed to analyze patients with acute and chronic joint involvements in sarcoidosis. Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter analysis of patients with proven sarcoidosis, as defined by clinical, radiological, and histological criteria, with at least one clinical and/or ultrasonographic synovitis. Results: Thirty-nine patients with sarcoid arthropathy were included, and among them 19 had acute sarcoidosis (Lofgren's syndrome). Joint involvement and DAS44-CRP were not significantly different in acute and chronic sarcoid arthropathies. Acute forms were more frequent than chronic sarcoid arthropathy in Caucasians, without any difference of sex or age between these 2 forms. Joint involvement was frequently more symmetrical in acute than chronic forms (100 vs. 70%; p < 0.05), with a more frequent involvement in wrists and ankles in acute forms, whereas the tender and swollen joint counts and the DAS44-CRP were similar between the 2 groups. Skin lesions were significantly more frequent in patients with acute forms [17 (89%) vs. 5 (25%); p < 0.05] and were erythema nodosum in all patients with Löfgren's syndrome and sarcoid skin lesions in those with chronic sarcoidosis. Among 20 patients with chronic sarcoidosis, treatment was used in 17 (85%) cases, and consisted in NSAIDs alone ( n = 5; 25%), steroids alone ( n = 5; 25%), hydroxychloroquine ( n = 2; 20%), methotrexate ( n = 3; 15%), and TNF inhibitors ( n = 2; 10%). A complete/partial joint response was noted in 14 (70%) cases with a DAS44-CRP reduction of 2.07 [1.85-2.44] (from 3.13 [2.76-3.42] to 1.06 [0.9-1.17]; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Sarcoid arthropathies have different clinical phenotypes in acute and chronic forms and various treatment regimens such as hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate could be used in chronic forms.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Exploring primary school headteachers' perspectives on the barriers and facilitators of preventing childhood obesity.
Headteachers of primary schools in England are a crucial partner for childhood obesity prevention. Understanding how this works in practice is limited by their views being underrepresented or missing from the evidence base. The aim of this study was to explore primary school headteachers' perspectives on childhood obesity and the perceived barriers and facilitators of prevention. A qualitative study with a purposive sample of 14 primary school headteachers from the Yorkshire and Humber region of England was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. An extensive range of barriers and facilitators emerged within four key themes; understanding childhood obesity, primary school setting, the role of parents and external partners. A lack of knowledge, awareness and skills to deal with the sensitivity and complexity of childhood obesity across all school stakeholders presents the most significant barrier to effective action. Headteachers recognize primary schools are a crucial setting for childhood obesity prevention; however their school's often do not have the capability, capacity and confidence to make a meaningful and sustainable impact. To increase headteachers' ability and desire to prevent childhood obesity, schools require specialist and tailored training, resources and support from external partners such as public health teams and school nursing services.
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pubmed_arxiv
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Scientists from the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission are honoring their deceased colleague, Claudia Alexander of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, by naming a feature after her on the mission's target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.Alexander, who died in July 2015 at age 56, was the project scientist for the U.S. portion of the mission. Her colleagues have named a gate-like feature on the comet C. Alexander Gate. Another deceased colleague, Angioletta Coradini, formerly of the National Astrophysics Institute of Italy, is being honored as well, with a feature on the other lobe of the comet called A. Coradini Gate.Alexander earned a bachelor's degree in geophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1985. She earned a doctorate degree in atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1993. Alexander began working at JPL before finishing her doctorate, nearly three decades ago, later becoming the project manager for NASA's Galileo mission in 2000 at the relatively young age of 40.One of Alexander's passions was inspiring young people. In her spare time, she wrote two children's books on science and mentored young African-American girls. She also wrote "steampunk" science fiction short stories.A European Space Agency blog post about the dedication is online at:http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/09/28/rosetta-science-working-team-dedication-to-deceased-colleagues/Tributes to Alexander and a Q&A with her are online at:http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/alexandercRosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the U.S. contribution of the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL also built the MIRO instrument and hosts its principal investigator, Samuel Gulkis. The Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio and Boulder) developed the Rosetta orbiter's IES and Alice instruments, and hosts their principal investigators, James Burch (IES) and Alan Stern (Alice).For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit:http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.govMore information about Rosetta is available at:http://www.esa.int/rosetta
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nasa_news
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O-Minimal Hybrid Reachability Games
In this paper, we consider reachability games over general hybrid systems, and distinguish between two possible observation frameworks for those games: either the precise dynamics of the system is seen by the players (this is the perfect observation framework), or only the starting point and the delays are known by the players (this is the partial observation framework). In the first more classical framework, we show that time-abstract bisimulation is not adequate for solving this problem, although it is sufficient in the case of timed automata . That is why we consider an other equivalence, namely the suffix equivalence based on the encoding of trajectories through words. We show that this suffix equivalence is in general a correct abstraction for games. We apply this result to o-minimal hybrid systems, and get decidability and computability results in this framework. For the second framework which assumes a partial observation of the dynamics of the system, we propose another abstraction, called the superword encoding, which is suitable to solve the games under that assumption. In that framework, we also provide decidability and computability results.
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pubmed_arxiv
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