Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO).

TEMPO was selected in 2012 by NASA as the first Earth Venture Instrument, for launch between 2018 and 2021. It will measure atmospheric pollution for greater North America from space using ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy. TEMPO observes from Mexico City, Cuba, and the Bahamas to the Canadian oil sands, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, hourly and at high spatial resolution (~2.1 km N/S×4.4 km E/W at 36.5°N, 100°W). TEMPO provides a tropospheric measurement suite that includes the key elements of tropospheric air pollution chemistry, as well as contributing to carbon cycle knowledge. Measurements are made hourly from geostationary (GEO) orbit, to capture the high variability present in the diurnal cycle of emissions and chemistry that are unobservable from current low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that measure once per day. The small product spatial footprint resolves pollution sources at sub-urban scale. Together, this temporal and spatial resolution improves emission inventories, monitors population exposure, and enables effective emission-control strategies. TEMPO takes advantage of a commercial GEO host spacecraft to provide a modest cost mission that measures the spectra required to retrieve ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (H2CO), glyoxal (C2H2O2), bromine monoxide (BrO), IO (iodine monoxide),water vapor, aerosols, cloud parameters, ultraviolet radiation, and foliage properties. TEMPO thus measures the major elements, directly or by proxy, in the tropospheric O3 chemistry cycle. Multi-spectral observations provide sensitivity to O3 in the lowermost troposphere, substantially reducing uncertainty in air quality predictions. TEMPO quantifies and tracks the evolution of aerosol loading. It provides these near-real-time air quality products that will be made publicly available. TEMPO will launch at a prime time to be the North American component of the global geostationary constellation of pollution monitoring together with the European Sentinel-4 (S4) and Korean Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) instruments.

Dietary fish oil supplements depress milk fat yield and alter milk fatty acid composition in lactating cows fed grass silage-based diets.

The potential of dietary fish oil (FO) supplements to increase milk 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 concentrations and the associated effects on milk fatty acid (FA) composition, intake, and milk production were examined. Four multiparous lactating cows offered a grass silage-based diet (forage:concentrate ratio 58:42, on a dry matter basis) supplemented with 0, 75, 150, or 300g of FO/d (FO0, FO75, FO150, and FO300, respectively) were used in a 4×4 Latin square with 28-d experimental periods. Milk FA composition was analyzed by complementary silver-ion thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and silver-ion HPLC. Supplements of FO decreased linearly dry matter intake, yields of energy-corrected milk, milk fat and protein, and milk fat content. Compared with FO0, milk fat content and yield were decreased by 30.1 and 40.6%, respectively, on the FO300 treatment. Supplements of FO linearly increased milk 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 concentrations from 0.07 to 0.18 and 0.03 to 0.10g/100g of FA, respectively. Enrichment of 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 was accompanied by decreases in 4- to 18-carbon saturated FA and increases in total conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), trans FA, and polyunsaturated FA concentrations. Fish oil elevated milk fat cis-9,trans-11 CLA content in a quadratic manner, reaching a maximum on FO150 (from 0.61 to 2.15g/100g of FA), whereas further amounts of FO increased trans-10 18:1 with no change in trans-11 18:1 concentration. Supplements of FO also resulted in a dose-dependent appearance of 37 unique 20- and 22-carbon intermediates in milk fat. Concentrations of 16-, 18-, 20-, and 22-carbon trans FA were all increased by FO, with enrichment of trans 18:1 and trans 18:2 being quantitatively the most important. Decreases in milk fat yield to FO were not related to changes in milk trans-10,cis-12 CLA concentration or estimated milk fat melting point. Partial least square regression analysis indicated that FO-induced milk fat depression was associated with changes in the concentrations of multiple FA in milk. Even though a direct cause and effect could not be established, a decrease in 18:0 supply in combination with increased mammary uptake of cis-11 18:1, trans-10 18:1, and trans 20- and 22-carbon FA may contribute. In conclusion, dietary FO supplements enrich 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 in milk, but also elevate mono- and polyenoic trans FA concentrations, and in high amounts alter the distribution of individual trans FA isomers.

Observations of the Interaction and Transport of Fine Mode Aerosols with Cloud and/or Fog in Northeast Asia from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and Satellite Remote Sensing.

Analysis of sun photometer measured and satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) data has shown that major aerosol pollution events with very high fine mode AOD (>1.0 in mid-visible) in the China/Korea/Japan region are often observed to be associated with significant cloud cover. This makes remote sensing of these events difficult even for high temporal resolution sun photometer measurements. Possible physical mechanisms for these events that have high AOD include a combination of aerosol humidification, cloud processing, and meteorological co-variation with atmospheric stability and convergence. The new development of Aerosol Robotic network (AERONET) Version 3 Level 2 AOD with improved cloud screening algorithms now allow for unprecedented ability to monitor these extreme fine mode pollution events. Further, the Spectral Deconvolution Algorithm (SDA) applied to Level 1 data (L1; no cloud screening) provides an even more comprehensive assessment of fine mode AOD than L2 in current and previous data versions. Studying the 2012 winter-summer period, comparisons of AERONET L1 SDA daily average fine mode AOD data showed that Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite remote sensing of AOD often did not retrieve and/or identify some of the highest fine mode AOD events in this region. Also, compared to models that include data assimilation of satellite retrieved AOD, the L1 SDA fine mode AOD was significantly higher in magnitude, particularly for the highest AOD events that were often associated with significant cloudiness.

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in children: prognostic indicators and outcome.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcome of Finnish children and adolescents with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) and factors that might be useful as prognostic indicators. METHODOLOGY: The clinical profile and course of 62 Finnish children and adolescents (median age, 13 months; range, 1 day to 20 years) with IDCM in 1980 to 1991 were evaluated to detect factors that might predict outcome. Factors studied included age, gender, family history, previous viral illness, and symptoms and signs at presentation. Furthermore, data on serial electrocardiographic, echocardiographic, and chest x-ray examinations, histologic findings, and treatments were analyzed. RESULTS: During a mean (+/-SD) follow-up of 3.9 +/- 4.5 years (range, 1 day to 25 years), 10 patients (16%) recovered, 17 (27%) had residual disease, 4 (6.4%) underwent heart transplantation, and 31 (50%) died. Infants (<1 year of age) and adolescent (>/=15 years of age) male patients with progressing symptoms of left ventricular failure after initiation of medical therapy tended to have the poorest outcome. However, in multivariate analysis, only histologic evidence of endocardial fibroelastosis, clinical signs of right ventricular failure at presentation, and the need for anticoagulative therapy during follow-up, the last an expression of a severely impaired left ventricular systolic function, appeared to be significant predictors of long-term outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that the outcome of children with IDCM still remains poor. However, a group of patients, mainly infants, make a full recovery. Adolescent male patients as well as infants suffering from endocardial fibroelastosis with persisting symptoms of congestive heart failure after initiation of medical therapy tend to have the poorest outcome. These patients need a careful follow-up at short time intervals and, in the case of lacking response to medical treatment with resulting growth failure and/or poor quality of life, should be offered urgent heart transplantation.

Experimental myocarditis induced by two different coxsackievirus B3 variants: aspects of pathogenesis and comparison of diagnostic methods.

The ability of two coxsackievirus B3 (CBV3) variants to induce myocarditis in BALB/c mice was studied and plaque-forming assay, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry were compared for detecting viruses and viral components in the myocardium. The virological findings were related to histopathologic and ultrastructural changes in the myocardium. CBV3-W induced severe myocarditis characterized by massive myocyte necrosis. Widely distributed myocyte damage clearly preceded modest inflammatory infiltrates in the myocardium. In contrast, CBV3-M1 induced mild myocardial injury. Both variants caused fulminant pancreatitis with nearly complete necrosis of the exocrine pancreas. CBV3 RNA was identified by PCR in the myocardium of CBV3-W-infected mice until the end of the follow-up period of 14 days. Moreover, semiquantitative results were obtained when the PCR/hybridization results were analyzed by a phosphor imaging system. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization from formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens were highly similar in detecting viral components during the early stages of the myocardial injury. The results indicate that: (i) direct viral damage plays an essential role in acute murine CBV3-induced myocarditis, (ii) PCR appears a useful and sensitive diagnostic method in acute myocarditis, and (iii) immunohistochemistry as a specific and relatively rapid method might be practicable also in studying the early stages of acute myocarditis from archival clinical material.

Detection of enteroviral RNA in end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy in children and adolescents.

Medical records and archival myocardial specimens of 33 children and adolescents with end-stage idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) were collected to evaluate retrospectively the potential role of enteroviral persistence in the pathogenesis of IDCM. The clinical history and laboratory assessment of each patient were reviewed carefully in order to obtain information on the nature and etiology of infections in the past and at the time of diagnosis of cardiomyopathy. Sixty-four formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded myocardial specimens, obtained from endomyocardial biopsies (n = 5), explanted hearts (n = 10), or autopsies (n = 49), were studied by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by in situ hybridization to detect enteroviral RNA in the specimens. Control specimens included 34 formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded myocardial specimens from children with other cardiomyopathies, metabolic diseases, structural heart defects, or various noncardiac malignancies. The presence of cellular RNA in the specimens was confirmed by amplification of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA or beta-actin mRNA as positive controls. Only one specimen from the 32 IDCM patients with appropriate myocardial specimens was positive for enteroviral RNA by PCR. Sequence analysis of the amplified viral segment showed a significant degree of homology between the viral sequence and echovirus 1. One specimen from the control patients also appeared positive by PCR, but sequence analysis of the amplified viral segment revealed it as rhinovirus 16. The results do not indicate any significant role for enteroviral persistence in end-stage childhood IDCM, although they need to be confirmed using a prospective study with fresh frozen specimens. However, mechanisms other than viral persistence may be more important in the progression of IDCM to end-stage heart failure in this age group.

Identification of enteroviruses in clinical specimens by competitive PCR followed by genetic typing using sequence analysis.

A sensitive method based on competitive PCR was developed to detect and quantitate enteroviral RNA in clinical specimens, with special emphasis on controlling contamination and the presence of potential inhibitory factors in the specimens. Oligonucleotide primers from the conserved parts of the 5' untranslated and VP2 capsid protein-coding regions were selected to differentiate between enteroviruses and rhinoviruses on the basis of the length of the cDNA amplicons. RNA transcribed from a truncated cDNA copy of the echovirus 11 genome was used as an internal control for the reverse transcription reaction and PCR. This allowed simple differentiation of the control and viral PCR products from each other by agarose gel electrophoresis and nonradioactive quantitation of the viral RNA in the clinical specimens. By direct sequencing of the PCR products and subsequent computer analysis of the data, potential laboratory contaminations could be monitored and enteroviruses from clinical samples could be grouped into four distinct clusters, thus enabling genetic typing of the viruses. The described method can be applied to the diagnosis and epidemiology of enteroviral infections.

Molecular diagnosis of human rhinovirus infections: comparison with virus isolation.

To compare the sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR with that of virus isolation in the detection of human rhinoviruses, we tested nasopharyngeal aspirates from 200 patients on the 1st and 7th days after the onset of the common cold. An assay utilizing a short amplicon in the conserved 5' noncoding region was found highly sensitive. Of 192 positive samples altogether, 65 were found positive by RT-PCR only, 6 were positive by isolation exclusively, and 121 gave positive results in both tests.

Epidemiology of idiopathic cardiomyopathies in children and adolescents. A nationwide study in Finland.

Although idiopathic cardiomyopathies are prognostically important and are a common indication for cardiac transplantation in all age groups, the incidence and age distribution of idiopathic cardiomyopathies in a well-defined pediatric population have been poorly characterized. A retrospective study was carried out in Finland in 1980-1991 to obtain information on the epidemiology of childhood cardiomyopathies. The medical records of all patients aged birth to 20 years with cardiomyopathy from the five university hospitals and 16 central hospitals covering the entire country were reviewed. Moreover, data on causes of death from the Finnish National Census Bureau were examined. Of the 808 potential cases screened, 118 infants, children, and adolescents, representing an average age-specific population of 1.4 million, were definitely identified as having idiopathic cardiomyopathy. The average annual occurrence of new cases was 0.65 per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53-0.79). If the 15 cases diagnosed only after death during the 12-year study period were included, the occurrence increased to 0.74 per 100,000 population per year. Fifty-six new cases of dilated cardiomyopathy and 40 new cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were diagnosed during the study period, giving average annual occurrences of 0.34/100,000/year (95% CI 0.26-0.44) and 0.24/100,000/year (95% CI 0.17-0.33) for new cases of dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, respectively. At the end of 1991, the prevalence of dilated cardiomyopathy was 2.6/100,000 (95% CI 1.8-3.6) and that for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was 2.9/100,000 (95% CI 2.0-4.0). The number of new cases of dilated cardiomyopathy per year increased over the study period, whereas the annual occurrence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy remained relatively constant. Marked variability was seen in occurrence among the different age groups of children with dilated cardiomyopathy, suggesting that different pathophysiologic mechanisms, and possibly etiologies, may exist in different age groups.