Contrasting Regional Carbon Cycle Responses to Seasonal Climate Anomalies Across the East-West Divide of Temperate North America.

Across temperate North America, interannual variability (IAV) in gross primary production (GPP) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and their relationship with environmental drivers are poorly understood. Here, we examine IAV in GPP and NEE and their relationship to environmental drivers using two state-of-the-science flux products: NEE constrained by surface and space-based atmospheric CO2 measurements over 2010-2015 and satellite up-scaled GPP from FluxSat over 2001-2017. We show that the arid western half of temperate North America provides a larger contribution to IAV in GPP (104% of east) and NEE (127% of east) than the eastern half, in spite of smaller magnitude of annual mean GPP and NEE. This occurs because anomalies in western ecosystems are temporally coherent across the growing season leading to an amplification of GPP and NEE. In contrast, IAV in GPP and NEE in eastern ecosystems is dominated by seasonal compensation effects, associated with opposite responses to temperature anomalies in spring and summer. Terrestrial biosphere models in the MsTMIP ensemble generally capture these differences between eastern and western temperate North America, although there is considerable spread between models.

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.

Antepartum detection of macrosomic fetus: clinical versus sonographic, including soft-tissue measurements.

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical and sonographic estimates of birth weights with five new estimation techniques that involve measurements of soft tissue, for identifying newborns with birth weights of at least 4000 g. METHODS: Over 1 year, each woman at or after 36 weeks' gestation and suspected of having a macrosomic fetus had clinical and sonographic estimates of fetal weight (EFW) based on femur length (FL) and head and abdominal circumference, followed by five additional ways to identify excessive growth: cheek-to-cheek diameter, thigh soft tissue, ratio of thigh soft tissue to FL, upper arm subcutaneous tissue, and EFW derived from it. Areas (+/- standard error) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated and compared with the area under the nondiagnostic line. P <.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Among 100 women recruited, 28 newborns weighed 4000 g or more. The areas under the ROC curves with clinical (0.72 +/- 0.06) and sonographic predictions using biometric characteristics (0.73 +/- 0.06) had the highest but similar accuracies (P.05). Three of the five newer methods (upper arm or thigh subcutaneous tissue and ratio of thigh subcutaneous tissue to FL) were poor diagnostic tests (range of areas under ROC 0.52 +/- 0.06 to 0.58 +/- 0.07). Estimated fetal weight based on upper arm soft tissue thickness and cheek-to-cheek diameter (areas 0.70 +/- 0.06 and 0.67 +/- 0.06, respectively) were not significantly better than clinical predictions (P.05) for detecting macrosomic fetuses. About 110 macrosomic and nonmacrosomic infants combined would be needed to have 80% power to detect a difference between ROC curves with areas of 0.58 (thigh subcutaneous tissue) and 0.72 (clinical estimate). CONCLUSION: ROC curves indicated that measurements of soft tissue are not superior to clinical or sonographic predictions in identifying fetuses with weights of at least 4000 g.

Prostatic cancer: evolution of treatment at a comprehensive center (1970-1974).

As a follow-up report to studies in previous decades, the present study covers 190 patients admitted to Roswell Park Memorial Institute for prostatic carcinoma during 1970 to 1974. The records of an additional 30 cases whose prostatic carcinoma was found incidentally at autopsy are included in this study for comparisons. The mean age at diagnosis was significantly lower than in the previous decade, with a greater proportion of progressions to an advanced clinical stage prior to admission to Roswell Park Memorial Institute. The incidence of cardiovascular deaths was much lower than in 1960 to 1969. Survival for all clinical stages was longer than that observed in the previous period and correlated with clinical stage. Serum acid and alkaline phosphatase levels progressively increased with clinical stage. Chemotherapy, which was rarely employed in the previous decade, found increasing usage during 1970 to 1974. There is a general trend to earlier diagnosis of prostatic adenocarcinoma.

Magadan pharmacy services update.

Pharmacy services in the Magadan Region were visited in order to obtain an update of the current pharmaceutical availability and operation. The first pharmacy visit occurred in July 1990, and is published in the Jan/Mar 1991 issue of Alaska Medicine.

Identifying individual single-walled and double-walled carbon nanotubes by atomic force microscopy.

We show that the number of concentric graphene cylinders forming a carbon nanotube can be found by squeezing the tube between an atomic force microscope tip and a silicon substrate. The compressed height of a single-walled nanotube (double-walled nanotube) is approximately two (four) times the interlayer spacing of graphite. Measured compression forces are consistent with the predicted bending modulus of graphene and provide a mechanical signature for identifying individual single-walled and double-walled nanotubes.

Expression profiling of human sulfotransferase and sulfatase gene superfamilies in epithelial tissues and cultured cells.

The bioavailability of drugs administered topically or orally depends on their metabolism by epithelial enzymes such as the cytosolic sulfotransferases (SULT). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methods were established to detect expression of 8 SULT genes and 4 arylsulfatase (ARS) genes in human tissues of epithelial origin and in cultures of normal and transformed (cancer) cells. The results indicate: (i) SULT 1A1, 1A3, ARSC, and ARSD genes are ubiquitously expressed; (ii) expression is frequently similar between cell lines and corresponding tissues; (iii) SULT gene expression in normal cultured cells is generally comparable to the expression in associated transformed (cancer) cell lines; (iv) SULT 1A1 promoter usage is mainly tissue specific; however, both promoters are frequently used in SULT 1A3 expression; and (v) the expression profile of SULT 1A1, 1A3, 1E1, and 2B1a/b suggests that one or more of these isoforms may be involved in the cutaneous sulfoconjugation of minoxidil and cholesterol.

Histopathologic evaluation of uteri curetted by flexible suction cannula.

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the use of the flexible plastic cannula for obtaining endometrial specimens for diagnostic purposes. Suction curettage was performed immediately prehysterectomy, the specimens evaluated, and then compared to similar specimens obtained by a metal curette. Another group of patients had suction curettage performed as an office procedure 24 to 72 hours before hysterectomy. The results of our study confirm the adequacy of this method for obtaining endometrial samples.

Rotational Raman scattering (Ring effect) in satellite backscatter ultraviolet measurements.

A detailed radiative transfer calculation has been carried out to estimate the effects of rotational Raman scattering (RRS) on satellite measurements of backscattered ultraviolet radiation. Raman-scattered light is shifted in frequency from the incident light, which causes filling in of solar Fraunhofer lines in the observed backscattered spectrum (also known as the Ring effect). The magnitude of the rotational Raman scattering filling in is a function of wavelength, solar zenith angle, surface reflectance, surface pressure, and instrument spectral resolution. The filling in predicted by our model is found to be in agreement with observations from the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer and the Nimbus-7 Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer.

Chemotherapy of advanced prostatic carcinoma with cyclophosphamide or 5-fluorouracil: results of first national randomized study.

The National Prostatic Cancer Project has randomized this study for endocrine-resistant prostatic cancer patients for treatment with standard hormonal or other therapies compared to 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide. Both agents were found at the probability level of 0.05 to have a significant advantage over standard treatment in terms of objective response, subjective improvement and minimal toxicity. Additional chemotherapy protocols are currently under way. This randomized trial is the first report of such a national study completed to date. We are much encouraged by this program and believe that additional agents now under consideration will provide additionally encouraging results.