|
| ||
|
|
||
C. This (c + this)
Selected AbstractsMacro-scale bed roughness of the siple coast ice streams in West AntarcticaEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 13 2004Martin J. Siegert Abstract Subglacial bed conditions are key to understanding ice stream behaviour and evolution, with bed roughness re,ecting substrate composition and ,ow resistance. Here we present an analysis of bed roughness in the Siple Coast region of West Antarctica from airborne radio-echo sounding data. The ice streams are associated generally with low bed roughness values, which decrease downstream. The bed of the slow-,owing Ice Stream C (,10 000 km2) is also characterized by being smooth at all scales (wavelengths ranging from 5 km to in excess of 40 km). Furthermore, the bed is smooth either side of Ice Stream C. This suggests the location of the ice stream is controlled by internal ice sheet dynamics rather than by bed morphology. If the ice stream were encouraged to migrate laterally, when active, there would be little resistance offered by the subglacial morphology. Other inter-ice stream regions are rough, however, indicating a subglacial topographic in,uence on ice stream position. Bed roughness increases up-,ow of ice streams, which, unless the bed is modi,ed, may limit the inland migration of these systems. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] In search of stable soil organic carbon fractions: a comparison of methods applied to soils labelled with 14C for 40 days or 40 yearsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2008S. Bruun Summary A reliable method for the isolation of a stable fraction of soil organic carbon (SOC) would be very helpful for improving our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for stabilization of SOC and the dynamics of SOC turnover. We tested acid hydrolysis, physical fractionation (particle density/size), photo-oxidation, treatment with chemical oxidants (NaOCl and NaS2O8) and thermal treatment on two soils incubated with 14C-labelled barley straw for either 40 days or 40 years. Different intensities of the treatments were included. Acid hydrolysis, photo-oxidation and treatment with a chemical oxidant consistently removed more 40-year-old C than 40-day-old C, which suggests that the isolated fractions contained a large proportion of material with a relatively rapid turnover. The clay + silt associated SOC fraction contained a small proportion of 40-day-old C and a large proportion of 40-year-old C. This is consistent with a SOC fraction with medium turnover. The thermal treatment removed more 40-year-old C than 40-day-old C. At 400°C there was still a small proportion of the 40-year-old C remaining, whereas almost all the 40-day-old C was removed. This is consistent with a stable SOC fraction. However, because only 2,3% of the C remained after this treatment, the isolated SOC fraction may be of little quantitative importance. Furthermore, the thermally resistant fraction is likely to be heavily altered by the treatment, and therefore unsuitable for further studies of the chemical nature of stable SOC. [source] Mineral surfaces and soil organic matterEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2003K. Kaiser Summary The organic carbon content of soil is positively related to the specific surface area (SSA), but large amounts of organic matter in soil result in reduced SSA as determined by applying the Brunauer,Emmett,Teller (BET) equation to the adsorption of N2. To elucidate some of the controlling mechanisms of this relation, we determined the SSA and the enthalpy of N2 adsorption of separates with a density > 1.6 g cm,3 from 196 mineral horizons of forest soils before and after removal of organic matter with NaOCl. Likewise, we investigated these characteristics before and after sorption of increasing amounts of organic matter to four mineral soil samples, oxides (amorphous Al(OH)3, gibbsite, ferrihydrite, goethite, haematite), and phyllosilicates (kaolinite, illite). Sorption of organic matter reduced the SSA, depending on the amount sorbed and the type of mineral. The reduction in SSA decreased at larger organic matter loadings. The SSA of the mineral soils was positively related to the content of Fe oxyhydroxides and negatively related to the content of organic C. The strong reduction in SSA at small loadings was due primarily to the decrease in the micropores to which N2 was accessible. This suggests preferential sorption of organic matter at reactive sites in or at the mouths of micropores during the initial sorption and attachment to less reactive sites at increasing loadings. The exponential decrease of the heat of gas adsorption with the surface loading points also to a filling or clogging of micropores at early stages of organic matter accumulation. Desorption induced a small recovery of the total SSA but not of the micropore surface area. Destruction of organic matter increased the SSA of all soil samples. The SSA of the uncovered mineral matrix related strongly to the amounts of Fe oxyhydroxides and the clay. Normalized to C removed, the increase in SSA was small in topsoils and illuvial horizons of Podzols rich in C and large for the subsoils containing little C. This suggests that micropores preferentially associate with organic matter, especially at small loadings. The coverage of the surface of the soil mineral matrix as calculated from the SSA before and after destruction of organic matter was correlated only with depth, and the relation appeared to be linear. We conclude that mineralogy is the primary control of the relation between surface area and sorption of organic matter within same soil compartments (i.e. horizons). But at the scale of complete profiles, the surface accumulation and stabilization of organic matter is additionally determined by its input. [source] Prevalence and impact of occult hepatitis B infection in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin,JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 5 2010Marion Levast Abstract The prevalence of occult hepatitis B, defined by absence of HBsAg and HBV DNA, ranges widely in patients with hepatitis C. This may influence the treatment of hepatitis C and the severity of liver disease. Sensitive and specific real-time PCR techniques are available commercially and can detect more reliably low HBV DNA levels. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus infection using the COBAS Taqman assay (Roche Diagnostics, Meylan, France) in the serum and liver of HBsAg negative patients with chronic hepatitis C and to evaluate its clinical consequences on liver pathology and its impact on the response to treatment with peg-IFN, and Ribavirin. HBV DNA detection was assessed retrospectively on 140 sera and 113 liver biopsies of HCV positive/HBsAg negative patients before treatment. A 4.4% (5/113) prevalence of occult hepatitis B was recorded in liver samples and in none of the sera. Anti-HBc was not detected in one, three of whom were sustained virological responders to treatment, one was relapsed responder and one was non-responder. Furthermore, in this cohort composed of 12% anti-HBs negative/anti-HBc positive and 20% anti-HBs positive/anti-HBc positive patients, anti-HBc was not associated with pre-therapeutic viral load, ALT serum levels, and histological activity or fibrosis. Using a commercial real-time PCR assay, we observed a low prevalence of occult B hepatitis. This, just as anti-HBC status, had no clinical impact in a large cohort of hepatitis C patients. It therefore does not appear useful to screen for occult hepatitis B in these patients with this test before beginning HCV treatment. J. Med. Virol. 82: 000,000, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. J. Med. Virol. 82: 747,754, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND DESICCATION ON THE PHOTOSYNTHETIC PERFORMANCE OF PORPHYRA PERFORATAJOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 2000A. Cabello-Pasini Porphyra perforata is a common seaweed inhabiting the upper intertidal zone, and as a consequence it experiences great fluctuations in tissue temperature and desiccation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of ambient temperature and the tissue desiccation status on the photosynthetic performance of P. perforata. Photosynthetic performance was evaluated polarographically after the temperature or desiccation treatments. Maximum photosynthesis (Pmax) occurred between 25 and 30° C and decreased at higher and lower temperatures, however, no significant differences were observed in the initial slope of photosynthesis (,) from 10 to 30° C. This suggests that the photosynthetic efficiency of this species does not decrease as a result of fluctuating temperatures during tidal emergence/submergence. Pmax and , were relatively constant in tissue of P. perforata with 5 to 100% relative water content. This also suggests that natural desiccation rates during low tides do not decrease photosynthetic rates in this species. Variations in the synthesis of specific proteins as a result of fluctuations in temperature and relative water content in the tissue of P. perforata are being studied. [source] von Willebrand factor activates endothelial nitric oxide synthase in blood platelets by a glycoprotein Ib-dependent mechanismJOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS, Issue 12 2006R. RIBA Summary.,Background: The molecular regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in blood platelets and the signalling events induced by platelet-derived NO are poorly defined. In particular, the ability of von Willebrand factor (VWF) to stimulate cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) formation in platelets has produced conflicting data. Objectives: To determine the mechanisms leading to eNOS activation and clarify the downstream signaling pathways activated by platelet-derived NO in response to VWF. Methods: We used three independent markers of NO signaling, [3H] l -citrulline production, cGMP accrual and immunoblotting of vasodilator,stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) to examine the NO signaling cascade in response to VWF. Results: VWF increased NO synthesis and bioavailability, as evidenced by increased [3H] l -citrulline production and cGMP accrual, respectively. VWF-induced eNOS activation was GPIb-IX-dependent and independent of integrin ,IIb,3. cGMP formation in response to VWF required Ca2+ mobilization, Src family kinases, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and phospholipase C, but not protein kinase C. This suggests that a cross-talk between the signaling mechanisms regulates platelet activation and NO synthesis. VWF-induced cGMP accrual was completely blocked by apyrase and indomethacin, demonstrating an essential role for platelet-derived ADP and thromboxane A2 (TxA2). Elevated cGMP levels led to increased VASP phosphorylation at serine239 that was both protein kinase G (PKG)- and protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent. Conclusions: We demonstrate that VWF activates eNOS through a specific Ca2+ -dependent GPIb receptor-signaling cascade that relies on the generation of platelet-derived ADP and TxA2. Furthermore, we provide the first evidence to suggest that platelet derived-NO/cGMP activates PKA in addition to PKG. [source] Modelling the influence of reactive elements on the work of adhesion between a thermally grown oxide and a bond coat alloyMATERIALS AND CORROSION/WERKSTOFFE UND KORROSION, Issue 3 2006I. J. Bennett Abstract The durability of thermal barrier coating systems is primarily determined by the degree of adhesion between the thermally grown oxide (TGO) and the bond coat. Failure of the TBC is often the result of delamination at this interface. Adhesion can be improved by the addition of reactive elements (RE) to the bond coat alloy. REs include oxide forming elements such as Y, Zr and Hf. The so-called reactive element effect has been attributed to a direct improvement of the bonding between the TGO and the bond coat. A macroscopic atom model has been developed to allow the work of adhesion between two compounds (e.g. an oxide and a metal compound) to be estimated. By calculating the work of adhesion across a number of different interfaces, the influence of reactive elements and impurities present in the substrate can be assessed. It has been found that the REs have a limited direct influence on the work of adhesion and can even result in a weaker interface. A large reduction in the work of adhesion is calculated when S and C are present at the interface. REs have a high affinity for both S and C. This indicates that the RE effect is primarily that of impurity scavenging, preventing diffusion of impurities to the interface. A number of experiments are reported, which demonstrate the RE effect and support the modelling results. [source] Scurvy: A cutaneous clinical diagnosisAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Roland TD Nguyen SUMMARY Two cases of scurvy diagnosed following presentation with a purpuric rash are presented. A 44-year-old man developed scurvy as a result of poor dietary intake of vitamin C. This occurred because of a number of factors. including poor dentition, diarrhoea, depression and benzodiazepine/narcotic dependence. A 69-year-old man with acute myeloid leukaemic transformation of myelodysplastic syndrome developed mucositis, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea as complications of chemotherapy. This led to poor dietary intake and consequently scurvy. Both cases demonstrated specific and diagnostic cutaneous manifestations of scurvy, particularly perifollicular purpura, ecchymoses and coiled corkscrew hairs. The diagnosis was supported by specific diet history. Ascorbic acid tolerance test was used as a simple laboratory method to confirm the clinical diagnosis. [source] | ||||||||||||||||