Classification of MODIS fire emission data based on aerosol absorption Angstrom exponent retrieved from AERONET data.

Biomass burning emits a large quantity of gaseous pollutants and aerosols into the atmosphere, which perturbs the regional and global climate and has significant impacts on air quality and human health. In order to understand the temporal and spatial distributions of biomass burning and its contribution to aerosol optical and radiative impacts, we examined fire emission data and its contribution to aerosol optical and radiative impacts over six major hot-spot continents/sub-continents across the globe, namely North-Central (NC) Africa, South America, US-Hawaii, South Asia, South East Asia, and Australia-New Zealand, using long-term satellites, ground-based and re-analysis data during 2000-2021. The selected six sites contributed ∼70% of total global fire data. The classification of biomass burning, such as pre, active, and post burning phases, was performed based on the Absorption Angstrom Exponent (AAE) estimated from 55 AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) stations. The study found the highest contribution of fire count (55 %) during the active burning phase followed by post (36 %) and pre (8 %) burning phases. Such high fire counts were associated with high absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) during the active fire event. Strong dominance of fine and coarse mode mixed aerosols were also observed during active and post fire regimes. High AAOD and low Extinction Angstrom Exponent (EAE) over NC Africa during the fire events suggested presence of mineral dust mixed with biomass burning aerosols. Brightness temperature, fire radiative power and fire count were also dominated by the active burning followed by post and pre burning phases. The maximum heating rate of 3.15 K day-1 was observed during the active fire events. The heating rate profile shows clear variations for three different fire regimes with the highest value of 1.80 K day-1 at ∼750 hPa altitude during the active fire event.

Anthropogenic aerosol drives uncertainty in future climate mitigation efforts.

The 2016 Paris agreement set a global mean surface temperature (GMST) goal of not more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial. This is an ambitious goal that will require substantial decreases in emission rates of long-lived greenhouse gasses (GHG). This work provides a mathematical framework, based on current state of the art climate models, to calculate the GHG emissions consistent with prescribed GMST pathways that meet the Paris agreement goal. The unique capability of this framework, to start from a GMST timeseries and efficiently calculate the emissions required to meet that temperature pathway, makes it a powerful resource for policymakers. Our results indicate that aerosol emissions play a large role in determining the near-term allowable greenhouse gas emissions that will limit future warming to 2 °C, however in the long term, drastic GHG emissions reductions are required under any reasonable aerosol scenario. With large future aerosol emissions, similar to present day amounts, GHG emissions need to be reduced 8% by 2040 and 74% by 2100 to limit warming to 2 °C. Under a more likely low aerosol scenario, GHG emissions need to be reduced 36% and 80% by 2040 and 2100, respectively. The Paris agreement Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are insufficient to meet this goal.

A furnace with rotating load frame for in situ high temperature deformation and creep experiments in a neutron diffraction beam line.

A resistive furnace combined with a load frame was built that allows for in situ neutron diffraction studies of high temperature deformation, in particular, creep. A maximum force of 2700 N can be applied at temperatures up to 1000 °C. A load control mode permits studies of, e.g., creep or phase transformations under applied uni-axial stress. In position control, a range of high temperature deformation experiments can be achieved. The examined specimen can be rotated up to 80° around the vertical compression axis allowing texture measurements in the neutron time-of-flight diffractometer HIPPO (High Pressure - Preferred Orientation). We present results from the successful commissioning, deforming a Zr-2.5 wt.% Nb cylinder at 975 °C. The device is now available for the user program of the HIPPO diffractometer at the LANSCE (Los Alamos Neutron Science Center) user facility.

Rapid DNA fingerprinting of pathogens by flow cytometry.

BACKGROUND: A new method for rapid discrimination among bacterial strains based on DNA fragment sizing by flow cytometry is presented. This revolutionary approach combines the reproducibility and reliability of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with the speed and sensitivity of flow cytometry. METHODS: Bacterial genomic DNA was isolated and digested with a rare-cutting restriction endonuclease. The resulting fragments were stained stoichiometrically with PicoGreen dye and introduced into an ultrasensitive flow cytometer. A histogram of burst sizes from the restriction fragments (linearly related to fragment length in base pairs) resulted in a DNA fingerprint that was used to distinguish among different bacterial strains. RESULTS: Five different strains of gram-negative Escherichia coli and six different strains of gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus were distinguished by analyzing their restriction fragments with DNA fragment sizing by flow cytometry. Fragment distribution analyses of extracted DNA were approximately 100 times faster and approximately 200,000 times more sensitive than pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). When sample preparation time is included, the total DNA fragment analysis time was approximately 8 h by flow cytometry and approximately 24 h by PFGE. CONCLUSIONS: DNA fragment sizing by flow cytometry is a fast and reliable technique that can be applied to the discrimination among species and strains of human pathogens. Unlike some polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods, sequence information about the bacterial strains is not required, allowing the detection of unknown, newly emerged, or unanticipated strains.

Effects of fluorescence excitation geometry on the accuracy of DNA fragment sizing by flow cytometry.

We report on various excitation geometries used in ultrasensitive flow cytometry that yield a linear relation between the fluorescence intensity measured from individual stained DNA fragments and the lengths of the fragments (in base pairs). This linearity holds for DNA samples that exhibit a wide range of conformations. The variety of DNA conformations leads to a distribution of dipole moment orientations for the dye molecules intercalated into the DNA. It is consequently important to use an excitation geometry such that all dye molecules are detected with similar efficiency. To estimate the conformation and the extent of elongation of the stained fragments in the flow, fluorescence polarization anisotropy and autocorrelation measurements were performed. Significant extension was observed for DNA fragments under the flow conditions frequently used for DNA fragment sizing. Classical calculations of the fluorescence emission collected over a finite solid angle are in agreement with the experimental measurements and have confirmed the relative insensitivity to DNA conformation of an orthogonal excitation geometry. Furthermore, the calculations suggested a modified excitation geometry that has increased our sizing resolution.

Bacterial fingerprinting by flow cytometry: bacterial species discrimination.

BACKGROUND: A flow cytometric measurement (FCM) technique has been developed to size DNA fragments. Individual fragments of a restriction digest of genomic DNA, stained with an intercalating dye, are passed through an ultrasensitive cytometer. The measured fluorescence intensity from each fragment is proportional to the fragment length. METHODS: The isolation of bacterial genomic DNA and digestion by restriction enzymes were performed inside an agarose plug. Rare cutting enzymes were employed to produce a manageable number of DNA fragments. Electroelution was used to move the DNA fragments from the agarose plug into a solution containing polyamines to protect the DNA from shear-induced breakage. The DNA was stained with the bisintercalating dye thiazole orange homodimer and introduced into our ultrasensitive flow cytometer. A histogram of the fluorescence intensities (fingerprint) was constructed. RESULTS: Gram-positive Bacillus globigii and gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Erwinia herbicola were distinguished by the fingerprint pattern of restriction fragments of their genomic DNA. DNA sizes determined by FCM are in good agreement with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. Flow cytometry requires only picogram quantities of purified DNA and takes less than 10 min for data collection and analysis. When the total sample preparation time is included, the analysis times for PFGE and FCM are similar ( approximately 3 days). CONCLUSIONS: FCM is an attractive technique for the identification of bacterial species. It is more sensitive and potentially much faster than PFGE.

Implementation and impact of the Patient Self-Determination Act.

The Patient Self-Determination Act became effective in December 1991 and mandates that patients be given information about legal rights regarding living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care. We investigated the impact this law has had on hospitals, medical personnel, and patients. We conducted a survey of all hospitals in the state of Georgia, collecting data regarding implementation and knowledge of the law, as well as effects of the law and beliefs about it. The data indicated that hospitals relied primarily on the Georgia Hospital Association for implementation policy, that "minimalist" implementation of the law occurs in most hospitals, and that the biggest perceived problem with the law was the inappropriateness of presenting this information at hospital admission and problems patients had in comprehending the materials presented. Despite these concerns, most respondents did not want the law repealed.

Personhood: current legal views.

Medical developments have given people unprecedented control over the beginning and end of life but have also altered traditional and legal concepts of personhood. Recent court decisions on prefetal life, fetuses, the infirm, and the dying reflect a struggle with the new ambiguity surrounding the definition of "person."

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome: development of nephroblastoma during the surveillance period.

Two children, with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and hemihypertrophy who were followed by ultrasonography, developed a large nephroblastoma in the interval between two abdominal ultrasound examinations. The customarily suggested bi-annual examinations are not frequent enough and may give physicians and parents a false sense of security.

Fetal echocardiography: the prenatal diagnosis of a ventricular septal defect in a 14-week fetus with pulmonary artery hypoplasia.

As the result of auscultation of fetal bradycardia in a class C diabetic, real-time and M-mode echocardiography were performed at 14 weeks of gestation. M-mode evaluation revealed fetal bradycardia (70 beats per minute) with atrial and ventricular systole occurring simultaneously, suggesting a nodal rhythm. Real-time examination demonstrated a ventricular septal defect, pericardial effusion, ventricular wall hypertrophy, and a dilated aortic root. Also present were fetal ascites and situs inversus of the stomach. A repeat ultrasound examination revealed fetal death at 16 weeks of gestation. Autopsy confirmed the above structural abnormalities, and also demonstrated bilobed lungs, pulmonary artery and valve hypoplasia, midline small intestine, and asplenia.

Pathological features of Kawasaki disease (mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome).

Kawasaki disease (mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome) (MCLS) is an apparently infectious disease, an etiological agent of which has not been established, with peak age incidence at about 1 year, but with progressively fewer cases occurring into the fourth decade. Early clinical features include fever, rash, conjunctival injection, dry reddened lips, oropharyngeal reddening, enlarged cervical nodes, and swelling and redness of hands and feet. Peeling of skin of fingers and toes, arthralgia, and marked thrombocytosis are frequent 1-2 weeks after onset. Myocarditis, cardiac valvulitis, and lymphocytic or mixed interstitial infiltration of pancreas, renal, splenic, and hepatic hilar regions are seen in the early phase, but arteritis, typically of extraparenchymal arteries, is the most important aspect of MCLS, hence the term infantile periarteritis nodosa, formerly applied to fatal cases of MCLS. Thrombosis of coronary artery aneurysms is the most common cause of death (rate about 0.5%). The peak time of death is 3-4 weeks from onset, but death from coronary occlusion has been seen as late as 14 years after the acute phase. Aneurysmal rupture with hemopericardium or retroperitoneal hemorrhage is rare, as are late brachial, iliac, or other arterial aneurysms. Pathological features of MCLS in the early and later stages are described and illustrated, and the epidemiologic, etiologic, forensic, and other aspects of the disease are discussed.

Association of hemolytic anemia and early-onset pulmonary emphysema in three siblings.

Three of four siblings born to nonconsanguineous parents of Italian origin were affected with severe congenital hemolytic anemia of unknown cause, and early-onset pulmonary emphysema. Two of the three affected siblings died of septic shock after splenectomy, at the ages of 7 and 3 1/2 years, respectively. The remaining affected sibling was shown to have cutis laxa and severe pulmonary emphysema at 15 years of age. Assay of serum components indicated that alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin levels were normal or slightly elevated. However, there was markedly elevated activity of an elastase-like serum enzyme. The relation of the hemolytic anemia to the pulmonary findings in this family is not clear; pedigree analysis suggests a recessively inherited defect.

Acute, subacute and chronic toxicity/Carcinogenicity of lofexidine.

Acute, subacute and chronic toxicity-carcinogenicity studies of 2-[1-(2,6-dichlorphenoxy)-ethyl]-2-imidazoline hydrochloride (lofexidine, Lofetensin and Loxacor) were conducted in rats, dogs, and/or mice. The oral LD50 values for these species were similar. Lofexidine given orally to rats and dogs for up to 12 months produced no significant adverse effects at doses up to 1 mg/kg and only marginal effects at 3 mg/kg; moderate to severe effects were noted at doses of 5-25 mg/kg. When given orally to rats for 24 months at doses of 0.1-1.0 mg/kg, lofexidine failed to elicit any evidence of carcinogenicity. Phentolamine and tolazoline may be useful as antidotes in cases of overdosage.

Teratologic and reproductive studies of lofexidine.

2-[1-(2,6-Dichlorphenoxy)-ethyl]-2-imidazoline hydrochloride (lofexidine, Lofetensin and Loxacor) elicited no evidence of teratogenicity when administered orally during the period of organogenesis to pregnant rats at doses up to 3.0 mg/kg/day or to pregnant rabbits at doses up to 15.0 mg/kg/day. In reproductive studies there were no effects on conception or pregnancy in male or female rats at dosages up to 1.0 mg/kg/day or male or female rabbits at dosages up to 1.5 mg/kg/day. Dosages of 1.0 mg/kg/day in rats and 6.4 mg/kg/day in rabbits reduced survival and growth rates of neonates and dosages of 3.0 mg/kg/day in rats and 5.0 mg/kg/day or more in rabbits caused reduced fetal weights and increased postimplantation losses. Since neonatal effects occurred only at dosages which produced clinical signs in the dams (1.0 mg/kg/day in rats and 1.5 mg/kg/day in rabbits which correspond to 100 or 150 times, respectively, the therapeutic dose in man) and since fetal effects occurred only at those dosages which caused some maternal deaths, the adverse fetal and neonatal effects produced by lofexidine were attributed to maternal toxicity rather than a direct effect on the fetus or newborn.