On the Propagation of Satellite Precipitation Estimation Errors: From Passive Microwave to Infrared Estimates.

The launch of NOAA's latest generation of geostationary satellites known as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series has opened new opportunities in quantifying precipitation rates. Recent efforts have strived to utilize these data to improve space-based precipitation retrievals. The overall objective of the present work is to carry out a detailed error budget analysis of the improved Self-Calibrating Multivariate Precipitation Retrieval (SCaMPR) algorithm for GOES-R and the passive microwave (MW) combined (MWCOMB) precipitation dataset used to calibrate it with an aim to provide insights regarding strengths and weaknesses of these products.

Investigating the relationship between eye movements and situation awareness in weather forecasting.

Physiological indicators, including eye tracking measures, may provide insight into human decision making and cognition in many domains, including weather forecasting. Situation awareness (SA), a critical component of forecast decision making, is commonly conceptualized as the degree to which information is perceived, understood, and projected into a future context. Drawing upon recent applications of eye tracking in the study of forecaster decision making, we investigate the relationship among eye movement measures, automation, and SA assessed through a freeze probe assessment method.

Tone burst electrocochleography disproves a diagnosis of Meniere's disease treated aggressively.

Reliable confirmation of the presence or absence of endolymphatic hydrops is essential to avoid confusing vestibular migraine with Meniere's disease. MRI inner ear imaging is a promising new method to confirm hydrops, avoiding both unnecessary invasive or destructive inner ear treatments, but it is not universally available. Tone burst electrocochleography is an older simple, quick, safe, and sensitive test that is potentially available, with existing (or minorly upgraded) equipment at most tertiary medical centers.

Paget-Schroetter syndrome with bilateral pulmonary emboli.

Paget-Schroetter syndrome, also known as effort thrombosis, is a relatively rare disease process characterized by primary thrombosis to the subclavian and axillary veins. It usually presents in younger individuals, commonly affecting the dominant side upper extremity, and the diagnosis relies on a combination of imaging, laboratory tests, and clinical presentation. Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis can also lead to pulmonary emboli, as in this case of a 20-year-old female discovered to have right sided Paget-Schroetter syndrome.

Toward Probabilistic Prediction of Flash Flood Human Impacts.

This article focuses on conceptual and methodological developments allowing the integration of physical and social dynamics leading to model forecasts of circumstance-specific human losses during a flash flood. To reach this objective, a random forest classifier is applied to assess the likelihood of fatality occurrence for a given circumstance as a function of representative indicators. Here, vehicle-related circumstance is chosen as the literature indicates that most fatalities from flash flooding fall in this category.

Evaluating stream sediment chemistry within an agricultural catchment of Lebanon, Northeastern USA.

Recent arsenic pollution of drinking-water wells across Lebanon, northeastern USA has led to a growing concern about possible impact of agricultural activities on the hydrologic system. This study assessed the concentrations and distributions of arsenic and ten other elements (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, P, Pb, and Zn) in stream sediments. The overall goal is to determine the extent of these elements within the fluvial systems, as well as overall sediment quality.

Operational Hydrological Forecasting during the IPHEx-IOP Campaign - Meet the Challenge.

An operational streamflow forecasting testbed was implemented during the Intense Observing Period (IOP) of the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx-IOP) in May-June 2014 to characterize flood predictability in complex terrain. Specifically, hydrological forecasts were issued daily for 12 headwater catchments in the Southern Appalachians using the Duke Coupled surface-groundwater Hydrology Model (DCHM) forced by hourly atmospheric fields and QPFs (Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts) produced by the NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) model. Previous day hindcasts forced by radar-based QPEs (Quantitative Precipitation Estimates) were used to provide initial conditions for present day forecasts.

oVEMPs and cVEMPs in patients with 'clinically certain' Menière's disease.

Objective: To measure ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPS) in Menière's disease patients with confirmed cochlear hydrops and in the normal ears of volunteers.

Methods: oVEMPs and cVEMPs were measured in 18 patients with a symptomatic diagnosis of Menière's disease and tone burst electrocochleographic confirmation of hydrops, and in the ears of 22 volunteers.

Results: Threshold measures: For cVEMP: no significant differences between Menière's ears and controls; for oVEMP: significantly elevated thresholds in affected ears of Menière's ears compared with their unaffected ears, but not with controls.

Vegetation Greening and Climate Change Promote Multidecadal Rises of Global Land Evapotranspiration.

Recent studies showed that anomalous dry conditions and limited moisture supply roughly between 1998 and 2008, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, led to reduced vegetation productivity and ceased growth in land evapotranspiration (ET). However, natural variability of Earth's climate system can degrade capabilities for identifying climate trends. Here we produced a long-term (1982-2013) remote sensing based land ET record and investigated multidecadal changes in global ET and underlying causes.

Transtympanic Electrocochleography for the Diagnosis of Ménière's Disease.

This paper evaluated the diagnostic power of electrocochleography (ECochG) in detecting Ménière's disease (MD) as compared with two subjective assessment methods, including the clinical guidelines provided by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Committee on Hearing Equilibrium and the Gibson score. A retrospective study of 250 suspected MD cases was conducted. The agreement between the three assessment methods was found to be relatively high, with a total reliability being higher than 70%.

Magnetic resonance imaging for Ménière's disease: correlation with tone burst electrocochleography.

The newly developed use of magnetic resonance imaging of the human inner ear, on a 3 Tesla scanner with intratympanically administered gadolinium, can now reliably distinguish perilymph from endolymph and visually confirm the presence or absence of endolymphatic hydrops. Transtympanic tone burst electrocochleography is an established, and under-utilised evoked response electrophysiological test for hydrops, but it relies on a symptom score to indicate the likelihood of hydrops being present. The current diagnostic criteria for Ménière's disease make no allowance for any in vivo test, making diagnostic errors likely.

HSP70 antibodies in 80 patients with "clinically certain" Meniere's disease.

Objectives: We tested the claim that a significant proportion of patients with Meniere's disease have antibodies to heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) antigen, which may lead to defective endolymphatic sac function and vertigo attacks.

Methods: Serum samples were taken from 80 subjects with a "certain" diagnosis of Meniere's disease (American Academy criteria plus electrocochleographic confirmation of endolymphatic hydrops with tone burst stimuli) and were tested for HSP70 antibodies with the OTOblot (hsp70) Western blot assay. The response was recorded as negative, positive, or equivocal.

Vasopressin in definite Meniere's disease with positive electrocochleographic findings.

Conclusion: There was no evidence of a mean raised vasopressin level in 80 subjects suffering from definite Meniere's disease with positive electrocochleographic findings. There was no correlation with stress. The only group with a mildly raised level comprised those who had had a vertigo attack within a day.

Single-step high-yield radiosynthesis and evaluation of a sensitive 18F-labeled ligand for imaging brain peripheral benzodiazepine receptors with PET.

Elevated levels of peripheral benzodiazepine receptors (PBR) are associated with activated microglia in their response to inflammation. Hence, PBR imaging in vivo is valuable for investigating brain inflammatory conditions. Sensitive, easily prepared, and readily available radioligands for imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) are desirable for this purpose.

An Internal Reaction Control for Routine Detection of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus Using a Real-Time TaqMan PCR-Based Assay.

An internal reaction control was integrated into a TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the detection of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus, the causal organism of bacterial ring rot of potato. The reaction control, cloned into plasmid pCmsC4, consisted of a sequence unrelated to C.

Synthesis and evaluation in monkey of two sensitive 11C-labeled aryloxyanilide ligands for imaging brain peripheral benzodiazepine receptors in vivo.

We sought to develop (11)C-labeled ligands for sensitive imaging of brain peripheral benzodiazepine receptors (PBR) in vivo. Two aryloxyanilides with high affinity for PBR were identified and synthesized, namely, N-acetyl- N-(2-methoxycarbonylbenzyl)-2-phenoxyaniline ( 3, PBR01) and N-(2-methoxybenzyl)- N-(4-phenoxypyridin-3-yl)acetamide ( 10, PBR28). 3 was hydrolyzed to 4, which was esterified with [ (11)C]iodomethane to provide [ (11)C] 3.

Brain and whole-body imaging in nonhuman primates of [11C]PBR28, a promising PET radioligand for peripheral benzodiazepine receptors.

Objectives: Peripheral benzodiazepine receptors (PBRs) are upregulated on activated microglia and are thereby biomarkers of neuroinflammation. We developed a PET ligand with an aryloxyanilide structure, [O-methyl-(11)C]N-acetyl-N-(2-methoxybenzyl)-2-phenoxy-5-pyridinamine ([(11)C]PBR28), to image PBRs. The objectives of the current study were to evaluate kinetics of brain uptake, and the influence of the peripheral binding on the arterial input function in rhesus monkey.

Kinetic evaluation in nonhuman primates of two new PET ligands for peripheral benzodiazepine receptors in brain.

Peripheral benzodiazepine receptors (PBRs) are upregulated on activated microglia and are, thereby, biomarkers of cellular inflammation in brain. We recently developed two PET ligands with an aryloxyanilide structure to image PBRs and now evaluate the kinetics of these radiotracers in monkey to determine whether they are suitable to explore in human. Baseline and receptor-blocking scans were performed with [(11)C]PBR01 and [(18)F]PBR06 in conjunction with serial measurements of the arterial plasma concentration of parent radiotracer separated from radiometabolite.

Differences in expression of specific biomarkers distinguish human beard from scalp dermal papilla cells.

Androgen exposure stimulates the growth of beard hair follicles. The follicle dermal papilla appears to be the site of androgen action; however, the molecular mechanisms that regulate this process are not well understood. In an attempt to identify genes that contribute to the androgen-responsive phenotype, we compared gene expression patterns in unstimulated and androgen-treated cultured human dermal papilla cells isolated from beard (androgen-sensitive) and occipital scalp (androgen-insensitive) hair follicles.

Audiological screening of neonatal intensive care unit graduates at high risk of sensorineural hearing loss.

Aim: To audit the identification and screening of graduates from a neonatal intensive care unit with risk factors for sensorineural hearing loss.

Methods: Hospital medical records of newborn infants discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit, Christchurch Womens Hospital, between 1 July 1994 and 30 June 1995 (n=564), were examined to identify those at risk for sensorineural hearing loss according to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association risk criteria 1991. Auditory brainstem response test results were obtained from the Christchurch Hospital Audiology Department.