Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks.

Achieving net zero global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO), with declining emissions of other greenhouse gases, is widely expected to halt global warming. CO emissions will continue to drive warming until fully balanced by active anthropogenic CO removals. For practical reasons, however, many greenhouse gas accounting systems allow some "passive" CO uptake, such as enhanced vegetation growth due to CO fertilisation, to be included as removals in the definition of net anthropogenic emissions.

Patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day case surgery (POPPY): methodology for a prospective, multicentre observational study.

Background: In the UK, approximately 70% of surgical procedures are undertaken as day-cases. Little information exists about recovery from day-case surgery, yet international data highlights patients are at risk of developing significant longer-term health problems including chronic post-surgical pain and persistent postoperative opioid use. The Patient-reported Outcomes, Postoperative Pain and pain relief after daY case surgery (POPPY) study was a national prospective multicentre observational study, measuring short- and longer-term patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day-case surgery.

Iterative image reconstruction algorithm analysis for optical CT radiochromic gel dosimetry.

Modern radiation therapy technologies aim to enhance radiation dose precision to the tumor and utilize hypofractionated treatment regimens. Verifying the dose distributions associated with these advanced radiation therapy treatments remains an active research area due to the complexity of delivery systems and the lack of suitable three-dimensional dosimetry tools. Gel dosimeters are a potential tool for measuring these complex dose distributions.

Commissioning of a solid tank design for fan-beam optical CT based 3D radiation dosimetry.

Optical computed tomography (CT) is one of the leading modalities for imaging gel dosimeters used in the verification of complex radiotherapy treatments. In previous work, a novel fan-beam optical CT scanner design was proposed that could significantly reduce the volume of the refractive index baths that are commonly found in optical CT systems. Here, the proposed scanner has been manufactured and commissioned.

Iterative image reconstruction with polar coordinate discretized system matrix for optical CT radiochromic gel dosimetry.

Background: Gel dosimeters are a potential tool for measuring the complex dose distributions that characterize modern radiotherapy. A prototype tabletop solid-tank fan-beam optical CT scanner for readout of gel dosimeters was recently developed. This scanner does not have a straight raypath from source to detector, thus images cannot be reconstructed using filtered backprojection (FBP) and iterative techniques are required.

Linker Length Drives Heterogeneity of Multivalent Complexes of Hub Protein LC8 and Transcription Factor ASCIZ.

LC8, a ubiquitous and highly conserved hub protein, binds over 100 proteins involved in numerous cellular functions, including cell death, signaling, tumor suppression, and viral infection. LC8 binds intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), and although several of these contain multiple LC8 binding motifs, the effects of multivalency on complex formation are unclear. Drosophila ASCIZ has seven motifs that vary in sequence and inter-motif linker lengths, especially within subdomain QT2-4 containing the second, third, and fourth LC8 motifs.

Superiorization versus regularization: A comparison of algorithms for solving image reconstruction problems with applications in computed tomography.

Purpose: A system matrix can be built in order to account for the refractions in an optical computed tomography (CT) system. In order to utilize this system matrix, iterative methods are employed to solve the image reconstruction problem. The purpose of this study is to compare potential iterative algorithms to solve this image reconstruction problem.

Optimization of solid tank design for fan-beam optical CT based 3D radiation dosimetry.

Optical computed tomography (CT) is one of the leading modalities for imaging gel dosimeters for 3D radiation dosimetry. There exist multiple scanner designs that have showcased excellent 3D dose verification capabilities of optical CT gel dosimetry. However, due to multiple experimental and reconstruction based factors there is currently no single scanner that has become a preferred standard.

The Effect of Light Level and Small Pupils on Presbyopic Reading Performance.

Purpose: To examine the impact of small pupils and light levels on reading performance of distance-corrected presbyopes. To determine whether small pupils would enable presbyopes to read at near even at low light levels.

Methods: To establish the lower range of text luminances, we quantified the space-averaged luminance of text in nine different artificially lit interior environments, and examined the impact of the text characters on space-averaged luminance of electronic and printed displays.

Disentangling the effects of CO2 and short-lived climate forcer mitigation.

Anthropogenic global warming is driven by emissions of a wide variety of radiative forcers ranging from very short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), like black carbon, to very long-lived, like CO2. These species are often released from common sources and are therefore intricately linked. However, for reasons of simplification, this CO2-SLCF linkage was often disregarded in long-term projections of earlier studies.

Presynaptic inhibition by α2 receptor/adenylate cyclase/PDE4 complex at retinal rod bipolar synapse.

G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated presynaptic inhibition is a fundamental mechanism regulating synaptic transmission in the CNS. The classical GPCR-mediated presynaptic inhibition in the CNS is produced by direct interactions between the G(βγ) subunits of the G-protein and presynaptic Ca(2+) channels, K(+) channels, or synaptic proteins that affect transmitter release. This mode of action is shared by well known GPCRs such as the α2, GABA(B), and CB1 receptors.

Climate change risks for African agriculture.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of major risks for African agriculture and food security caused by climate change during coming decades is confirmed by a review of more recent climate change impact assessments (14 quantitative, six qualitative). Projected impacts relative to current production levels range from -100% to +168% in econometric, from -84% to +62% in process-based, and from -57% to +30% in statistical assessments. Despite large uncertainty, there are several robust conclusions from published literature for policy makers and research agendas: agriculture everywhere in Africa runs some risk to be negatively affected by climate change; existing cropping systems and infrastructure will have to change to meet future demand.

Dichotomization: 2 x 2 (x2 x 2 x 2...) categories: infinite possibilities.

Background: Consumers of epidemiology may prefer to have one measure of risk arising from analysis of a 2-by-2 table. However, reporting a single measure of association, such as one odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval, from a continuous exposure variable that was dichotomized withholds much potentially useful information. Results of this type of analysis are often reported for one such dichotomization, as if no other cutoffs were investigated or even possible.

Nimodipine enhancement of alpha2 adrenergic modulation of NMDA receptor via a mechanism independent of Ca2+ channel blocking.

Purpose: To further understand alpha2 receptor signaling in the retina and the mechanisms that mediate ocular beneficial effects of brimonidine (an alpha2 agonist) and nimodipine (an L-type Ca(2+) channel blocker).

Methods: The authors used in situ retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the isolated rat retina to characterize alpha2 modulation of NMDA receptor function and a rabbit retinal NMDA excitotoxicity model to verify in vitro findings under in vivo conditions. Electrophysiological (whole-cell patch clamp) recordings and Ca(2+) imaging were used to characterize NMDA receptor function and to verify the effect of various Ca(2+) channel blockers.

A deterministic model of home and community care client counts in British Columbia.

In British Columbia (BC) Home and Community Care (HCC) services provide a range of health care and support services for British Columbians with acute, chronic, palliative or rehabilitative health care needs. Although it is not surprising that almost 80% of HCC clients are senior citizens (aged 65 and older), this does lead to some concern. In particular, the most recent population projections suggest that the senior population of BC will double in the next twenty years.

Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 degrees C.

More than 100 countries have adopted a global warming limit of 2 degrees C or below (relative to pre-industrial levels) as a guiding principle for mitigation efforts to reduce climate change risks, impacts and damages. However, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions corresponding to a specified maximum warming are poorly known owing to uncertainties in the carbon cycle and the climate response. Here we provide a comprehensive probabilistic analysis aimed at quantifying GHG emission budgets for the 2000-50 period that would limit warming throughout the twenty-first century to below 2 degrees C, based on a combination of published distributions of climate system properties and observational constraints.

Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern".

Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [United Nations (1992) http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/conveng.pdf.

Experimental glutamatergic excitotoxicity in rabbit retinal ganglion cells: block by memantine.

Purpose: Excessive activity of NMDA-type (N-methyl-d-aspartate) glutamatergic channels has been implicated as a mechanism for neuronal injury in neurologic disorders, including glaucoma, and retinal disease. This study was designed to characterize the retinal response to experimental manipulations that mimic features of glutamatergic excitotoxic insult and also to determine whether memantine, an NMDA-type glutamatergic channel blocker, is effective in reversing experimental excitotoxicity.

Methods: Recordings of the electroretinogram (ERG) and spiking activity of single retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were made from rabbit retinas.

Ataxia telangiectasia with long survival.

A few patients with ataxia telangiectasia survive into the 3rd decade. In the central nervous system, dilated meningeal veins have been noted in a few cases but as a rule the vasculature in both brain and spinal cord appears normal. We present the case of the longest reported surviving patient with ataxia telangiectasia who died at the age of 34 years and showed numerous vascular malformations with gliosis and haemosiderin in the cerebral white matter and spinal cord.

Alpha2 adrenergic modulation of NMDA receptor function as a major mechanism of RGC protection in experimental glaucoma and retinal excitotoxicity.

Purpose: alpha2 Agonists, such as brimonidine, have been shown to protect retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in animal models of glaucoma and acute retinal ischemia. In this study, the authors investigated the neural mechanism that may underlie alpha2 neuroprotection of RGCs.

Methods: The authors used in situ RGCs in the isolated rat retina to investigate possible interactions between alpha2 and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and rat glaucoma or rabbit retinal NMDA excitotoxicity models to verify in vitro findings under in vivo conditions.

Ribosomal RNA-based analysis of the bacterial flora from the conjunctivae of cattle with bovine keratoconjunctivitis (BKC).

Bovine keratoconjunctivitis (BKC), colloquially referred to as 'pinkeye', is a disease affecting cattle worldwide; it costs cattle producers millions of dollars in economic loss annually. While Moraxella spp. are the primary etiologic agent of pinkeye, surveys of flora from the conjunctivae of livestock from around the world have indicated that a variety of bacterial commensals occupy this niche.