The Chesapeake Bay and the Control of NOx Emissions: A Policy Analysis

Nitrogen oxide emissions not only affect air quality but have recently been found to be an important source of nitrate pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. This analysis examines the costs, emissions, source-specific and location-specific allocations of NOX emissions reductions and the ancillary ozone related health benefits under a range of policy scenarios. The paper includes analysis of three separate policies. The first is a detailed analysis of the effect on nitrate loadings to the Bay of command and control policies specified in the Clean Air Act and as part of the OTAG process. The second is a comparison of alternative scenarios for reducing NOX emissions that meet nitrate loading goals, with or without concern for reducing ozone concentrations and the health effects they cause. The third is a comparison of alternative approaches to allocate NOX emissions to meet NOX reduction and ozone exposure goals while capturing the ancillary effect on nitrate loadings. This last analysis focuses on the stake the Bay jurisdictions have in the outcome of negotiations over NOX trading programs being developed by EPA for reducing ozone in the Eastern U.S. With the primary focus on the Chesapeake Bay jurisdiction, all three analyses integrate the ancillary ozone benefits of policies to reduce nitrate pollution, including examination of how these ancillary benefits change under alternative meteorological episodes, and explore lower cost alternatives to current regulatory programs in both qualitative and quantitative terms. We find that the Chesapeake Bay benefits from efforts to reduce NOX emissions to meet the ambient air quality standard for ozone. Airborne NOX emission reductions slated to occur under the Clean Air Act in the Bay airshed will reduce nitrate loadings to the Bay by about 27 percent of the baseline airborne levels. The additional controls of NOX contemplated in what we term the OTAG scenario is estimated to result in an additional 20 percent reduction from this baseline. However, the paper's analysis of possible least cost options shows that the costs of obtaining such reductions can be significantly reduced by rearranging the allocation of emissions reductions to take advantage of source-type and locational considerations. In addition, we find that adding consideration of ancillary ozone-related health benefits to the picture does not alter any qualitative conclusions. Quantitatively, unless a link between ozone and mortality risk is assumed, the benefits are too small to affect the cost-saving allocations of NOX reductions. If the case for such a link can be made, the results change dramatically, with large overall increases in NOX reductions and a relative shift in controls to non-Bay states and utility sources. These specific effects are sensitive to the source-receptor coefficients linking NOX to ozone, however. Our analyses also suggest that the Bay jurisdictions have a stake in the outcome of the NOX trading debate -- that some trading designs can lead to better outcomes for these jurisdictions than others. Nevertheless, a common feature of cost-savings policies is that they both rearrange emissions reductions and, in the aggregate, reduce emissions less than a command and control system. Thus, some trading regimes result in significantly smaller loadings reductions (up to 25 percent smaller) than the command and control approach.

Formulating LUTI Calibration As an Optimisation Problem: Estimation of Tranus Shadow Price and Substitution Parameters

International audienceCities and their employment catchment areas are focus points of economic activity, transportation, and social interactions. The need for land use and transport integrated modelling (LUTI modelling) as a decision aid tool in urban planning, has become apparent. Instantiating such models on cities, requires a substantial data collection, model structuring and parameter estimation effort; for conciseness, the latter is referred to here as calibration. This work is a partial effort towards the integrated calibration of LUTI models. It considers one of the most widely used LUTI models and softwares, Tranus. The usual calibration approach for Tranus is briefly reviewed. It is then reformulated as an optimisa-tion problem, in order to make it amenable to the systematic incorporation of constraints on parameters and additional data and to form a clear basis for future fully integrated calibration. The problem at hand concerns a dynamic system; an approach is shown how to " eliminate " parts of the dynamics in order to ease the parameter optimisation. We also discuss how to validate calibration results and propose to use synthetic data generated from real world problems in order to assess convergence properties and accuracy of calibration methods

Contributions to the calibration of integrated land use and transportation models

International audienceThe need for land use and transport integrated modelling (LUTI modelling) as a decision aid tool in urban planning, has become apparent. Instantiating such models on cities, requires a substantial data collection, model structur-ing and parameter estimation effort. This work is a partial effort towards the integrated calibration of LUTI models. It considers one of the most widely used LUTI models and softwares, Tranus. The usual calibration approach for Tranus is briefly reviewed, then the calibration of Tranus' land use module is reformulated as an optimisation problem, proposing a clear basis for future fully integrated calibration. We analyse the case of transportable and non-transportable economic sectors. We also discuss how to validate calibration results and propose to use synthetic data generated from real world problems in order to assess convergence properties and accuracy of calibration methods. Finally, results of this methodology are presented for real world scenarios

Pilot Study on the Investigation of Tear Fluid Biomarkers as an Indicator of Ocular, Neurological, and Immunological Health in Astronauts

The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate the collection, preparation, and analysis of tear biomarkers as a means of assessing ocular, neurological, and immunological health. At present, no published data exists on the cytokine profiles of tears from astronauts exposed to long periods of microgravity and space irradiations. In addition, no published data exist on cytokine (biomarker) profiles of tears that have been collected from irradiated non-human biological systems (primates and other animal models). A goal for the proposed pilot study is to discover novel tear biomarkers which can help inform researchers, clinicians, epidemiologist and healthcare providers about the health status of a living biological system, as well as informing them when a disease state is triggered. This would be done via analysis of the onset of expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading up to the full progression of a disease (i.e. cancer, loss of vision, radiation-induced oxidative stress, cardiovascular disorders, fibrosis in major organs, bone loss). Another goal of this pilot study is to investigate the state of disease against proposed medical countermeasures, in order to determine whether the countermeasures are efficacious in preventing or mitigating these injuries. An example of an up and coming tear biomarker technology, Ascendant Dx, a clinical stage diagnostic company, is developing a screening test to detect breast cancer using proteins from tears. The team utilized Liquid Chromatography -Mass Spectrometry with Mass analysis (LC MS/MS) as a discovery platform followed by validation with ELISA to come up with a panel of protein biomarkers that can differentiate breast cancer samples from control ("cancer free") samples with results far surpassing the results of imaging techniques in use today. Continued research into additional proteins is underway to increase the sensitivity and specificity of the test and development efforts are on the way to transfer the test onto a fast, accurate and inexpensive point of care platform. In conclusion, the expected results from this proposed pilot study are to: a) establish an SOP for retrieving/storing/transporting tear fluid samples from multicentre sites b) establish a normal range for relevant biomarkers in tears; and c) establish a database (biobank) of tears of space nave versus veteran astronauts, to establish a personal baseline for long-term ocular health monitorin

Population genetics of Tapes decussatus in the Lagoa de Santo Cristo, São Jorge : Preliminary results.

VIII Expedição Científica do Departamento de Biologia – Ilha do Faial - 1993.The Lagoa de Santo Cristo in São Jorge is the only place in the Azores where the venerid bivalve Tapes decussatus (Linnaeus, 1758) forms a well established and stable population. This is in itself already a remarkable situation, for the geographically nearest populations of this species live, as far as we know, along the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and Morocco. Thus the Azorean stock is separated from its neighbors by an oceanic gap of more than 1500Km. Another important characteristic of the Azorean Tapes population is the constant human pressure under which it survives. Indeed, Tapes is considered as a popular food item for human consumption and it has therefore been intensively fished in the Lagoa de Santo Cristo, even though in the last years several measures have been taken to regulate the Tapes fisheries

mTORC2 signaling drives the development and progression of pancreatic cancer

mTOR signaling controls several critical cellular functions and is deregulated in many cancers, including pancreatic cancer. To date, most efforts have focused on inhibiting the mTORC1 complex. However, clinical trials of mTORC1 inhibitors in pancreatic cancer have failed, raising questions about this therapeutic approach. We employed a genetic approach to delete the obligate mTORC2 subunit Rictor and identified the critical times during which tumorigenesis requires mTORC2 signaling. Rictor deletion resulted in profoundly delayed tumorigenesis. Whereas previous studies showed most pancreatic tumors were insensitive to rapamycin, treatment with a dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor strongly suppressed tumorigenesis. In late-stage tumor-bearing mice, combined mTORC1/2 and PI3K inhibition significantly increased survival. Thus, targeting mTOR may be a potential therapeutic strategy in pancreatic cancer

Reproductive Output and Seasonality of Limnoperna fortunei

Fil: Boltovskoy, Demetrio. Instituto de Ecología. Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA). Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Morton, Brian. School of Biological Sciences. University of Hong Kong; ChinaFil: Correa, Nancy. Servicio de Hidrografía Naval. Ministerio de Defensa. Escuela de Ciencias del Mar. Instituto Universitario Naval; ArgentinaFil: Cataldo, Daniel. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Damborenea, María Cristina. División Zoología Invertebrados. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Penchaszadeh, Pablo E.. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia; ArgentinaFil: Sylvester, Francisco. Instituto para el Estudio de la Biodiversidad de Invertebrados. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentin

Inter-rater reliability of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX): comparative data from non-clinician respondents – all raters are not equal

Primary objective: The Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) is used to obtain information about executive and emotional problems after neuropathology. The DEX is self-completed by the patient (DEX-S) and an independent rater such as a family member (DEX-I). This study examined the level of inter-rater agreement between either two or three non-clinician raters on the DEX-I in order to establish the reliability of DEX-I ratings. Methods and procedures: Family members and/or carers of 60 people with mixed neuropathology completed the DEX-I. For each patient, DEX-I ratings were obtained from either two or three raters who knew the person well prior to brain injury. Main outcomes and results: We obtained two independent-ratings for 60 patients and three independent-ratings for 36 patients. Intra-class correlations revealed that there was only a modest level of agreement for items, subscale and total DEX scores between raters for their particular family member. Several individual DEX items had low reliability and ratings for the emotion sub-scale had the lowest level of agreement. Conclusions: Independent DEX ratings completed by two or more non-clinician raters show only moderate correlation. Suggestions are made for improving the reliability of DEX-I ratings.</p

Mutant p53R270H drives altered metabolism and increased invasion in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by nearly universal activating mutations in KRAS. Among other somatic mutations, TP53 is mutated in more than 75% of human pancreatic tumors. Genetically engineered mice have proven instrumental in studies of the contribution of individual genes to carcinogenesis. Oncogenic Kras mutations occur early during pancreatic carcinogenesis and are considered an initiating event. In contrast, mutations in p53 occur later during tumor progression. In our model, we recapitulated the order of mutations of the human disease, with p53 mutation following expression of oncogenic Kras. Further, using an inducible and reversible expression allele for mutant p53, we inactivated its expression at different stages of carcinogenesis. Notably, the function of mutant p53 changes at different stages of carcinogenesis. Our work establishes a requirement for mutant p53 for the formation and maintenance of pancreatic cancer precursor lesions. In tumors, mutant p53 becomes dispensable for growth. However, it maintains the altered metabolism that characterizes pancreatic cancer and mediates its malignant potential. Further, mutant p53 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer cell invasion. This work generates new mouse models that mimic human pancreatic cancer and expands our understanding of the role of p53 mutation, common in the majority of human malignancies