Marine biogeochemical responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation in a coupled climate model

In this study a coupled ocean-atmosphere model containing interactive marine biogeochemistry is used to analyze interannual, lagged, and decadal marine biogeochemical responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the dominant mode of North Atlantic atmospheric variability. The coupled model adequately reproduces present-day climatologies and NAO atmospheric variability. It is shown that marine biogeochemical responses to the NAO are governed by different mechanisms according to the time scale considered. On interannual time scales, local changes in vertical mixing, caused by modifications in air-sea heat, freshwater, and momentum fluxes, are most relevant in influencing phytoplankton growth through light and nutrient limitation mechanisms. At subpolar latitudes, deeper mixing occurring during positive NAO winters causes a slight decrease in late winter chlorophyll concentration due to light limitation and a 10%–20% increase in spring chlorophyll concentration due to higher nutrient availability. The lagged response of physical and biogeochemical properties to a high NAO winter shows some memory in the following 2 years. In particular, subsurface nutrient anomalies generated by local changes in mixing near the American coast are advected along the North Atlantic Current, where they are suggested to affect downstream chlorophyll concentration with 1 year lag. On decadal time scales, local and remote mechanisms act contemporaneously in shaping the decadal biogeochemical response to the NAO. The slow circulation adjustment, in response to NAO wind stress curl anomalies, causes a basin redistribution of heat, freshwater, and biogeochemical properties which, in turn, modifies the spatial structure of the subpolar chlorophyll bloom

Neural network-based estimates of North Atlantic surface pCO2 from satellite data: A methodological study

A new method is proposed to estimate ocean surface pCO2 from remotely sensed surface temperature and chlorophyll data. The method is applied to synthetic observations provided by an eddy-resolving biogeochemical model of the North Atlantic. The same model also provides a perfectly known simulated pCO2 “ground truth” used to quantitatively assess the success of the estimation method. Model output is first sampled according to realistic voluntary observing ship (VOS) and satellite coverage. The model-generated VOS “observations” are then used to train a self-organizing neural network that is subsequently applied to model-generated “satellite data” of surface temperature and surface chlorophyll in order to derive basin-wide monthly maps of surface pCO2. The accuracy of the estimated pCO2 maps is analyzed with respect to the “true” surface pCO2 fields simulated by the biogeochemical circulation model. We also investigate the accuracy of the estimated pCO2 maps as a function of VOS line coverage, remote sensing errors, and the interpolation of missing remote sensing data due to cloud cover and low solar irradiation in winter. For a simulated “sampling” corresponding to VOS lines and patterns of optical satellite coverage of the year 2005, the neural net can successfully reproduce pCO2 from model-generated “remote sensing data” of SST and Chl. Basin-wide RMS errors amount to 19.0 μatm for a hypothetical perfect interpolation scheme for remote sensing data gaps and 21.1 μatm when climatological surface temperature and chlorophyll values are used to fill in areas lacking optical satellite coverage

CREB is a critical regulator of normal hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis

The cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) is a 43-kDa nuclear transcription factor that regulates cell growth, memory, and glucose homeostasis. We showed previously that CREB is amplified in myeloid leukemia blasts and expressed at higher levels in leukemia stem cells from patients with myeloid leukemia. CREB transgenic mice develop myeloproliferative disease after 1 year, but not leukemia, suggesting that CREB contributes to but is not sufficient for leukemogenesis. Here, we show that CREB is most highly expressed in lineage negative hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). To understand the role of CREB in hematopoietic progenitors and leukemia cells, we examined the effects of RNA interference (RNAi) to knock down CREB expression in vitro and in vivo. Transduction of primary HSCs or myeloid leukemia cells with lentiviral CREB shRNAs resulted in decreased proliferation of stem cells, cell- cycle abnormalities, and inhibition of CREB transcription. Mice that received transplants of bone marrow transduced with CREB shRNA had decreased committed progenitors compared with control mice. Mice injected with Ba/F3 cells expressing either Bcr-Abl wild-type or T315I mutation with CREB shRNA had delayed leukemic infiltration by bioluminescence imaging and prolonged median survival. Our results suggest that CREB is critical for normal myelopoiesis and leukemia cell proliferation

Basin-scale pCO2 maps estimated from ARGO float data: A model study

A novel method for mapping surface pCO(2) on a basin scale using ARGO floats is presented and tested in the framework of an eddy-resolving biogeochemical model of the North Atlantic. Voluntary observing ship (VOS) and ARGO float coverage of the year 2005 is applied to the model to generate synthetic "observations." The model-generated VOS line "observations'' of pCO(2), SST, and SSS form a training data set for a self-organizing neural network. The trained neural network is subsequently applied locally to estimate pCO(2) from the model-generated ARGO float SST and SSS data. The local pCO(2) estimates at the simulated float positions are extrapolated using objective mapping. The accuracy of the nearly basinwide pCO(2) estimates is assessed by comparing against the pCO(2) output of the model that serves as synthetic "ground truth.'' For an ARGO float coverage of the year 2005, the resulting monthly mean pCO(2) maps cover 70% of the considered area (15 degrees N to 65 degrees N) with an RMS error of 15.9 mu atm. Compared to remote sensing-based estimates that suffer from large regional gaps in optical satellite data coverage, the RMS error in reproducing the annual cycle of pCO(2) can be reduced by 42% when the more evenly distributed ARGO float-based data are used

Genetic analyses of undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma identifies a novel sarcoma subtype with a recurrent CRTC1-SS18 gene fusion

In recent years, undifferentiated small round cell sarcomas (USRCSs) have been divided into a variety of new, rare, sarcoma subtypes, including the group of Ewing-like sarcomas, which have the morphological appearance of Ewing sarcomas, but carry CIC-DUX4, BCOR-CCNB3 and other gene fusions different from the classic EWSR1-ETS gene fusion. Using high-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses, we identified a novel recurrent gene fusion, CRTC1-SS18, in two cases of USRCS that lacked any known translocation. RNA-seq results were confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, long-range polymerase chain reaction, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. In vitro, we showed that the cells expressing the gene fusion were morphologically distinct and had enhanced oncogenic potential as compared with control cells. Expression profile comparisons with tumours of other sarcoma subtypes demonstrated that both cases clustered close to EWSR1-CREB1-positive tumours. Moreover, these analyses indicated enhanced NTRK1 expression in CRTC1-SS18-positive tumours. We conclude that the novel gene fusion identified in this study adds a new subtype to the USRCSs with unique gene signatures, and may be of therapeutic relevance. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Effects of personal probability scoring on achievement and test anxiety.

Rank order scoring was compared to binary scoring to determine the effects of a personal probability scoring system on test anxiety and achievement. Students enrolled in two introductory psychology classes served as examinees, and were classified as either high test anxious or low test anxious on the basis of the Test Anxiety Scale. The first class used rank order scoring on the first three examinations and binary scoring on the last three examinations, and the second class used binary scoring on the first three examinations and rank order scoring on the last three examinations. The Test Anxiety Scale was administered on the second day of class, before the first examination, before the fourth examination, and after the sixth examination. Results indicated that high test anxious examinees showed a significant improvement in performance, but not a decrease in test anxiety. The results suggest that memory-search procedures may cause decreased performance in high test anxious persons and that high levels of anxiety may not interfere with information processing

The Effect of the Type of Mental Disorder on Mental Health Stigma

Mental health stigma is an important topic as it has an influence on the care clients receive, as well as resources allocated by society. Previous research has primarily investigated the topic of stigma associated with schizophrenia and various factors that may influence the endorsement of stigmatizing beliefs. Few studies have investigated whether the type of mental disorder has an influence on the level of stigma. The current study evaluated the difference in the level of stereotypes endorsed across three conditions: schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and a typical person. Additionally, this study evaluated the reliability of using a global stereotype score obtained from summing the responses of the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27). The results of this study showed that there is a significant difference in the level of global stereotype scores across the three conditions and that a global stereotype score from the AQ-27 is reliable