RV Knorr Cruise KN200-4, 13 Apr-03 May 2011. RAPID Mooring Cruise

This report describes the mooring operations conducted during RV Knorr cruise KN200-4 between 13 April and 3 May 2011. These mooring operations were completed as part of the United Kingdom Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded RAPID-WATCH Programme to monitor the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) at 26.5°N. The primary purpose on this cruise for the UK team was to service the RAPID Western Boundary moorings while the US teams worked on the Western Boundary Time Series project and the RAPID-MOCHA Western Boundary moorings. Cruise KN200-4 was from Port Everglades, Florida to Port Everglades, Florida and covered the Western Boundary moorings deployed on RB0901 and OC459. This cruise was the ninth annual refurbishment of the Western Boundary section of an array of moorings deployed across the Atlantic in order to continuously observe the MOC. This array will be further refined and refurbished during subsequent years. The instruments deployed on the array consist of a variety of current meters, bottom pressure recorders, and CTD loggers, which, combined with time series measurements of the Florida Straits Current and wind stress estimates, will be used to determine the strength and structure of the MOC at 26.5°N. (http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapid

RV Walton Smith Cruise WS16336, 01 - 07 Dec 2016, Miami to Miami, USA. MerMEED microstructure cruise report

The MerMEED (Mechanisms responsible for Mesoscale Eddy Energy Dissipation) project is a NERC funded project (NE/N001745/1, 2015-2018) to investigate the levels of dissipation associated with eddies at a western boundary, in order to identify the mechanisms responsible. Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in the worlds oceans, and can be found in the subtropical Atlantic travelling slowly westward (at 4-5 cm/s), with a radius of about 100 km. These eddies are formed through baroclinic instability or wind forcing across the Atlantic, but when they reach the western boundary (east coast of the USA), they disappear from the satellite altimetry record. This disappearance of eddies occurs throughout the worldsí oceans at western boundaries, but from altimetry alone, it is not known whether they disappear because energy is transferred to other wave modes or the mean flow, or whether it is locally dissipated through eddy-topography interactions. The purpose of this cruise was to make microstructure temperature and shear measurements in order to measure dissipation at the intersection of an anticyclonic eddy and the steep topography to the east of Abaco, Bahamas. During the 7 day cruise, 70 profiles of microstructure data were collected using a tethered microstructure profiler, and a shipboard 75 kHz ADCP collected concurrent measurements of ocean currents. This cruise is the first of several planned cruises for the MerMEED project, and the data collected are intended to complement additional field operations, including moored instruments added to the RAPID array (thermistors and ADCPs on the WB1 mooring) and glider deployments planned for the 2017/18 year

Facts about our ecological crisis are incontrovertible: we must take action

Humans cannot continue to violate the fundamental laws of nature or science with impunity, say 94 signatories including Dr Alison Green and Molly Scott Cato MEP. Professor of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cumbria Jem Bendell joined others in calling for a wider debate about sustainability, featured in The Guardian. We the undersigned represent diverse academic disciplines, and the views expressed here are those of the signatories and not their organisations. While our academic perspectives and expertise may differ, we are united on one point: we will not tolerate the failure of this or any other government to take robust and emergency action in respect of the worsening ecological crisis. The science is clear, the facts are incontrovertible, and it is unconscionable to us that our children and grandchildren should have to bear the terrifying brunt of an unprecedented disaster of our own making

Structural studies of T4S systems by electron microscopy

Abstract: Type IV secretion (T4S) systems are large dynamic nanomachines that transport DNA and/or proteins through the membranes of bacteria. Analysis of T4S system architecture is an extremely challenging task taking into account their multi protein organisation and lack of overall global symmetry. Nonetheless the last decade demonstrated an amazing progress achieved by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. In this review we present a structural analysis of this dynamic complex based on recent advances in biochemical, biophysical and structural studies

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Lower cardiorespiratory fitness contributes to increased insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in middle-aged South Asian compared with European men living in the UK

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: This study aimed to determine the extent to which increased insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in South Asian men, compared with white European men, living in the UK, was due to lower cardiorespiratory fitness (maximal oxygen uptake [[Formula: see text]]) and physical activity. METHODS: One hundred South Asian and 100 age- and BMI-matched European men without diagnosed diabetes, aged 40–70 years, had fasted blood taken for measurement of glucose concentration, HOMA-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA(IR)), plus other risk factors, and underwent assessment of physical activity (using accelerometry), [Formula: see text], body size and composition, and demographic and other lifestyle factors. For 13 South Asian and one European man, HbA(1c) levels were >6.5% (>48 mmol/mol), indicating potential undiagnosed diabetes; these men were excluded from the analyses. Linear regression models were used to determine the extent to which body size and composition, fitness and physical activity variables explained differences in HOMA(IR) and fasting glucose between South Asian and European men. RESULTS: HOMA(IR) and fasting glucose were 67% (p < 0.001) and 3% (p < 0.018) higher, respectively, in South Asians than Europeans. Lower [Formula: see text], lower physical activity and greater total adiposity in South Asians individually explained 68% (95% CI 45%, 91%), 29% (11%, 46%) and 52% (30%, 80%), respectively, and together explained 83% (50%, 119%) (all p < 0.001) of the ethnic difference in HOMA(IR). Lower [Formula: see text] and greater total adiposity, respectively, explained 61% (9%, 111%) and 39% (9%, 76%) (combined effect 63% [8%, 115%]; all p < 0.05) of the ethnic difference in fasting glucose. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Lower cardiorespiratory fitness is a key factor associated with the excess insulin resistance and fasting glycaemia in middle-aged South Asian, compared with European, men living in the UK. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-013-2969-y) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users

Temperature and Density Effects on the Nucleon Mass Splitting

The finite temperature and finite density dependence of the neutron-proton mass difference is analysed in a purely hadronic framework where the $\rho-\omega$ mixing is crucial for this isospin symmetry breakdown. The problem is handled within Thermo Field Dynamics. The present results, consistent with partial chiral and charge symmetry restoration, improve the experimental data fit for the energy difference between mirror nuclei.Comment: 17 pages, revtex fil

Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain

Our understanding of the biology of pain is limited by our ignorance about its evolution. We know little about how states in other species showing various degrees of apparent similarity to human pain states are related to human pain, or how the mechanisms essential for pain-related states evolved. Nevertheless, insights into the evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain are beginning to emerge from wide-ranging investigations of cellular mechanisms and behavioural responses linked to nociceptor activation, tissue injury, inflammation and the environmental context of these responses in diverse species. In February 2019, an unprecedented meeting on the evolution of pain hosted by the Royal Society brought together scientists from disparate fields who investigate nociception and pain-related behaviour in crustaceans, insects, leeches, gastropod and cephalopod molluscs, fish and mammals (primarily rodents and humans). Here, we identify evolutionary themes that connect these research efforts, including adaptive and maladaptive features of pain-related behavioural and neuronal alterations-some of which are quite general, and some that may apply primarily to humans. We also highlight major questions, including how pain should be defined, that need to be answered as we seek to understand the evolution of pain. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain'