Simulating the midlatitude atmospheric circulation: what might we gain from high-resolution modeling of air-sea interactions?

Purpose of Review. To provide a snapshot of the current research on the oceanic forcing of the atmospheric circulation in midlatitudes and a concise update on previous review papers. Recent findings. Atmospheric models used for seasonal and longer timescales predictions are starting to resolve motions so far only studied in conjunction with weather forecasts. These phenomena have horizontal scales of ~ 10–100 km which coincide with energetic scales in the ocean circulation. Evidence has been presented that, as a result of this matching of scale, oceanic forcing of the atmosphere was enhanced in models with 10–100 km grid size, especially at upper tropospheric levels. The robustness of these results and their underlying mechanisms are however unclear. Summary. Despite indications that higher resolution atmospheric models respond more strongly to sea surface temperature anomalies, their responses are still generally weaker than those estimated empirically from observations. Coarse atmospheric models (grid size greater than 100 km) will miss important signals arising from future changes in ocean circulation unless new parameterizations are developed

Vitamin D Deficiency in Children with a Chronic Illness-Seasonal and Age-Related Variations in Serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D Concentrations

Peer reviewe

Radiation fraction dose and hearing impairment: retrospective analysis of high-frequency hearing loss in 19 medulloblastoma patients treated with conventionally-fractionated or hyperfractionated radiotherapy

Background: This study compares high frequency hearing loss (HF HL) in medulloblastoma patients receiving conventionally-fractionated (CRT) and hyperfractionated radiotherapy (HRT).Materials and methods: Between 2008 and 2015, 19 children with medulloblastoma, mean age 5.5 years (range 15 months - 17.5 years), were treated sequentially with radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy (HIT 2000 protocol). 12 patients received CRT (35.2 Gy (1.6 Gy x 5 per week) to the craniospinal axes (CSA) and 55 Gy (1.8 Gy x 5 per week) to the posterior cranial fossa (PCF)). 7 patients received HRT (1 Gy x 2 per day x 5 per week) of 40 Gy (CSA), 60 Gy (PCF) and 68 Gy (primary tumor site). Post-radiotherapy HL was determined by audiological testing and classified according to the "Münster classification".Results: Post-treatment bilateral HL was observed in all patients. In the CRT group, grade 2 HL (worst threshold >20 dB HL at >=4 kHz) was found in 8 patients (66%) and grade 3 (>20 dB HL at .05 for both ears). No linear correlation between severity of HL and number of cisplatin cycles was observed.Conclusion: The higher average cochlear dose of hyperfractionated cranial radiotherapy appears to be associated with more severe hearing loss in medulloblastoma patients. Further investigations to establish an optimal radiation treatment modality are necessary because of the rarity of medulloblastoma

DNA and cultures of remembrance: anthropological genetics, biohistories and biosocialities

The article engages current human population genetic research or anthropological genetics with an emphasis on its popular forms. A general discussion of the production of biohistories on the basis of DNA analyses is elaborated by focusing on what I call the Genographic network: the Genographic Project and the associated genetic ancestry companies as well as book and film productions. In order to gain an understanding of the specificity of what is also referred to as genetic history, the development of notions such as a genetic heritage, the gene as historical document, and the DNA as archive of history are briefly treated, before approaching the recent commercializations and medializations of group-specific and personalized genetic history and identity. It is here that the challenge of joining history and DNA becomes most evident: on the one hand, the genetic knowledge is presented as particularly authentic and accurate on the basis of its epistemic objects and quantitative and technological approaches. On the other hand, in order for biohistorical identities and socialities to form, the knowledge needs to be rendered in a narrative, esthetically appealing way. This also points to differences vis-à-vis medical genomics in that neither anthropological genetics, nor the biosocialities it facilitates, are oriented towards hope for future health solutions. In offering supposedly purely anthropological knowledge about who we are and where we come from, anthropological genetics is part of backward-looking socialities. It is part of cultures of remembrance