Southwest monsoon of 1979: chemical and biological response of somali coastal waters

In 1979 two areas of upwelling were observed off Somalia, one near 10 degrees N and one near 5 degrees N. The areas of upwelling were characterized by sea surface temperatures between 17 degrees and 22 degrees C, high concentrations of surface nutrients (5 to 20 micromoles of nitrate per liter) and surface chlorophyll a (0.4 to 5.0 milligrams per cubic meter), primary productivity averaging 1.7 grams of carbon per square meter per day, and a phytoplankton assemblage dominated numerically by the diatom Nitzschia delicatissima.     

Adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase from brain

Adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate at a concentration of 5 x 10(-7) mole per liter causes a 400 percent increase in the rate of phosphorylation of histone catalyzed by a partially purified enzyme preparation from rabbit brain. The data provide the first direct evidence of a biochemical action of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in the brain.     

Rheology of glacier ice

A new method for calculating the stress field in bounded ice shelves is used to compare strain rate and deviatoric stress on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The analysis shows that strain rate (per second) increases as the third power of deviatoric stress (in newtons per square meter), with a constant of proportionality equal to 2.3 x 10(-25).     

Ceratoscopelus maderensis: peculiar sound-scattering layer identified with this myctophid fish

A sound-scattering layer, composed of discrete hyperbolic echosequences and apparently restricted to the Slope Water region of the western North Atlantic, has been identified from the Deep Submergence Research Vehicle Alvin with schools of the meyctophid fish Ceratoscopelus maderensis. By diving into the layer and using Alvin's echo-ranging sonar, we approached and visually identified the sound scatterers. The number of echo sequences observed with the surface echo-soutnder (1/23.76 x 10(5) cubic meters of water) checked roughly with the number of sonar targets observed from the submarine (1/7.45 x 105 cubic meters). The fish schools appeared to be 5 to 10 meters thick, 10 to 100 meters in diameter, and on centers 100 to 200 meters apart. Density within schools was estimated at 10 to 15 fish per cubic meter.     

Dimethyl sulfide in the surface ocean and the marine atmosphere: a global view

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) has been identified as the major volatile sulfur compound in 628 samples of surface seawater representing most of the major oceanic ecozones. In at least three respects, its vertical distribution, its local patchiness, and its distribution in oceanic ecozones, the concentration of DMS in the sea exhibits a pattern similar to that of primary production. The global weightedaverage concentration of DMS in surface seawater is 102 nanograms of sulfur (DMS) per liter, corresponding to a global sea-to-air flux of 39 x 10(12) grams of sulfur per year. When the biogenic sulfur contributions from the land surface are added, the biogenic sulfur gas flux is approximately equal to the anthropogenic flux of sulfur dioxide. The DMS concentration in air over the equatorial Pacific varies diurnally between 120 and 200 nanograms of sulfur (DMS) per cubic meter, in agreement with the predictions of photochemical models. The estimated source flux of DMS from the oceans to the marine atmosphere is in agreement with independently obtained estimates of the removal fluxes of DMS and its oxidation products from the atmosphere.     

Asbestiform amphibole minerals: detection and measurement of high concentrations in municipal water supplies

Ashestiform amphibole minerals, which have been demonstrated to be associated with human health problems, have been detected in substantial quantities in municipal water supplies taken from western Lake Superior Water. The total concentrationl of amphibole minerals in the Duluth, Minnesota, water supply, as measured by x-ray diffraction for daily samples of suspended solids averages 0.19 milligram per liter with large fluctuations due to seasonal and climatological effects on lake circulation. Electron microscopic examination of these water samples confirms the presence of asbestiform amphibole fibers. A conservatiue estimate of the fiber count for 1973 Duluth water supply samples is (1 to 30) x 10(6) amphibole fibers identifiable by electron diffraction per liter of water with a mass concentration of 1 to 30 micrograms per liter.     

Amalthea's density is less than that of water

Radio Doppler data from the Galileo spacecraft's encounter with Amalthea, one of Jupiter's small inner moons, on 5 November 2002 yield a mass of (2.08 +/- 0.15) x 10(18) kilograms. Images of Amalthea from two Voyager spacecraft in 1979 and Galileo imaging between November 1996 and June 1997 yield a volume of (2.43 +/- 0.22) x 10(6) cubic kilometers. The satellite thus has a density of 857 +/- 99 kilograms per cubic meter. We suggest that Amalthea is porous and composed of water ice, as well as rocky material, and thus formed in a cold region of the solar system, possibly not at its present location near Jupiter.     

Quinacrine (atebrin): mode of action

Quinacrine at a concentration of 8 x 10(-4) mole per liter is bactericidal for Escherichia coli, blocks DNA synthesis, and inhibits the syntheses of RNA and protein strongly. At a concentration of 2x 10(-4) mole per liter, the drug is bacteriostatic, the syntheses of protein and DNA (but not that of RNA) are partially inhibited, and the bacteria grow into giant filaments. Impairment of DNA replication is proposed as the mode of action of quinacrine.     

Discovery of sodium in the atmosphere of mercury

The spectrum of Mercury at the Fraunhofer sodium D lines shows strong emission features that are attributed to resonant scattering of sunlight from sodium vapor in the atmosphere of the planet. The total column abundance of sodium was estimated to be 8.1 x 10(11) atoms per square centimeter, which corresponds to a surface density at the subsolar point of about 1.5 x 10(5) atoms per cubic centimeter. The most abundant atmospheric species found by the Mariner 10 mission to Mercury was helium, with a surface density of 4.5 x 10(3) atoms per cubic centimeter. It now appears that sodium vapor is a major constituent of Mercury's atmosphere.     

Aluminum-26 and beryllium-10 in greenland ice

Activities of beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 dissolved in 200-year-old Greenland ice were found to be 18.4 (+ 8.4, - 4.8) x 10(-6) and 3.2 +/- 0.9 x 10(-7) disintegration per minute per liter, respectively. From these values and the precipitation rate (30 milliliters of water per square centimeter per year), the production rates of these isotopes are calculated to be 3.6 (+ 1.6, - 0.9) x 10(-2) and 1.7 +/- 0.5 x 10(-4) atom per second * square centimeter. These rates agree with the rates calculated for the production of these isotopes by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. Probably all the Al(26) in the ice is accounted for by such atmospheric production; however, an upper limit for the influx of cosmic dust bearing aluminum-26 is calculated at 3.2 x 10(5) tons per year for Earth. Only upper limits could be found for Al(26) and Be(10) in the undissolved particulate matter in the ice; their addition to the activities in the dissolved material leaves our conclusions unchanged.     

Spherical bilayer vesicles of fullerene-based surfactants in water: a laser light scattering study

The low solubility of fullerenes in aqueous solution limits their applications in biology. By appropriate substitution, the fullerenes can be transformed into stabilized anions that are water soluble and can form large aggregated structures. A laser light scattering study of the association behavior of the potassium salt of pentaphenyl fullerene (Ph5C60K) in water revealed that the hydrocarbon anions Ph5C60- associate into bilayers, forming stable spherical vesicles with an average hydrodynamic radius and a radius of gyration of about 17 nanometers at a very low critical aggregation concentration of less than 10(-7) moles per liter. The average aggregation number of associated particles in these large spherical vesicles is about 1.2 x 10(4).     

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate: potassium-dependent action on vascular smooth muscle membrane potential

Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate and theophylline hyperpolarize smooth muscle of rabbit main pulmonary artery in low concentrations of potassium (1 millimole per liter) but do not have a significant effect on the membrane potential in the presence of high concentrations of potassium (10 millimoles per liter). The dependence of the hyperpolarizing effect on a low external concentration of potassium is similar to that observed with isoproterenol. Prior treatment with theophylline potentiated the hyperpolarizing action of isoproterenol. These findings are compatible with the assumption that potassium-dependent, beta-adrenergic hyperpolarization is mediated by cyclic adenosine monophosphate.     

Microorganisms in the accreted ice of Lake Vostok, Antarctica

Analysis of a portion of Vostok ice core number 5G, which is thought to contain frozen water derived from Lake Vostok, Antarctica (a body of liquid water located beneath about 4 kilometers of glacial ice), revealed between 2 x 10(2) and 3 x 10(2) bacterial cells per milliliter and low concentrations of potential growth nutrients. Lipopolysaccharide (a Gram-negative bacterial cell biomarker) was also detected at concentrations consistent with the cell enumeration data, which suggests a predominance of Gram-negative bacteria. At least a portion of the microbial assemblage was viable, as determined by the respiration of carbon-14-labeled acetate and glucose substrates during incubations at 3 degrees C and 1 atmosphere. These accreted ice data suggest that Lake Vostok may contain viable microorganisms.     

High-selectivity, high-flux silica membranes for gas separation

Process improvements in silica membrane fabrication, especially the use of clean-room techniques, resulted in silica membranes without detectable mesoscopic defects, resulting in significantly improved transport properties. Supported membranes calcined at 400 degreesC were 30 nanometers in thickness, showed a H2 permeance at 200 degreesC of 2 x 10(-6) moles per square meter per second per Pascal (mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1), and had a CH4 permeance more than 500 times smaller. Molecules larger than CH4 were completely blocked. Silica membranes calcined at 600 degreesC showed no detectable CH4 flux, with a H2 permeance of 5 x 10(-7) (mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1) at 200 degreesC. These results signify an important step toward the industrial application of these membranes such as purification of H2 and natural gas as well as the selective removal of CO2.     

Reaction of plutonium dioxide with water: formation and properties of PuO(2+x)

Results show that PuO(2+x), a high-composition (x 相似文献   

A polymorphism within the G6PC2 gene is associated with fasting plasma glucose levels

Several studies have shown that healthy individuals with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels at the high end of the normal range have an increased risk of mortality. To identify genetic determinants that contribute to interindividual variation in FPG, we tested 392,935 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 654 normoglycemic participants for association with FPG, and we replicated the most strongly associated SNP (rs560887, P = 4 x 10(-7)) in 9353 participants. SNP rs560887 maps to intron 3 of the G6PC2 gene, which encodes glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein (also known as IGRP), a protein selectively expressed in pancreatic islets. This SNP was associated with FPG (linear regression coefficient beta = -0.06 millimoles per liter per A allele, combined P = 4 x 10(-23)) and with pancreatic beta cell function (Homa-B model, combined P = 3 x 10(-13)) in three populations; however, it was not associated with type 2 diabetes risk. We speculate that G6PC2 regulates FPG by modulating the set point for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells.     

Aerobic microbial respiration in 86-million-year-old deep-sea red clay

Microbial communities can subsist at depth in marine sediments without fresh supply of organic matter for millions of years. At threshold sedimentation rates of 1 millimeter per 1000 years, the low rates of microbial community metabolism in the North Pacific Gyre allow sediments to remain oxygenated tens of meters below the sea floor. We found that the oxygen respiration rates dropped from 10 micromoles of O(2) liter(-1) year(-1) near the sediment-water interface to 0.001 micromoles of O(2) liter(-1) year(-1) at 30-meter depth within 86 million-year-old sediment. The cell-specific respiration rate decreased with depth but stabilized at around 10(-3) femtomoles of O(2) cell(-1) day(-1) 10 meters below the seafloor. This result indicated that the community size is controlled by the rate of carbon oxidation and thereby by the low available energy flux.     

Radium-226 and radon-222: concentration in atlantic and pacific oceans

Measurements of radon-222 in seawater suggest the following. The radium-226 content of surface water in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is uniformly close to about 4 x 10(-14) gram per liter. The deep Pacific has a concentration of radium-226 that is four times higher and the deep Atlantic a concentration twice as high as that of the surface. These distribution profiles can be explained by the same particle-settling rate for radium-226 from surface to depth for the two oceans and by a threefold longer residence time of water in the deep Pacific than in the deep Atlantic. The vertical distribution of the deficiency of radon-222 in the surface water of the northwest Pacific Ocean suggests a coefficient of vertical eddy diffusion as high as 120 square centimeters per second and a gas-exchange rate for carbon dioxide in surface water between 14 and 60 moles per square meter per year. Vertical profiles of the excess of radon-222 in near-bottom water of the South Atlantic give coefficients of vertical eddy diffusion ranging from 1.5 to more than 50 square centimeters per second.     

Jovian Atmosphere: Structure and Composition between the Turbopause and the Mesopause

The occultation of the star Beta Scorpii by Jupiter was observed at high time resolution in three wavelength channels. The results imply a temperature of 220 degrees K at an altitude in the Jovian atmosphere corresponding to 10(14) molecules per cubic centimeter, and temperature fluctuations of 2 degrees to 10 degrees K over vertical scales of 2 to 10 kilometers. They suggest that the vertical eddy diffusion coefficient near the turbopause has a lower limit of 7 x 10(5)K square centimeters per second, and that the turbopause lies above the altitude where the density is 5 x 10(13) molecules per cubic centimeter. Below the turbopause, the ratio of hydrogen to helium is consistent with cosmic abundances.     

Distribution of airborne radon-222 concentrations in U.S. homes

Apparently large exposures of the general public to the radioactive decay products of radon-222 present in indoor air have led to systematical appraisal of monitoring data from U.S. single-family homes; several ways of aggregating data were used that take into account differences in sample selection and season of measurements. The resulting distribution of annual-average radon-222 concentrations can be characterized by an arithmetic mean of 1.5 picocurie per liter (55 becquerels per cubic meter) and a long tail with 1 to 3% of homes exceeding 8 picocuries per liter, or by a geometric mean of 0.9 picocurie per liter and a geometric standard deviation of about 2.8. The standard deviation in the means is 15%, estimated from the number and variability of the available data sets, but the total uncertainty is larger because these data may not be representative. Available dose-response data suggest that an average of 1.5 picocuries per liter contributes about 0.3% lifetime risk of lung cancer and that, in the million homes with the highest concentrations, where annual exposures approximate or exceed those received by underground uranium miners, long-term occupants suffer an added lifetime risk of at least 2%, reaching extraordinary values at the highest concentrations observed.