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What an encouraging sign from Amtrak, supportive of its long-distance national routes, as opposed to the steady beat of other drums from its management indicating just the opposite, with cuts [...]

Penile cancer (PeCa) is a rare cancer with surgical options that affect patients’ quality-of-life. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are uncommonly utilised in this cohort despite their several patient-centred benefits and there are recommendations to further digitalise PROMs. This prospective, population-based study aimed to report the development and feasibility of a novel electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROMs) questionnaire for patients with PeCa.

viewpoint A large dose of realism needs to be injected into the debate over the adult care green paper, argues James Churchill Can we please all have a reality check? [...]

A Lagrangian model is constructed for a surface column of initial height h(0) that propagates at an average speed uand is subject to excess (i.e., net) evaporation of qm/year. It is shown that these parameters combine to form an evaporation length, L= uh(0)/q, which provides an estimate for the distance the column must travel before evaporating completely. While these changes in the surface water level due to evaporation are compensated by entrainment of water into the overall column, the changes in either near‐surface salinity or isotopic compositions are retained and can be measured. Observations of surface salinity and isotopic compositions of δ18Oand δDalong 1,000‐ to 3,500‐km long transects are used to estimate values of Lin the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, and Gulf Stream. The variations of salinity, δ18Oand δDin all four basins are linear. As anticipated, the estimated value of Lis smallest in the slowly moving and arid Red Sea and is greatest in the fast‐moving Gulf Stream. a conceptual Lagrangian model is developed for constraining rates of evaporation in the ocean. The model is applied to routinely measured variables in the ocean's surface such as salinity and isotopic compositions. Our results show that all variables yield very similar estimates of the model's parameter, which bolsters the use of surface transects of salinity to constrain calculated values of parameters relevant to rates of evaporation. A Lagrangian model is developed for changes in salinity and isotopic composition of a moving water column that undergoes net evaporationThe model is successfully applied to four oceanic transectsThe observations provide reliable estimates of the model's new single‐parameter – evaporation length

... Black, that is In the states east of the Mississippi, black bears are almost always black. According to one study, less than one percent are brown phase. In bear-rich […]

FOLLOW THE LOGGER Gun hunters and late-season bow-hunters can find some of the best hunting ever by contacting state and industrial foresters and asking where logging operations recently have been […]

Fresh Cutovers Have Always Been Underrated Whitetail Magnets. Last year, I kept close track of the deer migration into a 120-acre timber sale in our hunting grounds. This area customarily [...]

Mesoscale eddies and boundary currents play a key role in the upper layer circulation of the Red Sea. This study assesses the physical and biochemical characteristics of an eastern boundary current (EBC) and recurrent eddies in the central Red Sea (CRS) using a combination of in situ and satellite observations. Hydrographic surveys in November 2013 (autumn) and in April 2014 (spring) in the CRS (22.15°N–24.1°N) included a total of 39 and 27 CTD stations, respectively. In addition, high‐resolution hydrographic data were acquired in spring 2014 with a towed undulating vehicle (ScanFish). In situ measurements of salinity, temperature, chlorophyll fluorescence, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), and dissolved nitrate: phosphorous ratios reveal distinct water mass characteristics for the two periods. An EBC, observed in the upper 150 m of the water column during autumn, transported low‐salinity and warm water from the south toward the CRS. Patches of the low‐salinity water of southern origin tended to contain relatively high concentrations of chlorophyll and CDOM. The prominent dynamic feature observed in spring was a cyclonic/anticyclonic eddy pair. The cyclonic eddy was responsible for an upward nutrient flux into the euphotic zone. Higher chlorophyll and CDOM concentrations, and concomitant lower nitrate:phosphorous ratios indicate the influence of the EBC in the CRS at the end of the stratified summer period. Eastern boundary currents transport episodically patches of less salty and warmer water with higher biomass from the southern toward the CRSA cyclonic/anticyclonic eddy pair in spring created an upward nutrient flux and increased the integrated chlorophyll in the oligotrophic CRSHigher chlorophyll and CDOM and lower N:P ratios reveal the influence of the eastern boundary current compared with an eddy pair

The Knarr Field is located on the Tampen Spur, Norwegian continental shelf and was discovered in 2008 by the Jordbær well (34/3-1S), with additional resources later added to the field by the Jordbær Vest well (34/3-3S) in 2011. Within the Knarr Field, the Cook Formation is informally divided into the Lower Cook and Upper Cook successions and appears to have prograded from east to west. The Lower Cook consists of Sands 1, 2 and 3 and the Upper Cook consists of Sands 4 and 5, with the sands separated by intraformational mudstones that are commonly chronostratigraphically constrained; the J15 maximum flooding surface separates the Lower and Upper Cook. The tide-dominated Lower Cook is notably heterolithic, with intricate intercalations of sandstone and mudrock lithologies representing tidal channel, tidal bar and intertidal bar facies. The Upper Cook represents a series of coarsening-upwards cycles that displays the systematic changes in facies and ichnology expected for a shoreface succession, consisting of offshore, offshore transition zone and shoreface facies. Palynomorphs confirm these observations and suggest that the Lower Cook was deposited in brackish-water conditions, whereas the presence of more marine fossils in the Upper Cook suggests an increase in marine influence. The integration of the sedimentology and biostratigraphy described herein enabled the establishment of a robust reservoir zonation that has been utilized during the development and ongoing exploitation of the Knarr Field.

There are probably more snowshoe hares in the North Woods than any other game animal, especially when the reproductive cycle is at its height, but the patch of woods I […]

When we first moved to the woods (see "We Took To The Woods," May 1982) it was our pleasure, if not a downright necessity, to shave expenses by getting whatever […]

Several letters to the editors are presented in response to articles in previous issues including the development of Methodist colleges and universities in the U.S., the interpretation of Methodist educational work in the February 3, 1961 issue, and "Voyage Through the Void."

Penile squamous cell carcinoma skip metastases are aggressive and independent predictors of poor survival. Careful examination of the entire penile shaft is crucial and distant staging is recommended, as skip metastases can occur without conventional lymphatic spread, with a significant impact on prognosis.

(editors@lookjapan.com) I was fascinated to read your interview with Ogura Kazuo in the January edition of Look Japan. At a time of much international discord it was heartening to read [...]

As late as 1883, the Phillips Badger newspaper reported that Menominee Indians in northern Wisconsin were known to drive deer along 12- to 15-mile-long fences. The 8-foot-high fences were constructed […]

Muskies have been called the "fish of 10,000 casts," or whatever number seems appropriate at the time, and it is true that a legal muskie in a week of fishing […]

An often-overlooked opportunity for catching panfish occurs in northern states in very early spring. As ice starts to melt, it creates a band of open water around the shoreline of […]

Deer hate wind. Branches wave, tree trunks creak, deadfalls crash to the ground, scent swirls in all directions. All this commotion overwhelms the whitetail's survival senses. Deer counter by going […]

WHAT COYOTES REALLY EAT STOMACH ANALYSIS PROVIDES FACTS A study of the contents of 80,000 coyote stomachs revealed the following data: Animal Times counted Rabbit 20,000 Sheep or goat 16,025 […]

A review of the basic concepts involved when constructing nonlinear loaddeflection curves of framed structures by the finite element method is presented. The study is limited to the geometrically nonlinear behavior of elastic structures. Three different procedures are considered: the linear incremental method, the nonlinear incremental method, and the direct method. For each method the governing equations are derived, and the procedure used to plot the loaddeflection curve is outlined.

When snow is on the ground, two people with good tracking skills can hunt snowshoe hares quite effectively. One takes a stand when a hare is jumped; the other follows […]

The average adult male black bear weighs about 300 pounds, the average adult female about 190. However, weight varies greatly among black bears, with some tipping the scales at 800 […]

Driven by upwelling-favorable monsoon winds, nutrient-rich Gulf of Aden Intermediate Water (GAIW) enters the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean each summer. Hydrographic and velocity data acquired in autumn 2011 provide the first indication that GAIW is carried rapidly northward along the eastern Red Sea margin in a well-defined subsurface current with speeds >30 cm s-1. The nutrientrich (NO2 + NO3 concentrations up to 17 μmol l-1) GAIW overlaps the euphotic zone and appears to fuel enhanced productivity over depths of 35-67 m. GAIW is broadly distributed through the Red Sea, extending northward along the eastern Red Sea boundary to ~24°N and carried across the Red Sea in the circulation of a basin-scale eddy. Of particular significance is the observed incursion of GAIW into coastal areas with dense coral formations, suggesting that GAIW could be an important source of new nutrients to coral reef ecosystems of the Red Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circulation north of Cape Hatteras is complicated by the proximity of the shelthreak front, the Gulf Stream, and convergent shelf flow from the Middle and South Atlantic Bights. A three-week cruise in this region in January/February, 2005 was undertaken in order to study the structure of the shelfbreak front as it terminates near Cape Hatteras and to quantify the freshwater transport from the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf into the Gulf Stream. Two strongly contrasting conditions were identified. Early in the cruise, the Gulf Stream directly abutted the shelfbreak at Cape Hatteras and drove a northward flow over the continental shelf as far north as 35°45'N. All of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf water terminated by 35°30'N. Ten days later, the Gulf Stream had moved away from the shelfbreak south of Cape Hatteras and strong winds from the north were present. During this time, the shelfbreak frontal jet was strong (maximum southward velocity of approximately 0.5 m s-1 with a Rossby number of 2) and abruptly turned eastward and offshore between 35°35'N and 35°45'N. Freshwater transport eastward from the shelthreak jet was 7.4 mSv and southward over the shelf was 19.9 mSv, giving a total freshwater transport of 27.3 mSv. This likely represents an upper bound due to the strong wind forcing. Implications of these results for the freshwater budget of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf, stability properties of the shelfbreak front in this region, and the formation of "Ford water" in the Gulf Stream are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greens Creek polymetallic massive sulphide deposit is hosted in a typical polyphase deformed lower greenschist facies orogenic setting. The structure of the host rocks is well constrained, exhibiting a series of three superimposed ductile deformations followed by two brittle episodes. The ore is found both in fold hinges where early-formed depositional features are preserved and in fold limbs where primary features are typically strongly modified or obliterated. Samples from both settings have been investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) coupled with forescatter orientation contrast (OC) imaging in order to observe the effects of deformation and lower greenschist facies metamorphism on pyrite. Results suggest that colloform pyrite may preserve information relevant to palaeoenvironment, that apparently simple textures are generally more complex, and that pyrite can deform plastically by dislocation glide and creep processes at lower temperatures and/or strain rates than generally accepted. This analysis indicates that EBSD and OC imaging provide powerful tools for observing textural relationships in pyrite that are not shown by more traditional methods. They should become routine tools for pyrite texture analysis.

Abstract: In the present experiments, we investigated the effects of several commonly employed antiepileptic drugs on the performance of adult rats in a Morris water maze task. We found that phenytoin treatment produced the most deleterious performance impairments across all days of training, and that these performance deficits are not likely due to any general sensorimotor impairments. Carbamazepine had milder, but detectable negative effects, as carbamazepine-treated animals exhibited initial acquisition deficits, but rapidly achieved escape levels comparable to controls. In marked contrast, valproate and ethosuximide had no detectable effects on learning in the water maze. These results parallel previous findings in rats treated with these compounds and tested in an instrumental learning task, and are in general agreement with the human clinical literature. To the extent that one might wish to minimize learning deficits associated with maintenance on antiepileptic drugs, phenytoin is definitely not the treatment of choice, while valproate or ethosuximide are apparently much less disruptive.

Larval fish originating south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, are frequently found on the continental shelf north of Cape Hatteras, even as far north as the Scotian shelf. The Gulf Stream and associated warm‐core rings are hypothesized as the physical mechanisms responsible for the northward transport of larvae. Specifically, larvae spawned along the southeast U.S. continental shelf are entrained into the Gulf Stream, transported to the northeast, regularly incorporated in warm‐core ring streamers, transported across the slope region, and released along the shelf edge north of Cape Hatteras. This proposed transport route was evaluated using hydrographic data and drifter tracks that were collected as part of other studies. Continental shelf water that originated south of Cape Hatteras was found along the edge of the Gulf Stream north of Cape Hatteras, and drifter tracks demonstrated each segment of the proposed transport route. A probability model was then developed to estimate transport times for larvae carried over the proposed transport route using a combination of sea surface temperature images, statistics of drifter transport speeds, and a larval mortality function. Modeled transport time distributions closely matched observed age distributions of larvae, further supporting the hypothesized transport route.

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that crude ginseng extracts enhance performance on shock-motivated tasks. Whether such performance enhancements are due to memory-enhancing (nootropic) properties of ginseng, or to other non-specific effects such as an influence on anxiety has not been determined. In the present study, we evaluated both the nootropic and anxiolytic effects of the ginseng saponin Rb1. In the first experiment, 80 five-day-old male chicks received intraperitoneal injections of 0, 0.25, 2.5 or 5.0 mg/kg Rb1. Performance on a visual discrimination task was uvaluted 15 minutes, 24 and 72 hours later. Acquisition of a visual discrimination task was unaffected by drug treatment, but the number of errors was significantly reduced in the 0.25 mg/kg group during retention trials completed 24 and 72 hours after injection. Animals receiving higher dosages showed trends towards enhancement initially, but demonstrated impaired performance when tested 72 hours later. Rb1 had no effect on response rates or body weight. In the second experiment, 64 five-day-old male chicks received similar injections of Rb1 (0, 0.25, 2.5 or 5.0 mg/kg) and separation distress was evaluated 15 minutes, 24 and 72 hours later. Rb1 produced a change in separation distress that depended on the dose and environmental condition under which distress was recorded. These data suggest that Rb1 can improve memory for a visual discrimination task and that the nootropic effect may be related to changes in anxiety.

While limited research is available, evidence indicates that physical and mental activity influence the aging process. Human data show that executive functions of the type associated with frontal lobe and hippocampal regions of the brain may be selectively maintained or enhanced in humans with higher levels of fitness. Similarly enhanced performance is observed in aged animals exposed to elevated physical and mental demand and it appears that the vascular component of the brain response may be driven by physical activity whereas the neuronal component may reflect learning. Recent results have implicated neurogenesis, at least in the hippocampus, as a component of the brain response to exercise, with learning enhancing survival of these neurons. Non-neuronal tissues also respond to experience in the mature brain, indicating that the brain reflects both its recent and its longer history of experience. Preliminary measures of brain function hold promise of increased interaction between human and animal researchers and a better understanding of the substrates of experience effects on behavioral performance in aging.

Abstract: Drifter tracks and shipboard CTD observations have revealed a number of distinct features of the flood tide circulation carrying water through Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. One of the most noteworthy of these features is a nearshore jet in the flow carrying water to the inlet on a flood tide. Characterized by a shoreward increase in longshore flow, the jet produces a narrow coastal zone over which water is carried into the inlet. The jet appears to be principally a tidal phenomenon, as it is closely reproduced by a tidally-driven barotropic numerical model. The model results also indicate the jet may be a near-inlet feature. Model simulations of spring tide conditions show the jet confined to within 4 km of the inlet mouth. Another observed phenomenon, which is reproduced by the tidal model, is a distinct splitting of the flow entering the inlet, in which water passing through a particular inlet segment tends to move up-estuary along a well-defined path. An observed flow feature not reproduced by the tidal model is an eastward skew of the region over which water is drawn into the inlet on a flood tide. This asymmetry is unrelated to the local wind. Modeling results from a previous study suggest it may be due to convergent flow at the edge of the low salinity plume issuing from the inlet. Taken together, the results of this and other recent studies in the Beaufort Inlet region reveal the importance of nearshore currents on the eastern side of the inlet in delivering oceanic-spawned larvae to the estuarine system connected to the inlet.

This study assessed the effects of typhoons on sea surface pCO2and CO2flux in the northern South China Sea (SCS). During the passage of three major typhoons from May to August 2013, sea surface pCO2, surface seawater temperature (SST), and other meteorological parameters were continuously measured on a moored buoy. Surface water in the region was a source of CO2to the atmosphere with large variations ranging from hours to months. SST was the primary factor controlling the variation of surface pCO2through most of the time period. Typhoons are seen to impact surface pCO2in three steps: first by cooling, thus decreasing surface pCO2, and then by causing vertical mixing that brings up deep, high‐CO2water, and lastly triggering net uptake of CO2due to the nutrients brought up in this deep water. The typhoons of this study primarily impacted air‐sea CO2flux via increasing wind speeds. The mean CO2flux during a typhoon ranged from 3.6 to 5.4 times the pretyphoon mean flux. The magnitude of the CO2flux during typhoons was strongly inversely correlated with the typhoon center distance. The effect of typhoons accounted for 22% of the total CO2flux in the study period, during which typhoons occurred only 9% of the time. It was estimated that typhoons enhanced annual CO2efflux by 23–56% in the northern SCS during the last decade. As such, tropical cyclones may play a large and increasingly important role in controlling CO2fluxes in a warmer and stormier ocean of the future. The global ocean absorbs about 25% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere and plays an important role in regulating global climate. One important question regarding estimates of carbon dioxide flux at the ocean surface is how episodic events such as typhoons affect surface seawater carbon dioxide and air‐sea carbon dioxide exchange. In this study, seawater temperature generally played a primary role in controlling surface seawater carbon dioxide under nontyphoon conditions in the northern South China Sea. We found that typhoons seem to have a three‐step effect on surface carbon dioxide: first cooling, which decreases carbon dioxide content, followed by vertical mixing that can bring up deep water with high concentrations of carbon dioxide and nutrients, and lastly the triggering of net uptake of carbon dioxide due to phytoplankton growth fueled by those nutrients. Increased air‐sea carbon dioxide flux during a typhoon is caused primarily by high wind speed. Typhoons enhanced carbon dioxide flux to the atmosphere by 23–56% annually in the study region. As such, typhoons may play a more important role in the control of carbon dioxide fluxes in a warmer and stormier ocean of the future. Typhoons tend to have a three‐step effect on surface pCO2: first cooling, followed by mixing, and then potentially biological uptakeIncreased air‐sea CO2flux during typhoon effect periods is caused primarily by high wind speedTyphoons enhance CO2efflux by 23–56% in the northern South China Sea during the last decade

The neurological deficits exhibited by patients with Fragile X syndrome (FraX) have been attributed to the absence of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP), the product of the FMR1gene, which is nonfunctional in these individuals. While a great deal has been learned about FraX using non‐invasive techniques and autopsy tissue from humans, the limited availability of subjects and specimens severely restricts the rate at which such data can be collected and the types of experimental questions posed. In view of these limitations, a transgenic mouse model of FraX has been constructed in which the FMR1gene is selectively knocked out (KO) [Bakker et al. (1994) Cell 78:23–33]. These mice show molecular, morphological, and behavioral alterations consistent with phenotypes observed in FraX patients, making them good models to study the absence of FMRP expression. Microsc. Res. Tech. 57:156–158, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Discusses the mating patterns and territorial habits of the whitetail buck. Detection of such habits and how they help the hunter; Description of the breeding area or harem room; Behaviors of the rutting buck; Description of the author's experience of using knowledge of mating patterns to hunt deer.

The article discusses changes which have been seen in Great Britain in the care and treatment of people with learning disabilities and in British society's opinions of people with learning disabilities. In the article the author offers his opinions on the changes and on additional changes which need to be made if people with learning disabilities are to see equal treatment in society.