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A three-dimensional, baroclinic, finite-volume ocean model (FVCOM) is used to examine hurricane induced responses in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Hurricane Igor (2010) and Hurricane Leslie (2012) made landfall within 100 km of the mouth of the bay, with the former to the eastern side and the latter on the western side. The model results have reasonable agreement with field observations on sea level, near-surface currents and sea surface temperature (SST). During landfall the two hurricanes cause the opposite shifts in inner bay circulation. Hurricane Igor overwhelms the mean inflow into the inner bay and shifts the currents to outflow. Hurricane Leslie reinforces the inflow into the inner bay. The peak storm surge is significantly influenced by local wind and air pressure during Leslie, accounting for 34% and 62% at the Argentia and St. Lawrence tide-gauge stations respectively, but predominately due to remote forcing entering the upstream eastern open boundary during Igor. There is a strong near-surface near-inertial response during Leslie, but a weak one during Igor. Stratification plays an important role in both generation and dissipation of near-inertial oscillation. A strong pre-storm stratification during Leslie favours the generation of near-inertia oscillation. Strong turbulent mixing induced on the right side of Leslie generates large vertical movement of the thermocline and thus contributes to strong near-inertia oscillation inside the mixed layer. The barotropic simulation results in a significant underestimation of near-surface currents and near-inertial oscillation. The baroclinic simulation shows a large increase of the current gradient in the vertical, as the first baroclinic mode in response to the hurricane forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three non-RGD-containing disintegrins, VLO5, EO5, and EC3, belong to the heterodimeric family of these snake venom-derived proteins. They are potent inhibitors of certain leukocyte integrins such as alpha4beta1, alpha4beta7, and alpha9beta1, and act through the MLD motif present in one of their subunits. However, the selectivity of these disintegrins to interact with integrins is related to the amino acid composition of the integrin-binding loop in the MLD-containing subunit. The most important amino acid is that preceding the MLD motif. In vitro experiments in adhesion and ELISA assays revealed that the TMLD-containing disintegrins, VLO5 and EO5, appeared to be very potent inhibitors of human alpha4beta1 and alpha9beta1 and less effective in inhibition of the alpha4beta7 integrin. The reverse effect was observed for the AMLD-containing disintegrin, EC3. The data with native disintegrins were confirmed by experiments with synthetic peptides displaying TMLD and AMLD motifs. The MLD-containing disintegrins showed differential activities to inhibit human and murine alpha4beta1 integrin. EC3 was a weaker inhibitor of human integrin, whereas VLO5 and EO5 less actively inhibited murine alpha4beta1. These data describe a useful set of potent and selective integrin antagonists and suggest conformational requirements of human and mouse integrins for interaction with ligands.