In this review, we summarize the literature from the warm deserts of North America and consider leaf (Anet), soil (Rs), and plant community (aboveground net primary productivity; ANPP) studies from the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts to determine if common trends exist across measurement scales that can be utilized to effectively manage the warm deserts. Furthermore, we investigate the potential management strategies that may increase carbon sequestration or minimize carbon losses in this region. We begin by describing the warm deserts in the southwestern United States and consider climate change projections for this region.

关键词：二氧化碳；气候变化；暖沙漠；封存；碳储存

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No abstract available.

关键词：替代能源；替代燃料的资格；汽车燃料

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The main challenges for the deployment of wind turbine systems are to maximise the amount of good quality electrical power extracted from wind energy. This must be ensured over a significantly wide range of weather conditions simultaneously with minimising both manufacturing and maintenance costs. In consequence to this, the fault tolerant control (FTC) and fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) research have witnessed a steady increase in interest in this application area as an approach to maintain system sustainability with more focus on offshore wind turbines (OWTs) projects. This chapter focuses on investigations of different aspects of operation and control of wind turbine systems and the proposal of a new FTC approach to sustainable OWTs. A typical non-linear state space model of a wind turbine system is described and a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model of this system is also presented. A new approach to active sensor fault tolerant tracking control (FTTC) for OWT described via T-S multiple models. The FTTC strategy is designed in such way that aims to maintaining nominal wind turbine controller without change in both fault and fault-free cases. This is achieved by inserting T-S proportional state estimators augmented with multiple-integral feedback (PMI) fault estimators to be capable to estimate different generator and rotor speed sensors fault for compensation purposes. The material in this chapter is presented using a non-linear benchmark system model of a wind turbine offered within a competition led by the companies Mathworks and KK-Electronic.

关键词：风力发电机组控制；主动容错控制；故障估计

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Heparanase (HPR1) is an endoglycosidase that specifically degrades heparan sulfate proteoglycans, a main constituent on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix and basement membrane. The role of heparanase in breast cancer tumorigenesis remains unclear. In particular, whether HPR1 enzymatic activity is required for its stimulatory effect on tumor growth and initiation are not fully understood. Here we report that the C-terminus of HPR1, which lacks the enzymatic activity, was able to accelerate breast cancer formation in a somatic breast cancer mouse model since mice infected with RCAS- Neu virus plus RCAS-8C (a vector encoding the C terminus of HPR1), developed breast cancer faster than that infected with RCAS-Neu plus RCAS-GFP control virus. Our results suggest that HPR1 may promote tumor growth independent of its enzymatic activity.

关键词：乳腺癌；肿瘤细胞（生物学）；乳腺增生病

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We have investigated whether and how autoimmune complex (AIC) in SLE (lupus) can induce T helper (Th) cell polarizing cytokines including IL-27 and IL-1 , leading to enhanced Th cell responses. We have measured IL-27 gene and protein expression by healthy human monocytes g Istimulated with autoimmune complex containing anti-dsDNA and snRNP antibodies using qPCR and ELISA, respectively. However, levels of IL-27 produced from the stimulated monocytes were relatively low compared to those of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1 . IL-1 promotes of the development of Th17 cells that is increased in lupus patients. Increased IL-1 expression was found in the target tissues of lupus patients although the mechanism for these findings is unknown. It is conceivable that a combination of IL-27 and IL-1 can promote the development of Th17 cells with the capacity to produce IL-10, a notion in accordance with our original hypothesis. We have reported that AIC containing dsDNA and U1-snRNP activate human monocytes dependently of anti-dsDNA and U1-snRNP antibodies, respectively, leading to the production of cytokines including IL-1 . This phenomenon was dependent on the activation of Toll-like receptor and NLRP3 inflammasome pathways. We also found that IL-27 can suppress IL-17 production in human CD4+ T cells and that such suppression is enhanced in patients with SLE. This finding suggests a potential therapeutic implication of exogenous IL- 27 in patients with SLE.

关键词：自身免疫性疾病细胞（生物学）；细胞因子；T淋巴细胞

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The purpose of our research proposal is to determine how the deletion of Tsc1 and mTOR dysregulation affects thalamus development and function. An addition goal of our research was to use our conditional gene deletion system to test the ability of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin to ameliorate neurological phenotypes depending upon the time and duration of treatment. During this research period, we further advanced our novel genetic approach to control Tsc1 gene deletion concomitant with cell lineage tracing and biochemical analysis to better understand the developmental aspects of Tuberous Sclerosis. A major set of findings is that we identified cellular, molecular, circuitry, and behavioral changes that occur during development and are specific to distinct temporal roles of Tsc1 and the mTOR pathway. Specifically, we showed that early embryonic deletion of Tsc1 resulted in mTOR dysregulation within 48 hours and this dysregulation persisted throughout the life of the mice; this is the first report of the kinetics of mTOR dysregulation. In addition, we showed that neural circuits that connect the thalamus and cerebral cortex are disrupted by early or late deletion of Tsc1 and that the neural circuit abnormality is first observed at the end of embryogenesis (five days after mTOR dysregultion). Thus, specific phenotypes emerge rapidly and others appear over a more prolonged developmental window. We then used biochemistry to show that proteins involved in synaptic architecture are altered by the early deletion of Tsc1. Finally, we show that behavioral alterations are strongly associated with the time of Tsc1 function. We initiated studies to address our additional and have begun delineate the most effective method and dose of rapamycin that can support development while at the same time effectively suppressing the mTOR pathway.

关键词：脑；疾病；丘脑;畸形；行为；生物化学

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The Food and Drug Administration and Department of Defense were interested in detecting sub-optimal use of long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) in asthmatics within the Military Health System (MHS). Visualizing the patterns of asthma medication use surrounding a LABA prescription is a quick way to detect possible sub-optimal use for further evaluation. Analysis of 100 asthma patients was conducted in EventFlow to display and summarize timepoint and interval data. Epidemiologists reported that EventFlow was a powerful tool for rapidly visualizing possible patterns of sub-optimal LABA use that can be targeted for intervention.

关键词：计算机程序；药物；军事医学；哮喘

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MicroRNAs are non-coding small RNAs that exert their silencing functions at the posttranscriptional level; they play a fundamental role in regulation of diverse cellular pathways. In addition to microRNAs, the cell also expresses abundantly other non-coding RNAs such as long non-coding RNAs (>200 bases) (lncRNAs), which could account for 4-9% of transcripts in human genome. In this application we proposed to test whether lncRNAs are dysregulated in prostate cancer. We demonstrated that lncRNA GAS5 is a direct target for miR-21. Furthermore, GAS5 can also suppress miR-21. In addition to GAS5, we identified that PCGEM1 is upregulated in prostate cancer, and it interacted with androgen receptor (AR). More importantly, both AR and PCGEM1 were co-localized in prostate cancer cells as well as in the clinical specimens, especially in high grade prostate tumors, suggesting that their interaction may contribute to aggressiveness of prostate cancer and castration resistance. Together, our study suggests that lncRNAs are important players in prostate cancer biology, and further characterization of these lncRNAs will provide a better understanding of prostate cancer biology. As a result, lncRNAs may serve as biomarkers for prostate cancer.

关键词：前列腺癌；雄激素；细胞（生物学）

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The HBCU Summer Research Training Program accepted a total of 8 students from Lincoln University for the eight week session during the summer of 2012. Four of the students were supported by this grant and four of the students were supported by the second grant awarded in 2010. Each student was assigned to a laboratory of a participating mentor and also paired with a member of the mentor s laboratory. This laboratory member assisted with day to day aspects of the research project. During the summer the students worked diligently on their research project, participated in meetings of the mentor s laboratory, attended workshops and seminars associated with our and other summer programs, and attended a special course in prostate cancer. We integrated the Lincoln students into social programs held throughout the campus for summer interns. At the end of the summer sessions the students presented a poster of the research results from the summer experience. They also presented the results of their research in the fall at Lincoln University. One of the students graduated and has been accepted into the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Immunology at the University of Iowa. All of the remaining students are continuing their undergraduate education at Lincoln University.

关键词：医学研究；少数群体；前列腺癌

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We developed an HPLC method to determine the amount of EGCG encapsulated in the nanoparticles. HPLC analysis showed that chitosan nanoparticles can efficiently entrap EGCG. Also, we developed a method to extract EGCG from the plasma with a recovery value of > 95%. Treatment with EGCG and nanoEGCG resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth in athymic nude mice implanted with 22R 1 cells and secreted PSA levels. It was found by transmission electron microscopy that the nanoparticles had a size of around 200 nm. We also found that the release of EGCG from these nanoparticles is very slow in acidic medium. On the other hand, release of intestinal fluid is much faster, and around 50% of EGCG was released in 24 hrs. We next determined the effect of oral nanoEGCG on the growth of tumors in TRAMP mice at 24 weeks of age when the mice had established tumors. Prostate and tumor sizes in nanoEGCG- supplemented TRAMP mice were substantially less than in the control animals. nanoEGCG-supplemented TRAMP mice exhibited a significant reduction in the development of prostate cancer measured 32 weeks on test. There was also induction of apoptosis and inhibition of markers of proliferation and angiogenesis in nanoEGCG-treated groups.

关键词：抗氧化剂；前列腺癌；茶；光散射

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