ALBERT

Description: PIP3 is synthesized by the Class I PI3Ks and regulates complex cell responses, such as growth and migration. Signals that drive long-term reshaping of cell phenotypes are difficult to resolve because of complex feedback networks that operate over extended times. PIP 3 -dependent modulation of mRNA accumulation is clearly important in this process but is poorly understood. We have quantified the genome-wide mRNA-landscape of non-transformed, breast epithelium-derived MCF10a cells and its response to acute regulation by EGF, in the presence or absence of a PI3Kα inhibitor, compare it to chronic activation of PI3K signalling by cancer-relevant mutations (isogenic cells expressing an oncomutant PI3Kα allele or lacking the PIP 3 -phosphatase/tumour-suppressor, PTEN). Our results show that whilst many mRNAs are changed by long-term genetic perturbation of PIP3 signalling (‘butterfly effect’), a much smaller number do so in a coherent fashion with the different PIP3 perturbations. This suggests a subset of more directly regulated mRNAs. We show that mRNAs respond differently to given aspects of PIP3 regulation. Some PIP3-sensitive mRNAs encode PI3K pathway components, thus suggesting a transcriptional feedback loop. We identify the transcription factor binding motifs SRF and PRDM1 as important regulators of PIP3-sensitive mRNAs involved in cell movement.

Description: The H 3 N⋯CuCl monomer has been generated and isolated in the gas phase through laser vaporisation of a copper sample in the presence of low concentrations of NH 3 and CCl 4 in argon. The resulting complex cools to a rotational temperature approaching 2 K during supersonic expansion of the gas sample and is characterised by broadband rotational spectroscopy between 7 and 18.5 GHz. The spectra of six isotopologues are measured and analysed to determine rotational, B 0 ; centrifugal distortion, D J , D JK ; and nuclear quadrupole coupling constants of Cu, Cl, and 14 N nuclei, χ aa (X). The geometry of the complex is C 3v with the N, Cu, and Cl atoms located on the a inertial axis. Bond distances and the ∠(H —N⋯Cu) bond angle within the complex are precisely evaluated through fitting of geometrical parameters to the experimentally determined moments of inertia and through ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)(F12*)/AVQZ level. The r (Cu —Cl), r (Cu —N), and ∠(H —N⋯Cu) parameters are, respectively, evaluated to be 2.0614(7) Å, 1.9182(13) Å, and 111.40(6)° in the r 0 geometry, in good agreement with the ab initio calculations. Geometrical parameters evaluated for the isolated complex are compared with those established crystallographically for a solid-state sample of [Cu(NH 3 )Cl].

Description: Pure rotational spectra of the ground electronic states of lead monoiodide and tin monoiodide have been measured using a chirped pulsed Fourier transform microwave spectrometer over the 7-18.5 GHz region for the first time. Each of PbI and SnI has a X 2 Π 1/2 ground electronic state and may have a hyperfine structure that aids the determination of the electron electric dipole moment. For each species, pure rotational transitions of a number of different isotopologues and their excited vibrational states have been assigned and fitted. A multi-isotopologue Dunham-type analysis was carried out on both species producing values for Y 01 , Y 02 , Y 11 , and Y 21 , along with Λ-doubling constants, magnetic hyperfine constants and nuclear quadrupole coupling constants. The Born-Oppenheimer breakdown parameters for Pb have been evaluated and the parameter rationalized in terms of finite nuclear field effects. Analysis of the bond lengths and hyperfine interaction indicates that the bonding in both PbI and SnI is ionic in nature. Equilibrium bond lengths have been evaluated for both species.

Description: Abstract Surrogate species are commonly used in conservation science due to the fact that it is not feasible to measure and manage each component of biodiversity independently; yet, there is much debate about their efficacy. We use long‐term monitoring data from six national park units in northern California and southern Oregon to test the focal species approach, wherein a suite of species is selected whose habitat requirements collectively encompass those of co‐occurring species. Specifically, we examine how well existing Partners in Flight (PIF) habitat‐based focal species lists and empirically derived focal species lists represent vegetation and three avian assemblages of interest: the entire assemblage, species of concern, and common species in steep decline. Existing PIF focal species lists were significantly correlated with the three alternative matrices of avian assemblages and vegetation, but not all parks and alternate matrices performed with equal correlative strength and/or significance. For example, existing PIF focal species lists were significantly correlated to the entire assemblage at five of the six parks and had ecologically meaningful correlations (〉0.70) at four. However, PIF focal species list correlations with park specific species of concern and common species in steep declined varied widely, with correlations between 0.040–0.943 and 0.210–0.556, respectively. Averaged across park units the empirical focal species lists developed to represent both vegetation metrics and species of concern improved correlation with all alternative matrices of avian assemblages and vegetation metrics. We found that the focal species approach generally represented the entire avian community, but did not adequately represent suites of species of concern or common species in decline. Empirical testing is a critical step in validating or refining suites of focal species at management relevant scales, and in some instances, a more refined focal species list may increase overall utility of the surrogate species approach.

Description: NASA Aqua-derived thermodynamic profiles, calculated spectral clear-sky outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and vertical velocity fields from meteorological reanalyses are combined to determine the relative proportion of the far-infrared (FIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectral contributions to the total clear-sky OLR during different phases of ENSO. In the ascending branch of the tropical circulation, the spatial variance of upper tropospheric water vapor is shown to be larger during La Niña than El Niño and is consistent with zonal symmetry changes in the tropical waveguide and associated tropical-extratropical mixing. In the descending branch, upper tropospheric water vapor shows weaker coupling to lower layers that is evidenced by changes in the ratio of FIR to MIR in the clear-sky OLR. Diagnostics from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) AM3 model simulation are generally similar to satellite data but the ratio of FIR to MIR is 5–10% larger with respect to dynamic regime.

Description: The fraction of the incoming solar energy scattered by Earth back to space is referred to as the planetary albedo. This reflected energy is a fundamental component of the Earth's energy balance and the processes that govern its magnitude, distribution and variability shape Earth's climate and climate change. We review our understanding of Earth's albedo as it has progressed to the current time and provide a global perspective of our understanding of the processes that define it. Joint analyses of surface solar flux data that are a complicated mix of measurements and model calculations with top-of-atmosphere (TOA) flux measurements from current orbiting satellites yield a number of surprising results including; (i) The northern and southern hemispheres (NH, SH) reflect the same amount of sunlight within ~ 0.2 Wm −2 . This symmetry is achieved by increased reflection from SH clouds offsetting precisely the greater reflection from the NH land-masses. (ii) The albedo of Earth appears to be highly buffered on hemispheric and global scales as highlighted by both the hemispheric symmetry and a remarkably small interannual variability of reflected solar flux (~0.2% of the annual mean flux). We show how clouds provide the necessary degrees of freedom to modulate the Earth's albedo setting the hemispheric symmetry. We also show that current climate models lack this same degree of hemispheric symmetry and regulation by clouds. The relevance of this hemispheric symmetry to the heat transport across the equator is discussed.

Description: One year of instantaneous top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface shortwave and longwave irradiances are computed using cloud and aerosol properties derived from instruments on the A-Train Constellation: the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), and the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). When modeled irradiances are compared with those computed with cloud properties derived from MODIS radiances by a Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) cloud algorithm, the global and annual mean of modeled instantaneous TOA irradiances decreases by 12.5 W m−2 (5.0%) for reflected shortwave and 2.5 W m−2 (1.1%) for longwave irradiances. As a result, the global annual mean of instantaneous TOA irradiances agrees better with CERES-derived irradiances to within 0.5W m−2 (out of 237.8 W m−2) for reflected shortwave and 2.6W m−2 (out of 240.1 W m−2) for longwave irradiances. In addition, the global annual mean of instantaneous surface downward longwave irradiances increases by 3.6 W m−2 (1.0%) when CALIOP- and CPR-derived cloud properties are used. The global annual mean of instantaneous surface downward shortwave irradiances also increases by 8.6 W m−2 (1.6%), indicating that the net surface irradiance increases when CALIOP- and CPR-derived cloud properties are used. Increasing the surface downward longwave irradiance is caused by larger cloud fractions (the global annual mean by 0.11, 0.04 excluding clouds with optical thickness less than 0.3) and lower cloud base heights (the global annual mean by 1.6 km). The increase of the surface downward longwave irradiance in the Arctic exceeds 10 W m−2 (∼4%) in winter because CALIOP and CPR detect more clouds in comparison with the cloud detection by the CERES cloud algorithm during polar night. The global annual mean surface downward longwave irradiance of 345.4 W m−2 is estimated by combining the modeled instantaneous surface longwave irradiance computed with CALIOP and CPR cloud profiles with the global annual mean longwave irradiance from the CERES product (AVG), which includes the diurnal variation of the irradiance. The estimated bias error is −1.5 W m−2 and the uncertainty is 6.9 W m−2. The uncertainty is predominately caused by the near-surface temperature and column water vapor amount uncertainties.

Description: [1]  This study demonstrates how aerosols influence the liquid precipitation formation process. This demonstration is provided by the combined use of satellite observations and global high-resolution model simulations. Methodologies developed to examine the warm cloud microphysical processes are applied to both multi-sensor satellite observations and aerosol-coupled global cloud-resolving model (GCRM) results to illustrate how the warm rain formation process is modulated under different aerosol conditions. The observational analysis exhibits process-scale signatures of rain suppression due to increased aerosols, providing observational evidence of the aerosol influence on precipitation. By contrast, the corresponding statistics obtained from the model show a much faster rain formation even for polluted aerosol conditions and much weaker reduction of precipitation in response to aerosol increase. It is then shown that this reduced sensitivity points to a fundamental model bias in the warm rain formation process that in turn biases the influence of aerosol on precipitation. A method of improving the model bias is introduced in the context of a simplified single-column model (SCM) that represents the cloud-to-rain water conversion process in a manner similar to the original GCRM. Sensitivity experiments performed by modifying the model assumptions in the SCM and their comparisons to satellite statistics both suggest that the auto-conversion scheme has a critical role in determining the precipitation response to aerosol perturbations and also provide a novel way of constraining key parameters in the auto-conversion schemes of global models.

Description: Journal of the American Chemical Society DOI: 10.1021/ja306348d

Description: An update on Earth's energy balance in light of the latest global observations Nature Geoscience 5, 691 (2012). doi:10.1038/ngeo1580 Authors: Graeme L. Stephens, Juilin Li, Martin Wild, Carol Anne Clayson, Norman Loeb, Seiji Kato, Tristan L'Ecuyer, Paul W. Stackhouse, Matthew Lebsock & Timothy Andrews