Scaled chrysophytes and planktonic diatoms are used to infer changes in lake water pH, specific conductivity, trophic score, and total nitrogen in 23 Connecticut waterbodies over the last 100 yr, and the changes are correlated with quantified changes in land use in the surrounding watersheds. In general, there was good agreement between the changes inferred from both organismal groups in this suite of lakes. Significant correlations were observed between chemical conditions inferred from organisms in surface sediments and present-day land uses, especially the percentages of the watersheds that are forest or residential land cover types. Approximately 20% of the waterbodies have significantly increased in pH since 1890, and none of the lakes have significantly declined in pH despite the fact that this region receives significant amounts of acidic deposition. These findings support previous work, indicating that the pH of Connecticut lakes has not declined over the recent past. One fourth of the lakes have significantly increased in specific conductivity, especially those situated in watersheds that have become highly residential in nature. Inferred specific conductivity has more than doubled in six of the lakes during the last century. Six of the lakes have become significantly more eutrophic, while only one lake has become more oligotrophic since 1890. The majority of the lakes situated in watersheds that have remained over ϳ80% forested have not significantly changed, whereas those that have become over ϳ25% residential have experienced the greatest amount of change. The potential influences of watershed-based alkalinity generation, winter road salt use, and implications of these findings in lake management are discussed.
Background: This study examined whether hierarchical clustering could be used to detect cell states induced by treatment combinations that were generated through automation and high-throughput (HT) technology. Data-mining techniques were used to analyze the large experimental data sets to determine whether nonlinear, non-obvious responses could be extracted from the data. Methods: Unary, binary, and ternary combinations of pharmacological factors (examples of stimuli) were used to induce differentiation of HL-60 cells using a HT automated approach. Cell profiles were analyzed by incorporating hierarchical clustering methods on data collected by flow cytometry. Data-mining techniques were used to explore the combinatorial space for nonlinear, unexpected events. Additional small-scale, follow-up experiments were performed on cellular profiles of interest. Results: Multiple, distinct cellular profiles were detected using hierarchical clustering of expressed cell-surface antigens. Data-mining of this large, complex data set
Late cardiac morbidity and mortality among left breast cancer survivors treated with radiation therapy is related to cardiac volume included in the radiation portals. To determine if respiratory maneuvers can help decrease cardiac volume included in the radiation portals for left-sided breast cancer, 17 women with breast cancer, who had undergone left breast radiation therapy, underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cardiac volume within the radiation portals was assessed from a transverse stack of eight, 10-mm thick, contiguous slices, covering the entire heart and obtained during breathholding at (1) endtidal volume (ETid) and (2) deep inspiration. Fourteen subjects (93% of those who completed the study) had inclusion of at least a portion of their heart within the radiation portals at ETid (median: 25.9 cm3, range 4.2-119.1 cm3). In all subjects, inspiratory breathholding decreased irradiated cardiac volume [median change: -18.1 cm3 (-49%), p < or = 0.001 vs. ETid]. In 21% of patients, the entire heart could be displaced outside the radiation field with deep inspiration. Age was not correlated with change or percentage change in cardiac volume with respiratory maneuvers. We conclude that in breast cancer patients, deep inspiratory maneuvers significantly decrease irradiated cardiac volume included in the left breast radiation field. Such an approach during delivery of radiation therapy allows preservation of radiation dosage to the breast, while reducing cardiac involvement and possible associated cardiovascular toxicity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.