Science
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We compare the volume flux divergence of Antarctic ice shelves in 2007 and 2008 with 1979 to 2010 surface accumulation and 2003 to 2008 thinning to determine their rates of melting and mass balance. Basal melt of 1325 ± 235 gigatons per year (Gt/year) exceeds a calving flux of 1089 ± 139 Gt/year, making ice-shelf melting the largest ablation process in Antarctica. ⋯ Half of the meltwater comes from 10 small, warm-cavity Southeast Pacific ice shelves occupying 8% of the area. A similar high melt/area ratio is found for six East Antarctic ice shelves, implying undocumented strong ocean thermal forcing on their deep grounding lines.
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Infectivity, transmission, and pathology of human-isolated H7N9 influenza virus in ferrets and pigs.
The emergence of the H7N9 influenza virus in humans in Eastern China has raised concerns that a new influenza pandemic could occur. Here, we used a ferret model to evaluate the infectivity and transmissibility of A/Shanghai/2/2013 (SH2), a human H7N9 virus isolate. ⋯ Pigs were productively infected by SH2 and shed virus for 6 days but were unable to transmit the virus to naïve pigs or ferrets. Under appropriate conditions, human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 virus may be possible.
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Genetic mutations causing human disease are conventionally thought to be inherited through the germ line from one's parents and present in all somatic (body) cells, except for most cancer mutations, which arise somatically. Increasingly, somatic mutations are being identified in diseases other than cancer, including neurodevelopmental diseases. Somatic mutations can arise during the course of prenatal brain development and cause neurological disease-even when present at low levels of mosaicism, for example-resulting in brain malformations associated with epilepsy and intellectual disability. Novel, highly sensitive technologies will allow more accurate evaluation of somatic mutations in neurodevelopmental disorders and during normal brain development.
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The efficacy of therapeutics is dependent on a drug binding to its cognate target. Optimization of target engagement by drugs in cells is often challenging, because drug binding cannot be monitored inside cells. ⋯ Using this assay, we validated drug binding for a set of important clinical targets and monitored processes of drug transport and activation, off-target effects and drug resistance in cancer cell lines, as well as drug distribution in tissues. CETSA is likely to become a valuable tool for the validation and optimization of drug target engagement.