University of Maryland, Baltimore County

About: University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a education organization based out in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Aerosol. The organization has 8749 authors who have published 20843 publications receiving 795706 citations. The organization is also known as: UMBC.

Genome-Wide Association Study for Coronary Artery Calcification With Follow-Up in Myocardial Infarction

Abstract: Background—Coronary artery calcification (CAC) detected by computed tomography is a noninvasive measure of coronary atherosclerosis, which underlies most cases of myocardial infarction (MI). We sought to identify common genetic variants associated with CAC and further investigate their associations with MI. Methods and Results—Computed tomography was used to assess quantity of CAC. A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for CAC was performed in 9961 men and women from 5 independent community-based cohorts, with replication in 3 additional independent cohorts (n=6032). We examined the top single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with CAC quantity for association with MI in multiple large genome-wide association studies of MI. Genome-wide significant associations with CAC for SNPs on chromosome 9p21 near CDKN2A and CDKN2B (top SNP: rs1333049; P=7.58×10−19) and 6p24 (top SNP: rs9349379, within the PHACTR1 gene; P=2.65×10−11) replicated for CAC and for MI. Additionally, there is evidence ...

Atmospheric deposition to oak forests along an urban - rural gradient.

Abstract: To determine the patterns of atmospheric deposition and throughfall in the vicinity of a large city, bulk deposition, oak forest throughfall, and particulate dust deposition were measured at sites along a transect within and to the north of New York City. Concentrations and fluxes of NO3-, NH4+, Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42-, and Cl- in throughfall all declined significantly with distance from the city, while hydrogen ion concentration and flux increased with distance from the city. Most of the change in concentrations and fluxes occurred within 45 km of the city. Throughfall deposition of inorganic N was twice as high in the urban sites as compared to the suburban and rural sites. Bulk deposition patterns were similar to those of throughfall, but changes along the transect were much less pronounced. The water-extractable component of dust deposition to Petri plates also was substantially higher in the urban sites for Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42-, NO3-, and Cl-. The dust particles had little alkalinity, suggesting that alkaline...

A nonclassical non-Vα14Jα18 CD1d-restricted (type II) NKT cell is sufficient for down-regulation of tumor immunosurveillance

Abstract: The importance of immunoregulatory T cells has become increasingly apparent. Both CD4+CD25+ T cells and CD1d-restricted NKT cells have been reported to down-regulate tumor immunity in mouse tumor models. However, the relative roles of both T cell populations have rarely been clearly distinguished in the same tumor models. In addition, CD1d-restricted NKT cells have been reported to play a critical role not only in the down-regulation of tumor immunity but also in the promotion of the immunity. However, the explanation for these apparently opposite roles in different tumor models remains unclear. We show that in four mouse tumor models in which CD1d-restricted NKT cells play a role in suppression of tumor immunity, depletion of CD4+CD25+ T cells did not induce enhancement of immunosurveillance. Surprisingly, among the two subpopulations of CD1d-restricted NKT cells, Valpha14Jalpha18+ (type I) and Valpha14Jalpha18- (type II) NKT cells, type I NKT cells were not necessary for the immune suppression. These unexpected results may now resolve the paradox in the role of CD1d-restricted NKT cells in the regulation of tumor immunity, in that type II NKT cells may be sufficient for negative regulation, whereas protection has been found to be mediated by alpha-galactosylceramide-responsive type I NKT cells.

The fertilizing role of African dust in the Amazon rainforest: A first multiyear assessment based on data from Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

Abstract: The productivity of the Amazon rainforest is constrained by the availability of nutrients, in particular phosphorus (P). Deposition of long-range transported African dust is recognized as a potentially important but poorly quantified source of phosphorus. This study provides a first multiyear satellite-based estimate of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin using three-dimensional (3-D) aerosol measurements over 2007–2013 from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). The 7 year average of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin is estimated to be 28 (8–48) Tg a−1 or 29 (8–50) kg ha−1 a−1. The dust deposition shows significant interannual variation that is negatively correlated with the prior-year rainfall in the Sahel. The CALIOP-based multiyear mean estimate of dust deposition matches better with estimates from in situ measurements and model simulations than a previous satellite-based estimate does. The closer agreement benefits from a more realistic geographic definition of the Amazon Basin and inclusion of meridional dust transport calculation in addition to the 3-D nature of CALIOP aerosol measurements. The imported dust could provide about 0.022 (0.006–0.037) Tg P of phosphorus per year, equivalent to 23 (7–39) g P ha−1 a−1 to fertilize the Amazon rainforest. This out-of-basin phosphorus input is comparable to the hydrological loss of phosphorus from the basin, suggesting an important role of African dust in preventing phosphorus depletion on timescales of decades to centuries.

Global Soil Moisture from Satellite Observations, Land Surface Models, and Ground Data: Implications for Data Assimilation

Abstract: Three independent surface soil moisture datasets for the period 1979–87 are compared: 1) global retrievals from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), 2) global soil moisture derived from observed meteorological forcing using the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model, and 3) ground-based measurements in Eurasia and North America from the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank. Time-average soil moisture fields from the satellite and the model largely agree in the global patterns of wet and dry regions. Moreover, the time series and anomaly time series of monthly mean satellite and model soil moisture are well correlated in the transition regions between wet and dry climates where land initialization may be important for seasonal climate prediction. However, the magnitudes of time-average soil moisture and soil moisture variability are markedly different between the datasets in many locations. Absolute soil moisture values from the satellite and the model are very different, and neither agrees...