Aquarius Research Articles

A multi-omics study to monitor senescence-associated secretory phenotypes of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the progressive degeneration and damage of neurons in the brain. However, developing an accurate diagnostic assay using blood samples remains a challenge in clinic practice. The aim of this study was to explore senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASPs) in peripheral blood using mass spectrometry based multi-omics approach and to establish diagnostic assays for AD. This retrospective study included 88 participants, consisting of 29 AD patients and 59 cognitively normal (CN) individuals. Plasma and serum samples were examined using high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify proteomic and metabolomic profiles. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was employed to screen biomarkers with diagnostic potential. K-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm was utilized to construct a multi-dimensional model for distinguishing AD from CN. Proteomics analysis revealed upregulation of five plasma proteins in AD, including RNA helicase aquarius (AQR), zinc finger protein 587B (ZNF587B), C-reactive protein (CRP), fibronectin (FN1), and serum amyloid A-1 protein (SAA1), indicating their potential for AD classification. Interestingly, KNN-based three-dimensional model, comprising AQR, ZNF587B, and CRP, demonstrated its high accuracy in AD recognition, with evaluation possibilities of 0.941, 1.000, and 1.000 for the training, testing, and validation datasets, respectively. Besides, metabolomics analysis suggested elevated levels of serum phenylacetylglutamine (PAGIn) in AD. The multi-omics outcomes highlighted the significance of the SASPs, specifically AQR, ZNF587B, CRP, and PAGIn, in terms of their potential for diagnosing AD and suggested neuronal aging-associated pathophysiology.

Salinity Rain Impact Model (RIM) for SMAP

When oceanic rainfall occurs, it creates a vertical salinity profile that is fresher at the surface. This freshwater lens is mixed downward by turbulent diffusion, dissipating over a few hours until the upper layer (1–5 m depth) becomes well mixed. Thus, there will be a transient bias between the in situ bulk salinity and the satellite-measured sea surface salinity (SSS) (representative of the first centimeter of the ocean depth). Based on measurements of Aquarius (AQ) SSS under rainy conditions, a model called rain impact model (RIM) was developed to assess the SSS variations due to the accumulation of rainfall prior to the time of the AQ observation. RIM uses ocean surface salinities from hybrid coordinate ocean model and the NOAA global precipitation product, climate prediction center morphing, to estimate changes in the near-surface salinity profile. Also, the RIM analysis has been applied to soil moisture and ocean salinity with similar results observed. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite carries an L -band radiometer, which measures SSS over a swath of 1000 km at 40-km resolution. SMAP can extend AQ salinity data record with improved temporal/spatial sampling. This paper describes RIM that simulates the effects of rain accumulation on SMAP SSS, showing good correlation between the model and the observed SSS values. Given the better resolution of SMAP, the goal of this paper is to continue the previous analysis of AQ to better understand the effects of the instantaneous and accumulated rain on the salinity measurements.

Aquarius is required for proper CtIP expression and homologous recombination repair

Accumulating evidence indicates that transcription is closely related to DNA damage formation and that the loss of RNA biogenesis factors causes genome instability. However, whether such factors are involved in DNA damage responses remains unclear. We focus here on the RNA helicase Aquarius (AQR), a known R-loop processing factor, and show that its depletion in human cells results in the accumulation of DNA damage during S phase, mediated by R-loop formation. We investigated the involvement of Aquarius in DNA damage responses and found that AQR knockdown decreased DNA damage-induced foci formation of Rad51 and replication protein A, suggesting that Aquarius contributes to homologous recombination (HR)-mediated repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Interestingly, the protein level of CtIP, a DSB processing factor, was decreased in AQR-knockdown cells. Exogenous expression of Aquarius partially restored CtIP protein level; however, CtIP overproduction did not rescue defective HR in AQR-knockdown cells. In accordance with these data, Aquarius depletion sensitized cells to genotoxic agents. We propose that Aquarius contributes to the maintenance of genomic stability via regulation of HR by CtIP-dependent and -independent pathways.

SMOS Near-Surface Salinity Stratification Under Rainy Conditions

The European Space Agency’s soil moisture ocean salinity (SMOS) satellite was launched in 2009 to measure land soil moisture and sea surface salinity (SSS). It carries an L-band microwave imaging radiometer that measures brightness temperatures that are used to produce global ocean salinity (OS) maps every three days. Similar maps are obtained with NASA’s L-band push-broom radiometer Aquarius (AQ) on board of the AQ/SAC-D satellite that was launched in 2011. In previous studies, the Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory (CFRSL) has analyzed AQ SSS retrievals during rain and has developed a model to predict the effect of precipitation on the SSS measurements. This rain impact model (RIM) estimates the transient near-surface salinity stratification based upon the corresponding rain accumulation over the previous 24 h to the satellite observation. In this paper, the RIM methodology has been adapted to the SMOS geometry, presenting comparisons with its SSS measurements; also, spatial correlations are performed between SMOS salinity images with those predicted by RIM for different wind speed ranges. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to better understand the processes of near-surface salinity stratification, which impact the interpretation of satellite-based SSS measurements to measure the ocean bulk salinity (5–10-m depth). The results presented in this paper show an excellent performance of RIM when applied to SMOS SSS data. Also, the SSS comparisons show that significant rain events are rapidly diluted for wind speeds of $\sim 12 \text{ m}/\text{s}$ and above.

MWR Smear Effect: A Counts-Level Empirical Correction and Possible Causes

The microwave radiometer (MWR) is a Dicke radiometer on board of the Aquarius (AQ)/SAC-D satellite. It was developed by Argentine space agency, Comision Nacional De Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), and operates at 23.8 and 36.5 GHz frequencies. After MWR initially turned on, the first brightness temperature ( $\text{T}_{\text{B}}$ ) measurements were obtained, observing an anomalous recurrent effect when analyzing land/water crossings. The effect is present for all frequencies and earth incidence angles (EIAs) and results in a smearing of $\text{T}_{\text{B}}$ observations near strong contrast radiometric scenes. This paper summarizes the main features and discoveries around this anomaly leading to a general description of the problem: coupling of sequential MWR measurements. Consequently, an empirical correction algorithm is derived and validated. Also, possible causes are investigated.

Transcription-Coupled Nucleotide Excision Repair Factors Promote R-Loop-Induced Genome Instability

R-loops, consisting of an RNA-DNA hybrid and displaced single-stranded DNA, are physiological structures that regulate various cellular processes occurring on chromatin. Intriguingly, changes in R-loop dynamics have also been associated with DNA damage accumulation and genome instability; however, the mechanisms underlying R-loop-induced DNA damage remain unknown. Here we demonstrate in human cells that R-loops induced by the absence ofdiverse RNA processing factors, including the RNA/DNA helicases Aquarius (AQR) and Senataxin (SETX), or by the inhibition of topoisomerase I, are actively processed into DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by the nucleotide excision repair endonucleases XPF and XPG. Surprisingly, DSB formation requires the transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair (TC-NER) factor Cockayne syndrome group B (CSB), but not the global genome repair protein XPC. These findings reveal an unexpected and potentially deleterious role for TC-NER factors in driving R-loop-induced DNA damage and genome instability.

Investigation of rain effects on Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity measurements

The Aquarius/SAC-D mission has been providing Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), globally over the ocean, for almost 3 years. As a member of the AQ/SAC-D Cal/Val team, the Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory has analyzed these salinity retrievals in the presence of rain and has noted the strong correlation between the spatial patterns of reduced SSS and the spatial distribution of rainfall. It was determined that this is the result of a cause and effect relationship, as opposed to SSS measurement errors. Hence, it is important to understand these SSS changes due to seawater dilution by rain and the associated near-surface salinity stratification. This paper addresses the effects of rainfall on the Aquarius (AQ) SSS retrieval using a macro-scale Rain Impact Model (RIM) in the region of high convective rain over the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. This model, based on the superposition of a one-dimension eddy diffusion (turbulent diffusion) model, relates sea surface salinity to depth, rain accumulation and time since rainfall. For aiding in the identification of instantaneous and prior rainfall accumulations, an AQ Rain Accumulation product was developed. This product, based on the NOAA CMORPH rain data set, provides the rainfall history for 24 h prior to the observation time, which is integrated over each AQ SSS measurement cell. In this paper results of the RIM validation are presented by comparing AQ measured and RIM simulated SSS for several months of 2012. Results show the high cross correlation for these comparisons and also with the corresponding SSS anomalies relative to HYCOM.

End of an age for Aquarius

End of an age for Aquarius

Re: Response to Letter

Dear Editor, Aquarius, Schepers-Bok, and Homminga raise a point that is philosophically valid. The patients whom we treated had persistent …

Daughters of Aquarius: women of the sixties counterculture

Daughters of Aquarius: women of the sixties counterculture

Will Fishes Fly in Aquarius—Or Will They Drown in the Bucket?

Will Fishes Fly in Aquarius—Or Will They Drown in the Bucket?

Theatre Aquarius

Abstract

The Time Is near... Karel Goeyvaerts' Apocalyptic Utopia in His Opera "Aquarius"

The Time Is near... Karel Goeyvaerts' Apocalyptic Utopia in His Opera "Aquarius"

Chesterton as a Sage of Aquarius

Chesterton as a Sage of Aquarius

Crews overcome major problems at aquarius project : Can Min J, V103, N12, Dec 1982, P47

Crews overcome major problems at aquarius project : Can Min J, V103, N12, Dec 1982, P47

AQUARIUS: a simulation of communit water planning

Simulation is used to give students of resources management an opportunity to form and evaluate a water resources plan. The focus of the planning problem is a mythical New England city called Aquar ius. In the first stage of the simulation, students work as a planning group and design a fifty-year comprehensive water plan. The students assume dif ferent roles and report to a director as they would in a real planning agency. In the second stage of the simulation, students use a computer model to simulate the operation of the water resources plan. They can observe the impacts of their plan over a period of years and revise the plan as needed.

Moving into Aquarius

Moving into Aquarius

The Manichæan Fasts

In an excursus to his article on “The Early Sasanians” in BSOAS., xi, 42 sqq., S. H. Taqizadeh has given a full and illuminating discussion of the Manichæan two-day fasts which preceded the feast of the Bema. All hitherto known about these fasts is contained in a passage in the K. al-Fihrist, 333, 28–334, 1, which runs as follows:—As regards the fasting—(1) when the sun is in Sagittarius and the moon is full, they fast two days without break,(2) then when the New Light appears, they fast two days without break,(3) after this, they fast two days when the moon is full (and the sun is) in Capricornus,(4) then when the New Light appears and the sun is in Aquarius and eight days have passed of the (lunar) month, they fast for thirty days, but break the fast each day at nightfall.

The period of Prof. Barnard's variable in Aquarius

The period of Prof. Barnard's variable in Aquarius