Soil moisture affects the spatial variation of land–atmosphere interactions through its influence on the balance of latent and sensible heat fluxes. Wetter soils are more prone to flooding because a smaller fraction of rainfall can infiltrate into the soil. The Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite carries a remote sensing instrument able to make estimates of near-surface soil moisture on a global scale. One way to validate satellite observations is by comparing them with observations made with sparse networks of in situ soil moisture sensors that match the extent of satellite footprints. The rate of soil drying after significant rainfall observed by SMOS is found to be higher than the rate observed by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil moisture network in the watershed of the South Fork Iowa River. This leads to the conclusion that SMOS and the network observe different layers of the soil: SMOS observes a layer of soil at the soil surface that is a few centimeters thick, while the network observes a deeper soil layer centered at the depth at which the in situ soil moisture sensors are buried. It is also found that SMOS near-surface soil moisture is drier than the South Fork network soil moisture, on average. The conclusion that SMOS and the network observe different layers of the soil, and therefore different soil moisture dynamics, cannot explain the dry bias. However, it can account for some of the root-mean-square error in the relationship. In addition, SMOS observations are noisier than the network observations.

Semi-crystalline thermoplastics are an important class of biomaterials with applications in creating extracorporeal and implantable medical devices. In situ release of nitric oxide (NO) from medical devices can enhance their performance via NO’s potent anti-thrombotic, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory, and angiogenic activity. However, NO-releasing semi-crystalline thermoplastic systems are limited and the relationship between polymer crystallinity and NO release profile is unknown. In this paper, the functionalization of poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBA), Nylon 12, and polyurethane tubes, as examples of semi-crystalline polymers, with the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) is demonstrated via a polymer swelling method. The degree of crystallinity of the polymer plays a crucial role in both SNAP impregnation and NO release. Nylon 12, which has a relatively high degree of crystallinity, exhibits an unprecedented NO release duration of over 5 months in a low NO level, while PEBA tubing exhibits NO release over days to weeks. As a new biomedical application of NO, the NO-releasing PEBA tubing is examined as a cannula for continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion. The released NO is shown to enhance insulin absorption into the bloodstream probably by suppressing the tissue inflammatory response, and thereby benefit insulin pump therapy for diabetes management.

A new portable gas phase nitric oxide (NO) generator is described for potential applications in inhaled NO (INO) therapy and during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. In this system, NO is produced at the surface of a large-area mesh working electrode by electrochemical reduction of nitrite ions in the presence of a soluble copper(II)-ligand electron transfer mediator complex. The NO generated is then transported into gas phase by either direct purging with nitrogen/air or via circulating the electrolyte/nitrite solution through a gas extraction silicone fiber-based membrane-dialyzer assembly. Gas phase NO concentrations can be tuned in the range of 5-1000 ppm (parts per million by volume for gaseous species), in proportion to a constant cathodic current applied between the working and counter electrodes. This new NO generation process has the advantages of rapid production times (5 min to steady-state), high Faraday NO production efficiency (ca. 93%), excellent stability, and very low cost when using air as the carrier gas for NO (in the membrane dialyzer configuration), enabling the development of potentially portable INO devices. In this initial work, the new system is examined for the effectiveness of gaseous NO to reduce the systemic inflammatory response (SIR) during CPB, where 500 ppm of NO added to the sweep gas of the oxygenator or to the cardiotomy suction air in a CPB system is shown to prevent activation of white blood cells (granulocytes and monocytes) during extracorporeal circulation with cardiotomy suction conducted with five pigs.