Debates of the European Parliament. Report of Proceedings of 8 March 1982. No. 1-286. 1981-1982 Session. March 1982

Background:Angiosarcomas may develop as primary tumours of unknown cause or as secondary tumours, most commonly following radiotherapy to the involved field. The different causative agents may be linked to alternate tumorigenesis, which led us to investigate the genetic profiles of morphologically indistinguishable primary and secondary angiosarcomas.Methods:Whole-genome (18k) c-DNA-mediated annealing, selection, extension and ligation analysis was used to genetically profile 26 primary and 29 secondary angiosarcomas. Key findings were thereafter validated using RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry and validation of the gene signature to an external data set.Results:In total, 103 genes were significantly deregulated between primary and secondary angiosarcomas. Secondary angiosarcomas showed upregulation of MYC, KIT and RET and downregulation of CDKN2C. Functional annotation analysis identified multiple target genes in the receptor protein tyrosine kinase pathway. The results were validated using RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Further, the gene signature was applied to an external data set and, herein, distinguished primary from secondary angiosarcomas.Conclusions:Upregulation of MYC, KIT and RET and downregulation of CDKN2C characterise secondary angiosarcoma, which implies possibilities for diagnostic application and a mechanistic basis for therapeutic evaluation of RET-kinase-inhibitors in these highly aggressive tumours

Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels - an Evolving Research Field within AMPEA, a Joint Programme of the European Energy Research Alliance

On the path to an energy transition away from fossil fuels to sustainable sources, the European Union is for the moment keeping pace with the objectives of the Strategic Energy Technology-Plan. For this trend to continue after 2020, scientific breakthroughs must be achieved. One main objective is to produce solar fuels from solar energy and water in direct processes to accomplish the efficient storage of solar energy in a chemical form. This is a grand scientific challenge. One important approach to achieve this goal is Artificial Photosynthesis. The European Energy Research Alliance has launched the Joint Programme "Advanced Materials & Processes for Energy Applications” (AMPEA) to foster the role of basic science in Future Emerging Technologies. European researchers in artificial photosynthesis recently met at an AMPEA organized workshop to define common research strategies and milestones for the future. Through this work artificial photosynthesis became the first energy research sub-field to be organised into what is designated "an Application” within AMPEA. The ambition is to drive and accelerate solar fuels research into a powerful European field - in a shorter time and with a broader scope than possible for individual or national initiatives. Within AMPEA the Application Artificial Photosynthesis is inclusive and intended to bring together all European scientists in relevant fields. The goal is to set up a thorough and systematic programme of directed research, which by 2020 will have advanced to a point where commercially viable artificial photosynthetic devices will be under development in partnership with industr

Electron Transfer from Cyt b559 and Tyrosine-D to the S2 and S3 states of the water oxidizing complex in Photosystem II at Cryogenic Temperatures

The Mn4CaO5 cluster of photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the oxidation of water to molecular oxygen through the light-driven redox S-cycle. The water oxidizing complex (WOC) forms a triad with Tyrosine(Z) and P-680, which mediates electrons from water towards the acceptor side of PSII. Under certain conditions two other redox-active components, Tyrosine(D) (Y-D) and Cytochrome b (559) (Cyt b (559)) can also interact with the S-states. In the present work we investigate the electron transfer from Cyt b (559) and Y-D to the S-2 and S-3 states at 195 K. First, Y-D (aEuro cent) and Cyt b (559) were chemically reduced. The S-2 and S-3 states were then achieved by application of one or two laser flashes, respectively, on samples stabilized in the S-1 state. EPR signals of the WOC (the S-2-state multiline signal, ML-S-2), Y-D (aEuro cent) and oxidized Cyt b (559) were simultaneously detected during a prolonged dark incubation at 195 K. During 163 days of incubation a large fraction of the S-2 population decayed to S-1 in the S-2 samples by following a single exponential decay. Differently, S-3 samples showed an initial increase in the ML-S-2 intensity (due to S-3 to S-2 conversion) and a subsequent slow decay due to S-2 to S-1 conversion. In both cases, only a minor oxidation of Y-D was observed. In contrast, the signal intensity of the oxidized Cyt b (559) showed a two-fold increase in both the S-2 and S-3 samples. The electron donation from Cyt b (559) was much more efficient to the S-2 state than to the S-3 state

Challenges facing an understanding of the nature of low-energy excited states in photosynthesis

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. While the majority of the photochemical states and pathways related to the biological capture of solar energy are now well understood and provide paradigms for artificial device design, additional low-energy states have been discovered in many systems with obscure origins and significance. However, as low-energy states are naively expected to be critical to function, these observations pose important challenges. A review of known properties of low energy states covering eight photochemical systems, and options for their interpretation, are presented. A concerted experimental and theoretical research strategy is suggested and outlined, this being aimed at providing a fully comprehensive understanding

Direct evidence for agricultural intensification during the first two millennia AD in northeast Burkina Faso

Archaeobotanical evidence from archaeological sites in northeast Burkina Faso dating to the first and second millennia AD has provided a useful insight into crop cultivation and the development of the West African savanna landscape. Nitrogen isotopic analysis of charred pearl millet grains from the same sites now provides the first opportunity to investigate how increased crop production and permanence of cultivated fields related to the intensity of household waste/manure application. Nitrogen isotope values of pearl millet grains increased during the first two millennia AD, indicating an intensification of manuring that would have enabled soil to stay fertile for longer, reducing the agricultural footprint of shifting cultivation. This may have been advantageous as population and settlement density increased, thereby increasing competition over land. The intensity of manure application in the second millennium AD at sites close to the Mare d'Oursi suggests that manure was likely sourced from outside the farming settlements, from livestock herded by nomadic pastoralists who would have been drawn to the mare for water. This is rare evidence for specialisation of sedentary farmers and pastoralists, demonstrating how the novel combination of fruit/seed, charcoal, faunal and isotopic evidence used in this study can enrich our knowledge of past lifeways in West Africa

Revisiting the potential of carbonized grain to preserve biogenic 87Sr/86Sr signatures within the burial environment

Strontium (Sr) isotope analysis of archaeological crops is a potential method of provenancing and identifying the movement of crops in the past, but there remains uncertainty about whether original 87Sr/86Sr values can be obtained from carbonized buried grains. We have determined that hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching removes some, but not all, exogenous Sr from carbonized cereal grains buried in soil for up to one year. We conclude that while further work could refine the leaching method, Sr isotope analysis of archaeological cereal grains can distinguish crops sourced from outside a particular (e.g., local) area if it can be shown that leaching moves grain 87Sr/86Sr values significantly away from the expected Sr signature

The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Central Register : 6,000 patients after 25 years of monitoring of referral and treatment of extremity and trunk wall soft-tissue sarcoma

Purpose - We wanted to examine the potential of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Central Register, and evaluate referral and treatment practice for soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities and trunk wall (STS) in the Nordic countries. Background - Based on incidence rates from the literature, 8,150 (7,000-9,300) cases of STS of the extremity and trunk wall should have been diagnosed in Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden from 1987 through 2011. The SSG Register has 6,027 cases registered from this period, with 5,837 having complete registration of key variables. 10 centers have been reporting to the Register. The 5 centers that consistently report treat approximately 90% of the cases in their respective regions. The remaining centers have reported all the patients who were treated during certain time periods, but not for the entire 25-year period. Results - 59% of patients were referred to a sarcoma center untouched, i.e. before any attempt at open biopsy. There was an improvement from 52% during the first 5 years to 70% during the last 5 years. 50% had wide or better margins at surgery. Wide margins are now achieved less often than 20 years ago, in parallel with an increase in the use of radiotherapy. For the centers that consistently report, 97% of surviving patients are followed for more than 4 years. Metastasis-free survival (MFS) increased from 67% to 73% during the 25-year period. Interpretation - The Register is considered to be representative of extremity and trunk wall sarcoma disease in the population of Scandinavia, treated at the reporting centers. There were no clinically significant differences in treatment results at these centers.Peer reviewe

Carbon isotope values of hazelnut shells: a new proxy for canopy density

Hazel (Corylus avellana) has been abundant in the vegetation of northern and central Europe since the early Holocene and has provided food and materials for humans ever since. Here we use stable carbon isotope (δ13 14 C) values of hazelnut shells to infer woodland openness based on the premise of the “canopy effect”. It is well established that plants growing in dense, shaded forests have lower carbon isotope (δ13C) values than plants growing in open areas. By measuring δ13 C values in hazelnuts collected from trees growing in different levels of light intensity, we show that the canopy effect is preserved in hazelnuts and that their δ13 C values can be used to infer woodland openness in the past. We apply the method to hazelnuts recovered from sites dated to between the Mesolithic and Iron Age (c. 7000 BCE to 1000 CE) in southern Sweden. Our results show that the nuts dated to the Mesolithic were harvested from hazels growing in a range of closed to open settings while nuts from subsequent periods were harvested from progressively more open environments. Given the abundance of hazelnuts recovered from many archaeological contexts, this method has the potential to reconstruct the microhabitats exploited by humans in the past and explore the impact of humans on their environment

Environmental sustainability of cellulose-supported solid ionic liquids for CO2 capture

Solid ionic liquids (SoILs) with cellulose as a support have been demonstrated recently to be effective and low-cost sorbents for CO2 capture. However, at present it is not clear whether they remove more CO2 than is released in the rest of the life cycle, including their manufacture, regeneration and disposal. It is also unknown what other impacts they may have over the whole life cycle while attempting to mitigate climate change. Therefore, this study evaluates for the first time the life cycle environmental sustainability of cellulose-supported SoILs in comparison with unsupported SoILs and some other sorbents. Four SoILs are assessed for 11 life cycle impacts, including global warming potential (GWP), with and without the cellulose support: methyltrioctyl ammonium acetate ([N1888][Ac]), tetraethyl ammonium acetate ([N4444][Ac]), tetra-octylammonium bromide ([N8888]Br) and 1-butyl-4-methylimidazolium bromide ([Bmim]Br). They are compared with one of the ILs in the liquid state (trihexyltetradecylphosphonium 1,2,4-triazolide ([P66614][124Triz])) and with three conventional sorbents: monoethanolamine (MEA), zeolite powder and activated carbon. The results show that SoILs with cellulose loading in the range of 70%–80 wt% have better environmental performance per unit mass of CO2 captured than the unsupported SoILs. The net removal of CO2 eq. over the life cycle ranges from 20% for pure [Bmim]Br to 83% for [N1888][Ac] with 75% cellulose and for [N4444][Ac] with both 75% and 80% loadings. However, pure [N8888]Br generates three times more CO2 eq. over the life cycle than it removes. Among the SoILs, [N4444][Ac] with 80% cellulose has the lowest life cycle impacts for eight out of 11 categories. When compared to the conventional sorbents, it has significantly higher impacts, including GWP. However, it is more sustainable than [P66614][124Triz]. The results of this study can be used to target the hotspots and improve the environmental performance of cellulose-supported SoILs through sustainable design

Plasma-based CO2 conversion

The conversion of CO2 to chemicals and consumables is a pioneering approach to utilize undesired CO2 emissions and simultaneously create new products out of sustainable feedstock. Volume 1 gives an introduction to CO2 chemistry, utilisation and sustainability and further discusses its capture and separation. Volume 2 describes several routes to transform CO2 into various compounds by catalytic and electrochemical as well as photo- and plasma induced reactions. The set combines fundamentals of CO2 chemistry, its capture and separation as well transformative reactions. Both volumes are available individually: Vol1: ISBN 978-3-11-056309-2 and Vol2: 978-3-11-066503-1. Both volumes are also included in a set ISBN 978-3-11-066549-9. Vol2, Part VI: Photo- and plasma induced reactions of CO, Chapter 28.</p