Abundances of the elements in the solar system

A review of the abundances and condensation temperatures of the elements and their nuclides in the solar nebula and in chondritic meteorites. Abundances of the elements in some neighboring stars are also discussed.Comment: 42 pages, 11 tables, 8 figures, chapter, In Landolt- B\"ornstein, New Series, Vol. VI/4B, Chap. 4.4, J.E. Tr\"umper (ed.), Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 560-63

Kynurenic acid may underlie sex-specific immune responses to COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has poorer clinical outcomes in males than in females, and immune responses underlie these sex-related differences. Because immune responses are, in part, regulated by metabolites, we examined the serum metabolomes of COVID-19 patients. In male patients, kynurenic acid (KA) and a high KA–to–kynurenine (K) ratio (KA:K) positively correlated with age and with inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and negatively correlated with T cell responses. Males that clinically deteriorated had a higher KA:K than those that stabilized. KA inhibits glutamate release, and glutamate abundance was lower in patients that clinically deteriorated and correlated with immune responses. Analysis of data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project revealed that the expression of the gene encoding the enzyme that produces KA, kynurenine aminotransferase, correlated with cytokine abundance and activation of immune responses in older males. This study reveals that KA has a sex-specific link to immune responses and clinical outcomes in COVID-19, suggesting a positive feedback between metabolites and immune responses in males

Roadmap for Optical Tweezers 2023

Optical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trapping, and manipulation of objects ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work by Arthur Ashkin in the 1970s, optical tweezers have evolved into sophisticated instruments and have been employed in a broad range of applications in life sciences, physics, and engineering. These include accurate force and torque measurement at the femtonewton level, microrheology of complex fluids, single micro- and nanoparticle spectroscopy, single-cell analysis, and statistical-physics experiments. This roadmap provides insights into current investigations involving optical forces and optical tweezers from their theoretical foundations to designs and setups. It also offers perspectives for applications to a wide range of research fields, from biophysics to space exploration

Metasomatized ancient lithospheric mantle beneath the young Zealandia microcontinent and its role in HIMU-like intraplate magmatism

There has been long debate on the asthenospheric versus lithospheric source for numerous intraplate basalts with ocean island basalt (OIB) and high time-integrated U/Pb (HIMU)-like source signatures that have erupted through the Zealandia continental crust. Analysis of 157 spinel facies peridotitic mantle xenoliths from 25 localities across Zealandia permits the first comprehensive regional description of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) and insights into whether it could be a source to the intraplate basalts. Contrary to previous assumptions, the Oligocene-Miocene Zealandia SCLM is highly heterogeneous. It is composed of a refractory craton-like domain (West Otago) adjacent to several moderately fertile domains (East Otago, North Otago, Auckland Islands). Each domain has an early history decoupled from the overlying Carboniferous and younger continental crust, and each domain has undergone varying degrees of depletion followed by enrichment. Clinopyroxene grains reveal trace element characteristics (low Ti/Eu, high Th/U) consistent with enrichment through reaction with carbonatite. This metasomatic overprint has a composition that closely matches HIMU in Sr, PbNd isotopes. However, clinopyroxene Hf isotopes are in part highly radiogenic and decoupled from the other isotope systems, and also mostly more radiogenic than the intraplate basalts. If the studied spinel facies xenoliths are representative of the thin Zealandia SCLM, the melting of garnet facies lithosphere could only be the intraplate basalt source if it had a less radiogenic Hf-Nd isotope composition than the investigated spinel facies, or was mixed with asthenosphere-derived melts containing less radiogenic Hf

New measurement of the Sm-144(alpha, gamma) Gd-148 reaction rate for the gamma process

Background: Most of the heavier p isotopes are believed to be produced in the gamma process whose reaction path crucially depends on the proton and alpha-particle penetrability at sub-Coulomb energies. Both nuclei of the samarium p-process chronometer, Sm-146 and Sm-144, are produced in the. process, and their initial abundance ratio is very sensitive to the (gamma, n) and (gamma, alpha) branching ratio on Gd-148. The Gd-148(gamma, alpha) Sm-144 reaction rate was measured roughly 20 years ago by means of the activation technique and its surprising results triggered adjustments to the global low-energy a+nucleus optical-model potentials (OMPs). Purpose: We want to take advantage of modern alpha-particle spectroscopy techniques in order to constrain the controversial previous results on the Gd-148(gamma, alpha) Sm-144 reaction rate. Method: The Gd-148(gamma, alpha) Sm-144 reaction rate has been determined by measuring the cross section of the reverse reaction Sm-144(alpha, gamma) Gd-148, applying the activation technique to the alpha decay of Gd-148. Targets have been irradiated at the cyclotron of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig, Germany. The alpha-particle spectroscopy has been carried out with a state-of-the-art low-background ionization chamber of the Technische Universitat Dresden, Germany. Results: Cross sections for the Sm-144(alpha, gamma) Gd-148 reaction have been measured between 10.66 and 12.66 MeV with much higher precision than in the previous measurement. The results agree with earlier results within their uncertainties. The statistical-model analysis has been carried out using the TALYS code on the basis of the latest parametrizations of alpha-OMPs. The best reproductions of the experimental results within the statistical model have been used to calculate the reaction rates. Conclusion: The values presented here suggest a steeper increase in the astrophysical S factor towards lower center-of-mass energies. Different parametrizations of the alpha-OMP were able to describe the experimental values sufficiently. Further measurements at energies below 11.0 MeV are suggested

Petrogenesis of amphibole megacrysts in lamprophyric intraplate magmatism in southern New Zealand

Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopes and major/trace element data are presented for amphibole megacrysts from two separate instances of lamprophyric intraplate magmatism in Zealandia (Cretaceous Westland Dike Swarm and Cenozoic Alpine Dike Swarm). Megacrysts from both regions have comparable geochemical and isotopic signatures (Sr-87/Sr-86((i)) = 0.702754-0.703371, epsilon Nd-(i) = +3.9 to +5.5, epsilon Hf-(i) = +5.0 to +8.2,Pb-206/Pb-204((i)) = 18.909-20.526,Pb-207/Pb-204((i)) = 15.642-15.678,Pb-208/Pb-204((i)) = 38.824-40.271), regardless of them having traversed contrasting crustal terranes at different times and tectonic settings. Several megacryst cores may represent early-crystallised phenocrysts, whereas rims crystallised in equilibrium with amphibole microphenocrysts during final emplacement of host melts. Strontium isotopic offsets between megacrysts and host rocks indicate secondary hydrothermal alteration in some lamprophyres. Correlations between host rock - megacryst geochemistry as well as evidence for amphibole fractionation in Zealandia lamprophyres indicate that megacrysts likely crystallised from melts similar to their hosts. Isotopic (Pb, Nd) and Mg# offsets suggest a non-cognate relationship and reflect interaction between isotopically heterogeneous lamprophyric melts and/or cumulate amphibole in the lower crust. Modelling suggests that most alkaline intraplate magmatism throughout Zealandia may be derived from moderately heterogeneous SCLM sources that experienced localised varying degrees of subduction-related carbonatitic metasomatism between the Jurassic to Middle Cretaceous during Gondwana break-up

The Anita Peridotite, New Zealand: Ultra-depletion and Subtle Enrichment in Sub-arc Mantle

The orogenic Anita Peridotite in Fiordland, SW New Zealand, provides an opportunity to examine the composition of a large block of upper mantle exhumed from beneath a Cretaceous arc. This little-studied 1 km x 20 km massif is dominated by spinel-facies harzburgite and dunite. Olivine Mg# of 92-93, spinel Cr# of 70, orthopyroxene with low Al2O3, and extremely depleted whole-rock geochemical characteristics indicate that the peridotite body experienced > 30% melt extraction, probably within the spinel facies. Mineral compositions show some similarity to those of cratonic peridotitic mantle. Rare Cr-rich amphibole suggests that the peridotite has been subsequently re-enriched. Distinctive, coupled Eu and Sr anomalies in the amphiboles, which can be subdivided into three groups, are interpreted to show that they formed by hydration of metasomatic clinopyroxene-plagioclase aggregates. Measured amphibole Sr-87/Sr-86 (0 center dot 705-0 center dot 706), I mu Nd ( +6 center dot 3 to + 11 center dot 1), Pb-208/Pb-204 (37 center dot 8-38 center dot 9) and I mu Hf ( +5 center dot 6 to 36 center dot 9) indicate that the metasomatic agent, which caused crystallization of clinopyroxene and plagioclase, had an isotopic composition similar to ocean island basalt. On the basis of isotopic data and mineral chemistry, the enriched nature of the peridotite is interpreted to have been caused by percolation of small volumes of a mafic silicate melt. Additional evidence for the passage of such melts is the rare occurrence of hornblendite veins and orthopyroxene hornblendite dykes. This peridotite body therefore preserves evidence of extreme melt depletion and the passage of silicate melts and hydrous fluids within the sub-arc mantle

Peridotitic Lithosphere Metasomatized by Volatile-bearing Melts, and its Association with Intraplate Alkaline HIMU-like Magmatism

The role of lithospheric mantle metasomatized by CO2-bearing melts in the genesis of HIMU-like alkaline intraplate basalts is investigated using a suite of peridotite xenoliths from New Zealand. The xenoliths have Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotope compositions (Sr-87/(86) Sr=0.7029, epsilon Nd = +5 to +6, Pb-206/(204) Pb = 20.4 and epsilon Hf = +5 to +8) indistinguishable from the host low-silica basalts and, except for Pb-207/Pb-204, overlapping with the HIMU mantle reservoir. Laser line scans across grain boundaries in the xenoliths show, however, that the host magma contribution is restricted to minor degrees of melt infiltration along grain boundaries during ascent, with the distinctive peridotite isotopic compositions having been imparted earlier by mantle metasomatism. Two mantle metasomatic styles are distinguished from pyroxene trace element concentrations (in particular, rare earth elements, Ti, Zr and Hf) and are interpreted to be the result of reaction of peridotite with CO2-bearing magmas. The occurrence of two subtly chemically different but isotopically indistinguishable styles of metasomatism in rocks with the same equilibrium temperatures within the same mantle column may be due to separate volatile-rich melts formed by different degrees of melting of a deeper carbonated peridotitic +/- pyroxenitic source, or due to metasomatism having been imparted to different degrees on a variably depleted protolith. In either case, the formation of the HIMU-like enriched lithospheric mantle was achieved by percolation of volatile-rich melts, which probably rose from the asthenosphere. Melt modelling of representative depleted and subsequently enriched samples shows that low-degree melting of a CO2-bearing melt-metasomatized peridotite could yield a melt with a trace element composition very similar to that of the Zealandia HIMU-like alkaline basalts, but only if small volumes (similar to 5%) of amphibole participated in the melting process. Although not observed in the studied xenoliths, amphibole is associated with mantle metasomatism by carbonatitic or CO2-bearing melts elsewhere in the world and has been found as xenocrysts with HIMU-like isotope compositions in some Zealandia basalts. The melt modelling results also imply that amphibole could buffer the trace element budgets of a low-degree melt regardless of the source peridotite composition; therefore, provided that hydrous metasomatized lithospheric mantle can be perturbed to melt, the contribution of amphibole would explain the similarities of alkaline ocean island basalt-like magmas in continental and oceanic settings. HIMU-like reservoirs formed by percolation of young volatile-rich (CO2+H2O) melts are widespread within the Earth's lithospheric mantle and are a potential source for intraplate alkaline basaltic magmatism

Oncological and safety profiles in patients undergoing simultaneous transurethral resection (TUR) of bladder tumour and TUR of the prostate

ObjectivesTo determine the oncological impact and adverse events of performing simultaneous transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURB) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), as evidence on the outcomes of simultaneous TURB for bladder cancer and TURP for obstructive benign prostatic hyperplasia is limited and contradictory.Patients and MethodsPatients from 12 European hospitals treated with either TURB alone or simultaneous TURB and TURP (TURB+TURP) were retrospectively analysed. A propensity score matching (PSM) 1:1 was performed with patients from the TURB+TURP group matched to TURB-alone patients. Associations between surgery approach with recurrence-free (RFS) and progression-free (PFS) survivals were assessed in Cox regression models before and after PSM. We performed a subgroup analysis in patients with risk factors for recurrence (multifocality and/or tumour size >3 cm).ResultsA total of 762 men were included, among whom, 76% (581) underwent a TURB alone and 24% (181) a TURB+TURP. There was no difference in terms of tumour characteristics between the groups. We observed comparable length of stay as well as complication rates including major complications (Clavien-Dindo Grade >= III) for the TURB-alone vs TURB+TURP groups, while the latest led to longer operative time (P < 0.001). During a median follow-up of 44 months, there were more recurrences in the TURB-alone (47%) compared to the TURB+TURP group (28%; P < 0.001). Interestingly, there were more recurrences at the bladder neck/prostatic fossa in the TURB-alone group (55% vs 3%, P < 0.001). TURB+TURP procedures were associated with improved RFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.29-0.53; P < 0.001), but not PFS (HR 1.63, 95% CI 0.90-2.98; P = 0.11). Within the PSM cohort of 254 patients, the simultaneous TURB+TURP was still associated with improved RFS (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.22-0.49; P < 0.001). This was also true in the subgroup of 380 patients with recurrence risk factors (HR 0.41, 95% CI 0.28-0.62; P < 0.001).ConclusionIn our contemporary cohort, simultaneous TURB and TURP seems to be an oncologically safe option that may, even, improve RFS by potentially preventing disease recurrence at the bladder neck and in the prostatic fossa