Comparative analysis of the impact of geological activity on astronomical sites of the Canary Islands, Hawaii and Chile

An analysis of the impact of seismic and volcanic activity was carried out at selected astronomical sites, namely the observatories of El Teide (Tenerife, Canary Islands), Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma, Canary Islands), Mauna Kea (Hawaii) and Paranal (Chile) and the candidate site of Cerro Ventarrones (Chile). Hazard associated to volcanic activity is low or negligible at all sites, whereas seismic hazard is very high in Chile and Hawaii. The lowest geological hazard in both seismic and volcanic activity was found at Roque de los Muchachos observatory, in the island of La Palma.Comment: 12 pages and 11 figure

Novel Insights into the Diversity of Catabolic Metabolism from Ten Haloarchaeal Genomes

BACKGROUND: The extremely halophilic archaea are present worldwide in saline environments and have important biotechnological applications. Ten complete genomes of haloarchaea are now available, providing an opportunity for comparative analysis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report here the comparative analysis of five newly sequenced haloarchaeal genomes with five previously published ones. Whole genome trees based on protein sequences provide strong support for deep relationships between the ten organisms. Using a soft clustering approach, we identified 887 protein clusters present in all halophiles. Of these core clusters, 112 are not found in any other archaea and therefore constitute the haloarchaeal signature. Four of the halophiles were isolated from water, and four were isolated from soil or sediment. Although there are few habitat-specific clusters, the soil/sediment halophiles tend to have greater capacity for polysaccharide degradation, siderophore synthesis, and cell wall modification. Halorhabdus utahensis and Haloterrigena turkmenica encode over forty glycosyl hydrolases each, and may be capable of breaking down naturally occurring complex carbohydrates. H. utahensis is specialized for growth on carbohydrates and has few amino acid degradation pathways. It uses the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway instead of the oxidative pathway, giving it more flexibility in the metabolism of pentoses. CONCLUSIONS: These new genomes expand our understanding of haloarchaeal catabolic pathways, providing a basis for further experimental analysis, especially with regard to carbohydrate metabolism. Halophilic glycosyl hydrolases for use in biofuel production are more likely to be found in halophiles isolated from soil or sediment

Repeated administration of the GABAB receptor positive modulator BHF177 decreased nicotine self-administration, and acute administration decreased cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine seeking in rats

Abstract: Rationale $\gamma$-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and is implicated in the modulation of central reward processes. Acute or chronic administration of GABA$_B$ receptor agonists or positive modulators decreased self-administration of various drugs of abuse. Furthermore, GABA$_B$ receptor agonists inhibited cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine- and cocaine-seeking behavior. Because of their fewer adverse side effects compared with GABA$_B$ receptor agonists, GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulators are potentially improved therapeutic compounds for the treatment of drug dependence compared with agonists. Objectives and methods: We examined whether the acute effects of the GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulator N-[(1R,2R,4S)-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl]-2-methyl-5-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-pyrimidinamine (BHF177) on nicotine self- administration and food-maintained responding under a fixed-ratio 5 schedule of reinforcement were maintained after repeated administration. The effects of acute BHF177 administration on cue-induced nicotine- and food-seeking behavior, a putative animal model of relapse, were also examined. Results: Repeated administration of BHF177 for 14 days decreased nicotine self-administration, with small tolerance observed during the last 7 days of treatment, whereas BHF177 minimally affected food-maintained responding. Acute BHF177 administration dose-dependently blocked cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine-, but not food-, seeking behavior after a 10-day extinction period. Conclusions: These results showed that BHF177 selectively blocked nicotine self-administration and prevented cueinduced reinstatement of nicotine seeking, with minimal effects on responding for food and no effect on cue-induced reinstatement of food seeking. Thus, GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulators could be useful therapeutics for the treatment of different aspects of nicotine dependence by facilitating smoking cessation by decreasing nicotine intake and preventing relapse to smoking in humans

Characterization of Quaternary and suspected Quaternary faults, regional studies, Nevada and California

This report presents the results of geologic studies that help define the Quaternary history of selected faults in the region around Yucca Mountain, Nevada. These results are relevant to the seismic-design basis of a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The relevancy is based, in part, on a need for additional geologic data that became apparent in ongoing studies that resulted in the identification of 51 relevant and potentially relevant individual and compound faults and fault zones in the 100-km-radius region around the Yucca Mountain site. Geologic data used to characterize the regional faults and fault zones as relevant or potentially relevant seismic sources includes age and displacement information, maximum fault lengths, and minimum distances between the fault and the Yucca Mountain site. For many of the regional faults, no paleoseismic field studies have previously been conducted, and age and displacement data are sparse to nonexistent. In November 1994, the Branch of Earthquake and Landslide Hazards entered into two Memoranda of Agreement with the Yucca Mountain Project Branch to conduct field reconnaissance, analysis, and interpretation of six relevant and six potentially relevant regional faults. This report describes the results of study of those faults exclusive of those in the Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Ash Meadows-Amargosa Valley areas. We also include results of a cursory study of faults on the west flank of the Specter Range and in the northern part of the Last Chance Range. A four-phase strategy was implemented for the field study

Characterization of Quaternary and suspected Quaternary faults, regional studies, Nevada and California

This report presents the results of geologic studies that help define the Quaternary history of selected faults in the region around Yucca Mountain, Nevada. These results are relevant to the seismic-design basis of a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The relevancy is based, in part, on a need for additional geologic data that became apparent in ongoing studies that resulted in the identification of 51 relevant and potentially relevant individual and compound faults and fault zones in the 100-km-radius region around the Yucca Mountain site. Geologic data used to characterize the regional faults and fault zones as relevant or potentially relevant seismic sources includes age and displacement information, maximum fault lengths, and minimum distances between the fault and the Yucca Mountain site. For many of the regional faults, no paleoseismic field studies have previously been conducted, and age and displacement data are sparse to nonexistent. In November 1994, the Branch of Earthquake and Landslide Hazards entered into two Memoranda of Agreement with the Yucca Mountain Project Branch to conduct field reconnaissance, analysis, and interpretation of six relevant and six potentially relevant regional faults. This report describes the results of study of those faults exclusive of those in the Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Ash Meadows-Amargosa Valley areas. We also include results of a cursory study of faults on the west flank of the Specter Range and in the northern part of the Last Chance Range. A four-phase strategy was implemented for the field study

NHE3 modulates the severity of colitis in IL-10-deficient mice.

NHE3, the major intestinal Na(+)/H(+) exchanger, was shown to be downregulated and/or inhibited in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a phenomenon believed to contribute to inflammation-associated diarrhea. NHE3(-/-) mice spontaneously develop colitis and demonstrate high susceptibility to dextran sulfate-induced mucosal injury. We investigated the effects of NHE3 deficiency on the development of chronic colitis in an IL-10 knockout (KO) mouse model of Crohn's disease. NHE3(-/-) mice were first backcrossed to 129/SvEv mice for >10 generations, with no apparent changes in their survival or phenotype. These mice were crossed with IL-10(-/-) mice on the same genetic background, and the phenotypes of 10-wk-old wild-type (WT), IL-10(-/-), NHE3(-/-), and IL-10(-/-)/NHE3(-/-) (double-KO) mice were studied. Histological and immunohistochemical examination of the colon established important architectural alterations, including increased neutrophilic and mononuclear cell infiltration in double- compared with single-KO mice. Double-KO mice demonstrated increased colonic expression of neutrophil collagenase matrix metalloproteinase-8 and the chemokines macrophage inflammatory protein-2, CXCL1, CXCL10, and CXCL11. Colonic IFNγ, IL-17, and IL-12/23 p40 protein secretion was significantly increased in double- compared with single-KO mice. IL-10(-/-)/NHE3(-/-) mouse colonic epithelium exhibited increased hallmarks of apoptosis, including a significantly increased number of cleaved caspase-3-positive surface epithelial cells. These results highlight the importance of NHE3 in the maintenance of intestinal barrier integrity and in modulating the inflammatory process in IL-10-deficient mice. Chronic NHE3 inhibition or underexpression observed in IBD may therefore contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD by influencing the extent of the epithelial barrier defect and affect the ultimate degree of inflammation