The Koskobilo (Olazti, Navarre, Northern Iberian Peninsula) paleontological collection: New insights for the Middle and Late Pleistocene in Western Pyrenees

The destroyed site(s) of Koskobilo (Olazti, Navarre, Northern Iberian Peninsula) have yielded unique archaeo-paleontological evidence in the Western Pyrenees region. The quarry uncovered a karstic site with faunal remains in 1940, and fossils were recovered both in situ and from the quarry dump. Ten years later, while the quarry was still working, a new visit to the dump yielded a large lithic assemblage and additional fossil remains with a different taphonomic pattern, which has been interpreted as the remains coming from a different site or zone within the same karst system. Here we re-study the paleontological evidence and provide new dating on a speleothem covering a Stephanorhinus hemitoechus tooth, which has yielded a minimum date of c. 220 ka for part of the assemblage. In total, the fossil assemblage comprises 38 mammal and six avian taxa and three fish remains. The faunal evidence indicates that in 1940 a mix of taxa from both the Middle and Upper Pleistocene were recovered, and it is difficult to assign most of them to a concrete period. However, based on biochronological criteria some of the identified taxa (e.g., Ursus thibetanus, Ursus cf. deningeri, Cuon cf. priscus, Macaca sylvanus, cf. Megaceroides) could be roughly contemporaneous with the dated rhino tooth, which would provide a new window to the Middle Pleistocene of the region, with deposits from MIS 7d and/or older. Despite the difficulties in studying this collection, recovered without stratigraphic context and in a salvage operation, Koskobilo has yielded an important paleontological assemblage which helps to understand the paleoecology of the Middle Pleistocene human occupations in the Western Pyrenees

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Left Ventricular Sphericity (Sphericity Index) In the Dog

Heart disease imposes adaptation phenomena which lead to the modification of the cardiac geometry. The degree of heart change from its normal form has clinical and hemodynamic significance. The more the heart tends to the spherical shape, the worse is the prognosis. The sphericity index allows a quantitative assessment of the degree of sphericity has reached the diseased heart. In this study the authors determined the normal value of the sphericity index by two techniques in 91 dogs. The value obtained for the sphericity index by dividing axes was 1.58 and for the case of division of areas of 1.45. In both cases, significant differences (p <0.05) between males and females were obtained. The sphericity index is an indicator of worsening to the heart and to prognosis, since the processes of higher incidence in canine cardiology, the endocardiosis of mitral valve and dilated cardiomyopathies, both promote volume overload that leads inexorably to left ventricular sphericityFil: Buzzano, O.O. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria. Unidad de Cardiología. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Barrios, R.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria. Unidad de Cardiología. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Almagro, M.V. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria. Unidad de Cardiología. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaFil: Lightowler, C.H. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Hospital Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria. Unidad de Cardiología. Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLas enfermedades cardíacas imponen fenómenos de adaptación que llevan a la modificación de la geometría cardíaca. El grado con que el corazón se aparta de su forma normal, tiene significado clínico y hemodinámico. Cuanto más tiende el corazón a la forma esférica, peor es el pronóstico de la enfermedad desencadenante. El índice de esfericidad permite una evaluación cuantitativa del grado de esfericidad que ha alcanzado el corazón enfermo. En el presente estudio se determinó el valor normal del índice de esfericidad por dos técnicas en 91 caninos. El valor obtenido para el índice de esfericidad por la técnica de la división de los ejes fue de 1,58 y para el caso de la división de las áreas determinadas por planimetría de 1,45. En ambos casos se encontraron diferencias significativas (p<0,05) entre machos y hembras. Cabe destacar la importancia del índice de esfericidad tanto como indicador de agravamiento cardíaco y pronóstico, dado que los procesos de mayor incidencia en cardiología canina, las endocardiosis valvulares, principalmente la endocardiosis mitral y las\ncardiomiopatías, principalmente las dilatadas, cursan todas con sobrecarga de volumen que lleva inexorablemente la geometría ventricular izquierda hacia la esfericidad

Synthesis and modification of monodisperse polymer particles for chromatography

Liquid chromatography is an analytical technique that is constantly facing new challenges in the separation of small molecules and large biomacromolecules. Recently the development of ultra high pressure liquid chromatography has increased the demand on sturdy particles as stationary phase. At the same time the particle size has decreased to sub-2 µm and packed into shorter analytical columns. This thesis deals with the development of new ways of preparing particulate polymer materials using divinylbenzene (DVB) as crosslinker. It includes a novel procedure for synthesizing monodisperse polymer particles by photoinitiated precipitation polymerization. A 150 W short arc xenon lamp was used to initiate the polymerizations. The synthesized particles are monodisperse and have an average particle size ranging from 1.5 to 4 μm depending on reaction conditions and have subsequently been used as grafting templates. The surface of DVB particles contains residual vinyl groups that serve as anchoring points for further functionalization via a variety of grafting schemes. Copolymerization with incorporation of 2,3-epoxypropyl methacrylate yielded pendant oxirane groups on the particle surface. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was used to graft methacrylates from the surface resulting in a core-shell type material. A “grafting to” scheme was used to attach pre-made sulfopropyl methacrylate telomers onto particles containing oxirane rings.Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning på svenska: Vätskekromatografi är en analytisk kemisk teknik som ständigt står inför nya utmaningar när det gäller att separera allt från små organiska föreningar till stora makro¬molekyler. Denna avhandling beskriver tillverkning av polymera partiklar med exceptionellt jämn storleksfördelning och ytmodifiering av dessa, för användning som stationärfas i kromatografi¬kolonner. Polymeriserings¬tekniken som används är utfällnings¬polymerisering där lösningen UV-bestrålas av en 150 W xenonlampa. Monomeren (byggstenen) löses tillsammans med en intiator i ett lösningsmedel och efterhand som polymeriseringen fortskrider faller polymerpartiklarna ut. Polymerpartiklarna är gjorda av monomeren divinylbensen som fungerar som en tvärbindare, dvs att den länkar ihop flera kedjor till ett hårt litet nystan. Partiklarna växte till en storlek på 1,5 till 4 µm under två till fyra dygn. Efter tillverkningen är partiklarnas yta täckta av vinylgrupper som kan användas för att fästa funktionella polymerkedjor. Genom att tillföra monomeren 2,3-epoxipropyl¬metakrylat i polymeriseringen kunde man desutom få en partikelyta som innehöll epoxigrupper. Epoxigrupperna användes för att fästa positivt laddade polymerkedjor av bestämd längd. Materialet packades i en kromatografikolonn och användes för att separera en testlösning bestående av fyra proteiner. Partiklarna användes även som bas för ymppolymerisering där den vinyltäckta ytan fått reagera med vätebromid. Detta gör att partiklarna blir stora makroinitiatorer som kan användas för att på ett kontrollerat sätt låta polymerkedjor växa från ytan. I en undersökning ympades 2,3-epoxypropylmetakrylat från ytan på partiklarna och resultatet blev ett tjockt ytskikt. Epoxigrupperna kunde sedan hydrolyseras till dioler vilket gjorde partiklarna mer hydrofila