History and Applications of Dust Devil Studies

Studies of dust devils, and their impact on society, are reviewed. Dust devils have been noted since antiquity, and have been documented in many countries, as well as on the planet Mars. As time-variable vortex entities, they have become a cultural motif. Three major stimuli of dust devil research are identified, nuclear testing, terrestrial climate studies, and perhaps most significantly, Mars research. Dust devils present an occasional safety hazard to light structures and have caused several deaths

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of indole-based 1,4-disubstituted piperazines as cytotoxic agents

A series of 3-[(4-substitutedpiperazin-1-yl)methyl]-1H -indole derivatives were synthesized, and their structures were confirmed by spectral analysis. All the compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activity in vitro against 3 human tumor cell lines: human liver (HUH7), breast (MCF7), and colon (HCT116). Among the designed derivatives, most of the compounds showed significant cytotoxicity against liver and colon cancer cell lines with lower IC50 concentrations than the standard drug 5-fluorouracil. Compound 3s, with 3,4-dichlorophenyl substituent on the piperazine ring, was the most active in suppressing the growth of all screened cancer cells. © TÜBITAK

Patterns of post-glacial spread and the extent of glacial refugia of European beech (Fagus sylvatica)

Aim Establishing possible relationships between the magnitudes of the glacial distribution of the European beech, Fagus sylvatica L., and its post-glacial spread. Location Europe. Methods A database of over 400 pollen records has been used to locate Fagus populations at the end of the last glacial and during the post-glacial in Europe and to assess the areal extent of their past distribution. Results The rate of late-glacial and post-glacial increase in the number of pollen sites where Fagus was locally present conforms well to a logistic model of population growth. This suggests that the area occupied by beech populations expanded exponentially from the glacial refugia for a duration of over 10,000 years, until about 3500 yr BP. In the past three millennia beech populations increased at a slower rate, tending towards an equilibrium value. Main conclusions The conformity of the increase in beech distribution to the classical logistic model of population growth indicates that: (1) a multiplicative biological process was the main factor shaping the pattern of the post-glacial expansion of F. sylvatica in Europe, (2) climate conditions, human activity and competition may have influenced its rate of spread, and (3) beech populations did not expand with a moving closed front, but with a diffuse spread from scattered nuclei. The distribution of Fagus in Europe at the end of the last glacial appears to have been of two orders of magnitude less extensive than at present. Pleistocene refugia were likely to have been a mosaic of sparse stands of small populations scattered in multiple regions. Fagus populations appear to have increased very slowly and to a moderate extent in southern Europe, where they are now declining slightly. The central European populations increased quickly and extensively, reaching northern Europe, and are now approaching their carrying capacity

Body mass index and complications following major gastrointestinal surgery: A prospective, international cohort study and meta-analysis

Aim Previous studies reported conflicting evidence on the effects of obesity on outcomes after gastrointestinal surgery. The aims of this study were to explore the relationship of obesity with major postoperative complications in an international cohort and to present a metaanalysis of all available prospective data. Methods This prospective, multicentre study included adults undergoing both elective and emergency gastrointestinal resection, reversal of stoma or formation of stoma. The primary end-point was 30-day major complications (Clavien–Dindo Grades III–V). A systematic search was undertaken for studies assessing the relationship between obesity and major complications after gastrointestinal surgery. Individual patient meta-analysis was used to analyse pooled results. Results This study included 2519 patients across 127 centres, of whom 560 (22.2%) were obese. Unadjusted major complication rates were lower in obese vs normal weight patients (13.0% vs 16.2%, respectively), but this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.863) on multivariate analysis for patients having surgery for either malignant or benign conditions. Individual patient meta-analysis demonstrated that obese patients undergoing surgery formalignancy were at increased risk of major complications (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.49–2.96, P < 0.001), whereas obese patients undergoing surgery for benign indications were at decreased risk (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.46–0.75, P < 0.001) compared to normal weight patients. Conclusions In our international data, obesity was not found to be associated with major complications following gastrointestinal surgery. Meta-analysis of available prospective data made a novel finding of obesity being associated with different outcomes depending on whether patients were undergoing surgery for benign or malignant disease