Increased atmospheric SO₂ detected from changes in leaf physiognomy across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary interval of East Greenland

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The Triassic-Jurassic boundary (Tr-J; ∼201 Ma) is marked by a doubling in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, rising temperatures, and ecosystem instability. This appears to have been driven by a major perturbation in the global carbon cycle due to massive volcanism in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. It is hypothesized that this volcanism also likely delivered sulphur dioxide (SO2) to the atmosphere. The role that SO2 may have played in leading to ecosystem instability at the time has not received much attention. To date, little direct evidence has been presented from the fossil record capable of implicating SO2 as a cause of plant extinctions at this time. In order to address this, we performed a physiognomic leaf analysis on well-preserved fossil leaves, including Ginkgoales, bennettites, and conifers from nine plant beds that span the Tr-J boundary at Astartekløft, East Greenland. The physiognomic responses of fossil taxa were compared to the leaf size and shape variations observed in nearest living equivalent taxa exposed to simulated palaeoatmospheric treatments in controlled environment chambers. The modern taxa showed a statistically significant increase in leaf roundness when fumigated with SO2. A similar increase in leaf roundness was also observed in the Tr-J fossil taxa immediately prior to a sudden decrease in their relative abundances at Astartekløft. This research reveals that increases in atmospheric SO2 can likely be traced in the fossil record by analyzing physiognomic changes in fossil leaves. A pattern of relative abundance decline following increased leaf roundness for all six fossil taxa investigated supports the hypothesis that SO2 had a significant role in Tr-J plant extinctions. This finding highlights that the role of SO2 in plant biodiversity declines across other major geological boundaries coinciding with global scale volcanism should be further explored using leaf physiognomy.KLB acknowledges funding through a UCD Research Demonstratorship and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI 11/PI/1103). CMB acknowledges funding through a European Union Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship FILE PIEF-GA-2009-253780 and a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PyroMap PCIG10-GA- 2011-303610. MH acknowledges funding though PEA-IEF-2010-275626. JMC acknowledges funding through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI 11/PI/1103) and a European Research Council Starting Investigator Grant (ERC-2001-StG_279962). JMC, CMB, and MH acknowledge funding through a Marie Curie research grant (MEXT-CT-2006-042531)

How to recognize inborn errors of immunity in a child presenting with a malignancy: guidelines for the pediatric hemato-oncologist

Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a group of disorders caused by genetically determined defects in the immune system, leading to infections, autoimmunity, autoinflammation and an increased risk of malignancy. In some cases, a malignancy might be the first sign of an underlying IEI. As therapeutic strategies might be different in these patients, recognition of the underlying IEI by the pediatric hemato-oncologist is important. This article, written by a group of experts in pediatric immunology, hemato-oncology, pathology and genetics, aims to provide guidelines for pediatric hemato-oncologists on how to recognize a possible underlying IEI and what diagnostic tests can be performed, and gives some consideration to treatment possibilities

Pollination and biological control research: are we neglecting two billion smallholders

Food insecurity is a major world problem, with ca. 870 million people in the world being chronically undernourished. Most of these people live in tropical, developing regions and rely on smallholder farming for food security. Solving the problem of food insecurity is thought to depend, in part, on managing ecosystem services, such as the pollination of crops and the biological control of crop pests, to enhance or maintain food production. Our knowledge regarding regulating ecosystem services in smallholder-farmed (or dualistic) landscapes is limited and whilst pollination has been the focus of considerable research, the provision of natural enemy services, important for every crop worldwide, has been relatively neglected. In order to assess whether ecosystem-service research adequately represents smallholder-farmed landscapes, whilst also considering climatic region and national economic status, we examined the constituent studies of recent quantitative reviews relevant to biological control and pollination. No regulating ecosystem service meta-analysis, to our knowledge, has focussed on smallholder agriculture despite its importance to billions of peoples’ local food security. We found that whilst smallholdings contributed 16% of global farmland area and 83% of the global agricultural population (estimated using FAO’s World Census of Agriculture 2000) only 22 of 190 studies (12%), overall, came from smallholder-farmed landscapes. These smallholder studies mostly concerned coffee production (16 studies). Individual reviews of biological control were significantly and strongly biased towards data from large-scale farming in temperate regions. In contrast pollination reviews included more smallholder studies and were more balanced for climate regions. The high diversity of smallholder-farmed landscapes implies that more research will be needed to understand them compared to large-scale landscapes but we found far more research from the latter. We highlight that these skews in research effort have implications for sustainable intensification and the food security of billions in the developing world. In particular we urge for balance in future ecosystem-services research and synthesis by greater consideration of a diverse range of smallholder-farmed landscapes in Africa and continental Asia

Comparison of hip fracture incidence and trends between Germany and Austria 1995-2004: An epidemiological study

Mann E, Meyer G, Haastert B, Icks A. Comparison of hip fracture incidence and trends between Germany and Austria 1995-2004: an epidemiological study. BMC Public Health. 2010;10(1): 46.Background Several studies evaluated variations in hip fracture incidences, as well as trends of the hip fracture incidences. Comparisons of trends are lacking so far. We compared the incidence rates and, in particular, its trends between Austria and Germany 1995 to 2004 analysing national hospital discharge diagnosis register data. Methods Annual frequencies of hip fractures and corresponding incidences per 100,000 person years were estimated, overall and stratified for sex and age, assuming Poisson distribution. Multiple Poisson regression models including country and calendar year, age and sex were used to analyse differences in incidence and trend. The difference of annual changes between the two countries was explored using an interaction term (calender year * country). Results Overall, the increase of hip fracture risk was 1.31 fold higher (95% CI 1.29-1.34) in Austria compared to Germany, adjusted for age, sex, and calendar year. The risk increase was comparable for both sexes (males: RR 1.35 (1.32-1.37), females: RR 1.31 (1.29-1.33)). Hip fracture trend from 1995 to 2004 indicates an increase in both countries without a statistically significant difference between Austria and Germany (interaction term: p = 0.67). Conclusion In this study comparing hip fracture incidences and its trend using pooled data, the incidence in Austria was 30% higher compared to its neighbouring country Germany. For both countries a similar increasing trend of hip fracture incidence over the 10-year study period was calculated. The results need confirmation by other studies

The effects of interleukin-8 on airway smooth muscle contraction in cystic fibrosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many cystic fibrosis (CF) patients display airway hyperresponsiveness and have symptoms of asthma such as cough, wheezing and reversible airway obstruction. Chronic airway bacterial colonization, associated with neutrophilic inflammation and high levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) is also a common occurrence in these patients. The aim of this work was to determine the responsiveness of airway smooth muscle to IL-8 in CF patients compared to non-CF individuals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Experiments were conducted on cultured ASM cells harvested from subjects with and without CF (control subjects). Cells from the 2^ndto 5^thpassage were studied. Expression of the IL-8 receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 was assessed by flow cytometry. The cell response to IL-8 was determined by measuring intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i), cell contraction, migration and proliferation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The IL-8 receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 were expressed in both non-CF and CF ASM cells to a comparable extent. IL-8 (100 nM) induced a peak Ca²⁺release that was higher in control than in CF cells: 228 ± 7 versus 198 ± 10 nM (p < 0.05). IL-8 induced contraction was greater in CF cells compared to control. Furthermore, IL-8 exposure resulted in greater phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC₂₀) in CF than in control cells. In addition, MLC₂₀expression was also increased in CF cells. Exposure to IL-8 induced migration and proliferation of both groups of ASM cells but was not different between CF and non-CF cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ASM cells of CF patients are more contractile to IL-8 than non-CF ASM cells. This enhanced contractility may be due to an increase in the amount of contractile protein MLC₂₀. Higher expression of MLC₂₀by CF cells could contribute to airway hyperresponsiveness to IL-8 in CF patients.</p

Angular and Current-Target Correlations in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Correlations between charged particles in deep inelastic ep scattering have been studied in the Breit frame with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 6.4 pb-1. Short-range correlations are analysed in terms of the angular separation between current-region particles within a cone centred around the virtual photon axis. Long-range correlations between the current and target regions have also been measured. The data support predictions for the scaling behaviour of the angular correlations at high Q2 and for anti-correlations between the current and target regions over a large range in Q2 and in the Bjorken scaling variable x. Analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models correctly describe the trends of the data at high Q2, but show quantitative discrepancies. The data show differences between the correlations in deep inelastic scattering and e+e- annihilation.Comment: 26 pages including 10 figures (submitted to Eur. J. Phys. C

Plastisol Foaming Process. Decomposition of the Foaming Agent, Polymer Behavior in the Corresponding Temperature Range and Resulting Foam Properties

The decomposition of azodicarbonamide, used as foaming agent in PVC - plasticizer (1/1) plastisols was studied by DSC. Nineteen different plasticizers, all belonging to the ester family, two being polymeric (polyadipates), were compared. The temperature of maximum decomposition rate (in anisothermal regime at 5 K min-1 scanning rate), ranges between 434 and 452 K. The heat of decomposition ranges between 8.7 and 12.5 J g -1. Some trends of variation of these parameters appear significant and are discussed in terms of solvent (matrix) and viscosity effects on the decomposition reactions. The shear modulus at 1 Hz frequency was determined at the temperature of maximum rate of foaming agent decomposition, and differs significantly from a sample to another. The foam density was determined at ambient temperature and the volume fraction of bubbles was used as criterion to judge the efficiency of the foaming process. The results reveal the existence of an optimal shear modulus of the order of 2 kPa that corresponds roughly to plasticizer molar masses of the order of 450 ± 50 g mol-1. Heavier plasticizers, especially polymeric ones are too difficult to deform. Lighter plasticizers such as diethyl phthalate (DEP) deform too easily and presumably facilitate bubble collapse