Fifty-year study of microplastics ingested by brachyuran and fish larvae in the central English North Sea

\ua9 2023 The Authors. Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous pollutants in marine environments. Among the many detrimental consequences of microplastic pollution, its consumption by marine biota is of particular relevance for human health, due to exposure through the food web. Long-term time-series biotic samples are overlooked sources of information for microplastics research. These collections are extremely valuable for the detection and monitoring of changes in marine environments. However, there are very few long-term studies (>10 years) of the uptake of microplastics by biota. Here, we used Dove Time Series planktonic samples (from 1971 to 2020) to assess the presence and prevalence of microplastics in the English North Sea coast over time. Fish and brachyuran larvae were selected due to their commercial importance and consequent implications for human health. A custom enzymatic digestion method was used to extract microplastics for FTIR-ATR polymer identification. An increasing cumulative trend in MP ingestion was identified. Cellophane and polyethylene terephthalate were the polymer types found most frequently in both taxa. Although a total higher microplastics uptake was observed in fish, consumption was not significantly different between taxa over time. Equally, results were not clearly related to microplastics shape or polymer type. This work did not find significant long-term evidence on the increasing uptake of microplastic particles by zooplankton over time. However, the results of this report identified additives, plasticisers, and other more complex and hazardous compounds that should not be released to the environment (e.g., bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) dimerate, propylene glycol ricinoleate) inside marine biota. The study detailed herein provides a case study for the use of long-term time-series in providing accurate assessments of microplastic pollution in marine biota

Non-singular Universes a la Palatini

It has recently been shown that f(R) theories formulated in the Palatini variational formalism are able to avoid the big bang singularity yielding instead a bouncing solution. The mechanism responsible for this behavior is similar to that observed in the effective dynamics of loop quantum cosmology and an f(R) theory exactly reproducing that dynamics has been found. I will show here that considering more general actions, with quadratic contributions of the Ricci tensor, results in a much richer phenomenology that yields bouncing solutions even in anisotropic (Bianchi I) scenarios. Some implications of these results are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. Contribution to the Spanish Relativity Meeting (ERE2010), 6-10 Sept. Granada, Spai

Peculiar outburst of A 0535+26 observed with INTEGRAL, RXTE and Suzaku

A normal outburst of the Be/X-ray binary system A0535+26 has taken place in August 2009. It is the fourth in a series of normal outbursts that have occured around the periastron passage of the source, but is unusual by starting at an earlier orbital phase and by presenting a peculiar double-peaked light curve. A first "flare" (lasting about 9 days from MJD 55043 on) reached a flux of 440 mCrab. The flux then decreased to less than 220 mCrab, and increased again reaching 440 mCrab around the periastron at MJD 55057. Target of Opportunity observations have been performed with INTEGRAL, RXTE and Suzaku. First results of these observations are presented, with special emphasis on the cyclotron lines present in the X-ray spectrum of the source, as well as in the pulse period and energy dependent pulse profiles of the source.Comment: 6 pages, Accepted for publication on PoS, Proceedings of "The Extreme sky: Sampling the Universe above 10 keV", held in Otranto (Italy) in October 200

CR1 Knops blood group alleles are not associated with severe malaria in the Gambia

The Knops blood group antigen erythrocyte polymorphisms have been associated with reduced falciparum malaria-based in vitro rosette formation (putative malaria virulence factor). Having previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) gene underlying the Knops antithetical antigens Sl1/Sl2 and McC(a)/McC(b), we have now performed genotype comparisons to test associations between these two molecular variants and severe malaria in West African children living in the Gambia. While SNPs associated with Sl:2 and McC(b+) were equally distributed among malaria-infected children with severe malaria and control children not infected with malaria parasites, high allele frequencies for Sl 2 (0.800, 1,365/1,706) and McC(b) (0.385, 658/1706) were observed. Further, when compared to the Sl 1/McC(a) allele observed in all populations, the African Sl 2/McC(b) allele appears to have evolved as a result of positive selection (modified Nei-Gojobori test Ka-Ks/s.e.=1.77, P-value <0.05). Given the role of CR1 in host defense, our findings suggest that Sl 2 and McC(b) have arisen to confer a selective advantage against infectious disease that, in view of these case-control study data, was not solely Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Factors underlying the lack of association between Sl 2 and McC(b) with severe malaria may involve variation in CR1 expression levels

Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity.

Atrophy of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of depression and related disorders. The ability to promote both structural and functional plasticity in the PFC has been hypothesized to underlie the fast-acting antidepressant properties of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine. Here, we report that, like ketamine, serotonergic psychedelics are capable of robustly increasing neuritogenesis and/or spinogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. These changes in neuronal structure are accompanied by increased synapse number and function, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and electrophysiology. The structural changes induced by psychedelics appear to result from stimulation of the TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling pathways and could possibly explain the clinical effectiveness of these compounds. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and, importantly, identify several lead scaffolds for medicinal chemistry efforts focused on developing plasticity-promoting compounds as safe, effective, and fast-acting treatments for depression and related disorders

The repeatability of cognitive performance: a meta-analysis

International audienceOne contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'. Behavioural and cognitive processes play important roles in mediating an individual's interactions with its environment. Yet, while there is a vast literature on repeatable individual differences in behaviour, relatively little is known about the repeatability of cognitive performance. To further our understanding of the evolution of cogni-tion, we gathered 44 studies on individual performance of 25 species across six animal classes and used meta-analysis to assess whether cognitive performance is repea-table. We compared repeatability (R) in performance (1) on the same task presented at different times (temporal repeat-ability), and (2) on different tasks that measured the same putative cognitive ability (contextual repeatability). We also addressed whether R estimates were influenced by seven extrinsic factors (moderators): type of cognitive performance measurement, type of cognitive task, delay between tests, origin of the subjects, experimental context, taxonomic class and publication status. We found support for both temporal and contextual repeatability of cognitive performance, with mean R estimates ranging between 0.15 and 0.28. Repeatability estimates were mostly influenced by the type of cognitive performance measures and publication status. Our findings highlight the widespread occurrence of consistent inter-individual variation in cog-nition across a range of taxa which, like behaviour, may be associated with fitness outcomes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'

Morphology of radio relics-II. Properties of polarized emission

Radio relics are diffuse radio sources in galaxy clusters that are associated with merger shock waves. Detailed observations of radio relics in total intensity and in polarization show complex structures on kiloparsec scales. The relation between the observed features and the underlying morphology of the magnetic field is not clear. Using 3D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations, we study the polarized emission produced by a shock wave that propagates through a turbulent medium that resembles the intracluster medium. We model the polarized synchrotron emission on the basis of diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic ray electrons. We find that the synchrotron emission produced in a shocked turbulent medium can reproduce some of the observed features in radio relics. Shock compression can give rise to a high polarization fraction at the shock front and a partial alignment of the polarization E-vectors with the shock normal. Our work confirms that radio relics can also be formed in an environment with a tangled magnetic field. We also discuss the effect of Faraday rotation intrinsic to the source, and how our results depend on the angular resolution of observations

A CO Funnel in the Galactic Centre: Molecular Counterpart of the Northern Galactic Chimney?

We report the discovery of a velocity coherent, funnel shaped ^13CO emission feature in the Galactic centre (GC) using data from the SEDIGISM survey. The molecular cloud appears as a low velocity structure (V_LSR=[-3.5, +3.5] km/s) with an angular extent of 0.95{\deg} x 1{\deg}, extending toward positive Galactic latitudes. The structure is offset from Sgr A* toward negative Galactic longitudes and spatially and morphologically correlates well with the northern lobe of the 430 pc radio bubble, believed to be the radio counterpart of the multiwavelength GC chimney. Spectral line observations in the frequency range of 85-116 GHz have been carried out using the IRAM 30 metre telescope toward 12 positions along the funnel-shaped emission. We examine the ^12C/^13C isotopic ratios using various molecules and their isotopologues. The mean ^12C/^13C isotope ratio (30.6+-2.9) is consistent with the structure located within inner 3 kpc of the Galaxy and possibly in the GC. The velocity of the molecular funnel is consistent with previous radio recombination line measurements of the northern lobe of radio bubble. Our multiwavelength analysis suggests that the funnel shaped structure extending over 100 pc above the Galactic plane is the molecular counterpart of the northern GC chimney.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Point defect segregation and its role in the detrimental nature of Frank partials in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film absorbers

The interaction of point defects with extrinsic Frank loops in the photovoltaic absorber material Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ was studied by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with electron energy-loss spectroscopy and calculations based on density-functional theory. We find that Cu accumulation occurs outside of the dislocation cores bounding the stacking fault due to strain-induced preferential formation of Cu‾²In, which can be considered a harmful hole trap in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂. In the core region of the cation-containing α-core, Cu is found in excess. The calculations reveal that this is because Cu on In-sites is lowering the energy of this dislocation core. Within the Se-containing β-core, in contrast, only a small excess of Cu is observed, which is explained by the fact that Cu¡ⁿ and Cu¡ are the preferred defects inside this core, but their formation energies are positive. The decoration of both cores induces deep defect states, which enhance nonradiative recombination. Thus, the annihilation of Frank loops during the Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ growth is essential in order to obtain absorbers with high conversion efficiencies

Initial Chemical and Reservoir Conditions at Los Azufres Wellhead Power Plant Startup

One of the major concerns of electric utilities in installing geothermal power plants is not only the longevity of the steam supply, but also the potential for changes in thermodynamic properties of the resource that might reduce the conversion efficiency of the design plant equipment. Production was initiated at Los Azufres geothermal field with wellhead generators not only to obtain electric energy at a relatively early date, but also to acquire needed information about the resource so that plans for large central power plants could be finalized. Commercial electric energy production started at Los Azufres during the summer of 1982 with five 5-MWe wellhead turbine-generator units. The wells associated with these units had undergone extensive testing and have since been essentially in constant production. The Los Azufres geothermal reservoir is a complex structural and thermodynamic system, intersected by at least 4 major parallel faults and producing geothermal fluids from almost all water to all steam. The five wellhead generators are associated with wells of about 30%, 60%, and 100% steam fraction. A study to compile existing data on the chemical and reservoir conditions during the first two years of operation has been completed. Data have been compiled on mean values of wellhead and separator pressures, steam and liquid flowrates, steam fraction, enthalpy, and pertinent chemical components. The compilation serves both as a database of conditions during the start-up period and as an initial point to observe changes with continued and increased production. Current plans are to add additional wellhead generators in about two years followed by central power plants when the data have been sufficiently evaluated for optimum plant design. During the next two years, the data acquired at the five 5-MWe wellhead generator units can be compared to this database to observe any significant changes in reservoir behavior at constant production