Formation of undulating seafloor bedforms during the Minoan eruption and their implications for eruption dynamics and slope stability at Santorini

The Minoan eruption of Santorini is one of the largest Holocene volcanic events and produced several cubic kilometers of pyroclastic flows emplaced on the submerged flanks of the volcano. Marine geophysical surveys reveal a multitude of undulating seafloor bedforms (USBs) around Santorini. While similar structures are known from other volcanoes worldwide, Santorini offers the unique opportunity to relate USB formation with volcanic processes during one of the best-studied volcanic eruptions worldwide. In this study, we combine high-resolution seismic reflection data with multibeam echosounder bathymetry to reveal the internal architecture of USBs around Santorini and to relate their morphological characteristics to formational processes. The USBs around Santorini were formed during the Minoan eruption and represent the seafloor expression of mass transport deposits. Three types of deposits differ in composition or origin. (1) Depositional USBs, which can only be found to the north of the island, where Minoan eruption ignimbrites reach their maximum thickness and the undulating topography is the result of thrusting within the deposit. (2) USBs related to slope failures of volcaniclastics from the entire Thera Pyroclastic Formation, which can be found east, south, and west of the island. (3) USBs associated with deep-seated deformation, which occurs on the southwestern flank along an area affected by rift tectonics and extends to a depth of more than 200 m below the seafloor. In cases (2) and (3), the USBs are formed upslope by block rotation and downslope by thrusting. Our study indicates that these processes may have contributed to the generation of the devastating Minoan tsunami. Since Santorini is located in one of the most tectonically active regions in the Mediterranean, capable of producing earthquakes with magnitude M7+, our study has important implications for hazard assessment. A strong earthquake located close to the island may have the potential to reactivate slope instabilities posing a previously undetected but potentially significant tsunami hazard

Financial impact of breast cancer in black versus white women

Purpose Racial variation in the financial impact of cancer may contribute to observed differences in the use of guideline-recommended treatments. We describe racial differences with regard to the financial impact of breast cancer in a large population-based prospective cohort study. Methods The Carolina Breast Cancer Study oversampled black women and women younger than age 50 years with incident breast cancer in North Carolina from 2008 to 2013. Participants provided medical records and data regarding demographics, socioeconomic status, and financial impact of cancer at 5 and 25 months postdiagnosis. We report unadjusted and adjusted financial impact at 25 months postdiagnosis by race. Results The sample included 2,494 women who completed follow-up surveys (49% black, 51% white). Since diagnosis, 58% of black women reported any adverse financial impact of cancer (v 39% of white women; P, .001). In models adjusted for age, stage at diagnosis, and treatment received, black women were more likely to report adverse financial impact attributable to cancer (adjusted risk difference [aRD], +14 percentage points; P, .001), including income loss (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), health care–related financial barriers (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), health care–related transportation barriers (aRD, +10 percentage points; P, .001), job loss (aRD, 6 percentage points; P, .001), and loss of health insurance (aRD, +3 percentage points; P, .001). The effect of race was attenuated when socioeconomic factors were included but remained significant for job loss, transportation barriers, income loss, and overall financial impact. Conclusion Compared with white women, black women with breast cancer experience a significantly worse financial impact. Disproportionate financial strain may contribute to higher stress, lower treatment compliance, and worse outcomes by race. Policies that help to limit the effect of cancer-related financial strain are needed

Endocrine Therapy Nonadherence and Discontinuation in Black and White Women

Background: Differential use of endocrine therapy (ET) by race may contribute to breast cancer outcome disparities, but racial differences in ET behaviors are poorly understood. Methods: Women aged 20-74 years with a first primary, stage I-III, hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer were included. At 2 years postdiagnosis, we assessed nonadherence, defined as not taking ET every day or missing more than two pills in the past 14 days, discontinuation, and a composite measure of underuse, defined as either missing pills or discontinuing completely. Using logistic regression, we evaluated the relationship between race and nonadherence, discontinuation, and overall underuse in unadjusted, clinically adjusted, and socioeconomically adjusted models. Results: A total of 1280 women were included; 43.2% self-identified as black. Compared to white women, black women more often reported nonadherence (13.7% vs 5.2%) but not discontinuation (10.0% vs 10.7%). Black women also more often reported the following: hot flashes, night sweats, breast sensitivity, and joint pain; believing that their recurrence risk would not change if they stopped ET; forgetting to take ET; and cost-related barriers. In multivariable analysis, black race remained statistically significantly associated with nonadherence after adjusting for clinical characteristics (adjusted odds ratio = 2.72, 95% confidence interval = 1.75 to 4.24) and after adding socioeconomic to clinical characteristics (adjusted odds ratio = 2.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.50 to 3.97) but was not independently associated with discontinuation after adjustment. Low recurrence risk perception and lack of a shared decision making were strongly predictive of ET underuse across races. Conclusions: Our results highlight important racial differences in ET-Adherence behaviors, perceptions of benefits/harms, and shared decision making that may be targeted with culturally tailored interventions

How Biology Became Social and What It Means for Social Theory

In this paper I first offer a systematic outline of a series of conceptual novelties in the life-sciences that have favoured, over the last three decades, the emergence of a more social view of biology. I focus in particular on three areas of investigation: (1) technical changes in evolutionary literature that have provoked a rethinking of the possibility of altruism, morality and prosocial behaviours in evolution; (2) changes in neuroscience, from an understanding of the brain as an isolated data processor to the ultrasocial and multiply connected social brain of contemporary neuroscience; and (3) changes in molecular biology, from the view of the gene as an autonomous master of development to the ‘reactive genome’ of the new emerging field of molecular epigenetics. In the second section I reflect on the possible implications for the social sciences of this novel biosocial terrain and argue that the postgenomic language of extended epigenetic inheritance and blurring of the nature/nurture boundaries will be as provocative for neo-Darwinism as it is for the social sciences as we have known them. Signs of a new biosocial language are emerging in several social-science disciplines and this may represent an exciting theoretical novelty for twenty-first social theory

Aerobic and anaerobic energy expenditure during rest and activity in montane Bufo b. boreas and Rana pipiens

The relations of standard and active aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and heart rate to body temperature ( T b ) were measured in montane groups of Bufo b. boreas and Rana pipiens maintained under field conditions. These amphibians experience daily variation of T b over 30°C and 23°C, respectively (Carey, 1978). Standard and active aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, heart rate, aerobic and anaerobic scope are markedly temperature-dependent with no broad plateaus of thermal independence. Heart rate increments provide little augmentation of oxygen transport during activity; increased extraction of oxygen from the blood probably contributes importantly to oxygen supply during activity. Development of extensive aerobic capacities in Bufo may be related to aggressive behavior of males during breeding. Standard metabolic rates of both species are more thermally dependent than comparable values for lowland relatives. Thermal sensitivity of physiological functions may have distinct advantages over thermally compensated rates in the short growing season and daily thermal fluctuations of the montane environment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47726/1/442_2004_Article_BF00348070.pd

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

SARS-CoV-2-specific nasal IgA wanes 9 months after hospitalisation with COVID-19 and is not induced by subsequent vaccination

BACKGROUND: Most studies of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 focus on circulating antibody, giving limited insights into mucosal defences that prevent viral replication and onward transmission. We studied nasal and plasma antibody responses one year after hospitalisation for COVID-19, including a period when SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was introduced. METHODS: In this follow up study, plasma and nasosorption samples were prospectively collected from 446 adults hospitalised for COVID-19 between February 2020 and March 2021 via the ISARIC4C and PHOSP-COVID consortia. IgA and IgG responses to NP and S of ancestral SARS-CoV-2, Delta and Omicron (BA.1) variants were measured by electrochemiluminescence and compared with plasma neutralisation data. FINDINGS: Strong and consistent nasal anti-NP and anti-S IgA responses were demonstrated, which remained elevated for nine months (p < 0.0001). Nasal and plasma anti-S IgG remained elevated for at least 12 months (p < 0.0001) with plasma neutralising titres that were raised against all variants compared to controls (p < 0.0001). Of 323 with complete data, 307 were vaccinated between 6 and 12 months; coinciding with rises in nasal and plasma IgA and IgG anti-S titres for all SARS-CoV-2 variants, although the change in nasal IgA was minimal (1.46-fold change after 10 months, p = 0.011) and the median remained below the positive threshold determined by pre-pandemic controls. Samples 12 months after admission showed no association between nasal IgA and plasma IgG anti-S responses (R = 0.05, p = 0.18), indicating that nasal IgA responses are distinct from those in plasma and minimally boosted by vaccination. INTERPRETATION: The decline in nasal IgA responses 9 months after infection and minimal impact of subsequent vaccination may explain the lack of long-lasting nasal defence against reinfection and the limited effects of vaccination on transmission. These findings highlight the need to develop vaccines that enhance nasal immunity. FUNDING: This study has been supported by ISARIC4C and PHOSP-COVID consortia. ISARIC4C is supported by grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council. Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre provided infrastructure support for this research. The PHOSP-COVD study is jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation and National Institute of Health and Care Research. The funders were not involved in the study design, interpretation of data or the writing of this manuscript