Ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from across Western Europe reveal early diversification during the First Pandemic (541–750)

The first historically documented pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis began as the Justinianic Plague in 541 within the Roman Empire and continued as the so-called First Pandemic until 750. Although paleogenomic studies have previously identified the causative agent as Y. pestis, little is known about the bacterium’s spread, diversity, and genetic history over the course of the pandemic. To elucidate the microevolution of the bacterium during this time period, we screened human remains from 21 sites in Austria, Britain, Germany, France, and Spain for Y. pestis DNA and reconstructed eight genomes. We present a methodological approach assessing single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ancient bacterial genomes, facilitating qualitative analyses of low coverage genomes from a metagenomic background. Phylogenetic analysis on the eight reconstructed genomes reveals the existence of previously undocumented Y. pestis diversity during the sixth to eighth centuries, and provides evidence for the presence of multiple distinct Y. pestis strains in Europe. We offer genetic evidence for the presence of the Justinianic Plague in the British Isles, previously only hypothesized from ambiguous documentary accounts, as well as the parallel occurrence of multiple derived strains in central and southern France, Spain, and southern Germany. Four of the reported strains form a polytomy similar to others seen across the Y. pestis phylogeny, associated with the Second and Third Pandemics. We identified a deletion of a 45-kb genomic region in the most recent First Pandemic strains affecting two virulence factors, intriguingly overlapping with a deletion found in 17th- to 18th-century genomes of the Second Pandemic. © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

Methodology of the Virtual Reconstruction of Arquitectonic Heritage: Ambassador Vich's Palace in Valencia

The 19th century was disastrous as far as the conservation of architectonic heritage is concerned. The awareness of the importance of preserving monuments that has prevailed since the end of the last century was dazzlingly absent in the previous, leading both to the disappearance of representative heritage works and the plundering of many others. The present study establishes the methodological basis to proceed with the virtual reconstruction of many disappeared architectures, representative of emblematic architectonic typologies. A method based on the combination of deduction and induction allows benchmarks to be created that signify a starting point to which the key and specific elements of each building are later incorporated, from the data extracted from the conserved parts and the graphic, literary and archive documents. The result is the virtual recovery of the general outlines of the architecture: morphology of the plot, volumetry, exterior and interior facades, and the functional layout. The good results obtained in the study of the disappeared Ambassador Vich's Palace, allow the methodology to be extended to the analysis of other similar examples, serving investigators as a tool to carry out an arduous task of deciphering a trail that is increasingly fading with the passing of time.Galiana Agullo, M.; Mas Tomas, MDLA.; Lerma Elvira, C.; Peñalver Martínez, MJ.; Conesa Tejada, S. (2014). Methodology of the Virtual Reconstruction of Arquitectonic Heritage: Ambassador Vich's Palace in Valencia. International Journal of Architectural Heritage. 8(1):94-123. doi:10.1080/15583058.2012.672623S9412381Boix, V. 1979.Historical and topographic Valencia[in Spanish]. Vol. I261 S. A. Printing J. Rius.Estaban Chapapría, J. (2001). Impostación del patio del Embajador Vich en el ex-convento del Carmen (Valencia). Loggia, Arquitectura & Restauración, (12), 26. doi:10.4995/loggia.2001.3605Morrish, S. W., & Laefer, D. F. (2010). Web-Enabling of Architectural Heritage Inventories. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 4(1), 16-37. doi:10.1080/15583050902731056Lotz, W. 1995.Architecture in Italy 1500–1600 [in Italian]35–37. ed. RizzoliYale University Press.Lourenço, P. B., Peña, F., & Amado, M. (2010). A Document Management System for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Buildings. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 5(1), 101-121. doi:10.1080/15583050903318382Vila Ferrer, S. (2001). La recuperación del patio del palacio del Embajador Vich (Valencia). Loggia, Arquitectura & Restauración, (12), 44. doi:10.4995/loggia.2001.3606Zonta, D., Pozzi, M., & Zanon, P. (2008). Managing the Historical Heritage Using Distributed Technologies. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2(3), 200-225. doi:10.1080/1558305080206369

The pre-launch Planck Sky Model: a model of sky emission at submillimetre to centimetre wavelengths

We present the Planck Sky Model (PSM), a parametric model for the generation of all-sky, few arcminute resolution maps of sky emission at submillimetre to centimetre wavelengths, in both intensity and polarisation. Several options are implemented to model the cosmic microwave background, Galactic diffuse emission (synchrotron, free-free, thermal and spinning dust, CO lines), Galactic H-II regions, extragalactic radio sources, dusty galaxies, and thermal and kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich signals from clusters of galaxies. Each component is simulated by means of educated interpolations/extrapolations of data sets available at the time of the launch of the Planck mission, complemented by state-of-the-art models of the emission. Distinctive features of the simulations are: spatially varying spectral properties of synchrotron and dust; different spectral parameters for each point source; modeling of the clustering properties of extragalactic sources and of the power spectrum of fluctuations in the cosmic infrared background. The PSM enables the production of random realizations of the sky emission, constrained to match observational data within their uncertainties, and is implemented in a software package that is regularly updated with incoming information from observations. The model is expected to serve as a useful tool for optimizing planned microwave and sub-millimetre surveys and to test data processing and analysis pipelines. It is, in particular, used for the development and validation of data analysis pipelines within the planck collaboration. A version of the software that can be used for simulating the observations for a variety of experiments is made available on a dedicated website.Comment: 35 pages, 31 figure

Influence of Dietary Supplementation of Probiotic Pediococcus acidilactici MA18/5M During the Transition From Freshwater to Seawater on Intestinal Health and Microbiota of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.)

publishedVersio

Historical Y. pestis Genomes Reveal the European Black Death as the Source of Ancient and Modern Plague Pandemics

© 2016 Elsevier Inc.Ancient DNA analysis has revealed an involvement of the bacterial pathogen Yersinia pestis in several historical pandemics, including the second plague pandemic (Europe, mid-14th century Black Death until the mid-18th century AD). Here we present reconstructed Y. pestis genomes from plague victims of the Black Death and two subsequent historical outbreaks spanning Europe and its vicinity, namely Barcelona, Spain (1300-1420 cal AD), Bolgar City, Russia (1362-1400 AD), and Ellwangen, Germany (1485-1627 cal AD). Our results provide support for (1) a single entry of Y. pestis in Europe during the Black Death, (2) a wave of plague that traveled toward Asia to later become the source population for contemporary worldwide epidemics, and (3) the presence of an historical European plague focus involved in post-Black Death outbreaks that is now likely extinct

Planck intermediate results. VIII. Filaments between interacting clusters

About half of the baryons of the Universe are expected to be in the form of filaments of hot and low density intergalactic medium. Most of these baryons remain undetected even by the most advanced X-ray observatories which are limited in sensitivity to the diffuse low density medium. The Planck satellite has provided hundreds of detections of the hot gas in clusters of galaxies via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect and is an ideal instrument for studying extended low density media through the tSZ effect. In this paper we use the Planck data to search for signatures of a fraction of these missing baryons between pairs of galaxy clusters. Cluster pairs are good candidates for searching for the hotter and denser phase of the intergalactic medium (which is more easily observed through the SZ effect). Using an X-ray catalogue of clusters and the Planck data, we select physical pairs of clusters as candidates. Using the Planck data we construct a local map of the tSZ effect centered on each pair of galaxy clusters. ROSAT data is used to construct X-ray maps of these pairs. After having modelled and subtracted the tSZ effect and X-ray emission for each cluster in the pair we study the residuals on both the SZ and X-ray maps. For the merging cluster pair A399-A401 we observe a significant tSZ effect signal in the intercluster region beyond the virial radii of the clusters. A joint X-ray SZ analysis allows us to constrain the temperature and density of this intercluster medium. We obtain a temperature of kT = 7.1 +- 0.9, keV (consistent with previous estimates) and a baryon density of (3.7 +- 0.2)x10^-4, cm^-3. The Planck satellite mission has provided the first SZ detection of the hot and diffuse intercluster gas.Comment: Accepted by A&

Depression and sickness behavior are Janus-faced responses to shared inflammatory pathways

It is of considerable translational importance whether depression is a form or a consequence of sickness behavior. Sickness behavior is a behavioral complex induced by infections and immune trauma and mediated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. It is an adaptive response that enhances recovery by conserving energy to combat acute inflammation. There are considerable phenomenological similarities between sickness behavior and depression, for example, behavioral inhibition, anorexia and weight loss, and melancholic (anhedonia), physio-somatic (fatigue, hyperalgesia, malaise), anxiety and neurocognitive symptoms. In clinical depression, however, a transition occurs to sensitization of immuno-inflammatory pathways, progressive damage by oxidative and nitrosative stress to lipids, proteins, and DNA, and autoimmune responses directed against self-epitopes. The latter mechanisms are the substrate of a neuroprogressive process, whereby multiple depressive episodes cause neural tissue damage and consequent functional and cognitive sequelae. Thus, shared immuno-inflammatory pathways underpin the physiology of sickness behavior and the pathophysiology of clinical depression explaining their partially overlapping phenomenology. Inflammation may provoke a Janus-faced response with a good, acute side, generating protective inflammation through sickness behavior and a bad, chronic side, for example, clinical depression, a lifelong disorder with positive feedback loops between (neuro)inflammation and (neuro)degenerative processes following less well defined triggers

Enhanced generation of VUV radiation by four-wave mixing in mercury using pulsed laser vaporization

The efficiency of a coherent VUV source at 125 nm, based on 2-photon resonant four-wave mixing in mercury vapor, has been enhanced by up to 2 orders of magnitude. This enhancement was obtained by locally heating a liquid Hg surface with a pulsed excimer laser, resulting in a high density vapor plume in which the nonlinear interaction occurred. Energies up to 5 μJ (1 kW peak power) have been achieved while keeping the overall Hg cell at room temperature, avoiding the use of a complex heat pipe. We have observed a strong saturation of the VUV yield when peak power densities of the fundamental beams exceed the GW/cm2 range, as well as a large intensity-dependant broadening (up to ~30 cm-1) of the two-photon resonance. The source has potential applications for high resolution interference lithography and photochemistry