Revisiting five decades of Th-234 data: a comprehensive global oceanic compilation

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ceballos-Romero, E., Buesseler, K. O., & Villa-Alfageme, M. Revisiting five decades of Th-234 data: a comprehensive global oceanic compilation. Earth System Science Data, 14(6), (2022): 2639–2679, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2639-2022.We present here a global oceanic compilation of 234Th measurements that collects results from researchers and laboratories over a period exceeding 50 years. The origin of the 234Th sampling in the ocean goes back to 1967, when Bhat et al. (1969) initially studied 234Th distribution relative to its parent 238U in the Indian Ocean. However, it was the seminal work of Buesseler et al. (1992) – which proposed an empirical method to estimate export fluxes from 234Th distributions – that drove the extensive use of the 234Th–238U radioactive pair to evaluate the organic carbon export out of the surface ocean by means of the biological carbon pump. Since then, a large number of 234Th depth profiles have been collected using a variety of sampling instruments and strategies that have changed during the past 50 years. The present compilation is made of a total 223 data sets: 214 from studies published in either articles in refereed journals, PhD theses, or repositories, as well as 9 unpublished data sets. The data were compiled from over 5000 locations spanning all the oceans for total 234Th profiles, dissolved and particulate 234Th activity concentrations (in dpm L−1), and POC:234Th ratios (in µmol dpm−1) from both sediment traps and filtration methods. A total of 379 oceanographic expeditions and more than 56 600 234Th data points have been gathered in a single open-access, long-term, and dynamic repository. This paper introduces the dataset along with informative and descriptive graphics. Appropriate metadata have been compiled, including geographic location, date, and sample depth, among others. When available, we also include water temperature, salinity, 238U data (over 18 200 data points), and particulate organic nitrogen data. Data source and method information (including 238U and 234Th) is also detailed along with valuable information for future data analysis such as bloom stage and steady-/non-steady-state conditions at the sampling moment. The data are archived on the PANGAEA repository, with the dataset DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.918125 (Ceballos-Romero et al., 2021). This provides a valuable resource to better understand and quantify how the contemporary oceanic carbon uptake functions and how it will change in future.This work was partially funded by the V Research Programme from the Universidad de Sevilla (Elena Ceballos-Romero) and EU FEDER-Junta de Andalucía funded project US-1263369 (María Villa-Alfageme). Ken O. Buesseler was supported in part by NSF under GEOTRACES, NASA as part of the EXPORTS program, and WHOI as part of the Ocean Twilight Zone project. María Villa-Alfageme and Ken O. Buesseler are also part of an IAEA Coordinated Research Project “Behaviour and effects of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment and their use as tracers for oceanographic studies

El consumo de cigarrillo en adolescentes escolarizados de Santa Marta

El consumo de cigarrillo es la principal causa de enfermedades que se puede prevenir.1 No obstante, un número significativo de adolescentes inicia y se mantiene en el consumo de cigarrillo.2 Los adolescentes, por lo general, consumen cigarrillo de manera ocasional; sin embargo, un número importante muestra un patrón de consumo diario.3 Algunas investigaciones sugieren que aquellas personas que fuman de manera ocasional muestran menores riesgos psicosociales que los fumadores diarios y mayor facilidad de abandono del consumo.   &nbsp

A Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurial Approach for Business Intelligence in Strategic Technologies: Bio-Mems

We propose a knowledge-based entrepreneurial (KBE) approach for business intelligence in strategic technologies at industrial sectors. The KBE approach is at the convergence of business intelligence and knowledge management and is used for advising users in business decisions and potential risks. Our approach comprises both a technology roadmap model as well as a knowledge-based entrepreneurial portal for various technologies. We use the Biological-Micro-Electrical-and- Mechanical-Systems industry (Bio-MEMS) to illustrate the approach. The technology roadmap model identifies the main actors, defines their roles and specifies the issues to be addressed. It handles information about main products, market trends, companies, research centers, application domains, products, standardization, and intellectual properties issues. The portal provides knowledge about the main actors through automation facilities based on digital libraries, searching and knowledge extraction from databases, data-ware houses and the Web. We explain how the KBE is helping Bio-MEMS users in business analysis

Resolución de conflictos sociales en primates: 35 años de investigación

El conflicto social, especialmente aquél que involucra interacciones agresivas entre los actores, ha sido un tema de interés para las disciplinas dedicadas al estudio de la conducta. Los biólogos de la conducta postulan que las afiliaciones postconflicto entre los oponentes previos, también conocidas como reconciliación, constituyen una estrategia para amortiguar los costos resultantes de la agresión. El año de 1979 marca el inicio de los estudios metodológicamente rigurosos en este tópico. Desde entonces, el tema ha sido investigado principalmente por primatólogos, lo cual se refleja en la escasa información sobre el fenómeno en otros órdenes. A la fecha, las afiliaciones postconflicto han sido reportadas en casi 40 especies, la mayoría de ellas primates. Aun cuando existe un consenso en la función socialmente homeostática de las afiliaciones postconflicto, numerosas preguntas permanecen sin respuesta. Estas incluyen la importancia de tales interacciones para las especies no-primates, la importancia relativa de las diversas fuentes de ocurrencia y variación del fenómeno, así como las funciones y procesos involucrados en su evolución. En este escrito ofrecemos una revisión sobre el estado del arte y señalamos algunos temas que ameritan mayor investigación, en aras de obtener un mejor entendimiento de las dinámicas de resolución del conflicto social e incluso, de los principios organizativos que subyacen a las sociedades animales

Thermal liquid biopsy (TLB) focused on benign and premalignant pancreatic cyst diagnosis

Background: Current efforts in the identification of new biomarkers are directed towards an accurate differentiation between benign and premalignant cysts. Thermal Liquid Biopsy (TLB) has been previously applied to inflammatory and tumor diseases and could offer an interesting point of view in this type of pathology. Methods: In this work, twenty patients (12 males and 8 females, average ages 62) diagnosed with a pancreatic cyst benign (10) and premalignant (10) cyst lesions were recruited, and biological samples were obtained during the endoscopic ultrasonography procedure. Results: Proteomic content of cyst liquid samples was studied and several common proteins in the different groups were identified. TLB cyst liquid profiles reflected protein content. Also, TLB serum score was able to discriminate between healthy and cysts patients (71% sensitivity and 98% specificity) and between benign and premalignant cysts (75% sensitivity and 67% specificity). Conclusions: TLB analysis of plasmatic serum sample, a quick, simple and non-invasive technique that can be easily implemented, reports valuable information on the observed pancreatic lesion. These preliminary results set the basis for a larger study to refine TLB serum score and move closer to the clinical application of TLB providing useful information to the gastroenterologist during patient diagnosis

Shear bond strength of a flash-free orthodontic adhesive system after thermal aging procedure

The aim of this study was to compare the shear bond strength (SBS) of a flash-free and precoated orthodontic adhesive with a compomer orthodontic adhesive before and after thermocycling. The adhesive remnant index (ARI) was also determined for both adhesives. The adhesive remnant index (ARI) was also determined for both adhesives. Material and Methods: A total of 120 human premolars were randomly divided into two groups (n=60) according to the orthodontic adhesive used: APC Flash-Free Adhesive Coated Appliance System (APC FF) or Transbond PLUS Color Change Adhesive (TP), as control. A SBS test was performed and ARI value for each specimen was also assessed. Results were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Tukey?s Chi-square test (p0.05). APC FF and TP showed similar bond strength results. Thermocycling induced a significant decrease in SBS values for the two adhesives tested, without differences between 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles. Moreover, APC FF left less adhesive remnants on the enamel compared to TP

Characterization of the cytotoxic effects of the combination of cisplatin and flavanol (-)-epicatechin on human lung cancer cell line A549. An isobolographic approach

Background: Among malignancies, lung cancer is a leading cause of death. Platinum-based therapeutic compounds used to treat lung cancer have not been able to increase the survival of patients and such compounds have a high incidence of adverse and toxic effects. It has been proposed that flavonoids such as catechins may significantly reduce the risk of developing cancer, alongside with other health benefits. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of (-)-epicatechin, the main flavanol found in cocoa, on the proliferation of the lung non-small cell adenocarcinoma cancer cell line A549, and to determine its effects when added simultaneously with cisplatin. Materials and Methods: Concentration-response curves for cisplatin and epicatechin were obtained, inhibitory concentrations calculated and an isobolographic analysis was then performed. Results: We found that epicatechin has a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on proliferation of tumor cells and the isobolographic analysis reveals that the effect of its combination with cisplatin is synergistic. It was also observed that epicatechin promotes cell death by apoptosis. Conclusions: Epicatechin might be considered for future studies to explore its possible use as coadjuvant in cisplatin-based treatments