Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895-1978

An understanding of the phenomenon of acid rain requires the identification of the sources of the species affecting the pH of rainwater, both natural and anthropogenic, and their temporal and spatial development. The scant data concerning the historical development of the acidity in precipitation are from urban regions or their vicinity, where local effects dominate and obscure the hemispherical pattern1. The Greenland ice sheet allows us to trace the evolution of the acid rain in a remote location that is free from local effects. Sulphuric and nitric acids are the two species that dominate the acidity in precipitation (2–4). We report here measurements of [SO42−] and [NO3−] in firn samples spanning the period 1895–1978. Samples, each covering 1 yr, were taken from a 70-m core drilled at Dye 3, South Greenland; [NO3−] and [SO42−] both increased by a factor of ˜2 during the period. By comparing the recent concentrations of nitrate and sulphate with those resulting from natural sources, we conclude that anthropogenic emissions of the precursors (NOx, SO2) had already surpassed natural sources in the late 1950s

Chimeric infectious bursal disease virus-like particles as potent vaccines for eradication of established HPV-16 E7-dependent tumors

Cervical cancer is caused by persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection and represents the second most frequent gynecological malignancy in the world. The HPV-16 type accounts for up to 55% of all cervical cancers. The HPV-16 oncoproteins E6 and E7 are necessary for induction and maintenance of malignant transformation and represent tumor-specific antigens for targeted cytotoxic T lymphocyte–mediated immunotherapy. Therapeutic cancer vaccines have become a challenging area of oncology research in recent decades. Among current cancer immunotherapy strategies, virus-like particle (VLP)–based vaccines have emerged as a potent and safe approach. We generated a vaccine (VLP-E7) incorporating a long C-terminal fragment of HPV-16 E7 protein into the infectious bursal disease virus VLP and tested its therapeutic potential in HLA-A2 humanized transgenic mice grafted with TC1/A2 tumor cells. We performed a series of tumor challenge experiments demonstrating a strong immune response against already-formed tumors (complete eradication). Remarkably, therapeutic efficacy was obtained with a single dose without adjuvant and against two injections of tumor cells, indicating a potent and long-lasting immune response.This work was supported in part by grants PIE/473/2009 and PIE/506/2008 from Instituto Madrileño de Desarrollo, 25/2008 from Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, CIT-010000-2008-18 from Ministerio de Educación, FIT-010000-2007-68 from Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, and CIT-010000-2007-34 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PROFIT). Additional support was provided by Consorci Parc de Recerca Biomédica de Barcelona