Characteristics of the Proterozoic porphyry-type Cu occurrence at Tienpää, Halsua, western Finland

The widespread, subeconomic porphyry-type Cu mineralization at Tienpää occurs in a Proterozoic tonalite complex. It is located in the marginal zone of the large granitoid complex of central Finland. The tonalites consist of five varieties with minor textural, mineralogical and chemical differences. Three of the varieties are porphyritic. The Cu mineralization is of a stockwork type comprising a parallel set of narrow, mineralized and often quartz-filled fractures of subvertical dip. The en échelon fractures constitute a zone that crosscuts lithological boundaries. The maximum width of the zone is about 250 m and its length at least 1500 m. The only major ore mineral is chalcopyrite, which occurs on the surfaces of fractures and as dissemination around the fractures. The average Cu content along a profile across the middle of the mineralized zone is about 500 ppm and that of Mo about 45 ppm. Minor mineralization is also connected with a tourmaline-bearing quartz breccia and with a few narrow shear zones. Weak but widespread propylitic alteration and recrystallization of biotite are encountered. Muscovitization is also fairly common. Propylitic alteration and muscovitization are most intense in the immediate vicinity of the mineralized fractures. The stockwork mineralization developed within a shear zone, and the mineralized fractures were extensional in character. Subsequent rotation of the stress field within the shear zone generated oblique foliation in the quartz-filled fractures

Human Tissue Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Activity Is Regulated by Genetic Polymorphisms, Posttranslational Modifications, Endogenous Inhibitors and Secretion in the Serum, Lungs and Heart

Objective: Inhibitors of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) are the primarily chosen drugs to treat heart failure and hypertension. Moreover, an imbalance in tissue ACE/ACE2 activity is implicated in COVID-19. In the present study, we tested the relationships between circulating and tissue (lung and heart) ACE levels in men. Methods: Serum, lung (n = 91) and heart (n = 72) tissue samples were collected from Caucasian patients undergoing lung surgery or heart transplantation. ACE I/D genotype, ACE concentration and ACE activity were determined from serum and tissue samples. Clinical parameters were also recorded. Results: A protocol for ACE extraction was developed for tissue ACE measurements. Extraction of tissue-localized ACE was optimal in a 0.3% Triton-X-100 containing buffer, resulting in 260 ± 12% higher ACE activity over detergent-free conditions. SDS or higher Triton-X-100 concentrations inhibited the ACE activity. Serum ACE concentration correlated with ACE I/D genotype (II: 166 ± 143 ng/mL, n = 19, ID: 198 ± 113 ng/mL, n = 44 and DD: 258 ± 109 ng/mL, n = 28, p < 0.05) as expected. In contrast, ACE expression levels in the lung tissue were approximately the same irrespective of the ACE I/D genotype (II: 1423 ± 1276 ng/mg, ID: 1040 ± 712 ng/mg and DD: 930 ± 1273 ng/mg, p > 0.05) in the same patients (values are in median ± IQR). Moreover, no correlations were found between circulating and lung tissue ACE concentrations and activities (Spearman’s p > 0.05). In contrast, a significant correlation was identified between ACE activities in serum and heart tissues (Spearman’s Rho = 0.32, p < 0.01). Finally, ACE activities in lung and the serum were endogenously inhibited to similar degrees (i.e., to 69 ± 1% and 53 ± 2%, respectively). Conclusion: Our data suggest that circulating ACE activity correlates with left ventricular ACE, but not with lung ACE in human. More specifically, ACE activity is tightly coordinated by genotype-dependent expression, endogenous inhibition and secretion mechanisms