Penecontemporaneous partial disaggregationand/or resedimentation during the formation and deposition of subglacial till

Glacier ice has been always considered to be the geologic agent that forms and deposits till. However, the reality is more complex: meltwater and gravity participate to various degrees at the formation, deposition and penecontemporaneous redeposition of till, even though the glacier is the principal agent and thedeposition of till takes place in contact or near-contact with glacier ice. Boulton's (1980) and Lawson's (1981) cntena for the differentiation of "tills" from "nontills" are tested here, by using mainly their own data on glacial sedimentation and  penecontemporaneous resedimentation at Breidamerkurjokull, Iceland, and Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, but re-interpreting some of their conclusions or pointing out some discrepancies in their own conclusions. A strict adherence to some of Boulton's (1980) and Lawson's (1981) critetia would not permit calling most of Matanuska Glacier's melt-out tills, and the Breidamerkurjokull, lodgement till, particularly its dilated top portion, a true till. However, they may be considered tills, if the broad definition of: "Till is a sediment that has been transported and subsequently deposited by or from glacier ice, with little or no sorting by water" is applied instead

Lake Arkona-Whittlesey and Post-Warren Radiocarbon Dates from "Ridgetown Island" in Southwestern Ontario

Author Institution: Department of Geology, University of Western OntarioThree radiocarbon dates from raised beaches along the "Ridgetown Island" support the age assignment of 13,000 years B.P. for the beginning of Lake Whittlesey in Ohio, and the termination of Lake Warren before 12,000 years B.P., as concluded from post-Warren data in Ontario

Trombocyters roll i immunförsvaret vid lunginflammation

Thrombocytopenia is a common feature in severe infection and the extent of the thrombocytopenia has been correlated to the clinical prognosis. However the pathophysiology behind this phenomenon is not completely understood. Research in the last decade has shown that thrombocytes possess several antimicrobial properties, suggesting that they might play a still unknown role in innate immunity. Moreover platelets are known to sequestrate out into lung tissue in response to stimuli like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and septicaemia. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common cause of severe community aquired pneumonia and septicaemia. In this project I show that platelets in vitro are activated by S. pneumoniae and can release antimicrobial peptides in response to thrombin. This occurs independent of interactions with other cells. In vivo, I show that platelet deficiency results in increased bacterial numbers within the lungs in a mouse model of S. pneumoniae pneumonia. Histopathological examination of the lungs indicates that platelets co-localise with the bacteria –and may "trap" them within lung tissue. I conclude that platelets contribute to innate immunity to S. pneumoniae pneumonia identifying a potential therapeutic target for patients with severe infection.Trombocytopeni är en vanlig företeelse i samband med svår infektion och graden av trombocytopeni hos akut sjuka patienter har visats vara korrelerad till klinisk prognos. Detta till trots är patofysiologin till detta fenomen ännu inte helt kartlagd. Det senaste årtiondets forskning har visat att trombocyter utöver sina uppgifter i koagulationen även äger flera antimikrobiska egenskaper vilket väckt frågan om trombocyter också spelar en ännu okänd roll i det cellmedierade immunförsvaret. Det har även visats att trombocyter som utsätts för stimuli som lipopolysaccharider (LPS) och septikemi sequestrerar ut i lungvävnad in vivo. Streptococcus pneumoniae är en vanlig etiologisk orsak till förvärvad pneumoni och septikemi. I detta arbete visar jag att trombocyter in vitro blir aktiverade av S. pneumoniae och frigör antimikrobiska substanser mot S. pneumoniae efter trombin stimulering, detta utan interaktioner från andra celler. In vivo visar jag att trombocytopeni under infektion leder till en snabbare bakteriell tillväxt i lungorna på möss i en modell av S. pneumoniae infektion. Histopatologisk undersökning av dessa lungor indikerar att trombocyter samlokaliserar med bakterier –och därmed eventuellt fångar bakterier i lungvävnad innan kolonisation av vävnad hinner ske. Slutsatsen är att trombocyter medverkar i det cellmedierade immunförsvaret mot S. pneumoniae pneumoni vilket potentiellt kan utgöra ett terapeutiskt mål för patienter med svår infektion

Penecontemporaneous partial disaggregationand/or resedimentation during the formation and deposition of subglacial till

Glacier ice has been always considered to be the geologic agent that forms and deposits till. However, the reality is more complex: meltwater and gravity participate to various degrees at the formation, deposition and penecontemporaneous redeposition of till, even though the glacier is the principal agent and thedeposition of till takes place in contact or near-contact with glacier ice. Boulton's (1980) and Lawson's (1981) cntena for the differentiation of "tills" from "nontills" are tested here, by using mainly their own data on glacial sedimentation and  penecontemporaneous resedimentation at Breidamerkurjokull, Iceland, and Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, but re-interpreting some of their conclusions or pointing out some discrepancies in their own conclusions. A strict adherence to some of Boulton's (1980) and Lawson's (1981) critetia would not permit calling most of Matanuska Glacier's melt-out tills, and the Breidamerkurjokull, lodgement till, particularly its dilated top portion, a true till. However, they may be considered tills, if the broad definition of: "Till is a sediment that has been transported and subsequently deposited by or from glacier ice, with little or no sorting by water" is applied instead

Alpha-chloralose poisoning in cats: clinical findings in 25 confirmed and 78 suspected cases

Objectives The aim of this study was to describe the clinical picture in cats with alpha-chloralose (AC) intoxication and to confirm AC in serum from suspected cases of AC poisoning. Methods Suspected cases of AC poisoning were identified in patient records from a small animal university hospital from January 2014 to February 2020. Clinical signs of intoxication described in respective records were compiled, the cats were graded into four intoxication severity scores and hospitalisation time and mortality were recorded. Surplus serum from select cases in late 2019 and early 2020 was analysed to detect AC with a quantitative ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis, and the AC concentration was compared with the respective cat's intoxication severity score. Results Serum from 25 cats was available for analysis and AC poisoning was confirmed in all. Additionally, 78 cats with a clinical suspicion of AC intoxication were identified in the patient records, most of which presented from September to April. The most common signs of intoxication were ataxia, tremors, cranial nerve deficits and hyperaesthesia. The prevalence of clinical signs and intoxication severity differed from what has previously been reported, with our population presenting with less severe signs and no deaths due to intoxication. The majority had a hospitalisation time <48 h, irrespective of intoxication severity score. Conclusions and relevance This study describes the clinical signs and prognosis in feline AC intoxication. There were no mortalities in confirmed cases, indicating that AC-poisoned cats have an excellent prognosis when treated in a timely manner. Recognition of AC intoxication as a differential diagnosis for acute onset of the described neurological signs in areas where AC exposure is possible may influence clinical decision-making and help avoid excessive diagnostic procedures. A severe clinical picture upon presentation could be misinterpreted as a grave prognosis and awareness about AC poisoning may avoid unnecessary euthanasia

Measurement of particle multiplicity and energy flow in pp collisions at 13 TeV with the LHCb detector

The LHC is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle collider. The LHCb experiment is one of four main experiments at the LHC. In July/August 2015, at the beginning of Run-II of the collider, the LHCb detector collected no-bias data during the so-called ‘Early Measurements’ low intensity data taking run. The analysis described in this thesis, the measurement of particle multiplicity and energy flow in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, uses this dataset. This analysis is aimed at improving our understanding of the hadron-hadron interaction process in full and, more specifically, our knowledge of the contributions of the underlying event and multi-parton interactions to the observable final states. The data sample is split into the charged and neutral components and then further segregated into four event classes - inclusive minimum-bias, hard scattering, diffractive enriched and non-diffractive enriched. The measurement is carried out over a 2D (e×η) space within the fiducial acceptance of 2.0 < p < 1000.0 GeV/c and 2.0 < η < 5.0 and a full detector unfolding is performed. The results are presented as 1D multiplicity and energy flow distributions as a function of η and compared to four sets of theoretical predictions - Pythia 8 LHCb, Pythia 8 Monash 2013, EPOS LHC and Sibyll 2.1. It is found that the LHCb tune of the Pythia 8.212 generator is able to describe the data the best, whilst the worst performing set of theoretical predictions is found to be EPOS LHC. Overall, the description of the inclusive minimum-bias and non-diffractive enrichedeventclassesby Pythia 8.212LHCbforboththemultiplicityandenergyflowis found to match the data well, while the theoretical predictions overestimate the charged component’s multiplicity for the diffractive enriched event class and underestimate the neutral multiplicity for the neutral hard scattering event class

Development and Validation of a Quantitative UHPLC-MS-MS Method for the Determination of Alpha-Chloralose in Feline Blood and Application on Blood Samples Collected from Cats with Symptoms of Alpha-Chloralose Poisoning

Alpha-chloralose (AC) is used as a rodenticide as well as an anesthetic agent in laboratory animals. It was previously also used as an avicide. Detection of AC in blood samples or in body tissues collected postmortem is key for the diagnosis of clinical cases and a requirement for surveillance of secondary toxicosis, including potential cases in wild animals. Reports on poisoning of humans and non-laboratory animals confirmed by the detection of AC or its metabolites are available, however poisoning of domestic animals are rarely available. Furthermore, reports on clinical cases in domestic animals rarely report quantifications of AC in blood or body tissues. The present study describes the validation of a quantitative Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS-MS) method that can be used in cases of suspected AC poisoning in cats. The validation study showed the method to be fit for purpose. In serum, the limit of quantification was 100 ng/mL and the limit of detection was 30 ng/mL. The new analytical method was applied on blood samples collected from 20 individual cats with a preliminary clinical diagnosis of acute AC poisoning. AC was confirmed in all 20 feline blood samples, and the concentration range of AC was 538-17,500 ng/mL. The quantitative method developed in this study was found to be a fast and selective method for confirmation of AC poisoning using blood samples from cats

Anomalous luminescence of subglacial sediment at Haut glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland - a consequence of resetting at the glacier bed?

&lt;p&gt;Luminescence has the potential to elucidate glacial geomorphic processes because primary glacial sediment sources and transport pathways are associated with contrasting degrees of exposure to light. Most notably, sediment entrained from extraglacial sources should be at least partially reset, whereas sediment produced by glacial erosion of subglacial bedrock should retain substantial luminescence commensurate with a geological irradiation history.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We set out to test the validity of this assumption at Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland using sediment sampled extraglacially and from the glacier bed. Contrary to our expectations, the subglacial samples exhibited natural signals that were substantially lower than those of other sample groups, and further (albeit limited) analyses have indicated no obvious differences in sample group luminescence characteristics or behaviour that could account for this observation. For glaciological reasons, we can eliminate both the possibility that the subglacial sediment has been extraglacially-reset or exposed in situ to heat or light. We therefore advocate investigation of possible resetting processes related to subglacial crushing and grinding, and speculate that such processes, if more generally present, may enable the dating of subglacially-deposited tills using luminescence-based techniques.&lt;/p&gt