Multidisciplinary approach for outcropping and subsurface Permian-Cenozoic deepwater carbonates (Central Sicily): outcome for paleogeography of the Southern Tethyan continental margin

An integrated stratigraphic study of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions have been performed. These successions form some of the tectonic units, mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover, in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, biostratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deep-water Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions; b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from the coeval foreland hemipelagic to open-shelf carbonates. The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sicanian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped carbonate platform margins; c) the Oligo-Miocene sedimentation reflects the afore-mentioned different location of the two deep-water domains. Flysch deposits suggest that the Imerese was located near an accretionary prism, differently the Sicanian open-shelf carbonates and marls developed on a still undeformed foreland

MiRNA-513a-5p inhibits progesterone receptor expression and constitutes a risk factor for breast cancer : The hOrmone and Diet in the ETiology of breast cancer prospective study

report was to investigate whether many years before the diagnosis of breast cancer miRNA expression is already disregulated. In order to test this hypothesis, we compared miRNAs extracted from leukocytes in healthy women who later developed breast cancer and in women who remain healthy during the whole 15-year follow-up time. Accordantly, we used a case-control study design nested in the hOrmone and Diet in the ETiology of breast cancer (ORDET) prospective cohort study addressing the possibility that miRNAs can serve as both early biomarkers and components of the hormonal etiological pathways leading to breast cancer development in premenopausal women. We compared leukocyte miRNA profiles of 191 incident premenopausal breast cancer cases and profiles of 191 women who remained healthy over a follow-up period of 20 years. The analysis identified 20 differentially expressed miRNAs in women candidate to develop breast cancer versus control women. The upregulated miRNAs, miR-513-a-5p, miR- 513b-5p and miR-513c-5p were among the most significantly deregulated miRNAs. In multivariate analysis, miR-513a-5p upregulation was directly and statistically significant associated with breast cancer risk (OR = 1.69; 95% CI 1.08-2.64; P = 0.0293). In addition, the upregulation of miR-513-a-5p displayed the strongest direct association with serum progesterone and testosterone levels. The experimental data corroborated the inhibitory function of miR-513a-5p on progesterone receptor expression confirming that progesterone receptor is a target of miR-513a-5p. The identification of upregulated miR-513a-5p with its oncogenic potential further validates the use of miRNAs as long-term biomarker of breast cancer risk

MicroRNA-128-3p-mediated depletion of Drosha promotes lung cancer cell migration

Alteration in microRNAs (miRNAs) expression is a frequent finding in human cancers. In particular, widespread miRNAs down-regulation is a hallmark of malignant transformation. In the present report, we showed that the miR-128-3p, which is up-regulated in lung cancer tissues, has Drosha and Dicer, two key enzymes of miRNAs processing, as the main modulation targets leading to the widespread down-regulation of miRNA expression. We observed that the miRNAs downregulation induced by miR-128-3p contributed to the tumorigenic properties of lung cancer cells. In particular, miR- 128-3p-mediated miRNAs down-regulation contributed to aberrant SNAIL and ZEB1 expression thereby promoting the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. Drosha also resulted to be implicated in the control of migratory phenotype as its expression counteracted miR-128-3p functional effects. Our study provides mechanistic insights into the function of miR-128-3p as a key regulator of the malignant phenotype of lung cancer cells. This also enforces the remarkable impact of Drosha and Dicer alteration in cancer, and in particular it highlights a role for Drosha in non-smallcell lung cancer cells migration

Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate rocks of the Southern Tethyan Domain. The case of Central Sicily

We present an integrated stratigraphy of the outcropping and buried Permian-Cenozoic deep-water carbonate successions, forming some of the tectonic units mostly buried beneath the Late Neogene sedimentary cover in the fold and thrust belt of Central Sicily. Three main successions, pertaining to the well known Lercara, Imerese and Sicanian domains, have been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed facies analysis, seismostratigraphic interpretation, bio - stratigraphy (mostly based on palynological data) and comparison between outcropping and subsurface deep-water sediments. The main results reveal a continuous sedimentation of the deepwater Southern Tethyan Sicilian succession since the Permian to Cenozoic. In detail: a) the Permian-Middle Triassic terrigenous and carbonate deep-water successions, outcropping or buried in the Cerda, Lercara-Roccapalumba and Sosio Valley regions, are well comparable to each other and represent the common substrate of the Mesozoic-Paleogene Imerese and Sicanian carbonate successions; b) the Mesozoic-Paleogene deep-water carbonates, when compared among them, reveal the occurrence of different sedimentary successions (Imerese and Sicanian); c) the Oligo-Miocene foreland basin terrigenous sediments (Numidian flysch) clearly differ from the coeval foreland pelagic to open-shelf carbonates. The paleogeographic reconstruction envisages: a) during the Permian-Triassic, a wide subsident continental rifting area, bordered by a shallow-water domain periodically supplying the basin with calciturbiditic to gravity flows sedimentation (rift stage of the Southern Tethyan margin); b) during the Jurassic-Paleogene, two different deep-water basins developed in a context of a post-rift stage. The different sedimentation reflects the location of the Imerese and Sica - nian basins, respectively, along adjacent rimmed shelf and stepped carbonate platform margins

Some sedimentological and geochemical characters of the late Triassic Noto formation, source rock in the Ragusa basin (Sicily)

URA 724 du CNRS a intégré UMR 6113 - ISTO CNRS Université d'OrléansIn the Ragusa basin (southeastern Sicily), the late Triassic Noto formation is considered as the main oil source rock. We provide a detailed description of the sedimentary facies determined from core samples, and discuss geochemical results, obtained for both kerogens and chloroform extractable hydrocarbons from samples where sedimentary organic matter is immature. Two main sedimentary sequences were encountered: (i) layers of limestones and of marls (or shales) alternating at a metric scale, and (ii) laminites having various types and carbonate contents. The high petroleum potentials (S2 up to 100 kg HC/t rock) are related to sedimentary lithologies that contain a minimum of clay. Two types of algal organic matter are probably mixed in the sediments studied. These two types can be distinguished by the oxygen content. They also do not have the same kinetic behavior in thermal evolution. Special attention has been paid to the possible use of bitumens and of pyrolysates obtained from kerogens for understanding “organic facies”. Bulk properties together with several biomarker distributions were examined through different facies. But most of the parameters measured or computed are more clearly related to the maturity of the sequences analyzed rather than to the intrinsic nature of the in situ organic matter. A modeling approach is proposed, taking into account geological and geochemical data. Different situations of the Noto source rock lead to different timings of oil formation. The importance of source rock heterogeneities at different scales in basin evaluation is underlined

Subsurface Geometries in Central Sicily FTB as a Premise for Hydrocarbon Exploration

The study concerns a sector of the Maghrebian Sicilian Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB), located in central Sicily between the southern edge of the Madonie Mts. and the Caltanissetta trough. Interpretation of recently acquired seismic profiles, constrained by joint detailed stratigraphy and field investigation, revealed the structure of the study area as formed by a thick pile of deep water carbonate (Imerese and Sicanian) thrusts lying on carbonate platform imbricates. In the forward migration of the FTB, two main tectonic events were envisaged; shallow and deep seated thrusts occurred during the Miocene-early Pleistocene time interval that deformed the former sedimentary cover of the continental margin. The kinematic model and the occurrence, at depth, of carbonate platform rock bodies indicate the study area as a potential frontier for hydrocarbon opportunities