The third enlargement: Spain's and Portugal's access to the EEC report on the Council of Ministers archival material

Relación de documentos que fueron la base de las negociaciones de Adhesión de España y Portugal y que están en el Archivo del Consejo de la Unión Europe

Peat Moss–Like Vegetative Remains from Ordovician Carbonates

Premise of research. Climatically favorable conditions correspond with fossil evidence for dramatic Ordovician marine biodiversification, but coeval terrestrial biodiversity is less well understood. Although diverse Middle and Late Ordovician microfossils are interpreted as reproductive remains of early bryophyte-like land plants (consistent with molecular data indicating pre-Ordovician embryophyte origin), the vegetative structure of Ordovician plants remains mysterious, as do relationships to modern groups. Because distinctive fungal microfossils indicating land plant presence were previously reported from Ordovician carbonate deposits in Wisconsin, we examined another nearby outcrop for additional evidence of terrestrial biodiversification. Methodology. Replicate collections were made from well-understood 455–454 Ma Platteville Formation carbonates of relatively low porosity and hydraulic conductivity. We employed measures to avoid contamination, and organic remains extracted by acid maceration were characterized by light and scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Pivotal results. Multicellular organic fragments displayed distinctive cellular features shared with modern vegetative peat mosses but differed from modern materials, e.g., fossil presence of mineral coatings, absence of epibionts. Biometric features of mosslike microfossils isolated from carbonates collected and macerated 12 yr apart by separate investigators did not differ. Putative peat moss remains occurred with foraminifera similar in frequency and thermal maturity to types previously described from the same formation. No diatoms, pollen, or other indicators of post-Ordovician environments were observed. Conclusions. The peat moss–like fragments described here are the oldest-known vegetative remains of land plants and the oldest fossils having distinctive features linking them to a modern plant group. These findings are consistent with peat moss recalcitrance properties that foster fossilization and molecular evidence that the peat moss lineage is 460–607 Ma of age. The new findings suggest that moss-dominated peatlands—recognized for globally significant roles in modern terrestrial biodiversity and C and N cycling—were present hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought

Oxytocin bolus versus oxytocin bolus and infusion for control of blood loss at elective caesarean section: double blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial

Objectives To determine the effects of adding an oxytocin infusion to bolus oxytocin on blood loss at elective caesarean section

Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.Comment: Science, in press; for supplemental material see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/14/333.6049.1602.DC1/1210923.Doyle.SOM.pd

A Transiting Hot Jupiter Orbiting a Metal-Rich Star

We announce the discovery of Kepler-6b, a transiting hot Jupiter orbiting a star with unusually high metallicity, [Fe/H] = +0.34 +/- 0.04. The planet's mass is about 2/3 that of Jupiter, Mp = 0.67 Mj, and the radius is thirty percent larger than that of Jupiter, Rp = 1.32 Rj, resulting in a density of 0.35 g/cc, a fairly typical value for such a planet. The orbital period is P = 3.235 days. The host star is both more massive than the Sun, Mstar = 1.21 Msun, and larger than the Sun, Rstar = 1.39 Rsun.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Validation of Kepler's Multiple Planet Candidates. III: Light Curve Analysis & Announcement of Hundreds of New Multi-planet Systems

The Kepler mission has discovered over 2500 exoplanet candidates in the first two years of spacecraft data, with approximately 40% of them in candidate multi-planet systems. The high rate of multiplicity combined with the low rate of identified false-positives indicates that the multiplanet systems contain very few false-positive signals due to other systems not gravitationally bound to the target star (Lissauer, J. J., et al., 2012, ApJ 750, 131). False positives in the multi- planet systems are identified and removed, leaving behind a residual population of candidate multi-planet transiting systems expected to have a false-positive rate less than 1%. We present a sample of 340 planetary systems that contain 851 planets that are validated to substantially better than the 99% confidence level; the vast majority of these have not been previously verified as planets. We expect ~2 unidentified false-positives making our sample of planet very reliable. We present fundamental planetary properties of our sample based on a comprehensive analysis of Kepler light curves and ground-based spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging. Since we do not require spectroscopy or high-resolution imaging for validation, some of our derived parameters for a planetary system may be systematically incorrect due to dilution from light due to additional stars in the photometric aperture. None the less, our result nearly doubles the number of verified exoplanets.Comment: 138 pages, 8 Figures, 5 Tables. Accepted for publications in the Astrophysical Journa

Risk stratification for arrhythmic death in an emergency department cohort: a new method of nonlinear PD2i analysis of the ECG

Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects both cardiac autonomic function and risk of sudden arrhythmic death (AD). Indices of HRV based on linear stochastic models are independent risk factors for AD in postmyocardial infarction (MI) cohorts. Indices based on nonlinear deterministic models have a higher sensitivity and specificity for predicting AD in retrospective data. A new nonlinear deterministic model, the automated Point Correlation Dimension (PD2i), was prospectively evaluated for prediction of AD. Patients were enrolled (N = 918) in 6 emergency departments (EDs) upon presentation with chest pain and being determined to be at risk of acute MI (AMI) >7%. Brief digital ECGs (>1000 heartbeats, ∼15 min) were recorded and automated PD2i results obtained. Out-of-hospital AD was determined by modified Hinkle-Thaler criteria. All-cause mortality at 1 year was 6.2%, with 3.5% being ADs. Of the AD fatalities, 34% were without previous history of MI or diagnosis of AMI. The PD2i prediction of AD had sensitivity = 96%, specificity = 85%, negative predictive value = 99%, and relative risk >24.2 (p ≤ 0.001). HRV analysis by the time-dependent nonlinear PD2i algorithm can accurately predict risk of AD in an ED cohort and may have both life-saving and resource-saving implications for individual risk assessment

Metabolomics guides rational development of a simplified cell culture medium for drug screening against <i>Trypanosoma brucei</i>

n vitro culture methods underpin many experimental approaches to biology and drug discovery. The modification of established cell culture methods to make them more biologically relevant or to optimize growth is traditionally a laborious task. Emerging metabolomic technology enables the rapid evaluation of intra- and extracellular metabolites and can be applied to the rational development of cell culture media. In this study, untargeted semiquantitative and targeted quantitative metabolomic analyses of fresh and spent media revealed the major nutritional requirements for the growth of bloodstream form &lt;i&gt;Trypanosoma brucei&lt;/i&gt;. The standard culture medium (HMI11) contained unnecessarily high concentrations of 32 nutrients that were subsequently removed to make the concentrations more closely resemble those normally found in blood. Our new medium, Creek's minimal medium (CMM), supports in vitro growth equivalent to that in HMI11 and causes no significant perturbation of metabolite levels for 94% of the detected metabolome (&#60;3-fold change; α = 0.05). Importantly, improved sensitivity was observed for drug activity studies in whole-cell phenotypic screenings and in the metabolomic mode of action assays. Four-hundred-fold 50% inhibitory concentration decreases were observed for pentamidine and methotrexate, suggesting inhibition of activity by nutrients present in HMI11. CMM is suitable for routine cell culture and offers important advantages for metabolomic studies and drug activity screening