Holocene fire regimes and treeline migration rates in sub-arctic Canada

Holocene climate change resulted in major vegetation reorganization in sub-arctic Canada near modern treeline. However, little is known of the effects of long-term climate change on boreal forest composition and fire regimes below treeline in this region. We present a high-resolution vegetation and fire history from two sites within the modern boreal forest in the central Northwest Territories, Canada, to provide new insight on sub-arctic vegetation response to Holocene climate dynamics and the role of fire in boreal ecosystems. Palynological analysis of sediments retrieved from Waite and Danny's lakes (informal) is used to reconstruct regional vegetation dynamics and boreal fire regimes. The longer Danny's Lake record documents treeline expansion beginning at ca. 7430–7220 cal yr BP. Integration of our new data with previous work shows that treeline expanded between ca. 4050 cal. yr BP and ca. 3840 cal yr BP at a rate of ca. 50 m/yr in response to the 1–2 °C increase in temperature estimated for the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Forest fires were relatively frequent during the early Holocene, before declining in frequency in response to development of cooler and wetter climate conditions associated with the Neoglacial (beginning after ca. 2200–2320 cal yr BP). We document a trend of increasing fire frequency in the 20th century that is correlated with warming at this time. These dynamics south of modern treeline provide insight into factors creating heterogeneity in plant community responses to large-scale climate events in high northern latitudes and suggest that large scale reorganization of boreal vegetation and fire regimes can be expected over the coming decades

Organic matter control on the distribution of arsenic in lake sediments impacted by ~ 65 years of gold ore processing in subarctic Canada

Climate change is profoundly affecting seasonality, biological productivity, and hydrology in high northern latitudes. In sensitive subarctic environments exploitation of mineral resources led to contamination and it is not known how cumulative effects of resource extraction and climate warming will impact ecosystems. Gold mines near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, subarctic Canada, operated from 1938 to 2004 and released > 20,000 t of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) to the environment through stack emissions. This release resulted in elevated arsenic concentrations in lake surface waters and sediments relative to Canadian drinking water standards and guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. A meta-analytical approach is used to better understand controls on As distribution in lake sediments within a 30-km radius of historic mineral processing activities. Arsenic concentrations in the near-surface sediments range from 5 mg·kg− 1 to over 10,000 mg·kg− 1 (median 81 mg·kg− 1; n = 105). Distance and direction from the historic roaster stack are significantly (p < 0.05) related to sedimentary As concentration, with highest As concentrations in sediments within 11 km and lakes located downwind. Synchrotron-based μXRF and μXRD confirm the persistence of As2O3 in near surface sediments of two lakes. Labile organic matter (S1) is significantly (p < 0.05) related to As and S concentrations in sediments and this relationship is greatest in lakes within 11 km from the mine. These relations are interpreted to reflect labile organic matter acting as a substrate for microbial growth and mediation of authigenic precipitation of As-sulphides in lakes close to the historic mine where As concentrations are highest. Continued climate warming is expected to lead to increased biological productivity and changes in organic geochemistry of lake sediments that are likely to play an important role in the mobility and fate of As in aquatic ecosystems

New occurrences of the White River Ash (east lobe) in Subarctic Canada and utility for estimating freshwater reservoir effect in lake sediment archives

The freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) in the Canadian Subarctic complicates development of high-resolution age-depth models based on radiocarbon dates from lake sediments. Volcanic ashfall layers (tephras) provide chronostratigraphic markers that can be used to estimate age offsets. We describe the first recorded occurrence of a visible tephra in a lacustrine sequence in the central Northwest Territories. The tephra, observed in Pocket Lake, near Yellowknife, is geochemically and stratigraphically attributed to the White River Ash east lobe (WRAe; 833–850 CE; 1117–1100 cal BP), which originated from an eruption of Mount Churchill, Alaska. We also observed the WRAe as a cryptotephra in Bridge Lake, 130 km to the NE, suggesting that records of this tephra are potentially widespread in CNT lakes. The identification of this tephra presents opportunities for use of the WRAe as a dating tool in the region and to quantify the magnitude of the FRE in order to correct radiocarbon age-depth models. Two well-dated sediment cores from Pocket Lake, containing a visible WRAe record, indicate a FRE of 200 years at the time of the ash deposition, which matches closely with the estimated FRE of 245 years at the lake sediment-water interface. Although additional results from other lakes in the region are required, this finding implies that FRE estimates for the late Holocene in the region, may be based either on down-core WRAe/radiocarbon age model offsets, or on radiocarbon dates obtained from the sediment-water interface

Newsprint coverage of smoking in cars carrying children : a case study of public and scientific opinion driving the policy debate

Acknowledgements Date of Acceptance:17/10/2014 Acknowledgements: This project was funded by Cancer Research UK (MC_U130085862) and the Scottish School of Public Health Research. Cancer Research UK and the Scottish School of Public Health Research was not involved in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Shona Hilton, Karen Wood, Josh Bain and Chris Patterson are funded by the UK Medical Research Council as part of the Understandings and Uses of Public Health Research programme (MC_UU_12017/6) at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. We thank Alan Pollock who provided assistance with coding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The genetic prehistory of southern Africa

Southern and eastern African populations that speak non-Bantu languages with click consonants are known to harbour some of the most ancient genetic lineages in humans, but their relationships are poorly understood. Here, we report data from 23 populations analyzed at over half a million single nucleotide polymorphisms, using a genome-wide array designed for studying human history. The southern African Khoisan fall into two genetic groups, loosely corresponding to the northwestern and southeastern Kalahari, which we show separated within the last 30,000 years. We find that all individuals derive at least a few percent of their genomes from admixture with non-Khoisan populations that began approximately 1,200 years ago. In addition, the east African Hadza and Sandawe derive a fraction of their ancestry from admixture with a population related to the Khoisan, supporting the hypothesis of an ancient link between southern and eastern AfricaComment: To appear in Nature Communication

Bright ligand-activatable fluorescent protein for high-quality multicolor live-cell super-resolution microscopy

We introduce UnaG as a green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein capable of high-quality super-resolution imaging with photon numbers equivalent to the brightest photoswitchable red protein. UnaG only fluoresces upon binding of a fluorogenic metabolite, bilirubin, enabling UV-free reversible photoswitching with easily controllable kinetics and low background under Epi illumination. The on- and off-switching rates are controlled by the concentration of the ligand and the excitation light intensity, respectively, where the dissolved oxygen also promotes the off-switching. The photo-oxidation reaction mechanism of bilirubin in UnaG suggests that the lack of ligand-protein covalent bond allows the oxidized ligand to detach from the protein, emptying the binding cavity for rebinding to a fresh ligand molecule. We demonstrate super-resolution single-molecule localization imaging of various subcellular structures genetically encoded with UnaG, which enables facile labeling and simultaneous multicolor imaging of live cells. UnaG has the promise of becoming a default protein for high-performance super-resolution imaging. Photoconvertible proteins occupy two color channels thereby limiting multicolour localisation microscopy applications. Here the authors present UnaG, a new green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein for super-resolution imaging, whose activation is based on a noncovalent binding with bilirubin

Progression of coronary calcification in healthy postmenopausal women

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcium score incrementally improves coronary risk prediction beyond that provided by conventional risk factors. Limited information is available regarding rates of progression of coronary calcification in women, particularly those with baseline scores above zero. Further, determinants of progression of coronary artery calcification in women are not well understood. This study prospectively evaluated rates and determinants of progression of coronary artery calcium score in a group of healthy postmenopausal women. METHODS: We determined coronary calcium score by computed tomography and recorded demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics of 914 postmenopausal women, a subset of those enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. The 305 women with calcium score ≥10 Agatston units at baseline were invited for repeat scan. This analysis includes the 94 women who underwent second scans. RESULTS: Mean age of study participants was 65 ± 9 years (mean ± SD), body mass index was 26.1 ± 6.1 kg/m(2), and baseline calcium score was 162 ± 220 Agatston units. Mean interval between scans was 3.3 ± 0.7 years. A wide range of changes in coronary calcium score was observed, from -53 to +452 Agatston units/year. Women with lower scores at baseline had smaller annual increases in absolute calcium score. Coronary calcium scores increased 11, 31 and 79 Agatston units/year among women with baseline calcium score in the lowest, middle and highest tertiles. In multivariate analysis, age was not an independent predictor of absolute change in coronary calcium score. Hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor (statin) use at baseline was a negative predictor (p = 0.015), whereas baseline calcium score was a strong, positive predictor (p < 0.0001) of progression of coronary calcification. CONCLUSION: Among postmenopausal women with coronary calcium score ≥ 10 Agatston units, rates of change of coronary calcium score varied widely. In multivariate analysis, statin use was a negative independent determinant, whereas baseline calcium score was a strong positive predictor of annual change in coronary calcium score

Differentiation potential of STRO-1+ dental pulp stem cells changes during cell passaging

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) can be driven into odontoblast, osteoblast, and chondrocyte lineages in different inductive media. However, the differentiation potential of naive DPSCs after serial passaging in the routine culture system has not been fully elucidated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>DPSCs were isolated from human/rat dental pulps by the magnetic activated cell sorting based on STRO-1 expression, cultured and passaged in the conventional culture media. The biological features of STRO-1⁺DPSCs at the 1^stand 9^thpassages were investigated. During the long-term passage, the proliferation ability of human STRO-1⁺DPSCs was downregulated as indicated by the growth kinetics. When compared with STRO-1⁺DPSCs at the 1^stpassage (DPSC-P1), the expression of mature osteoblast-specific genes/proteins (alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, osterix, and osteopontin), odontoblast-specific gene/protein (dentin sialophosphoprotein and dentin sialoprotein), and chondrocyte-specific gene/protein (type II collagen) was significantly upregulated in human STRO-1⁺DPSCs at the 9^thpassage (DPSC-P9). Furthermore, human DPSC-P9 cells in the mineralization-inducing media presented higher levels of alkaline phosphatase at day 3 and day 7 respectively, and produced more mineralized matrix than DPSC-P9 cells at day 14. <it>In vivo </it>transplantation results showed that rat DPSC-P1 cell pellets developed into dentin, bone and cartilage structures respectively, while DPSC-P9 cells can only generate bone tissues.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings suggest that STRO-1⁺DPSCs consist of several interrelated subpopulations which can spontaneously differentiate into odontoblasts, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. The differentiation capacity of these DPSCs changes during cell passaging, and DPSCs at the 9^thpassage restrict their differentiation potential to the osteoblast lineage <it>in vivo</it>.</p