U-Pb geochronolgy of the deformed Juzbado Granite (Salamanca, NW Spain)

Este trabajo se centra en el estudio de la edad de cristalización del granito deformado de Juzbado mediante geocronología U-Pb a través de ablación láser. Se dataron 7 granos de circón, obteniéndose edades comprendidas entre 340 y 2500 Ma. Los datos obtenidos proporcionan una edad máxima de cristalización de 340 Ma y aportan datos sobre la naturaleza de los potenciales materiales fuente. Las edades de circones heredados existentes en el granito son coincidentes con las encontradas en las posibles rocas fuente. Dado que esta intrusión está deformada intensamente por la fábrica relacionada con la Zona de Cizalla de Juzbado-Penalva do Castelo, la edad mínima de este cuerpo es de 308 Ma. La comparación de las características petrológicas de este granito con las de otros en los alrededores (en el Domo del Tormes) permite asignarle una edad en torno a 320 Ma

Infection with carcinogenic helminth parasites and its production of metabolites induces the formation of DNA-adducts

Background: Infections classified as group 1 biological carcinogens include the helminthiases caused by Schistosoma haematobium and Opisthorchis viverrini. The molecular mediators underlying the infection with these parasites and cancer remain unclear. Although carcinogenesis is a multistep process, we have postulated that these parasites release metabolites including oxysterols and estrogen-like metabolites that interact with host cell DNA. How and why the parasite produce/excrete these metabolites remain unclear. A gene encoding a CYP enzyme was identified in schistosomes and opisthorchiids. Therefore, it is reasonable hypothesized that CYP 450 might play a role in generation of pro-inflammatory and potentially carcinogenic compounds produced by helminth parasites such as oxysterols and catechol estrogens. Here, we performed enzymatic assays using several isoforms of CYP 450 as CYP1A1, 2E1 and 3A4 which are involved in the metabolism of chemical carcinogens that have been associated with several cancer. The main aim was the analysis of the role of these enzymes in production of helminth-associated metabolites and DNA-adducts. Method: The effect of cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP 1A1, 2E1 and 3A4 during the interaction between DNA, glycocholic acid and taurochenodeoxycholate sodium on the formation of DNA-adducts and metabolites associated with urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS) and opisthorchiasis was investigated in vitro. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to detect and identify metabolites. Main findings: Through the enzymatic assays we provide a deeper understanding of how metabolites derived from helminths are formed and the influence of CYP 450. The assays using compounds similar to those previously observed in helminths as glycocholic acid and taurochenodeoxycholate sodium, allowed the detection of metabolites in their oxidized form and their with DNA. Remarkably, these metabolites were previously associated with schistosomiaisis and opisthorchiasis. Thus, in the future, it may be possible to synthesize this type of metabolites through this methodology and use them in cell lines to clarify the carcinogenesis process associated with these diseases. Principal conclusions: Metabolites similar to those detected in helminths are able to interact with DNA in vitro leading to the formation of DNA adducts. These evidences supported the previous postulate that imply helminth-like metabolites as initiators of helminthiases-associated carcinogenesis. Nonetheless, studies including these kinds of metabolites and cell lines in order to evaluate its potential carcinogenic are required.This work was financed by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in the framework of the project, Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274). The FCT and FEDER (European Union) also supported these studies through project number IF/00092/2014/CP1255/CT0004info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Episodic melting and magmatic recycling along 50 Ma in the Variscan belt linked to the orogenic evolution in NW Iberia

The advent of a large amount of more precise U-Pb age data on Variscan granitoids from NW Iberia in recent years has provided a more focused picture of the magmatic history of the Western European Variscan belt (WEVB). Based on these data, three main pulses of magmatic activity seem to be well established

A tectonic carpet of Variscan flysch at the base of a rootless accretionary prism in northwestern Iberia: U–Pb zircon age constrains from sediments and volcanic olistoliths

The allochthonous complexes of Galicia–Trás-os-Montes Zone (NW Iberia) are part of a rootless tectonic stack which preserves part of a Variscan accretionary prism. They are formed by individual tectonic slices marked by specific tectonometamorphic evolutions, which were piled up in a piggy-back mode onto its relative autochthon, the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ). Allochthony decreases from the structurally upper thrust sheets towards the lower ones. The lowermost unit of the stack is known as the Parautochthon or Schistose Domain. It is characterized by a low metamorphic grade in contrast with higher temperatures and/or pressures estimated for the overlying allochthonous units and shares the stratigraphic sequence with the underlying autochthon. The Parautochthon is divided in two structural and stratigraphic sub-units: (i) the Lower Parautochthon (LPa) is made of synorogenic flysch-type sediments with varied turbiditic units and olistostrome bodies, showing Upper Devonian–lower Carboniferous age according to the youngest zircon populations and fossiliferous content; (ii) the Upper Parautochthon (UPa) is composed of highly deformed preorogenic upper Cambrian–Silurian volcano-sedimentary sequence comparable with the nearby autochthon and to some extent, also with the high-P and low-T Lower Allochthon laying structurally above. The UPa was emplaced onto the LPa along the Main-Trás-os-Montes Thrust, and the LPa became detached from the CIZ relative autochthon by a regional-scale structure, the Basal Lower Parautochthon Detachment, which follows a weak horizon of Silurian carbonaceous slates. A review on the detrital zircon studies on the synorogenic LPa complemented by zircon dating of 17 new samples is presented here. The results support the extension of the LPa underneath the NW Iberian allochthonous complexes, from Cabo Ortegal, to Bragança and Morais massifs. Its current exposure follows the lowermost tectonic boundary between the Galicia–Trás-os-Montes (allochthon) and Central Iberian (autochthon) zones. The youngest zircon age populations point to a maximum sedimentation age for the LPa formations ranging from Famennian to Serpukhovian and supports the piggy-back mode of emplacement of the Galicia–Trás-os-Montes Zone, of which it represents the latest imbricate. The zircon age populations in the LPa allow the sedimentary provenance areas to be constrained, showing the intervention of nearby sources (mostly the UPa) and/or multiply recycled and long-transport sediments with a typically north-central Gondwana age fingerprint, also found in the Lower Allochthon, UPa and Autochthon. Complementary geochronology of volcanic olistoliths trapped in the LPa sediments and of late Cambrian to Upper Ordovician rhyolites from the UPa is also presented. It shows a direct relationship between the major blocks source area (UPa) and the setting place (LPa). Old zircon age patterns show that the LPa sedimentary rocks were recycled from detrital rocks of the allochthon (advancing wedge) and the nearby autochthon (peripheral bulge).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Der Klang der Lyrik: Zur Konzeptualisierung von Sprecher und Stimme, auch für die computationelle Analyse

Das Forschungsprojekt »textklang«: Mixed-Methods-Analyse von Lyrik in Text und Ton (gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) zielt auf die systematische und diachrone Untersuchung der Beziehung zwischen literarischen Texten, insbesondere Lyrik der Romantik, und ihrer lautsprachlichen Realisierung bei der Rezitation oder der musikalischen Aufführung. Die Vorstellungen von Mündlichkeit, Klang und Stimme, die im Besonderen mit der Lyrik verbunden sind, werden empirisch untersucht und auch im Sinne moderner Ansätze der Lyrikanalyse theoretisiert. Besondere Bedeutung kommt dabei dem experimentellen Ansatz der Sprachsynthese zu, also der computationellen Möglichkeit, eine menschliche Sprechstimme künstlich herzustellen; er ermöglicht es, eine idealtypische Realisierung des Textes zu ermitteln und menschliche Realisierungen auf ihre ästhetische Besonderheit hin zu testen.The research project »text sound«: mixed-methods-analysis of lyric poetry in text and tonal sound (funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, BMBF) aims to undertake a systematic and diachronic investigation of the relationship between literary texts, especially lyric poetry from the Romantic period, and their phonetic realisation in recitations or musical performances. Ideas of orality, sound and voice, which are particularly associated with poetry, are investigated empirically and also theorised in the line with modern approaches to the analysis of lyric poetry. Of particular importance is the experimental approach of speech synthesis, i.e. using computers to artificially produce a human sounding voice; this approach makes it possible to explore an ideal-typical realisation of the text and to test the aesthetic peculiarity of human realisations

Geocronología U-Pb del granito deformado de Juzbado (Salamanca, NO de España)

This paper reports a study of the crystallization age of the deformedJuzbado Granite through LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology. Seven zircongrains were dated providing ages ranging from 340 to 2500 Ma. The U-Pbage data supply a maximum crystallization age of 340 Ma and insights intothe nature of potential source rocks. The ages of the inherited zircon grainsor xenocrysts are in agreement with the zircon contents found in thepotential source rocks. Given that the intrusion is deformed by the fabricrelated to the Juzbado-Penalva do Castelo shear zone, its minimum age mustbeca.308 Ma. Based on the petrological similarities with other granitebodies in the surrounding area (Tormes anatectic dome) its age is likely tobe around 320 Ma

Kommentar. [Das lange 19. Jahrhundert und die rechtliche Trennung von Kirche und Staat]

Kaufmann F-X. Kommentar. [Das lange 19. Jahrhundert und die rechtliche Trennung von Kirche und Staat]. In: Gabriel K, Gärtner C, Pollack D, eds. Umstrittene Säkularisierung. Soziologische und historische Analysen zur Differenzierung von Religion und Politik. Berlin: Berlin Univ. Press; 2012: 532-544

Contact times in professional football before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: Tracking data from the German Bundesliga

The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to a lockdown in team sports in March 2020. Because the risk of virus transmission seems to correlate with the duration of close contacts, data on contact times are necessary to assess the risk of virus transmission in sports. In this study, an optical tracking system was used to determine contact times between players of the two highest men’s professional football leagues in Germany in the 2019–20 season and in the first half of the 2020–21 season. Contacts between players were defined as being within a two-metre radius during matches and were differentiated as either match-specific or non-match-specific. In total, 918 matches with 197,087 contacts were analysed. The mean overall contact time of one-to-one situations of 36 s (SD: ± 66) before the lockdown was reduced to 30 s after the lockdown (SD: ± 60) (p < 0.0001). In professional football, contacts between two players infrequently occur within a two-metre radius, averaging less than 35 s. Only 36 player pair contacts lasted for more than 15 min (0.00018%). The mean accumulated contact time per player with all others was 10.6 ± 6.9 min per match, with a decrease from 11.6 ± 7.0 min before the lockdown to 10.0 ± 6.6 min (p < 0.0001) after lockdown in the season 2019-20. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in a reduction in match-specific contacts of 25%. It seems questionable if such short contacts in open-air sports may lead to considerable virus transmission