The Holocene Marine Transgression in the Region of the North Frisian Islands

Um die unterschiedliche Entwicklung des Küstenholozäns im Bereich der Nordfriesischen Inseln darzustellen, wird die relativ gering mächtige — weniger als 10 m — Schichtenfolge von Sylt mit der teilweise über 20 m mächtigen bei Pellworm verglichen. Bei Sylt läßt sich das Küstenholozän in drei Sedimentdecken untergliedern, die durch eine Torflage oder humosen Klei und durch einen Humusdwog voneinander getrennt werden. Seit 2.000 Jahren lag die Marschoberfläche höher als das MThw. Die Größe der Marsch nahm seit dem Mittelalter als Folge ständiger Erosion ab. Im Gebiet um Pellworm ist eine Gliederung der vor Chr. Geb. abgelagerten Sedimente wegen des kleinräumigen Fazieswechsels nicht möglich. Als Folge erheblicher Setzungen während des ersten nachchristlichen Jahrtausends und der Kultivierungsarbeiten seit dem Mittelalter wurden die Marschoberflächen niedriger gelegt. In den Jahren 1362 und 1634 n. Chr. Geb. wurden sie von Sturmflutkatastrophen betroffen, große Teile ins Wattenmeer einbezogen und von den Siedlern verlassen. Die Gründe für diese Ereignisse sind teils auf die geologische Entwicklung, teils auf die Einwirkung des Menschen zurückzuführen. Der Ablauf der vor allem jüngeren Landschaftsgeschichte wurde in den verglichenen Gebieten in erheblichem Maße von lokalen Faktoren beeinflußt.researc

Brain & Art: a ripple in the (cyber)space

In my text I refer to contemporary art practices, including my own artistic investigations and intuitions; questioning creative powers of the human brain-mind system in the world increasingly dependent on and transformed by Big Data. Currently, with the global revolution of knowledge, driven by scientific and technological progress, creativity and innovation acquire special economic and social values. Research on biochemical processes accompanying creative behaviour stimulates the synergy between artistic, scientific and engineering communities. The acquired knowledge is used in medicine, biotechnology and various types of therapies as well as in deep learning methods. Increasing the efficiency of artificial intelligence systems that quickly take control over all areas of our lives. Will the nascent Internet-of-all-Things transform itself into the Internet-of-all Minds? As an artist, I pose myself a question, which artistic practices may emerge from the marriage of biological and digital algorithms? The future has many scenarios and shades…In my text I refer to contemporary art practices, including my own artistic investigations and intuitions; questioning creative powers of the human brain-mind system in the world increasingly dependent on and transformed by Big Data. Currently, with the global revolution of knowledge, driven by scientific and technological progress, creativity and innovation acquire special economic and social values. Research on biochemical processes accompanying creative behaviour stimulates the synergy between artistic, scientific and engineering communities. The acquired knowledge is used in medicine, biotechnology and various types of therapies as well as in deep learning methods. Increasing the efficiency of artificial intelligence systems that quickly take control over all areas of our lives. Will the nascent Internet--of-all-Things transform itself into the Internet-of-all Minds? As an artist, I pose myself a question, which artistic practices may emerge from the marriage of biological and digital algorithms? The future has many scenarios and shades

Hidden topology of life: life and space.

Taking into account a variety of contemporary definitions of life, I propose to focus on relations between complex systems of life processes and the evolution of our perception and concepts of space. My investigations are closely connected with a series of artistic projects under the common title The Hidden Topology of Being which are realized in cooperation with science research centers both in India and Poland. In this short presentation I do not concentrate to a great degree on the description of my artistic works but on questions of how science, humanities and cultural imageries influence each other and combine in shaping our understanding and knowledge; and how technology modulates these relations

Meeresspiegeldaten aus landschafts— und siedlungsgeschichtlichen Untersuchungen auf Pellworm (Nordfriesische Inseln)

Es wird über archäologische, geographische und geologische Arbeiten zur Landschafts- und Besiedlungsgeschichte des südlichen nordfriesischen Wattenmeeres berichtet. Bei der Untersuchung von mittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen Siedlungsplätzen und deren Untergrund auf der Insel Pellworm konnten u. a. neue Daten zur örtlichen Veränderung des Meeresspiegels im Holozän nachgewiesen werden: Danach hatte das Mittlere Tidehochwasser bereits in der zweiten Hälfte des letzten Jahrtausends vor Chr. Geb. eine Höhe von NN + 0,8 m erreicht, fiel danach jedoch wieder ab und stieg mit Beginn des zweiten Jahrtausends nach Chr. Geb. wieder an.researc

Identification of cDNAs from Japanese pufferfish (Fugu rubripes) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) coding for homologues to tetrapod prion proteins

AbstractWe identified cDNAs coding for homologues to tetrapod prion proteins (PrPs) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and Japanese pufferfish (Fugu rubripes), which were termed ‘similar to PrPs’ (stPrPs). Besides significant sequence homologies the fish stPrPs display characteristic structural features in common with tetrapod PrPs. In addition, two stPrPs were shown to be highly expressed in brain tissue. None of the so far identified PrP-homologues of fish resembles doppel. Hence, the duplication of the PrP gene, which generated doppel, may have occurred not in fish but later in the tetrapod lineage. The identification of fish PrPs provides a basis to address concerns about a possible susceptibility of fish to prion infections

Smoking and Pancreatic Cancer in Men and Women

Most studies of smoking and pancreatic cancer have used male subjects or combined men and women together in statistical analyses. There is little information on the relative risk of smoking and pancreatic cancer in women. Because of the high case-fatality rate, many of these studies were also based on information gathered from proxy respondents, in which smoking habits may not be recalled with certainty. A hospital-based study of 484 male and female patients with pancreatic cancer and 954 control subjects was conducted based on direct interviews of incident cases. Compared to never smokers, the odds ratio (OR) for current cigarette smokers was 1.6 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-2.4] for men and 2.3 (95% CI, 1.4-3.5) for women. In women, but not in men, there was a trend in the ORs with years of daily cigarette consumption (P < 0.01). Filter cigarettes offered no protective advantage compared to nonfilter cigarettes. Among men, the OR was 2.1 (95% CI, 1.2-3.8) for pipe/ cigar smokers and 3.6 (95% CI, 1.0-12.8) for tobacco chewers. Tobacco smoke causes pancreatic cancer when inhaled into the lungs. Tobacco juice may also cause pancreatic cancer when ingested or absorbed through the oral cavity. These data suggest that smoking is a cause of pancreatic cancer in women and that the risks for female smokers are comparable to male smokers. Nevertheless, the causes of most pancreatic cancers are unknown

New strategies to measure intracellular sodium concentrations

Fluorescent ion indicators are widely used to measure ion concentrations in living cells. However, despite considerable efforts in synthesizing new compounds, no ratiometric sodium indicator is available that can be excited at visible wavelengths. Ratiometric indicators have an advantage in that measured fluorescence intensities can be corrected for fluctuations of the indicator concentration and the illumination intensity, which is not possible when non-ratiometric indicators are used. One way to circumvent this problem is to measure fluorescence lifetimes, which are independent of these factors. Another way to overcome the disadvantages of a non-ratiometric indicator dye is to embed it, together with a reference dye, into nanoparticles. By relating the indicator fluorescence to the fluorescence of the reference dye, inhomogeneities in the nanosensor concentration or the illumination intensity can be cancelled out reliably. In this study we compare the benefits and drawbacks of these approaches. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Nanoporous Morphogenesis in Amorphous Carbon Layers: Experiments and Modeling on Energetic Ion Induced Self‐Organization

Nanoporous amorphous carbon constitutes a highly relevant material for a multitude of applications ranging from energy to environmental and biomedical systems. In the present work, it is demonstrated experimentally how energetic ions can be utilized to tailor porosity of thin sputter deposited amorphous carbon films. The physical mechanisms underlying self-organized nanoporous morphogenesis are unraveled by employing extensive molecular dynamics and phase field models across different length scales. It is demonstrated that pore formation is a defect induced phenomenon, in which vacancies cluster in a spinodal decomposition type of self-organization process, while interstitials are absorbed by the amorphous matrix, leading to additional volume increase and radiation induced viscous flow. The proposed modeling framework is capable to reproduce and predict the experimental observations from first principles and thus opens the venue for computer assisted design of nanoporous frameworks

Risk of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung in relation to lifetime filter cigarette smoking

Over the past few decades, the incidence of adenocarcinoma (AC) of the lung increased much more rapidly than that of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in men and women. During this time period, filter cigarettes with substantially reduced ‘‘tar’’ and nicotine yields in the smoke came to dominate the market. METHODS. The risk of SCC and AC in lifelong smokers of filter cigarettes relative to lifelong nonfilter cigarette smokers was assessed in a case-control study performed between 1977 and 1995 with 2292 lung carcinoma patients and 1343 hospital controls who were current smokers. RESULTS. Odds ratios (OR) for SCC in male and female subjects who had smoked filter cigarettes exclusively during their lives were slightly reduced relative to lifetime nonfilter cigarette smokers in men (OR . 0.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5–1.2), and significantly reduced in women (OR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2–0.8). No reduction in risk was observed for AC of the lung in men or women. CONCLUSIONS. Evidence that the increasing predominance of AC over SCC may be due in part to the reduced risk of SCC (but not AC) associated with lifelong filter cigarette smoking is strongest in women; for men, further studies that include larger numbers of lifetime filter smokers are needed to confirm this finding. A lack of protection against AC from low yield filter cigarettes may result from smokers’ ‘‘compensating’’ with deeper and more frequent inhalation, thereby increasing delivery of carcinogens to the peripheral lung. The smoke of modern cigarettes also contains higher concentrations of nitrosamines that primarily produce AC

Assessment of chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in adipose breast tissue using a supercritical fluid extraction method

A precise and highly reproducible analytical method was developed for the assessment of organochlorinated pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in adipose tissue (> or = 50 mg). The method can be utilized for epidemiological studies on the significance of these environmental pollutants in the etiology of breast cancer. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with CO2 and modified CO2 (addition of 5% dichloromethane) is employed to remove incurred pesticide residues from adipose tissues that have been surgically removed from breast cancer patients and controls. An alumina sorbent, placed in the extracting vessel together with a specimen, removes the bulk of co-extracted lipids; a subsequent purification of the SFE extracts by column chromatography on alumina removes the remaining traces of lipids that would interfere with the gas chromatographic analysis with electron capture detection. The method was tested by analyzing a Certified Reference Material 430 pork fat with known amounts of pesticide residues that are commonly found in fat or in foods with a high fat content. The recoveries of analytes ranged from 73.4% for endrin to 115% for alpha-, beta- and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, hexachlorobenzene and dieldrin, with standard deviations of 4-12% for individual analytes. The analysis of adipose tissue for organochlorinated compounds on the basis of this new method suggested that the pesticide levels were higher in breast cancer patients than in controls. However, the small number of samples analyzed in this study (n = 5, both groups) precludes definitive conclusions. The most abundant compounds in both cases and controls were p, p-DDE (379 +/- 286 and 160 +/- 149 p.p.b.) and PCB (223 +/- 145 and 124 +/- 65.7 p.p.b.), followed by the termiticide chlordane residues oxychlordane and transnonachlor