Holocene Sediment Magnetic Properties Along a Transect from Isafjardardjup to Djupall, Northwest Iceland

Holocene changes in terrestrial provenance and processes of sediment transport and deposition are tracked along a fjord-to-shelf transect adjacent to Vestfirdir, Iceland, using the magnetic properties ofmarine sediments.Magnetic susceptibility (MS) profiles of 10 cores (gravity and piston) were obtained onboard using a Bartington MS loop. Remanent magnetizations were measured at 1-cm intervals from u-channel samples taken from six cores on a cryogenic magnetometer. Between six and nine alternating field demagnetization steps were used to isolate the characteristic magnetization directions. The chronologies of the cores used in this study were determined from AMS14 C dates on mollusks and foraminifera and contrained by the regional occurrance ofthe 10,200 6 60 cal yr. BP Saksunavatn tepha. Correlative fluctuations in magneticconcentration are noted between the fjord and shelf sites, though these fluctuations are partiallymasked by regional variations in carbonate content. The onset of Neoglaciation is interpreted by changes in magnetic properties including an increase in mass magneticsusceptibility that began approximately 3000 cal yr. BP. The maximum angular deviation and the median destructive field (generally 20 mT) suggest that the natural remanent magnetization is carried by a coarse ferrimagnetite mineralogy, likely magnetite or titano-magnetite. Reproducible paleomagnetic inclination values are observed in several records, including a nearly vertical inclination around 8000 cal yr. BP, suggesting that the magnetic pole may have been proximal to Iceland, followed by an interval of much shallower inclination (6000–7000 cal yr. BP)

Some Combinatorial Properties of Hook Lengths, Contents, and Parts of Partitions

This paper proves a generalization of a conjecture of Guoniu Han, inspired originally by an identity of Nekrasov and Okounkov. The main result states that certain sums over partitions p of n, involving symmetric functions of the squares of the hook lengths of p, are polynomial functions of n. A similar result is obtained for symmetric functions of the contents and shifted parts of n.Comment: 20 pages. Correction of some inaccuracies, and a new Theorem 4.

Cryptococcus neoformans escape From Dictyostelium amoeba by both WASH-mediated constitutive exocytosis and vomocytosis

Cryptococcus neoformans is an environmental yeast that can cause opportunistic infections in humans. As infecting animals does not form part of its normal life-cycle, it has been proposed that the virulence traits that allow cryptococci to resist immune cells were selected through interactions with environmental phagocytes such as amoebae. Here, we investigate the interactions between C. neoformans and the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. We show that like macrophages, D. discoideum is unable to kill C. neoformans upon phagocytosis. Despite this, we find that the yeast pass through the amoebae with an apparently normal phagocytic transit and are released alive by constitutive exocytosis after ~80 min. This is the canonical pathway in amoebae, used to dispose of indigestible material after nutrient extraction. Surprisingly however, we show that upon either genetic or pharmacological blockage of constitutive exocytosis, C. neoformans still escape from D. discoideum by a secondary mechanism. We demonstrate that constitutive exocytosis-independent egress is stochastic and actin-independent. This strongly resembles the non-lytic release of cryptococci by vomocytosis from macrophages, which do not perform constitutive exocytosis and normally retain phagocytosed material. Our data indicate that vomocytosis is functionally redundant for escape from amoebae, which thus may not be the primary driver for its evolutionary selection. Nonetheless, we show that vomocytosis of C. neoformans is mechanistically conserved in hosts ranging from amoebae to man, providing new avenues to understand this poorly-understood but important virulence mechanism

A functional role for the cancer disparity-linked genes, CRYβB2 and CRYβB2P1, in the promotion of breast cancer

Background: In the USA, the breast cancer mortality rate is 41% higher for African-American women than non-Hispanic White women. While numerous gene expression studies have classified biological features that vary by race and may contribute to poorer outcomes, few studies have experimentally tested these associations. CRYβB2 gene expression has drawn particular interest because of its association with overall survival and African-American ethnicity in multiple cancers. Several reports indicate that overexpression of the CRYβB2 pseudogene, CRYβB2P1, and not CRYβB2 is linked with race and poor outcome. It remains unclear whether either or both genes are linked to breast cancer outcomes. This study investigates CRYβB2 and CRYβB2P1 expression in human breast cancers and breast cancer cell line models, with the goal of elucidating the mechanistic contribution of CRYβB2 and CRYβB2P1 to racial disparities. Methods: Custom scripts for CRYβB2 or CRYβB2P1 were generated and used to identify reads that uniquely aligned to either gene. Gene expression according to race and tumor subtype were assessed using all available TCGA breast cancer RNA sequencing alignment samples (n = 1221). In addition, triple-negative breast cancer models engineered to have each gene overexpressed or knocked out were developed and evaluated by in vitro, biochemical, and in vivo assays to identify biological functions. Results: We provide evidence that CRYβB2P1 is expressed at higher levels in breast tumors compared to CRYβB2, but only CRYβB2P1 is significantly increased in African-American tumors relative to White American tumors. We show that independent of CRYβB2, CRYβB2P1 enhances tumorigenesis in vivo via promoting cell proliferation. Our data also reveal that CRYβB2P1 may function as a non-coding RNA to regulate CRYβB2 expression. A key observation is that the combined overexpression of both genes was found to suppress cell growth. CRYβB2 overexpression in triple-negative breast cancers increases invasive cellular behaviors, tumor growth, IL6 production, immune cell chemoattraction, and the expression of metastasis-associated genes. These data underscore that both CRYβB2 and CRYβB2P1 promote tumor growth, but their mechanisms for tumor promotion are likely distinct. Conclusions: Our findings provide novel data emphasizing the need to distinguish and study the biological effects of both CRYβB2 and CRYβB2P1 as both genes independently promote tumor progression. Our data demonstrate novel molecular mechanisms of two understudied, disparity-linked molecules

Observational diagnostics of gas in protoplanetary disks

Protoplanetary disks are composed primarily of gas (99% of the mass). Nevertheless, relatively few observational constraints exist for the gas in disks. In this review, I discuss several observational diagnostics in the UV, optical, near-IR, mid-IR, and (sub)-mm wavelengths that have been employed to study the gas in the disks of young stellar objects. I concentrate in diagnostics that probe the inner 20 AU of the disk, the region where planets are expected to form. I discuss the potential and limitations of each gas tracer and present prospects for future research.Comment: Review written for the proceedings of the conference "Origin and Evolution of Planets 2008", Ascona, Switzerland, June 29 - July 4, 2008. Date manuscript: October 2008. 17 Pages, 6 graphics, 134 reference

Asymptotics and zeros of Sobolev orthogonal polynomials on unbounded supports

In this paper we present a survey about analytic properties of polynomials orthogonal with respect to a weighted Sobolev inner product such that the vector of measures has an unbounded support. In particular, we are focused in the study of the asymptotic behaviour of such polynomials as well as in the distribution of their zeros. Some open problems as well as some new directions for a future research are formulated.Comment: Changed content; 34 pages, 41 reference

Models of cognition and affect in perceptions of well-being

How do people arrive at assessments of their own life quality? A series of models was developed to provide an interpretation of the way the factors of cognition and affect operate along with evaluations of specific life concerns (domains) in the perception of well-being. Following previous research, cognition was defined operationally as a factor which accounts for the covariance among a set of assessments of life-as-a-whole after affect, as measured by Bradburn's scales, is partialled out and after allowance is made for the presence of correlated measurement errors. It was found that loadings on the cognitive factor, and hence the interpretation of this factor, changed little despite quite large changes in the models. Moreover, in all major comparisons, models that contained the cognitive factor fitted the data better than models that did not. Models that included affect as the only variable intervening between the domains and the life-as-a-whole factor led to results that were intuitively difficult to accept. In the preferred model both affect and cognition were positioned as intervening variables. In this model it was found that the domain evaluations had no direct impact on life-as-a-whole assessments — the contribution of the domains was indirect by way of their association with cognition and affect. It was hypothesised that associated with each domain was a domain-specific element of affect and a domain-specific element of cognition. The linear additive relation found by previous researchers between domain evaluations and life-as-a-whole assessments would then be explainable as a statistical result arising from the summing of the domain-specific elements of affect and cognition.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43703/1/11205_2004_Article_BF00292640.pd

Situationally edited empathy: an effect of socio-economic structure on individual choice

Criminological theory still operates with deficient models of the offender as agent, and of social influences on the agent’s decision-making process. This paper takes one ‘emotion’, empathy, which is theoretically of considerable importance in influencing the choices made by agents; particularly those involving criminal or otherwise harmful action. Using a framework not of rational action, but of ‘rationalised action’, the paper considers some of the effects on individual psychology of social, economic, political and cultural structure. It is suggested that the climate-setting effects of these structures promote normative definitions of social situations which allow unempathic, harmful action to be rationalised through the situational editing of empathy. The ‘crime is normal’ argument can therefore be extended to include the recognition that the uncompassionate state of mind of the criminal actor is a reflection of the self-interested values which govern non-criminal action in wider society