Present climate developments in Southern Siberia (1963-2017 years)

Siberia is a key region for mapping the climate development in north-central Eurasia in terms of global climatic change. The territorial relief creates a major orographic barrier for atmospheric streams influencing the regional altitudinal weather zonality. Systematic 55-year (1963-2017) weather observations along the 700 km N-S latitudinal transect across the southern Siberian plains and the adjoining ranges of the Altai-Sayan Mountains document progressing seasonal temperature and humidity shifts. Regionally uniform trend provides evidence of the strengthening climate continentality over Siberia also manifested by the pronounced seasonal temperature regime with increased thermally positive and negative air temperature anomalies. A landscape response to a climate warming is particularly evident in the high mountain zone. The present thermal conditions with raised MAT contribute to the progressing melting of mountain glaciers and degradation of permafrost in the alpine zone, as well as aridization of the parkland-steppe areas that are being partly transformed into continental semi-arid to desertic steppes. The associated environmental transformations trigger shifts in the local biotopes and ecosystems, with an altitudinal expansion of taiga-forest into the alpine tundra belt and xerothermic grassland invasions in the foothills. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Customer Satisfaction with Quality of Products of Food Business

This article is a part of a specific research output called Quality Influence on the Performance and Competitiveness of the Company. One of the research phases is elaborated in this article; its subject is measuring customer satisfaction with the quality of food products companies in the Czech Republic. This article aim is to determine the level of customer satisfaction with the quality of food production enterprises. The partial aim of the article is to identify factors that have the greatest influence on the customer satisfaction. The research confirms close relations between customers’ quality perception, their satisfaction and the level of fulfilment of their demands

Mineralogy of the Rincón Blanco selenide occurrence, La Rioja, Argentina

Rincón Blanco is a small selenide occurrence situated to the WNW of Jagüé, a small town of the General Sarmiento department, La Rioja province, Argentina. This occurrence, also called El Chire in recent years, is located (28°35'46.10"S, 68°44'35.78"W, 3120 m. a. s. l.) in the Precordillera environment, to the furthermost southwestern corner of the selenium ore district of Los Llantenes, defined as one of the representative metallogenic belts of the Gondwanic episodes. The selenide minerals occur as veinlets up to few centimeters or as patches or fine inclusions, widespread in calcite. We have identified eleven hypogene Se-bearing minerals (naumannite, tiemannite, chrisstanleyite, jagüéite, eucairite, clausthalite, fischesserite, umangite, athabascaite, berzelianite and bellidoite) mainly associated with gold, silver, hematite and various supergene minerals, including malachite, chalcomenite, and molybdomenite. The paragenesis should have formed from low temperature (< 133 °C), neutral to mildly alkaline pH and highly oxidizing fluids with increasing sulfur fugacity. The country-rock, rich in graptolite-fauna, could be considered, at least in part, the source for the Se and associated metals forming the minerals of this paragenesis, although this hypothesis has yet to be tested.Fil: Marquez Zavalia, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Galliski, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Skácha, Pavel. National Museum; República ChecaFil: Macek, Ivo. National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic; República ChecaFil: Sejkora, Jiří. National Museum; República ChecaFil: Dolnícek, Zdeněk. National Museum; República Chec

Arc-like magmatism in syn- to post-collisional setting: The Ediacaran Angra Fria Magmatic Complex (NW Namibia) and its cross-Atlantic correlatives in the south Brazilian Florianópolis Batholith

Ediacaran syn-tectonic plutonic rocks (amphibole gabbros, quartz diorites/tonalites to biotite- and muscovite-bearing granites) of the Angra Fria Magmatic Complex (Kaoko Belt, north-western Namibia) belong to two compositionally similar, magnesian, transitional tholeiitic–calc-alkaline suites, the Older (∼625–620 Ma) and the Younger (∼585–575 Ma). Both have counterparts in the broadly contemporaneous Florianópolis Batholith (southern Brazil), from which they were separated during the Cretaceous opening of the southern Atlantic. In the Angra Fria Magmatic Complex, the only unequivocal mantle contributions are identified in mingling zones of the Younger Suite and hybrid mafic–intermediate dykes of uncertain age. Previously published Hf-in-zircon isotopic data, together with new whole-rock geochemical and Sr–Nd isotopic signatures, underline an important role of crustal anatexis of a material with late Palaeoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic mean crustal residence (1.9–1.5 Ga). This interval resembles some of the published Nd model ages for Tonian ‘Adamastor Rift’-related felsic magmatic rocks in the Namibian Coastal and Uruguayan Punta del Este terranes. In detail, the Older Suite probably originated mainly by fluid-present melting of metabasalts and metatonalites, followed by (near) closed-system fractional crystallization (with or without accumulation) of amphibole ± plagioclase. For the Younger Suite, the principal process was the dehydration melting of relatively felsic lower crustal protoliths (metagreywackes or intermediate–acid orthogneisses >> metapelites), leaving garnet in the residue. Based on the geological context, the conspicuous enrichment of hydrous-fluid-mobile large ion lithophile over the conservative high field strength elements is not interpreted through a classic model of oceanic plate subduction, devolatilization, and fluxed-melting of the overriding mantle wedge. Instead, it is thought to reflect high-grade metamorphism of deeply buried continental crust and attendant water-fluxed melting of the overlying crustal lithologies, connected with inversion of the Tonian ‘Adamastor Rift’

Petrochronology of the Dom Feliciano Belt foreland in southernmost Brazil reveals two distinct tectonometamorphic events in the western central Kaoko–Dom Feliciano–Gariep orogen

The Dom Feliciano Belt is the South American part of an extensive Neoproterozoic orogenic system that developed during the late Cryogenian–early Cambrian close to the margin of southwest Gondwana. The link of its evolution with the tectonic processes in its African counterpart is still not well understood. P–T estimates, Lu–Hf garnet–whole-rock ages, U–Pb monazite SIMS ages and REE garnet and monazite data from samples of the Porongos and Passo Feio complexes indicate diachronous tectonic evolution of the central Dom Feliciano Belt foreland. Metasedimentary rocks of the eastern Porongos Complex reached previously estimated metamorphic peak conditions of ~ 560–580 °C and 5.8–6.3 kbar at 654 ± 2 Ma, based on Lu–Hf isochron garnet–whole-rock age data. This episode represents an early orogenic thickening in the foreland as a response to the beginning of the transpressive convergent evolution of the belt. The monazite age of 614 ± 6 Ma (U–Pb SIMS) is interpreted as associated with post-exhumation magmatic activity in the foreland and suggests that the eastern Porongos Complex was exhumed sometime between ca. 660 and 615 Ma. The main metamorphic and deformation event in the Porongos Complex’s western region occurred at ~ 545–565 °C and 4.3–5.3 kbar at 563 ± 1 Ma (garnet–whole-rock Lu–Hf isochron age). The exhumation of this part of the foreland is dated using monazite crystallising during garnet breakdown and suggests retrograde metamorphism at 541 ± 7 Ma (U–Pb SIMS). The main metamorphic fabric in the Passo Feio Complex further to the west developed at 571 ± 2 Ma (garnet–whole-rock Lu–Hf isochron age) at 560–580 °C and 4.7–6.4 kbar. The western part of the Porongos Complex and the Passo Feio Complex have deformed at similar P–T conditions and apparent geothermal gradients at ca. 570–565 Ma. These regions record a second crustal thickening event in the Dom Feliciano Belt foreland and the orogenic front migration towards the west as a response to the onset of crustal thickening on the African side of this long-lived transpressive orogenic syste

Patient perceptions of anticoagulant treatment with dabigatran or a vitamin K antagonist for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation according to region and age : an exploratory analysis from the RE-SONANCE study

Funding Information: The authors thank all the patients who participated in this study. Medical writing support was provided by Parexel, with funding from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. Funding Information: Dragos Vinereanu received grants and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim during the conduct of the study; grants and personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, and Daiichi Sankyo outside the submitted work. Dmitry Napalkov received research grants and has participated in scientific advisory boards for Boehringer Ingelheim and has received speaker’s honoraria from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, and Takeda. Bela Benczur received speaker’s/consultancy fees from Bayer, Berlin-Chemie/Menarini, Boehringer Ingelheim, Krka Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Sandoz, and Sanofi. Martin Ciernik, Alexey Medvedchikov, and Wenbo Tang are employees of Boehringer Ingelheim. Pentti Põder received educational grants from Boehringer Ingelheim. Maria Trusz-Gluza received personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim (null during the conduct of the study), personal fees and non-financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim, and personal fees from Bayer outside the submitted work. Jiří Vesely received personal fees and non-financial support from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, MSD, and PRO.MED.CS outside the submitted work. All other authors report no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Background: The oral anticoagulant dabigatran offers an effective alternative to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF), yet patient preference data are limited. The prospective observational RE-SONANCE study demonstrated that patients with AF, newly initiated on dabigatran, or switching to dabigatran from long-term VKA therapy, reported improved treatment convenience and satisfaction compared with VKA therapy. This pre-specified sub-study aimed to assess the impact of country and age on patients’ perceptions of dabigatran or VKA therapy in AF. Methods: RE-SONANCE was an observational, prospective, multi-national study (NCT02684981) that assessed treatment satisfaction and convenience in patients switching from VKAs to dabigatran (Cohort A), or newly diagnosed with AF receiving dabigatran or VKAs (Cohort B), using the PACT-Q questionnaire. Pre-specified exploratory outcomes: variation in PACT-Q2 scores by country and age (< 65, 65 to < 75, ≥ 75 years) (both cohorts); variation in PACT-Q1 responses at baseline by country and age (Cohort B). Results: Patients from 12 countries (Europe/Israel) were enrolled in Cohort A (n = 4103) or B (n = 5369). In Cohort A, mean (standard deviation) PACT-Q2 score increase was highest in Romania (convenience: 29.6 [23.6]) and Hungary (satisfaction: 26.0 [21.4]) (p < 0.001). In Cohort B, mean (standard error) increase in PACT-Q2 scores between dabigatran and VKAs was highest in Romania (visit 3: 29.0 [1.3]; 24.5 [0.9], p < 0.001). Mean PACT-Q2 score increase by age (all p < 0.001) was similar across ages. PACT-Q1 responses revealed lowest expectations of treatment success in Romania and greatest concerns about payment in Estonia, Latvia, and Romania, but were similar across ages. Conclusions: Treatment satisfaction and convenience tended to favor dabigatran over VKAs. Regional differences in treatment expectations exist across Europe. Trial and clinical registry: Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02684981. Trial registration date: February 18, 2016.publishersversionPeer reviewe

RuvC uses dynamic probing of the Holliday junction to achieve sequence specificity and efficient resolution

Holliday junctions (HJs) are four-way DNA structures that occur in DNA repair by homologous recombination. Specialized nucleases, termed resolvases, remove (i.e., resolve) HJs. The bacterial protein RuvC is a canonical resolvase that introduces two symmetric cuts into the HJ. For complete resolution of the HJ, the two cuts need to be tightly coordinated. They are also specific for cognate DNA sequences. Using a combination of structural biology, biochemistry, and a computational approach, here we show that correct positioning of the substrate for cleavage requires conformational changes within the bound DNA. These changes involve rare high-energy states with protein-ssisted base flipping that are readily accessible for the cognate DNA sequence but not for non-cognate sequences. These conformational changes and the relief of protein-induced structural tension of the DNA facilitate coordination between the two cuts. The unique DNA cleavage mechanism of RuvC demonstrates the importance of high-energy conformational states in nucleic acid readout

Consumer involvement in dietary guideline development: opinions from European stakeholders.

OBJECTIVE: The involvement of consumers in the development of dietary guidelines has been promoted by national and international bodies. Yet, few best practice guidelines have been established to assist with such involvement. DESIGN: Qualitative semi-structured interviews explored stakeholders' beliefs about consumer involvement in dietary guideline development. SETTING: Interviews were conducted in six European countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Serbia, Spain and the UK. SUBJECTS: Seventy-seven stakeholders were interviewed. Stakeholders were grouped as government, scientific advisory body, professional and academic, industry or non-government organisations. Response rate ranged from 45 % to 95 %. RESULTS: Thematic analysis was conducted with the assistance of NVivo qualitative software. Analysis identified two main themes: (i) type of consumer involvement and (ii) pros and cons of consumer involvement. Direct consumer involvement (e.g. consumer organisations) in the decision-making process was discussed as a facilitator to guideline communication towards the end of the process. Indirect consumer involvement (e.g. consumer research data) was considered at both the beginning and the end of the process. Cons to consumer involvement included the effect of vested interests on objectivity; consumer disinterest; and complications in terms of time, finance and technical understanding. Pros related to increased credibility and trust in the process. CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholders acknowledged benefits to consumer involvement during the development of dietary guidelines, but remained unclear on the advantage of direct contributions to the scientific content of guidelines. In the absence of established best practice, clarity on the type and reasons for consumer involvement would benefit all actors

Nitrogen dynamics in Turbic Cryosols from Siberia and Greenland

Turbic Cryosols (permafrost soils characterized by cryoturbation, i.e., by mixing of soil layers due to freezing and thawing) are widespread across the Arctic, and contain large amounts of poorly decomposed organic material buried in the subsoil. This cryoturbated organic matter exhibits retarded decomposition compared to organic material in the topsoil. Since soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition is known to be tightly linked to N availability, we investigated N transformation rates in different soil horizons of three tundra sites in north-eastern Siberia and Greenland. We measured gross rates of protein depolymerization, N mineralization (ammonification) and nitrification, as well as microbial uptake of amino acids and NH4+ using an array of 15N pool dilution approaches. We found that all sites and horizons were characterized by low N availability, as indicated by low N mineralization compared to protein depolymerization rates (with gross N mineralization accounting on average for 14% of gross protein depolymerization). The proportion of organic N mineralized was significantly higher at the Greenland than at the Siberian sites, suggesting differences in N limitation. The proportion of organic N mineralized, however, did not differ significantly between soil horizons, pointing to a similar N demand of the microbial community of each horizon. In contrast, absolute N transformation rates were significantly lower in cryoturbated than in organic horizons, with cryoturbated horizons reaching not more than 32% of the transformation rates in organic horizons. Our results thus indicate a deceleration of the entire N cycle in cryoturbated soil horizons, especially strongly reduced rates of protein depolymerization (16% of organic horizons) which is considered the rate-limiting step in soil N cycling.publishedVersio

40S hnRNP particles are a novel class of nuclear biomolecular condensates.

Heterogenous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are abundant proteins implicated in various steps of RNA processing that assemble on nuclear RNA into larger complexes termed 40S hnRNP particles. Despite their initial discovery 55 years ago, our understanding of these intriguing macromolecular assemblies remains limited. Here, we report the biochemical purification of native 40S hnRNP particles and the determination of their complete protein composition by label-free quantitative mass spectrometry, identifying A-group and C-group hnRNPs as the major protein constituents. Isolated 40S hnRNP particles dissociate upon RNA digestion and can be reconstituted in vitro on defined RNAs in the presence of the individual protein components, demonstrating a scaffolding role for RNA in nucleating particle formation. Finally, we revealed their nanometer scale, condensate-like nature, promoted by intrinsically disordered regions of A-group hnRNPs. Collectively, we identify nuclear 40S hnRNP particles as novel dynamic biomolecular condensates