Lateral variability of ichnological content in muddy contourites: Weak bottom currents affecting organisms’ behavior

Although bioturbation is commonly recognized in contourites, only a few studies have analyzed the ichnological content of these deposits in detail. These studies have mainly focused on meso-scale bigradational sequence (a coarsening upward followed by a fining-upward sequence resulting from variations in current velocity). Here we present data from gravitational cores collected along the NW Iberian Margin showing systematic variation in ichnological content across proximal to distal depocenters within a large-scale elongated contourite drift. Data demonstrate that tracemakers’ behavior varies depending on the distance relative to the bottom current core. Trace fossils are already known to be a useful tool for studying of contouritic deposits and are even used as criterion for differentiating associated facies (e.g., turbidites, debrites), though not without controversy. We propose a mechanism by which the distance to the bottom current core exerts tangible influence on specific macro-benthic tracemaker communities in contourite deposits. This parameter itself reflects other bottom current features, such as hydrodynamic energy, grain size, nutrient transport, etc. Ichnological analysis can thus resolve cryptic features of contourite drift depositional settings.The contribution and research by JD was funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 792314 (ICON-SE). The research of FJR-T was funded by project CGL2015-66835-P (Secretaría de Estado de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion, Spain), Research Group RNM-178 (Junta de Andalucía), and Scientific Excellence Unit UCE-2016- 05 (Universidad de Granada). AM’s research is funded by the I2C program of the Xunta de Galicia Postdoctoral programme (ED481B 2016/029-0). The research was conducted as part of “The Drifters Research Group” (RHUL) and “Ichnology and Palaeoenvironment Research Group” (UGR) programs

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Late Quaternary spatial and temporal variability in Arctic deep-sea bioturbation and its relation to Mn cycles

Changes in intensity and composition of bioturbation and trace fossils in deep-sea settings are directly related to changes in environmental parameters such as food availability, bottom water oxygenation, or substrate consistency. Because trace fossils are practically always preserved in situ, and are often present in environments where other environmental indicators are scarce or may have been compromised or removed by diagenetic processes, the trace fossils provide an important source of paleoenvironmental information in regions such as the deep Arctic Ocean. Detailed analysis of X-ray radiographs from 12 piston and gravity cores from a transect spanning from the Makarov Basin to the Yermak Plateau via the Lomonosov Ridge, the Morris Jesup Rise, and the Gakkel Ridge reveal both spatial and temporal variations in an ichnofauna consisting of Chondrites, Nereites, Phycosiphon, Planolites, Scolicia, Trichichnus, Zoophycos, as well as deformational biogenic structures. The spatial variability in abundance and diversity is in close correspondence to observed patterns in the distribution of modern benthos, suggesting that food availability and food flux to the sea floor are the most important parameters controlling variations in bioturbation in the Arctic Ocean. The most diverse ichnofaunas were observed at sites on the central Lomonosov Ridge that today have partially ice free conditions and relatively high summer productivity. In contrast, the most sparse ichnofauna was observed in the ice-infested region on the Lomonosov Ridge north of Greenland. Since primary productivity, and therefore also the food flux at a certain location, is ultimately controlled by the geographical position in relation to ice margin and the continental shelves, temporal variations in abundance and diversity of trace fossils have the potential to reveal changes in food flux, and consequently sea ice conditions on glacial–interglacial time scales. Down core analysis reveal clearly increased abundance and diversity during interglacial/ interstadial intervals that were identified through strongly enhanced Mn levels and the presence of microand nannofossils. Warm stages are characterized by larger trace fossils such as Scolicia, Planolites or Nereites, while cold stages typically display an ichnofauna dominated by small deep penetrating trace fossils such as Chondrites or Trichichnus. The presence of biogenic structures in glacial intervals clearly show that the Arctic deep waters must have remained fairly well ventilated also during glacials, thereby lending support to the hypothesis that the conspicuous brown layers rich in Mn which are found ubiquitously over the Arctic basins are related to input from rivers and coastal erosion during sea level high-stands rather than redox processes in the water column and on the sea floor. However, the X-ray radiograph study also revealed the presence of apparently post-sedimentary, diagenetically formed Mn-layers which are not directly related to Mn input from rivers and shelves. These observations thus bolster the hypothesis that the bioturbated, brownish Mn-rich layers can be used for stratigraphic correlation over large distances in the Arctic Ocean, but only if post sedimentary diagenetic layers can be identified and accounted for in the Mn-cycle stratigraphy

Deformation of pyritized burrows: A novel technique for the detection and estimation of core shortening in gravity cores

A novel technique was applied to estimate differences in core shortening in three gravity cores taken at the same core location on the Portuguese continental slope using different coring devices. No obvious deformational features are visible in the fresh core sediments; the isotope stratigraphy and abundance maxima of ice-rafted debris, representing North Atlantic Heinrich-events, indicate identical stratigraphic range in all three cores. However, one of the cores is significantly shorter than the others. X-ray radiographs of the cores reveal that the shorter core shows typical deformation structures, whereas the two other cores are lacking signs of deformation. This serious disturbance had likely gone unnoticed had it not been for the X-ray radiographs. As an approach to semi-quantitatively estimate the core shortening, we used the fragmentation and displacement of the pyritized trace fossil Trichichnus that is easily recognizable in X-ray radiographs through its high contrast. The Trichichnus data indicate that a shortening of 50–60% occurred in the lower part of the shorter core. This estimate is in good agreement with variations in apparent sedimentation rates for the interval considered. Accurate flux rates are essential for our understanding marine biogeochemical cycles in general and the marine budgets of nutrients such as carbon and phosphorus in particular. X-ray radiographs are very useful in assessing the intactness of the sedimentary records and the presented method has potential to become a valuable tool in correcting sedimentation rates in disturbed gravity cores