Recent evolution of 129-I levels in the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic Ocean

Most of the anthropogenic radionuclide 129I released to the marine environment from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants (NFRP) at Sellafield (England) and La Hague (France) is transported to the Arctic Ocean via the North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Coastal Current. 129I concentrations in seawater provides a powerful and well-established radiotracer technique to provide information about the mechanisms which govern water mass transport in the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean and is gaining importance when coupled with other tracers (e.g. CFC, 236U). In this work, 129I concentrations in surface and depth profiles from the Nordic Seas and the North Atlantic (NA) Ocean collected from four different cruises between 2011 and 2012 are presented. This work allowed us to i) update information on 129I concentrations in these areas, required for the accurate use of 129I as a tracer of water masses; and ii) investigate the formation of deep water currents in the eastern part of the Nordic Seas, by the analysis of 129I concentrations and temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams from locations within the Greenland Sea Gyre. In the Nordic Seas, 129I concentrations in seawater are of the order of 109 at·kg− 1, one or two orders of magnitude higher than those measured at the NA Ocean, not so importantly affected by the releases from the NFRP. 129I concentrations of the order of 108 atoms·kg− 1 at the Ellet Line and the PAP suggest a direct contribution from the NFRP in the NA Ocean. An increase in the concentrations in the Nordic Seas between 2002 and 2012 has been detected, which agrees with the temporal evolution of the 129I liquid discharges from the NFRPs in years prior to this. Finally, 129I profile concentrations, 129I inventories and T-S diagrams suggest that deep water formation occurred in the easternmost area of the Nordic Seas during 2012.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad FIS2015-69673-

Discovery of AZD-2098 and AZD-1678, two potent and bioavailable CCR4 receptor antagonists

N-(5-Bromo-3-methoxypyrazin-2-yl)-5-chlorothiophene-2-sulfonamide 1 was identified as a hit in a CCR4 receptor antagonist high throughput screen (HTS) of a sub-set of the AstraZeneca compound bank. As a hit with a lead-like profile, it was an excellent starting point for a CCR4 receptor antagonist program and enabled the rapid progression through the Lead Identification and Lead Optimization phases resulting in the discovery of two bioavailable CCR4 receptor antagonist candidate drugs

Screen for Footprints of Selection during Domestication/Captive Breeding of Atlantic Salmon

Copyright © 2012 Anti Vasemagi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.peer-reviewedDomesticated animals provide a unique opportunity to identify genomic targets of artificial selection to the captive environment. Here, we screened three independent domesticated/captive Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) strains and their wild progenitor populations in an effort to detect potential signals of domestication selection by typing of 261 SNPs and 70 microsatellite loci. By combining information from four different neutrality tests, in total ten genomic regions showed signs of directional selection based on multiple sources of evidence. Most of the identified candidate regions were rather small ranging from zero to a few centimorgans (cM) in the female Atlantic salmon linkage map. We also evaluated how adaptation from standing variation affects adjacent SNP and microsatellite variation along the chromosomes and, by using forward simulations with strong selection, we were able to generate genetic differentiation patterns comparable to the observed data. This study highlights the significance of standing genetic variation during the early stages of adaptation and represents a useful step towards identifying functional variants involved in domestication of Atlantic salmon

Screen for footprints of selection during domestication/captive breeding of Atlantic salmon

Domesticated animals provide a unique opportunity to identify genomic targets of artificial selection to the captive environment. Here, we screened three independent domesticated/captive Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) strains and their wild progenitor populations in an effort to detect potential signals of domestication selection by typing of 261 SNPs and 70 microsatellite loci. By combining information from four different neutrality tests, in total ten genomic regions showed signs of directional selection based on multiple sources of evidence. Most of the identified candidate regions were rather small ranging from zero to a few centimorgans (cM) in the female Atlantic salmon linkage map. We also evaluated how adaptation from standing variation affects adjacent SNP and microsatellite variation along the chromosomes and, by using forward simulations with strong selection, we were able to generate genetic differentiation patterns comparable to the observed data. This study highlights the significance of standing genetic variation during the early stages of adaptation and represents a useful step towards identifying functional variants involved in domestication of Atlantic salmon

Microplastics and nanoplastics in the marine-atmosphere environment

The discovery of atmospheric micro(nano)plastic transport and ocean-atmosphere exchange points to a highly complex marine plastic cycle, with negative implications for human and ecosystem health. Yet, observations are currently limited. In this Perspective, we quantify the processes and fluxes of the marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastic cycle, with the aim of highlighting the remaining unknowns in atmospheric micro(nano)plastic transport. Between 0.013 and 25 million metric tons per year of micro(nano)plastics are potentially being transported within the marine atmosphere and deposited in the oceans. However, the high uncertainty in these marine-atmospheric fluxes is related to data limitations and a lack of study intercomparability. To address the uncertainties and remaining knowledge gaps in the marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastic cycle, we propose a future global marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastic observation strategy, incorporating novel sampling methods and the creation of a comparable, harmonized and global data set. Together with long-term observations and intensive investigations, this strategy will help to define the trends in marine-atmospheric pollution and any responses to future policy and management actions. Atmospheric transport of microplastics could be a major source of plastic pollution to the ocean, yet observations currently remain limited. This Perspective quantifies the known budgets of the marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastic cycle and proposes a future global observation strategy.Peer reviewe

Mapping neurotransmitter systems to the structural and functional organization of the human neocortex

Neurotransmitter receptors support the propagation of signals in the human brain. How receptor systems are situated within macro-scale neuroanatomy and how they shape emergent function remain poorly understood, and there exists no comprehensive atlas of receptors. Here we collate positron emission tomography data from more than 1,200 healthy individuals to construct a whole-brain three-dimensional normative atlas of 19 receptors and transporters across nine different neurotransmitter systems. We found that receptor profiles align with structural connectivity and mediate function, including neurophysiological oscillatory dynamics and resting-state hemodynamic functional connectivity. Using the Neurosynth cognitive atlas, we uncovered a topographic gradient of overlapping receptor distributions that separates extrinsic and intrinsic psychological processes. Finally, we found both expected and novel associations between receptor distributions and cortical abnormality patterns across 13 disorders. We replicated all findings in an independently collected autoradiography dataset. This work demonstrates how chemoarchitecture shapes brain structure and function, providing a new direction for studying multi-scale brain organization.</p

Familial deafness associated with iris degeneration and glaucoma

The association between iris abnormalities and glaucoma is well established. We report a family presenting a unique iris morphology, associated with familial deafness and, in two cases, glaucoma. This condition appears to be inherited as an autosomal dominant trait