Presencia de laminación oblicua a gran escala en las turbiditas senoenses del flysch de los alrededores de la Pobla de Segur (prov. Lérida)

En un corte cerca de la Pobla de Segur (Pirineos meridionales), se encuentran unas capas con laminación cruzada a gran escala, de hasta 30 cm de espesor, en una formación de turbiditas del Cretáceo Superior.  Estas capas tienen generalmente forma de cuña o lentejón y se caracterizan por poseer superficies netas de contacto en el techo y yacente. Sólo en pocos casos están cubiertas por un delgado intervalo de limolitas con ripples de corriente.La laminación cruzada tiene un buzamiento de 5 a 30° y está uniformemente inclinada, al igual que los flute-casts, en la misma dirección que la corriente. Estos últimos se encuentran en el yacente de las mencionadas capas o en la base de las turbiditas asociadas.Estas características representan formas geométricas de dunas o barras originadas por un régimen de corriente menos intenso

Presencia de laminación oblicua a gran escala en las turbiditas senoenses del flysch de los alrededores de la Pobla de Segur (prov. Lérida)

En un corte cerca de la Pobla de Segur (Pirineos meridionales), se encuentran unas capas con laminación cruzada a gran escala, de hasta 30 cm de espesor, en una formación de turbiditas del Cretáceo Superior.  Estas capas tienen generalmente forma de cuña o lentejón y se caracterizan por poseer superficies netas de contacto en el techo y yacente. Sólo en pocos casos están cubiertas por un delgado intervalo de limolitas con ripples de corriente.La laminación cruzada tiene un buzamiento de 5 a 30° y está uniformemente inclinada, al igual que los flute-casts, en la misma dirección que la corriente. Estos últimos se encuentran en el yacente de las mencionadas capas o en la base de las turbiditas asociadas.Estas características representan formas geométricas de dunas o barras originadas por un régimen de corriente menos intenso

A Study of Incarcerated Youth: The Effect of Student Interest on Reading Comprehension and Engagement

Motivating adolescents to read can be a challenge, but motivating incarcerated adolescents to read may be even more of a challenge. Developing readers in residential facilities are often overlooked by traditional classroom teachers, but much can be learned from incarcerated youth and their motivation and engagement. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of research on effective instructional reading practices that motivate and engage incarcerated youth. The existing research primarily examines the impact of literacy on recidivism instead of strategies for motivating and engaging students who are incarcerated. Numerous studies exist that focus on motivation and engagement of reading in traditional classrooms, but these studies are limited when focused on students from the classrooms in juvenile residential centers. This qualitative study examines the influence of high-interest materials on the comprehension of incarcerated youth and the effect of student dispositions on reading engagement. While there was no obvious correlation between high-interest materials and student comprehension scores, the results of the study suggest that mentor/student rapport, vulnerability, high-interest materials, self-efficacy, and value placed on reading all factor into student motivation and engagement

A Study of Incarcerated Youth: The Effect of Student Interest on Reading Comprehension and Engagement

Motivating adolescents to read can be a challenge, but motivating incarcerated adolescents to read may be even more of a challenge. Developing readers in residential facilities are often overlooked by traditional classroom teachers, but much can be learned from incarcerated youth and their motivation and engagement. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of research on effective instructional reading practices that motivate and engage incarcerated youth. The existing research primarily examines the impact of literacy on recidivism instead of strategies for motivating and engaging students who are incarcerated. Numerous studies exist that focus on motivation and engagement of reading in traditional classrooms, but these studies are limited when focused on students from the classrooms in juvenile residential centers. This qualitative study examines the influence of high-interest materials on the comprehension of incarcerated youth and the effect of student dispositions on reading engagement. While there was no obvious correlation between high-interest materials and student comprehension scores, the results of the study suggest that mentor/student rapport, vulnerability, high-interest materials, self-efficacy, and value placed on reading all factor into student motivation and engagement

A Cretaceous carbonate delta drift in the Montagna della Maiella, Italy

The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian\u2013Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the Montagna della Maiella, Italy, is compared to newly discovered contourite drifts in the Maldives. Like the drift deposits in the Maldives, the Orfento Formation fills a channel and builds a Miocene delta-shaped and mounded sedimentary body in the basin that is similar in size to the approximately 350 km 2 large coarse-grained bioclastic Miocene delta drifts in the Maldives. The composition of the bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation is also exclusively bioclastic debris sourced from the shallow-water areas and reworked clasts of the Orfento Formation itself. In the near mud-free succession, age-diagnostic fossils are sparse. The depositional textures vary from wackestone to float-rudstone and breccia/conglomerates, but rocks with grainstone and rudstone textures are the most common facies. In the channel, lensoid convex-upward breccias, cross-cutting channelized beds and thick grainstone lobes with abundant scours indicate alternating erosion and deposition from a high-energy current. In the basin, the mounded sedimentary body contains lobes with a divergent progradational geometry. The lobes are built by decametre thick composite megabeds consisting of sigmoidal clinoforms that typically have a channelized topset, a grainy foreset and a fine-grained bottomset with abundant irregular angular clasts. Up to 30 m thick channels filled with intraformational breccias and coarse grainstones pinch out downslope between the megabeds. In the distal portion of the wedge, stacked grainstone beds with foresets and reworked intraclasts document continuous sediment reworking and migration. The bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation has been variously interpreted as a succession of sea-level controlled slope deposits, a shoaling shoreface complex, or a carbonate tidal delta. Current-controlled delta drifts in the Maldives, however, offer a new interpretation because of their similarity in architecture and composition. These similarities include: (i) a feeder channel opening into the basin; (ii) an excavation moat at the exit of the channel; (iii) an overall mounded geometry with an apex that is in shallower water depth than the source channel; (iv) progradation of stacked lobes; (v) channels that pinch out in a basinward direction; and (vi) smaller channelized intervals that are arranged in a radial pattern. As a result, the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian\u2013Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the Montagna della Maiella, Italy, is here interpreted as a carbonate delta drift

Copper deficiency-associated myelopathy in cryptogenic hyperzincemia: A case report

Copper deficiency syndrome is an underestimated cause of posterior myelitis. We describe the case of a 41-year-old woman, who developed a subacute ataxic paraparesis associated with low back pain. Her 3T spine MRI showed a thin hyperintense FS-Echo T2 longitudinally extensive lesion involving the posterior columns of the cervical cord (from C2 to C6). An extensive diagnostic work-up excluded other causes of myelopathy and blood tests pointed out hypocupremia and mild hyperzincemia. Patients affected by this rare form of oligoelement deficiency typically develop progressive posterior column dysfunction with sensory ataxia and spasticity, sometimes associated with sensori-motor polyneuropathy. Clinical and radiological characteristics of posterior myelopathy due to copper deficiency are briefly reviewed. Physicians should be aware of this condition since a prompt introduction of copper supplementation can avoid progression of the neurological damage. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Precision Measurement of the 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl Binding Energies

The binding energies of 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl have been measured with a relative uncertainty $< 0.59 \times 10^{-6}$ using a flat-crystal spectrometer. The unique features of these measurements are 1) nearly perfect crystals whose lattice spacing is known in meters, 2) a highly precise angle scale that is derived from first principles, and 3) a gamma-ray measurement facility that is coupled to a high flux reactor with near-core source capability. The binding energy is obtained by measuring all gamma-rays in a cascade scheme connecting the capture and ground states. The measurements require the extension of precision flat-crystal diffraction techniques to the 5 to 6 MeV energy region, a significant precision measurement challenge. The binding energies determined from these gamma-ray measurements are consistent with recent highly accurate atomic mass measurements within a relative uncertainty of $4.3 \times 10^{-7}$. The gamma-ray measurement uncertainties are the dominant contributors to the uncertainty of this consistency test. The measured gamma-ray energies are in agreement with earlier precision gamma-ray measurements.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Metallic elements in exhaled breath condensate of patients with interstitial lung diseases

Epidemiological data support the hypothesis that environmental and occupational agents play an important role in the development of interstitial lung diseases such as idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIPs) and sarcoidosis. The aim of this study was to assess the elemental composition of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) of unknown etiology and healthy subjects as an indirect evaluation of tissue burden, which could improve our understanding of the role of metals in the pathogenesis of ILDs. EBC was obtained from 33 healthy subjects, 22 patients with sarcoidosis, 15 patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and 19 with IIPs. Trace elements and toxic metals in the samples were measured by means of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. There are only small overall differences in the EBC levels of a number of metallic elements among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), NSIP or sarcoidosis, and no pattern is capable of distinguishing them with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. However, a pattern of pneumotoxic (Si, Ni) and essential elements (Zn, Se and Cu) with the addition of Co distinguished the patients with ILDs from healthy non-smokers with relatively high degrees of sensitivity (96.4%) and specificity (90.9%). Assessing the elemental composition of EBC in patients with different ILDs seems to provide useful information. The non-invasiveness of the EBC method makes it suitable for patients with pulmonary diseases, although further studies are required to confirm the usefulness of this approach and to better understand the underlying pathophysiological processes

Tissue expression of lactate transporters (MCT1 and MCT4) and prognosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma (brief report)

Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive neoplasm of the pleura, mainly related to asbestos exposure. As in other solid tumors, malignant cells exhibit high glucose uptake and glycolytic rates with increased lactic acid efflux into the interstitial space. Lactate transport into and out of cells, crucial to maintaining intracellular pH homeostasis and glycolysis, is carried out by monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) and the chaperone basigin (CD147). We set out to examine the clinical significance of basigin, MCT1 and MCT4 in the context of MPM and to evaluate their expression in relation to the evolution of the disease. Methods: We used immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of basigin, MCT1 and MCT4 in a cohort of 135 individuals with MPM compared to a series of 15 non-MPM pleura specimens. Moreover, by Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses we evaluated whether an expression over the average of these markers could be associated with the patients' overall survival (OS). Results: We detected positive staining of basigin, MCT1, and MCT4 in most MPM specimens. In particular, MCT4 was always positive in malignant tissues but undetectable in the 4 normal pleural specimens incorporated within the tissue microarray. This was confirmed in the additional series of 15 normal pleural samples. Moreover, MCT4 expression was significantly associated with reduced OS. Conclusion: In this study, the tissue expression of basigin did not prove to be exploitable as a diagnostic or prognostic marker for MPM patients. The expression of MCT1 was not informative either, being tightly correlated with that of basigin. However, the expression of MCT4 showed promise as a diagnostic/therapeutic and prognostic biomarker

Estrogen Receptor β Exerts Tumor Repressive Functions in Human Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma via EGFR Inactivation and Affects Response to Gefitinib

BACKGROUND: The role of estrogen and estrogen receptors in oncogenesis has been investigated in various malignancies. Recently our group identified estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) expression as an independent prognostic factor in the progression of human Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MMe), but the underlying mechanism by which ERβ expression in tumors determines clinical outcome remains largely unknown. This study is aimed at investigating the molecular mechanisms of ERβ action in MMe cells and disclosing the potential translational implications of these results. METHODS: We modulated ERβ expression in REN and MSTO-211H MMe cell lines and evaluated cell proliferation and EGF receptor (EGFR) activation. RESULTS: Our data indicate that ERβ knockdown in ER positive cells confers a more invasive phenotype, increases anchorage independent proliferation and elevates the constitutive activation of EGFR-coupled signal transduction pathways. Conversely, re-expression of ERβ in ER negative cells confers a more epithelioid phenotype, decreases their capacity for anchorage independent growth and down-modulates proliferative signal transduction pathways. We identify a physical interaction between ERβ, EGFR and caveolin 1 that results in an altered internalization and in a selective reduced activation of EGFR-coupled signaling, when ERβ is over-expressed. We also demonstrate that differential expression of ERβ influences MMe tumor cell responsiveness to the therapeutic agent: Gefitinib. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes a role for ERβ in the modulation of cell proliferation and EGFR activation and provides a rationale to facilitate the targeting of a subgroup of MMe patients who would benefit most from therapy with Gefitinib alone or in combination with Akt inhibitors