Geochemistry of late miocene-pleistocene basalts in the Phu Quy island area (East Vietnam Sea): Implication for mantle source feature and melt generation

The chemical compositions of late Miocene - Pleistocene basalts in Phu Quy island defines two major geochemical groups that reflect the formation and development of the island. The early low alkaline, TiO2 and P2O5, and high SiO2 group, comprising olivine and tholeiitic basalts, forms the base of the island. The later high alkaline, TiO2, and P2O5, and low SiO2 group, produced by central-type volcanic eruptions consisting of alkaline olivine and olivine basalts, overlies the early eruptive group. Crustal contamination may be expressed by the positive correlation between Ba/Nb and SiO2, which are higher in early eruptive basalts, possibly reflecting the involvement of crustal material, either in the source region or interaction of the melt on the way to the surface. However, negative relationship between Ba and SiO2, and positive correlation between Nb/Y and Zr/Y observed for two basaltic series may reflect the effect of melting pressures and degrees of partial melting. Methods of calculating the primitive basaltic melts based on the principle of olivine incremental additions to the basalt until the composition is equilibrated with the residual olivine at Fo89-90 may be used. The computed results show that the early basalts were generated under pressures of about 18-20 Kb (ca. 55-60 km) and the later basalts were formed in the pressure range of 20 to 25 Kb (corresponding to the depths about 60 to 75 km). The close range of melting pressures suggests decompression polybaric melting of a mantle source, which allows for mixing of various melt portions, resulting in the formation of geochemically linear relationship. It has been demonstrated that the post-opening volcanism was unrelated to an important tectonic phase and that the calculated extension factor (b) for the regional major extension fault systems is not significant (ca. 1.3) to trigger mantle melting. Therefore, the infiltration of asthenospheric flows resulting from the Neo-Tethys closure following the collision between India and Eurasia in the late Tertiary, may not only raise the mantle temperature leading to the melting but also appear to be the major driving force of marginal sea opening in the western Pacific, including the East Vietnam Sea.ReferencesBaker M.B., Hirschmann M.M., Ghiorso M.S., Stolper E.M., 1995. Compositions of near-solidus peridotite melts from experiments and thermodynamic calculations. Nature 375, 308-311. Baker M.B., Stolper E.M., 1994. Determining the composition of high pressure mantle melts using diamond aggregates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 2811-2827. Carter A., Roques D., Bristow C.S., 2000. Denudation history of onshore central Vietnam: constraints on the Cenozoic evolution of the western margin of the South China Sea. Tectonophysics 322, 265-277. Ding W., Li J., Clift P.D., Expedition I.O.D.P., 2016. 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Morphological Filter Detector for Image Forensics Applications

Mathematical morphology provides a large set of powerful non-linear image operators, widely used for feature extraction, noise removal or image enhancement. Although morphological filters might be used to remove artifacts produced by image manipulations, both on binary and graylevel documents, little effort has been spent towards their forensic identification. In this paper we propose a non-trivial extension of a deterministic approach originally detecting erosion and dilation of binary images. The proposed approach operates on grayscale images and is robust to image compression and other typical attacks. When the image is attacked the method looses its deterministic nature and uses a properly trained SVM classifier, using the original detector as a feature extractor. Extensive tests demonstrate that the proposed method guarantees very high accuracy in filtering detection, providing 100% accuracy in discriminating the presence and the type of morphological filter in raw images of three different datasets. The achieved accuracy is also good after JPEG compression, equal or above 76.8% on all datasets for quality factors above 80. The proposed approach is also able to determine the adopted structuring element for moderate compression factors. Finally, it is robust against noise addition and it can distinguish morphological filter from other filters

Geochemical features of Sakhalin Island mud volcanoes

The study, based on a complex geochemical research, found that the composition of the most chemical elements in mud breccia from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky (YSMV) and Pugachevsky (PMV) mud volcanoes (Sakhalin Island), the unique phenomena of endogenous defluidization in the Hokkaido-Sakhalin fold system (alpine-type folding), are comparable to Clark (C) contents of these elements (0.8-1.2 ×C). For Na, Li, Zn andSn, the ratio between the elemental contentsand their Clarke values (Csample/Clark value) vary from 1.4 to 5.2 xC. But the increased contents of Na and Li are due to the ascending endogenous fluid revealed. Study of the mud breccia chemical composition changes in different explosive activity of YSMV under the seismic activity variationsallowed to establish that, when the mud-volcanic gryphonsare activated against the background of increase in the temperature of the water-mud mixture and the emission of spontaneous gases, the contents of a number of elements (iron, calcium, manganese, rare earth elements, etc.) are decreased. This is explained by the formation of soluble hydrocarbonate complexes. Daginskiegasgeothermal system (DGHS) trace elements depletedooze samples were compared with YSMV and PMVsamples and exposedthat thehigh ratios of Csample /Clarke values for the majority of elements do not exceed 0.6 × C.Ooze samples from DGHS having higher elemental contents than Clark contents were observed only for Cd content (2.2-3.4 ×C) and Pb (0.7-1.5 ×C). Analysis of diatom flora on the DGHS site indicates the existence of an active fluid dynamic system that drains oil and gas bearing complexes. The factors determining the "weighting" of the methane carbon isotope composition in the southern part of Sakhalin Island are the increased seismic activity of deep-seated faults, as well as the presence of intrusions (diabase) and metamorphically altered rocks.References Aliyev A.A., Guliyev I.S., Rakhmanov R.R., 2009. Catalog of eruptions of Azerbaijan mud volcanoes (1810-2007). Baku Nafta-Press, 109p. Astakhov A.S., et al., 2002. Defluitization process dynamic of the Central Sakhalin fault at seismic activization (by monitoring results of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky mud volcano in July - August 2001) DAN 2002, 386(2), 223-228. Decisions of operational interdepartmental regional stratigraphical meetings on the Paleogene and Neogene of east regions of Russia-Kamchatka, Koryak Upland, Sakhalin and Kuril Islands, 1998. 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Moscow Nauka, 93p. Melnikov O.A., 2011. About dynamics and nature of Pugachevsky group the gaswaterclastic ("mud") volcanoes on Sakhalin according to visual observations and an orohydrography. Volcanology and Seismology, 6, 47-59. Melnikov O.A., Ershov V.V., Kim Chong Un, etc., 2008.  About the mud spring activity dynamic of the gaswaterclastic ("mud") volcanoes and its connection with seismicity on the example of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky volcano (Sakhalin Island). Pacific Geology 27(5), 25-41. Melnikov O.A., Iliev A.Y., 1989. About new manifestations of mud volcanism on Sakhalin Island. Pacific geology 3, 42-48. Milkov, A.V., 2000. Worldwide distribution of submarine mud volcanoes and associated gas hydrates. Marine Geology 167, 29-42. Oreshkin V.N., Gordeev V.V., 1983. Geochemistry of cadmium and plumbum in suspension of the rivers of Black, Azov and Caspian Sea areas. Geochemistry, 4, 603-613. Petelin V.P., 1957. 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Moscow: Nauka, 8-14. Sorochinskaya A.V., et al., 2008. Geochemical and mineralogical features of mud volcanoes of Sakhalin Island. Bulletin of FEB RAS, 4, 58-65. Veselov О.V., Soinov V.V., 1997. Tektonosphere geodynamics of conjaction zone of the Pacific Ocean with Eurasia. Yuzhno Sakhalinsk: IMGG FEB RAS 4, 153-176. Veselov O.V., Volgin P.F., Lutaya L.M., 2012.  Structure of the Pugachevsky mud-volcano sedimentary cover (Sakhalin Island) by geophysical modeling data. Pacific Geology, 31(6), 4-15. Vinogradov A.P., 1962. Average contents of chemical elements in the main types the igneous rocks. Geochemistry, 7, 555-571. Yakubov A.A., et al., 1980. Mud volcanism of the Soviet Union and its connection with oil-and-gas content. Baku, 165p. Zharov A.E., Mitrofanova L.I., Tuzov V.P., 2013. Stratigraphy of Cainozoic sedoiments of the Northern Sakhalin shelf. Stratigraphy, Geological correlation 21(5), 72-93

Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in Vietnam: some clarifications

A recently published comment on a report of Plasmodium knowlesi infections in Vietnam states that this may not accurately represent the situation in the study area because the PCR primers used may cross-hybridize with Plasmodium vivax. Nevertheless, P. knowlesi infections have been confirmed by sequencing. In addition, a neighbour-joining tree based on the 18S S-Type SSUrRNA gene shows that the Vietnamese samples clearly cluster with the P. knowlesi isolates identified in Malaysia and are distinct from the corresponding P. vivax sequences. All samples came from asymptomatic individuals who did not consult for fever during the months preceding or following the survey, indicating that asymptomatic P. knowlesi infections occur in this population, although this does not exclude the occurrence of symptomatic cases. Large-scale studies to determine the extent and the epidemiology of P. knowlesi malaria in Vietnam are further needed

α-Synuclein interacts directly but reversibly with psychosine: implications for α-synucleinopathies

Aggregation of α-synuclein, the hallmark of α-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson´s disease, occurs in various glycosphingolipidoses. Although α-synuclein aggregation correlates with deficiencies in the lysosomal degradation of glycosphingolipids (GSL), the mechanism(s) involved in this aggregation remains unclear. We previously described the aggregation of α-synuclein in Krabbe´s disease (KD), a neurodegenerative glycosphingolipidosis caused by lysosomal deficiency of galactosyl-ceramidase (GALC) and the accumulation of the GSL psychosine. Here, we used a multi-pronged approach including genetic, biophysical and biochemical techniques to determine the pathogenic contribution, reversibility, and molecular mechanism of aggregation of α-synuclein in KD. While genetic knock-out of α-synuclein reduces, but does not completely prevent, neurological signs in a mouse model of KD, genetic correction of GALC deficiency completely prevents α-synuclein aggregation. We show that psychosine forms hydrophilic clusters and binds the C-terminus of α-synuclein through its amino group and sugar moiety, suggesting that psychosine promotes an open/aggregation-prone conformation of α-synuclein. Dopamine and carbidopa reverse the structural changes of psychosine by mediating a closed/aggregation-resistant conformation of α-synuclein. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of lysosomal correction and small molecules to reduce neuronal burden in α-synucleinopathies, and provide a mechanistic understanding of α-synuclein aggregation in glycosphingolipidoses.Fil: Abdelkarim, Hazem. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Marshall, Michael S.. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Scesa, Giuseppe. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Smith, Rachael A.. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Rue, Emily. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Marshall, Jeffrey. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Elackattu, Vince. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Stoskute, Monika. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Issa, Yazan. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Santos, Marta. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Nguyen, Duc. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Hauck, Zane. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Van Breemen, Richard B.. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Celej, Maria Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Gaponenko, Vadim. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados UnidosFil: Bongarzone, Ernesto R.. University Of Illinois Chicago; Estados Unido

inVestIgating the pSychologIcal and ecONomic impAct of cataRact surgerY in Vietnam: The VISIONARY observational study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Visual impairment caused by cataracts not only affects an individual's quality of life but can also have a profound impact on other important psychological factors and on the economic circumstances of individuals and their households. Cataract surgery is an effective intervention to restore vision and is also associated with other positive consequences including improvements in quality of life, economic and psychological outcomes. While there has been an increase in the number and quality of cataract surgeries performed in Vietnam, the programs currently in place are still unable to meet the existing demand and need for surgery. Data on both the cost-effectiveness of cataract surgery and the economic and psychological impact of untreated cataract in this setting is lacking.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This study, investigating the psychological and economic impact of cataract surgery in Vietnam (VISIONARY), will recruit and interview a sample of adults (18 years or over) who are referred for cataract surgery by one of the following sites and their outreach programs: Hue Eye Hospital; Thai Binh Eye Hospital; Binh Dinh Department of Health Eye Hospital and the Vinh Long Department of Health Social Disease Centre. All participants (those who have cataract surgery and those who do not have surgery) will be followed up at six and 12 months.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study is designed to examine the impact of low vision on household economic circumstances and psychological outcomes as well as to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of cataract surgery in Vietnam. It will help to inform international and national non-government organisations working in the country and local policy-makers on priorities for further investment in eye-health services in this setting and their relevance to broader economic development goals.</p