Evidence of Carboniferous arc magmatism preserved in the Chicxulub impact structure

Determining the nature and age of the 200-km-wide Chicxulub impact target rock is an essential step in advancing our understanding of the Maya Block basement. Few age constraints exist for the northern Maya Block crust, specifically the basement underlying the 66 Ma, 200 km-wide Chicxulub impact structure. The International Ocean Discovery Program-International Continental Scientific Drilling Program Expedition 364 core recovered a continuous section of basement rocks from the Chicxulub target rocks, which provides a unique opportunity to illuminate the pre-impact tectonic evolution of a terrane key to the development of the Gulf of Mexico. Sparse published ages for the Maya Block point to Mesoproterozoic, Ediacaran, Ordovician to Devonian crust are consistent with plate reconstruction models. In contrast, granitic basement recovered from the Chicxulub peak ring during Expedition 364 yielded new zircon U-Pb laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) concordant dates clustering around 334 ± 2.3 Ma. Zircon rare earth element (REE) chemistry is consistent with the granitoids having formed in a continental arc setting. Inherited zircon grains fall into three groups: 400–435 Ma, 500–635 Ma, and 940–1400 Ma, which are consistent with the incorporation of Peri-Gondwanan, Pan-African, and Grenvillian crust, respectively. Carboniferous U-Pb ages, trace element compositions, and inherited zircon grains indicate a pre-collisional continental volcanic arc located along the Maya Block's northern margin before NW Gondwana collided with Laurentia. The existence of a continental arc along NW Gondwana suggests southward-directed subduction of Rheic oceanic crust beneath the Maya Block and is similar to evidence for a continental arc along the northern margin of Gondwana that is documented in the Suwannee terrane, Florida, USA, and Coahuila Block of NE México

Meta-analysis of type 2 Diabetes in African Americans Consortium

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94)<P<5 × 10(-8), odds ratio (OR)  = 1.09 to 1.36). Fine-mapping revealed that 88 of 158 previously identified T2D or glucose homeostasis loci demonstrated nominal to highly significant association (2.2 × 10(-23) < locus-wide P<0.05). These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.Peer reviewe

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

The population history of northeastern Siberia since the Pleistocene

FGW – Publications without University Leiden contractDescriptive and Comparative Linguistic

Effects of 59Fe, 65Zn and of three soil types on dry matter yield, chemical composition and nitrogen fixation in Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. carioca

The aim of this work was to study in greenhouse conditions the effects of two levels of iron and zinc on yield and chemical composition of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and on atmospheric nitrogen fixation, in three soils, classified as Terra Roxa Estruturada (TRE), Latossol Vermelho Escuro (LVE), and Podzolico Vermelho Amarelo (PVA). The coefficient of utilization of these micronutrients by this crop and its distribution in above-ground parts and roots were also assessed. The rates for iron were 1.5 and 3.0 ppm, and for zinc, 2.5 and 5.0 ppm. It was applied 7.5 µCi of 59Fe/kg of soil with the lower rate of the stable iron, and 5.0 and 10.0 µCi of Zn/kg of soil in the pots corresponding to the lower and higher rate of the stable zinc, respectively. The plants were harveste at the age of 60 days and nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc contents were determined. Immediately after harvest, symbiotic nitrogen fixation was assessed, using the acetylene reduction method. The detection of 59Fe and 65zn radioactivity were carried out on nitric percloric extract, by gamma ray spectrometry. The behavior of common bean presented high variation among the three soils, for all the variables. There was no influence of treatments of iron and zinc on dry matter of above ground part and root and also on the weight and number of nodules. The rate of 3.0 ppm of iron decreased the capacity of nodules to fix atmospheric nitrogen in relation to rate of 1.5 ppm, while the rate of 5.0 ppm of zinc increased this capacity, in relation to the rate of 2.5 ppm. There was significative effect of treatments on nitrogen, potassium and zinc contents in above ground part and on nitrogen and zinc contents in the root. The absorption of zinc from the fertilizer and the percentagem of zinc in the plant derived from fertilizer were diretly influenced by rate of zinc The higher coefficient of utilization of zinc from the fertilizer was 4.0%.No presente trabalho, conduzido em casa de vegetação, procuramos estudar os efeitos dos micronutrientes ferro e zinco na produção de materia seca, composição química do feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) e na fixação do nitrogênio atmosférico, em três solos, classificados como Terra Roxa Estruturada (TRE), Latossol Vermelho Escuro (LVE) e Podzólico Vermelho Amarelo (PVA). Procuramos também determinar os índices de aproveitamento destes micronutrientes pelo feijoeiro e sua distribuição na parte aérea e na raiz. O delineamento experimental foi um fatorial 3x7, sendo três solos e sete tratamentos por solo, com três repetições. Nos tratamentos, foram utilizados duas doses de ferro e duas doses de zinco em separado ou combinando as doses menores e maiores destes micronutrientes (Fe1Zn1, Fe2Zn2). As doses de ferro foram 1,5 e 3,0 ppm e as de zinco foram 2,5 e 5,0 ppm. Foram aplicados 7,5 µCi de 59Fe/kg de solo nos vasos correspondentes à dose menor de ferro e 5,0 e 10,0 µCi de 65Zn/kg de solo nos vasos correspondentes respectivamente à dose menor e maior de zinco. Todos os tratamentos receberam uma adubação básica. O comportamento do feijoeiro apresentou grande variação entre os três tipos de solos, para todas as variáveis. Não houve influência dos tratamentos de ferro e zinco na produção de parte aérea e raiz e nem no peso e numero dos nodulos. A dose de 3,0 ppm de ferro diminuiu a capacidade dos nódulos de fixarem nitrogênio atmosférico em relação à dose de 1,5 ppm enquanto que a dose de 5,0 ppm de zinco aumentou esta capacidade, em relação à dose de 2,5 ppm. Houve um efeito significativo dos tratamentos na concentração de nitrogênio, potássio, ferro e zinco na parte aérea e na concentração de nitrogênio, e zinco na raiz. A absorção de zinco dos fertilizantes e a percentagem do zinco na planta proveniente do adubo foram influenciadas diretamente pelas doses de zinco. O maior coeficiente de aproveitamento do zinco do adubo foi de 4,0%

Whole genome sequence association analysis of fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels in diverse cohorts from the NHLBI TOPMed program

The genetic determinants of fasting glucose (FG) and fasting insulin (FI) have been studied mostly through genome arrays, resulting in over 100 associated variants. We extended this work with high-coverage whole genome sequencing analyses from fifteen cohorts in NHLBI’s Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. Over 23,000 non-diabetic individuals from five race-ethnicities/populations (African, Asian, European, Hispanic and Samoan) were included. Eight variants were significantly associated with FG or FI across previously identified regions MTNR1B, G6PC2, GCK, GCKR and FOXA2. We additionally characterize suggestive associations with FG or FI near previously identified SLC30A8, TCF7L2, and ADCY5 regions as well as APOB, PTPRT, and ROBO1. Functional annotation resources including the Diabetes Epigenome Atlas were compiled for each signal (chromatin states, annotation principal components, and others) to elucidate variant-to-function hypotheses. We provide a catalog of nucleotide-resolution genomic variation spanning intergenic and intronic regions creating a foundation for future sequencing-based investigations of glycemic traits