Glacier extent in a Novaya Zemlya fjord during the Little Ice Age inferred from glaciomarine sediment records

Glacier activity at Russkaya Gavan', north-west Novaya Zemlya (Arctic Russia), is reconstructed by particle size analysis of three fjord sediment cores in combination with 14C and 210Pb dating. Down-core logging of particle size variation reveals at least two intervals with sediment coarsening during the past eight centuries. By comparing them with reconstructions of summer temperature and atmospheric circulation, these intervals are interpreted to represent two cycles of glacier advance and retreat sometime during ca. AD 1400¿1700 and AD 1700¿present. Sediment accumulation thus appears to be sensitive to century-scale fluctuations of the Barents Sea climate. The identification of two glacier cycles in the glaciomarine record from Russkaya Gavan' demonstrates that during the "Little Ice Age" major glacier fluctuations on Novaya Zemlya occurred in broad synchrony with those in other areas around the Barents Sea

Electron microscopic demonstration of centrifugal nerve fibers in the human optic nerve

Electron microscopic views of centrifugal nerve fibers in the optic nerve stump of a 56-year-old man are presented. These nerve fibers had survived for 16 days after removal of the corresponding eyeball and exhibited terminal swellings pointing in a distal direction and indicating axoplasmic flow towards the removed eye. The centrifugal nerves in this adult lack any evidence of attempted regeneration that has earlier been observed under similar conditions in the optic nerve stump of a child. Zentrifugale (antidrome, efferente) Nervenfasern sind hier zum ersten Mal mit dem Elektronenmikroskop im menschlichen Sehnerven dargestellt worden. Diese Nervenfasern wurden in dem Sehnervenstumpf eines 56jährigen Mannes 16 Tage nach der Entfernung des dazugehörigen Auges gefunden. Endschwellungen dieser Nervenfasern waren distal ausgerichtet und deuteten damit einen Axoplasmafluß in Richtung des entfernten Auges an. Während deutliche Regenerationsversuche an den distalen Enden unterbrochener zentrifugaler Nervenfasern im Sehnervenstumpf eines Kindes früher beobachtet worden sind, fanden sich im Sehnerven dieses Erwachsenen keinerlei Zeichen von Regeneration der zentrifugalen Fasern.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47369/1/417_2004_Article_BF00414787.pd

Very high frequency of hypermethylated genes in breast cancer metastasis to the bone, brain, and lung

PURPOSE: Most often it is not the primary tumor, but metastasis to distant organs that results in the death of breast cancer patients. To characterize molecular alterations in breast cancer metastasis, we investigated the frequency of hypermethylation of five genes (Cyclin D2, RAR-beta, Twist, RASSF1A, and HIN-1) in metastasis to four common sites: lymph node, bone, brain, and lung. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Methylation-specific PCR for the five genes was performed on DNA extracted from archival paraffin-embedded specimens of paired primary breast cancer and its lymph nodes (LN) metastasis (n = 25 each); in independent samples of metastasis to the bone (n = 12), brain (n = 8), and lung (n = 10); and in normal bone, brain, and lung (n = 22). RESULTS: No hypermethylation was detected in the five genes in the normal host tissues. In paired samples, LN metastasis had a trend of higher prevalence of methylation compared with the primary breast carcinoma for all five genes with significance for HIN-1 (P = 0.04). Compared with the primary breast carcinomas, all five genes had higher methylation frequencies in the bone, brain, and lung metastasis, with HIN-1 and RAR-beta methylation being significantly higher (P < 0.01) in each group. Loss of expression of all five genes correlated, with a few exceptions, to hypermethylation of their promoter sequences in metastatic carcinoma cells microdissected from LNs. CONCLUSION: The frequent presence of hypermethylated genes in locoregional and distant metastasis could render them particularly susceptible to therapy targeted toward gene reactivation combining demethylating agents, histone deacetylase inhibitors, and/or differentiating agent