Volcaniclastic sedimentation in a closed, marginal rift basin: the case of the Melka Kunture area (Upper Awash, ethiopia)

The upper Awash runs across a volcano-sedimentary succession dated from the Early to Middle Pleistocene and located on the western margin of the northern portion of the Main Ethiopian Rift. The succession lies above Late Miocene to Pliocene lava flows, domes and large volume ignimbrites. The succession formed within a fluvial system that developed within transversal rift faults. The stratigraphy consists of primary volcanic deposits interbedded with reworked sediments emplaced in a low-energy floodplain developed in a subsiding area. The lower part of the volcaniclastic sequence is dominated by a 1.2 Ma old, low aspect ratio, pyroclastic density current deposit (Kella ignimbrite). This eruption was followed by an eruptive stasis and reorganization of the drainage system. Tephra deposition in the floodplain climaxed again between 0.9 and 0.7 Ma and was associated with extensive tephra reworking. Sedimentation rates significantly decreased after 0.6 myr ago, probably owing to declining volcanic activity. Dynamic interaction between tectonics and volcanic activity created a complex sedimentary environment preserving numerous artefacts (lithic tools), animal and hominin remains. Stratigraphic correlation is based on the interpretation of the basin evolution and has relevance for the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and the interpretation of the palaeontological and archaeological data

Mental disorders and work integration: a retrospective study in a northern italian town.

OBJECTIVES: THE PRESENT STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN A VOCATIONAL INTEGRATION SERVICE OF A NORTHERN ITALIAN TOWN WITH TWO MAJOR AIMS: to assess vocational integration programs undertaken from 1(st) January 2004 to 1(st) January 2007; and to identify job tenure-associated predictors. METHODS: This is a retrospective study; we collected data such as gender, age, duration, type and outcome of the vocational integration program, and number of interventions performed by the vocational integration service. Self-report questionnaires were also used to assess the satisfaction of users, caregivers, practitioners, and of the company contacts involved in the study. RESULTS: The service has enrolled 84 users during the observation period. Out of these users, 64.3% of them still had their jobs after three years. Users, caregivers and company contacts expressed high levels of satisfaction for the support received by the vocational integration service. The company expressed less satisfaction for the collaboration received by the Departments of Mental Health (DMHs) that coached the users. The only variable associated to the outcome was the number of interventions that the users received before their placement on the job. CONCLUSIONS: Despite all the limits of this study, its results show that the chance of taking advantage of a supported job placement service has likely proven itself effective in helping people with mental disorders to obtain and maintain a competitive employment. Our results, however, also point to the necessity of implementing newer strategies meant to develop a greater integration among all services dealing with mentally ill people

An 81-Year-Old Man with a 6-Year History of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Presenting with Disease Flare Following Ibrutinib Discontinuation

Patient: Male, 81-year-old Final Diagnosis: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia Symptoms: Fever Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Hematology Objective: Background: Case Report: Conclusions: Unusual clinical course Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a mature B-cell neoplasm and the most common leukemia in adults in Western countries. Novel agents, including BTK inhibitors and the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax, have dramati-cally changed the treatment landscape. Moreover, a disease flare, characterized by sudden worsening of clinical symptoms, radiographic findings of rapidly worsening splenomegaly or lymphadenopathy, and laboratory changes (increased absolute lymphocyte count or lactate dehydrogenase), is a phenomenon described in up to 25% of patients with CLL after ibrutinib discontinuation. We describe a patient with CLL with disease flare after ibrutinib discontinuation due to disease progression and describe the subsequent management of vene-toclax initial treatment in the course of the disease flare. We describe the case of an 81-year-old man with a 6-year history of CLL who was treated with multiple lines of therapy and developed worsening of disease-related signs and symptoms with fever, marked increase of lym-phocyte count, acute worsening of renal function, and increase in lymph nodes and spleen size following ces-sation of targeted therapy with ibrutinib at the time of disease progression. There was subsequent overlap-ping of ibrutinib during the venetoclax dose escalation period to prevent disease flare recurrence. Our report highlights the problem of disease flare after ibrutinib discontinuation in order to avoid associated patient morbidity, underscoring the importance of awareness of this phenomenon and focusing on the addition of venetoclax at time of progression in ibrutinib-treated patients, as a temporary overlap strategy, to prevent disease flare

A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)

Pleistocene archaeology records the changing behaviour and capacities of early hominins. These behavioural changes, for example, to stone tools, are commonly linked to environmental constraints. It has been argued that, in earlier times, multiple activities of everyday life were all uniformly conducted at the same spot. The separation of focused activities across different localities, which indicates a degree of planning, according to this mindset characterizes later hominins since only 500,000 years ago. Simbiro III level C, in the upper Awash valley of Ethiopia, allows us to test this assumption in its assemblage of stone tools made only with obsidian, dated to more than 1.2 million years (Myr) old. Here we first reconstruct the palaeoenvironment, showing that the landscape was seasonally flooded. Following the deposition of an accumulation of obsidian cobbles by a meandering river, hominins began to exploit these in new ways, producing large tools with sharp cutting edges. We show through statistical analysis that this was a focused activity, that very standardized handaxes were produced and that this was a stone-tool workshop. We argue that at Simbiro III, hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes; they were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills according to them

The Birth of a Hawaiian Fissure Eruption

Most basaltic explosive eruptions intensify abruptly, allowing little time to document processes at the start of eruption. One opportunity came with the initiation of activity from fissure 8 (F8) during the 2018 eruption on the lower East Rift Zone of Klauea, Hawaii. F8 erupted in four episodes. We recorded 28 minutes of high-definition video during a 51-minute period, capturing the onset of the second episode on 5 May. From the videos we were able to analyze the following in-flight parameters: frequency and duration of explosions; ejecta heights; pyroclast exit velocities; in-flight total mass and estimated mass eruption rates; and the in-flight total grain size distributions. Videos record a transition from initial pulsating outgassing, via spaced, but increasingly rapid, discrete explosions, to quasi-sustained, unsteady fountaining. This transition accompanied waxing intensity (mass flux) of the F8 eruption. We infer that all activity was driven by a combination of the ascent of a coupled mixture of small bubbles and melt, and the buoyant rise of decoupled gas slugs and/or pockets. The balance between these two types of concurrent flow determined the exact form of the eruptive activity at any point in time, and changes to their relative contributions drove the transition we observed at early F8. Qualitative observations of other Hawaiian fountains at Klauea suggest that this physical model may apply more generally. This study demonstrates the value of in-flight parameters derived from high resolution videos, which offer a rapid and highly time-sensitive alternative to measurements based on sampling of deposits post-eruption

Beam manipulation for resonant plasma wakefield acceleration

Plasma-based acceleration has already proved the ability to reach ultra-high accelerating gradients. However the step towards the realization of a plasma-based accelerator still requires some e ff ort to guarantee high brightness beams, stability and reliability. A significant improvement in the efficiency of PWFA has been demonstrated so far accelerating a witness bunch in the wake of a higher charge driver bunch. The transformer ratio, therefore the energy transfer from the driver to the witness beam, can be increased by resonantly exciting the plasma with a properly pre-shaped drive electron beam. Theoretical and experimental studies of beam manipulation for resonant PWFA will be presented her

Delivery status of the ELI-NP gamma beam system

International audienceThe ELI-NP GBS is a high intensity and monochromatic gamma source under construction in Magurele (Romania). The design and construction of the Gamma Beam System complex as well as the integration of the technical plants and the commissioning of the overall facility, was awarded to the Eurogammas Consortium in March 2014. The delivery of the facility has been planned in for 4 stages and the first one was fulfilled in October 31st 2015. The engineering aspects related to the delivery stage 1 are presented

BALR-6 regulates cell growth and cell survival in B-lymphoblastic leukemia

BackgroundA new class of non-coding RNAs, known as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), has been recently described. These lncRNAs are implicated to play pivotal roles in various molecular processes, including development and oncogenesis. Gene expression profiling of human B-ALL samples showed differential lncRNA expression in samples with particular cytogenetic abnormalities. One of the most promising lncRNAs identified, designated B-ALL associated long RNA-6 (BALR-6), had the highest expression in patient samples carrying the MLL rearrangement, and is the focus of this study.ResultsHere, we performed a series of experiments to define the function of BALR-6, including several novel splice forms that we identified. Functionally, siRNA-mediated knockdown of BALR-6 in human B-ALL cell lines caused reduced cell proliferation and increased cell death. Conversely, overexpression of BALR-6 isoforms in both human and mouse cell lines caused increased proliferation and decreased apoptosis. Overexpression of BALR-6 in murine bone marrow transplantation experiments caused a significant increase in early hematopoietic progenitor populations, suggesting that its dysregulation may cause developmental changes. Notably, the knockdown of BALR-6 resulted in global dysregulation of gene expression. The gene set was enriched for leukemia-associated genes, as well as for the transcriptome regulated by Specificity Protein 1 (SP1). We confirmed changes in the expression of SP1, as well as its known interactor and downstream target CREB1. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated an enhancement of SP1-mediated transcription in the presence of BALR-6. These data provide a putative mechanism for regulation by BALR-6 in B-ALL.ConclusionsOur findings support a role for the novel lncRNA BALR-6 in promoting cell survival in B-ALL. Furthermore, this lncRNA influences gene expression in B-ALL in a manner consistent with a function in transcriptional regulation. Specifically, our findings suggest that BALR-6 expression regulates the transcriptome downstream of SP1, and that this may underlie the function of BALR-6 in B-ALL