Searching for a symbolic shipwreck in Table Bay : Haarlem (1647)

When on 25 March 1647 the VOC ship Haarlem stranded in Table Bay, nobody expected that this incident would become the catalyst that created one of the roots of current multiracial and multicultural South African society.1 Of the ship’s crew, 58 were repatriated soon after stranding, but 62 men stayed behind to try and salvage as much of the cargo as possible. During their sojourn, the men from Haarlem came into contact with indigenous people. Upon returning to the Netherlands, the crew reported favourably of their experiences. As a result, VOC management decided to establish a much-needed stopover for its ships that later developed into the City of Cape Town. Although no conclusive physical evidence of the wreck has yet been obtained, the multidisciplinary approach followed in an effort to locate the wreck of the Haarlem is reported here. The basis is provided by historical information that is contained in archival documentation. Of particular importance are contemporary eyewitness accounts, as contained in part of a journal that was kept by the junior merchant from the Haarlem, Leendert Jansz, and associated correspondence.2,3 Jansz was put in charge of the salvage attempts that followed the wrecking. Additional information could be abstracted from a report by commissioners who visited the wreck during the course of 1647; details provided by the commander of the fleet that repatriated the remainder of the crew in 1648; accounts by the first commander of the settlement at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck; as well as a contemporary published description of the Cape of Good Hope.http://www.sajs.co.zaam2018Historical and Heritage Studie

Arctic system on trajectory to new state

The Arctic system is moving toward a new state that falls outside the envelope of glacial-interglacial fluctuations that prevailed during recent Earth history. This future Arctic is likely to have dramatically less permanent ice than exists at present. At the present rate of change, a summer ice-free Arctic Ocean within a century is a real possibility, a state not witnessed for at least a million years. The change appears to be driven largely by feedback-enhanced global climate warming, and there seem to be few, if any processes or feedbacks within the Arctic system that are capable of altering the trajectory toward this “super interglacial” state

The differentiation status of primary gonadal germ cell tumors correlates inversely with telomerase activity and the expression level of the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase

BACKGROUND: The activity of the ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase is detectable in germ, stem and tumor cells. One major component of telomerase is human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), which encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase. Here we investigate the correlation of telomerase activity and hTERT gene expression and the differentiation status of primary testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT). METHODS: Telomerase activity (TA) was detected by a quantitative telomerase PCR ELISA, and hTERT mRNA expression was quantified by online RT-PCR in 42 primary testicular germ cell tumors. The control group consisted of benign testicular biopsies from infertile patients. RESULTS: High levels of telomerase activity and hTERT expression were detected in all examined undifferentiated TGCTs and in the benign testicular tissue specimens with germ cell content. In contrast, differentiated teratomas and testicular control tissue without germ cells (Sertoli-cell-only syndrome) showed no telomerase activity and only minimal hTERT expression. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate an inverse relationship between the level of telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression and the differentiation state of germ cell tumors. Quantification of telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression enables a new molecular-diagnostic subclassification of germ cell tumors that describes their proliferation potential and differentiation status

Localization of type 1 diabetes susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6 is associated with susceptibility to more common diseases than any other region of the human genome, including almost all disorders classified as autoimmune. In type 1 diabetes the major genetic susceptibility determinants have been mapped to the MHC class II genes HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1 (refs 1-3), but these genes cannot completely explain the association between type 1 diabetes and the MHC region. Owing to the region's extreme gene density, the multiplicity of disease-associated alleles, strong associations between alleles, limited genotyping capability, and inadequate statistical approaches and sample sizes, which, and how many, loci within the MHC determine susceptibility remains unclear. Here, in several large type 1 diabetes data sets, we analyse a combined total of 1,729 polymorphisms, and apply statistical methods - recursive partitioning and regression - to pinpoint disease susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A (risk ratios >1.5; Pcombined = 2.01 × 10-19 and 2.35 × 10-13, respectively) in addition to the established associations of the MHC class II genes. Other loci with smaller and/or rarer effects might also be involved, but to find these, future searches must take into account both the HLA class II and class I genes and use even larger samples. Taken together with previous studies, we conclude that MHC-class-I-mediated events, principally involving HLA-B*39, contribute to the aetiology of type 1 diabetes. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group

Searching for a symbolic shipwreck in Table Bay: Haarlem (1647)

When on 25 March 1647 the VOC ship Haarlem stranded in Table Bay, nobody expected that this incident would become the catalyst that created one of the roots of current multiracial and multicultural South African society.1 Of the ship’s crew, 58 were repatriated soon after stranding, but 62 men stayed behind to try and salvage as much of the cargo as possible. During their sojourn, the men from Haarlem came into contact with indigenous people. Upon returning to the Netherlands, the crew reported favourably of their experiences. As a result, VOC management decided to establish a much-needed stopover for its ships that later developed into the City of Cape Town. Although no conclusive physical evidence of the wreck has yet been obtained, the multidisciplinary approach followed in an effort to locate the wreck of the Haarlem is reported here. The basis is provided by historical information that is contained in archival documentation. Of particular importance are contemporary eyewitness accounts, as contained in part of a journal that was kept by the junior merchant from the Haarlem, Leendert Jansz, and associated correspondence.2,3 Jansz was put in charge of the salvage attempts that followed the wrecking. Additional information could be abstracted from a report by commissioners who visited the wreck during the course of 1647; details provided by the commander of the fleet that repatriated the remainder of the crew in 1648; accounts by the first commander of the settlement at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck; as well as a contemporary published description of the Cape of Good Hope.http://www.sajs.co.zaam2018Historical and Heritage Studie

Searching for a symbolic shipwreck in Table Bay: Haarlem (1647)

When on 25 March 1647 the VOC ship Haarlem stranded in Table Bay, nobody expected that this incident would become the catalyst that created one of the roots of current multiracial and multicultural South African society.1 Of the ship’s crew, 58 were repatriated soon after stranding, but 62 men stayed behind to try and salvage as much of the cargo as possible. During their sojourn, the men from Haarlem came into contact with indigenous people. Upon returning to the Netherlands, the crew reported favourably of their experiences. As a result, VOC management decided to establish a much-needed stopover for its ships that later developed into the City of Cape Town. Although no conclusive physical evidence of the wreck has yet been obtained, the multidisciplinary approach followed in an effort to locate the wreck of the Haarlem is reported here. The basis is provided by historical information that is contained in archival documentation. Of particular importance are contemporary eyewitness accounts, as contained in part of a journal that was kept by the junior merchant from the Haarlem, Leendert Jansz, and associated correspondence.2,3 Jansz was put in charge of the salvage attempts that followed the wrecking. Additional information could be abstracted from a report by commissioners who visited the wreck during the course of 1647; details provided by the commander of the fleet that repatriated the remainder of the crew in 1648; accounts by the first commander of the settlement at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck; as well as a contemporary published description of the Cape of Good Hope.http://www.sajs.co.zaam2018Historical and Heritage Studie