Late Holocene landscape change history related to the Alpine Fault determined from drowned forests in Lake Poerua, Westland, New Zealand

Abstract. Lake Poerua is a small, shallow lake that abuts the scarp of the Alpine Fault on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Radiocarbon dates from drowned podocarp trees on the lake floor, a sediment core from a rangefront alluvial fan, and living tree ring ages have been used to deduce the late Holocene history of the lake. Remnant drowned stumps of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) at 1.7–1.9 m water depth yield a preferred time-of-death age at 1766–1807 AD, while a dryland podocarp and kahikatea stumps at 2.4–2.6 m yield preferred time-of-death ages of ca. 1459–1626 AD. These age ranges are matched to, but offset from, the timings of Alpine Fault rupture events at ca. 1717 AD, and either ca. 1615 or 1430 AD. Alluvial fan detritus dated from a core into the toe of a rangefront alluvial fan, at an equivalent depth to the maximum depth of the modern lake (6.7 m), yields a calibrated age of AD 1223–1413. This age is similar to the timing of an earlier Alpine Fault rupture event at ca. 1230 AD ± 50 yr. Kahikatea trees growing on rangefront fans give ages of up to 270 yr, which is consistent with alluvial fan aggradation following the 1717 AD earthquake. The elevation levels of the lake and fan imply a causal and chronological link between lake-level rise and Alpine Fault rupture. The results of this study suggest that the growth of large, coalescing alluvial fans (Dry and Evans Creek fans) originating from landslides within the rangefront of the Alpine Fault and the rise in the level of Lake Poerua may occur within a decade or so of large Alpine Fault earthquakes that rupture adjacent to this area. These rises have in turn drowned lowland forests that fringed the lake. Radiocarbon chronologies built using OxCal show that a series of massive landscape changes beginning with fault rupture, followed by landsliding, fan sedimentation and lake expansion. However, drowned Kahikatea trees may be poor candidates for intimately dating these events, as they may be able to tolerate water for several decades after metre-scale lake level rises have occurred

Incresing the system peak capacity of LC-MS/MS work flows for qualitative and quantitative protein profiling by incorporating ion mobility separations

Comunicaciones a congreso

Asymmetric Proteome Equalization of the Skeletal Muscle Proteome Using a Combinatorial Hexapeptide Library

Immobilized combinatorial peptide libraries have been advocated as a strategy for equalization of the dynamic range of a typical proteome. The technology has been applied predominantly to blood plasma and other biological fluids such as urine, but has not been used extensively to address the issue of dynamic range in tissue samples. Here, we have applied the combinatorial library approach to the equalization of a tissue where there is also a dramatic asymmetry in the range of abundances of proteins; namely, the soluble fraction of skeletal muscle. We have applied QconCAT and label-free methodology to the quantification of the proteins that bind to the beads as the loading is progressively increased. Although some equalization is achieved, and the most abundant proteins no longer dominate the proteome analysis, at high protein loadings a new asymmetry of protein expression is reached, consistent with the formation of complex assembles of heat shock proteins, cytoskeletal elements and other proteins on the beads. Loading at different ionic strength values leads to capture of different subpopulations of proteins, but does not completely eliminate the bias in protein accumulation. These assemblies may impair the broader utility of combinatorial library approaches to the equalization of tissue proteomes. However, the asymmetry in equalization is manifest at either low and high ionic strength values but manipulation of the solvent conditions may extend the capacity of the method

Ceftriaxone-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium Sequence Type 313 from Kenyan Patients Is Associated with the blaCTX-M-15 Gene on a Novel IncHI2 Plasmid

Multidrug-resistant bacteria pose a major challenge to the clinical management of infections in resource-poor settings. Although nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) bacteria cause predominantly enteric self-limiting illness in developed countries, NTS is responsible for a huge burden of life-threatening bloodstream infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we characterized nine S. Typhimurium isolates from an outbreak involving patients who initially failed to respond to ceftriaxone treatment at a referral hospital in Kenya. These Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolates were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone, aztreonam, cefepime, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and cefpodoxime. Resistance to β-lactams, including to ceftriaxone, was associated with carriage of a combination of blaCTX-M-15, blaOXA-1, and blaTEM-1 genes. The genes encoding resistance to heavy-metal ions were borne on the novel IncHI2 plasmid pKST313, which also carried a pair of class 1 integrons. All nine isolates formed a single clade within S. Typhimurium ST313, the major clone of an ongoing invasive NTS epidemic in the region. This emerging ceftriaxone-resistant clone may pose a major challenge in the management of invasive NTS in sub-Saharan Africa

Late Holocene Rupture History of the Alpine Fault in South Westland, New Zealand

Abstract Strata and fault relationships revealed in five trenches excavated across the recent trace of the Alpine fault at the Haast, Okuru, and Turnbull Rivers, South Westland, New Zealand, record the three most recent surface-faulting events. Using back-stripping techniques to remove the three faulting events and the sedimentary units associated with the faulting restores the cross-sections to gravel-bed floodplains at the Haast and Okuru Rivers, at about A.D. 750. Horizontal and vertical offsets of stream channels and terrace risers reveal characteristic displacements of about 8–9 m dextral and up to 1 m vertical per event. Cumulative dextral displacement is 25 ± 3 m in the past three events. The most recent surface-rupture event was probably in A.D. 1717, and the next prior events were about A.D. 1230 ± 50 and about A.D.750 ± 50. The timing of these events is consistent with past large-great earth- quakes on the southern section of the Alpine fault inferred from off-fault data, but there are fewer events identified in trenches. Our three-event dataset indicates the aver- age surface-rupture recurrence interval for the South Westland section of the fault is about 480 years, much longer than the current elapsed time of 295 years. Therefore, the Alpine fault in South Westland may not be close to rupture as is often speculated

A comparison of collision cross section values obtained via travelling wave ion mobility-mass spectrometry and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-ion mobility-mass spectrometry : application to the characterisation of metabolites in rat urine

A comprehensive Collision Cross Section (CCS) library was obtained via Travelling Wave Ion Guide mobility measurements through direct infusion (DI). The library consists of CCS and Mass Spectral (MS) data in negative and positive ElectroSpray Ionisation (ESI) mode for 463 and 479 endogenous metabolites, respectively. For both ionisation modes combined, TWCCSN2 data were obtained for 542 non-redundant metabolites. These data were acquired on two different ion mobility enabled orthogonal acceleration QToF MS systems in two different laboratories, with the majority of the resulting TWCCSN2 values (from detected compounds) found to be within 1% of one another. Validation of these results against two independent, external TWCCSN2 data sources and predicted TWCCSN2 values indicated to be within 1-2% of these other values. The same metabolites were then analysed using a rapid reversed-phase ultra (high) performance liquid chromatographic (U(H)PLC) separation combined with IM and MS (IM-MS) thus providing retention time (tr), m/z and TWCCSN2 values (with the latter compared with the DI-IM-MS data). Analytes for which TWCCSN2 values were obtained by U(H)PLC-IM-MS showed good agreement with the results obtained from DI-IM-MS. The repeatability of the TWCCSN2 values obtained for these metabolites on the different ion mobility QToF systems, using either DI or LC, encouraged the further evaluation of the U(H)PLC-IM-MS approach via the analysis of samples of rat urine, from control and methotrexate-treated animals, in order to assess the potential of the approach for metabolite identification and profiling in metabolic phenotyping studies. Based on the database derived from the standards 63 metabolites were identified in rat urine, using positive ESI, based on the combination of tr, TWCCSN2 and MS data.</p

Bending skyrmion strings under two-dimensional thermal gradients

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected magnetization vortices that form three-dimensional strings in chiral magnets. With the manipulation of skyrmions being key to their application in devices, the focus has been on their dynamics within the vortex plane, while the dynamical control of skyrmion strings remained uncharted territory. Here, we report the effective bending of three-dimensional skyrmion strings in the chiral magnet MnSi in orthogonal thermal gradients using small angle neutron scattering. This dynamical behavior is achieved by exploiting the temperature-dependent skyrmion Hall effect, which is unexpected in the framework of skyrmion dynamics. We thus provide experimental evidence for the existence of magnon friction, which was recently proposed to be a key ingredient for capturing skyrmion dynamics, requiring a modification of Thiele’s equation. Our work therefore suggests the existence of an extra degree of freedom for the manipulation of three-dimensional skyrmions

Multicomponent frailty assessment tools for older people with psychiatric disorders: a systematic review

Objective: To review evidence evaluating the use of multi-component frailty assessment tools in assessing frailty in older adults with psychiatric disorders. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify all multi-component frailty assessment tools (i.e. a tool that assesses ≥2 indicators of frailty). The items of each frailty assessment tool were compared to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders to assess construct overlap. Studies conducted in community, inpatient and outpatient clinical settings were considered for inclusion. Participants: Adults aged ≥60 years old. Results: 5,639 studies in total were identified following the removal of duplicates; 97 of which were included for review. Of the 48 multi-component frailty assessment tools identified, no tool had been developed for, or validated in, older adult populations with psychiatric disorder. 24/48 frailty assessment tools contained a psychological assessment domain, with 18/48 tools using presence of depressed mood and/or anxiety as a frailty indicator. Common areas of construct overlap in frailty assessment tools and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria included weight loss (29/48) and fatigue (21/48). Conclusions: Significant construct overlap exists between the indicators of frailty as conceptualised in existing frailty assessment tools and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for common psychiatric disorders, including Major Depressive Episode and Generalised Anxiety Disorder, which has the potential to confound frailty assessment results. Further research is necessary to establish a reliable and valid tool to assess frailty in this population

Parameterization of single-scattering albedo (SSA) and absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) with EC/OC for aerosol emissions from biomass burning

Single-scattering albedo (SSA) and absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) are two critical parameters in determining the impact of absorbing aerosol on the Earth\u27s radiative balance. Aerosol emitted by biomass burning represent a significant fraction of absorbing aerosol globally, but it remains difficult to accurately predict SSA and AAE for biomass burning aerosol. Black carbon (BC), brown carbon (BrC), and non-absorbing coatings all make substantial contributions to the absorption coefficient of biomass burning aerosol. SSA and AAE cannot be directly predicted based on fuel type because they depend strongly on burn conditions. It has been suggested that SSA can be effectively parameterized via the modified combustion efficiency (MCE) of a biomass burning event and that this would be useful because emission factors for CO and CO2, from which MCE can be calculated, are available for a large number of fuels. Here we demonstrate, with data from the FLAME-4 experiment, that for a wide variety of globally relevant biomass fuels, over a range of combustion conditions, parameterizations of SSA and AAE based on the elemental carbon (EC) to organic carbon (OC) mass ratio are quantitatively superior to parameterizations based on MCE. We show that the EC/OC ratio and the ratio of EC/(EC + OC) both have significantly better correlations with SSA than MCE. Furthermore, the relationship of EC/(EC + OC) with SSA is linear. These improved parameterizations are significant because, similar to MCE, emission factors for EC (or black carbon) and OC are available for a wide range of biomass fuels. Fitting SSA with MCE yields correlation coefficients (Pearson\u27s r) of ∼0.65 at the visible wavelengths of 405, 532, and 660 nm while fitting SSA with EC/OC or EC/(EC + OC) yields a Pearson\u27s r of 0.94-0.97 at these same wavelengths. The strong correlation coefficient at 405 nm (r = 0.97) suggests that parameterizations based on EC/OC or EC/(EC + OC) have good predictive capabilities even for fuels in which brown carbon absorption is significant. Notably, these parameterizations are effective for emissions from Indonesian peat, which have very little black carbon but significant brown carbon (SSA = 0.990 ± 0.001 at 532 and 660 nm, SSA = 0.937 ± 0.011 at 405 nm). Finally, we demonstrate that our parameterization based on EC/(EC + OC) accurately predicts SSA during the first few hours of plume aging with data from Yokelson et al. (2009) gathered during a biomass burning event in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico

Specificity of the osmotic stress response in Candida albicans highlighted by quantitative proteomics

We are grateful to the BBSRC for funding the CRISP Consortium (Combinatorial Responses in Stress Pathways) under the SABR Initiative (Systems Approaches to Biological Research) (BB/F00513X/1; BB/F005210/1). AJPB was also funded by the BBSRC (BB/K017365/1), the ERC (C-2009-AdG-249793), the Wellcome Trust (097377), the MRC (MR/M026663/1), and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (MR/M026663/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD