Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Tephrochronology (from tephra, Gk ‘ashes’) is a unique stratigraphic method for linking, dating, and synchronizing geological, palaeoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events. As well as utilising the Law of Superposition, tephrochronology in practise requires tephra deposits to be characterized (or ‘fingerprinted’) using physical properties evident in the field together with those obtained from laboratory analyses. Such analyses include mineralogical examination (petrography) or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals using an electron microprobe or other analytical tools including laser-ablation-based mass spectrometry or the ion microprobe. The palaeoenvironmental or archaeological context in which a tephra occurs may also be useful for correlational purposes. Tephrochronology provides greatest utility when a numerical age obtained for a tephra or cryptotephra is transferrable from one site to another using stratigraphy and by comparing and matching inherent compositional features of the deposits with a high degree of likelihood. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method that provides an exceptionally precise volcanic-event stratigraphy. Such age transfers are valid because the primary tephra deposits from an eruption essentially have the same short-lived age everywhere they occur, forming isochrons very soon after the eruption (normally within a year). As well as providing isochrons for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstructions, tephras through their geochemical analysis allow insight into volcanic and magmatic processes, and provide a comprehensive record of explosive volcanism and recurrence rates in the Quaternary (or earlier) that can be used to establish time-space relationships of relevance to volcanic hazard analysis. The basis and application of tephrochronology as a central stratigraphic and geochronological tool for Quaternary studies are presented and discussed in this review. Topics covered include principles of tephrochronology, defining isochrons, tephra nomenclature, mapping and correlating tephras from proximal to distal locations at metre- through to sub-millimetre-scale, cryptotephras, mineralogical and geochemical fingerprinting methods, numerical and statistical correlation techniques, and developments and applications in dating including the use of flexible depositional age-modelling techniques based on Bayesian statistics. Along with reference to wide-ranging examples and the identification of important recent advances in tephrochronology, such as the development of new geoanalytical approaches that enable individual small glass shards to be analysed near-routinely for major, trace, and rare-earth elements, potential problems such as miscorrelation, erroneous-age transfer, and tephra reworking and taphonomy (especially relating to cryptotephras) are also examined. Some of the challenges for future tephrochronological studies include refining geochemical analytical methods further, improving understanding of cryptotephra distribution and preservation patterns, improving age modelling including via new or enhanced radiometric or incremental techniques and Bayesian-derived models, evaluating and quantifying uncertainty in tephrochronology to a greater degree than at present, constructing comprehensive regional databases, and integrating tephrochronology with spatially referenced environmental and archaeometric data into 3-D reconstructions using GIS and geostatistics

Patients acceptance and comprehension to written and verbal consent (PAC–VC)

Abstract Background Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) research is challenging as it requires enrollment of acutely ill patients. Patients are generally in a suboptimal state for providing informed consent. Patients’ understanding to verbal assents have not been previously examined in AMI research. Patients Acceptance and Comprehension to Written and Verbal Consent (PAC–VC) compared patients’ understanding and attitudes to verbal and written consents in AMI RCTs. Methods PAC–VC recruited patients from 3 AMI trials using both verbal N = 12 and written N = 6 consents. We compared patients’ understanding using two survey questionnaires. The first questionnaire used open-ended questions with multiple choice answers. The second questionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale to measure patients understanding and attitudes to the consent process. Overall answers average scores were categorized into three groups: Adequate understanding (71–100) %, Partial understanding (41–70)% and Inadequate understanding (0–40)%. Results Responses showed patients with verbal assent had adequate understanding to most components of informed consent, close to those of written consent. Most patients did not read written information entirely and believed that it is not important to make a final decision. Patients favoured to have written information be part of the consent but not necessarily presented during the initial consent process. Patients felt less pressured in the verbal assent arm than those of written consent. Conclusion Patients had adequate understanding to most components of verbal assent and comparable to those of written consent. Utilizing verbal assents in the acute care setting should be further assessed in larger trials

Endocardial mapping of ventricular tachycardia in the intact human heart. II. Evidence for multiuse reentry in a functional sheet of surviving myocardium

AbstractObjective.The purpose of this study was to obtain improved detection and characterization of reentrant circuits in the n-farcted human ventricle.Background. The return path of reentrant ventricular arrhythmias usually is not manifested in clinical mapping studies but is thought to be formed by isolated bundles of surviving myocytes whose presence is difficult to detect by standard recording technigues.Methods. We obtained simultaneous unipolar and high gain bipolar recordings using a left ventricular endocardial balloon array in 10 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease undergoing intraoperative mapping of ventricular tachycardia.Results. Three patients demonstrated seven separate ventricular tachycardias that utilized a return tract that was manifested on up to 20% of all left ventricular electrode sites. The recordings suggested an extensive sheet of surviving myocardial fibers with multiple entry and exit points allowing for different reentrant paths at different times all in the same heart. In one patient, five different ventricular tachycardias could be induced, four of which utilized such a sheet. Two of these tachycardias had the same exit point (site of origin) but two different entry points with a long and shon return path resulting in long and short tachycardia cycle lengths. The same sheet sustained another tachycardia with one entry and two exit points resulting in two separate “lrites of origin” on the endocardium. such sheets also were seen to insert into the left bundle system. In one patient portions of the sheet could be detected epicardially.Conclusion. The existence of such a structure of surviving myocardium with functional pleomorphism may account for unexplained changes in tachycardia cycle length, epicardial entrainment and spontaneous morphoioeic changes during ventricular tachycardia

Identification and genetics of resistance to cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora zonata) in faba bean (Vicia faba)

The fungal disease cercospora leaf spot CLS (Cercospora zonata) has affected major faba bean (Vicia faba) production regions in southern Australian in the last several years. This study offers the first report of sources of resistance to CLS in faba bean and describes techniques to evaluate resistance to C. zonata in faba bean genotypes within a controlled environment. The method was rapid (43 days), repeatable (R 2 > 0.74) and demonstrated positive correlations (R 2 > 0.45–0.80) to data collected from field disease nurseries under naturally established CLS epiphytotics. All faba bean cultivars currently adopted by the Australian industry were found to be susceptible to CLS and defoliation was found to be an important component of disease expression. Genetic analysis of segregation patterns in F 2 derived F 3 families of 1322/2*Farah (resistant*susceptible) showed the mode of inheritance of resistance to C. zonata was monogenic dominant. F 3 families were shown to segregate in the ratio of 1:2:1 for homozygous resistant: heterozygous: homozygous susceptible (χ22 = 2.78; P > 0.05) and individual plants within heterozygous F 3 families segregated in the ratio of 3:1 for resistant: susceptible responses (χ12 = 2.93; P > 0.05). Monogenic dominant inheritance also explained the change in frequency of resistant and susceptible plants within a population of cv. Cairo following one generation of self-pollination (χ2 = 0.88, 0.3 < P < 0.5). The sources of resistance identified in this study are being used to transfer CLS resistance to adapted faba bean genotypes for future cultivar releases to the southern Australian industry.R. B. E. Kimber, J. G. Paul

Sex Differences and Utility of Treadmill Testing in Long‐QT Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of congenital long‐QT syndrome (LQTS) is complicated by phenotypic ambiguity, with a frequent normal‐to‐borderline resting QT interval. A 3‐step algorithm based on exercise response of the corrected QT interval (QTc) was previously developed to diagnose patients with LQTS and predict subtype. This study evaluated the 3‐step algorithm in a population that is more representative of the general population with LQTS with milder phenotypes and establishes sex‐specific cutoffs beyond the resting QTc. METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified 208 LQTS likely pathogenic or pathogenic KCNQ1 or KCNH2 variant carriers in the Canadian NLQTS (National Long‐QT Syndrome) Registry and 215 unaffected controls from the HiRO (Hearts in Rhythm Organization) Registry. Exercise treadmill tests were analyzed across the 5 stages of the Bruce protocol. The predictive value of exercise ECG characteristics was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to identify optimal cutoff values. A total of 78% of male carriers and 74% of female carriers had a resting QTc value in the normal‐to‐borderline range. The 4‐minute recovery QTc demonstrated the best predictive value for carrier status in both sexes, with better LQTS ascertainment in female patients (area under the curve, 0.90 versus 0.82), with greater sensitivity and specificity. The optimal cutoff value for the 4‐minute recovery period was 440 milliseconds for male patients and 450 milliseconds for female patients. The 1‐minute recovery QTc had the best predictive value in female patients for differentiating LQTS1 versus LQTS2 (area under the curve, 0.82), and the peak exercise QTc had a marginally better predictive value in male patients for subtype with (area under the curve, 0.71). The optimal cutoff value for the 1‐minute recovery period was 435 milliseconds for male patients and 455 milliseconds for femal patients. CONCLUSIONS: The 3‐step QT exercise algorithm is a valid tool for the diagnosis of LQTS in a general population with more frequent ambiguity in phenotype. The algorithm is a simple and reliable method for the identification and prediction of the 2 major genotypes of LQTS

Sex Differences and Utility of Treadmill Testing in Long‐QT Syndrome

Background Diagnosis of congenital long‐QT syndrome (LQTS) is complicated by phenotypic ambiguity, with a frequent normal‐to‐borderline resting QT interval. A 3‐step algorithm based on exercise response of the corrected QT interval (QTc) was previously developed to diagnose patients with LQTS and predict subtype. This study evaluated the 3‐step algorithm in a population that is more representative of the general population with LQTS with milder phenotypes and establishes sex‐specific cutoffs beyond the resting QTc. Methods and Results We identified 208 LQTS likely pathogenic or pathogenic KCNQ1 or KCNH2 variant carriers in the Canadian NLQTS (National Long‐QT Syndrome) Registry and 215 unaffected controls from the HiRO (Hearts in Rhythm Organization) Registry. Exercise treadmill tests were analyzed across the 5 stages of the Bruce protocol. The predictive value of exercise ECG characteristics was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to identify optimal cutoff values. A total of 78% of male carriers and 74% of female carriers had a resting QTc value in the normal‐to‐borderline range. The 4‐minute recovery QTc demonstrated the best predictive value for carrier status in both sexes, with better LQTS ascertainment in female patients (area under the curve, 0.90 versus 0.82), with greater sensitivity and specificity. The optimal cutoff value for the 4‐minute recovery period was 440 milliseconds for male patients and 450 milliseconds for female patients. The 1‐minute recovery QTc had the best predictive value in female patients for differentiating LQTS1 versus LQTS2 (area under the curve, 0.82), and the peak exercise QTc had a marginally better predictive value in male patients for subtype with (area under the curve, 0.71). The optimal cutoff value for the 1‐minute recovery period was 435 milliseconds for male patients and 455 milliseconds for femal patients. Conclusions The 3‐step QT exercise algorithm is a valid tool for the diagnosis of LQTS in a general population with more frequent ambiguity in phenotype. The algorithm is a simple and reliable method for the identification and prediction of the 2 major genotypes of LQTS