A focus on Gozo

Until recently the characteristic bare round towers of old windmills, together with the steeples and domes of our churches, were prominent features of the landscape of the Maltese Islands. The type of windmills which have survived in Malta were introduced during the time of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Lanfranco 1993: 60). They were usually sited slightly away from the village they served, on high or open ground, unobstructed by other buildings in order to make the most efficient use of the wind. In towns they were built on the highest part of the bastions to catch the mildest breeze for smooth operational performance and no building in their vicinity was permitted to rise more than one storey high (NAM, PW 1826). Windmills could not be operated in a high wind because this would cause great damage to the mechanism as well as to the structure of the windmill itself. On many occasions serious damage was caused to windmills by gales and electric storms and in some cases lives were lost. At the other extreme, on calm days, windmills were powerless. Millers would wait eagerly for days on end for a favourable wind. But when it came, a few sharp blasts into the "bronja" from the roof of the windmill, meant that the miller was summoning his clients to bring the corn to be turned into flour. The "bronja" is the triton-shell, better known as the trumpet-shell of which there are two species "Charania lampas" c. 50 cm. and "Charania variegata" c. 35 cm. Both are now very rare in our waters. Their pointed end or "calcarella" as it is known in conchology, was broken off and when blown in a trumpet-like fashion from the roof of the windmill, they produced a sound that echoed all over the village.peer-reviewe

RNA-seq transcriptome analysis reveals long terminal repeat retrotransposon modulation in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells after in vivo lipopolysaccharide injection

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and mammalian apparent long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons (MaLRs) are retroviral sequences that integrated into germ line cells millions of years ago. Transcripts of these LTR retrotransposons are present in several tissues, and their expression is modulated in pathological conditions, although their function remains often far from being understood. Here, we focused on the HERV/MaLR expression and modulation in a scenario of immune system activation. We used a public data set of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) RNA-Seq from 15 healthy participants to a clinical trial before and after exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), for which we established an RNA-Seq workflow for the identification of expressed and modulated cellular genes and LTR retrotransposon elements. IMPORTANCE We described the HERV and MaLR transcriptome in PBMCs, finding that about 8.4% of the LTR retrotransposon loci were expressed and identifying the betaretrovirus-like HERVs as those with the highest percentage of expressed loci. We found 4,607 HERV and MaLR loci that were modulated as a result of in vivo stimulation with LPS. The HERV-H group showed the highest number of differentially expressed most intact proviruses. We characterized the HERV and MaLR loci as differentially expressed, checking their genomic context of insertion and observing a general colocalization with genes that are involved and modulated in the immune response, as a consequence of LPS stimulation. The analyses of HERV and MaLR expression and modulation show that these LTR retrotransposons are expressed in PBMCs and regulated in inflammatory settings. The similar regulation of HERVs/MaLRs and genes after LPS stimulation suggests possible interactions of LTR retrotransposons and the immune host response

Consumer perception of the community pharmacist and community pharmacy services in Malta

Objectives: We aimed to determine the perception of Maltese consumers of the community pharmacist and of the services offered from community pharmacies. Method: A self-administered questionnaire was developed and psychometrically evaluated. Fifty community pharmacies were chosen by stratified random sampling and the questionnaire was distributed to 500 consumers, 10 from each pharmacy, selected by convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics were undertaken. Key findings: The majority of the consumers were very or fairly satisfied with various pharmacist characteristics, such as pharmacist efficiency when dealing with requests (95%), provision of instructions on how to take medications (94%), pharmacist discretion (91%), professional pharmacist–consumer relationship (90%), provision of explanations on how medications work (86%) and pharmacist knowledge and ability to answer questions (81%). They were least satisfied with the privacy in the pharmacy (69%). Consumers were in favour of the evolution of pharmacist professional services, namely the community pharmacist liaising with primary and secondary care-based physicians (91%), provision of diagnostic testing (87%) and extended opening hours (83%). Conclusions: Maltese consumers have a positive overall perception of community pharmacists and of the services offered from community pharmacies. They were in favour of the development of extended professional services.peer-reviewe

Lil....

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Biki ta’ Omm ta’ Dun Karm – Ras il-Pellegrin ta’ Manwel Agius – L-Aħħar Tislima ta’ Ġużè Galea – Lil Ibni Herman-Baruch ta’ Karmenu Vassallo – Flus ir-Regħba Ħajja Qasira ta’ P. P. Saydon – Frak ta’ R. M. B. – Id-Dolliegħa u l-Qargħa ta’ R. M. B. – Il-Barrakka ta’ Katrin ta’ P. Pawl Tabone – Ħniena! ta’ Fran. Camilleri – Lil.... ta’ M. Agius.N/

Evidence for ubiquitous carbon grain destruction in hot protostellar envelopes

Earth is deficient in carbon and nitrogen by up to ${\sim}4$ orders of magnitude compared with the Sun. Destruction of (carbon- and nitrogen-rich) refractory organics in the high-temperature planet forming regions could explain this deficiency. Assuming a refractory cometary composition for these grains, their destruction enhances nitrogen-containing oxygen-poor molecules in the hot gas ($\gtrsim 300$K) after the initial formation and sublimation of these molecules from oxygen-rich ices in the warm gas (${\sim}150$K). Using observations of $37$ high-mass protostars with ALMA, we find that oxygen-containing molecules (CH$_3$OH and HNCO) systematically show no enhancement in their hot component. In contrast, nitrogen-containing, oxygen-poor molecules (CH$_3$CN and C$_2$H$_3$CN) systematically show an enhancement of a factor ${\sim} 5$ in their hot component, pointing to additional production of these molecules in the hot gas. Assuming only thermal excitation conditions, we interpret these results as a signature of destruction of refractory organics, consistent with the cometary composition. This destruction implies a higher C/O and N/O in the hot gas than the warm gas, while, the exact values of these ratios depend on the fraction of grains that are effectively destroyed. This fraction can be found by future chemical models that constrain C/O and N/O from the abundances of minor carbon, nitrogen and oxygen carriers presented here.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Impact of millennial-scale oceanic variability on the Greenland ice-sheet evolution throughout the last glacial period

Temperature reconstructions from Greenland ice-sheet (GrIS) ice cores indicate the occurrence of more than 20 abrupt warmings during the last glacial period (LGP) known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events. Although their ultimate cause is still debated, evidence from both proxy data and modelling studies robustly links these to reorganisations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). During the LGP, the GrIS expanded as far as the continental shelf break and was thus more directly exposed to oceanic changes than in the present. Therefore oceanic temperature fluctuations on millennial timescales could have had a non-negligible impact on the GrIS. Here we assess the effect of millennial-scale oceanic variability on the GrIS evolution from the last interglacial to the present day. To do so, we use a three-dimensional hybrid ice-sheet–shelf model forced by subsurface oceanic temperature fluctuations, assumed to increase during D-O stadials and decrease during D-O interstadials. Since in our model the atmospheric forcing follows orbital variations only, the increase in total melting at millennial timescales is a direct result of an increase in basal melting. We show that the GrIS evolution during the LGP could have been strongly influenced by oceanic changes on millennial timescales, leading to oceanically induced ice-volume contributions above 1&thinsp;m sea level equivalent (SLE). Also, our results suggest that the increased flux of GrIS icebergs as inferred from North Atlantic proxy records could have been triggered, or intensified, by peaks in melting at the base of the ice shelves resulting from increasing subsurface oceanic temperatures during D-O stadials. Several regions across the GrIS could thus have been responsible for ice mass discharge during D-O events, opening the possibility of a non-negligible role of the GrIS in oceanic reorganisations throughout the LGP.</p

Suldat

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Sursum Corda! ta’ R. M. B. – Tal-Qali ta’ Ġużè Ellul – Tfajla ta’ Dun Karm – Meta mort Għawdex bid-dawra ta’ Ġ. Cassar-Pullicino – Il-Maqdes tal-Mulej ta’ A. Buttigieg – Il-Barrakka ta’ Katrin ta’ P. Pawl Tabone – Ġlieġel ta’ Mary Meylak – Is-Suldat ta’ Ġużè Chetcuti.N/