Investigation of climate change and history of lead deposition using soil archives

Our study focused on the investigation of climate change and the fate of lead in soils from the Low Volga region of Russia over 3500 years. We used a comparative analysis of the modern soils and palaeosols preserved under burial mounds, which date back to the Middle Ages and the Early Iron and Bronze Ages. A climate reconstruction showed periodic changes, with the most humid climate conditions occurring during Golden Horde period. However, we could not find any consistent changes in Pb concentration and profile distribution following the climate change. We observed a clear difference in Pb isotopic ratios between the lower and upper horizons both for the modern and buried profiles, reflecting the influence of atmospheric lead depositions. However, there is no statistically significant difference in Pb isotopic ratios between the upper horizons of buried and modern soils (except modern soils collected in the vicinity of a motorway). This means that either anthropogenic input due to long range air transport was insignificant, or that airborne anthropogenic lead and natural airborne lead have similar isotopic composition

Meeting Summary of the 6th European Workshop on Plant Chromatin 2019 in Cologne, Germany

In June 2019, more than a hundred plant researchers met in Cologne, Germany, for the 6th European Workshop on Plant Chromatin (EWPC). This conference brought together a highly dynamic community of researchers with the common aim to understand how chromatin organization controls gene expression, development, and plant responses to the environment. New evidence showing how epigenetic states are set, perpetuated, and inherited were presented, and novel data related to the three-dimensional organization of chromatin within the nucleus were discussed. At the level of the nucleosome, its composition by different histone variants and their specialized histone deposition complexes were addressed as well as the mechanisms involved in histone post-translational modifications and their role in gene expression. The keynote lecture on plant DNA methylation by Julie Law (SALK Institute) and the tribute session to Lars Hennig, honoring the memory of one of the founders of the EWPC who contributed to promote the plant chromatin and epigenetic field in Europe, added a very special note to this gathering. In this perspective article we summarize some of the most outstanding data and advances on plant chromatin research presented at this workshop

Harvesting Entities from the Web Using Unique Identifiers -- IBEX

In this paper we study the prevalence of unique entity identifiers on the Web. These are, e.g., ISBNs (for books), GTINs (for commercial products), DOIs (for documents), email addresses, and others. We show how these identifiers can be harvested systematically from Web pages, and how they can be associated with human-readable names for the entities at large scale. Starting with a simple extraction of identifiers and names from Web pages, we show how we can use the properties of unique identifiers to filter out noise and clean up the extraction result on the entire corpus. The end result is a database of millions of uniquely identified entities of different types, with an accuracy of 73--96% and a very high coverage compared to existing knowledge bases. We use this database to compute novel statistics on the presence of products, people, and other entities on the Web.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, 9 tables. Complete technical report for A. Talaika, J. A. Biega, A. Amarilli, and F. M. Suchanek. IBEX: Harvesting Entities from the Web Using Unique Identifiers. WebDB workshop, 201

Sainfoin – New Data on Anthelmintic Effects and Production in Sheep and Goats

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) are one of the most important problems affecting health and therefore performance and welfare in small ruminant husbandry. The control of these parasites in the past strongly relied on the repeated use of anthelmintic drugs. This has led to nematode populations which are resistant to most of the currently available anthelmintics. Furthermore customer’s demands for organic and residue free animal products are increasing. The aforementioned problems have given a strong impetus for the development of new non-chemical strategies to control GIN. Previous research has pointed out the anthelmintic potential of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) and other tanniferous (CT) feed sources in goats and lambs infected with GIN. A recent Swiss experiment focussed on the use of sainfoin and field bean (Vicia faba, cv. Scirocco) as single CT sources as well as in combination for additional synergic effects, to reduce periparturient GIN egg rise of ewes in late gestation and early lactation. Another experiment with Alpine goats concentrated on the influence of sainfoin on milk performance and cheese quality. The results of these experiments will be presented and discussed in connection with previous knowledge on (i) anthelmintic effects of sainfoin and (ii) the influence of sainfoin administration on performance

Protease inhibitors prevent plasminogen-mediated, but not pemphigus vulgaris-induced, acantholysis in human epidermis

Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. It is caused by autoantibodies directed against desmosomes, which are the principal adhesion structures between epidermal keratinocytes. Binding of autoantibodies leads to the destruction of desmosomes resulting in the loss of cell-cell adhesion (acantholysis) and epidermal blisters. The plasminogen activator system has been implicated as a proteolytic effector in pemphigus. We have tested inhibitors of the plasminogen activator system with regard to their potential to prevent pemphigus-induced cutaneous pathology. In a human split skin culture system, IgG preparations of sera from pemphigus vulgaris patients caused histopathologic changes (acantholysis) similar to those observed in the original pemphigus disease. All inhibitors that were tested (active site inhibitors directed against uPA, tPA, and/or plasmin; antibodies neutralizing the enzymatic activity of uPA or tPA; substances interfering with the binding of uPA to its specific cell surface receptor uPAR) failed to prevent pemphigus vulgaris IgG-mediated acantholysis. Plasminogen-mediated acantholysis, however, was effectively antagonized by the synthetic active site serine protease inhibitor WX-UK1 or by p-aminomethylbenzoic acid. Our data argue against applying anti-plasminogen activator/anti-plasmin strategies in the management of pemphigus