Identifying the Great Synagogue of Vilna in Vilnius, Lithuania

Color poster with text, maps, and images.Since 1957, the remains of the Great Synagogue of Vilna in Vilnius, Lithuania have been hidden under an elementary school. An international team of scientists used ground penetrating radar (GPR) to identify the buried remains of the synagogue and then excavate the most promising locations. GPR is a non-invasive survey technology which sends electromagnetic waves into the subsurface and records the reflected waves. A pulseEKKO 1000 GPR unit with 225 MHz antennae was utilized to collect grid datasets. The presentation will focus on two grids, #7 (32 x 5 m) and #8 (33 x 5 m), in which transects with a step size of 0.05 m were collected 0.25 m apart. Following data analysis, Grid #7 has a linear feature which is interpreted as a pipe above the synagogue’s destruction layer as well as a several proposed archaeological features in the eastern corner. Grid #8 has a variety of anomalies located throughout the grid. The research results will aid in directing future archaeological work at the former site of the Great Synagogue of Vilna.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Discovering a Holocaust Era Escape Tunnel : GPR Investigation at Ponar, Lithuania

Color poster with text, images, graphs, charts, and tables.Over 100,000 individuals were killed in Ponar Forest, Lithuania from 1941-1944. Eighty Jewish prisoners forced to burn the bodies of the victims were held in the forest for roughly a year. In an attempt to escape, they dug a 30-meter tunnel over the course of 70 days. Eleven people were able to survive the escape to tell the tragic story. The objective of the research is to locate the proposed tunnel and bring scientific validation to the survivors’ stories using ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey.Blugold Commitment funds; Differential Tuition funds; University of Hartford; University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Survival cost to relocation does not reduce population self‐sustainability in an amphibian

International audienceRelocations are increasingly popular among wildlife managers despite often low rates of relocation success in vertebrates. In this context, understanding the influence of extrinsic (e.g., relocation design, habitat characteristics) and intrinsic factors (e.g., age and sex) on demographic parameters, such as survival, that regulate the dynamics of relocated populations is critical to improve relocation protocols and better predict relocation success. We investigated survival in naturally established and relocated populations of yellow-bellied toads (Bombina variegata), an amphibian that was nearly extinct in Belgium by the late 1980s. We quantified survival at three ontogenetic stages (juvenile, subadult, and adult) in the relocated population, the source population, and a control population. In the relocated population, we quantified survival in captive bred individuals and their locally born descendants. Then, using simulations, we examined how survival cost to relocation affects the self-sustainability of the relocated population. We showed that survival at juvenile and subadult stages was relatively similar in all populations. In contrast, relocated adult survival was lower than adult survival in the source and control populations. Despite this, offspring of relocated animals (the next generation, regardless of life stage) survived at similar rates to individuals in the source and control populations. Simulations revealed that the relocated population was self-sustaining under different scenarios and that the fate (e.g., stability or increase) of the simulated populations was highly dependent on the fecundity of relocated adults and their offspring. To summarize, our results indicate that survival in relocated individuals is lower than in non-relocated individuals but that this cost (i.e., reduced survival) disappears in the second generation. A finer understanding of how relocation affects demographic processes is an important step in improving relocation success of amphibians and other animals

Variable IgE cross-reactivity between peanut 2S-albumins: The case for measuring IgE to both Ara h 2 and Ara h 6.

BACKGROUND:2S-albumins Ara h 2 and Ara h 6 are the most potent peanut allergens and levels of specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) towards these proteins are good predictors of clinical reactivity. Because of structural homologies, Ara h 6 is generally considered to cross-react extensively with Ara h 2.OBJECTIVE:We aimed to quantify the IgE cross-reactivity between Ara h 2 and Ara h 6.METHODS:Peanut 2S-albumins were purified from raw peanuts. The IgE cross-reactivity between Ara h 2 and Ara h 6 was evaluated with 32 sera from French and US peanut-allergic patients by measuring the residual IgE-binding to one 2S-albumin after depletion of IgE antibodies recognizing the other 2S-albumin. The IgE cross-reactivity between Ara h 2 and Ara h 6 was further investigated by competitive inhibition of IgE-binding and by a model of mast cell degranulation.RESULTS:A highly variable level of IgE cross-reactivity was revealed among the patients. The mean fraction of cross-reactive IgE antibodies represented only 17.1% of 2S-albumins-specific IgE antibodies and was lower than the mean fraction of IgE specific to Ara h 2 (57.4%) or to Ara h 6 (25.5%). The higher level of Ara h 2-specific IgE was principally due to the IgE-binding capacity of an insertion containing the repeated immunodominant linear epitope DPYSPOH S. The impact of IgE cross-reactivity on diagnostic testing was illustrated with a serum displaying an Ara h 6-specific IgE response of 26 UI/mL that was not associated with the capacity of Ara h 6 to trigger mast cell degranulation.CONCLUSIONS & CLINICAL RELEVANCE:Immunoglobulin E antibodies specific to peanut 2S-albumins are mainly non-cross-reactive, but low-affinity cross-reactivity can affect diagnostic accuracy. Testing IgE-binding to a mixture of 2S-albumins rather than to each separately may enhance diagnostic performance