Climate warming, euxinia and carbon isotope perturbations during the Carnian (Triassic) Crisis in South China

The Carnian Humid Episode (CHE), also known as the Carnian Pluvial Event, and associated biotic changes are major enigmas of the Mesozoic record in western Tethys. We show that the CHE also occurred in eastern Tethys (South China), suggestive of a much more widespread and probably global climate perturbation. Oxygen isotope records from conodont apatite indicate a double-pulse warming event. The CHE coincided with an initial warming of 4 °C. This was followed by a transient cooling period and then a prolonged ~7 °C warming in the later Carnian (Tuvalian 2). Carbon isotope perturbations associated with the CHE of western Tethys occurred contemporaneously in South China, and mark the start of a prolonged period of carbon cycle instability that persisted until the late Carnian. The dry-wet transition during the CHE coincides with the negative carbon isotope excursion and the temperature rise, pointing to an intensification of hydrologic cycle activities due to climatic warming. While carbonate platform shutdown in western Tethys is associated with an influx of siliciclastic sediment, the eastern Tethyan carbonate platforms are overlain by deep-water anoxic facies. The transition from oxygenated to euxinic facies was via a condensed, manganiferous carbonate (MnO content up to 15.1 wt%), that records an intense Mn shuttle operating in the basin. Significant siliciclastic influx in South China only occurred after the CHE climatic changes and was probably due to foreland basin development at the onset of the Indosinian Orogeny. The mid-Carnian biotic crisis thus coincided with several phenomena associated with major extinction events: a carbonate production crisis, climate warming, δ 13 C oscillations, marine anoxia, biotic turnover and flood basalt eruptions (of the Wrangellia Large Igneous Province)

On the microstructure and thermal stability of rapidly quenched Fe–B alloys in the intermediate composition range between the crystalline and amorphous states

The structure and the thermal stability of the Fe₀.₈₉B₀.₁₁ rapidly quenched alloy have been investigated. Transmission Mossbauer measurements were carried out as a function of temperature in the range from 148 K to 513 K. Room temperature x-ray diffraction and transmission and conversion-electron Mossbauer experiments, as well as 4.2 K spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, were also performed after some selected thermal treatments for one hour between 523 K and 1273 K. Based on these experiments it is suggested that the alloy is inhomogeneous at nanoscopic scale and consists of a fine dispersion of a defective boride phase with an o-Fe₃B-like short-range order, embedded in an α-Fe matrix. This result gives support to the models which indicate phase separation in the amorphous phase with o-Fe3B short-range order prevailing in the hypereutectic iron concentration range. This phase was found to be less stable than the undefective one present in the less boron concentrated alloys. The transformation into the equilibrium phases, analyzed with an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence for the increase of the relative fraction of Fe₂B, led to an activation energy Ea = 1.38 ± 0.68 eV/atom.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

Revisión sobre métodos de preparación, mecanismos y aplicaciones de péptidos antioxidantes en aceites

Natural antioxidants, especially those used in edible oil, are safer compared to chemically synthesized antioxidants. Therefore, research on natural antioxidants has become prevelant. Antioxidant peptides derived from food protein can effectively prevent oil oxidation. Protein hydrolyzation is widely applied for the production of antioxidant peptides in industry, and bioinformatics is employed nowadays to generate the desired peptide sequence. Furthermore, the mechanism of antioxidant peptides in the oil system is still controversial, which limits the further development of antioxidant peptides as food antioxidants. This review introduces the preparation method of antioxidant peptides and their mechanisms as well as applications in the oil. It will help to comprehensively understand the function of antioxidant peptides and promote their development in the oil field.Los antioxidantes naturales, especialmente utilizados en aceites comestibles, son más seguros en comparación con los antioxidantes sintetizados químicamente. Por lo tanto, la investigación sobre antioxidantes naturales se convierte en un punto de interés. Los péptidos antioxidantes derivados de las proteínas alimentarias pueden prevenir eficazmente la oxidación del aceite. La hidrolización de proteínas se usa ampliamente en la industria para la producción de péptidos antioxidantes y la bioinformática se emplea hoy en día para generar la secuencia de péptidos deseada. Además, el mecanismo de los péptidos antioxidantes en el sistema oleoso sigue siendo controvertido, lo que limita el desarrollo posterior de péptidos antioxidantes como antioxidantes alimentarios. Esta revisión presenta el método de preparación de péptidos antioxidantes y su mecanismo, así como las aplicaciones en aceite, lo que ayudará a comprender de manera integral la función de los péptidos antioxidantes y promoverá su desarrollo en el campo petrolero

On the microstructure and thermal stability of rapidly quenched Fe–B alloys in the intermediate composition range between the crystalline and amorphous states

The structure and the thermal stability of the Fe₀.₈₉B₀.₁₁ rapidly quenched alloy have been investigated. Transmission Mossbauer measurements were carried out as a function of temperature in the range from 148 K to 513 K. Room temperature x-ray diffraction and transmission and conversion-electron Mossbauer experiments, as well as 4.2 K spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, were also performed after some selected thermal treatments for one hour between 523 K and 1273 K. Based on these experiments it is suggested that the alloy is inhomogeneous at nanoscopic scale and consists of a fine dispersion of a defective boride phase with an o-Fe₃B-like short-range order, embedded in an α-Fe matrix. This result gives support to the models which indicate phase separation in the amorphous phase with o-Fe3B short-range order prevailing in the hypereutectic iron concentration range. This phase was found to be less stable than the undefective one present in the less boron concentrated alloys. The transformation into the equilibrium phases, analyzed with an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence for the increase of the relative fraction of Fe₂B, led to an activation energy Ea = 1.38 ± 0.68 eV/atom.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta

The benefits of intermittent fasting: A review of possible mechanisms on central neurological disorders

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a dietary strategy that involves alternating periods of abstention from calorie consumption with periods of ad libitum food intake and has been shown to have beneficial effects in many ways. Recent studies have shown that IF attenuates neurodegeneration and improves cognitive decline, enhances functional recovery after stroke as well as attenuates the pathological and clinical features of epilepsy in animal models. Furthermore, IF induced several molecular and cellular adaptations in neurons that overall enhanced cellular stress resistance, synaptic plasticity, and neurogenesis. In this review, the beneficial effects of IF on central neurological disorders are discussed. The information summarised in this review can be used to help contextualise existing research and better guide the development of future IF interventions

Long-Read Assembly and Annotation of the Parasitoid Wasp <i>Muscidifurax raptorellus</i>, a Biological Control Agent for Filth Flies

The parasitoid wasp Muscidifurax raptorellus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a gregarious species that has received extensive attention for its potential in biological pest control against house fly, stable fly, and other filth flies. It has a high reproductive capacity and can be reared easily. However, genome assembly is not available for M. raptorellus or any other species in this genus. Previously, we assembled a complete circular mitochondrial genome with a length of 24,717 bp. Here, we assembled and annotated a high-quality nuclear genome of M. raptorellus, using a combination of long-read (104× genome coverage) and short-read (326× genome coverage) sequencing technologies. The assembled genome size is 314 Mbp in 226 contigs, with a 97.9% BUSCO completeness score and a contig N50 of 4.67 Mb, suggesting excellent continuity of this assembly. Our assembly builds the foundation for comparative and evolutionary genomic analysis in the genus of Muscidifurax and possible future biocontrol applications

Low-Complexity Direction-of-Arrival Estimation Based on Wideband Co-Prime Arrays

A class of low-complexity compressive sensing-based direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation methods for wideband co-prime arrays is proposed. It is based on a recently proposed narrowband estimation method, where a virtual array model is generated by directly vectorizing the covariance matrix and then using a sparse signal recovery method to obtain the estimation result. As there are a large number of redundant entries in both the auto-correlation and cross-correlation matrices of the two sub-arrays, they can be combined together to form a model with a significantly reduced dimension, thereby leading to a solution with much lower computational complexity without sacrificing performance. A further reduction in complexity is achieved by removing noise power estimation from the formulation. Then, the two proposed low-complexity methods are extended to the wideband realm utilizing a group sparsity based signal reconstruction method. A particular advantage of group sparsity is that it allows a much larger unit inter-element spacing than the standard co-prime array and therefore leads to further improved performance

Contribution of biomimetic collagen-ligand interaction to intrafibrillar mineralization

Contemporary models of intrafibrillar mineralization mechanisms are established using collagen fibrils as templates without considering the contribution from collagen-bound apatite nucleation inhibitors. However, collagen matrices destined for mineralization in vertebrates contain bound matrix proteins for intrafibrillar mineralization. Negatively charged, high\u2013molecular weight polycarboxylic acid is cross-linked to reconstituted collagen to create a model for examining the contribution of collagen-ligand interaction to intrafibrillar mineralization. Cryogenic electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulation show that, after cross-linking to collagen, the bound polyelectrolyte caches prenucleation cluster singlets into chain-like aggregates along the fibrillar surface to increase the pool of mineralization precursors available for intrafibrillar mineralization. Higher-quality mineralized scaffolds with better biomechanical properties are achieved compared with mineralization of unmodified scaffolds in polyelectrolyte-stabilized mineralization solution. Collagen-ligand interaction provides insights on the genesis of heterogeneously mineralized tissues and the potential causes of ectopic calcification in nonmineralized body tissues