Constraining long-term denudation and faulting history in intraplate regions by multisystem thermochronology: An example of the Sudetic Marginal Fault (Bohemian Massif, central Europe)

The Rychlebské hory Mountain region in the Sudetes (NE Bohemian Massif) provides a natural laboratory for studies of postorogenic landscape evolution. This work reveals both the exhumation history of the region and the paleoactivity along the Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF) using zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe), apatite fission track (AFT), and apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) dating of crystalline basement and postorogenic sedimentary samples. Most significantly, and in direct contradiction of traditional paleogeographic reconstructions, this work has found evidence of a large Cretaceous sea and regional burial (to >6.5 km) of the Carboniferous-Permian basement in the Late Cretaceous (~95–80 Ma). During the burial by sediments of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin System, the SMF acted as a normal fault as documented by offset ZHe ages across the fault. At 85–70 Ma, the basin was inverted, Cretaceous strata eroded, and basement blocks were exhumed to the near surface at a rate of ~300 m/Ma as evidenced by Late Cretaceous–Paleocene AFT ages and thermal modeling results. There is no appreciable difference in AFT and AHe ages across the fault, suggesting that the SMF acted as a reverse fault during exhumation. In the late Eocene–Oligocene, the basement was locally heated to <70°C by magmatic activity related to opening of the Eger rift system. Neogene or younger thermal activity was not recorded in the thermochronological data, confirming that late Cenozoic uplift and erosion of the basement blocks was limited to less than ∼1.5 km in the study area

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Nennwertrückzahlungen am Schweizer Aktienmarkt und ihre Auswirkungen auf den Unternehmenswert

Die Arbeit untersucht den Ankündigungseffekt und die Outperformance von Schweizer Unternehmen, die zwischen 1992 und 2003 eine Nennwertrückzahlung ausgeschüttet haben und stellt die erste empirische Untersuchung von Nennwertrückzahlungen dar. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Aktienkursreaktion in der Zeitperiode [-1,0] auf die Ankündigung von Nennwertrückzahlungen +1.0% beträgt. Eine weitere Analyse weist darauf hin, dass Nennwertrückzahlungen anstelle Dividendenzahlungen höhere Preisreaktionen bei Ankündigung verursachen. Zudem wurde festgestellt, dass eine Ausschüttungserhöhung mittels einer Nennwertrückzahlung zu einer stärkeren Kursreaktion führt als eine Dividendenerhöhung. Dies unterstützt die Hypothese, dass bei einer Nennwertrückzahlung im Vergleich zu einer Dividendenzahlung die steuerliche Behandlung und die stärkere Signalwirkung ausschlaggebender sind.Nennwertrückzahlungen; Ankündigungseffekt

The Interaction with Phospholipids of Bee Venom Melittin: A Structural Study of the Peptide and Lipid Components

Upon examination by circular dichroism, photon correlation spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, melittin appeared to exist, in pure water at neutral pH, as a flexible random-coil monomer. In dilute NaCl it was still monomeric and essentially random-coil, but presented a pronounced rigidity of structure, and could be approximated to a prolate ellipsoid. At high ionic strength or in the presence of divalent anions, melittin molecules associated into compact disk-like tetramers, where each protomer consisted essentially of two right-handed helical stretches, connected presumably by a 135° bend at the level of Pro14. Correlations could be established between the binding of phosphate ions, evaluated by 31P-NMR, and the structural variations undergone by the peptide. A somewhat different helical tetramer was also obtained at alkaline pH. Upon binding to phospholipids, the conformation of each melittin protomer was similar to that occurring in aqueous phosphate solutions, with a grouping of polar residues along one face of the molecule. The Gln and Lys residues were however more strongly immobilized, and there was no NMR evidence for any self-aggregation of the peptide. Although melittin exerted a dramatic effect on the permeability of phospholipid vesicles to water and to water solutes, the bilayer structure of the vesicles was preserved, as demonstrated by low-angle x-ray and neutron diffraction analyses. Melittin could be shown to be present both at the center of the bilayers and in the aqueous region separating them. The increased permeability to water corresponded, when examined by low-angle neutron diffraction in H2O/D2O exchange experiments, to a deeper penetration of water in the lipid region of the bilayers, up to 0.4 nm from the center (at 95% relative humidity). The presence of water appeared in all cases essential for the incorporation of melittin in the bilayers