Moving the Lausanne medical library to a new location: shaping spaces, tailoring services

Moving the Lausanne medical library to a new location was the opportunity to investigate how to best support the educational, training, clinical and research needs of both the Medical Faculty and the medical community across all disciplines. Our analysis is based on a tridimensional approach. First, we examine the role of the library as space provider, especially for the students and educational staff. Second, we reflect to what extent we could improve as an online resources provider and trim the print collection. Finally, we underline the importance to position the library as solution provider geared towards clinicians and researchers

Association between objectively measured physical activity, chronic stress and leukocyte telomere length

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) attenuates chronic stress and age-related and cardiovascular disease risks, whereby potentially slowing telomere shortening. We aimed to study the association between seven-day objectively measured habitual PA, chronic stress and leukocyte telomere length. METHODS: Study participants were African (n=96) and Caucasian (n=107) school teachers of the Sympathetic activity and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Africans study. All lifestyle characteristics (including PA) were objectively measured. The general health questionnaire and serum cortisol were assessed as psychological and physical measures of chronic stress. Leukocyte telomere length was measured using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Africans had significantly shorter telomeres (p<.001) and greater psychological distress (p=0.001) than Caucasians, whereas no group difference was seen for cortisol levels. Higher age [ß=-0.28 (-0.40, -0.16), p≤0.000], higher alcohol consumption [ß=-0.21 (-0.36, -0.08), p=0.003] and increased central obesity [ß=-0.17 (-0.30, -0.03), p=0.017] were all significantly associated with shorter telomeres. Habitual PA of different intensity was not significantly associated with markers of chronic stress or telomere length. However, more time spent with light intensity PA time was significantly and independently correlated with lower waist circumference (r=-0.21, p=0.004); in turn, greater waist circumference was significantly associated shorter telomeres [β=-0.17 (-0.30, -0.03), p=0.017]. CONCLUSION: Habitual PA of different intensity was not directly associated with markers of chronic stress and leukocyte telomere length in this biethnic cohort. However, our findings suggest that light intensity PA could contribute to lowered age-related disease risk and healthy ageing by facilitating maintenance of a normal waist circumference

Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903) auf Medaillen und Plaketten. Sammlung des Instituts für Klassische Archäologie der Universität Tübingen.

Zusammenstellung mehrer Beiträge zu den Medaillen und Plaketten auf Theodor Mommsen aus der Sammlung des Instituts für Klassische Archäologie der Universität Tübingen

Calcareous nannofossil age constraints on Miocene flysch sedimentation in the Outer Dinarides (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro)

Flysch deposits are associated with the Outer Dinaride nappe front. They overlie Eocene platform carbonate to bathyal marl successions that subsequently cover Cretaceous platform carbonates of Apulia and the Dinaride nappes. Planktonic foraminifer biostratigraphy indicates Eocene age of flysch sedimentation. New calcareous nannofossil data reveal that several assemblages are present; besides the dominant Mid-Eocene species, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Oligocene and Miocene taxa were also identified throughout the entire flysch belt. Widespread occurrence of nannofossil species of zone NN4-6 indicates that flysch deposition lasted up to at least the Mid-Miocene. Ubiquitous occurrence of various pre-Miocene taxa demonstrates that extensive, possibly submarine, sediment recycling has occurred in the Cenozoic. As flysch remnants are typically sandwiched between thrust sheets, these new stratigraphic ages give a lower bracket on deformation age of the coastal range. The data provide a link between Cretaceous compression in the Bosnian Flysch and recent deformation in the Adriatic offshore area

A sea of Lilliputians

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284 (2009): 88-113, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.08.020.Smaller size is generally seen as a negative response of organisms to stressful environmental conditions, associated with low diversity and species dominance. The mean size of the coccolithophorids decreased through the Neogene, leading to the prediction that their extant representatives are characterized by poor diversification and low specialization. The study of the (exo)coccospheres of selected taxa in the order Syracosphaerales negates this prediction, revealing that on the contrary some extant lineages are highly diversified and remarkably specialized. Whereas the general role of coccoliths remains indeterminate, this analysis suggests that some highly derived coccoliths may be modified for the collection of food particles, including picoplankton, thus implying that mixotrophy may characterize these lineages. In the extant coccolithophorids, species richness of genera is inversely correlated with the size of cells, definitive evidence that small size is part of a morphologic strategy rather than a sign of evolutionary failure. Because of their extreme minuteness, the extant nannoplankton can be well compared to Lilliputians, but the trend toward size decrease in Neogene lineages is not attributable to the Lilliput effect described by Urbanek (1993)

A new multi-proxy investigation of Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments along the north-western Barents Sea (Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan)

A new integrated micropalaeontological study on planktonic and benthic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils and diatoms was performed on three sediment cores from the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan to reconstruct the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental and climatic history. Two main intervals were discussed: the last deglaciation (16.2\u201311.7 ka BP) and the Holocene. The age model relies on palaeomagnetic parameters together with 10 radiocarbon dates. Deglacial sediments had largely diluted the biogenic content which was scarce and poorly preserved. The first occurrence of Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi (benthic foraminifer), together with Turborotalita quinqueloba (planktonic foraminifer) and Coscinodiscus spp. (diatoms) at 11.3 ka BP followed the end of the Younger Dryas cold event and marked the beginning of the early Holocene warm period. Diatoms and planktonic foraminifers indicated a warming of the surface water from 10.5 to 9.2 ka BP, identifying the Holocene Thermal Maximum event. Bottom water fauna registered these warming conditions less clearly. Cooling events were identified during the Holocene, in particular the 8.2 ka BP event and the Neoglacial between 3.2 and 2 ka BP, as shown by the presence of cold-water taxa such as Gephyrocapsa muellerae (nannoplankton) and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (planktonic foraminifer). These events were influenced by sea ice extent, cold or relatively warm current influxes

The Influence of Manga on the Graphic Novel

This material has been published in The Cambridge History of the Graphic Novel edited by Jan Baetens, Hugo Frey, Stephen E. Tabachnick. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University PressProviding a range of cogent examples, this chapter describes the influences of the Manga genre of comics strip on the Graphic Novel genre, over the last 35 years, considering the functions of domestication, foreignisation and transmedia on readers, markets and forms