What can we learn from melt inclusions in migmatites and granulites?

With less than two decades of activity, research on melt inclusions (MI) in crystals from rocks that have undergone crustal anatexis \u2013 migmatites and granulites \u2013 is a recent addition to crustal petrology and geochemistry. Studies on this subject started with glassy inclusions in anatectic crustal enclaves in lavas, and then progressed to regionally metamorphosed and partially melted crustal rocks, where melt inclusions are normally crystallized into a cryptocrystalline aggregate (nanogranitoid). Since the first paper on melt inclusions in the granulites of the Kerala Khondalite Belt in 2009, reported and studied occurrences are already a few tens. Melt inclusions in migmatites and granulites show many analogieswith theirmore common and long studied counterparts in igneous rocks, but also display very important differences and peculiarities,which are the subject of this review. Microstructurally, melt inclusions in anatectic rocks are small, commonly 10 \u3bcm in diameter, and their main mineral host is peritectic garnet, although several other hosts have been observed. Inclusion contents vary from glass in enclaves that were cooled very rapidly from supersolidus temperatures, to completely crystallized material in slowly cooled regional migmatites. The chemical composition of the inclusions can be analyzed combining several techniques (SEM, EMP, NanoSIMS, LA\u2013ICP\u2013MS), but in the case of crystallized inclusions the experimental remelting under confining pressure in a piston cylinder is a prerequisite. The melt is generally granitic and peraluminous, although granodioritic to trondhjemitic compositions have also been found. Being mostly primary in origin, inclusions attest for the growth of their peritectic host in the presence of melt. As a consequence, the inclusions have the unique ability of preserving information on the composition of primary anatectic crustal melts, before they undergo any of the common following changes in their way to produce crustal magmas. For these peculiar features, melt inclusions in migmatites and granulites, largely overlooked so far, have the potential to become a fundamental tool for the study of crustal melting, crustal differentiation, and even the generation of the continental crust

Software similarity and classification

This thesis analyses software programs in the context of their similarity to other software programs. Applications proposed and implemented include detecting malicious software and discovering security vulnerabilities

granitoid magmas preserved as melt inclusions in high grade metamorphic rock

This review presents a compositional database of primary anatectic granitoid magmas, entirely based on melt inclusions (MI) in high-grade metamorphic rocks. Although MI are well known to igneous petrologists and have been extensively studied in intrusive and extrusive rocks, MI in crustal rocks that have undergone anatexis (migmatites and granulites) are a novel subject of research. They are generally trapped along the heating path by peritectic phases produced by incongruent melting reactions. Primary MI in high-grade metamorphic rocks are small, commonly 5–10 μm in diameter, and their most common mineral host is peritectic garnet. In most cases inclusions have crystallized into a cryptocrystalline aggregate and contain a granitoid phase assemblage (nanogranitoid inclusions) with quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, and one or two mica depending on the particular circumstances. After their experimental remelting under high-confining pressure, nanogranitoid MI can be analyzed combining several techniques (EMP, LA-ICP-MS, NanoSIMS, Raman). The trapped melt is granitic and metaluminous to peraluminous, and sometimes granodioritic, tonalitic, and trondhjemitic in composition, in agreement with the different ![Formula][1] conditions of melting and protolith composition, and overlap the composition of experimental glasses produced at similar conditions. Being trapped along the up-temperature trajectory—as opposed to classic MI in igneous rocks formed during down-temperature magma crystallization—fundamental information provided by nanogranitoid MI is the pristine composition of the natural primary anatectic melt for the specific rock under investigation. So far ~600 nanogranitoid MI, coming from several occurrences from different geologic and geodynamic settings and ages, have been characterized. Although the compiled MI database should be expanded to other potential sources of crustal magmas, MI data collected so far can be already used as natural "starting-point" compositions to track the processes involved in formation and evolution of granitoid magmas. [1]: /embed/mml-math-1.gi

Coseismic Ground Deformation Reproduced through Numerical Modeling: A Parameter Sensitivity Analysis

Coseismic ground displacements detected through remote sensing surveys are often used to invert the coseismic slip distribution on geologically reliable fault planes. We analyze a well-known case study (2009 L’Aquila earthquake) to investigate how three-dimensional (3D) slip configuration affects coseismic ground surface deformation. Different coseismic slip surface configurations reconstructed using aftershocks distribution and coseismic cracks, were tested using 3D boundary element method numerical models. The models include two with slip patches that reach the surface and three models of blind normal-slip surfaces with different configurations of slip along shallowly-dipping secondary faults. We test the sensitivity of surface deformation to variations in stress drop and rock stiffness. We compare numerical models’ results with line of sight (LOS) surface deformation detected from differential SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) interferometry (DInSAR). The variations in fault configuration, rock stiffness and stress drop associated with the earthquake considerably impact the pattern of surface subsidence. In particular, the models with a coseismic slip patch that does not reach the surface have a better match to the line of sight coseismic surface deformation, as well as better match to the aftershock pattern, than models with rupture that reaches the surface. The coseismic slip along shallowly dipping secondary faults seems to provide a minor contribution toward surface deformation

In Vivo Confocal Imaging of the Conjunctiva as a Predictive Tool for the Glaucoma Filtration Surgery Outcome

n/

Aging: a portrait from gene expression profile in blood cells

The availability of reliable biomarkers of aging is important not only to monitor the effect of interventions and predict the timing of pathologies associated with aging but also to understand the mechanisms and devise appropriate countermeasures. Blood cells provide an easily available tissue and gene expression profiles from whole blood samples appear to mirror disease states and some aspects of the aging process itself. We report here a microarray analysis of whole blood samples from two cohorts of healthy adult and elderly subjects, aged 43 +/- 3 and 68 +/- 4 years, respectively, to monitor gene expression changes in the initial phase of the senescence process. A number of significant changes were found in the elderly compared to the adult group, including decreased levels of transcripts coding for components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which correlate with a parallel decline in the maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max), as monitored in the same subjects. In addition, blood cells show age-related changes in the expression of several markers of immunosenescence, inflammation and oxidative stress. These findings support the notion that the immune system has a major role in tissue homeostasis and repair, which appears to be impaired since early stages of the aging process

Treatment of Relapsing Mild-to-Moderate Ulcerative Colitis With the Probiotic VSL#3 as Adjunctive to a Standard Pharmaceutical Treatment: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study

OBJECTIVES: VSL#3 is a high-potency probiotic mixture that has been used successfully in the treatment of pouchitis. The primary end point of the study was to assess the effects of supplementation with VSL#3 in patients affected by relapsing ulcerative colitis (UC) who are already under treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid (ASA) and/or immunosuppressants at stable doses. METHODS: A total of 144 consecutive patients were randomly treated for 8 weeks with VSL#3 at a dose of 3,600 billion CFU/day (71 patients) or with placebo (73 patients). RESULTS: In all, 65 patients in the VSL#3 group and 66 patients in the placebo group completed the study. The decrease in ulcerative colitis disease activity index (UCDAI) scores of 50% or more was higher in the VSL#3 group than in the placebo group (63.1 vs. 40.8; per protocol (PP) P=0.010, confidence interval (CI)\u2089\u2085(%) 0.51-0.74; intention to treat (ITT) P=0.031, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.47-0.69). Significant results with VSL#3 were recorded in an improvement of three points or more in the UCDAI score (60.5% vs. 41.4%; PP P=0.017, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.51-0.74; ITT P=0.046, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.47-0.69) and in rectal bleeding (PP P=0.014, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.46-0.70; ITT P=0.036, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.41-0.65), whereas stool frequency (PP P=0.202, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.39-0.63; ITT P=0.229, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.35-0.57), physician's rate of disease activity (PP P=0.088, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.34-0.58; ITT P=0.168, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.31-0.53), and endoscopic scores (PP P=0.086, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.74-0.92; ITT P=0.366, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.66-0.86) did not show statistical differences. Remission was higher in the VSL#3 group than in the placebo group (47.7% vs. 32.4%; PP P=0.069, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.36-0.60; ITT P=0.132, CI\u2089\u2085(%) 0.33-0.56). Eight patients on VSL#3 (11.2%) and nine patients on placebo (12.3%) reported mild side effects. CONCLUSIONS: VSL#3 supplementation is safe and able to reduce UCDAI scores in patients affected by relapsing mild-to-moderate UC who are under treatment with 5-ASA and/or immunosuppressants. Moreover, VSL#3 improves rectal bleeding and seems to reinduce remission in relapsing UC patients after 8 weeks of treatment, although these parameters do not reach statistical significance

Post COVID-19 irritable bowel syndrome

Objectives: The long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection on the gastrointestinal tract remain unclear. Here, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms and post-COVID-19 disorders of gut-brain interaction after hospitalisation for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Design: GI-COVID-19 is a prospective, multicentre, controlled study. Patients with and without COVID-19 diagnosis were evaluated on hospital admission and after 1, 6 and 12 months post hospitalisation. Gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety and depression were assessed using validated questionnaires. Results: The study included 2183 hospitalised patients. The primary analysis included a total of 883 patients (614 patients with COVID-19 and 269 controls) due to the exclusion of patients with pre-existing gastrointestinal symptoms and/or surgery. At enrolment, gastrointestinal symptoms were more frequent among patients with COVID-19 than in the control group (59.3% vs 39.7%, p<0.001). At the 12-month follow-up, constipation and hard stools were significantly more prevalent in controls than in patients with COVID-19 (16% vs 9.6%, p=0.019 and 17.7% vs 10.9%, p=0.011, respectively). Compared with controls, patients with COVID-19 reported higher rates of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) according to Rome IV criteria: 0.5% versus 3.2%, p=0.045. Factors significantly associated with IBS diagnosis included history of allergies, chronic intake of proton pump inhibitors and presence of dyspnoea. At the 6-month follow-up, the rate of patients with COVID-19 fulfilling the criteria for depression was higher than among controls. Conclusion: Compared with controls, hospitalised patients with COVID-19 had fewer problems of constipation and hard stools at 12 months after acute infection. Patients with COVID-19 had significantly higher rates of IBS than controls. Trial registration number: NCT04691895

The association between insight and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia: Undirected and Bayesian network analyses

Background. Greater levels of insight may be linked with depressive symptoms among patients with schizophrenia, however, it would be useful to characterize this association at symptom-level, in order to inform research on interventions. Methods. Data on depressive symptoms (Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia) and insight (G12 item from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) were obtained from 921 community-dwelling, clinically-stable individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia, recruited in a nationwide multicenter study. Network analysis was used to explore the most relevant connections between insight and depressive symptoms, including potential confounders in the model (neurocognitive and social-cognitive functioning, positive, negative and disorganization symptoms, extrapyramidal symptoms, hostility, internalized stigma, and perceived discrimination). Bayesian network analysis was used to estimate a directed acyclic graph (DAG) while investigating the most likely direction of the putative causal association between insight and depression. Results. After adjusting for confounders, better levels of insight were associated with greater self-depreciation, pathological guilt, morning depression and suicidal ideation. No difference in global network structure was detected for socioeconomic status, service engagement or illness severity. The DAG confirmed the presence of an association between greater insight and self-depreciation, suggesting the more probable causal direction was from insight to depressive symptoms. Conclusions. In schizophrenia, better levels of insight may cause self-depreciation and, possibly, other depressive symptoms. Person-centered and narrative psychotherapeutic approaches may be particularly fit to improve patient insight without dampening self-esteem

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio