Recognizing megatsunamis in Mediterranean deep sea sediments based on the massive deposits of the 365 CE Crete event.

The Mediterranean Sea hosts two subduction systems along the convergent Africa-Eurasia plate boundary that have produced strong ground shaking and generated tsunamis. Based on historical descriptions and sedimentary records, one of these events, in 365 CE, impacted a broad geographical area, including tsunami evidence for distances of 700-800 km from the source event, qualifying it as a 'megatsunami'. Understanding how megatsunamis are produced, and where they are more likely, requires a better understanding of the different secondary processes linked to these events such as massive slope failures, multiple turbidity current generation, and basin seiching. Our sedimentary records from an extensive collection of cores located in distal and disconnected basins, identify turbidites which are analyzed using granulometry, elemental (XRF), micropaleontological, and geochemical data in order to reconstruct their coastal or marine source. The results show that the 365 CE basin floor sediments are a mixture of inner shelf and slope materials. The tsunami wave produced multiple far-field slope failures that resulted in stacked basal turbidites. It also caused transport of continent-derived organic carbon and deposition over basal turbidites and into isolated basins of the deep ocean. The composition of sediment in isolated basins suggests their deposition by large-scale sheet like flows similar to what has been caused by the Tohoku earthquake associated tsunamis. This is significant for rectifying and resolving where risk is greatest and how cross-basin tsunamis are generated. Based on these results, estimates of the underlying deposits from the same locations were interpreted as possible older megatsunamis.

A Quantitative Framework to Evaluate Proarrhythmic Risk in a First-in-Human Study to Support Waiver of a Thorough QT Study.

The effects of GS-4997 (apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 inhibitor) on cardiac repolarization were evaluated using a systematic modeling approach in a first-in-human (FIH) study. High quality, intensive, time-matched 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained in this placebo-controlled, single and multiple-ascending dose study in healthy subjects. Model development entailed linearity and hysteresis assessments; GS-4997/metabolite concentration vs. baseline-adjusted QTcF (ΔQTcF) relationships were determined using linear mixed effects models. Bootstrapping was used to obtain 90% confidence intervals (CIs) of predicted placebo-corrected ΔQTcF (ΔΔQTcF). The upper bound of 90% CI for predicted ΔΔQTcF was <10 msec at therapeutic and supratherapeutic GS-4997/metabolite levels, indicating the absence of a QT prolongation effect. Model performance/suitability was assessed using sensitivity/specificity analyses and diagnostic evaluations. This comprehensive methodology, supported by clinical pharmacology characteristics, was deemed adequate to assess the proarrhythmic risk of GS-4997/metabolite by the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency resulting in a successful waiver from a dedicated thorough QT (TQT) study.

The investigation of stress in resource-dependent communities: the effect of rapid socioeconomic changes on mental health service use.

Drawing on census data and psychiatric hospital records, this paper examines the impact of rapid socioeconomic change on the mental health of residents in Northwestern Ontario resource-dependent communities. This research investigates whether residents in economically growing and declining communities experience more mental distress and use more psychiatric services than people in stable communities. Findings show socio-demographic change is associated with significant differences in psychiatric hospital utilization between different types of communities, with bust communities illustrating the highest rates (5.5/1,000). Furthermore, acute stress symptoms are reported much more frequently in bust and boom communities than in stable communities. Results of multiple regression analysis indicate that decreasing household income level also contributes to increasing rates of mental health service utilization.

Bacterial adsorption to smooth surfaces: Rate, extent, and spatial pattern.

The influence of bulk-water bacterial cell concentration and specific growth rate history on bacterial adsorption rates to surfaces was investigated using response surface analysis. A pure culture of Pseudomonas sp. 224S was grown in a chemostat and pumped into a continuous flow reactor where the bacteria were exposed to clean, glass surfaces under turbulent flow conditions for a period of six hours. Adsorption rate decreased approximately linearly with increasing specific growth rate history. Glass surfaces became saturated with 224S at ca. 0.1% coverage and the resulting spatial pattern of the adsorbed cells deviated from random in the direction of uniformity.

Side-scan sonar assessment of gray whale feeding in the bering sea.

Side-scan sonar was used to map and measure feeding pits of the California gray whale over 22,000 square kilometers of the northeastern Bering Sea floor. The distribution of pits, feeding whales, ampeliscid amphipods (whale prey), and a fine-sand substrate bearing the amphipods were all closely correlated. The central Chirikov Basin and nearshore areas of Saint Lawrence Island supply at least 6.5 percent of the total gray whale food resource in summer. While feeding, the whales resuspend at least 1.2 x 10(8) cubic meters of sediment annually; this significantly affects the geology and biology of the region.

Hematopoietic differentiation cell surface antigen switching in the bone marrow of different aged chickens.

Immune cytolysis and immunofluorescence were used to examine chicken fetal antigen CFA) and chicken adult antigen (CAA) expression on the differentiation/maturation series of definitive erythroid cells obtained from the bone marrow of different aged chickens. We found that erythroid cells undergo changes in CFA/CAA antigenic expression dependent on their differentiation/maturation stages as well as the developmental age of the chicken. All differentiation/maturation stages of erythroid cells in the bone marrow of 12 and 18-day-old embryos express CFA only. Erythroblasts obtained from 7-day post-hatched chickens express either CFA or CAA. All three CFA/CAA phenotypes (i.e., CFA, CAA, and CFA + CAA) are observed in subsequent maturation stages, but only the CFA + CAA phenotype is observed in mature erythroid cells in the bone marrow of 7-day post-hatched chickens. Erythroblasts from 62 day post-hatched chickens exhibit all three CFA/CAA phenotypes. Cells in the subsequent maturation stages express various CFA, CAA, or CFA + CAA phenotypes resulting in a majority of the mature erythrocytes expressing both CFA and CAA, and a small population of mature erythrocytes expressing CAA only. Erythroblasts from adult chickens express both CFA and CAA; however, CFA is lost during erythroid maturation resulting in mature erythrocytes which express CAA only. These studies indicate that both the erythroid differentiation/ maturation stage and the developmental age of the chicken influence CFA and CAA antigenic expression on erythroid cells undergoing cellular differentiation/maturation in the bone marrow.

Chicken fetal and adult antigen expression on erythroleukemia cells before and after induced differentiation.

Avian erythroblastosis virus strain R (AEV)-transformed, cloned erythroleukemia cells from three different ages of SC strain chickens were analyzed before and after differentiation induced by 1.0 mM butyric acid for expression of chicken fetal antigens (CFAs) and chicken adult antigens (CAAs) and for hemoglobin expression. Immunofluorescent analyses show the loss of individual CFA determinants from erythroleukemia cells with induced differentiation, although there appeared to be no correlation between CFA loss and onset of hemoglobin production. Erythroleukemia cells were examined by cell surface labeling followed by immunoprecipitation with antisera specific to CFAs and CAAs. Erythroleukemia cells expressed CFAs and CAAs on their membranes that are not reported to be expressed by the target cell of AEV. The expression of CAAs and the enhanced expression of CFAs by erythroleukemia cells may be due to limited cellular differentiation, alterations in regulatory controls of genes coding for CFAs and CAAs, or increased levels of production of previously undetected CFAs and CAAs following AEV transformation. Control and induced erythroleukemia cells expressed CFAs and CAAs that differed both quantitatively and qualitatively from normal erythroid cells. Molecular weight variations of CFAs and CAAs observed in the erythroleukemia cells may represent glycolyzation differences between AEV-transformed cells and normal erythroid cells.

Chicken fetal antigen (CFA) expression on the primitive erythroid maturation series.

Indirect immunofluorescence was utilized to study the expression of chicken fetal antigens (CFA), developmentally phasic membrane antigens, on the primitive erythroid series during chick embryo development. Cells of this series expressed CFA determinants at all four stages of cellular maturation. However, the relative intensity of fluorescent staining (measurement of CFA determinants) varied with development. CFA determinant loss was correlated with the age of the embryo, and the stage of cellular maturation. Indirect immunofluorescence utilizing antisera capable of detecting eight individual CFA determinants revealed that all eight CFA determinants were present on early polychromatic erythrocytes of the primitive series, but that a selective and sequential loss of CFA determinants occurred in later stages. The data suggest that certain CFA determinants are differentially expressed during primitive erythroid cellular maturation in the developing chick embryo.

Chicken fetal antigen expression on the definitive erythroid maturation series in the bone marrow of the adult chicken.

Chicken fetal antigen (CFA) describes a membrane developmental antigen system present on embryonic and fetal erythroid cells that is present during development, but is absent on erythrocytes of mature chickens. In this study, CFA was detected by indirect immunofluorescence and correlated with six stages of morphological maturation of erythroid cells. All cells in the erythroid series through the late polychromatic erythrocyte (reticulocyte) stage were found to possess CFA. Fluorescent intensity and staining patterns of the definitive erythroid series demonstrated CFA concentration increase and distribution pattern change throughout erythroid maturation.

Mazama ash in the northeastern pacific.

Volcanic glass in marine sediments off Oregon and Washington correlates with continental deposits of Mount Mazama ash by stratigraphic position, refractive index, and radiocarbon dating. Ash deposited in the abyssal regions by turbidity currents is used for tracing of the dispersal routes of postglacial sediments and for evaluation of marine sedimentary processes.