A global marine sedimentary response to the end-Permian mass extinction: Examples from southern Turkey and the western United States

The end-Permian mass extinction greatly diminished marine diversity and brought about a whole-scale restructuring of marine ecosystems; these ecosystem changes also profoundly affected the sedimentary record. Data presented here, attained through facies analyses of strata deposited during the immediate aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction (southern Turkey) and at the close of the Early Triassic (southwestern United States), in combination with a literature review, show that sedimentary systems were profoundly affected by: (1) a reduction in biotic diversity and abundance and (2) long-term environmental fluctuations that resulted from the end-Permian crisis. Lower Triassic strata display widespread microbialite and carbonate seafloor fan development and contain indicators of suppressed infaunal bioturbation such as flat-pebble conglomerates and wrinkle structures (facies considered unusual in post-Cambrian subtidal deposits). Our observations suggest that depositional systems, too, respond to biotic crises, and that certain facies may act as barometers of ecologic and environmental change independent of fossil assemblage analyses. Close investigation of facies changes during other critical times in Earth history may serve as an important tool in interpreting the ecology of metazoans and their environment.

Catechol-binding serines of beta(2)-adrenergic receptors control the equilibrium between active and inactive receptor states.

The binding free energy for the interaction between serines 204 and 207 of the fifth transmembrane helix of the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (beta(2)-AR) and catecholic hydroxyl (OH) groups of adrenergic agonists was analyzed using double mutant cycles. Binding affinities for catecholic and noncatecholic agonists were measured in wild-type and mutant receptors, carrying alanine replacement of the two serines (S204A, S207A beta(2)-AR), a constitutive activating mutation, or both. The free energy coupling between the losses of binding energy attributable to OH deletion from the ligand and from the receptor indicates a strong interaction (nonadditivity) as expected for a direct binding between the two sets of groups. However, we also measured a significant interaction between the deletion of OH groups from the receptor and the constitutive activating mutation. This suggests that a fraction of the decrease in agonist affinity caused by serine mutagenesis may involve a shift in the conformational equilibrium of the receptor toward the inactive state. Direct measurements using a transient transfection assay confirm this prediction. The constitutive activity of the (S204A, S207A) beta(2)-AR mutant is 50 to 60% lower than that of the wild-type beta(2)-AR. We conclude that S204 and S207 do not only provide a docking site for the agonist, but also control the equilibrium of the receptor between active (R*) and inactive (R) forms.

Un "régime méditerranéen" bon à penser : la lisibilité sociale et médicale des pratiques alimentaires des migrants italiens aux Etats-Unis et en Suisse (20e siècle) = The good "Mediterranean diet" : medical and social readability of food practices among Italian migrants in the United-States and Switzerland (20th century)

[Ressource électronique] : open access journal

Developing psychosis and its risk States through the lens of schizotypy.

Starting from the early descriptions of Kraepelin and Bleuler, the construct of schizotypy was developed from observations of aberrations in nonpsychotic family members of schizophrenia patients. In contemporary diagnostic manuals, the positive symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder were included in the ultra high-risk (UHR) criteria 20 years ago, and nowadays are broadly employed in clinical early detection of psychosis. The schizotypy construct, now dissociated from strict familial risk, also informed research on the liability to develop any psychotic disorder, and in particular schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, even outside clinical settings. Against the historical background of schizotypy it is surprising that evidence from longitudinal studies linking schizotypy, UHR, and conversion to psychosis has only recently emerged; and it still remains unclear how schizotypy may be positioned in high-risk research. Following a comprehensive literature search, we review 18 prospective studies on 15 samples examining the evidence for a link between trait schizotypy and conversion to psychosis in 4 different types of samples: general population, clinical risk samples according to UHR and/or basic symptom criteria, genetic (familial) risk, and clinical samples at-risk for a nonpsychotic schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis. These prospective studies underline the value of schizotypy in high-risk research, but also point to the lack of evidence needed to better define the position of the construct of schizotypy within a developmental psychopathology perspective of emerging psychosis and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

The Learning Affect Monitor (LAM) - A computer-based system integrating quantitative and qualitative assessment of affective states in daily life.

The Learning Affect Monitor (LAM) is a new computer-based assessment system integrating basic dimensional evaluation and discrete description of affective states in daily life, based on an autonomous adapting system. Subjects evaluate their affective states according to a tridimensional space (valence and activation circumplex as well as global intensity) and then qualify it using up to 30 adjective descriptors chosen from a list. The system gradually adapts to the user, enabling the affect descriptors it presents to be increasingly relevant. An initial study with 51 subjects, using a 1 week time-sampling with 8 to 10 randomized signals per day, produced n = 2,813 records with good reliability measures (e.g., response rate of 88.8%, mean split-half reliability of .86), user acceptance, and usability. Multilevel analyses show circadian and hebdomadal patterns, and significant individual and situational variance components of the basic dimension evaluations. Validity analyses indicate sound assignment of qualitative affect descriptors in the bidimensional semantic space according to the circumplex model of basic affect dimensions. The LAM assessment module can be implemented on different platforms (palm, desk, mobile phone) and provides very rapid and meaningful data collection, preserving complex and interindividually comparable information in the domain of emotion and well-being.

Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 in various disease states.

The association of increased PA-inhibitor (PAI) activity and of PAI-1 and PAI-2 antigen levels with different pathological conditions was studied in a collective of over 300 patients. PAI-1 and PAI-2 levels were measured by specific radioimmunoassays. A good correlation was observed of PAI activity with PAI-1 antigen (r = 0.718; p less than 0.0001) but not with PAI-2 (r = 0.070; n.s.). Both in the controls and in the patients, PAI activity and PAI-1 antigen showed an extremely large range of values. PAI activity ranged from 0.5 to 68 U/ml and PAI-1 antigen from 6 to 600 ng/ml. Increased PAI activity and PAI-1 antigen was observed in patients with malignant tumors, cardiovascular or thromboembolic disease, in the postoperative phase, with hepatic insufficiency, after trauma and after extracorporeal circulation. The large spectrum of disease states with increased PAI activity and PAI-1 antigen reinforces previous suggestions that PAI-1 is an acute phase reactant. After extracorporeal circulation, PAI activity and PAI-1 concentrations strongly increased within one hour, remained elevated for at least one week and returned to preoperation values within 7 days. PAI-2 values ranged from below detection limit (15 ng/ml), observed in half of the plasmas, to 485 ng/ml in a pregnant woman. High values of PAI-2 were only observed in pregnancy.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined with EEG Reveals Covert States of Elevated Excitability in the Human Epileptic Brain.

BACKGROUND: Transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalogram (TMS-EEG) can be used to explore the dynamical state of neuronal networks. In patients with epilepsy, TMS can induce epileptiform discharges (EDs) with a stochastic occurrence despite constant stimulation parameters. This observation raises the possibility that the pre-stimulation period contains multiple covert states of brain excitability some of which are associated with the generation of EDs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the interictal period contains "high excitability" states that upon brain stimulation produce EDs and can be differentiated from "low excitability" states producing normal appearing TMS-EEG responses. METHODS: In a cohort of 25 patients with Genetic Generalized Epilepsies (GGE) we identified two subjects characterized by the intermittent development of TMS-induced EDs. The high-excitability in the pre-stimulation period was assessed using multiple measures of univariate time series analysis. Measures providing optimal discrimination were identified by feature selection techniques. The "high excitability" states emerged in multiple loci (indicating diffuse cortical hyperexcitability) and were clearly differentiated on the basis of 14 measures from "low excitability" states (accuracy = 0.7). CONCLUSION: In GGE, the interictal period contains multiple, quasi-stable covert states of excitability a class of which is associated with the generation of TMS-induced EDs. The relevance of these findings to theoretical models of ictogenesis is discussed.

Image Resilience after Multiple Crises : The Case of Switzerland in the United States

In der heutigen Welt sind die Reputation und das Image eines Landes als wichtige Faktoren für den wirtschaftlichen und politischen Erfolg angesehen. Jedoch ist die Pflege der Marke eines Landes komplex und führt zu zwei Positionen, die sich potentiell widersprechen: Einerseits kann ein positives Erscheinungsbild eines Landes durch aktive Massnahmen gefördert werden. Andererseits ist es schwierig, das Bild eines Landes abzugrenzen und es ist mit Klischees behaftet. Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Auswirkungen von zwei grösseren Krisen auf das Image der Schweiz in den Vereinigten Staaten: die Krise um die nachrichtenlosen Vermögen aus der Zeit des 2. Weltkriegs im Jahr 2000 sowie die Krise um die UBS und das Bankgeheimnis im Jahr 2009. Die Studie zeigt, dass das Erscheinungsbild der Schweiz unberührt blieb, obwohl ein beachtlicher Teil der Bevölkerung und der Meinungsführer von beiden Krisen wusste. Dies stützt die Hypothese, dass das Image eines Landes eine hohe Beständigkeit aufweist. In today's world, country's reputation and image have become key issues, widely believed to be success factors both economically and politically. Nevertheless, managing a country's brand is complex and leads to two positions that are potentially contradictory: On the one hand, a country's image can be influenced either by promotional activities. On the other hand, a country's image is a construct that is very difficult to delimit and is highly stereotyped. This contribution study the impact of two major crises on the image of Switzerland in the United States: the unclaimed wartime deposits crisis in 2000 and the UBS and banking secrecy crisis in 2009. It shows that despite the fact that a substantial proportion of the public and of opinion leaders was aware of both crises, the image of Switzerland was unaffected, which tends to support the hypothesis of strong stability of a country's image.