Fluorescent Chrysotile From Sterling Hill, New Jersey

Minerals of the serpentine group, notably chrysotile and to a lesser extent lizardite, are widely present at both Franklin and Sterling Hill. They are late-stage hydrous magnesium silicate minerals that formed by hydrothermal alteration of earlier species, among them willemite and tephroite, and are also common components of hydrothermal veins cutting the ore bodies and the enclosing marble (Dunn, 1995). Although long recognized in the area (Fowler, 1825), local serpentine was not documented as a fluorescent mineral until 2004, when a brief description of a fluorescent serpentine from Franklin appeared in The Picking Table (Cianciulli, 2004). In the present paper, we describe additional examples of fluorescent serpentine, most from Sterling Hill.

Suitability of real-time quantitative PCR to estimate the relative telomere length in European Hake (Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758)

Telomere length measurement has been proposed as a promising tool to estimate the age of individuals in natural populations. We used real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) to measure relative telomere length in four tissues (brain, kidney, liver and muscle) of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in different groups based upon body length an otolith age estimate. We observed a high level of inter-individual differences in the measurements of relative telomere length in hakes of similar age and body length groups. The results of qPCR analysis showed a great variability in all measures and a lack of repeatability and reproducibility with significant statistical differences in the results of the different assays. The paper discusses the technical reasons for the variability in qPCR obtained in this work and by other authors.