Ancient DNA, a Neolithic legging from the Swiss Alps and the early history of goat

Ancient DNA from a Neolithic legging (1st half of the 3rd millennium BC) found at Lenk, Schnidejoch (2750 m a.sl.) in the Swiss Alps has demonstrated, that modern distribution of genetic variation does not reflect past spatio-temporal signatures. The legging was made from the skin of a domestic goat (Capra hircus), belonging to the caprine haplogroup B1, which is marginal in Europe today, but represents a third highly diverse goat haplogroup entering Europe already in the Neolithic. Population expansion of lineage B therefore happened more than 4500 years ago, but their members were at some point almost completely replaced by goats of today's common A and C haplogroups.

Management of ST-elevation myocardial infarction according to European and American guidelines.

AIMS To highlight differences between the most recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association (ACCF/AHA) on the management of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS ESC 2012 and ACCF/AHA 2013 guidelines on the management of STEMI were systematically reviewed for consistency. Recommendations were matched, directly compared in terms of class of recommendation and level of evidence, and classified as "identical", "overlapping", or "different". Out of 32 recommendations compared, 26 recommendations (81%) were classified as identical or overlapping, and six recommendations (19%) were classified as different. Most diverging recommendations were related to minor differences in class of recommendation between the two documents. This applies to recommendations for reperfusion therapy >12 hours after symptom onset, immediate transfer of all patients after fibrinolytic therapy, rescue PCI for patients with failed fibrinolysis, and intra-aortic balloon pump use in patients with cardiogenic shock. More substantial differences were observed with respect to the type of P2Y12 inhibitor and duration of dual antiplatelet therapy. CONCLUSIONS The majority of recommendations for the management of STEMI according to ESC and ACCF/AHA guidelines were identical or overlapping. Differences were explained by gaps in available evidence, in which case expert consensus differed between European and American guidelines due to divergence in interpretation, perception, and culture of medical practice. Systematic comparisons of European and American guidelines are valuable and indicate that interpretation of available evidence leads to agreement in the vast majority of topics. The latter is indirect support for the process of review and guideline preparation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Lung cancer in the Canton of St. Gallen, Eastern Switzerland: sex-associated differences in smoking habits, disease presentation and survival.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess sex-associated differences in lung cancer patients in Eastern Switzerland. METHODS All 670 lung cancer patients referred to the cancer center in St. Gallen between January 2000 and December 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. We investigated sex-associated differences in age, smoking habits, histology, stage, treatment and survival. RESULTS There were 474 (71%) men and 196 (29%) women with lung cancer. Mean age at the time of diagnosis was 64 years for women and 67 years for men (p = 0.01). Of the patients <55 years of age, 47 (24%) were women and only 65 (14%) were men. Men smoked significantly more than women (median pack-years: 50 vs. 30; p < 0.001). Of the heavy smokers (>40 pack-years), 278 (56%) were men and 68 (33%) were women. More men had squamous cell carcinoma (36%) than women (17%). Conversely, more women presented with adenocarcinoma (48%) than men (27%). No significant sex-associated differences were observed when analyzing first treatments received. Median overall survival was 10 months for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS In Eastern Switzerland, women with lung cancer were younger, more likely to have smoked significantly less and more likely to have adenocarcinoma, compared to men with lung cancer. These findings are consistent with those found in other western populations.

The rose of Castille : opera in three acts ; ... and performed in the presence of Her Majesty and the Court (by Royal command) on the occasion of the festival performances at Her Majesty's Theatre, in honor of the nuptials of The Princess Royal and The Prince of Prussia, January 21, 1858

the music (composed expressly for the Pyne and Harrison English opera Company) by M. W. Balfe. [Text] by A. Harris and E. Falconer

Fatty acids and intact polar lipids of laminated microbial sediments from St. Peter Ording, German Wadden Sea

Hidden for the untrained eye through a thin layer of sand, laminated microbial sediments occur in supratidal beaches along the North Sea coast. The inhabiting microbial communities organize themselves in response to vertical gradients of light, oxygen or sulfur compounds. We performed a fine-scale investigation on the vertical zonation of the microbial communities using a lipid biomarker approach, and assessed the biogeochemical processes using a combination of microsensor measurements and a 13C-labeling experiment. Lipid biomarker fingerprinting showed the overarching importance of cyanobacteria and diatoms in these systems, and heterocyst glycolipids revealed the presence of diazotrophic cyanobacteria even in 9 to 20 mm depth. High abundance of ornithine lipids (OL) throughout the system may derive from sulfate reducing bacteria, while a characteristic OL profile between 5 and 8 mm may indicate presence of purple non-sulfur bacteria. The fate of 13C-labeled bicarbonate was followed by experimentally investigating the uptake into microbial lipids, revealing an overarching importance of cyanobacteria for carbon fixation. However, in deeper layers, uptake into purple sulfur bacteria was evident, and a close microbial coupling could be shown by uptake of label into lipids of sulfate reducing bacteria in the deepest layer. Microsensor measurements in sediment cores collected at a later time point revealed the same general pattern as the biomarker analysis and the labeling experiments. Oxygen and pH-microsensor profiles showed active photosynthesis in the top layer. The sulfide that diffuses from deeper down and decreases just below the layer of active oxygenic photosynthesis indicates the presence of sulfur bacteria, like anoxygenic phototrophs that use sulfide instead of water for photosynthesis.

Stable isotope record, Mg/Ca ratios and age model of St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama

In the largest global cooling event of the Cenozoic Era, between 33.8 and 33.5 Myr ago, warm, high-CO2 conditions gave way to the variable 'icehouse' climates that prevail today. Despite intense study, the history of cooling versus ice-sheet growth and sea-level fall reconstructed from oxygen isotope values in marine sediments at the transition has not been resolved. Here, we analyse oxygen isotopes and Mg/Ca ratios of benthic foraminifera, and integrate the results with the stratigraphic record of sea-level change across the Eocene-Oligocene transition from a continental-shelf site at Saint Stephens Quarry, Alabama. Comparisons with deep-sea (Sites 522 (South Atlantic) and 1218 (Pacific)) d18O and Mg/Ca records enable us to reconstruct temperature, ice-volume and sea-level changes across the climate transition. Our records show that the transition occurred in at least three distinct steps, with an increasing influence of ice volume on the oxygen isotope record as the transition progressed. By the early Oligocene, ice sheets were ~25% larger than present. This growth was associated with a relative sea-level decrease of approximately 105 m, which equates to a 67 m eustatic fall.