Planktonic foraminiferal d18O and d13C values, derived sea-surface temperatures from d18O and selected planktonic foraminiferal species for core P69 of Hawke Bay off eastern North Island

Recent evidence suggests that the Subtropical Convergence (STC) zone east of New Zealand shifted little from its modern position along Chatham Rise during the last glaciation, and that offshore surface waters north of the STC zone cooled only slightly. However, at nearshore core site P69 (2195 m depth), 115 km off the east coast of North Island and ca 300 km north of the modern STC zone, planktonic foraminiferal species, transfer function data and stable oxygen and carbon isotope records suggest that surface waters were colder by up to 6°C during the late last glacial period compared to the Holocene, and included a strong upwelling signature. Presently site P69 is bathed by south-flowing subtropical waters in the East Cape Current. The nearshore western end of Chatham Rise supports a major bathymetric depression, the Mernoo Saddle, through which some exchange between northern subtropical and southern subantarctic water presently occurs. It is proposed that as a result of much intensified current flows south of the Rise during the last glaciation, a consequence of more compressed subantarctic water masses, lowered sea level, and an expanded and stronger Westerly Wind system, there was accelerated leakage northwards of both Australasian Subantarctic Water and upwelled Antarctic Intermediate Water over Mernoo Saddle in a modified and intensified Southland Current. The expanded cold water masses displaced the south-flowing warm East Cape Current off southeastern North Island, and offshore divergence was accompanied by wind-assisted upwelling of nutrient-rich waters in the vicinity of P69. A comparable kind of inshore cold water jetting possibly characterised most glacial periods since the latest Miocene, and may account for the occasional occurrence of subantarctic marine fossils in onland late Cenozoic deposits north of the STC zone, rather than invoking wholesale major oscillations of the oceanic STC itself.

Sedimentary record of the western Amundsen Sea Embayment after the last glacial maximum

Reliable dating of glaciomarine sediments deposited on the Antarctic shelf since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is very challenging because of the general absence of calcareous (micro-) fossils and the recycling of fossil organic matter. As a consequence, radiocarbon (14C) ages of the acid-insoluble organic fraction (AIO) of the sediments bear uncertainties that are very difficult to quantify. In this paper we present the results of three different chronostratigraphic methods to date a sedimentary unit consisting of diatomaceous ooze and diatomaceous mud that was deposited following the last deglaciation at five core sites on the inner shelf in the western Amundsen Sea (West Antarctica). In three cores conventional 14C dating of the AIO in bulk sediment samples yielded age reversals down-core, but at all sites the AIO 14C ages obtained from diatomaceous ooze within the diatom-rich unit yielded similar uncorrected 14C ages ranging from 13,517±56 to 11,543±47 years before present (yr BP). Correction of these ages by subtracting the core-top ages, which are assumed to reflect present-day deposition (as indicated by 21044 Pb dating of the sediment surface at one core site), yielded ages between ca. 10,500 and 8,400 calibrated years before present (cal yr BP). Correction of the AIO ages of the diatomaceous ooze by only subtracting the marine reservoir effect (MRE) of 1,300 years indicated deposition of the diatom-rich sediments between 14,100 and 11,900 cal yr BP. Most of these ages are consistent with age constraints between 13.0 and 8.0 ka BP for the diatom-rich unit, which we obtained by correlating the relative palaeomagnetic intensity (RPI) records of three of the sediment cores with global and regional reference curves for palaeomagnetic intensity. As a third dating technique we applied conventional 53 radiocarbon dating of the AIO included in acid-cleaned diatom hard parts that were extracted from the diatomaceous ooze. This method yielded uncorrected 14C ages of only 5,111±38 and 5,106±38 yr BP, respectively. We reject these young ages, because they are likely to be overprinted by the adsorption of modern atmospheric carbon dioxide onto the surfaces of the extracted diatom hard parts prior to sample graphitisation and combustion for 14C dating. The deposition of the diatom-rich unit in the western Amundsen Sea suggests deglaciation of the inner shelf before ca. 13 ka BP. The deposition of diatomaceous oozes on other parts of the Antarctic shelf around the same time, however, seems to be coincidental rather than directly related.

Seawater carbonate chemistry, calcification and dissolution response, and skeletal mineralogy of benthic orhanisms during experiments, 2011

Increasing atmospheric pCO2 reduces the saturation state of seawater with respect to the aragonite, high-Mg calcite (Mg/Ca > 0.04), and low-Mg calcite (Mg/Ca < 0.04) minerals from which marine calcifiers build their shells and skeletons. Notably, these polymorphs of CaCO3 have different solubilities in seawater: aragonite is more soluble than pure calcite, and the solubility of calcite increases with its Mg-content. Although much recent progress has been made investigating the effects of CO2-induced ocean acidification on rates of biological calcification, considerable uncertainties remain regarding impacts on shell/skeletal polymorph mineralogy. To investigate this subject, eighteen species of marine calcifiers were reared for 60-days in seawater bubbled with air-CO2 mixtures of 409 ± 6, 606 ± 7, 903 ± 12, and 2856 ± 54 ppm pCO2, yielding aragonite saturation states of 2.5 ± 0.4, 2.0 ± 0.4, 1.5 ± 0.3, and 0.7 ± 0.2. Calcite/aragonite ratios within bimineralic calcifiers increased with increasing pCO2, but were invariant within monomineralic calcifiers. Calcite Mg/Ca ratios (Mg/CaC) also varied with atmospheric pCO2 for two of the five high-Mg-calcite-producing organisms, but not for the low-Mg-calcite-producing organisms. These results suggest that shell/skeletal mineralogy within some-but not all-marine calcifiers will change as atmospheric pCO2 continues rising as a result of fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. Paleoceanographic reconstructions of seawater Mg/Ca, temperature, and salinity from the Mg/CaC of well-preserved calcitic marine fossils may also be improved by accounting for the effects of paleo-atmospheric pCO2 on skeletal Mg-fractionation.

Stable isotope ratios of a oyster Hyotissa hyotis from the northern Red Sea

This study explores the giant oyster Hyotissa hyotis as a novel environmental archive in tropical reef environments of the Indo-Pacific. The species is a typical accessory component in coral reefs, can reach sizes of tens of centimetres, and dates back to the Late Pleistocene. Here, a 70.2-mm-long oxygen and carbon isotope transect through the shell of a specimen collected at Safaga Bay, northern Red Sea, in May 1996, is presented. The transect runs perpendicularly to the foliate and vesicular layers of the inner ostracum near the ligament area of the oyster. The measured d18O and d13C records show sinusoidal fluctuations, which are independent of shell microstructure. The d13C fluctuations exhibit the same wavelength as the d18O fluctuations but are phase shifted. The d18O record reflects the sea surface temperature variations from 1957 until 1996, possibly additionally influenced by the local evaporation. Due to locally enhanced evaporation in the semi-enclosed Safaga Bay, the d18Oseawater value is estimated at 2.17 per mil, i.e., 0.3-0.8 per mil higher than published open surface water d18O values (1.36-1.85 per mil) from the region. The mean water temperature deviates by only 0.4°C from the expected value, and the minimum and maximum values are 0.5°C lower and 2.9°C higher, respectively. When comparing the mean monthly values, however, the sea surface temperature discrepancy between reconstructed and global grid datasets is always <1.0°C. The d13C signal is weakly negatively correlated with regional chlorophyll a concentration and with the sunshine duration, which may reflect changes in the bivalve's respiration. The study emphasises the palaeogeographic context in isotope studies based on fossils, because coastal embayments might not reflect open-water oceanographic conditions.

Efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the human papillomavirus 16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine in women older than 25 years : 7-year follow-up of the phase 3, double-blind, randomised controlled VIVIANE study

Acknowledgments The VIVIANE study was funded and coordinated by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, which also covered all costs associated with development and publication of this report. We thank all study participants and their families. We gratefully acknowledge the work of the central and local study coordinators, and staff members of the sites who participated in this study. Writing support services were provided by Mary Greenacre (An Sgriobhadair, Isle of Barra, UK), on behalf of GSK Vaccines; editing and publication coordination services were provided by Jérôme Leemans (Keyrus Biopharma, Lasne, Belgium), Stéphanie Delval (XPE Pharma and Science, Wavre, Belgium), and Matthieu Depuydt (Business Decision Life Sciences, Brussels, Belgium), on behalf of GSK Vaccines

18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the management of aggressive non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma

18-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET/CT) is an established imaging modality that has been proven to be of benefit in the management of aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and advanced stage follicular lymphoma. The combination of anatomic and functional imaging afforded by FDG-PET/CT has led to superior sensitivity and specificity in the primary staging, restaging, and assessment of response to treatment of hematological malignancies when compared to FDG-PET and CT alone. The use of FDG-PET/CT for post treatment surveillance imaging remains controversial, and further study is needed to ascertain whether this modality is cost effective and appropriate for use in this setting.

Internal carotid arterial canal size and scaling in Euarchonta: Re-assessing implications for arterial patency and phylogenetic relationships in early fossil primates.

Primate species typically differ from other mammals in having bony canals that enclose the branches of the internal carotid artery (ICA) as they pass through the middle ear. The presence and relative size of these canals varies among major primate clades. As a result, differences in the anatomy of the canals for the promontorial and stapedial branches of the ICA have been cited as evidence of either haplorhine or strepsirrhine affinities among otherwise enigmatic early fossil euprimates. Here we use micro X-ray computed tomography to compile the largest quantitative dataset on ICA canal sizes. The data suggest greater variation of the ICA canals within some groups than has been previously appreciated. For example, Lepilemur and Avahi differ from most other lemuriforms in having a larger promontorial canal than stapedial canal. Furthermore, various lemurids are intraspecifically variable in relative canal size, with the promontorial canal being larger than the stapedial canal in some individuals but not others. In species where the promontorial artery supplies the brain with blood, the size of the promontorial canal is significantly correlated with endocranial volume (ECV). Among species with alternate routes of encephalic blood supply, the promontorial canal is highly reduced relative to ECV, and correlated with both ECV and cranium size. Ancestral state reconstructions incorporating data from fossils suggest that the last common ancestor of living primates had promontorial and stapedial canals that were similar to each other in size and large relative to ECV. We conclude that the plesiomorphic condition for crown primates is to have a patent promontorial artery supplying the brain and a patent stapedial artery for various non-encephalic structures. This inferred ancestral condition is exhibited by treeshrews and most early fossil euprimates, while extant primates exhibit reduction in one canal or another. The only early fossils deviating from this plesiomorphic condition are Adapis parisiensis with a reduced promontorial canal, and Rooneyia and Mahgarita with reduced stapedial canals.

Opening Basement Membrane Gaps During C. elegans Uterine-Vulval Attachment

The basement membrane (BM) is a highly conserved form of extracellular matrix that underlies or surrounds and supports most animal tissues. BMs are crossed by cells during various remodeling events in development, immune surveillance, or during cancer metastasis. Because BMs are dense and not easily penetrable, most of these cells must open a gap in order to facilitate their migration. The mechanisms by which cells execute these changes are poorly understood. A developmental event that requires the opening of a BM gap is C. elegans uterine-vulval connection. The anchor cell (AC), a specialized uterine cell, creates a de novo BM gap. Subsequent widening of the BM gap involves the underlying vulval precursor cells (VPCs) and the π cells, uterine neighbors of the AC through non-proteolytic BM sliding. Using forward and reverse genetic screening, transcriptome profiling, and live-cell imaging, I investigated how the cells in these tissues accomplish BM gap formation. In Chapter 2, I identify two potentially novel regulators of BM breaching, isolated through a large-scale forward genetic screen and characterize the invasion defect in these mutants. In Chapter 3, I describe single-cell transcriptome sequencing of the invasive AC. In Chapter 4, I describe the role of the π cells in opening the nascent BM gap. A complete developmental pathway for this process has been elucidated: the AC induces the π fate through Notch signaling, after which the π cells upregulate the Sec14 family protein CTG-1, which in turn restricts the trafficking of DGN-1 (dystroglycan), a laminin receptor, allowing the BM to slide. Chapter 5 outlines the implications of these discoveries.

Late Quaternary deep sea sedimentation off the Niger delta

The oxygen isotopes ratios of benthic foraminifera and detailed radiocarbon ages of the organic matter of an over 15 m long sediment core from the outer Niger delta allow us to date the oxygen isotope stage boundaries 1/2 to 11500 (+/- 650) years BP, 2/3 to approximately 23000 (+/- 2000) years BP. The composition of the predominantly terrigenous clays and accessory pelagic fossils reflects the evolution of the climate over the southwestern Sahel zone and the response of the Eastern Tropical Atlantic to these climatic fluctuations during the Late Quaternary. The dilution of the pelagic fossil concentrations by the terrigenous material and the oxygen isotopes ratios of planktonic foraminifera indicate large fluctuations in the freshwater discharge from the Niger, with high precipitations over the drainage area of this river from 4500 (+/- 300) to 11500 (+/- 650) years BP and from 11800 (+(- 600) to 13000 (+/- 600) years BP while the time intervals in between were as dry as today. Relative increase of kaolinite during wet phases and the association of smectite, chlorite and attapulgite during dry ones characterize the response of the weathering in the Niger drainage basins to the climatic fluctuations. The occurrence of 10-14 A mixed-layers prior to 26000 years BP is correlated with moderate alteration of the crystalline substratum outcrops from the middle-lower part of the Niger Basin. High quartz concentrations are particularly typical for the transition between oxygen isotope stages 1 and 2 at the inception of heavy precipitations in the southern Sahel zone. Sedimentation rates were quite constant, 30-35 cm/1000 years; they became unusually large at the beginning of the Holocene from 10900 (+/- 650) to 11500 (+/- 650) years BP where they reached more than 600 cm/1000 years. Bottom waters around 1100 m depth in the Gulf of Guinea responded to changes in paleo-oceanography of the entire Atlantic Ocean as well as to local influences. Abnormal carbon isotopes ratios and the drastic changes from a highly diversified fauna (during stages 2 and 3. and during the last part of stage 1 after approx. 7000 years BP) to a poorly diversified fauna in the intervenin time span point to the development of a local benthic environment which cannot easily be compared with the corresponding continental and slope environments of the entire Atlantic Ocean.

A new genus Abyssogena from deep-water vents and seeps

A new genus Abyssogena is established for A. phaseoliformis (Métivier, Okutani & Ohta, 1986) and A. kaikoi (Okutani & Métivier, 1986), which were previously assigned to the genus Calyptogena Dall, 1891, and also for two new species, A. southwardae and A. novacula. The most characteristic features of Abyssogena are an elongate shell up to about 280 mm in length; a pallial line starting from the ventral margin of the anterior adductor scar; secondary pallial attachment scars developed dorsal to the pallial line; radially arranged hinge teeth with a reduced anterior cardinal tooth in the right valve; and presence of an inner ctenidial demibranch only. Abyssogena occurs in deep water from 2,985 to 6,400 m and is distributed in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans at cold seeps along continental margins and hydrothermal vents at mid-oceanic ridges. Some species have a remarkably wide geographic distribution; A. southwardae is present throughout the Atlantic and A. phaseoliformis is present in Japan, Kuril-Kamchatka, as well as Aleutian Trenches. No fossils of Abyssogena are known.

Magnetic susceptibility and particle size for the Shilou red clay section on the eastern Chinese Loess Plateau

The Chinese Loess Plateau red clay sequences display a continuous alternation of sedimentary cycles that represent recurrent climatic fluctuations from 2.58 Ma to the Miocene. Deciphering such a record can provide us with vital information on global and Asian climatic variations. Lack of fossils and failure of absolute dating methods made magnetostratigraphy a leading method to build age models for the red clay sequences. Here we test the magnetostratigraphic age model against cyclostratigraphy. For this purpose we investigate the climate cyclicity recorded in magnetic susceptibility and sedimentary grain size in a red clay section previously dated 11Myr old with magnetostratigraphy alone. Magnetostratigraphy dating based on only visual correlation could potentially lead to erroneous age model. In this study the correlation is executed through the iteration procedure until it is supported by cyclostratigraphy; i.e., Milankovitch cycles are resolved in the best possible manner. Our new age model provides an age of 5.2Ma for the Shilou profile. Based on the new age model, wavelet analysis reveals the well-preserved 400 kyr and possible 100 kyr eccentricity cycles on the eastern Chinese Loess Plateau. Further, paleomonsoon evolution during 2.58-5.2Ma is reconstructed and divided into three intervals (2.58-3.6Ma, 3.6-4.5Ma, and 4.5-5.2Ma). The upper part, the youngest stage, is characterized by a relatively intensified summer monsoon, the middle stage reflects an intensification of the winter monsoon and aridification in Asia, and the earliest stage indicates that summer and winter monsoon cycles may have rapidly altered. The use of cyclostratigraphy along withmagnetostratigraphy gives us an effectivemethod of dating red clay sequences, and our results imply that many presently published age models for the red clay deposits should be perhaps re-evaluated.