Age determination of sediment core GIK16523-1

High-resolution studies of a planktonic foraminifer core record from the South China Sea (SCS) (31KL: 18°45.4'N, 115°52.4'E, water depth 3360 m) reveal changes driven by ice-volume forcings in the climate of the East Asian monsoon in the western Pacific marginal sea during the late Quaternary. The analyses of planktonic foraminifer faunal abundance data from the core indicate significant variations in the relative abundances of the dominant taxa over the past 100,000 years since the isotope stage 5. The transfer function estimates of faunal sea surface temperatures (SST) correlate well with a long-term (104-105 years) trend of global glaciation. About 65,000 years ago, there was an observable change in the mode of SST variability as many low-latitude records have shown. These findings suggest that the SCS surface circulation and the East Asian winter monsoon systems are mainly driven by variations in global glaciation levels. The association of surface ocean cooling in the SCS with global climatic events suggests that fluctuations in the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon may be linked to shifts in the latitudinal position of the westerly winds and the Siberian high-pressure system.

(Table 1) Age markers and errors for the last 1215 ka in IODP Exp302

Despite its importance in the global climate system, age-calibrated marine geologic records reflecting the evolution of glacial cycles through the Pleistocene are largely absent from the central Arctic Ocean. This is especially true for sediments older than 200 ka. Three sites cored during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Expedition 302, the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), provide a 27 m continuous sedimentary section from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean. Two key biostratigraphic datums and constraints from the magnetic inclination data are used to anchor the chronology of these sediments back to the base of the Cobb Mountain subchron (1215 ka). Beyond 1215 ka, two best fitting geomagnetic models are used to investigate the nature of cyclostratigraphic change. Within this chronology we show that bulk and mineral magnetic properties of the sediments vary on predicted Milankovitch frequencies. These cyclic variations record ''glacial'' and ''interglacial'' modes of sediment deposition on the Lomonosov Ridge as evident in studies of ice-rafted debris and stable isotopic and faunal assemblages for the last two glacial cycles and were used to tune the age model. Potential errors, which largely arise from uncertainties in the nature of downhole paleomagnetic variability, and the choice of a tuning target are handled by defining an error envelope that is based on the best fitting cyclostratigraphic and geomagnetic solutions.

Bailando con Dioniso: el mito de Leucipo y Daphne de Richard Strauss y Joseph Gregor

Primera parte de un artículo dividido en dos que analiza la profunda reinterpretación que del mito de Dafne llevaron a cabo, a partir del relato alternativo de Partenio de Nicea más que del célebre relato de Ovidio, Richard Strauss y su libretista Joseph Gregor en su versión operística Daphne (1938). El objetivo final es someter a examen la declaración expresa de Strauss sobre el significado de su nueva ópera y si a través de la manipulación del argumento mítico los autores lograron alcanzar su objetivo.

El dinero en la historia del pensamiento económico: la teoría monetaria postkeynesiana y su confrontación con la ortodoxia

Las disputas en torno a determinados aspectos del dinero, como su neutralidad y el carácter endógeno o exógeno de la oferta monetaria, han sido permanentes entre las distintas escuelas de pensamiento y autores, estando su origen, probablemente, en la época de desarrollo del pensamiento escolástico. En este artículo pretendemos, en primer lugar, realizar un recorrido cronológico e histórico sobre el tratamiento científico económico del dinero, para, en segundo lugar, poner sobre la mesa la macroeconomía ortodoxa a la que han dado lugar las interpretaciones al respecto, así como los enfoques alternativos frente a este pensamiento dominante. Finalmente, intentamos poner en valor los desarrollos monetarios post-keynesianos, integrados en lo que denominan “Economía Monetaria de Producción”, confrontándolos con la llamada Nueva Síntesis Neoclásica.

Reduced epithelial suppressor of cytokine signalling 1 in severe eosinophilic asthma

Severe asthma represents a major unmet clinical need. Eosinophilic inflammation persists in the airways of many patients with uncontrolled asthma, despite high-dose inhaled corticosteroid therapy. Suppressors of cytokine signalling (SOCS) are a family of molecules involved in the regulation of cytokine signalling via inhibition of the Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription pathway. We examined SOCS expression in the airways of asthma patients and investigated whether this is associated with persistent eosinophilia.

Healthy controls, mild/moderate asthmatics and severe asthmatics were studied. Whole genome expression profiling, quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical analysis were used to examine expression of SOCS1, SOCS2 and SOCS3 in bronchial biopsies. Bronchial epithelial cells were utilised to examine the role of SOCS1 in regulating interleukin (IL)-13 signalling in vitro.

SOCS1 gene expression was significantly lower in the airways of severe asthmatics compared with mild/moderate asthmatics, and was inversely associated with airway eosinophilia and other measures of T-helper type 2 (Th2) inflammation. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated SOCS1 was predominantly localised to the bronchial epithelium. SOCS1 overexpression inhibited IL-13-mediated chemokine ligand (CCL) 26 (eotaxin-3) mRNA expression in bronchial epithelial cells.

Severe asthma patients with persistent airway eosinophilia and Th2 inflammation have reduced airway epithelial SOCS1 expression. SOCS1 inhibits epithelial IL-13 signalling, supporting its key role in regulating Th2-driven eosinophilia in severe asthma.

Gyrinidae de El Salvador (Resultado del viaje de exploración Dr. Adolf Zilch 1951 en El Salvador, No 1)

Hasta hoy día no se habían descrito de El Salvador, coleópteros de la familia de los Girinidos. Por eso me ha alegrado mucho obtener del Museo Senckenberg, en Francfort A. M. Una colección de estos coleópteros, coleccionados por el Dr. Zilch durante sus viajes de exploración, en El Salvador, en el año 1951. El material investigado contenía 7 especies, entre las cuales se encontraban dos Gyretes hasta ahora desconocidos. Simultáneamente recibí del museo zoológico de Vienna tres ejemplares de Dineutus sublimatus que se habían coleccionado en 1877 en El Salvador.