Increased autumn and winter precipitation during the Last Glacial Maximum in the European Alps.

The culmination of the glaciers in the European Alps during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is one of the most intensively studied paleoglaciological events, but its trigger and forcing remain incompletely understood. Here, we provide evidence that the timing of this glacier maximum coincided within age uncertainties with a 3100 yr-long interval of subsurface warming (26.6 to 23.5 ka BP) as recorded by an archive preserved in caves, cryogenic carbonates. This interval of sustained permafrost degradation during one of the coldest intervals of the last glacial period calls for a fundamental change in the dry Arctic-style precipitation regime. Instead, heavy snowfall during autumn and early winter led to the accumulation of a seasonal snowpack insulating the ground from the winter chill. Combined with thermal modelling, the data provide compelling evidence that the LGM glacier advance in the Alps was fueled by intensive snowfall late in the year, likely sourced from the Mediterranean Sea.

Examination of the ouabain-sensitive Na-K pump in essential hypertensive children of normal body weight.

The ouabain-sensitive Na-K pump of erythrocytes was examined in 17 normotensive and 15 essential hypertensive children aged 6-16 years. Children who proved to be fat according to skinfold measurements were excluded from the examinations. The activity of the ouabain-sensitive Na-K pump was assessed by measuring the ratio of Na-ion efflux and K-ion influx through the erythrocyte membrane previously treated with para-chloro-mercury benzol sulphonate. In essential hypertensive children the ratio of the Na/K fluxes was found to be characteristically 5.8 +/- 2.0, showing a mathematically significantly more active (p less than 0.05) Na-K pump function than in the control group 9.6 +/- 5.8. According to the results, however, the method is suitable only for the separation of groups and not of individuals.