Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas.

Two events share the stage as main drivers of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction-Deccan Traps volcanism, and an asteroid impact recorded by the Chicxulub crater. We contribute to refining knowledge of the volcanic stressor by providing sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan lavas from the Western Ghats (India), which straddle the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Volcanic fluorine budgets were variable (400 to 3000 parts per million) and probably sufficient to affect the environment, albeit only regionally. The highest sulfur budgets (up to 1800 parts per million) are recorded in Deccan lavas emplaced just prior (within 0.1 million years) to the extinction interval, whereas later basalts are generally sulfur-poor (up to 750 parts per million). Independent evidence suggests the Deccan flood basalts erupted in high-flux pulses. Our data suggest that volcanic sulfur degassing from such activity could have caused repeated short-lived global drops in temperature, stressing the ecosystems long before the bolide impact delivered its final blow at the end of the Cretaceous.

The Clinical Nursing and Midwifery Dashboard (CNMD): A State-Wide Implementation.

The clinical nursing and midwifery dashboard (CNMD) was built to provide a near real-time information and data visualisations for nurse unit managers (NUMs) and maternity unit managers (MUMs) within only a 5-15 minutes delay from when they enter data to the integrated electronic medical records (ieMR) system. The dashboard displays metrics and information about current adult inpatients in overnight wards. The aim is to support NUMs and MUMs to manage their daily workload and have continuous visibility of patients nursing risk and safety assessment documentation. A quantitative evaluation approach was conducted to measure the impact of the dashboard on key performance indicators. Statistical analysis was completed to compare risk assessment average completion times prior to and post CNMD implementation. The results of the evaluation were positive, and the statistical analysis shows significant reduction in the average time to complete different risk assessments with p-value<0.01.

Deep CO2 in the end-Triassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.

Large Igneous Province eruptions coincide with many major Phanerozoic mass extinctions, suggesting a cause-effect relationship where volcanic degassing triggers global climatic changes. In order to fully understand this relationship, it is necessary to constrain the quantity and type of degassed magmatic volatiles, and to determine the depth of their source and the timing of eruption. Here we present direct evidence of abundant CO2 in basaltic rocks from the end-Triassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), through investigation of gas exsolution bubbles preserved by melt inclusions. Our results indicate abundance of CO2 and a mantle and/or lower-middle crustal origin for at least part of the degassed carbon. The presence of deep carbon is a key control on the emplacement mode of CAMP magmas, favouring rapid eruption pulses (a few centuries each). Our estimates suggest that the amount of CO2 that each CAMP magmatic pulse injected into the end-Triassic atmosphere is comparable to the amount of anthropogenic emissions projected for the 21st century. Such large volumes of volcanic CO2 likely contributed to end-Triassic global warming and ocean acidification.

A compact and flexible induction furnace for in situ X-ray microradiograhy and computed microtomography at Elettra: design, characterization and first tests.

A compact and versatile induction furnace for in situ high-resolution synchrotron and laboratory hard X-ray microradiography and computed microtomography is described. The furnace can operate from 773 to 1723 K. Its programmable controller enables the user to specify multiple heating and cooling ramp rates as well as variable dwell times at fixed temperatures allowing precise control of heating and cooling rates to within 5 K. The instrument can work under a controlled atmosphere. Thanks to the circular geometry of the induction coils, the heat is homogeneously distributed in the internal volume of the graphite cell (ca. 150 mm3) where the sample holder is located. The thermal gradient within the furnace is less than 5 K over a height of ca. 5 mm. This new furnace design is well suited to the study of melting and solidification processes in geomaterials, ceramics and several metallic alloys, allowing fast heating (tested up to 6.5 K s-1) and quenching (up to 21 K s-1) in order to freeze the sample microstructure and chemistry under high-temperature conditions. The sample can be held at high temperatures for several hours, which is essential to follow phenomena with relatively slow dynamics, such as crystallization processes in geomaterials. The utility of the furnace is demonstrated through a few examples of experimental applications performed at the Elettra synchrotron laboratory (Trieste, Italy).

Effects of fucoidan from Fucus vesiculosus in reducing symptoms of osteoarthritis: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

PURPOSE: Preliminary investigation of a fucoidan with demonstrated reduction in the symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A double-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out to determine the safety and efficacy of a 300 mg dose of a Fucus vesiculosus extract (85% fucoidan) over a 12-week period in a population (n=122) with mild-to-moderate OA of the hip and knee as measured by the validated instrument "Comprehensive Osteoarthritis Test." Safety was measured by assessing cholesterol, liver function, renal function, and hematopoietic function, and closely monitoring adverse events. RESULT: Ninety-six participants completed the study. The reduction in symptoms of OA was not significantly different from the placebo response. There were no changes in the blood measurements that were of any clinical significance during the course of the study. CONCLUSION: The F. vesiculosus fucoidan extract was safe and well tolerated. At a dose of 300 mg, the extract showed no difference in reduction of OA symptoms from the placebo.

Anti-A and anti-B titers in donor plasma, plasma pools, and immunoglobulin final products.

BACKGROUND: High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatments are implicated in hemolytic events in some patients receiving treatment. The passive transfer of IgG anti-A and anti-B agglutinin is thought to play a role in the development of these events. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of high-titer IgG anti-A and anti-B in plasma donors and investigate if there is any advantage of excluding these donors from the donor pool to limit anti-A and anti-B content in IVIG product. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: IgG anti-A and anti-B levels were assessed from group O donor plasma, manufacturing IgG plasma pools, and finished IVIG product (Gammagard Liquid). Antibody level in group O donors was also assessed by sex and age for their relative contribution of antibody to the plasma pool. RESULTS: The majority of group O donors (80%) had antibody titers of less than 1000. Of those with titers of at least 1000, theoretical estimates provide further evidence that the effects of high-titer donors are minimal. Antibody levels in plasma pools both during the manufacturing process and from the final IVIG product also support that anti-A and anti-B levels are low. In general, there were more females than males with higher antibody titer levels, with significantly more females than males with anti-A. CONCLUSION: Excluding donors with high anti-A and anti-B titers has minimal impact on the finished IVIG product titers due to ABO antibody neutralization and the dilution factor in the manufacturing pool.

A four-dimensional X-ray tomographic microscopy study of bubble growth in basaltic foam.

Understanding the influence of bubble foams on magma permeability and strength is critical to investigations of volcanic eruption mechanisms. Increasing foam porosity decreases strength, enhancing the probability of an eruption. However, higher porosities lead to larger permeabilities, which can lessen the eruption hazard. Here we measure bubble size and wall thickness distributions, as well as connectivity, and calculate permeabilities and tensile strengths of basaltic foams imaged by synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy during bubble growth in hydrated basaltic melts. Rapid vesiculation produces porous foams whose fragmentation thresholds are only 5-6 MPa and whose permeabilities increase from approximately 1×10(-10) to 1×10(-9) m(2) between 10 and 14 s despite decreasing connectivity between bubbles. These results indicate that basaltic magmas are most susceptible to failure immediately upon vesiculation and at later times, perhaps only 10's of seconds later, permeability increases may lessen the hazard of explosive, basaltic, Plinian eruptions.

The contribution of synchrotron X-ray computed microtomography to understanding volcanic processes.

A series of computed microtomography experiments are reported which were performed by using a third-generation synchrotron radiation source on volcanic rocks from various active hazardous volcanoes in Italy and other volcanic areas in the world. The applied technique allowed the internal structure of the investigated material to be accurately imaged at the micrometre scale and three-dimensional views of the investigated samples to be produced as well as three-dimensional quantitative measurements of textural features. The geometry of the vesicle (gas-filled void) network in volcanic products of both basaltic and trachytic compositions were particularly focused on, as vesicle textures are directly linked to the dynamics of volcano degassing. This investigation provided novel insights into modes of gas exsolution, transport and loss in magmas that were not recognized in previous studies using solely conventional two-dimensional imaging techniques. The results of this study are important to understanding the behaviour of volcanoes and can be combined with other geosciences disciplines to forecast their future activity.

Continuum percolation threshold for interpenetrating squares and cubes.

Monte Carlo simulations are performed to determine the critical percolation threshold for interpenetrating square objects in two dimensions and cubic objects in three dimensions. Simulations are performed for two cases: (i) objects whose edges are aligned parallel to one another and (ii) randomly oriented objects. For squares whose edges are aligned, the critical area fraction at the percolation threshold phi(c)=0.6666+/-0.0004, while for randomly oriented squares phi(c)=0.6254+/-0.0002, 6% smaller. For cubes whose edges are aligned, the critical volume fraction at the percolation threshold phi(c)=0.2773+/-0.0002, while for randomly oriented cubes phi(c)=0.2168+/-0.0002, 22% smaller.