Single chamber Mg/Ca analyses of Globigerinoides ruber for paleo-proxy calibration using femtosecond LA-ICP-MS.

Mg/Ca is an independent proxy in paleoceanography to reconstruct past seawater temperature. Femtosecond Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (fs-LA-ICP-MS) was employed to determine the Mg/Ca composition of tests (shells) of the planktic foraminifer species Globigerinoides ruber albus (white chromotype) and G. ruber ruber (red/pink chromotype) sampled alive from the temperate to subtropical eastern North Atlantic with the research sailing yacht Eugen Seibold.

Impact of nutritional status on vaccine-induced immunity in children living in South Africa: Investigating the B-cell repertoire and metabolic hormones.

Objectives: We explored the role of metabolic hormones and the B-cell repertoire in the association between nutritional status and vaccine responses.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, nested within a larger randomized open-label trial, 211 South African children received two doses of measles vaccine and two or three doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). Metabolic markers (leptin, ghrelin and adiponectin) and distribution of B-cell subsets (n = 106) were assessed at 18 months of age.

Allogeneic NK cells induce the in vitro activation of monocyte-derived and conventional type-2 dendritic cells and trigger an inflammatory response under cancer-associated conditions.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes capable to recognize and kill virus-infected and cancer cells. In the past years, the use of allogeneic NK cells as anti-cancer therapy gained interest due to their ability to induce graft-versus-cancer responses without causing graft-versus-host disease and multiple protocols have been developed to produce high numbers of activated NK cells. While the ability of these cells to mediate tumor kill has been extensively studied, less is known about their capacity to influence the activity of other immune cells that may contribute to a concerted anti-tumor response in the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Analytical improvements and assessment of long-term performance of the oxidation-denitrifier method.

Unlabelled: The analysis of the nitrogen (N) isotopic composition of organic matter bound to fossil biomineral structures (BB-δ N) using the oxidation-denitrifier (O-D) method provides a novel tool to study past changes in N cycling processes.

Methods: We report a set of methodological improvements to the O-D method, including (a) a method for sealing the reaction vials in which the oxidation of organic N to NO takes place, (b) a recipe for bypassing the pH adjustment step before the bacterial conversion of NO to N O, and (c) a method for storing recrystallized dipotassium peroxodisulfate (K S O ) under Ar atmosphere.

Results: The new sealing method eliminates the occasional contamination and vial breakage that occurred previously while increasing sample throughput.

Assessment of Tidal Range Changes in the North Sea From 1958 to 2014.

We document an exceptional large-spatial scale case of changes in tidal range in the North Sea, featuring pronounced trends between -2.3 mm/yr at tide gauges in the United Kingdom and up to 7 mm/yr in the German Bight between 1958 and 2014. These changes are spatially heterogeneous and driven by a superposition of local and large-scale processes within the basin.