Volcanic arc rigidity variations illuminated by coseismic deformation of the 2011 Tohoku-oki M9.

Rock strength has long been linked to lithospheric deformation and seismicity. However, independent constraints on the related elastic heterogeneity are missing, yet could provide key information for solid Earth dynamics. Using coseismic Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data for the 2011 M9 Tohoku-oki earthquake in Japan, we apply an inverse method to infer elastic structure and fault slip simultaneously.

Assessing plate reconstruction models using plate driving force consistency tests.

Plate reconstruction models are constructed to fit constraints such as magnetic anomalies, fracture zones, paleomagnetic poles, geological observations and seismic tomography. However, these models do not consider the physical equations of plate driving forces when reconstructing plate motion. This can potentially result in geodynamically-implausible plate motions, which has implications for a range of work based on plate reconstruction models.

Dynamic slab segmentation due to brittle-ductile damage in the outer rise.

Subduction is the major plate driving force, and the strength of the subducting plate controls many aspects of the thermochemical evolution of Earth. Each subducting plate experiences intense normal faulting during bending that accommodates the transition from horizontal to downwards motion at the outer rise at trenches. Here we investigate the consequences of this bending-induced plate damage using numerical subduction models in which both brittle and ductile deformation, including grain damage, are tracked and coupled self-consistently.

Ancient helium and tungsten isotopic signatures preserved in mantle domains least modified by crustal recycling.

Rare high-He/He signatures in ocean island basalts (OIB) erupted at volcanic hotspots derive from deep-seated domains preserved in Earth's interior. Only high-He/He OIB exhibit anomalous W-an isotopic signature inherited during the earliest history of Earth-supporting an ancient origin of high He/He. However, it is not understood why some OIB host anomalous W while others do not.

Primordial helium entrained by the hottest mantle plumes.

Helium isotopes provide an important tool for tracing early-Earth, primordial reservoirs that have survived in the planet's interior. Volcanic hotspot lavas, like those erupted at Hawaii and Iceland, can host rare, high He/He isotopic ratios (up to 50 times the present atmospheric ratio, Ra) compared to the lower He/He ratios identified in mid-ocean-ridge basalts that form by melting the upper mantle (about 8Ra; ref. 5).

Western US intermountain seismicity caused by changes in upper mantle flow.

Understanding the causes of intraplate earthquakes is challenging, as it requires extending plate tectonic theory to the dynamics of continental deformation. Seismicity in the western United States away from the plate boundary is clustered along a meandering, north-south trending 'intermountain' belt. This zone coincides with a transition from thin, actively deforming to thicker, less tectonically active crust and lithosphere.

Endocrine activity of alternatives to BPA found in thermal paper in Switzerland.

Alternatives to bisphenol A (BPA) are more and more used in thermal paper receipts. To get an overview of the situation in Switzerland, 124 thermal paper receipts were collected and analyzed. Whereas BPA was detected in most samples (n=100), some alternatives, namely bisphenol S (BPS), Pergafast® 201 and D-8 have been found in 4, 11 and 9 samples respectively.

Earth's interior. Dehydration melting at the top of the lower mantle.

The high water storage capacity of minerals in Earth's mantle transition zone (410- to 660-kilometer depth) implies the possibility of a deep H2O reservoir, which could cause dehydration melting of vertically flowing mantle. We examined the effects of downwelling from the transition zone into the lower mantle with high-pressure laboratory experiments, numerical modeling, and seismic P-to-S conversions recorded by a dense seismic array in North America. In experiments, the transition of hydrous ringwoodite to perovskite and (Mg,Fe)O produces intergranular melt.

Shaping mobile belts by small-scale convection.

Mobile belts are long-lived deformation zones composed of an ensemble of crustal fragments, distributed over hundreds of kilometres inside continental convergent margins. The Mediterranean represents a remarkable example of this tectonic setting: the region hosts a diffuse boundary between the Nubia and Eurasia plates comprised of a mosaic of microplates that move and deform independently from the overall plate convergence. Surface expressions of Mediterranean tectonics include deep, subsiding backarc basins, intraplate plateaux and uplifting orogenic belts.

Pulse-length dependence of cellular response to intense near-infrared laser pulses in multiphoton microscopes.

The influence of the pulse length, tau , of ultrashort laser pulses at 780 and 920 nm on cell vitality and cellular reproduction has been studied. A total of 2400 nonlabeled cells were exposed to a highly focused scanning beam from a mode-locked 80-MHz Ti:sapphire laser with 60-micros pixel dwell time. For the same pulse energy, destructive effects were more pronounced for shorter pulses.

Time variability in Cenozoic reconstructions of mantle heat flow: plate tectonic cycles and implications for Earth's thermal evolution.

The thermal evolution of Earth is governed by the rate of secular cooling and the amount of radiogenic heating. If mantle heat sources are known, surface heat flow at different times may be used to deduce the efficiency of convective cooling and ultimately the temporal character of plate tectonics. We estimate global heat flow from 65 Ma to the present using seafloor age reconstructions and a modified half-space cooling model, and we find that heat flow has decreased by approximately 0.

Iron-overload induces oxidative DNA damage in the human colon carcinoma cell line HT29 clone 19A.

Dietary iron may contribute to colon cancer risk via production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The aim of the study was to determine whether physiological ferric/ferrous iron induces oxidative DNA damage in human colon cells. Therefore, differentiated human colon tumour cells (HT29 clone 19A) were incubated with ferric-nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA) or with haemoglobin and DNA breaks and oxidised bases were determined by microgelelectrophoresis.

Butyrate induces glutathione S-transferase in human colon cells and protects from genetic damage by 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal.

Butyrate, one of the major products of gut fermentation, is known to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis and differentiation, and increase phase II enzyme activities in tumor cells, whereas little information is available on protective effects in less-transformed colon cells. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the chemoprotective mechanism of glutathione S-transferase (GST) induction by butyrate could also play a role in earlier stages of colon carcinogenesis and whether chemoresistance of cells toward the endogenous genotoxic risk factor 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) could be a consequence of butyrate treatment. As cell models, we used the human tumor cell lines HT29 and HT29 clone 19A, a differentiated subclone with properties resembling primary colon cells.

Glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase isoforms in maize leaves: localization, relative proportion and their role in ammonium assimilation or nitrogen transport.

Mesophyll cells (MCs) and bundle-sheath cells (BSCs) of leaves of the C4 plant maize (Zea mays L.) were separated by cellulase digestion to determine the relative proportion of the glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.3.

Inter- and intra-individual variation of faecal water - genotoxicity in human colon cells.

Exogenous nutritional factors modulate the faecal contents leading to an enhanced or reduced burden with toxic and cancerogenic factors. These factors are thought to contribute to colon cancer by inducing mutations or enhancing proliferation in colon cells. Faecal water more or less causes these effects in model systems and thus could be the basis for valuable biomarker approaches.

Negative regulation of nitrate reductase gene expression by glutamine or asparagine accumulating in leaves of sulfur-deprived tobacco.

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were subjected to a prolonged period of sulfur-deprivation to characterize molecular and metabolic mechanisms that permit control of primary N-metabolism under these conditions. Prior to the appearance of chlorotic lesions, sulfur-deprived tobacco leaves showed a strong decrease in the sulfate content and changes in foliar enzyme activities, mRNA accumulation and amino-acid pools.

Greenhouse-grown conditionally lethal tobacco plants obtained by expression of plastidic glutamine synthetase antisense RNA may contribute to biological safety.

A cDNA corresponding to plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS-2), an enzyme involved in photorespiration, was expressed in antisense orientation under the control of a leaf-specific soybean ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit gene promotor in transgenic tobacco to yield conditionally lethal plants. Three transgenic tobacco lines with decreased (at most 64%) foliar GS-2 activity were obtained. These plants grew normally when maintained in an atmosphere with a CO(2) partial pressure sufficiently high (300 Pa CO(2)) to suppress photorespiration.

Leaf-specific overexpression of plastidic glutamine synthetase stimulates the growth of transgenic tobacco seedlings.

The impact of increased plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS-2; EC 6.1. 3.

Regulation of nitrate reductase transcript levels by glutamine accumulating in the leaves of a ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase-deficient gluS mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana, and by glutamine provided via the roots.

The regulation by glutamine of the leaf transcript level corresponding to the Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. nitrate reductase gene nia2 was examined using a novel approach: we took advantage of the ability of a ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase-deficient gluS mutant of A.

Different DNA damaging species as a result of oxidation of n-butyraldehyde and iso-butyraldehyde by Cu(II).

The isomers n- and iso-butyraldehyde (BuA) in combination with Cu(II) induced single and double strand breaks in PM2 DNA, whereas the aldehydes, or Cu(II) alone had only negligible effect. The DNA damage was the result of radical oxidations of the aldehydes under formation of Cu(I). Cu(I) formation was independent of molecular oxygen.

Regulation of the subunit composition of plastidic glutamine synthetase of the wild-type and of the phytochrome-deficient aurea mutant of tomato by blue/UV-A- or by UV-B-light.

The photomorphogenetic aurea mutant of tomato severely deficient in spectrophotometrically active phytochromes was used to study the light-regulation of the single-copy nuclear gene encoding plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS-2; EC 6.1.3.

Synergistic DNA damaging effects of malondialdehyde/Cu(II) in PM2 DNA and in human fibroblasts.

Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a product of lipid peroxidation (LPO). In combination with CuCl2 MDA induced single strand breaks in PM2 DNA whereas MDA or CuCl2 alone had no effect. Cu(II) oxidized MDA by a radical mechanism under formation of Cu(I).

Drought-induced effects on nitrate reductase activity and mRNA and on the coordination of nitrogen and carbon metabolism in maize leaves.

Maize (Zea mays L.) plants were grown to the nine-leaf stage. Despite a saturating N supply, the youngest mature leaves (seventh position on the stem) contained little NO3- reserve.

Photosynthesis and fluorescence quenching, and the mRNA levels of plastidic glutamine synthetase or of mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) in the leaves of the wild-type and of the SHMT-deficient stm mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana in relation to the rate of photorespiration.

The regulation by photorespiration of the transcript level corresponding to plastidic glutamine synthetase (GS-2) was investigated in the leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh..

DNA single and double strand breaks induced by aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes in combination with copper (II).

The aliphatic n-butyr-and n-valeraldehyde as well as the aromatic benz- and anisaldehyde induced DNA strand breaks in PM2 DNA in the presence of CuCl2. Neither aldehydes nor CuCl2 alone showed DNA breakage properties. The maximum of single strand breaks (SSBs) induced by the combination of CuCl2 and aldehydes was dependent on the CuCl2-concentration.