▪ Abstract  Fission track analysis as a geological dating tool was first proposed in the early 1960s. The past 10 years has seen a major expansion in application to more general geological problems. This reflects advances in understanding the temperature dependence of fission track annealing and of the information contained in fission track length distributions. Fission track analysis provides detailed information on the low-temperature thermal histories of rocks, below ∼120°C for tracks in apatite and below ∼350°C for zircon. Fission track analysis has been applied to a variety of geological problems, including sedimentary provenance, thermal history modeling of sedimentary basins, structural evolution of orogenic belts, and long-term continental denudation.

similar to findings in US adults generally, vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency is highly prevalent among HIV-infected adults and is associated with known risk factors. Observed associations of vitamin D levels with renal insufficiency and with use of ritonavir- and efavirenz-containing regimens are consistent with both HIV-related and therapy-mediated alterations in vitamin D metabolism. Clinicians should consider screening all patients for vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency.

The mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin is required for optimal mitochondrial respiration. In this study, cardiolipin molecular species and cytochrome oxidase (COx) activity were studied in interfibrillar (IF) and subsarcolemmal (SSL) cardiac mitochondria from Spontaneously Hypertensive Heart Failure (SHHF) and SpragueDawley (SD) rats throughout their natural life span. Fisher Brown Norway (FBN) and young aortic-constricted SHHF rats were also studied to investigate cardiolipin alterations in aging versus pathology. Additionally, cardiolipin was analyzed in human hearts explanted from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. A loss of tetralinoleoyl cardiolipin (L 4 CL), the predominant species in the healthy mammalian heart, occurred during the natural or accelerated development of heart failure in SHHF rats and humans. L 4 CL decreases correlated with reduced COx activity (no decrease in protein levels) in SHHF cardiac mitochondria, but with no change in citrate synthase (a matrix enzyme) activity. The fraction of cardiac cardiolipin containing L 4 CL became much lower with age in SHHF than in SD or FBN mitochondria. In summary, a progressive loss of cardiac L 4 CL, possibly attributable to decreased remodeling, occurs in response to chronic cardiac overload, but not aging alone, in both IF and SSL mitochondria. This may contribute to mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction during the pathogenesis of heart failure.-Sparagna, G.

Two symmetrically arranged detachment systems delimit the central Menderes metamorphic core complex and define a bivergent continental breakaway zone in the Anatolide belt of western Turkey. Structural analysis and apatite fission-track thermochronology show that a large east-trending syncline within the Alpine nappe stack in the central part of the orogen is related to late Miocene-early Pliocene to recent core-complex formation. The syncline formed as a result of two opposite-facing rolling hinges in the footwalls of each of the two detachments. Back-rotation of the syncline limbs suggests that the detachments rotated from an initial dip of 40؇-60؇ to a currently shallow orientation of 0؇-20؇.

Objective To assess the utility of clinical predictors of persistent respiratory morbidity in extremely low gestational age newborns (ELGAN). Study Design We enrolled ELGAN (<29 weeks’ gestation) at ≤7 postnatal days and collected antenatal and neonatal clinical data through 36 weeks’ post-menstrual age. We surveyed caregivers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months corrected age to identify post-discharge respiratory morbidity, defined as hospitalization, home support (oxygen, tracheotomy, ventilation), medications, or symptoms (cough/wheeze). Infants were classified as post-prematurity respiratory disease (PRD, the primary study outcome), if respiratory morbidity persisted over ≥2 questionnaires. Infants were classified with severe respiratory morbidity if there were multiple hospitalizations, exposure to systemic steroids or pulmonary vasodilators, home oxygen after 3 months or mechanical ventilation, or symptoms despite inhaled corticosteroids. Mixed effects models generated with data available at one day (perinatal) and 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age were assessed for predictive accuracy. Results Of 724 infants (918±234g, 26.7±1.4 weeks’ gestational age) classified for the primary outcome, 68.6% had PRD; 245/704 (34.8%) were classified as severe. Male sex, intrauterine growth restriction, maternal smoking, race/ethnicity, intubation at birth, and public insurance were retained in perinatal and 36-week models for both PRD and respiratory morbidity severity. The perinatal model accurately predicted PRD (c-statistic 0.858). Neither the 36-week model nor the addition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) to the perinatal model improved accuracy (0.856, 0.860); c-statistic for BPD-alone was 0.907. Conclusion Both BPD and perinatal clinical data accurately identify ELGAN at risk for persistent and severe respiratory morbidity at one year. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01435187