EXPLORING FOR FAN AND DELTA SANDSTONES IN THE OFFSHORE FALKLANDS BASINS

Four basins surround the Falkland Islands, but only the North Falkland Basin has been drilled; six wells were drilled there in 1998. Although all six wells encountered good quality sandstones, none of them targeted the basin margins, on what are now thought to be the optimum migration pathways associated with the basin's thick lacustrine source rocks. Subsequently, a 3D seismic survey acquired in 2004 was designed to identify potential basin-margin -derived sandstones entering the basin along transfer zones. From this survey, a number of basin-margin -attached fans have been identified; these prograded into lacustrine waters of varying depths. These Early Cretaceous alluvial/fan delta/deep-lacustrine fan systems are interpreted to provide excellent potential reservoir facies as they are intimately associated with thick, mature source rocks. They will provide the focus for the next planned phase of exploration in the North Falkland Basin.
A phase of drilling is also planned for the basins to the south of the Islands, where large deltaic and fan systems, slightly younger than those imaged in the North Falkland Basin, are seen on seismic to prograde from the same Palaeozoic hinterland that produced the older, North Falkland Basin fans.
This paper attempts to show how sedimentary models derived from targeted seismic programmes following initial exploration can be utilised to plan and improve new drilling campaigns in a frontier basin. It presents an analysis of sediment dispersal patterns in basins of marine and lacustrine origin linked to a single hinterland area, and highlights the nature of the relationship between relay ramp/transfer zone development and sediment dispersal patterns in the subsurface.     

Autoimmunity caused by disruption of central T cell tolerance. A murine model of drug-induced lupus

A side effect of therapy with procainamide and numerous other medications is a lupus-like syndrome characterized by autoantibodies directed against denatured DNA and the (H2A-H2B)-DNA subunit of chromatin. We tested the possibility that an effect of lupus-inducing drugs on central T cell tolerance underlies these phenomena. Two intrathymic injections of procainamide-hydroxylamine (PAHA), a reactive metabolite of procainamide, resulted in prompt production of IgM antidenatured DNA antibodies in C57BL/6xDBA/2 F1 mice. Subsequently, IgG antichromatin antibodies began to appear in the serum 3 wk after the second injection and were sustained for several months. Specificity, inhibition and blocking studies demonstrated that the PAHA-induced antibodies showed remarkable specificity to the (H2A-H2B)-DNA complex. No evidence for polyclonal B cell activation could be detected based on enumeration of Ig-secreting B cells and serum Ig levels, suggesting that a clonally restricted autoimmune response was induced by intrathymic PAHA. The IgG isotype of the antichromatin antibodies indicated involvement of T cell help, and proliferative responses of splenocytes to oligonucleosomes increased up to 100-fold. As little as 5 microM PAHA led to a 10-fold T cell proliferative response to chromatin in short term organ culture of neonatal thymi. We suggest that PAHA interferes with self-tolerance mechanisms accompanying T cell maturation in the thymus, resulting in the emergence of chromatin-reactive T cells followed by humoral autoimmunity.     

Linear B-cell epitopes in the N-terminus of L2 of bovine papillomavirus type 4

In vivo dosimetry performed with semiconductor detectors is a reliable method for patient dose control. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perturbations introduced in the patient's absorbed dose distribution by three types of commercially available diodes (Isorad, Sun Nuclear Corp.; model 114200, 114300 and 114400) from the same company and to present possible solutions for minimizing this side-effect.     

Giant plexiform schwannoma: a report of two cases with soft tissue and visceral involvement

We report two cases of massive, solitary, plexiform schwannoma. One was a 9-cm subcutaneous lesion on the hip of a 72-year-old man who had become aware of the slow-growing tumor 50 years earlier; the other is the first reported plexiform schwannoma to arise in a visceral organ: it arose in the ascending colon of a 54-year-old man and exhibited a dumbbell configuration with submucosal and subserosal components. Neither patient had neurofibromatosis or schwannomatosis. Both tumors were well-circumscribed and multinodular, and both showed a plexiform architecture. Microscopically, the nodules were composed primarily of Antoni A tissue, replete with nuclear palisading and Verocay bodies. Examination by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy demonstrated the features of well-differentiated Schwann cells; nodules were surrounded by attenuated, residual perineurium. Both patients followed a benign clinical course, without recurrence or metastasis. Neither the large tumor size nor the unusual locations affected the biologic behavior of these neoplasms. A massive plexiform schwannoma must be distinguished from a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor and from a plexiform neurofibroma, a tumor prone to malignant transformation.     

Effect of prepartum bovine somatotropin in primigravid ewes on mammogenesis, milk production, and hormone concentrations

Twenty-five primigravid ewes were used to investigate the effect of bST, between 97 and 124 d of gestation, on mammogenesis and subsequent milk production. Five ewes (reference group) were slaughtered at 96 d of gestation, and the remaining ewes were injected daily with saline (control group: n = 10) or .1 mg/kg of BW of bST (bST group: n = 10). Following bST treatment, 5 control and 5 bST group ewes were slaughtered (slaughter group). The remaining ewes were slaughtered after lambing and being milked for 8 wk (production group). Weekly blood samples were obtained from both slaughter and production group ewes. Slaughter group ewes were also subjected to 8-h serial blood sampling at 98 d (period 1) and 123 d (period 2) of gestation. Milk production was 42% higher in ewes treated prepartum with bST than in those treated with saline. Results suggest that the increase in milk was due to an increase in mammary parenchymal cell number rather than to an increase in cellular activity. The high rate of [3H]thymidine incorporation into parenchymal tissue in reference group ewes suggests that the increase in parenchyma during the second trimester of gestation is due to cellular hyperplasia but that cellular hypertrophy may be more important during the last trimester. Plasma IGF-I concentrations were significantly higher during bST treatment and remained elevated between daily injections; the increase was greatest in period 2.     

Impact of maternal alcoholism on separation of children from their mothers: findings from a sample of incarcerated women

Research on achievement goal orientation in sport has relied primarily on traditional statistical methodology to examine group mean differences. Unfortunately, examination of the measurement model is generally ignored prior to means testing. This study reports an application of structural equation modeling (SEM) in testing measurement invariance and latent mean structure of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1989) using male and female college students. A confirmatory factor analysis for testing invariance revealed invariant measurement properties and factor structures across gender, indicating that task and ego orientation are similarly conceptualized by male and female students. Subsequent testing of latent mean structures, however, showed significant gender differences with respect to ego orientation, but no difference in task orientation. The SEM procedures used in the present study demonstrate additional construct validity and internal consistency reliability for the TEOSQ and, by confirming its factor structure, provide a sound psychometric basis for its continued use in substantive studies focusing on the comparison of achievement goal orientation across gender.