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.     

Thoracic epidural anesthesia as the last option for treating angina in a patient before coronary artery bypass surgery

Robertsonian translocations, although relatively common as a constitutional genetic aberration, are rarely encountered in leukaemia. We report a case of acute myeloid leukaemia which showed an acquired Robertsonian translocation in the form of der(14;21) by cytogenetic analysis of leukaemic cells. This was confirmed by the PHA-stimulated culture of peripheral blood lymphocytes. A review of the literature identifies only eight reported cases of acquired Robertsonian translocations in leukaemia. In the majority of cases the Robertsonian translocation occurs as a secondary change in a complex abnormal clone, whereas in two out of nine patients reported, including ours, it is found as a sole karyotypic abnormality.     

Partial congenital defect of the left pericardium: angiographic diagnosis and treatment by thoracoscopic pericardiectomy: case report

Twenty-six patients with an intracardiac myxoma underwent surgical resection at our institution from 1977 through 1992. Left atrial myxoma was diagnosed in 22 patients, left ventricular in 1, right atrial in 2, and right ventricular in 1. Six patients were asymptomatic; preoperative symptoms included dyspnea, arrhythmias, embolic episodes, and syncope. The diagnosis was established with transthoracic echocardiography in all cases but one. Surgery was performed in all cases with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass with moderate hypothermia and cold crystalloid cardioplegia. One patient with a left ventricular myxoma died in a comatose state during the immediate postoperative period. Long-term clinical and echocardiographic evaluation was performed in 19 patients; results were excellent (all the patients were in New York Heart Association functional class I or II), and no recurrences were documented. The clinical characteristics, diagnostic methods, and surgical approach are presented and discussed.     

Some Aspects of Binding GKS to C++

Aspects of a prototype binding of GKS to the C++ programming language are presented. The binding makes use of classes and derived classes to define GKS concepts such as segments and workstations. Operator overloading is used for some GKS Functions.     

Effects of manufacturing defects on the mechanical properties of carbon fibre reinforced polyethersulphone laminates

The effects of defects on the mechanical properties of carbon fibre reinforced polyethersulphone laminates have been measured. The defects studied were cut fibre plies, omission of polymer films and local delamination produced by the inclusion of foreign matter. Of these it was found that only cut plies had a significant detrimental effect on the strength of a laminate. For specimens with two cut plies, the failure stress, tensile, flexural and compressive in the remaining continuous plies was the same as in the defect-free material, provided that the cut plies were widely separated. However the failure stresses were 15–18% lower in the continuous plies in the specimens containing two cut plies which were more closely spaced and in specimens containing four cut plies.     

High affinity presentation of an autoantigenic peptide in type I diabetes by an HLA class II protein encoded in a haplotype protecting from disease

Tissue composition and the distribution of body mass are described for four genera of East African Bovidae (Madoqua, Gazella, Damaliscus, Hippotragus) with supporting data from four others (Neotragus, Oryx, Tragelaphus, Connochaetes). These species are high in muscle mass, an adaptation convergent with other high-speed terrestrial cursors, bounders, and saltators. The segments below the elbow/cubitus and knee/stifle/genu joints in small bovids are both lighter in percent of total body mass (8.6% TBM) and less heavily muscled (10-15% of total limb musculature) than those segments in macaques (13.6% TBM, 20-25% of the limb musculature). Bovid species differ from one another in the regional distribution of muscle mass. Madoqua kirkii (4-5 kg) concentrates muscle in the lumbar extensors and hindlimbs; large species such as Damaliscus doreas (50-60 kg) and Hippotragus niger (160-220 kg) distribute it more evenly between the lumbar and cervical regions and between the hindlimbs and forelimbs. Gazella dorcas (10-20 kg) is quantitatively intermediate in those characteristics. The redistribution of muscle mass with increasing size correlates with the loss of axial bending of the vertebral column: in small, hindlimb dominant, 'dorsomobile' species such as Madoqua sagittal mobility increases stride length through 'extended' suspension; in large 'dorsostable' species such as Damaliscus and Hippotragus the vertebral column resists bending, consequently abbreviating or omitting this non-contact phase of the gait cycle. Locomotor adaptation as it is reflected in size, shape, and musculoskeletal structure is the key to habitat choice, dietary specialization, social structure, and male agonistic behavior and, therefore, central to the fabric of behavioral ecology.     

Novel NMDA antagonists: replacement of the pyridinium ring of 6,11-ethanobenzo[b]quinolizinium cations with heteroisoquinolinium cations

Replacement of the pyridinium ring of 6,11-ethanobenzo[b]quinolizinium cations with thiazolium (4a and 4b) and N-methylimidazolium (4c and 4d) resulted in equipotent compounds in the [3H]TCP binding assay. The corresponding N-methyl-1,2,4-triazolium analogs were less potent in this assay. The thiazolium derivative 4b, with a Ki = 2.9 nM, is being evaluated as a possible neuroprotective N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) antagonist.     

Chemokine receptors: structure, function and role in microbial pathogenesis

The chemokine superfamily is composed of at least 20 different leukocyte chemoattractants that act by binding to a family of G protein-coupled receptors. Leukocyte subtypes respond preferentially to unique but overlapping subsets of chemokines as determined by the receptor distribution, yet the receptors appear to signal through a common Gi-type G protein. Since chemokines appear to play major roles in inflammatory pathology, their receptors may be good targets for developing leukocyte selective anti-inflammatory drugs. Two chemokine receptors, CC CKRS and ONCC, function pathologically as cell entry factors respectively for human immunodeficiency virus 1, the cause of AIDS, and Plasmodium vivax, the major cause of malaria.