Library

Notes: A new instrument (Station 9.5) has been established on the wiggler line at the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS). It extends the experimental capability at Daresbury for macromolecular crystallography beyond what is provided for with Stations 7.2 (Ref. 1), 9.6 (Ref. 2), and 9.7 by providing a point focused white beam (from a Pt-coated toroid mirror) and/or a rapidly tunable monochromatic beam (using a water-cooled double-crystal monochromator (Ref. 3). The design principles of the new Station 9.5 have been published (Ref. 4). A CCD detector for the station is being developed (preliminary work is described in Ref. 5, or see the additional poster at this meeting) to allow time slices of part of a diffraction pattern to be measured. Laue patterns are currently recorded on film, but access to an image plate detector will shortly become available. Shutter speeds down to 50 μs are routinely available using a rotating disk shutter (Ref. 6). Fluorescence detectors are available for optimized anomalous dispersion data collection. The experimental bench is long enough to accommodate a camera system, and downstream from it an "on-line'' image plate scanner. Data collected on the instrument in various modes of operation will be described for a variety of macro and small molecule crystal systems.

Notes: High continuous flow breathing systems are now available to provide fresh gas flows well in excess of 100 l.min−1 in continuous positive airway pressure systems used for respiratory support. The performance of two commonly used intensive care humidifiers, the Kendal Conchatherm and the Fisher and Paykel FP310 have been assessed at flows of 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 l.min −1. Their performance when using two humidifiers connected in parallel and in series was also studied. At afresh gas flow of 100 l.min−1 the single Conchatherm gave an absolute water vapour concentration of 15.6 g.m−3 and the single FP310 11.9 g.m−3. At all flows the best results were achieved using two Conchatherm humidifiers in series. It is concluded that with high continuous flow breathing systems the humidification achieved with conventional humidifiers may be inadequate and it may be necessary to combine two humidifiers to obtain clinically useful humidification.

Notes: Quantitative modelling of oxygen exchange by diffusion during slow cooling has been compared to the observed oxygen isotope distributions from high-grade metamorphic and granitic rocks of the High Himalayan Crystallines, Langtang Valley, central Nepal, in order to investigate the effect of retrograde diffusional exchange on the preservation of high-temperature, oxygen isotope systematics.Modelled fractionations, using water-present diffusion data reported in the literature, predict quartz-mica fractionations to be much larger than those at peak metamorphic and igneous conditions due to low closure temperatures for micas. Quartz-feldspar fractionations may be less than those at peak conditions, and in some samples may even be slightly negative.The observed oxygen isotope fractionations in the metamorphic rocks are small and largely appear to record equilibrations close to peak conditions determined by other methods. Hence these rocks clearly do not conform to predictions of fluid-present diffusional retrograde exchange. It is suggested that their retrograde history was therefore within an anhydrous closed system in which diffusion was slow and hence mineral closure temperatures were high. The granitic rocks record rather larger quartz-biotite fractionations, approaching those predicted by the diffusion modelling. However, quartz-feldspar fractionations are large and hence, although significant retrograde exchange has clearly occurred, simple diffusion alone is not sufficient to explain the observed data and open-system exchange may be required. The presence of fluids during the retrograde history of this part of the section is supported by petrographic evidence.The different retrograde oxygen exchange histories recorded between the regional metamorphic and magmatic regimes of the Langtang section would appear to support the importance of water on the kinetics of such exchange, and suggests that in its absence, diffusional exchange may become insignificant, allowing oxygen isotope thermometry to record meaningful high-temperature data.

Notes: Granulite facies anorthosites on Holsenøy Island in the Bergen Arcs region of western Norway are transected by shear zones 0.1–100 m wide characterized by eclogite facies assemblages. Eclogite formation is related to influx of fluid along the shears at temperatures of c. 700d̀C and pressures in excess of 1.7 GPa. Combined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope, 40Ar/36Ar, trace-element and petrological data have been used to determine the nature and distribution of fluids across the anorthosite-eclogite transition.A metre-wide drilled section traverses the eclogitic centre of the shear into undeformed granulite facies garnet-clinopyroxene anorthosite. Clinozoisite occurs along grain boundaries and microcracks in undeformed anorthosite up to 1 m from the centre of the shear and clinozoisite increases in abundance as the edge of the shear zone is approached. The eclogite-granulite transition, marked by the appearance of sodic pyroxene and loss of albite, occurs within the most highly sheared section of the traverse. The jadeite-in reaction coincides with increased paragonite activity in mica. The separation between paragonite and clinozoisite reaction fronts can be semiquantitatively modelled assuming advective fluid flow perpendicular to the shear zone. The inner section of the traverse (0.25 m wide) is marked by retrogressive replacement of omphacite by plagioclase + paragonite accompanied by veins of quartz-phengite-plagioclase.C-N-Ar characteristics of fluid inclusions in garnet show that fluids associated with precursor granulite, eclogite and retrogressed eclogite are isotopically distinct. The granulite-eclogite transition coincides with a marked change in CO2 abundance and δ13C (〈36ppm, δ13C=-2% in the granulite; 〈180 ppm, δ13C=-10% in the eclogite). The distribution of Ar indicates mixing between influxed fluid (40Ar/36Ar 〉 25 times 103) and pre-existing Ar in the granulite (40Ar/36Ar 〈 8 times 103). δ15N values decrease from +6% in the anorthosite to +3% within the eclogite shear. The central zone of retrogressed eclogite post-dates shearing and is characterised by substantial enrichment of Si, K, Ba and Rb. Fluids are CO2-rich (δ13C ∼ -5%) with variable N2 and Ar abundances and isotopic compositions.Both Ar and H2O have penetrated the underformed granulite fabric more than 0.5m beyond the granulite/eclogite transition during eclogite formation. Argon isotopes show a mixing profile consistent with diffusion through an interconnecting H2O-rich fluid network. In contrast, a carbon-isotope front coincides with the deformation boundary layer, indicating that the underformed anorthosite was impervious to CO2-rich fluids. This is consistent with the high dihedral angle of carbonic fluids, and may be interpreted in terms of evolving fluid compositions within the shear zone.

Notes: The High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence in north-central Nepal is a 15-km-thick pile of metasediments that is bound by the Main Central Thrust to the south and a normal fault to the north. The Langtang section through the metasediments shows an apparent inversion of metamorphic isograds with high-P, kyanite-grade rocks exposed beneath low-P, sillimanite-grade rocks. Textural evidence confirms that the observed inversion is a result of a polyphase metamorphic history and phase equilibria studies indicate that thermal decoupling has occurred within a mechanically coherent section of crust. Rocks now exposed at the base of the High Himalayan thrust sheet underwent Barrovian regional metamorphism (M1) prior to 34 Ma in the early stages of the Himalayan orogeny, recording metamorphic conditions of T= 710 ± 30° C, P= 9 ± 1 kbar. After the activation of the Main Central Thrust, which emplaced these metapelites southwards onto the lower grade Lesser Himalayan formations, the upper part of the thrust sheet was overprinted by a second heating event (M2), resulting in sillimanite-grade metamorphism and anatexis of metapelites at T= 760 ± 30° C, P= 5.8 ± 0.4 kbar between 17 and 20 Ma. Crustally derived, leucogranite magmas have been emplaced into low-grade Tethyan sediments on the hangingwall of the normal fault that bounds the northern limit of the metapelitic sequence.The cause of the selective heating of the upper section of the metasediments during M2 cannot be reconciled with either post-thrusting thermal relaxation or advection models. The cause of M2 remains problematical but it is suggested that heat focusing has occurred at the top of the High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence as a result of movement on the normal fault blanketing metapelites of high heat productivity with low-grade sediments of low thermal conductivity. This model implies that the normal fault was active before M2, consistent with decompression textures that formed during, or shortly after, sillimanite-grade metamorphism.

Notes: Abstract Incipient charnockite formation within amphibolite facies gneisses is observed in South India and Sri Lanka both as isolated sheets, associated with brittle fracture, and as patches forming interconnected networks. For each mode of formation, closely spaced drilled samples across charnockite/gneiss boundaries have been obtained and δ13C and CO2 abundances determined from fluid inclusions by stepped-heating mass spectrometry.Isolated sheets of charnockite (c.50 mm wide) within biotite–garnet gneiss at Kalanjur (Kerala, South India) have developed on either side of a fracture zone. Phase equilibria indicate low-pressure charnockite formation at pressures of 3.4 ± 1.0 kbar and temperatures of about 700°C (for XH2O= 0.2). Fluid inclusions from the charnockite are characterized by δ13C values of −8% and from the gneiss, 2 m from the charnockite, by values of −15%. The large CO2 abundances and relatively heavy carbon-isotope signature of the charnockite can be traced into the gneiss over a distance of at least 280 mm from the centre of the charnockite, whereas the reaction front has moved only 30 mm. This suggests that fluid advection has driven the carbon-isotope front through the rock more rapidly than the reaction front. The carbon-front/reaction-front separation at Kalanjur is significantly larger than the value determined from a graphite-bearing incipient charnockite nearby, consistent with the predictions of one-dimensional advection models.Incipient charnockites from Kurunegala (Sri Lanka) have developed as a patchy network within hornblende–biotite gneiss. CO2 abundances rise to a peak near one limb of the charnockite, and isotopic values vary from δ13C of c.−5.5% in the gneiss to −9.5% in the charnockite. The shift to lighter values in the charnockite can be ascribed to the formation of a CO2-saturated partial melt in response to influx of an isotopically light carbonic fluid.Thus, incipient charnockites from the high-grade terranes of South India and Sri Lanka reflect a range of mechanisms. At shallower structural levels non-pervasive CO2 influxed along zones of brittle fracture, possibly associated with the intrusion of charnockitic dykes. At deeper levels, in situ melting occurred under conditions of ductile deformation, leading to the development of patchy charnockites.

Notes: Serum was obtained from 21 normal and 22 psoriatic subjects, and the severity of skin disease in the psoriatic patients was recorded using the PASI score. The scores ranged from 1.8 to 51.0. The growth stimulatory effect of the sera on normal dermal fibroblasts in cell culture was assessed by measuring [3H]-thymidine uptake. Each serum was assessed at four concentrations (2, 5, 10, 20%). The psoriatic sera were more growth stimulatory than normal sera, but this difference was statistically significant (P〉0.02) only at 20% serum concentration. Eleven of the 22 psoriatic serum samples had a mitogenic effect greater than the mean ± 2 SEM of all the normal sera: these sera were from patients with PASI scores of 4.5–51.0. Six of these psoriatic subjects were recalled after 5 months: their PASI scores were reassessed, and the mitogenic effect of new serum samples was compared with that of the initial samples. All of these patients displayed a change in serum mitogenic effect, but this was not consistent with the change in severity of skin disease over the corresponding time period. In one subject, the severity of the psoriasis had increased marginally over the 5 months, while the mitogenic effect of her serum decreased significantly (mean counts of 43808 vs. 32660; P= 0.0029).

Notes: The effect of aspartame on the early stage of ascorbic acid oxidation in solutions was studied by measuring ascorbic acid retention in an open system at 30°C and the oxygen uptake in a closed system at 33°C. Comparisons were also made between aspartame (0.06% and 0.12%) and sucrose (10% and 20%) in Cu-catalyzed and noncatalyzed solutions at 30°C. Copper activity in aspartame solution was measured by using a cupric ion selective electrode. Aspartame increased the rate of ascorbic acid oxidation in all tested solutions. In the presence of copper the oxidation rate of ascorbic acid was significantly higher in aspartame solutions than in sucrose solutions despite the fact that aspartame showed Cu-complex capacity in solution.