There is uncertainty regarding carotenoid intake recommendations, because positive and negative health effects have been found or are correlated with carotenoid intake and tissue levels (including blood, adipose tissue, and the macula), depending on the type of study (epidemiological vs intervention), the dose (physiological vs supraphysiological) and the matrix (foods vs supplements, isolated or used in combination). All these factors, combined with interindividual response variations (eg, depending on age, sex, disease state, genetic makeup), make the relationship between carotenoid intake and their blood/tissue concentrations often unclear and highly variable. Although blood total carotenoid concentrations <1000 nmol/L have been related to increased chronic disease risk, no dietary reference intakes (DRIs) exist. Although high total plasma/serum carotenoid concentrations of up to 7500 nmol/L are achievable after supplementation, a plateauing effect for higher doses and prolonged intake is apparent. In this review and position paper, the current knowledge on carotenoids in serum/plasma and tissues and their relationship to dietary intake and health status is summarized with the aim of proposing suggestions for a “normal,” safe, and desirable range of concentrations that presumably are beneficial for health. Existing recommendations are likewise evaluated and practical dietary suggestions are included.

A relative lack of MP is associated with adiposity in men, and may underlie the association between body fat and risk for AMD progression in males. Further, the processes governing accumulation and/or stabilization of lutein and zeaxanthin in fat tissue appear to differ for males and females.

The Viseu area is located in the Central Iberian Zone of the Iberian Variscan Belt and hosts numerous post-thickening, collision-related granitoids intruded into upper and middle crustal levels. The present paper reports high precision U-Pb zircon and monazite ages for four plutons of the Viseu area: the syn-kinematic granitoids of Maceira (314F5 Ma), Casal Vasco (311F1 Ma) and Junqueira (307.8F0.7 Ma) and the late-kinematic biotite monzogranites of Cota (306F9 Ma). This points to a synchronous emplacement of the different syn-kinematic plutons shortly followed by the intrusion of the late-kinematic granites and shows that the Upper Carboniferous plutonism occurred within a short time span of ca. 10 million years.The ascent of granite magmas took place after an extensional tectonic event (D 2 ) and is coeval with dextral and sinistral crustal-scale transcurrent shearing (D 3 ). Field and petrographical evidence suggest a narrow time-span between peak T metamorphic conditions and the intrusion of granitic melts which implies very fast uplift rates accommodated through active tectonic exhumation. Magma compositions evolve through time, reflecting an increasing involvement of mid-crustal sources and the underplating effect of an upwelling asthenospheric mantle at the base of a thinning and stretching continental crust. D

Background-Recent studies have examined the associations between perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) levels in cord blood and maternal plasma with lowered birth weight and gestational age in humans; however, no study has examined these effects in a population of known high PFOA exposure. Residents drinking PFOA-contaminated water from the Little Hocking Water Association (LHWA) in Washington County, Ohio have serum PFOA levels approximately 80 times those in the general U.S. population.

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High‐resolution paleomagnetic records from two sites near Pringle Falls, Oregon, are compared with similar records from Summer Lake, Oregon, ∼170 km to the southeast: Paoha Island, in Mono Lake, ∼660 km to the southeast and Benton Crossing, in Long Valley, approximately 700 km to the southeast, in east‐central California. The sequences at Pringle Falls contain a distinctive coarse pumice‐lapilli tephra layer which we have dated as 218±10 ka by 40Ar/39Ar step‐heating of plagioclase feldspar. Stratigraphically, this tephra is closely associated with a suite of several other tephra layers that bracket the interval studied paleomagnetically. Each tephra layer is distinguished by the unique chemical composition of its volcanic glass shards. The pumice layer dated at Pringle Falls is correlated with layers at three of the other localities. Using all the tephra layers, we can correlate the lake stratigraphic sequences and associated paleomagnetic records among the four distant localities. Additional age control is obtained from a fifth locality at Tulelake in northern California, where the stratigraphic interval of interest is bracketed between ∼171±43 and approximately 140 ka. Characteristics of the paleomagnetic records indicate virtually identical paleofield variation, particularly the geometry of a normal to normal (N‐N) geomagnetic polarity episode. The observed paleofield behavior resembles the Blake geomagnetic polarity episode, but is significantly older than the generally accepted age of the Blake episode. Either the age of the Blake episode is significantly underestimated, or the polarity episode documented here is older, perhaps the Jamaica episode, or is an as yet unreported episode. A corollary of the latter option is that paleomagnetic polarity episodes of different ages may have similar transition polar paths, a conclusion implying that a common mechanism is involved.

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The transparent vitreous body, which occupies about 80% of the eye’s volume, is laden with numerous enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants that could protect the eye from oxidative stress and disease. Aging is associated with degeneration of vitreous structure as well as a reduction in its antioxidant capacity. A growing body of evidence suggests these age-related changes may be the precursor of numerous oxidative stress-induced vitreo-retinopathies, including vision degrading myodesopsia, the clinically significant entoptic phenomena that can result from advanced vitreous degeneration. Adequate intravitreal antioxidant levels may be protective against vitreous degeneration, possibly preventing and even improving vision degrading myodesopsia as well as mitigating various other vitreo-retinopathies. The present article is, therefore, a review of the different antioxidant molecules within vitreous and the inter-relationships between vitreous antioxidant capacity and degeneration.