The fluorescence signals were measured in the microplate reader a

The fluorescence signals were measured in the microplate reader at 528 ± 20 nm for emission and TSA HDAC cell line 485 ± 20 nm for excitation. The fluorescence signal was measured immediately after HOCl addition. Cysteine was used as positive control (IC50 = 0.07 μg/ml). The ONOO− scavenging capacity was measured by monitoring the ONOO−-induced

oxidation of non-fluorescent DHR to fluorescent rhodamine (Gomes et al., 2007). ONOO− was synthesized as previously described by Gomes, Costa, Lima, and Fernandes (2006). Reaction mixtures contained the following reactants at the indicated final concentrations (final volume of 300 μl): DHR (5 μM), ONOO− (600 nM) and aqueous solutions of antioxidant microcapsules or trolox (five concentrations). The fluorescence signal was measured in the microplate reader after 5 min incubation, with wavelengths of emission at 528 ± 20 nm and excitation at 485 ± 20 nm. In a parallel set of experiments, the assays were performed in the presence of 25 mM NaHCO3 in order to simulate the physiological CO2 concentration. This evaluation is important because, under physiological conditions, the reaction between ONOO− and bicarbonate is predominant (k = 3–5.8 × 104 M−1 s−1), generating

nitrogen dioxide ( NO2) and carbonate radical anion (CO3 −). Ascorbic acid was used as positive control (IC50 = 0.22 μg/ml PD98059 cell line and IC50 = 0.31 μg/ml in the absence and presence of NaHCO3, respectively). Protein content was determined according to the Kjeldahl method (AOAC, 1997), using the conversion factor of 6.25. The amino acid analysis was carried out according to White, Hart, and Kry (1986). Both analyses were performed in duplicate. Two approaches were used to present and discuss the capacity of GA and MD microcapsules to scavenge ROS and RNS. The first one aimed to compare the antioxidant capacity of the microcapsules as a whole, regardless the fact that they do not have the same antioxidant concentration (Table 1). The second approach discusses the effects of the addition of 1 μmol of antioxidant molecule

per gramme of biopolymer (GA or MD) in comparison to the biopolymer alone (empty microcapsule) (Table 2). Except for trolox, it is not possible to compare the microencapsulated antioxidants with the correspondent not microencapsulated ones since carotenoids Cyclin-dependent kinase 3 and tocopherol are lipophilic, thus they are not soluble in the solvents used in the methods. Microencapsulation, both using GA and MD as wall material, resulted in suppression of trolox scavenging capacities against HO and ONOO− (Table 3). However, microencapsulation of trolox with GA improved the ROO , H2O2 and HOCl scavenging capacity as compared to trolox alone, being about 2-, 57- and 96-fold more potent, respectively (Table 3). Both empty microcapsules presented capacity to scavenge ROO , although GA was more potent than MD (Fig. 1).

, 2013) In addition, prebiotics have been successfully tested as

, 2013). In addition, prebiotics have been successfully tested as co-components for microencapsulation and in the case of anhydrobiotics (viable probiotics stabilised in a dried format) have conferred a beneficial effect on cell viability (And and Kailasapathy, 2005 and Fritzen-Freire et al., 2012). The aims of the present work were to develop and investigate several plasticised gelatine-prebiotic composite edible films containing Lactobacillusrhamnosus GG. Four oligomer carbohydrate materials with known prebiotic functionality Nutlin3 ( Roberfroid, 2007a) (inulin, polydextrose,

glucose oligosaccharides and wheat dextrin) were evaluated for the first time in probiotic edible films. A probiotic strain (L. rhamnosus GG, SCH727965 supplier E-96666, VTT culture collection, Espoo, Finland) with established probiotic functionality was

used for the preparation of the edible films. Gelatine bovine skin type B, hexahydrate magnesium nitrate and glycerol (purity > 99%) were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (Gillingham, UK). Inulin (Fibruline® S) was obtained from Cosucra SA (Wincoing, Belgium), whereas wheat dextrin (Nutriose®), polydextrose (Promitor®), and glucose-oligosaccharides (Glucofibre®) were kindly provided as a gift from Roquette, (France) and Tate & Lyle GmbH, (Germany) respectively. Preparation of stock culture was carried out as described previously (Behboudi-Jobbehdar,

Soukoulis, Yonekura, & Fisk, 2013). Growth of L. rhamnosus GG was carried out at 37 °C for 48 h under anaerobic conditions in plastic jars containing Anaerogen® (Oxoid Ltd., Basingstoke, UK). The obtained cell culture broth (found in the stationary bacterial growth stage) was aseptically transferred to sterile 50 mL plastic centrifuge tubes (Sarstedt Ltd, Leicester, UK) and centrifuged at 3000g for 5 min. Supernatant SSR128129E liquid was discarded and the harvested bacterial cells were twice washed with phosphate buffer saline (Dulbecco A, Oxoid Ltd, Basingstoke, UK). Gelatine and prebiotic fibres (wheat dextrin, polydextrose, glucose-oligosaccharides and inulin) were dispersed in distilled water at 50 °C to obtain five individual biopolymer solutions. Glycerol was adjusted at the 40% w/w of the aliquots’ total solids. In all cases, the total solids composition of the solutions was 4% w/w of biopolymers and 1.6% w/w of glycerol. The gelatine solution was left to fully hydrate for 30 min at 50 °C, 1:1 mixed with the prebiotic solutions, and after pH adjustment at 7.0 with sodium hydroxide 0.1 M, the obtained aliquots were heat treated at 80 °C for 15 min to destroy pathogens and to fully dissolve gelatine. Then, the heated aliquots were cooled at 40 °C and kept isothermally to avoid gelatine setting until inoculation with probiotics. Six pellets of L.

The vines of the varieties Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sangiovese and

The vines of the varieties Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sangiovese and Syrah were planted in 2003, and the clones used were 986, 181, VCR23 and VCR1, respectively. The rootstock find more used was Paulsen 1103 (Vitis berlandieri Planch × Vitis rupestris Scheele); the vertical shoot positioning

trellis system training was used; the row and vine spacing was 3.0 × 1.2 m and the vineyard yield was between 6 and 7 t/ha. The wines were all produced under the same conditions in the commercial winery of São Joaquim – SC through a traditional skin-contact technique. The berries were separated from the stalks, crushed and maintained in a stainless steel vat. The maceration period was 15 days, with one or two daily pumping events at 22–28 °C. The must was separated from the solid parts and transferred to other stainless steel vats. Prior to initiating the alcoholic fermentation, a commercial sulphating agent (12 g 100 kg−1 of must, corresponding to 60 mg L−1 of free SO2) (Noxitan, Pascal Biotech, Paris), Saccharomyces cerevisae strain (20 g 100 kg−1) (Fermol Rouge, Pascal Biotech, Paris) and commercial enzymes with pectolytic Fasudil chemical structure activity (2–4 g h L−1) (Pectinex SPL/Ultra, Pascal Biotech, Paris)

were added to the musts. Malic acid consumption by lactic acid bacteria occurred spontaneously within 60–75 days. Once alcohol fermentation had finished the wines were stored in French oak wood for approximately 1 year. Before bottling, Noxitan (35 mg L−1 of free SO2, on average) was added. The wine samples from 2007 and 2006 vintages were analysed after 1 and 2 years of aging in bottle, respectively. The wines were stored at 10 °C prior to analysis. The wine was purified and concentrated using the method described by Pastor del Rio and Kennedy (2006) with the following modifications.

Ten millilitres of wine, dealcoholised under reduced pressure at 30 °C, were applied on the C18-SPE cartridge (1 g, Waters, Milford, MA) previously activated with 4 mL of methanol followed by 10 mL of water. The applied sample was washed with 50 mL of water, eluted Methisazone with 40 mL of methanol, evaporated, and then dissolved in 2 mL of methanol. The sample preparation and analysis were carried out in triplicate for each wine. The PA subunit composition, percentage of galloylation (%G), percentage of prodelphinidins (%P), and mean degree of polymerisation (mDP), were determined after acid-catalysis in the presence of excess phloroglucinol (phloroglucinolysis) (Kennedy & Jones, 2001). A solution of 0.2 N HCl in methanol, containing 100 g L−1 phloroglucinol and 20 g L−1 ascorbic acid, was prepared. One hundred microlitres of concentrated and purified wine sample (item 2.3) was reacted with 100 μL of the phloroglucinol reagent at 50 °C for 20 min and then combined with 1000 μL of 40 mm aqueous sodium acetate to stop the reaction. The final solutions were filtered through 0.22 μm, 13 mm PTFE syringe tip filters (Millipore, Bedford, MA) into LC vials and immediately injected into a HPLC-DAD–MS system.

97 (p = 0 00) across all homes despite the fact that candles were

97 (p = 0.00) across all homes despite the fact that candles were only burned in

28 of the homes. In contrast the average indoor PNC levels were weakly correlated with estimated exposure related to cooking (r = 0.10; p = 0.44). The Rigosertib indoor mean particle diameter correlated with the indoor mass concentration of PM2.5 and with mean outdoor particle diameter and mass concentration of PM2.5 and PM10. The mean outdoor particle diameter correlated with the mass concentration of outdoor PM2.5 and PM10. Outdoor levels of PNC and PM2.5 were significantly correlated with PM10 (Table 2). The health outcome variables are summarized in Table 3, in total and by gender. The associations between the health outcomes and the indoor and outdoor air pollutants estimated as percent change per IQR increase by the GEE model are presented in Table 4. MVF was significantly inversely associated with outdoor PNC (9% decrease per IQR increase), but not with outdoor PM2.5 or PM10. The association between outdoor PNC and MVF remained statistically significant with 8.3% decrease per IQR, when restricting the study population to participants who did not use any drugs (n = 65). There was no significant association between MVF and indoor PNC, indoor PM2.5 or settled dust levels of bacteria, endotoxin, and fungi. In contrast, the prediabetic marker HbA1c was significantly associated with indoor PNC (2% increase per IQR), but not with other exposure

Z-VAD-FMK datasheet markers. CRP showed significant association with the indoor levels of PM2.5 (24% increase per IQR). There were consistent but not significant positive associations between CRP and outdoor PNC, PM2.5 and PM10 levels. Counts of leukocytes, monocytes and lymphocytes were significantly positively associated with indoor exposure to PNC (3.5–6.6% increase per IQR), whereas the CD11b expression on monocytes showed an inverse association with a 4% decrease per IQR increase in PNC (Table 4). In addition, eosinophil counts were inversely associated with levels of indoor PM2.5 and bacteria in settled dust,

CD62L and CD11b expression was significantly inversely associated with levels of endotoxin in settled dust, whereas CD62L only was inversely associated with fungi levels. High levels of indoor PNC and endotoxin were associated with significantly lower selleck compound lung function with 2% reduction in the FEV1/FVC ratio per IQR increase of both, whereas none of the other exposure markers showed significant associations (Table 4). The adjustment of the associations between outcomes and outdoor pollutants for the outdoor temperature did not change the main results (data not shown). Similarly, adjustment for time the home was unoccupied during the monitoring period did not change the magnitude of any of the found significant association, although the associations between CRP and eosinophil counts and indoor PM2.5 lost statistical significance (data not shown).

To succeed with this latter strategy, however, children needed (1

To succeed with this latter strategy, however, children needed (1) to understand that tracking branches would yield the same information as tracking puppets, and (2) to represent

transformation events in terms of their impact on the set of unpaired branches. For example, an addition of one puppet corresponded to one fewer unpaired branch, a subtraction of one puppet corresponded to one more unpaired branch, and so on. Perhaps, this mental operation was not available to children, and thus limited their use of strategies based on tracking branches. Although this difficulty may explain children’s failure with transformations involving puppets (addition/subtraction or substitution), it fails to account for children’s failure at the branch selleck chemical addition/subtraction condition, where the impact of the events on the set of unpaired branches Bcl-2 apoptosis pathway was easily identifiable. This last finding thus leads us to favor the alternative explanation, i.e., that children failed to

realize that the task could be solved not only by tracking the puppets, but also by computing how many branches did not have a matching puppet – a limitation of their understanding of one-to-one correspondence relations. Children’s format of representation for one-to-one mappings may have been such that they could not easily track the set of unpaired branches through transformations. One-to-one correspondence relations may be represented either via individual pairings (as in “each branch has a puppet”) or at the level of the whole set. In the first case, to represent the puppets in relation to the branches, children could use their resources for parallel object tracking, with the branches serving as a support to expand the capacities of this system. A relation with one fewer puppets than branches

could be represented using two slots in memory, one Olopatadine for the generic relation (“each branch has a puppet”) and one for the deviant branch. This format of representation, however, should be easy to update following the addition or subtraction of a branch, which leads us to favor an alternative hypothesis. Instead of representing the relation at the level of individuals, children may have encoded the mapping between branches and puppets as a visual configuration, which, sometimes (e.g., when the identity of the set was preserved), they tried to reproduce as they were taking the puppets out of the box. In line with our results, such an ensemble-based representation of the relation between puppets and branches would not easily enable children to compute the impact of one-item transformations, be they transformations of puppets or of branches. This second possibility thus appears more likely, but further research is needed to distinguish these alternatives.

Resprouts from slash-and-burn

Resprouts from slash-and-burn Ribociclib clinical trial events enjoy several advantages when competing against most plants starting from seed (Kammesheidt, 1999). The BN resprouts possess a deep and well-developed root system that favors water and nutrient intake (Kainer et al., 1998). Their above-ground growth in full-light conditions helps them cope with the dense and entangled understory of early forest succession. This ability to resprout renders the tree particularly resilient to SC disturbances. A good

indication of the BN tree’s resprouting capability was the ratio of individuals with resprouted versus uncut stems. This ratio was almost four times higher (3.7:1) in sites that had previously experienced two or more slash-and-burn cycles. Most resprouts exhibited selleck compound multiple stems, and the number

of living shoots increased with the number of times that the resprouts survived the SC events (Fig. 2c). Nevertheless, as observed by Kammesheidt (1998) for many species in fallows exposed to SC, the abundance of stems is later reduced by self-thinning. The importance of resprouting as a demographic process depends on the frequency of severe disturbances, the probability that the species will resprout after them, and the rates of survival, growth and maturity of the resprouts (Paciorek et al., 2000). The only reference that we found regarding the maturity of resprouted BN trees reported anecdotal information from forest dwellers (Baider, 2000), who mentioned that resprouted trees die before they reach reproductive

age. Our findings contradict this opinion because the majority of individuals present in fallows assigned to protection were resprouted trees. Although we did not collect data to address this question, the fact that resprouted multi-stem adults are owned and protected by extractivists is a good indication of their productivity. Adult BN trees have very large crowns. Because many mature trees cannot coexist in the Acesulfame Potassium limited space available, the abundance of seedlings and saplings will ultimately be reduced in number through intraspecific competition. Considerations of this sort allow us to deduce a practical limit for the regeneration density increase and, consequently, a sufficient number of SC cycles after which the BN accumulation becomes redundant. In contrast, another landholder choice having decisive impact is the conversion of crops or fallows into pasture. Once this change has taken place, the development of previously established regeneration is no longer feasible, and that particular site will lose its potential to contribute a high-density BN stand.

Some authors have proposed adding other medicaments to calcium hy

Some authors have proposed adding other medicaments to calcium hydroxide, such as camphorated paramonochlorophenol (CPMC) or chlorhexidine, so as to circumvent its limitations and maximize bacterial elimination 10 and 11. Although many in vitro studies have supported the advantages of combining calcium hydroxide with other antimicrobial substances 11 and 12, there is only limited information from clinical studies comparing different

calcium learn more hydroxide pastes 13, 14 and 15. The great majority of clinical studies evaluating the antibacterial effects of endodontic treatment procedures have been based on culture techniques. Nonetheless, it is well-known that culture has important limitations, including low sensitivity, misidentification of cultivable strains with ambiguous phenotype, difficulties in detecting culture-difficult species, and inability to grow many oral species under laboratory artificial conditions (16). Although culture-independent molecular microbiology techniques can overcome many of the limitations of culture, there are not many studies using these techniques to investigate the antimicrobial efficacy of

treatment procedures. Also, most studies have focused on bacteria, which are the main microorganisms found in endodontic infections BMS-354825 cost (16). However, because there are some reports of the presence of archaea (17) and fungi (18) in primary endodontic infections, it seems interesting to evaluate the effects of endodontic procedures against these microorganims, in case they are present at all. This clinical study was undertaken to evaluate the antimicrobial effects of chemomechanical preparation with 2.5% NaOCl as the irrigant and the additive

antibacterial effect of interappointment medication with either calcium hydroxide/glycerin (CHG) or calcium hydroxide/CPMC/glycerin (CHPG) paste during treatment of primarily infected root Sirolimus cell line canals of teeth with apical periodontitis. Bacterial, archaeal, and fungal presence was evaluated by broad-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and bacterial identifications were performed by a closed-ended reverse-capture checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization approach. In previous studies 7 and 9 we have used culture methods to evaluate these 2 protocols separately. It is our intention in the present study to refine and expand our previous observations on these 2 antimicrobial protocols by using molecular microbiology analyses, also including now a direct comparison betweeen them. This study included 27 patients attending the endodontic clinic at the School of Dentistry, Estácio de Sá University, Rio de Janeiro for evaluation and treatment of apical periodontitis. Each patient contributed 1 tooth, and selection followed stringent inclusion/exclusion criteria.

The flow rate was set at 0 4 mL/min and wavelength was 203 nm Se

The flow rate was set at 0.4 mL/min and wavelength was 203 nm. Seventeen saponins (Rb2, Rb3, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf, Rg1, Rg2S, Rg2R, Rg3S, Rg3R, Rh1, Rh2S, Rh2R, C-K, F1, F2; Sigma–Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA) were used as standards for this purpose. Rg1, Rf, and Rc were the main contents, the retention time of Rg1 was 16.12 min, that of Rf was 19.18 min, and that of Rc was 19.53 min. The concentration

of Rg1 was 3.73%, that of Rf was 3.57%, and that of Rc was 1.87% (Fig. 1). Progress of analytical measurements in the study is shown in Table 1.The participants were asked to visit every CHIR-99021 mouse 2nd wk. Blood pressure, body weight, waist circumference, and body composition were measured at every visit, and blood analysis and stool analysis were checked on the 1st visit day (wk 0) and last day (wk 8). Blood pressure and heart rate were measured using an automatic digital sphygmomanometer. Wearing a hospital gown, body weight and height were measured to the nearest 0.1 kg and 0.5 cm, respectively. Waist circumference was measured

three times according to the World Health Organization method [21] by the same observer. Body composition was measured at every visit using the bioelectrical impedance analysis method (InBody 3.0; Biospace, Seoul, Korea). This device measures impedance through eight tactile electrodes placed on palms, thumbs, heels, and soles. Each participant stood upright, stepping onto the foot electrodes and loosely gripping the pipe-shaped hand electrodes with arms held vertically. Lean body mass, body mass index, PLX4032 and percent fat were measured and recorded. Blood tests including fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglyceride, and total cholesterol were performed prior to the start of the experiment and 8 wk later. At baseline, participants with high fasting blood glucose (>140 mg/dL) or possible liver problems (aspartate aminotransferase or alanine

aminotransferase >100 IU/L) were excluded. The participants were asked to bring their stool samples on the 1st visit day (wk 0) and last day (wk 8) in the stool-sampling container. The fresh human stools were collected and immediately stored Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase at –70°C. Genomic DNA were extracted from fecal samples of participants using a Fast DNA SPIN extraction kit (MP Biomedicals, Santa Ana, CA, USA), and fragments of the 16S rRNA gene (V1–V3) were amplified from the extracted DNA. The amplifications were performed according to previous reports using a barcoded fusion primer [22] and [23] using a C1000 Touch thermal cycler (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA). The amplified products were visualized on 2% agarose gel electrophoresis using the Gel Doc system (Bio-Rad). Amplicons were purified using the QIA quick PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA) and quantified using the PicoGreen dsDNA Assay kit (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA).

, 2002, Wright et al , 2003, Wright, 2009 and Bartel et al , 2010

, 2002, Wright et al., 2003, Wright, 2009 and Bartel et al., 2010), nutrient processing Bcl-2 inhibitor and biogeochemical reactions ( Correll et al., 2000 and Rosell et

al., 2005), and carbon storage over time scales of 101–103 years ( Wohl et al., 2012), and (iii) a stable ecosystem state that can persist over periods of 102–103 years ( Kramer et al., 2012 and Polvi and Wohl, 2012). Removal of beaver, either directly as in trapping, or indirectly as in competition with grazing animals such as elk or climate change that causes small perennial streams to become intermittent, drives the beaver meadow across a threshold. Several case studies (e.g., Green and Westbrook, 2009 and Polvi and Wohl, 2012) indicate that within one to two decades the beaver meadow becomes what has been called an elk grassland (Wolf et al., 2007) (Fig. 3). As beaver dams fall into disrepair or are removed, peak flows are more likely to be contained within a mainstem channel. Secondary channels become inactive and the riparian water table declines. Peak flows concentrated in a single channel are more erosive: the mainstem channel through the former beaver meadow incises and/or widens, and sediment yields to downstream KRX-0401 mouse portions of the river increase (Green

and Westbrook, 2009). Nutrient retention and biological processing decline, organic matter is no longer regularly added to floodplain and channel storage, and stored organic matter is more likely to be oxidized and eroded. As floodplain soils dry out, burrowing rodents can introduce through their feces the spores of ectomyccorhizal fungi, and the fungi facilitate encroachment by species of conifer such as Picea (spp.) that require

the fungi to take up soil nutrients ( Terwilliger and Pastor, 1999). Once a Etomidate channel is incised into a dry meadow with limited deciduous riparian vegetation that supplies beaver food, reestablishment of beaver is difficult, and the elk meadow becomes an alternative stable state for that segment of the river. Beaver were largely trapped out of the Colorado Front Range during the first three decades of the 19th century (Fremont, 1845 and Wohl, 2001), but beaver populations began to recover within a half century. Beaver population censuses for selected locales within the region of Rocky Mountain National Park date to 1926, shortly after establishment of the park in 1915. Censuses have continued up to the present, and these records indicate that beaver were moderately abundant in the park until circa 1976. As of 2012, almost no beaver remain in Rocky Mountain National Park. This contrasts strongly with other catchments in the Front Range, where beaver populations have remained stable or increased since 1940.

Therefore, the surface layer temperature at station B2 is slightl

Therefore, the surface layer temperature at station B2 is slightly lower than at stations K0 and B7 in the summer months. There find more is also a temperature decrease in the lower layer (Mediterranean water) in the opposite direction (i.e. from station B2 to station B7 and K0) along the strait. The oppositely directed flow system in the Strait of

Istanbul causes a decrease in the amount of cold intermediate water. Further offshore from the Sea of Marmara exit of the Strait of Istanbul, the cold intermediate water is investigated by using temperature and salinity profiles at stations M8 and M23 in 1999 (Figure 5). At these stations, the surface and bottom layers of the Sea of Marmara are separated from each other by a thin interface layer that is found at varying depths in accordance with seasonal or meteorological events. The cold layer is located in the halocline. The upper layer temperature shows seasonal variations; its value ranges from 9 to 23.5 °C at station M8 and from 8.5 to 24 °C at station M23. The upper layer salinity also varies seasonally between 18 and 23 PSU at station M8, and between 20 and 23 PSU at station M23. check details On the other hand, the lower

layer temperature and salinity indicate small seasonal changes. The minimum salinity of 18 PSU at station M8 is observed in July 1999, when Danube-influenced water is found in the exit of the strait (stations K2 and K0) and in the strait itself (stations B7 and B2). The upper layer temperature varies over a wide range as a result of atmospheric cooling and heating. Less saline water can be seen from the T-S diagrams over a wide temperature range (Figure 5). Station M8 is directly influenced by the strait flow, but station M23 possesses the characteristics of the Sea of Marmara. The upper layer temperature is lower at station M8, as at station B2 in the summer Interleukin-3 receptor months. The upper layer of the strait reaches station M8 as a jet flow and changes its characteristics. The thickness of the cold intermediate layer at station M8 is less than that at

station M23. The cold water coming from the strait to the Sea of Marmara (at station B2) is not as cold as at station M23, but surface temperatures at station B2 are always lower than those of the strait and the Sea of Marmara stations. The cold layer at stations M8 and M23 becomes thinner and warmer during the summer months. The effects of atmospheric heating cause an increase in temperature starting at the surface, so the cold water formed in the winter months gradually disappears during the summer months. But the increase of the cold layer temperature and decrease of its thickness are irregular. For example, the minimum temperature is observed in June 1999 and the maximum thickness is observed in August 1999 at station M23. In June 1999 and in August 1999, the minimum temperature of the upper layer is almost 14 °C at station B2.