This study aimed to explore effects of adjunctive minocycline treatment on inflammatory and neurogenesis markers in major depressive disorder (MDD). Serum samples were collected from a randomised, placebo-controlled 12-week clinical trial of minocycline (200 mg/day, added to treatment as usual) for adults (n = 71) experiencing MDD to determine changes in interleukin-6 (IL-6), lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). General Estimate Equation modelling explored moderation effects of baseline markers and exploratory analyses investigated associations between markers and clinical outcomes. There was no difference between adjunctive minocycline or placebo groups at baseline or week 12 in the levels of IL-6 (week 12; placebo 2.06 ± 1.35 pg/ml; minocycline 1.77 ± 0.79 pg/ml; p = 0.317), LBP (week 12; placebo 3.74 ± 0.95 µg/ml; minocycline 3.93 ± 1.33 µg/ml; p = 0.525) or BDNF (week 12; placebo 24.28 ± 6.69 ng/ml; minocycline 26.56 ± 5.45 ng/ml; p = 0.161). Higher IL-6 levels at baseline were a predictor of greater clinical improvement. Exploratory analyses suggested that the change in IL-6 levels were significantly associated with anxiety symptoms (HAMA; p = 0.021) and quality of life (Q-LES-Q-SF; p = 0.023) scale scores. No other clinical outcomes were shown to have this mediation effect, nor did the other markers (LBP or BDNF) moderate clinical outcomes. There were no overall changes in IL-6, LBP or BDNF following adjunctive minocycline treatment. Exploratory analyses suggest a potential role of IL-6 on mediating anxiety symptoms with MDD. Future trials may consider enrichment of recruitment by identifying several markers or a panel of factors to better represent an inflammatory phenotype in MDD with larger sample size.

We present the first results from a new carbon monoxide (CO) survey of the southern Galactic plane being conducted with the Mopra radio telescope in Australia. The 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J = 1–0 lines are being mapped over the $l = 305^{\circ }\text{--} 345^{\circ }, b = \pm 0.5^{\circ }$ portion of the fourth quadrant of the Galaxy, at 35 arcsec spatial and 0.1 km s−1 spectral resolution. The survey is being undertaken with two principal science objectives: (i) to determine where and how molecular clouds are forming in the Galaxy and (ii) to probe the connection between molecular clouds and the ‘missing’ gas inferred from gamma-ray observations. We describe the motivation for the survey, the instrumentation and observing techniques being applied, and the data reduction and analysis methodology. In this paper, we present the data from the first degree surveyed, $l = 323^{\circ } \text{--} 324^{\circ }, b = \pm 0.5^{\circ }$ . We compare the data to the previous CO survey of this region and present metrics quantifying the performance being achieved; the rms sensitivity per 0.1 km s−1 velocity channel is ~1.5 K for ${\rm ^{12}CO}$ and ~0.7 K for the other lines. We also present some results from the region surveyed, including line fluxes, column densities, molecular masses, ${\rm ^{12}CO/^{13}CO}$ line ratios, and ${\rm ^{12}CO}$ optical depths. We also examine how these quantities vary as a function of distance from the Sun when averaged over the 1 square degree survey area. Approximately 2 × 106M⊙ of molecular gas is found along the G323 sightline, with an average H2 number density of $n_{\text{H}_2} \sim 1$ cm−3 within the Solar circle. The CO data cubes will be made publicly available as they are published.

The publication during the 1990s of Greenland ice-core records spanning the transition from the Last Cold Stage to the present interglacial (ca. 14–9 14C ka BP) presented new challenges to scientists working on marine and terrestrial sequences from this important time interval. In particular, there is now an overriding imperative to increase the levels of precision by which events during this period can be dated and correlated. We review some of the problems commonly encountered when using radiocarbon dating for these purposes, and consider some of the new approaches that will be required if this dating method is to provide a basis for a high precision chronology for the last glacial-interglacial transition.