1) The relationships of miRNAs and their targets were also verif

1). The relationships of miRNAs and their targets were also verified for osa-miR156a and two genes encoding teosinte glume architecture 1 (TGA1) (Fig. S3). The MADS-box transcription 23 gene for osa-miR444b.2, a TCP TF gene (LOC_Os07g05720.1) for osa-miR319b, an expressed

protein gene (LOC_Os09g36650.1) for osa-miR159a.1, a gene encoding a putative protein (LOC_Os04g07260.1) for osa-miR319a-5p, and a gene encoding biopterin transport-related BT1 (LOC_Os03g58080.1) for osa-miR5148a were also confirmed, as shown in Fig. S2. It was noted that cleavage might occur upstream or downstream of the binding site instead of the commonly MDV3100 cost observed position. For example, the binding site of LOC_Os08g33488.1 (target of osa-miR444b.2) occurred between 311 and 331 bp; however, the cleavage

site occurred at about 360 bp, downstream of the binding site, which is consistent with Selleckchem Alectinib previous reports [30] and [31]. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to determine the expression relationship between miRNAs and their corresponding targets, as shown in Fig. S4 and Table S4. In contrast to the lower expression of osa-miR156a in the rhizome, the expression levels of its targets, two TGA1s, were highly enriched in the rhizome compared with the AS. However, the expression of another target in the two tissues, SPL10, was similar to those of osa-miR156a. The transcripts of osa-miR319b and its target gene TCP were simultaneously

identified as highly enriched in rhizome compared with AS ( Fig. S2 and Fig. S4). These results indicated that miRNAs could be negatively or positively involved in the regulation of their targets at the post-transcriptional level. The development of high-throughput gene expression analyses, including deep sequencing techniques, has enabled the rapid profiling and investigation of the transcriptome. In O. longistaminata, genome-wide gene expression profiling has previously been performed using the Affymetrix rice microarray to identify tissue-specific genes, in particular genes related to rhizome development [8]. In this study, the comparative analysis of two small RNA libraries, one from ASs and one from rhizomes, indicated that some miRNAs were differentially expressed in the two tissues, and target gene predictions Tacrolimus (FK506) for these differentially expressed miRNAs suggested their roles in AS and rhizome development. MiRNAs play an important role in plant growth and development. To date, there are 592 miRNA sequences representing 713 mature miRNAs in the rice miRBase (http://www.mirbase.org/cgi-bin/mirna_summary. pl?org = osa). However, the miRNA transcriptome of wild rice, including O. longistaminata, is poorly characterized [32]. In the present study, 380 known rice miRNAs were identified in ASs and rhizomes, indicating that the majority of the identified rice miRNAs could be expressed in O. longistaminata.

A P Table 5 suggests prioritized requirements across social, env

A.P. Table 5 suggests prioritized requirements across social, environmental, economic and management dimensions that could be applied to small producer shrimp farmers, and adapted to other species. Certification may be currently driven by European and American demands, yet two thirds of all seafood is consumed in Asia [13] and [2]. Commonly cultivated species, such as carp or crab, are not yet targeted by certification regimes. What is the role of Asian consumers in driving certification? Certified farmed fish sold within Asian markets, for example in supermarkets purchased by middle-class consumers, is an area that could be targeted for certified products of specific

species produced by small producers. This is not to suggest that there is not a role for certified shrimp, tilapia or pangasius exported to Europe, North America and Japan, but, rather, that it is important find more Copanlisib chemical structure to also consider regional certification schemes that are viable

for smaller producers with an emphasis on regional consumption patterns and food safety concerns. If certification is to enter mainstream markets, a re-visioning of how sustainability standards work for small producers is necessary. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), for example, has not certified many global South fisheries (these constitute 7% of all MSC certified fisheries), focusing on Northern industrial fisheries [69] and [2]. Yet Northern industrial fisheries, in many ways, represent ‘low hanging fruit׳ for certification schemes,

and efforts towards small producer inclusion are essential from a sustainability perspective. The significance of small producer aquaculture to enhance sustainability practices and contribute towards viable livelihood practices in the global South should not be underestimated, particularly when considering seafood production and consumption throughout Asia, and the importance of fish exports in the region. Standards need to accommodate smaller scales and the particular species cultivated at these scales (i.e., not only shrimp) or certification risks contributing to an increasingly inequitable world, with food safety and sustainability standards in the fisheries sector continuing to target only niche markets. This is not viable for the longer term, nor will it help to shift heptaminol the social and environmental impacts associated with aquaculture. The author׳s gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Canada׳s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). We appreciate the insights shared by all those we interviewed, and thank Dr. Troung Van Tuyen and Ho Thi Thanh Nga for their support of this research. Thanks also to Rebecca Taves for the Vietnam fisheries production figure and the technical support for the survey analysis. We thank Dr. Peter Vandergeest for his insightful comments on a draft of this paper. This is a jointly authored paper.

1% BSA for 1 h at room temperature on a horizontal shaker After

1% BSA for 1 h at room temperature on a horizontal shaker. After being washed three times with PBS plus 0.05% Tween-20, the membranes were incubated with rabbit anti-horse IgG conjugated to alkaline phosphatase (whole molecule) diluted 1:7500 in PBS plus 0.1% BSA and 0.05% Tween-20. Then, the membranes were incubated for 1 h at room temperature on a horizontal shaker. The membranes were washed three times with PBS plus 0.05% Tween-20 and placed in developing solution for Western blotting.

The reaction was terminated by washing with distilled water. Polystyrene, high-affinity ELISA plates (96 wells) were coated with 1.0 μg of crude C. d. terrificus, C. d. collilineatus, C. d. cascavella or C. d. marajoensis venom in 100 μL of PBS buffer and kept overnight at 4 °C. In some assays, crotoxin or PLA2 purified from C. d. terrificus was used as the antigen. The wells were

blocked for 2 h at 37 °C Trametinib mw with 200 μL of PBS plus 5% BSA. The wells were washed with 200 uL selleck chemicals of PBS. Serial dilutions of horse IgG or F(ab′)2 preparations (1:4000 to 2,048,000) in PBS plus 0.1% BSA were prepared, and 100 μL of each dilution was added to individual wells. The plates were then incubated at 37 °C for 1 h, and then, the wells were washed three times with the wash buffer. Rabbit peroxidase-conjugated anti-horse IgG (whole molecule) (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) diluted (1:20,000) in PBS plus 0.1% BSA and 0.05% Tween-20 (100 μL/well) was added to the plates. The plates were incubated for 1 h at 37 °C. After three washes with the wash buffer, 50 μL of substrate buffer were added to each well, and plates were incubated at room temperature for Montelukast Sodium 15 min. The reaction was terminated with 50 μL of 4 N sulfuric acid per well. Absorbance was recorded at 492 nm using an ELISA plate reader (Labsystems Multiskan Ex, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Walthan, MA). IgG from horses collected before immunization was always used as a negative control. The IgG dilution giving an optical density of 0.2 was used to calculate the U-ELISA per milliliter of the undiluted IgG solution. One U-ELISA was defined as

the smallest dilution of antibody that presented an O.D. of 0.2 under conditions of the ELISA assay, as described previously ( Almeida et al., 2008). The value was then multiplied by 10 to correspond to milliliters. The affinity of anti-Crotalus antibody was measured by ELISA, as described above, with the inclusion of a potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) elution step ( Pullen et al., 1986; Romero-Steiner et al., 2005). After the serum incubation step, dilutions of KSCN (0.0–5.0 M, in intervals of 0.50 M) in PBS were added to the wells and incubated for 30 min at room temperature. The remaining bound antibodies were detected with rabbit peroxidase-conjugated anti-horse IgG (whole molecule) (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) diluted (1:20,000) in PBS plus 0.

2010) Piepenburg et al (1995) found that over the Barents Sea s

2010). Piepenburg et al. (1995) found that over the Barents Sea shelf, as much as 68% of oxygen is attributable to sediment microbes, and that the benthic requirement Cabozantinib for carbon ranges from 10 to 40% of that of local primary production. The carbon requirement of shelf sediments in the Arctic Beaufort Sea was estimated at 60% of new production (Renaud et al. 2007). The importance of the microbial oxidation of organic matter in permeable sediments is emphasized by many authors (e.g. Gihring et al. 2009). In the coarse sediments of the North Sea, the meiofauna responds rapidly

to the organic supply, yet bacteria dominate respiration (Franco et al., 2008 and Franco et al., 2010). In sands, low standing stocks mean a rapid turnover due to advective interfacial flow and microbial populations (Rocha 2008). Respiration and denitrification rates in MAB aerobic denitrifiers (Rao et al. 2008) were 34 times faster than molecular diffusion, and up to 17% of the integrated mid-shelf water column production is recycled annually below the sediment surface there (Jahnke et al. 2005). Algal cells were present to

a depth of 11 cm in MAB sediments and were metabolized as intensely as in coastal waters (Rusch et al. 2003). An estimated volume of 1 m3 m− 2 day− 1 was pumped through the top 10 cm of sands in MAB (Reimers et al. 2004), which was calculated by Rush et al. (2006) as contributing ‘significantly to the cycling of carbon and nutrients in the shelf environment’. Part of the primary production MEK inhibitor side effects Loperamide that falls to the Svalbardbanken seabed goes through the high biomass of large, erect filter feeders (bryozoans, sponges, sea squirts and bivalves) that are able to capture food above the seabed (Idelson 1930). The species composition, distribution and density (present authors, in prep.) was almost identical

to the previous study by Idelson (1930) from this area nearly 80 years ago. That author also noted that the abundance of epifauna and filter feeders on Svalbardbanken was the result of strong currents and the amount of detritus available. In summary we suggest that sediment coarseness and flow intensity most likely create the opportunity for the intensive metabolism of organic carbon within the Svalbardbanken sediments. This particular area (ca 16 000 km2) acts as a huge, three-dimensional converter, probably capable of processing a significant part of the primary production below the seabed surface and enriching the surrounding waters with regenerated nutrients. Direct measurements of flow in local sediments and of metabolic activity in pore waters are needed, although it has to be borne in mind that this may be technically difficult, as no conventional sampler is capable of penetrating the shell/gravel sediment to this depth in order to collect the interstitial water intact. We thank W.

Commercial HUSY and NaY zeolites were supplied by GRACE Davison a

Commercial HUSY and NaY zeolites were supplied by GRACE Davison and Wako. Al-MCM-41 was synthesized according

to the reported method [12]. The N2 adsorption isotherms were measured at 77 K in an AUTOSORB-6 supplied by Quantachrome. Bleomycin The Si/Al ratio was measured by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) in a PHILIPS MAGIX PRO, model PW2400 sequential X-ray spectrometer. The acidity of the materials was measured by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of ammonia, performed in a Netzsch TG 209 thermobalance. All materials were sieved to sizes lower than 70 μm prior to its usage. The physicochemical properties of the three materials are shown in Table 1. HUSY has the higher aluminium content (lower Si/Al ratio as seen in Table 1) and lower pore size (0.74 nm of diameter). Al-MCM-41 is a mesoporous material with a

pore size of 2.7 nm and a very high BET surface area. The acidity of these materials increases in the order NaY < Al-MCM-41 < HUSY, which, as expected, is in accordance with the aluminium content for Al-MCM-41 and HUSY. Ten commercial cigarettes brands were chosen among the best-selling brands in Spain in 2013. They were: Marlboro, Winston, Fortuna, Chesterfield, Ducados Rubio, Camel, L&M, Nobel, Lucky Strike and John Player SP. For privacy reasons in the following Figures and Tables, brands have been named with letters from A to J. As mentioned above, these brands were the object of a previous study comparing the yields of the Spanish commercial cigarettes. KU-60019 ic50 More details can be found in the paper published elsewhere [22]. Table 2 shows the more important design characteristics available of these cigarettes. All the filters were cellulose acetate tips. In order to allow the adequate comparison, 200 cigarettes of each of the ten brands considered were emptied and disassembled, and filters and papers were weighed separately. The mixtures tobacco + additive

were prepared by manually mixing the required amount of powdered additive with the amount of tobacco contained in each cigarette to make Racecadotril a mixture of 4% mass of additive. 0.1 g of ethanol (99.9%. AnalaR NORMAPUR, from Prolabo) were added to wet the tobacco and assist in mixing the tobacco with the additive. Ethanol was evaporated prior to the refilling of the cigarettes. All the experiments were triplicated and Table 3 shows the average mass fraction of additive in the mixtures studied among other parameters. The refilled cigarettes were kept at 23 °C and 60% relative humidity for at least 48 h. Five cigarettes were simultaneously smoked in each run and at least three runs were carried out for each cigarette brand. The smoking regimen was selected according to the specifications of the ISO 3308 standard, with the difference that, as in the previous study and for the same reasons commented therein, 8 puffs were always taken.

Therefore, it was considered that the amount of accumulation of b

Therefore, it was considered that the amount of accumulation of bisphosphonate within bone after each single intermittent dose was more than that obtained with continuous administration. It was considerable that the amount of risedronate accumulation is higher in the 75 mg once-monthly group than in the 2.5 mg once-daily group after each single 75 mg once-monthly group treatment. Therefore, each administration of risedronate 75 mg once-monthly, which has a larger accumulation KU-57788 mw in bone, is possibly associated with more diffusion in bone than 2.5 mg once-daily administration. Therefore,

it may be possible that this difference of distribution in bone between daily and monthly risedronate administration causes the difference in the prevention of bone fracture, but further research is required to obtain more data. With regard to safety, the frequency of overall AEs, gastrointestinal AEs (which are typical AEs during bisphosphonate therapy), serious AEs, and the number of subjects for whom treatment was discontinued due to AEs, were comparable

in the two treatment groups. The frequency of AEs associated with gastrointestinal symptoms was similar between treatment groups. There was no notable difference in baseline demographics, complications, and medical history between subjects who PLX-4720 price had developed AEs associated with gastrointestinal symptoms and those who had not. AEs associated with gastrointestinal symptoms developed most frequently during the period from the

initial administration to Day 30; the frequency of new onset of gastrointestinal symptoms tended to decrease thereafter in each of the treatment groups (data not presented). One of the AEs, diarrhea, was remarkable as its frequency was higher in the 75 mg once-monthly group than in the 2.5 mg once-daily group. However, the number of subjects who discontinued due to diarrhea did not differ significantly between the two treatment groups (4 and 5 subjects in the 2.5 mg once-daily and 75 mg once-monthly groups, respectively) and its severity was mild or moderate. Influenza-like illness associated with NADPH-cytochrome-c2 reductase both IV and oral bisphosphonates is transitory and self-limiting and usually does not recur after subsequent drug administration. This influenza-like illness is referred to as APR [28]. In the current study, AEs potentially associated with APRs only occurred in the 75 mg once-monthly group; the incidence was low, severity was mild or moderate, and these events were not considered to be clinically important. In the multinational (ex-Japan) phase III study, AEs potentially associated with APRs occurred at a similarly low rate as in our study; 1.4% (9/650) of subjects treated with risedronate 150 mg once-monthly and 0.2% (1/642) of subjects treated with 5 mg once-daily [7].

The affinity of the cofactor will also influence whether a compou

The affinity of the cofactor will also influence whether a compound that competes

with cofactor binding can be identified. The effects that exogenous cofactor have on biochemical enzyme assays can often be treated like substrate addition – PARP inhibitor cancer the amount required depends on the level of activity needed and the necessity of the cofactor for the enzyme form one chooses to inhibit. In general, if additional cofactor is required to obtain a robust enzyme assay, then it is usually best to use a saturating concentration in the assay when not specifically screening for cofactor-competitive compounds. Titrations of the cofactor should also be performed to identify the best possible signal:background ratio and to ensure that the reaction is not inhibited at high concentrations of cofactor. Cofactors can also interfere with product detection depending on the method used and therefore the necessity for cofactors may ultimately dictate which detection technique can be applied to a particular target. Finally, stability of a cofactor needs to be considered for the time and environment that the cofactor will be exposed to during an HTS run. For example, some cofactors are light sensitive (iron guanylyl pyridinol) while others can change redox state in common buffers without reducing agents (iron salts). The timing of these modifications must be considered and tested to assure compatibility with the HTS process. Typically,

in vitro biochemical assays are performed at near physiological pH in an attempt to mimic the intracellular environment of the native enzyme. Most enzymes will show broad pH sensitivity due to denaturation click here at high/low pH or to protonation/deprotonation of residues directly involved in acid-base chemistry. For cytosolic proteins, pH≈7.4 can be maintained by a number of buffers including Tris, HEPES, MOPS, and sodium or potassium phosphate buffers, to name a few. However simply because an enzyme is found in the cytosol does not guarantee that the

activity will be optimal at pH=7.4. Monoiodotyrosine A range of pH values encompassing pH=7.4 should be tested in enzymatic activity assays, taking into account that differences in the local environment in vitro versus in vivo or changes in the protein construct from the native form could alter the optimum pH for reactivity. However diverging too far from physiological pH in a biochemical assay can alter the interaction between the enzyme and compounds, creating a potential disconnect between the biochemical and cellular activity of these compounds. The choice of buffer can also have significant consequences for a biochemical reaction because each buffer can have unique and significant effects on a given enzyme target. In addition, necessary reaction components can interact poorly with certain buffers, resulting in non-optimal assay conditions and affecting the robustness and reproducibility of an assay.

27) The low significant correlation between NAOI and the Mediter

27). The low significant correlation between NAOI and the Mediterranean SST agrees with the previous findings of Skliris et al. (2012). However, the high significant correlation between the Mediterranean SST and total cloud cover agrees with the previous findings of Brierley & Fedorov (2010). In addition, the Mediterranean SST warming trend follows the negative trend of heat loss through the open water surface; this is also in agreement with the findings of Skliris et al. (2012). In the last part of the paper, future SST uncertainty over the study period is described using CMIP5 ensemble mean scenarios (i.e. RCP26, RCP45, RCP60 and RCP85). Based on direct comparison between

AVHRR SST data and the results of various CMIP5 ensemble mean scenario control runs for the examined period (i.e. 2000–2012),

the RCP26 scenario control run is PDGFR inhibitor found to be closest to the AVHRR SST data, displaying annual estimates that are 0.5, 1.6 and 0.2 °C lower for the Mediterranean Sea, AAM sub-basin and Black Sea respectively. In the 21st century, the generally expected warming of Selleckchem Autophagy inhibitor the annual Mediterranean SST ranges from 0.45 °C in the RCP26 scenario, through 1.15 °C in the RCP45 scenario and 1.42 °C in the RCP60 scenario, to 2.56 °C in the RCP85 scenario. In each scenario, the summer displayed the maximum warning trend. Moreover, the winter warming trend in the RCP85 scenario is higher than any other seasonal warming trends in the other three scenarios. The warming trends predicted using the RCP26, RCP45 and RCP60 scenarios are significantly lower than that predicted by Parry et al. (2007) using the B1 scenario. However, the significant warming predicted using the RCP85 scenario agrees with the Mediterranean SST warming that Parry et al. (2007) predicted using the A2 scenario. Generally, the SST projected for the end of the current century is controlled mainly by emission variations rather than seasonal or regional variations, indicating that management efforts should Histone demethylase emphasise emission reduction. This research was undertaken when Dr Mohamed Shaltout was a visiting scientist at the Ocean

Climate Group, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The work is a contribution to the Baltic Earth and HyMex programmes. We would like to thank Stephen Sanborn at Proper English AB for the English language editing. Financial support was gratefully received from the University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Research Council (contract No. 621-2007-3750). “
“Problems relating to thermal regimes and sea ice extent changes at the global and local scale have been discussed at length in the recent scientific literature (Matishov and Dzhenyuk, 2012, Levermann et al., 2012, Matishov et al., 2012a and Matishov et al., 2012b). Usually, it is the deviations of climatic norms and long-term hydrometeorological trends, which often do not go beyond the bounds of statistical errors, that are analysed.

During the administration period, animals were housed in polycarb

During the administration period, animals were housed in polycarbonate cages and observed for general appearance and weighed once daily. Food consumption was measured twice a week and on the day of autopsy. On the autopsy day, the rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital, and blood samples were collected from abdominal aorta. One blood sample was treated with EDTA-2K and analyzed for hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin

(HB), lymphocytes (LYMPH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), platelet large-cell ratio (P-LCR), platelet count (PLT), red blood cells

(RBC), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), white TAM Receptor inhibitor blood cells (WBC). One blood sample was treated with non-heparinized vacutainer tube, and the plasma was separated by centrifugation Ku0059436 at 700 × g for 10 min. The following plasma clinical chemistry parameters were evaluated: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), calcium (Ca), cholesterol (CHO), chloride (Cl), creatinine (CRE), glucose (GLU), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), inorganic phosphorus (P), triglyceride (TG). At the end of the treatment period, animals were exsanguinated and organs and tissues were observed macroscopically. Organ weights were obtained for the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, lung, adrenal gland, epididymis, testis, uterus, and ovary, and the relative organ weights were determined based on terminal body weight. The relative organ weights Adenylyl cyclase were calculated as follows: Relative organ weight = Absolute organ weight

(g) /Body weight (g) × 100% For the histological examination, all organs and tissues except for lung were fixed in 10% formalin, dehydrated with varying grades of alcohol, embedded in paraffin wax, cut into standard thick sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) dye for microscopic observation. The histological preparations from animals in the control and high-dose (5000 mg/kg) groups were examined. For SPSS statistical analysis, all the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s test or the Mann-Whitney test. Significant differences were indicated as p < 0.05. Further linear regression (R and other values) was used to evaluate dose-response relationships via SPSS software. The genotypes of the bacterial strains used in this study included S. typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA102, TA1535, and TA1537. A mutagenic response was considered positive if the average number of revertant colonies in test groups of the above strains was twice the number in the negative (control) groups ( OECD, test No. 471, 1997).

February 2012 was the most anomalous

February 2012 was the most anomalous Entinostat in vivo of the winter months in the Kara Sea, when the ice extent anomaly dropped sharply

to − 20% (Figure 7). During the winter of 2013 under the changing conditions of the large-scale atmospheric circulation in the northern hemisphere, the ice extent tended to increase in the Barents and Kara Seas (Figure 6). In the Kara Sea in February–March this parameter was close to average values (Figure 7). At the same time in the southern seas, ice conditions in February–March 2012 were anomalously severe (Figure 8). Thus, there were difficult ice conditions in the Sea of Azov, according to satellite and icebreaker data. The entire area of the sea was covered by ice (this state is observed in < 50% of winters). The ice was scarcely passable, with marked drifting, pressing and hummocking. Fast ice with a thickness from 20 cm in the Kerch Strait to 50–70 cm in Taganrog Bay formed in the coastal zone. In February–March ice thicknesses of up to 50–80 cm, and

in hummocks up to 4 m, Bortezomib were recorded in the Azov-Don Channel in the eastern part of Taganrog Bay. The large-scale thermal anomaly that spread in the first months of 2012 over the whole of Europe and the adjacent Arctic and southern seas, occurred against the background of diverse climatic tendencies. As we showed in previous papers (Matishov et al., 2009 and Matishov et al., 2011), since the beginning of the 21st century a prolonged warm anomaly has remained in the western Arctic. Comparable in intensity to ‘the Arctic warming’ in the first half of the last century, it conforms to the viewpoint of AARI specialists (Frolov et al. 2010) about the presence of a 60-year cycle governing Arctic sea ice fluctuation, and a 200-year cycle of solar radiation arriving

at the Earth. The overlap of these cycles gives grounds for considering that temperature decrease and ice growth are more likely than the warming by 2030–2040 predicted by the results of some model calculations (Kattsov & Porfiryev 2011). It is obvious that without taking into account inter-century cycles, it is impossible to analyse the climate and state of the large marine ecosystems of the North Atlantic and the Arctic. Experience of Arctic navigation has demonstrated the existence Flavopiridol (Alvocidib) of such a 60-year cycle and the warm anomalies it caused in the period not covered by regular observations. As is generally known, in 1878–1879 the expedition on board the ‘Vega’, a non-icebreaking vessel, under the leadership of A. E. Nordenskiöld sailed all the way along the Northern Sea Route, encountering impassable ice only on the way to the Bering Strait (Nordenskiöld 1887). Nowadays, the possibility of the open passage of vessels along the Northern Sea Route is being interpreted as a feature of irreversible global warming (Stephenson et al. 2013).