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Subduction and exhumation processes, interacting with each other, play a key role in crustal recycling. Downgoing oceanic lithosphere constitutes the dominant input at subduction margins, but subduction erosion, the removal of crustal material from the overriding plate, may add additional ingredients and complexity to the subduction factory. Different exhumation models have been proposed to explain how subducted materials are exhumed and therefore contribute to crustal recycling, e.g., exhumation up the subduction channel versus diapiric rise through the mantle wedge that overlies the subducted plate. The recently discovered Baqing eclogite- bearing high-pressure metamorphic complex, central Tibet, China, provides an excellent opportunity to decode the exhumation process, the origin of subduction-related magmatism, and the crustal structure of the North Qiangtang block, in addition to elucidating processes of crustal recycling. Pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) paths and zircon U-Pb ages and trace-element compositions for Baqing high-pressure rocks were used to evaluate exhumation processes and to determine the geochemical and tectonic affinity of the Baqing metamorphic complex. The Baqing metamorphic complex is mainly composed of eclogite, gneiss, and schist. It is located between two geologically distinct terranes--the South Qiangtang block, which has early Paleozoic basement, and the North Qiangtang block, which has Proterozoic basement. In the schist, zircon cores with steep heavy rare earth element (HREE) slopes and oscillatory zoning yielded inherited ages that are similar to detrital zircon ages for the South Qiangtang block schist; in contrast, zircon rims with flat HREE slopes yielded metamorphic ages of 224 Ma that are similar to the metamorphic ages obtained for the Baqing eclogite. In contrast, zircons from the gneiss yielded an upper-intercept age of 1033 ± 32 Ma (interpreted as the crystallization age) and a lower-intercept metamorphic age of 198 ± 4 Ma. Field relations indicate that gneiss and eclogite/amphibolite were exhumed together, so the ~20 m.y. gap between the gneiss and the metabasite metamorphism may indicate a long exhumation duration. In the region, Proterozoic ages of ca. 1000 Ma are known only from the North Qiangtang block; we thus propose that the Baqing gneiss originated from North Qiangtang block Proterozoic basement, which, along with North Qiangtang block Triassic arc magmatic rocks and the discrepancies between ancient and current arc-trench distances, results in estimates of ~20-170 km of Triassic subduction erosion. Results of P-T analyses show that most eclogite, amphibolite, and schist shared a similar clockwise P-T path, different from that of the gneiss, which records a higher geothermal gradient. The clockwise P-T trajectory, long exhumation duration, lack of significant heating during exhumation, and the South Qiangtang block affinity of the schist (host rock of the Baqing eclogite) are consistent with subduction-channel exhumation rather than diapiric rise through the mantle wedge. Geochemical similarities between the North Qiangtang block Triassic subductionrelated rocks and the Baqing gneiss may signal the involvement of unexhumed Baqing metamorphic complex in the recycling of the Qiangtang crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eclogites characterized by a garnet + clinopyroxene + orthopyroxene + sanidine + rutile assemblage are reported for the first time in the eastern Bangong suture, central Tibet (China). Garnet and sanidine are exsolved from clinopyroxene. Al-exchange barometer for orthopyroxene and garnet and K concentrations in clinopyroxene indicate a peak pressure of ∼4 GPa. The occurrence of these ultrahigh-pressure rocks implies the subduction of continental crust to a depth of >130 km along the eastern Bangong suture zone during the Early Jurassic. The denudation of these ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks could have provided a significant source for the Jurassic turbidites in the western Bangong ocean basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safer, more convenient methods for cervical sample collection and storage are necessary to facilitate human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing in low-resource settings. Our study aimed to evaluate the stability of cervical specimens collected with dry swabs and stored dry, compared to liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples, as detected by HPV DNA testing. Women with abnormal cytological findings or HPV-positive results at colposcopy were recruited from the West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, between October 2013 and March 2014. From each woman, physicians collected cervical specimens with a swab placed into a Sarstedt tube and a CytoBrush placed into LBC medium. Samples were randomly assigned to be stored at uncontrolled ambient temperature for 2, 7, 14, or 28 days and then were tested for 14 high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) types using the cobas HPV test. The rates of agreement between dry swab and LBC samples for any HR-HPV type, HPV16, HPV18, and the 12 pooled HR-HPV types were 93.8%, 97.8%, 99.4%, and 93.2%, respectively, with kappa values of 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 0.91), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.91 to 0.97), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1.00), and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.82 to 0.90). The performance of swab samples for detection of cervical precancerous lesions by means of cobas HPV testing was equal to that of LBC samples, even with stratification by storage time. Dry storage of swab-collected cervical samples can last for 1 month without loss of test performance by cobas HPV testing, compared to LBC samples, which may offer a simple inexpensive approach for cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings., (Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.)