During the rutting season, stag semen is accompanied by a sticky, dense secretion called yellow fraction (YF). There is little information about the role, biology, physiology, and most importantly, the composition of this fluid. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify zinc ions (ZnBPs) and heparin binding proteins (HBPs) from YF of the red deer ( Cervus elaphus L.). Using liquid chromatography, the presence of 6 fractions of ZnBPs (71, 65, 55, 16, 14 and 12 kDa) and 22 fractions of HBPs (163, 140, 96, 78, 71, 65, 55, 49, 33, 31, 26, 25, 24, 22, 18, 16, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 and 8 kDa) in YF proteome was demonstrated. By means of two-dimensional electrophoreses and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry some of them were then identified. Amongst ZnBPs the following were identified: glutaminyl-peptide cyclotransferase, inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase-like, potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily E member 2, WD repeat-containing protein 38 isoform X4. Amongst the HBPs metalloproteinase inhibitor 2 (TIMP2), seminal plasma glycoprotein PSP-I and adseverin (scinderin) were identified. Identifying all ZnBPs and HBPs present in YF may broaden up-to-date knowledge concerning the biology, physiology and preservation of red deer semen.

The Polish Geophysical Expedition to West Antarctica in 1979-1980 was carried out by the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Beside deep seismic soundings, 12 multi-channel seismic profiles, with a total length of ca 1000 km have been recorded north and east of the South Shetland Islands and in the Bransfield Strait, but they have never before been completely interpreted and published. All profiles have been processed with modern processing flow including time migration. Profiles crossing the South Shetland Trench revealed distinct reflector inside continental slope, which has been interpreted as border between buried accretionary prism and overlying slope sediments of glacial-marine origin. Profiles in the Bransfield Strait show traces of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the form of glacial foreground valleys, with some of them used as weak spots for young age volcanic intrusions. This paper is the first comprehensive geological interpretation of collected dataset and differences between results from other expeditions are discussed.