| 1. |
- Blöschl, Günter, et al.
(författare)
-
Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 583:7817, s. 560-566
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are concerns that recent climate change is altering the frequency and magnitude of river floods in an unprecedented way(1). Historical studies have identified flood-rich periods in the past half millennium in various regions of Europe(2). However, because of the low temporal resolution of existing datasets and the relatively low number of series, it has remained unclear whether Europe is currently in a flood-rich period from a long-term perspective. Here we analyse how recent decades compare with the flood history of Europe, using a new database composed of more than 100 high-resolution (sub-annual) historical flood series based on documentary evidence covering all major regions of Europe. We show that the past three decades were among the most flood-rich periods in Europe in the past 500 years, and that this period differs from other flood-rich periods in terms of its extent, air temperatures and flood seasonality. We identified nine flood-rich periods and associated regions. Among the periods richest in floods are 1560-1580 (western and central Europe), 1760-1800 (most of Europe), 1840-1870 (western and southern Europe) and 1990-2016 (western and central Europe). In most parts of Europe, previous flood-rich periods occurred during cooler-than-usual phases, but the current flood-rich period has been much warmer. Flood seasonality is also more pronounced in the recent period. For example, during previous flood and interflood periods, 41 per cent and 42 per cent of central European floods occurred in summer, respectively, compared with 55 per cent of floods in the recent period. The exceptional nature of the present-day flood-rich period calls for process-based tools for flood-risk assessment that capture the physical mechanisms involved, and management strategies that can incorporate the recent changes in risk. Analysis of thousands of historical documents recording floods in Europe shows that flooding characteristics in recent decades are unlike those of previous centuries.
|
|
| 2. |
- Seroussi, Eyal, et al.
(författare)
-
Avian Expression Patterns and Genomic Mapping Implicate Leptin in Digestion and TNF in Immunity, Suggesting That Their Interacting Adipokine Role Has Been Acquired Only in Mammals
- 2019
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-6596 .- 1422-0067. ; 20:18
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In mammals, leptin and tumor-necrosis factor (TNF) are prominent interacting adipokines mediating appetite control and insulin sensitivity. While TNF pleiotropically functions in immune defense and cell survival, leptin is largely confined to signaling energy stores in adipocytes. Knowledge about the function of avian leptin and TNF is limited and they are absent or lowly expressed in adipose, respectively. Employing radiation-hybrid mapping and FISH-TSA, we mapped TNF and its syntenic genes to chicken chromosome 16 within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. This mapping position suggests that avian TNF has a role in regulating immune response. To test its possible interaction with leptin within the immune system and beyond, we compared the transcription patterns of TNF, leptin and their cognate receptors obtained by meta-analysis of GenBank RNA-seq data. While expression of leptin and its receptor (LEPR) were detected in the brain and digestive tract, TNF and its receptor mRNAs were primarily found in viral-infected and LPS-treated leukocytes. We confirmed leptin expression in the duodenum by immunohistochemistry staining. Altogether, we suggest that whereas leptin and TNF interact as adipokines in mammals, in birds, they have distinct roles. Thus, the interaction between leptin and TNF may be unique to mammals.
|
|
