| 1. |
- Blunden, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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State of the Climate in 2012
- 2013
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Ingår i: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 94:8, s. S1-S258
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall.
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| 2. |
- Alkmin, Diego V., et al.
(författare)
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Boar sperm cryosurvival is better after exposure to seminal plasma from selected fractions than to those from entire ejaculate
- 2014
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Ingår i: Cryobiology. - : Elsevier. - 0011-2240 .- 1090-2392. ; 69:2, s. 203-210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Boar bulk ejaculates are now being collected instead of usual sperm-rich fractions (SRF) for artificial insemination purpose. The present study evaluated the influence of holding boar sperm samples before freezing surrounded in their own seminal plasma (SP), from either fractions/portions or the entire ejaculate, on post-thawing sperm quality and functionality. Ejaculates collected as bulk (BE) or as separate (first 10 mL of SRF [P1] and rest of SRF [P2]) from 10 boars were held 24 h at 15-17 degrees C and then frozen. Some bulk ejaculate samples were frozen immediately after collections as Control. In addition, epididymal sperm samples from the same 10 boars were collected post-mortem and extended in SP from P1 (EP1), P2 (EP2) and post SRF (EP3), and also held 24 h before freezing for a better understanding of the influence of SP on boar sperm cryopreservation. The sperm quality (motility, evaluated by CASA, and viability, evaluated by flow cytometry) and functionality (flow cytometry assessment of plasma membrane fluidity, mitochondrial membrane potential and intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species [ROS] in viable sperm) were evaluated at 30, 150 and 300 min post-thaw. Post-thawing sperm quality and functionality of P1 and P2 were similar but higher (p less than0.01) than BE samples. Control samples showed higher (p less than 0.01) post-thaw sperm quality and functionality than BE samples. Post-thawing sperm quality and functionality of EP1 and EP2 were similar but higher (p less than 0.05) than EP3. These results showed that boar sperm from BE are more cryosensitive than those from the SRF, particularly when held 24 h before freezing, which would be attributable to the cryonegative effects exerted by the SP from post SRF.
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| 3. |
- Confalonieri, Roberto, et al.
(författare)
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Dealing with explicit preferences and uncertainty in answer set programming
- 2012
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Ingår i: Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence. - Dordrecht : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1012-2443 .- 1573-7470. ; 65:2-3, s. 159-198
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we show how the formalism of Logic Programs with Ordered Disjunction (LPODs) and Possibilistic Answer Set Programming (PASP) can be merged into the single framework of Logic Programs with Possibilistic Ordered Disjunction (LPPODs). The LPPODs framework embeds in a unified way several aspects of common-sense reasoning, nonmonotonocity, preferences, and uncertainty, where each part is underpinned by a well established formalism. On one hand, from LPODs it inherits the distinctive feature of expressing context-dependent qualitative preferences among different alternatives (modeled as the atoms of a logic program). On the other hand, PASP allows for qualitative certainty statements about the rules themselves (modeled as necessity values according to possibilistic logic) to be captured. In this way, the LPPODs framework supports a reasoning which is nonmonotonic, preference- and uncertainty-aware. The LPPODs syntax allows for the specification of (1) preferences among the exceptions to default rules, and (2) necessity values about the certainty of program rules. As a result, preferences and uncertainty can be used to select the preferred uncertain default rules of an LPPOD and, consequently, to order its possibilistic answer sets. Furthermore, we describe the implementation of an ASP-based solver able to compute the LPPODs semantics.
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| 4. |
- Garrido, Juan, et al.
(författare)
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Practical advantages of inverted decoupling
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part I: Journal of Systems and Control. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6518 .- 2041-3041. ; 225:7, s. 977-992
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a study of the main advantages of inverted decoupling in 2×2 processes. Two simulation examples and an experimental process are used to show these advantages in comparison with simplified decoupling. The study focuses on the following practical advantages: the apparent process is the same as that obtained if one loop changes to manual; bumpless transfer and anti-windup are achieved easily using a feed-forward input in the controllers; and abnormalities of secondary loops do not affect the opposite loop. Because of this, inverted decoupling may be a good and easy way to improve the performance of industrial TITO (two inputs and two outputs) processes with interaction problems (when it can be applied).
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| 5. |
- Hudson, Lawrence N., et al.
(författare)
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The PREDICTS database : a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts
- 2014
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 4:24, s. 4701-4735
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - ). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.
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| 6. |
- Isern, Joan, et al.
(författare)
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Self-Renewing Human Bone Marrow Mesenspheres Promote Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion
- 2013
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Ingår i: Cell Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2211-1247. ; 3:5, s. 1714-1724
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Strategies for expanding hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) include coculture with cells that recapitulate their natural microenvironment, such as bone marrow stromal stem/progenitor cells (BMSCs). Plastic-adherent BMSCs may be insufficient to preserve primitive HSCs. Here, we describe a method of isolating and culturing human BMSCs as nonadherent mesenchymal spheres. Human mesenspheres were derived from CD45(-) CD31(-) CD71(-) CD146(+) CD105(+) nestin(+) cells but could also be simply grown from fetal and adult BM CD45(-)-enriched cells. Human mesenspheres robustly differentiated into mesenchymal lineages. In culture conditions where they displayed a relatively undifferentiated phenotype, with decreased adherence to plastic and increased self-renewal, they promoted enhanced expansion of cord blood CD34(+) cells through secreted soluble factors. Expanded HSCs were serially transplantable in immunodeficient mice and significantly increased long-term human hematopoietic engraftment. These results pave the way for culture techniques that preserve the self-renewal of human BMSCs and their ability to support functional HSCs.
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| 7. |
- Kalra, Hina, et al.
(författare)
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Vesiclepedia : a compendium for extracellular vesicles with continuous community annotation
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLoS biology. - : Public library of science. - 1544-9173 .- 1545-7885. ; 10:12, s. e1001450-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membraneous vesicles released by a variety of cells into their microenvironment. Recent studies have elucidated the role of EVs in intercellular communication, pathogenesis, drug, vaccine and gene-vector delivery, and as possible reservoirs of biomarkers. These findings have generated immense interest, along with an exponential increase in molecular data pertaining to EVs. Here, we describe Vesiclepedia, a manually curated compendium of molecular data (lipid, RNA, and protein) identified in different classes of EVs from more than 300 independent studies published over the past several years. Even though databases are indispensable resources for the scientific community, recent studies have shown that more than 50% of the databases are not regularly updated. In addition, more than 20% of the database links are inactive. To prevent such database and link decay, we have initiated a continuous community annotation project with the active involvement of EV researchers. The EV research community can set a gold standard in data sharing with Vesiclepedia, which could evolve as a primary resource for the field.
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| 8. |
- Sainz, Juan, et al.
(författare)
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Dectin-1 and DC-SIGN Polymorphisms Associated with Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis Infection
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recognition of pathogen-derived structures by C-type lectins and the chemotactic activity mediated by the CCL2/CCR2 axis are critical steps in determining the host immune response to fungi. The present study was designed to investigate whether the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within DC-SIGN, Dectin-1, Dectin-2, CCL2 and CCR2 genes influence the risk of developing Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA). Twenty-seven SNPs were selected using a hybrid functional/tagging approach and genotyped in 182 haematological patients, fifty-seven of them diagnosed with proven or probable IPA according to the 2008 EORTC/MSG criteria. Association analysis revealed that carriers of the Dectin-1(rs3901533) (T/T) and Dectin-1(rs7309123) (G/G) genotypes and DC-SIGN(rs4804800) (G), DC-SIGN(rs11465384) T, DC-SIGN(7248637 A) and DC-SIGN(7252229) (C) alleles had a significantly increased risk of IPA infection (OR = 5.59 95% CI 1.37-22.77; OR = 4.91 95% CI 1.52-15.89; OR = 2.75 95% CI 1.27-5.95; OR = 2.70 95% CI 1.24-5.90; OR = 2.39 95% CI 1.09-5.22 and OR = 2.05 95% CI 1.00-4.22, respectively). There was also a significantly increased frequency of galactomannan positivity among patients carrying the Dectin-1(rs3901533_T) allele and Dectin-1(rs7309123_G/G) genotype. In addition, healthy individuals with this latter genotype showed a significantly decreased level of Dectin-1 mRNA expression compared to C-allele carriers, suggesting a role of the Dectin-1(rs7309123) polymorphism in determining the levels of Dectin-1 and, consequently, the level of susceptibility to IPA infection. SNP-SNP interaction (epistasis) analysis revealed significant interactions models including SNPs in Dectin-1, Dectin-2, CCL2 and CCR2 genes, with synergistic genetic effects. Although these results need to be further validated in larger cohorts, they suggest that Dectin-1, DC-SIGN, Dectin-2, CCL2 and CCR2 genetic variants influence the risk of IPA infection and might be useful in developing a risk-adapted prophylaxis.
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