The functional morphology and general biology of the British species of Veneracea with particular reference to Venus striatula (da Costa)

Abstract Not Provided

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Daily mean sea level pressure reconstructions for the european–north atlantic region for the period 1850–2003

The development of a daily historical European-North Atlantic mean sea level pressure dataset (EMSLP) for 1850-2003 on a 5 latitude by longitude grid is described. This product was produced using 86 continental and island stations distributed over the region 25 degrees-70 degrees N, 70 degrees W-50 degrees E blended with marine data from the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS). The EMSLP fields for 1850-80 are based purely on the land station data and ship observations. From 1881, the blended land and marine fields are combined with already available daily Northern Hemisphere fields. Complete coverage is obtained by employing reduced space optimal interpolation. Squared correlations (r(2)) indicate that EMSLP generally captures 80%-90% of daily variability represented in an existing historical mean sea level pressure product and over 90% in modern 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analyses (ERA-40) over most of the region. A lack of sufficient observations over Greenland and the Middle East, however, has resulted in poorer reconstructions there. Error estimates, produced as part of the reconstruction technique, flag these as regions of low confidence. It is shown that the EMSLP daily fields and associated error estimates provide a unique opportunity to examine the circulation patterns associated with extreme events across the European-North Atlantic region, such as the 2003 heat wave, in the context of historical events

Daily mean sea level pressure reconstructions for the European-North Atlantic region for the period 1850-2003.

The development of a daily historical European-North Atlantic mean sea level pressure dataset (EMSLP) for 1850-2003 on a 5 latitude by longitude grid is described. This product was produced using 86 continental and island stations distributed over the region 25 degrees-70 degrees N, 70 degrees W-50 degrees E blended with marine data from the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS). The EMSLP fields for 1850-80 are based purely on the land station data and ship observations. From 1881, the blended land and marine fields are combined with already available daily Northern Hemisphere fields. Complete coverage is obtained by employing reduced space optimal interpolation. Squared correlations (r(2)) indicate that EMSLP generally captures 80%-90% of daily variability represented in an existing historical mean sea level pressure product and over 90% in modern 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analyses (ERA-40) over most of the region. A lack of sufficient observations over Greenland and the Middle East, however, has resulted in poorer reconstructions there. Error estimates, produced as part of the reconstruction technique, flag these as regions of low confidence. It is shown that the EMSLP daily fields and associated error estimates provide a unique opportunity to examine the circulation patterns associated with extreme events across the European-North Atlantic region, such as the 2003 heat wave, in the context of historical events

Influence of large-scale atmospheric circulation on climate variability in the Greater Alpine Region of Europe

The climatic variability in the Greater Alpine Region (GAR) of Europe has a diverse character: it exhibits differences between winter and summer, and between its individual subregions. The large-scale atmospheric circulation, as expressed by the mean sea level pressure (MSLP) patterns in the wider Euro-Atlantic region, plays a significant role in the climate variability in winter, but less in summer. In winter, high-altitude temperatures are markedly linked with the Northern Hemisphere (NH) zonal circulation, as expressed by the NH annular mode (NAM), whereas the low-level temperature field is associated more with the circulation over the NE Atlantic. The Alpine mountain chain delimits the different winter precipitation regimes between the northern and southern side of the GAR. While a British Isles-centered pressure pattern plays the principal role in influencing northern Alpine precipitation, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and in particular its Mediterranean component, is the large-scale atmospheric mode affecting precipitation over the southern Alpine region. The impact of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon on GAR climate is weak, though it is distinctly manifested within intermittent multidecadal periods. The most pronounced impact is found for late-autumn and early-winter temperature and late-winter precipitation. In these cases, GAR climate exhibits significant correlations with ENSO state of the preceding early autumn and late summer. The ENSO impact is associated with atmospheric pressure anomaly patterns in the European region indicating modifications of large-scale circulation whose effects are also found in the climates of larger areas of Europe

The political economy of social assistance and minimum income benefits: a comparative analysis across 26 OECD countries

Social assistance benefit schemes are a peculiar type of welfare state program. As the electoral costs are relatively low, this program forms an obvious target for cost reduction in times of austerity. The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of the developments in social assistance benefits. We seek to make two contributions. First, this paper provides insight into the role of economic, political, and institutional determinants of the variation in social assistance benefits. Second, cross-national data on social expenditures and income replacement rates are available for several welfare state programs, but not for social assistance benefits. Presenting minimum income benefit replacement rates, this study analyzes the developments of social assistance benefits across 26 OECD countries over the past two decades. The analysis leads to the conclusion that budgetary pressure stemming from increased exposure to international trade and soaring levels of unemployment is associated with benefit cuts.The politics and administration of institutional chang