Stratospheric role in interdecadal changes of El Niño impacts over Europe

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.The European precipitation response to El Niño (EN) has been found to present interdecadal changes, with alternated periods of important or negligible EN impact in late winter. These periods are associated with opposite phases of multi-decadal sea surface temperature (SST) variability, which modifies the tropospheric background and EN teleconnections. In addition, other studies have shown how SST anomalies in the equatorial Pacific, and in particular, the location of the largest anomalous SST, modulate the stratospheric response to EN. Nevertheless, the role of the stratosphere on the stationarity of EN response has not been investigated in detail so far. Using reanalysis data, we present a comprehensive study of EN teleconnections to Europe including the role of the ocean background and the stratosphere in the stationarity of the signal. The results reveal multidecadal variability in the location of EN-related SST anomalies that determines different teleconnections. In periods with relevant precipitation signal over Europe, the EN SST pattern resembles Eastern Pacific EN and the stratospheric pathway plays a key role in transmitting the signal to Europe in February, together with two tropospheric wavetrains that transmit the signal in February and April. Conversely, the stratospheric pathway is not detected in periods with a weak EN impact on European precipitation, corresponding to EN-related SST anomalies primarily located over the central Pacific. SST mean state and its associated atmospheric background control the location of EN-related SST anomalies in different periods and modulate the establishment of the aforementioned stratospheric pathway of EN teleconnection to Europe too.BA was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/M006123/1, the European Project 603557-STRATOCLIM and “Ayudas para la contratación de personal postdoctoral en formación en docencia e investigación en departamentos de la UCM”. JLP and BRF were funded by the European Project PREFACE. MI and NC acknowledge support from the European Project 603557-STRATOCLIM under program FP7-ENV.2013.6.1-2. NC was also supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the PALEOSTRAT (CGL2015-69699-R) project

A Review of ENSO Influence on the North Atlantic. A Non-Stationary Signal

ReviewThe atmospheric seasonal cycle of the North Atlantic region is dominated by meridional movements of the circulation systems: from the tropics, where the West African Monsoon and extreme tropical weather events take place, to the extratropics, where the circulation is dominated by seasonal changes in the jetstream and extratropical cyclones. Climate variability over the North Atlantic is controlled by various mechanisms. Atmospheric internal variability plays a crucial role in the mid-latitudes. However, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is still the main source of predictability in this region situated far away from the Pacific. Although the ENSO influence over tropical and extra-tropical areas is related to different physical mechanisms, in both regions this teleconnection seems to be non-stationary in time and modulated by multidecadal changes of the mean flow. Nowadays, long observational records (greater than 100 years) and modeling projects (e.g., CMIP) permit detecting non-stationarities in the influence of ENSO over the Atlantic basin, and further analyzing its potential mechanisms. The present article reviews the ENSO influence over the Atlantic region, paying special attention to the stability of this teleconnection over time and the possible modulators. Evidence is given that the ENSO–Atlantic teleconnection is weak over the North Atlantic. In this regard, the multidecadal ocean variability seems to modulate the presence of teleconnections, which can lead to important impacts of ENSO and to open windows of opportunity for seasonal predictability.We thank the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the Met Office Hadley Centre and the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) for the Land Precipitation, reanalysis, SST and HURDAT2 datasets, respectively. Belen Rodríguez-Fonseca, Roberto Suárez-Moreno, Jorge López-Parages, Iñigo Gómara, Elsa Mohino, Teresa Losada and Antonio Castaño-Tierno are supported by the research projects PREFACE (EUFP7/2007-2013 Grant Agreement 603521) and MULCLIVAR (CGL2012-38923-C02-01-Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). Blanca Ayarzagüena is supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/M006123/1). Julián Villamayor is granted through a scholarship from the MICINN—Spanish government (BES-2013-063821

Eosinophilic Panniculitis and Insect Bite-Like Eruption in a Patient with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia: A Spectrum of the Same Entity

Background. Eosinophilic dermatosis of hematologic disorders is a reactive process that may cause a variety of clinical manifestations. Methods. We report a patient who had outbreaks of skin lesions since the onset of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Results. The cutaneous eruptions began as eosinophilic panniculitis and after changed to insect bite-like lesions. Conclusion. We think that eosinophilic panniculitis and insect bite-like lesions may be part of the spectrum of the same entity in patients with hematologic disorders

Instituto Internacional de Investigaci ́on e Innovaci ́on del Envejecimiento

El Instituto Internacional de Investigaci on e Innovaci on del Envejecimiento es un proyecto transfronterizo y multidisciplinar centrado en la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ancianos mediante el uso de la tecnolog a. En este proyecto colaboran la Universidad de Evora, el Instituto Polit ecnico de Porto Alegre, el Instituto Polit ecnico de Beja, la Administraci on Regional de Salud de Alentejo y la Universidad de Extremadura. Los objetivos del proyecto se centran en comprender los aspectos biom edicos, funcionales y psicol ogicos del envejecimiento; generar nuevos modelos y procesos de cuidado a ancianos y desarrollar soluciones tecnol ogicas que contribuyan a la salud y calidad de vida de los ancianos y a la sostenibilidad de los servicios

Progress in Detection and Projection of Climate Change in Spain since the 2010 CLIVAR-Spain regional climate change assessment report

The Iberian Peninsula region offers a challenging benchmark for climate variability studies for several reasons. It exhibits a wide variety of climatic regimes, ranging from wet Atlantic climates with annual precipitation around 2000 mm, to extensive semiarid regions with severe hydrological stress, to even cold alpine environments in some isolated areas

A replication study confirms the association of TNFSF4 (OX40L) polymorphisms with systemic sclerosis in a large European cohort

<p><b>Objectives</b> The aim of this study was to confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms on systemic sclerosis (SSc) susceptibility and phenotypic features.</p> <p><b>Methods</b> A total of 8 European populations of Caucasian ancestry were included, comprising 3014 patients with SSc and 3125 healthy controls. Four genetic variants of TNFSF4 gene promoter (rs1234314, rs844644, rs844648 and rs12039904) were selected as genetic markers.</p> <p><b>Results</b> A pooled analysis revealed the association of rs1234314 and rs12039904 polymorphisms with SSc (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.31; OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.29, respectively). Significant association of the four tested variants with patients with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) was revealed (rs1234314 OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38; rs844644 OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.99; rs844648 OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20 and rs12039904 OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.33). Association of rs1234314, rs844648 and rs12039904 minor alleles with patients positive for anti-centromere antibodies (ACA) remained significant (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.37; OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.25; OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.38, respectively). Haplotype analysis confirmed a protective haplotype associated with SSc, lcSSc and ACA positive subgroups (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.96; OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.96; OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.97, respectively) and revealed a new risk haplotype associated with the same groups of patients (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.26; OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.35; OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.42, respectively).</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b> The data confirm the influence of TNFSF4 polymorphisms in SSc genetic susceptibility, especially in subsets of patients positive for lcSSc and ACA.</p&gt