MATLAB and Practical Applications on Climate Variability Studies

In every three-hour session of the tutorial, students will be introduced to practical applications for the study of the climate system. Those applications will be based on Matlab. For those students that are not familiar on using the Matlab, in every three-hour sessions there will be an introduction to the working environment, dealing with matrices, useful functions, logical conditions, saving and loading, data management, functions & scripts, loops and vectorizaton, etc.Main objective of the course (5 sessions) is the transfer of know-how in practical applications and management of statistical tools commonly used to explore meteorological time series, using MATLAB, focusing on applications to study issues related with the climate variability and climate change.Download esercizi.zip from the following alternative location, in order to create your "tutorial work environment".CLARIS EU Project (A Europe-South America Network for Climate Change Assessment and Impact Studies; GOCE-CT-2003-01454).Unpublishedope

Heatwaves in Europe: areas of homogeneous variability and links with the regional to large-scale atmospheric and SSTs anomalies

This work presents a methodology to study the interannual variability associated with summertime months in which extremely hot temperatures are frequent. Daily time series of maximum and minimum temperature fields (T max and T min, respectively) are used to define indexes of extreme months based on the number of days crossing thresholds. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is applied to the monthly indexes. EOF loadings give information about the geographical areas where the number of days per month with extreme temperatures has the largest variability. Correlations between the EOF principal components and the time series of other fields allow plotting maps highlighting the anomalies in the large scale circulation and in the SSTs that are associated with the occurrence of extreme events. The methodology is used to construct the “climatology” of the extremely hot summertime months over Europe. In terms of both interannual and intraseasonal variability, there are three regions in which the frequency of the extremely hot days per month homogeneously varies: north-west Europe, Euro-Mediterranean and Eurasia region. Although extremes over those regions occur during the whole summer (June to August), the anomalous climatic conditions associated with frequent heatwaves present some intraseasonal variability. Extreme climate events over the north-west Europe and Eurasia are typically related to the occurrence of blocking situations. The intraseasonal variability of those patterns is related to the amplitude of the blocking, the relative location of the action centre and the wavetrain of anomalies downstream or upstream of the blocking. During June and July, blocking situations which give extremely hot climate conditions over north-west Europe are also associated with cold conditions over the eastern Mediterranean sector. The Euro-Mediterranean region is a transition area in which extratropical and tropical systems compete, influencing the occurrence of climate events: blockings tend to be related to extremely hot months during June while baroclinic anomalies dominate the variability of the climate events in July and August. We highlight that our method could be easily applied to other regions of the world, to other fields as well as to model outputs to assess, e.g. the potential change of extreme climate events in a warmer climate

Precipitation extremes over La Plata Basin –Review and new results from observations and climate simulations

Monthly and daily precipitation extremes over La Plata Basin (LPB) are analyzed in the framework of the CLARIS-LPB Project. A review of the studies developed during the project and results of additional research are presented and discussed. Specific aspects of analysis are focused on large-scale versus local processes impacts on the intensity and frequency of precipitation extremes over LPB, and on the assessment of specific wet and dry spell indices and their changed characteristics in future climate scenarios. The analysis is shown for both available observations of precipitation in the region and ad-hoc global and regional models experiments. The Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans can all impact precipitation intensity and frequency over LPB. In particular, considering the Pacific sector, different types of ENSO events (i.e. canonical vs Modoki or East vs Central) have different influences. Moreover, model projections indicate an increase in the frequency of precipitation extremes over LPB during El Niño and La Ninã events in future climate. Local forcings can also be important for precipitation extremes. Here, the feedbacks between soil moisture and extreme precipitation in LPB are discussed based on hydric conditions in the region and model sensitivity experiments. Concerning droughts, it was found that they were more frequent in the western than in the eastern sector of LPB during the period of 1962–2008. On the other hand, observations and model experiments agree in that the monthly wet extremes were more frequent than the dry extremes in the northern and southern LPB sectors during the period 1979–2001, with higher frequency in the south.Published211-2304A. Clima e OceaniJCR Journalrestricte

Understanding climate change impacts on biome and plant distributions in the Andes: Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Climate change is expected to impact mountain biodiversity by shifting species ranges and the biomes they shape. The extent and regional variation in these impacts are still poorly understood, particularly in the highly biodiverse Andes. Regional syntheses of climate change impacts on vegetation are pivotal to identify and guide research priorities. Here we review current data, knowledge and uncertainties in past, present and future climate change impacts on vegetation in the Andes. Location: Andes. Taxon: Plants. Methods: We (i) conducted a literature review on Andean vegetation responses to past and contemporary climatic change, (ii) analysed future climate projections for different elevations and slope orientations at 19 Andean locations using an ensemble of model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5, and (iii) calculated changes in the suitable climate envelope area of Andean biomes and compared these results to studies that used species distribution models. Results: Future climatic changes (2040–2070) are projected to be stronger at high-elevation areas in the tropical Andes (up to 4°C under RCP 8.5), while in the temperate Andes temperature increases are projected to be up to 2°C. Under this worst-case scenario, temperate deciduous forests and the grasslands/steppes from the Central and Southern Andes are predicted to show the greatest losses of suitable climatic space (30% and 17%–23%, respectively). The high vulnerability of these biomes contrasts with the low attention from researchers modelling Andean species distributions. Critical knowledge gaps include a lack of an Andean wide plant checklist, insufficient density of weather stations at high-elevation areas, a lack of high-resolution climatologies that accommodates the Andes' complex topography and climatic processes, insufficient data to model demographic and ecological processes, and low use of palaeo data for distribution modelling. Main conclusions: Climate change is likely to profoundly affect the extent and composition of Andean biomes. Temperate Andean biomes in particular are susceptible to substantial area contractions. There are, however, considerable challenges and uncertainties in modelling species and biome responses and a pressing need for a region-wide approach to address knowledge gaps and improve understanding and monitoring of climate change impacts in these globally important biomes.publishedVersio

Intranasal administration of mesenchymal stem cell secretome reduces hippocampal oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and cell death, improving the behavioral outcome following perinatal asphyxia

Indexación: Scopus.PerinatalAsphyxia (PA) is a leading cause ofmotor and neuropsychiatric disability associated with sustained oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and cell death, affecting brain development. Based on a rat model of global PA, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of intranasally administered secretome, derived from human adipose mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-S), preconditioned with either deferoxamine (an hypoxia-mimetic) or TNF-ff+IFN- (pro-inflammatory cytokines). PA was generated by immersing fetus-containing uterine horns in a water bath at 37 ffC for 21 min. Thereafter, 16 ffL of MSC-S (containing 6 ffg of protein derived from 2 ff 105 preconditioned-MSC), or vehicle, were intranasally administered 2 h after birth to asphyxia-exposed and control rats, evaluated at postnatal day (P) 7. Alternatively, pups received a dose of either preconditioned MSC-S or vehicle, both at 2 h and P7, and were evaluated at P14, P30, and P60. The preconditioned MSC-S treatment (i) reversed asphyxia-induced oxidative stress in the hippocampus (oxidized/reduced glutathione); (ii) increased antioxidative Nuclear Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 (NRF2) translocation; (iii) increased NQO1 antioxidant protein; (iv) reduced neuroinflammation (decreasing nuclearNF-ffB/p65 levels and microglial reactivity); (v) decreased cleaved-caspase-3 cell-death; (vi) improved righting reflex, negative geotaxis, cliff aversion, locomotor activity, anxiety, motor coordination, and recognition memory. Overall, the study demonstrates that intranasal administration of preconditioned MSC-S is a novel therapeutic strategy that prevents the long-term effects of perinatal asphyxia. © 2020 by the authors.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/20/780

Interim 2017/18 influenza seasonal vaccine effectiveness: Combined results from five European studies

Between September 2017 and February 2018, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B viruses (mainly B/Yamagata, not included in 2017/18 trivalent vaccines) co-circulated in Europe. Interim results from five European studies indicate that, in all age groups, 2017/18 influenza vaccine effectiveness was 25 to 52% against any influenza, 55 to 68% against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, -42 to 7% against influenza A(H3N2) and 36 to 54% against influenza B. 2017/18 influenza vaccine should be promoted where influenza still circulates

Diverse Applications of Nanomedicine

The design and use of materials in the nanoscale size range for addressing medical and health-related issues continues to receive increasing interest. Research in nanomedicine spans a multitude of areas, including drug delivery, vaccine development, antibacterial, diagnosis and imaging tools, wearable devices, implants, high-throughput screening platforms, etc. using biological, nonbiological, biomimetic, or hybrid materials. Many of these developments are starting to be translated into viable clinical products. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in nanomedicine and highlight the current challenges and upcoming opportunities for the field and translation to the clinic. \ua9 2017 American Chemical Society

Diverse Applications of Nanomedicine

© 2017 American Chemical Society.The design and use of materials in the nanoscale size range for addressing medical and health-related issues continues to receive increasing interest. Research in nanomedicine spans a multitude of areas, including drug delivery, vaccine development, antibacterial, diagnosis and imaging tools, wearable devices, implants, high-throughput screening platforms, etc. using biological, nonbiological, biomimetic, or hybrid materials. Many of these developments are starting to be translated into viable clinical products. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in nanomedicine and highlight the current challenges and upcoming opportunities for the field and translation to the clinic