Seasonal cycle of precipitation variability in South America on intraseasonal timescales

The seasonal cycle of the intraseasonal (IS) variability of precipitation in South America is described through the analysis of bandpass filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies. The analysis is discriminated between short (10--30 days) and long (30--90 days) intraseasonal timescales. The seasonal cycle of the 30--90-day IS variability can be well described by the activity of first leading pattern (EOF1) computed separately for the wet season (October--April) and the dry season (May--September). In agreement with previous works, the EOF1 spatial distribution during the wet season is that of a dipole with centers of actions in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) and southeastern South America (SESA), while during the dry season, only the last center is discernible. In both seasons, the pattern is highly influenced by the activity of the Madden--Julian Oscillation (MJO). Moreover, EOF1 is related with a tropical zonal-wavenumber-1 structure superposed with coherent wave trains extended along the South Pacific during the wet season, while during the dry season the wavenumber-1 structure is not observed. The 10--30-day IS variability of OLR in South America can be well represented by the activity of the EOF1 computed through considering all seasons together, a dipole but with the stronger center located over SESA. While the convection activity at the tropical band does not seem to influence its activity, there are evidences that the atmospheric variability at subtropical-extratropical regions might have a role. Subpolar wavetrains are observed in the Pacific throughout the year and less intense during DJF, while a path of wave energy dispersion along a subtropical wavetrain also characterizes the other seasons. Further work is needed to identify the sources of the 10--30-day-IS variability in South America

Effect of cooling rate during solidification on the hard phases of M23C6-type of cast CoCrMo alloy

Microstructural morphology of CoCrMo alloy by control of the cooling rate during the solidification was investigated. Samples were obtained using both an induction furnace for slow cooling rate and electric arc furnace for fast cooling rate. Microstructural characterizations were performed with metallographic techniques. It was found that the difference between the formation temperature of hard secondary phases of M23C6-type carbides determine the reduction of carbide size by increasing the cooling rate

Behaviour of uranium along Jucar River (Eastern Spain) Determination of 234U/238U and 235U/238U ratios

The uranium concentration and the U-234/U-238, U-235/U-238 activity ratios were studied in water samples from Jucar River, using low-level alpha-spectrometry. The effects of pH, temperature and salinity were considered and more detailed sampling was done in the neighbourhood of Cofrentes Nuclear plant (Valencia, Spain). Changes were observed in the uranium concentration with the salinity and the U-234/U-238 activity ratio was found to vary with pH. Leaching and dilution, which depend on pH and salinity, are the probable mechanisms for these changes in the concentration of uranium and the activity ratios.Rodríguez Álvarez, MJ.; Sanchez, F. (1995). Behaviour of uranium along Jucar River (Eastern Spain) Determination of 234U/238U and 235U/238U ratios. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. 190(1):113-120. doi:10.1007/BF02035642S1131201901M. J. RORDÍGUEZ-AALVAREZ, F. SÁNCHEZ, E. NAVARRO, Proc. 3nd Intern. Summer School, Huelva Spain, M. GARCÍA-LEÓN, G. MADURGA (Eds), World Scientific, Singapore, 1994.M. IVANOVICH, R. S. HARMON (Eds), Uranium Disequilibrium Series: Applications to Environmental Problems, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982.K. OSMOND, J. B. COWART, At. Energy Rev., 14 (1976) 621.B. L. DICKSON, R. L. MEAKINS, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., 223 (1983) 593.J. L. GASCÓN, MURILLO, PhD Thesis, University of Zaragoza, Spain, 1990.M. C. MORÓN, A. MARTINEZ-AGUIRRE, M. GARCÍA-LEÓN, Intern. Conf. on Environmental Radioactivity in the Mediterranean Area, Barcelona 10–13 May 1988, SNE-ENS, Barcelona, 1988, p. 111.R. BOJANOWSKI, R. FUKAI, S. BALLESTRA, H. ASARI, Determination of natural radioactive elements in marine environmental materials by ion-exchange and α-spectrometry. Proc. 4th Symp. on the Determination of Radionuclides in Environmental and Biological Materials, April 1983, London, Ed-Rd Press.R. GARCÍA-TENORIO, M. GARCÍA-LEÓN, G. PIAZZA, Anal. Física B, 82 (1986) 238.L. HALLSTADIUS, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., 223 (1984) 266.F. VERA, A. MARTIN, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., A276 (1989) 289.A. MARTINEZ-AGUIRRE, M. GARCÍA-LEÓN, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 155 (1991) 97.J. R. DOOLEY, H. C. ROSHOLT, Econ. Geol., 61 (1996) 326.A. MARTINEZ-AGUIRRE, M. GARCÍA-LEÓN, Radiat. Prot. Dosim., 45 (1992) 249.J. TOOLE, M. S. BAXTER, J. THOMSON, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Sci., 25 (1987) 283.S. G. BHAT, S. KRISHANASWAMI, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., A LXX, (1969).K. K. TUREKIAN, J. K. COCHRAN, in: Chemical Oceanography, Vol. 7, J. P. RILEY and R. CHESTER (Eds), 2nd ed., Academic Press, New York, 1978.D. LANGMUIR, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 42 (1978) 547.J. M. MARTIN, M. MEYBECK, Mar. Chem., 7 (1979) 173.Radionuclide Transformations, Annals of the ICRP, ICRP Publication 38, Vol. 11–13, Pergamon Press, 1983.A. MANGINI, G. SONNTAG, G. BERTSCH, E. MÜLLER, Nature, 278 (1979) 337.M. R. SCOTT, in: M. IVANOVICH, R. S. HARMON (Eds), Uranium Disequilibrium Series: Applications to Environmental Problems, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982.J. K. OSMOND, J. B. COWART, in: M. IVANOVICH, R. S. HARMON (Eds), Uranium Disequilibrium Series: Applications to Environmental Problems, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982.R. BOWEN (Eds), Isotopes in the Earth Sciences, Elsevier Applied Science, 1988.F. VERA, PhD Thesis, University Extremadura, Spain, 1988.F. VERA, A. MARTIN, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 134 (1988) 73

miR-155 in the progression of lung fibrosis in systemic sclerosis

Background\ud MicroRNA (miRNA) control key elements of mRNA stability and likely contribute to the dysregulated lung gene expression observed in systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD). We analyzed the miRNA gene expression of tissue and cells from patients with SSc-ILD. A chronic lung fibrotic murine model was used.\ud \ud Methods\ud RNA was isolated from lung tissue of 12 patients with SSc-ILD and 5 controls. High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) was performed at baseline and 2–3 years after treatment. Lung fibroblasts and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from healthy controls and patients with SSc-ILD. miRNA and mRNA were analyzed by microarray, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and/or Nanostring; pathway analysis was performed by DNA Intelligent Analysis (DIANA)-miRPath v2.0 software. Wild-type and miR-155 deficient (miR-155ko) mice were exposed to bleomycin.\ud \ud Results\ud Lung miRNA microarray data distinguished patients with SSc-ILD from healthy controls with 185 miRNA differentially expressed (q < 0.25). DIANA-miRPath revealed 57 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways related to the most dysregulated miRNA. miR-155 and miR-143 were strongly correlated with progression of the HRCT score. Lung fibroblasts only mildly expressed miR-155/miR-21 after several stimuli. miR-155 PBMC expression strongly correlated with lung function tests in SSc-ILD. miR-155ko mice developed milder lung fibrosis, survived longer, and weaker lung induction of several genes after bleomycin exposure compared to wild-type mice.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud miRNA are dysregulated in the lungs and PBMC of patients with SSc-ILD. Based on mRNA-miRNA interaction analysis and pathway tools, miRNA may play a role in the progression of the disease. Our findings suggest that targeting miR-155 might provide a novel therapeutic strategy for SSc-ILD

Clinical Risk Score to Predict Pathogenic Genotypes in Patients With Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background: Although genotyping allows family screening and influences risk-stratification in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) or isolated left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD), its result is negative in a significant number of patients, limiting its widespread adoption. Objectives: This study sought to develop and externally validate a score that predicts the probability for a positive genetic test result (G+) in DCM/LVSD. Methods: Clinical, electrocardiogram, and echocardiographic variables were collected in 1,015 genotyped patients from Spain with DCM/LVSD. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables independently predicting G+, which were summed to create the Madrid Genotype Score. The external validation sample comprised 1,097 genotyped patients from the Maastricht and Trieste registries. Results: A G+ result was found in 377 (37%) and 289 (26%) patients from the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. Independent predictors of a G+ result in the derivation cohort were: family history of DCM (OR: 2.29; 95% CI: 1.73-3.04; P &lt; 0.001), low electrocardiogram voltage in peripheral leads (OR: 3.61; 95% CI: 2.38-5.49; P &lt; 0.001), skeletal myopathy (OR: 3.42; 95% CI: 1.60-7.31; P = 0.001), absence of hypertension (OR: 2.28; 95% CI: 1.67-3.13; P &lt; 0.001), and absence of left bundle branch block (OR: 3.58; 95% CI: 2.57-5.01; P &lt; 0.001). A score containing these factors predicted a G+ result, ranging from 3% when all predictors were absent to 79% when ≥4 predictors were present. Internal validation provided a C-statistic of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71-0.77) and a calibration slope of 0.94 (95% CI: 0.80-1.10). The C-statistic in the external validation cohort was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71-0.78). Conclusions: The Madrid Genotype Score is an accurate tool to predict a G+ result in DCM/LVSD

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente