Fast quantitative analysis of n-alkanes, PAHs and alkenones in sediments

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe study of different organic biomarker classes is essential to elucidate global Earth dynamics since different biogeochemical processes play a role in regulating environmental and climatic conditions. However, multiproxy analysis generally consists of labor-intensive and time-consuming methodologies, which hamper the study of a large number of samples. Here, we develop and validate a fast analytical method to quantify different classes of organic biomarkers (PAHs, n-alkanes and alkenones) in sediments. This new method sequentally extracts and fractionates the target compounds using a pressure liquid extraction (PLE) system, which allows us to selectively obtain the analytes by reducing the time of analysis, sample handling and solvent usage. We show that our method provides reproducible results and high recoveries (>70%), and can be applied to a wide range of sedimentary environments, such as oceanic basins, continental slope and shelf, and lakes. Moreover, the method provides reproducible estimates of paleoclimatic indices, such as the carbon preference index (CPI), the average chain length (ACL) and the U37K'-derived sea-surface temperature (SST). Therefore, this new method enables fast quantitative multiproxy analysis of oceanic, coastal and lake sediments

Distribución conocida y potencial de las especies de geotrupinae (coleoptera: scarabaeoidea) en México

The available data on the geotrupids species present in the Mexican Republic was compiled, taking into account the literature citations as well as the available data in several entomologic collections. A database (GEOMEX) was developed based on these data, which was useful to extract an actualized list of all the species present in the Mexican territory. Distribution maps, both observed and potential, wereproduced, those latter by means of a methodology based on maximum entropy models (MaxEnt). Some other biogeographic data are also supplied, as well as climatic optimum values for each species.Se recopiló la información disponible acerca de los geotrúpidos presentes en la República Mexicana, teniendo en cuenta las citas presentes en la literatura y en diversas colecciones entomológicas. A partir de estos datos se elaboró una base de datos (GEOMEX), la cual se utilizó, en primer lugar, para presentar un listado actualizado de todas las especies presentes en el territorio mexicano. También se elaboraron mapas de la distribución conocida de dichas especies, así como mapas que muestran la distribución potencial utilizando una metodología basada en modelos de máxima entropía (MaxEnt). Se presentan, así mismo, algunos datos biogeográficos así como los valores climáticos óptimos para cada especie

Understanding the new Context of Uncertainty and Risk under the 4th Industry Revolution

Proceedings of the 29th European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL), 22 – 26 September 2019, Hannover, Germany. Editors, Michael Beer and Enrico ZioThe revolution towards the Industry 4.0, requires as a fundamental challenge the advanced treatment of risk in physical assets according to this new context. This revolution also includes the transition towards a new concept of assets and production systems giving rise to those known as cyber-physical systems (CPS) where the available information and knowledge about the systems and its behaviour should promote a level of control of the risk not known until now. In this context, the transition from classical model for risk management to other concepts, more flexible and dynamic is needed. It is the context that this paper is intended to illustrate, approaching risk control to the available data and technology.Gobierno de España. FFI2017- 89639-P, “Mechanisms in the sciences: from the biological to the social

Roadmap on measurement technologies for next generation structural health monitoring systems

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the automation of the condition assessment process of an engineered system. When applied to geometrically large components or structures, such as those found in civil and aerospace infrastructure and systems, a critical challenge is in designing the sensing solution that could yield actionable information. This is a difficult task to conduct cost-effectively, because of the large surfaces under consideration and the localized nature of typical defects and damages. There have been significant research efforts in empowering conventional measurement technologies for applications to SHM in order to improve performance of the condition assessment process. Yet, the field implementation of these SHM solutions is still in its infancy, attributable to various economic and technical challenges. The objective of this Roadmap publication is to discuss modern measurement technologies that were developed for SHM purposes, along with their associated challenges and opportunities, and to provide a path to research and development efforts that could yield impactful field applications. The Roadmap is organized into four sections: distributed embedded sensing systems, distributed surface sensing systems, multifunctional materials, and remote sensing. Recognizing that many measurement technologies may overlap between sections, we define distributed sensing solutions as those that involve or imply the utilization of numbers of sensors geometrically organized within (embedded) or over (surface) the monitored component or system. Multi-functional materials are sensing solutions that combine multiple capabilities, for example those also serving structural functions. Remote sensing are solutions that are contactless, for example cell phones, drones, and satellites. It also includes the notion of remotely controlled robots

Outcomes of nonagenarians after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Introduction and objectives: Nonagenarians are a fast-growing age group among cardiovascular patients, especially with aortic stenosis, but data about their prognosis after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is scarce. The objective of our study is to analyze the baseline characteristics of nonagenarians treated with TAVI and determine whether age = 90 years is associated with a worse prognosis compared to non-nonagenarian patients. Methods: We included all patients =75 years enrolled in the multicenter prospective Spanish TAVI registry between 2009 and 2018. Patients < 75 years were excluded. Results: A total of 8073 elderly patients (= 75 years) from 46 Spanish centers were enrolled in the Spanish TAVI registry; 7686 were between = 75 and < 90 years old (95.2%), and 387 were nonagenarian patients (4.79%). A gradual increase of nonagenarians was observed. The transfemoral access was used in 91.6% of the cases, predominantly among the nonagenarian patients (91.4% vs 95.1%, P = .01). Nonagenarians were more likely to die during their hospital stay (4.3% vs 7.0% among nonagenarians, P = .01). However, no difference was seen in the all-cause mortality rates reported at the 1-year follow-up (8.8% vs 11.3%, P =.07). In the multivariate analysis, age = 90 years was not independently associated with a higher adjusted all-cause mortality rate (HR, 1.37, 95%CI, 0.91–1.97, P = .14). The baseline creatinine levels, and the in-hospital bleeding complications were all associated with a worse long-term prognosis in nonagenarians treated with TAVI. Conclusions: Nonagenarians are a very high-risk and growing population with severe AS in whom TAVI may be a safe and effective strategy. Careful patient selection by the TAVI heart team is mandatory to achieve maximum efficiency in this population where the baseline kidney function and bleeding complications may determine the long-term prognosis after TAVI. © 2021 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Permanyer Publications

Do Stacked Species Distribution Models Reflect Altitudinal Diversity Patterns?

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of stacked species distribution models in predicting the alpha and gamma species diversity patterns of two important plant clades along elevation in the Andes. We modelled the distribution of the species in the Anthurium genus (53 species) and the Bromeliaceae family (89 species) using six modelling techniques. We combined all of the predictions for the same species in ensemble models based on two different criteria: the average of the rescaled predictions by all techniques and the average of the best techniques. The rescaled predictions were then reclassified into binary predictions (presence/absence). By stacking either the original predictions or binary predictions for both ensemble procedures, we obtained four different species richness models per taxa. The gamma and alpha diversity per elevation band (500 m) was also computed. To evaluate the prediction abilities for the four predictions of species richness and gamma diversity, the models were compared with the real data along an elevation gradient that was independently compiled by specialists. Finally, we also tested whether our richness models performed better than a null model of altitudinal changes of diversity based on the literature. Stacking of the ensemble prediction of the individual species models generated richness models that proved to be well correlated with the observed alpha diversity richness patterns along elevation and with the gamma diversity derived from the literature. Overall, these models tend to overpredict species richness. The use of the ensemble predictions from the species models built with different techniques seems very promising for modelling of species assemblages. Stacking of the binary models reduced the over-prediction, although more research is needed. The randomisation test proved to be a promising method for testing the performance of the stacked models, but other implementations may still be developed

Projected Loss of a Salamander Diversity Hotspot as a Consequence of Projected Global Climate Change

Background: Significant shifts in climate are considered a threat to plants and animals with significant physiological limitations and limited dispersal abilities. The southern Appalachian Mountains are a global hotspot for plethodontid salamander diversity. Plethodontids are lungless ectotherms, so their ecology is strongly governed by temperature and precipitation. Many plethodontid species in southern Appalachia exist in high elevation habitats that may be at or near their thermal maxima, and may also have limited dispersal abilities across warmer valley bottoms. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a maximum-entropy approach (program Maxent) to model the suitable climatic habitat of 41 plethodontid salamander species inhabiting the Appalachian Highlands region (33 individual species and eight species included within two species complexes). We evaluated the relative change in suitable climatic habitat for these species in the Appalachian Highlands from the current climate to the years 2020, 2050, and 2080, using both the HADCM3 and the CGCM3 models, each under low and high CO 2 scenarios, and using two-model thresholds levels (relative suitability thresholds for determining suitable/unsuitable range), for a total of 8 scenarios per species. Conclusion/Significance: While models differed slightly, every scenario projected significant declines in suitable habitat within the Appalachian Highlands as early as 2020. Species with more southern ranges and with smaller ranges had larger projected habitat loss. Despite significant differences in projected precipitation changes to the region, projections did no

Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on short-term outcome in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction during COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the international multicenter ISACS-STEMI registry

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is projected to become the third cause of mortality worldwide. COPD shares several pathophysiological mechanisms with cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerosis. However, no definite answers are available on the prognostic role of COPD in the setting of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), especially during COVID-19 pandemic, among patients undergoing primary angioplasty, that is therefore the aim of the current study. Methods: In the ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 registry we included retrospectively patients with STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between March and June of 2019 and 2020 from 109 high-volume primary PCI centers in 4 continents. Results: A total of 15,686 patients were included in this analysis. Of them, 810 (5.2%) subjects had a COPD diagnosis. They were more often elderly and with a more pronounced cardiovascular risk profile. No preminent procedural dissimilarities were noticed except for a lower proportion of dual antiplatelet therapy at discharge among COPD patients (98.9% vs. 98.1%, P = 0.038). With regards to short-term fatal outcomes, both in-hospital and 30-days mortality occurred more frequently among COPD patients, similarly in pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 era. However, after adjustment for main baseline differences, COPD did not result as independent predictor for in-hospital death (adjusted OR [95% CI] = 0.913[0.658–1.266], P = 0.585) nor for 30-days mortality (adjusted OR [95% CI] = 0.850 [0.620–1.164], P = 0.310). No significant differences were detected in terms of SARS-CoV-2 positivity between the two groups. Conclusion: This is one of the largest studies investigating characteristics and outcome of COPD patients with STEMI undergoing primary angioplasty, especially during COVID pandemic. COPD was associated with significantly higher rates of in-hospital and 30-days mortality. However, this association disappeared after adjustment for baseline characteristics. Furthermore, COPD did not significantly affect SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Trial registration number: NCT 04412655 (2nd June 2020)