Revisiting the outstanding flooding episode of November 1967 in the greater metropolitan Lisbon area

The deadliest storm affecting Portugal since, at least, the early 19th century, took place on the 25 and 26 November 1967 causing more than 500 fatalities. Here we provide a comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment of this episode, including the main socio-economic impacts, particularly the numbers and location of victims (dead, injured, homeless and evacuated). Based on the sub-daily time series of a representative station, and its Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves, we have found that the exceptionality of this rainfall event is particularly linked to rainfall intensities ranging in duration from 4 to 9 hours compatible with return periods of 100-years or more. This range of time scale is similar to the estimated concentration time values of the hydrographic basins affected by the flash flood event. Most victims were sleeping or were caught by surprise at home in the small river catchments within the greater metropolitan Lisbon area. The majority of people who died or who were severely affected by the flood lived in degraded housing conditions often raised in a clandestine way, occupying flood plains near the stream beds. This level of destruction observed at the time is in stark contrast to what was observed in subsequent episodes of similar amplitude. In particular, since 1967 the Lisbon area, was struck by two comparable intense precipitation events in 1983 and 2008 but generating considerably fewer deaths and evacuated people.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

II Jornadas de la Sociedad Española para la Conservación y Estudio de Los Mamíferos (SECEM) Soria 7-9 diciembre 1995

Seguimiento de una reintroducción de corzo (Capreolus capreolus) en ambiente mediterráneo. Dispersión y área de campeoModelos de distribución de los insectívoros ern la Península IbéricaDieta anual del zorro, Vulpes vulpes, en dos hábitats del Parque Nacional de DoñanaDesarrollo juvenil del cráneo en las poblaciones ibéricas de gato montés, Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777Presencia y expansión del visón americano (Mustela vison) en las provincias de Teruel y Castellón (Este de España).Preferencias de hábitat invernal de la musaraña común (Crocidura russula) en un encinar fragmentado de la submeseta norteUso de cámaras automáticas para la recogida de información faunística.Dieta del lobo en dos zonas de Asturias (España) que difieren en carga ganadera.Consumo de frutos y dispersión de semillas de serbal (Sorbus aucuparia L.) por zorros y martas en la cordillera Cantábrica occidentalEvaluación de espermatozoides obtenidos postmorten en el ciervo.Frecuencia de aparición de diferentes restos de conejo en excrementos de lince y zorroAtlas preliminar de los mamíferos de Soria (España)Censo y distribución de la marmota alpina (Marmota marmota) en Navarra.Trampeo fotográfico del género Martes en el Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (Lleida)Peer reviewe

Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through on-line media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focussed on process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come

Molecular determinants of transport stimulation of EAAT2 are located at interface between the trimerization and substrate transport domains

Excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) regulate glutamatergic signal transmission by clearing extracellular glutamate. Dysfunction of these transporters has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various neurological disorders. Previous studies have shown that venom from the spider Parawixia bistriata and a purified compound (Parawixin1) stimulate EAAT2 activity and protect retinal tissue from ischemic damage. In the present study, the EAAT2 subtype specificity of this compound was explored, employing chimeric proteins between EAAT2 and EAAT3 transporter subtypes and mutants to characterize the structural region targeted by the compound. This identified a critical residue (Histidine-71 in EAAT2 and Serine-45 in EAAT3) in transmembrane domain 2 (TM2) to be important for the selectivity between EAAT2 and EAAT3 and for the activity of the venom. Using the identified residue in TM2 as a structural anchor, several neighboring amino acids within TM5 and TM8 were identified to also be important for the activity of the venom. This structural domain of the transporter lies at the interface of the rigid trimerization domain and the central substrate-binding transport domain. Our studies suggest that the mechanism of glutamate transport enhancement involves an interaction with the transporter that facilitates the movement of the transport domain. We identified a domain (purple star) in the glutamate transporter EAAT2 that is important for transport stimulation through a spider venom, and suggest a mechanism for enhanced transporter function through facilitated substrate translocation (arrow). Because the dysfunction of glutamate transporters is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders, understanding the mechanisms of enhanced transport could have therapeutic implications

Rotura ventricular após substituição da valva mitral Ventricular disruption after mitral valve replacement

Entre 1979 e 1988, 4 casos de rotura do ventrículo esquerdo (VE), após substituição da valva mitral (SVM), foram registrados entre 332 pacientes. Os autores reconhecem, entre seus casos, 3 roturas na junção atrioventricular, ocorridas logo após a saída de by-pass e 1 rotura em parede posterior do VE, ocorrida na unidade de terapia intensiva (UTI). Os pacientes eram todos do sexo feminino e tinham, em média, 58 anos de idade. Tais acidentes aconteceram 3 vezes após substituição isolada da valva mitral e 1 vez em operação combinada de SVM e revascularização do miocárdio. Admitem que o mecanismo principal da rotura está ligado à criação de zona de acinesia isquêmica, localizada em parede do VE, secundária à superdistensão de anel mitral. Relacionam o desencadeamento dos acidentes com a superdistensão dos anéis valvares, avaliados com medidores inadequados, usados em corações profundamente relaxados pela cardioplegia. Preconizam modificações na cabeça desses medidores, adaptando-os a cabos maleáveis, de modo a permitir um posicionamento mais perfeito da cabeça do medidor do anel mitral. Admitem que o perfil mais ou menos elevado das próteses não parece haver influenciado no aparecimento, ou na prevenção desses acidentes, mas sim na determinação do tipo anatômico da lesão. Estão de acordo com outros autores, quando admitem que a fragilidade do miocárdio, em pacientes idosos, agravada com a remoção do aparelho valvar mitral (ventrículo sem sustentação), criaria condições para o aparecimento desses acidentes. Consideram desejável a preservação do aparelho valvar mitral nas SVM, mas consideram que técnicas seguras, com essa finalidade, precisam ser ainda desenvolvidas.<br>Between 1979 and 1988 four fatal cases of left ventricular disruption after mitral valve replacement were registered among 332 patients submitted to mitral valve replacement, with two different types of porcine prosthesis in isolated or combined operations. All patients were elderly women (mean age 58) with predominant mitral insufficiency. Complications occurred after isolated MVR in 3 patients and in 1 patient after MVR combined with coronary artery by-pass. Damage appeared to have been caused by rhythmical pulling exerted by sorrounding myocardium against a hypocinetic ventricular wall locally ischemic by compression of a viciously positioned prosthesis. The mis-evaluation of the mitral annulus was induced by the usage of innadequate sizers used in profoundly relaxed heart under cardioplegia. The profile of the prosthesis probably influenced the type of lesion. Modifications in the sizer's head and the usage of flexible and malleable sizer-holders, that could permit a more accurate position of sizer's head in the mitral annulus are suggested. Possible etiological co-factors are: elderly patients, particularly women, with myocardial lesions secondary to overzealous resection of papillary posterior muscle or of the mitral cusp, and the loss of the internal buttress of the myocardium after resection of subvalvar apparatus (untethered ventricle). Preserving chordae tendinae of the annulus of mural leaflet could help the prevention of these complications