Body Shape and Life Style of the Extinct Balearic Dormouse Hypnomys (Rodentia, Gliridae): New Evidence from the Study of Associated Skeletons

Hypnomys is a genus of Gliridae (Rodentia) that occurred in the Balearic Islands until Late Holocene. Recent finding of a complete skeleton of the chronospecies H. morpheus (Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene) and two articulated skeletons of H. cf. onicensis (Late Pliocene) allowed the inference of body size and the calculation of several postcranial indexes. We also performed a Factorial Discriminant Analysis (FDA) in order to evaluate locomotory behaviour and body shape of the taxa. Using allometric models based on skull and tooth measurements, we calculated a body weight between 173 and 284 g for H. morpheus, and direct measurements of articulated skeletons yielded a Head and Body Length (HBL) of 179 mm and a Total Body Length of 295 mm for this species. In addition to the generally higher robustness of postcranial bones already recorded by previous authors, H. morpheus, similar to Canariomys tamarani, another extinct island species, displayed elongated zygopodium bones of the limbs and a wider distal humerus and femur than in an extant related taxon, Eliomys quercinus. Indexes indicated that Hypnomys was more terrestrial and had greater fossorial abilities than E. quercinus. This was also corroborated by a Discriminant Analysis, although no clear additional inference of locomotory abilities could be calculated

Tracking the Mediterranean outflow in the Gulf of Cadiz

Highlights • We track the preferential pathways of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). • A topographic analysis method is used to identify the MOW hydrological avenues. • Contour avenues and cross-slope channels have complementary roles steering the MOW. • The MOW is a density-driven current steered by both bottom topography and the Coriolis force. Abstract The Mediterranean Water leaves the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar as a bottom wedge of salty and warm waters flowing down the continental slope. The salinity of the onset Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) is so high that leads to water much denser (initially in excess of 1.5 kg m−3) than the overlying central waters. During much of its initial descent, the MOW retains large salinity anomalies – causing density anomalies that induce its gravity current character – and relatively high westward speeds – causing a substantial Coriolis force over long portions of its course. We use hydrographic data from six cruises (a total of 1176 stations) plus velocity data from two cruises, together with high-resolution bathymetric data, to track the preferential MOW pathways from the Strait of Gibraltar into the western Gulf of Cadiz and to examine the relation of these pathways to the bottom topography. A methodology for tributary systems in drainage basins, modified to account for the Coriolis force, emphasizes the good agreement between the observed trajectories and those expected from a topographically-constrained flow. Both contour avenues and cross-slope channels are important and have complementary roles steering the MOW along the upper and middle continental slope before discharging as a neutrally buoyant flow into the western Gulf of Cadiz. Our results show that the interaction between bottom flow and topography sets the path and final equilibrium depths of the modern MOW. Furthermore, they support the hypothesis that, as a result of the high erosive power of the bottom flow and changes in bottom-water speed, the MOW pathways and mixing rates have changed in the geological past

Documento de consenso para la detección y manejo de la enfermedad renal crónica

La enfermedad renal crónica (ERC) es un importante problema de salud pública que puede afectar en sus diferentes estadios a cerca del 10% de la población española y que supone una elevada morbimortalidad, así como un importante consumo de recursos al Sistema Nacional de Salud. Diez sociedades científicas involucradas en el manejo del paciente renal nos hemos puesto de acuerdo para hacer una puesta al día del anterior documento de consenso sobre ERC de 2007. El presente es la edición abreviada del documento general extenso, que puede ser consultado en las páginas Web de cada una de las sociedades firmantes. Contiene los siguientes aspectos: definición, epidemiología y factores de riesgo de la ERC; criterios de diagnóstico, evaluación y estadificación de la ERC, albuminuria y estimación del filtrado glomerular; concepto y factores de progresión; criterios de derivación a nefrología; seguimiento del paciente, actitudes y objetivos por especialidad; prevención de la nefrotoxicidad; detección del daño cardiovascular; actitudes, estilo de vida y tratamiento: manejo de la hipertensión arterial, dislipidemia, hiperglucemia, tabaquismo, obesidad, hiperuricemia, anemia, alteraciones del metabolismo mineral y óseo; seguimiento coordinado por atención primaria-otras especialidades-nefrología; manejo del paciente en tratamiento renal sustitutivo, hemodiálisis, diálisis peritoneal y trasplante renal; tratamiento paliativo de la uremia terminal. Esperamos que sirva de gran ayuda en el manejo multidisciplinar del paciente con ERC, a la vista de las recomendaciones más actualizadas