The main characteristics of atmospheric circulation associated with fog in Greece

The characteristics of the atmospheric circulation over Europe and the Mediterranean associated with the formation and the dissipation of fog in Greece are examined. The data used consists of: i) 3-hourly meteorological observations recorded at 16 meteorological stations in Greece and ii) daily (00:00 UTC) 2.5×2.5 grid point values of mean sea-level pressure, 500 hPa geopotential height, 850 hPa and 500 hPa air temperatures and 1000–500 hPa thickness over Europe for the period 1957–2002. 1055 fog events are extracted from the 3-hourly meteorological observations. A specific methodology scheme including S-mode Factor Analysis and k-means Cluster Analysis is applied to the grid point data sets for the first day of a fog event (D day), the day prior to D day (D-1 day) and the day that follows the last day of a fog event (END day) and the 1055 evolutions of the atmospheric circulation associated with fog events in Greece are classified into 10 clusters. The mean patterns of MSL Pressure, 850 hPa and 500 hPa air temperatures, 1000–500 hPa thickness and 500 hPa geopotential height show that in most of the clusters, the presence of anticyclonic conditions over the Balkans, a warm front passage, or a weak, humid southerly flow induced by the presence of a shallow depression over the western Mediterranean favor fog formation in Greece, while the dissipation of fog occurs when drier air masses are transferred over the Balkans. The main differences among the 10 clusters refer to the exact position, the intensity and the specific evolution of the surface and the upper air systems, the season of their predominance and the area of the Greek territory that mainly refer to

The atmospheric conditions over Europe and the Mediterranean, favoring snow events in Athens, Greece

International audienceThe 3-dimensional structure and the evolution of atmospheric circulation favoring snowfall in Athens are examined. The study refers to 61 snow events, which occurred during the period 1958?2001. For each one of the events, the patterns of MSL pressure, 850 hPa and 500 hPa air temperatures, 500 hPa geopotential height and 1000?500 hPa thickness are constructed for the European region, for the day before (D-1), the first day (D) and the day after the end of the event (END). A statistical methodology involving Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis is applied to the above data sets and the 61 cases are finally classified into five clusters. These clusters are generally characterized by a north-easterly flow in the lower troposphere over the Athens area. This flow is associated with the presence of a low pressure system around Cyprus and an anticyclone over Europe. The position, the intensity and the trajectories of the surface and the upper air systems during D-1, D and END days are generally different among the five clusters

Accessibility of selenomethionine proteins by total chemical synthesis: structural studies of human herpesvirus-8 MIP-II

AbstractThe determination of high resolution three-dimensional structures by X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a time-consuming process. Here we describe an approach to circumvent the cloning and expression of a recombinant protein as well as screening for heavy atom derivatives. The selenomethionine-modified chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein-II (MIP-II) from human herpesvirus-8 has been produced by total chemical synthesis, crystallized, and characterized by NMR. The protein has a secondary structure typical of other chemokines and forms a monomer in solution. These results indicate that total chemical synthesis can be used to accelerate the determination of three-dimensional structures of new proteins identified in genome programs

The RISKMED project : philosophy, methods and products

This paper presents RISKMED, a project targeted to create an Early Warning System (EWS) in case of severe or extreme weather events in the central and eastern Mediterranean and specifically in southern Italy, northwestern Greece, Malta and Cyprus. As severe or extreme weather events are considered, cases when the values of some meteorological parameters (temperature, wind, precipitation) exceed certain thresholds, and/or a severe weather phenomenon (thunderstorm, snowfall) occurs. For an accurate weather forecast, selected meteorological models have been operated daily, based on a nesting strategy using two or three domains, providing detailed forecasts over the above mentioned areas. The forecast results are further exploited for the evaluation and prediction of human discomfort and fire weather indices. Finally, sea wave models have also been operating daily over the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea. In case a severe or extreme weather event is forecasted within the next 48 or 72 h for selected target areas (sub-regions defined by their morphological and population characteristics), the local authorities and the public are informed via a user-friendly graphic system, the so-called RISK MAP. On the web page of the Project (http://www.riskmed.net), additional information is provided about the real-time values of some meteorological parameters, the latest satellite picture and the time and space distribution of lightning during the last 24 h. The RISKMED project was financed by the EU and the Ministries of National Economy of Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus, in the frame of INTERREG IIIB/ARCHIMED programme.peer-reviewe

The RISKMED project: philosophy, methods and products

This paper presents RISKMED, a project targeted to create an Early Warning System (EWS) in case of severe or extreme weather events in the central and eastern Mediterranean and specifically in southern Italy, northwestern Greece, Malta and Cyprus. As severe or extreme weather events are considered, cases when the values of some meteorological parameters (temperature, wind, precipitation) exceed certain thresholds, and/or a severe weather phenomenon (thunderstorm, snowfall) occurs. For an accurate weather forecast, selected meteorological models have been operated daily, based on a nesting strategy using two or three domains, providing detailed forecasts over the above mentioned areas. The forecast results are further exploited for the evaluation and prediction of human discomfort and fire weather indices. Finally, sea wave models have also been operating daily over the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea. In case a severe or extreme weather event is forecasted within the next 48 or 72 h for selected target areas (sub-regions defined by their morphological and population characteristics), the local authorities and the public are informed via a user-friendly graphic system, the so-called RISK MAP. On the web page of the Project (<a href=" http://www.riskmed.net" target ="_blank"> http://www.riskmed.net </a>), additional information is provided about the real-time values of some meteorological parameters, the latest satellite picture and the time and space distribution of lightning during the last 24 h. The RISKMED project was financed by the EU and th Ministries of National Economy of Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus, in the frame of INTERREG IIIB/ARCHIMED programme

Моделирование формирования структуры металломатричных композитов в процессе синтеза с оценкой эффективных свойств

Работа посвящена моделированию процесса кристаллизации композита с металлической матрицей и твердыми включениями с учетом условий синтеза (давление, скорость охлаждения), моделированию процесса формирования переходной зоны между частицами и матрицей и расчету эффективных свойств получаемых композитов.The work is devoted to modeling the crystallization process of metal matrix composite with solid inclusions, taking into account the synthesis conditions (pressure, cooling rate), to modeling the formation of the transition zone between particles and matrix, and calculating the effective properties of the resulting composites

Interaction and efficacy of Keigai-rengyo-to extract and acupuncture in male patients with acne vulgaris: A study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In consideration of patients seeking to use traditional Chinese medicine, an evidence-based potentiality for safe and effective use of herbal medicine and acupuncture in treatment of acne vulgaris has been suggested. However, despite common use of a combination of herbal medicine and acupuncture in clinical practice, the current level of evidence is insufficient to draw a conclusion for an interaction and efficacy of herbal medicine and acupuncture. Therefore, considering these methodological flaws, this study was designed to assess the interaction and efficacy of an available herbal medicine, Keigai-rengyo-to extract (KRTE), and acupuncture for treatment of acne using the 2 × 2 factorial design and the feasibility of a large clinical trial.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A randomized, assessor single blinded, 2 × 2 factorial pilot trial will be conducted. Forty four participants with acne vulgaris will be randomized into one of four groups: waiting list group (WL), KRTE only group (KO), acupuncture only group (AO), and KRTE and acupuncture combined treatment group (KA). After randomization, a total of 8 sessions of acupuncture treatment will be performed twice a week in the AO- and KA groups, respectively. Patients in the KO- and KA groups will be prescribed KRTE 3 times a day at a dose of 7.4 g after meals for 4 weeks. The following outcome measurements will be used in examination of subjects: the mean percentage change and the count change of inflammatory and non-inflammatory acne lesions, the Skindex 29, visual analogue scale (VAS) and investigator global assessment (IGA) from baseline to the end of the trial.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>The trial is registered with the Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS), Republic of Korea: KCT0000071.</p

Do serum biomarkers really measure breast cancer?

Background Because screening mammography for breast cancer is less effective for premenopausal women, we investigated the feasibility of a diagnostic blood test using serum proteins. Methods This study used a set of 98 serum proteins and chose diagnostically relevant subsets via various feature-selection techniques. Because of significant noise in the data set, we applied iterated Bayesian model averaging to account for model selection uncertainty and to improve generalization performance. We assessed generalization performance using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results The classifiers were able to distinguish normal tissue from breast cancer with a classification performance of AUC = 0.82 ± 0.04 with the proteins MIF, MMP-9, and MPO. The classifiers distinguished normal tissue from benign lesions similarly at AUC = 0.80 ± 0.05. However, the serum proteins of benign and malignant lesions were indistinguishable (AUC = 0.55 ± 0.06). The classification tasks of normal vs. cancer and normal vs. benign selected the same top feature: MIF, which suggests that the biomarkers indicated inflammatory response rather than cancer. Conclusion Overall, the selected serum proteins showed moderate ability for detecting lesions. However, they are probably more indicative of secondary effects such as inflammation rather than specific for malignancy.United States. Dept. of Defense. Breast Cancer Research Program (Grant No. W81XWH-05-1-0292)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R01 CA-112437-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH CA 84955