Distribution, characteristics and potential of biomass-dense thinning forests in Sweden

Understanding the characteristics of unutilized biomass resources, such as small-diameter trees from biomass-dense thinning forests (BDTF) (non-commercially-thinned forests), can provide important information for developing a bio-based economy. The aim of this study was to describe the areal distribution, characteristics (biomass of growing stock, tree height, etc.) and harvesting potential of BDTF in Sweden. A national forest inventory plot dataset was imported into a geographical information system and plots containing BDTF were selected by applying increasingly stringent constraints. Results show that, depending on the constraints applied, BDTF covers 9-44% (2.1-9.8 M ha) of the productive forest land area, and contains 7-34% of the total growing stock (119-564 M OD t), with an average biomass density of 57 OD t ha^-1. Of the total BDTF area, 65% is located in northern Sweden and 2% corresponds to set-aside farmlands. Comparisons with a study from 2008 indicate that BDTF area has increased by at least 4% (about 102 000 ha), in line with general trends for Sweden and Europe. Analyses revealed that the technical harvesting potential of delimbed stemwood (over bark, including tops) from BDTF ranges from 3.0 to 6.1 M OD t yr^-1 (7.5 to 15.1 M m^3 yr^-1), while the potential of whole-tree harvesting ranges from 4.3 to 8.7 M OD t yr^-1 (10.2 to 20.6 M m3 yr^-1) depending on the scenario considered. However, further technological developments of the harvest and supply systems are needed to utilize the full potential of BDTF

High astrometric precision in the calculation of the coordinates of orbiters in the Geo Ring

We present an astrometric method for the calculation of the positions of orbiters in the GEO ring with a high precision, through a rigorous astrometric treatment of observations with a 1-m class telescope, which are part of the CIDA survey of the GEO ring. We compute the distortion pattern to correct for the systematic errors introduced by the optics and electronics of the telescope, resulting in absolute mean errors of 0.16" and 0.12" in right ascension and declination, respectively. These correspond to ˜ 25 m at the mean distance of the GEO ring, and are thus good quality results

Tomografía de emisión de fotones cerebral. Valor del índice corticocerebeloso y patrones gammagráficos en la enfermedad de Alzheimer y otras afecciones

Brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 99mTc-HMPAO is a diagnostic tool for evaluating regional cerebral blood flow. Recently, the diagnostic possibilities of the method are being investigated in some neurologic disorders, such as cerebrovascular accidents, seizures and dementia. This work has been carried out with 54 subjects, 9 healthy volunteers and 45 patients (31 dementia and 14 epileptics), in order to evaluate gammagraphic patterns and the utility of cortico/cerebellar activity indexes. An interesting diagnostic finding is a significant decrease (p less than 0.001) in perfusion of temporoparietal regions in the patients with Alzheimer's disease in relation with the healthy volunteers' group. We have not found significant changes in perfusion in the group of epileptic patients during the interictal phase. We conclude emphasizing the interest of the SPECT in the differential diagnosis of dementia

CB6 87. Sustitución valvular aórtica en octogenarios

IntroducciónEn las últimas décadas, la población mayor de 80 años que requiere una cirugía por estenosis aórtica degenerativa ha aumentado sustancialmente.Material y métodosSe compararon los resultados a corto y medio plazo de la sustitución valvular aórtica convencional (SVAo) en estenosis aórtica degenerativa en pacientes mayores y menores de 80 años intervenidos en nuestro centro entre abril de 2004 y diciembre de 2008. Los predictores de mortalidad y eventos adversos mayores cardio y cerebrovasculares (MACCE) en el postoperatorio y el seguimiento se determinaron por análisis multivariante.ResultadosCuatrocientos cincuenta y un pacientes fueron incluidos; 94 (20,8%) eran mayores de 80 años. La cirugía cardíaca previa (odds ratio [OR]: 4,08; p=0,047), la insuficiencia renal (OR: 6,75; p < 0,001), la cirugía coronaria concomitante (OR: 2,57; p=0,034), el sexo femenino (OR: 2,49; p=0,047) y la hipertensión pulmonar grave (OR: 3,68; p=0,024) fueron predictores independientes de mortalidad hospitalaria. En el seguimiento, la edad (hazard ratio [HR]: 2,24; p=0,02), la vasculopatía periférica (HR: 5,1; p < 0,001) e hipertensión arterial (HTA) (HR: 5,2; p=0,025) fueron predictores independientes de mortalidad tardía. Sólo la vasculopatía periférica (HR: 3,55; p=0,014) e HTA (HR: 8,24; p=0,04) fueron predictores independientes de mortalidad cardíaca tardía. La insuficiencia renal (OR: 2,57; p=0,005), hipertensión pulmonar grave (OR: 3,49; p=0,005) y cirugía coronaria asociada (OR: 2,49; p=0,002) fueron predictores independientes de MACCE postoperatorios. Diabetes mellitus (HR: 2,03; p=0,033) y vasculopatía periférica (HR: 2,3; p=0,041) predijeron una mayor incidencia de MACCE en el seguimiento.ConclusionesLa edad mayor de 80 años no empeora el pronóstico a corto y medio plazo tras la SVAo por estenosis aórtica grave degenerativa

The Spanish version of the Home Environment Survey (HES) among families of children with overweight/obesity: a validation study

Purpose: The aim of this article was to validate the Spanish version of the Home Environment Survey (HES-S) and was divided in two studies: (1) to assess the reliability, convergent validity of HES-S in a survey of 145 parents of children with overweight/obesity; (2) to study the magnitude of the association between children’s BMI status with the latent scores theoretically defined by the HES model. Methods: To test the scale and the model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a path analysis were carried out among a sample of 156 parents of preadolescents (106 overweight/obesity and 50 normal-weight children). No CFA or EFA were carried out in the validation of the original instrument. Results: Study 1, both the Physical Activity and the Eating Habits components of the scale showed adequate levels of internal consistency for the majority of the scales, except for two. One of them, Healthy Eating Parental Policies (HEP) subscale was reduced after excluded two items, although it did not improve substantially. This model indicated that there was a significant association between the two Eating Habits scales and the child’s weight status, but child’s weight was not associated with the Physical Activity components. Convergent validity was confirmed by correlations with related variables: family eating habits (F-EAT), parent’s physical activity (IPAQ), and children’s physical activity (assessed via accelerometers during one week). Study 2, our results replicated the original four factor structure proposed for physical activity (CFI = 0.99; RMSEA = 0.03), but the original factor structure of the eating habits component was not supported. In addition, the relationship of the child’s weight status, the Physical Activity components, and the two scales of Eating Habits (Parental Modeling and Policies) was explored with a path analysis showing good fit indices (CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06). Child’s BMI was negatively associated with Healthy Eating Parental Role Modeling (r = − 0.21) and with Healthy Eating Parental Policies (r = − 0.19), but not with the factors of Child’s Physical Activity model. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first instrument to assess obesogenic family environment in Spanish speaking countries, which is a relevant dimension within a health perspective so as to implement new policies and strategies in obesity tertiary prevention. Overall, the confirmatory factor analysis of the HES-S has only provided additional support for one part related to Physical Activity. In addition, Child’s BMI was correlated with scales of Eating Habits but not with Child’s Physical Activity factor. These results clearly suggest that further research is warranted. Level III: Case-control analytic study

Climate, irrigation, and land cover change explain streamflow trends in countries bordering the northeast Atlantic

Attribution of trends in streamflow is complex, but essential, in identifying optimal management options for water resources. Disagreement remains on the relative role of climate change and human factors, including water abstractions and land cover change, in driving change in annual streamflow. We construct a very dense network of gauging stations (n = 1,874) from Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Portugal for the period of 1961–2012 to detect and then attribute changes in annual streamflow. Using regression‐based techniques, we show that climate (precipitation and atmospheric evaporative demand) explains many of the observed trends in northwest Europe, while for southwest Europe human disturbances better explain both temporal and spatial trends. For the latter, large increases in irrigated areas, agricultural intensification, and natural revegetation of marginal lands are inferred to be the dominant drivers of decreases in streamflow

Assessment of vapor pressure deficit variability and trends in Spain and possible connections with soil moisture

The Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) is one of the most relevant surface meteorological variables; with important implications in ecology, hydrology, and atmosphere. By understanding the processes involved in the variability and trend of the VPD, it is possible to assess the possible impacts and implications related to both physical and human environments, like plant function, water use efficiency, net ecosystem production, atmospheric CO2 growth rate, etc. This study analysed recent temporal variability and trends in VPD in Spain between 1980 and 2020 using a recently developed high-quality dataset. Also, the connection between VPD and soil moisture and other key climate variables (e.g. air temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity) was assessed on different time scales varying from weekly to annual. The objective was to determine if changes in land-atmosphere feedbacks connected with soil moisture and evapotranspiration anomalies have been relevant to assess the interannual variability and trends in VPD. Results demonstrate that VPD exhibited a clear seasonality and dominant positive trends on both the seasonal (mainly spring and summer) and annual scales. Rather, trends were statistically non-significant (p > 0.05) during winter and autumn. Spatially, VPD positive trends were more pronounced in southern and eastern of Spain. Also, results suggest that recent trends of VPD shows low contribution of variables that drive land-atmosphere feedbacks (e.g. evapotranspiration, and soil moisture) in comparison to the role of global warming processes. Notably, the variability of VPD seems to be less coupled with soil moisture variability during summertime, while it is better interrelated during winter, indicating that VPD variability would be mostly related to climate variability mechanisms that control temperature and relative humidity than to land-atmosohere feedbacks. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of assessing driving forces and physical mechanisms that control VPD variability using high-quality climate datasets, especially, in semiarid and sub-humid regions of the world

Power estimation of tests in log-linear non-uniform association models for ordinal agreement

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Log-linear association models have been extensively used to investigate the pattern of agreement between ordinal ratings. In 2007, log-linear non-uniform association models were introduced to estimate, from a cross-classification of two independent raters using an ordinal scale, varying degrees of distinguishability between distant and adjacent categories of the scale.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this paper, a simple method based on simulations was proposed to estimate the power of non-uniform association models to detect heterogeneities across distinguishabilities between adjacent categories of an ordinal scale, illustrating some possible scale defects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Different scenarios of distinguishability patterns were investigated, as well as different scenarios of marginal heterogeneity within rater. For sample size of N = 50, the probabilities of detecting heterogeneities within the tables are lower than .80, whatever the number of categories. In additition, even for large samples, marginal heterogeneities within raters led to a decrease in power estimates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This paper provided some issues about how many objects had to be classified by two independent observers (or by the same observer at two different times) to be able to detect a given scale structure defect. Our results also highlighted the importance of marginal homogeneity within raters, to ensure optimal power when using non-uniform association models.</p

The complex and spatially diverse patterns of hydrological droughts across Europe

This study presents a new data set of gauged streamflow (N = 3,224) for Europe spanning the period 1962–2017. The Monthly Streamflow of Europe Dataset (MSED) is freely available at http://msed.csic.es/. Based on this data set, changes in the characteristics of hydrological drought (i.e., frequency, duration, and severity) were assessed for different regions of Europe. Due to the density of the database, it is possible to delimit spatial patterns in hydrological droughts trend with the greatest detail available to date. Results reveal bidirectional changes in monthly streamflow, with negative changes predominating over central and southern Europe, while positive trends dominate over northern Europe. Temporally, two dominant patterns were noted. The first pattern corresponds to a consistent downward trend in all months, evident for southern Europe. A second pattern was noted over central and northern Europe and western France, with a predominant negative trend during warm months and a positive trend in cold months. For hydrological drought events, results suggest a positive trend toward more frequent and severe droughts in southern and central Europe and conversely a negative trend over northern Europe. This study emphasizes that hydrological droughts show complex spatial patterns across Europe over the past six decades, implying that hydrological drought behavior in Europe has a regional character. Accordingly it is challenging to adopt “efficient” strategies and policies to monitor and mitigate drought impacts at the continental level