Interacción de remolinos de agua mediterránea con Agua Intermedia Antártica al noroeste de África

Mediterranean Water lenses (meddies) in the eastern North Atlantic, north of the Canary Islands, appear to often have their salty and nutrient-poor core accompanied by relatively fresh and nutrient-rich waters on top. We describe several occurrences of freshwater halos and berets for meddies sampled north of the Canary Islands—with instrumented moorings, Argo floats and oceanographic cruises—and identify the source of these fresh anomalies as diluted Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). We propose that this capping takes place off Northwest Africa, as the southward-advected meddy interacts with the northward-advected AAIW. This interpretation is consistent with a simple analysis of the relevant advective-diffusive time scales associated with the passage of meddies under a layer of AAIW, and suggests that meddies may be a mechanism for AAIW export far into the North Atlantic Ocean.Los Meddies en el Atlántico Norte oriental, al norte de las Islas Canarias, a menudo parecen tener su núcleo salado y pobre en nutrientes acompañado de aguas relativamente frescas y ricas en nutrientes en la parte superior. Se describen varios casos de halos y boinas de agua dulce para meddies muestreados al norte de las Islas Canarias –con instrumentos anclados, perfiladores Argo y campañas oceanográficas– identificando así el origen de estas anomalías frescas como Agua Intermedia Antártica (AIAA) diluida. Proponemos que esta interacción se lleva a cabo en el noroeste de África, cuando el meddy advectado hacia el sur interactúa con el AIAA advectada hacia el norte. Esta interpretación es coherente con un simple análisis de las escalas de tiempo advectivo-difusivas asociadas con el paso de meddies bajo una capa de AIAA, y sugiere que los meddies pueden ser un mecanismo para exportar AIAA hacia el océano interior en el Atlántico Norte

Análisis sedimentológico del embalse de Barasona, Huesca

[Resumen] La pérdida de capacidad debido al aterramiento es un grave problema en numerosos embalses. El pantano de Barasona, en la cuenca del Esera-Isábena, Pirineos Centrales, uno de los más antiguos de España, ha perdido un tercio de su 3 capacidad inicial (71 Hm ) desde su construcción en 1932. El estudio de 23 sondeos ha permitido caracterizar el sedimento,definir facies sedimentarias, reconstruir tridimensionalmente el relleno del vaso y proponer un modelo deposicional dominado por las fluctuaciones en el régimen de aporte de los ríos. Las variaciones en la composición mineralógica proporcionan información sobre áreas fuente y procesos de erosión y transporte en la cuenca. Correlacionando los niveles de limos arenosos con los episodios de avenidas, se ha construido una cronología preliminar que permitirá evaluar variaciones en la tasa de aporte de sedimentos al embalse y en la dinámica del sistema embalse-cuenca..[Abstract] Sediment deliver and consequent loss of water storage capacity aggravate reservoir management problems. The Barasona reservoir in the Esera-Isabena watershed, Central Pyrenees, is one of the oldest in Spain (1932) and has lost one 3 third of its initial water capacity (71 Hm ). In this study we analyze the composition of the infilling of the Barasona reservoir, identify sedimentary facies, and reconstruct the tri-dimensional geometry based on 23 cores. Sedimentary dynamics is mainly controlled by fluctuations in the river inflow. Changes in mineral composition inform of sediment provenance and transport processes in the catchment area. A preliminary chronology based on the identification of floods in the sedimentary record (sandy silt layers) will allow to investigate changes in the sediment yield and in the interaccions reservoir-catchment

Does time constrain affect consumer intention to purchase? A case study with orange/pomegranate juice.

The influence of time pressure on consumer perception may be particularly relevant for the design of food packages. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the influence of time-constraint on results from a rating-based conjoint task, using pomegranate/orange juice as case study. One hundred consumers evaluated the intention to purchase of images of juice bottles, which were designed by manipulating the following variables: bottle design, front-of-pack nutritional information, nutrition claim and processing claim. They were randomly divided into two experimental conditions: control and time-constraint. Consumers with a time-constraint gave significantly higher intention to purchase scores than those in control condition, but time-constraint did not largely modify the way in which consumers evaluated their intention to purchase. In both experimental conditions consumers gave higher intention to purchase scores for bottles with traditional design, which included processing claim and front-of-pack nutritional information. Result suggests that graphic design could help consumers to make healthier food choices.Food: the tree that sustains life. 1648

Current attitudes towards the use of perioperative analgesics in cats and dogs by Uruguayan veterinarians

In recent decades, several articles have reported significant progress regarding pain treatment in veterinary medicine. This study aims to analyse the attitudes of veterinarians working in small animal practices in Uruguay towards the use of analgesics during the perioperative period. Veterinarians in charge of clinics performing surgeries were interviewed, including clinics located in the capital city, Montevideo (n=59) and the rest of the country (n=81), based on data obtained from the National Veterinary Census in 2010. Most interviews were conducted in person, and if not possible, they were carried out through video calls. According to gender, 54% of interviewees were women and 46% were men, with 95% of them practising in urban areas. The most used drugs were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), with dipyrone (89%) being the most popular. Amongst opioids, pure agonists presented minimal inclusion in analgesic treatment (13%), with tramadol (93%) being the most used opioid. Drugs belonging to other groups were less mentioned. Thirty-eight per cent of the respondents considered that their training in pain management was inadequate. Veterinarians categorised the intensity of pain caused by several surgical procedures as “severe”, however, they used weak opioids such as tramadol or NSAIDs as a single therapy to treat most cases. The scarce use of analgesic drugs and techniques that provide profound analgesia (such as mu-opioid receptor agonists) by Uruguayan veterinarians reveals the need for open discussion, adjustment of attitudes and continuing education on pain management

Diapycnal Nutrient Fluxes in the Cape Ghir upwelling region

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 22-27 April 2012, Vienna, Austria.-- 1 pageAn oceanographic survey was carried out from 18 to 29 October 2010 in the Canary Basin (PROMECA project). Near Cape Ghir, in the Northwest Africa coastal upwelling, 17 CTD casts were made to obtain continuous records of conductivity and temperature with depth, and to collect waters samples for nutrients analyses. Additionally, free-fall turbulence profiles were obtained at each station. 14 Expandable bathythermographs (XBTs) were deployed between stations to increase the grid resolution of the temperature field. Velocity data were acquired with a vessel-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) with a vertical bin size of 8 m. Water samples for nutrients: nitrate + nitrite (N+N), phosphates and silicates, were collected from 12 depths (down to 2000 m or the maximum depth), with 12-l Niskin bottles mounted on the rosettes sampler. The first results show low to moderate concentrations of nutrients offshore, with average values in the upper 150 m of 2.45 ± 1.98, 0.37 ± 0.18 and 1.47 ± 0.94 μM for N+N, phosphate and silicate, respectively. However, for stations near the Cape Ghir upwelling filament or influenced by this feature, a significant increase in the concentration of nutrients (up to 10 µM of N+N at 200 m) was observed. We have estimated and compared the diapycnal nutrient flux in the region by using two different approaches. First, we used the dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy and thermal variance estimated from microstructure data acquired from turbulence profilers, and applied a model based on the dissipation ratio. This way we obtain net turbulence diffusivities in regions where there is an interaction of processes of double diffusion and turbulence induced by vertical shear of the flow. The second approach is based on obtaining diapycnal diffusivities with parameterizations of the gradient Richardson number and density ratioPeer Reviewe

Vegetation changes and hydrological fluctuations in the Central Ebro Basin (NE Spain) since the Late Glacial period: Saline lake records

The final version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00310182Although the Central Ebro Basin (Northeastern Iberian Peninsula) is both the northernmost semi-arid area in Europe and one of the regions with the largest biodiversity, it has been insufficiently studied in terms of past climate variability due to the scarcity of suitable sites for palaeoenvironmental analyses. Previous studies from ephemeral saline lakes in the area, mainly based on palynological data, show abrupt and rapid arid/humid transitions throughout the last glacial cycle highlighting a complex palaeohydrological evolution. New cores from two saline lakes (La Playa and La Salineta) in the Los Monegros area provide multi-proxy records including sedimentology, geochemistry, and pollen indicators. This study, together with a detailed and comprehensive review of the main saline records from the Central Ebro Basin, enables us tos reconstruct a comprehensive picture of the palaeoclimate evolution during the last glacial cycle. One of the main results of this study is the alternation of humid and dry phases as a characteristic of the climate evolution during the Lateglacial. Additionally, the study suggests an important role of the increased flow from the Pyrenean rivers during deglaciation in the hydrological balance of the Central Ebro Basin. It is found that the Early Holocene is the wettest period over the sequence studied contrasting with the arid Middle Holocene interval, which is frequently absent as a result of intense aeolian erosive processes. Although anthropogenic activity partially masks the climate signal from the palynological data in the uppermost part of the sequences studied, there are some sedimentological evidences for a climate change during the last 2000 years resulting in a recovery of average saline lake levels in the Central Ebro Basin.This work was part of the project “Arid periods in the Mediterranean area since the Last Glacial Maximum” (REN 2000-1136/CLI), and LIMNOCLIBER (REN 2003-09130-C02-02), funded by the CICYT, and the project “Environmental evolution and effects of the anthropogenic impact in the lacustrine complex of Bujaraloz–Sástago” (PO23/2001), funded by the Aragon regional government (DGA). We acknowledge the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) for financial support.Peer reviewe

Peripheral myeloid-derived suppressor cells are good biomarkers of the efficacy of fingolimod in multiple sclerosis

Personalized medicine; Responder and non-responderMedicina personalizada; Respondedor y no respondedorMedicina personalitzada; Contestador i no contestadorBackground The increasing number of treatments that are now available to manage patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) highlights the need to develop biomarkers that can be used within the framework of individualized medicine. Fingolimod is a disease-modifying treatment that belongs to the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulators. In addition to inhibiting T cell egress from lymph nodes, fingolimod promotes the immunosuppressive activity of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), whose monocytic subset (M-MDSCs) can be used as a biomarker of disease severity, as well as the degree of demyelination and extent of axonal damage in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS. In the present study, we have assessed whether the abundance of circulating M-MDSCs may represent a useful biomarker of fingolimod efficacy in EAE and in the clinical context of MS patients. Methods Treatment with vehicle or fingolimod was orally administered to EAE mice for 14 days in an individualized manner, starting the day when each mouse began to develop clinical signs. Peripheral blood from EAE mice was collected previous to treatment and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from fingolimod to treat MS patients’ peripheral blood. In both cases, M-MDSCs abundance was analyzed by flow cytometry and its relationship with the future clinical affectation of each individual animal or patient was assessed. Results Fingolimod-treated animals presented a milder EAE course with less demyelination and axonal damage, although a few animals did not respond well to treatment and they invariably had fewer M-MDSCs prior to initiating the treatment. Remarkably, M-MDSC abundance was also found to be an important and specific parameter to distinguish EAE mice prone to better fingolimod efficacy. Finally, in a translational effort, M-MDSCs were quantified in MS patients at baseline and correlated with different clinical parameters after 12 months of fingolimod treatment. M-MDSCs at baseline were highly representative of a good therapeutic response to fingolimod, i.e., patients who met at least two of the criteria used to define non-evidence of disease activity-3 (NEDA-3) 12 months after treatment. Conclusion Our data indicate that M-MDSCs might be a useful predictive biomarker of the response of MS patients to fingolimod.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/00357, RD16-0015/0019, PI21/00302, all co-funded by the European Union), the Fundación Merck Salud (FMS_2020_MS), Esclerosis Múltiple España (REEM-EME-S5 and REEM-EME_2018), ADEMTO, ATORDEM and AELEM. CC-T holds a predoctoral fellowship from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FI19/00132, co-funded by the European Union). LC and JG-A were hired under PI18/00357 and RD16/0015/0019, respectively. DC, MCO and IM-D were hired by SESCAM

Nondisjunction of a Single Chromosome Leads to Breakage and Activation of DNA Damage Checkpoint in G2

The resolution of chromosomes during anaphase is a key step in mitosis. Failure to disjoin chromatids compromises the fidelity of chromosome inheritance and generates aneuploidy and chromosome rearrangements, conditions linked to cancer development. Inactivation of topoisomerase II, condensin, or separase leads to gross chromosome nondisjunction. However, the fate of cells when one or a few chromosomes fail to separate has not been determined. Here, we describe a genetic system to induce mitotic progression in the presence of nondisjunction in yeast chromosome XII right arm (cXIIr), which allows the characterisation of the cellular fate of the progeny. Surprisingly, we find that the execution of karyokinesis and cytokinesis is timely and produces severing of cXIIr on or near the repetitive ribosomal gene array. Consequently, one end of the broken chromatid finishes up in each of the new daughter cells, generating a novel type of one-ended double-strand break. Importantly, both daughter cells enter a new cycle and the damage is not detected until the next G2, when cells arrest in a Rad9-dependent manner. Cytologically, we observed the accumulation of damage foci containing RPA/Rad52 proteins but failed to detect Mre11, indicating that cells attempt to repair both chromosome arms through a MRX-independent recombinational pathway. Finally, we analysed several surviving colonies arising after just one cell cycle with cXIIr nondisjunction. We found that aberrant forms of the chromosome were recovered, especially when RAD52 was deleted. Our results demonstrate that, in yeast cells, the Rad9-DNA damage checkpoint plays an important role responding to compromised genome integrity caused by mitotic nondisjunction