Implementation of Real-Time Quality Control Procedures by Means of a Probabilistic Estimate of Seawater Temperature and Its Temporal Evolution

Abstract Near-real-time quality control procedures for temperature profiles collected from ships of opportunity were implemented during the 1980s in oceans across the world and from the 1990s in the Mediterranean. In this sea, the procedures were originally based on seven steps (detection of end of profile, gross range check, position control, elimination of spikes, Gaussian smoothing and resampling at 1-m intervals, general malfunction control, and comparison with climatology), complemented with initial and final visual checks. The quality of data derived from a comparison with historical data (namely, climatology) depends on the availability of a huge amount of data that can statistically represent the mean characteristics of the seawater. A significant amount of data has been collected, and the existing temperature database in the Mediterranean can now provide more information on temporal and spatial variability at monthly and mesoscales, and an improved procedure for data quality control has now been adopted. New "best" estimates of monthly temperature profiles are calculated by using a maximum likelihood method. It has been found that more than one "best estimate" temperature can be defined in particular areas and depths, as a consequence of climate variability. Additional near-real-time control procedures have been included in order to provide information on long-term variability associated with data. This information is included in metafiles to be used for reanalysis and studies on long-term variability and changes

Emodnet Physics: Benefits from Marine Data Sharing

n/

EMODnet physics and river runoff data management

Rivers runoff exert a strong influence in their neighbouring coastal area in several ways, modifying the water stratification, introducing significant fluctuations in circulation patterns and modulating the impact of upwelling events. This paper presents data management methods and standards to make harmonised river data available and accessible.Peer Reviewe

EMODnet physics and river runoff data management

Rivers runoff exert a strong influence in their neighbouring coastal area in several ways, modifying the water stratification, introducing significant fluctuations in circulation patterns and modulating the impact of upwelling events. This paper presents data management methods and standards to make harmonised river data available and accessible.Peer Reviewe

Development of a new expendable probe for the study of pelagic ecosystems from voluntary observing ships

Physical and biological processes of the marine ecosystem have a high spatial and temporal variability, whose study is possible only through high resolution and synoptic observations. The Temperature and Fluorescence Launchable Probe was charted in order to answer to the claim of a cost effective temperature and fluorescence expendable profiler, to be used in ships of opportunity. The development of the expendable fluorometer has followed similar concepts of the XBT (a wire conducting the signal to a computer card), but differently from the latter it was developed with an electronic system which can be improved and adapted to several variables measure channels. To reach the aim of a low-cost probe, were utilized commercial components:a glass bulb temperature resistor for the temperature measurement, blue LEDs, a photodiode and available selective glass filters, for the fluorescence measurement. The measurement principle employed to detect phytoplankton’s biomass is the active fluorescence. This method is an in vivo chlorophyll estimation, that can get the immediate biophysical reaction of phytoplankton inside the aquatic environment; it is a non-disruptive method which gives real time estimation and avoids the implicit errors due to the manipulation of samples. The possibility of using a continuous profiling probe, with an active fluorescence measurement, is very important in real time phytoplankton’s study; it is the best way to follow the variability of sea productivity. In fact, because of the high time and space variability of phytoplankton, due to its capability to answer in a relatively short time to ecological variations in its environment and because of its characteristic patchiness, there isn’t a precise quantitative estimation of the biomass present in the Mediterranean Sea.L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore http://publications.copernicus.org

Chk1 Inhibition Restores Inotuzumab Ozogamicin Citotoxicity in CD22-Positive Cells Expressing Mutant p53

Inotuzumab ozogamicin (IO) is an anti-CD22 calicheamicin immunoconjugate that has been recently approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (r/r B-ALL). We employed both immortalized and primary cells derived from CD22-positive lymphoproliferative disorders to investigate the signaling pathways contributing to IO sensitivity or resistance. We found that the drug reduced the proliferation rate of CD22-positive cell lines expressing wild-type p53, but was remarkably less effective on cells exhibiting mutant p53. In addition, CD22-positive cells surviving IO were mostly blocked in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle because of Chk1 activation that, in the presence of a wild-type p53 background, led to p21 induction. When we combined IO with the Chk1 inhibitor UCN-01, we successfully abrogated IO-induced G2/M arrest regardless of the underlying p53 status, indicating that the DNA damage response triggered by IO is also modulated by p53-independent mechanisms. To establish a predictive value for p53 in determining IO responsiveness, we expressed mutant p53 in cell lines displaying the wild-type gene and observed an increase in IO IC50 values. Likewise, overexpression of an inducible wild-type p53 in cells natively presenting a mutant protein decreased their IC50 for IO. These results were also confirmed in primary CD22-positive cells derived from B-ALL patients at diagnosis and from patients with r/r B-ALL. Furthermore, co-treatment with IO and UCN-01 significantly increased cell death in primary cells expressing mutant p53. In summary, our findings suggest that p53 status may represent a biomarker predictive of IO efficacy in patients diagnosed with CD22-positive malignancies

Il ruolo della Corte di giustizia nella definizione della politica economica e monetaria europea

Il ruolo giocato dalla Corte di giustizia nel campo della politica economica e della politica monetaria è stato importante quanto sottostimato. Le due competenze dell’Unione sono profondamente differenti - ciascuna dotata di significative peculiarità - e tuttavia strettamente interconnesse. Definire i confini incerti tra politica economica e politica monetaria è stato il ruolo più importante svolto dalla Corte in questo campo. Questo ha comportato una precisazione dei ruoli delle istituzioni chiamate ad agire - Commissione, Consiglio, Banca centrale - così come dei limiti all’indipendenza dell’istituto di emissione, ma anche della ripartizione di competenze tra Stati e Unione. Dal 2012, un’ulteriore funzione è stata esercitata dalla Corte: la verifica della legittimità dell’intervento straordinario della BCE nell’economia per gestire le crisi. L’assenza nei trattati europei di disposizioni specifiche che contemplassero un ruolo della Banca come prestatore di ultima istanza o nella gestione delle crisi economiche e finanziarie spiega bene le contestazioni dell’ultimo decennio, così come la necessità di pronunce autorevoli da parte della Suprema Corte europea. Queste si collocano a buon diritto nel solco della giurisprudenza in tema di rule of law e di garanzia del rispetto dei principi generali nell’ordinamento europeo

Evolving and sustaining ocean best practices and standards for the next decade

The oceans play a key role in global issues such as climate change, food security, and human health. Given their vast dimensions and internal complexity, efficient monitoring and predicting of the planet’s ocean must be a collaborative effort of both regional and global scale. A first and foremost requirement for such collaborative ocean observing is the need to follow well-defined and reproducible methods across activities: from strategies for structuring observing systems, sensor deployment and usage, and the generation of data and information products, to ethical and governance aspects when executing ocean observing. To meet the urgent, planet-wide challenges we face, methods across all aspects of ocean observing should be broadly adopted by the ocean community and, where appropriate, should evolve into “Ocean Best Practices.” While many groups have created best practices, they are scattered across the Web or buried in local repositories and many have yet to be digitized. To reduce this fragmentation, we introduce a new open access, permanent, digital repository of best practices documentation (oceanbestpractices.org) that is part of the Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS). The new OBPS provides an opportunity space for the centralized and coordinated improvement of ocean observing methods. The OBPS repository employs user-friendly software to significantly improve discovery and access to methods. The software includes advanced semantic technologies for search capabilities to enhance repository operations. In addition to the repository, the OBPS also includes a peer reviewed journal research topic, a forum for community discussion and a training activity for use of best practices. Together, these components serve to realize a core objective of the OBPS, which is to enable the ocean community to create superior methods for every activity in ocean observing from research to operations to applications that are agreed upon and broadly adopted across communities. Using selected ocean observing examples, we show how the OBPS supports this objective. This paper lays out a future vision of ocean best practices and how OBPS will contribute to improving ocean observing in the decade to come