Have precipitation extremes and annual totals been increasing in the world’s dry regions over the last 60 years?

Daily precipitation extremes and annual totals have increased in large parts of the global land area over the past decades. These observations are consistent with theoretical considerations of a warming climate. However, until recently these trends have not been shown to consistently affect dry regions over land. A recent study, published by Donat et al. (2016), now identified significant increases in annual-maximum daily extreme precipitation (Rx1d) and annual precipitation totals (PRCPTOT) in dry regions. Here, we revisit the applied methods and explore the sensitivity of changes in precipitation extremes and annual totals to alternative choices of defining a dry region (i.e. in terms of aridity as opposed to precipitation characteristics alone). We find that (a) statistical artifacts introduced by data pre-processing based on a time-invariant reference period lead to an overestimation of the reported trends by up to 40 %, and that (b) the reported trends of globally aggregated extremes and annual totals are highly sensitive to the definition of a "dry region of the globe". For example, using the same observational dataset, accounting for the statistical artifacts, and based on different aridity-based dryness definitions, we find a reduction in the positive trend of Rx1d from the originally reported +1.6 % decade−1 to +0.2 to +0.9 % decade−1 (period changes for 1981–2010 averages relative to 1951–1980 are reduced to −1.32 to +0.97 % as opposed to +4.85 % in the original study). If we include additional but less homogenized data to cover larger regions, the global trend increases slightly (Rx1d: +0.4 to +1.1 % decade−1), and in this case we can indeed confirm (partly) significant increases in Rx1d. However, these globally aggregated estimates remain uncertain as considerable gaps in long-term observations in the Earth's arid and semi-arid regions remain. In summary, adequate data pre-processing and accounting for uncertainties regarding the definition of dryness are crucial to the quantification of spatially aggregated trends in precipitation extremes in the world's dry regions. In view of the high relevance of the question to many potentially affected stakeholders, we call for a well-reflected choice of specific data processing methods and the inclusion of alternative dryness definitions to guarantee that communicated results related to climate change be robust.Have precipitation extremes and annual totals been increasing in the world’s dry regions over the last 60 years?publishedVersio

Challenges in Complex Systems Science

FuturICT foundations are social science, complex systems science, and ICT. The main concerns and challenges in the science of complex systems in the context of FuturICT are laid out in this paper with special emphasis on the Complex Systems route to Social Sciences. This include complex systems having: many heterogeneous interacting parts; multiple scales; complicated transition laws; unexpected or unpredicted emergence; sensitive dependence on initial conditions; path-dependent dynamics; networked hierarchical connectivities; interaction of autonomous agents; self-organisation; non-equilibrium dynamics; combinatorial explosion; adaptivity to changing environments; co-evolving subsystems; ill-defined boundaries; and multilevel dynamics. In this context, science is seen as the process of abstracting the dynamics of systems from data. This presents many challenges including: data gathering by large-scale experiment, participatory sensing and social computation, managing huge distributed dynamic and heterogeneous databases; moving from data to dynamical models, going beyond correlations to cause-effect relationships, understanding the relationship between simple and comprehensive models with appropriate choices of variables, ensemble modeling and data assimilation, modeling systems of systems of systems with many levels between micro and macro; and formulating new approaches to prediction, forecasting, and risk, especially in systems that can reflect on and change their behaviour in response to predictions, and systems whose apparently predictable behaviour is disrupted by apparently unpredictable rare or extreme events. These challenges are part of the FuturICT agenda

Homozygous deletions localize novel tumor suppressor genes in B-cell lymphomas

Integrative genomic and gene-expression analyses have identified amplified oncogenes in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), but the capability of such technologies to localize tumor suppressor genes within homozygous deletions remains unexplored. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and gene-expression microarray analysis of 48 cell lines derived from patients with different B-NHLs delineated 20 homozygous deletions at 7 chromosome areas, all of which contained tumor suppressor gene targets. Further investigation revealed that only a fraction of primary biopsies presented inactivation of these genes by point mutation or intragenic deletion, but instead some of them were frequently silenced by epigenetic mechanisms. Notably, the pattern of genetic and epigenetic inactivation differed among B-NHL subtypes. Thus, the P53-inducible PIG7/LITAF was silenced by homozygous deletion in primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma and by promoter hypermethylation in germinal center lymphoma, the proapoptotic BIM gene presented homozygous deletion in mantle cell lymphoma and promoter hypermethylation in Burkitt lymphoma, the proapoptotic BH3-only NOXA was mutated and preferentially silenced in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and INK4c/P18 was silenced by biallelic mutation in mantle-cell lymphoma. Our microarray strategy has identified novel candidate tumor suppressor genes inactivated by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that substantially vary among the B-NHL subtypes

Diet quality index as a predictor of treatment efficacy in overweight and obese adolescents: The EVASYON study

Background & aim: A diet quality index (DQI) is a tool that provides an overall score of an individual''s dietary intake when assessing compliance with food-based dietary guidelines. A number of DQIs have emerged, albeit their associations with health-related outcomes are debated. The aim of the present study was to assess whether adherence to dietary intervention, and the overall quality of the diet, can predict body composition changes. Methods: To this purpose, overweight/obese adolescents (n = 117, aged: 13–16 years; 51 males, 66 females) were recruited into a multi-component (diet, physical activity and psychological support) family-based group treatment programme. We measured the adolescents’ compliance and body composition at baseline and after 2 months (intensive phase) and 13 months (extensive phase) of follow-up. Also, at baseline, after 6 months, and at the end of follow-up we calculated the DQI. Results: Global compliance with the dietary intervention was 37.4% during the intensive phase, and 14.3% during the extensive phase. Physical activity compliance was 94.1% at 2-months and 34.7% at 13months and psychological support compliance were growing over the intervention period (10.3% intensive phase and 45.3% during extensive phase). Adolescents complying with the meal frequency criteria at the end of the extensive phase had greater reductions in FMI z-scores than those did not complying (Cohen''s d = 0.53). A statistically significant association was observed with the diet quality index. DQI-A variation explained 98.1% of BMI z-score changes and 95.1% of FMI changes. Conclusions: We conclude that assessment of changes in diet quality could be a useful tool in predicting body composition changes in obese adolescents involved in a diet and physical activity intervention programme backed-up by psychological and family support

Materials characterisation and software tools as key enablers in Industry 5.0 and wider acceptance of new methods and products

Recently, the NMBP-35 Horizon 2020 projects - NanoMECommons, CHARISMA, and Easi-stress - organised a collaborative workshop to increase awareness of their contributions to the industry “commons” in terms of characterisation and digital transformation. They have established interoperability standards for knowledge management in characterisation and introduced new solutions for materials testing, aided by the standardisation of faster and more accurate assessment methods. The lessons learned from these projects and the discussions during the joint workshop emphasised the impact of recent developments and emerging needs in the field of characterisation. Specifically, the focus was on enhancing data quality through harmonisation and standardisation, as well as making advanced technologies and instruments accessible to a broader community with the goal of fostering increased trust in new products and a more skilled society. Experts also highlighted how characterisation and the corresponding experimental data can drive future innovation agendas towards technological breakthroughs. The focus of the discussion revolved around the characterisation and standardisation processes, along with the collection of modelling and characterisation tools, as well as protocols for data exchange. The broader context of materials characterisation and modelling within the materials community was explored, drawing insights from the Materials 2030 Roadmap and the experiences gained from NMBP-35 projects. This whitepaper has the objective of addressing common challenges encountered by the materials community, illuminating emerging trends and evolving techniques, and presenting the industry's perspective on emerging requirements and past success stories. It accomplishes this by providing specific examples and highlighting how these experiences can create fresh opportunities and strategies for newcomers entering the market. These advancements are anticipated to facilitate a more efficient transition from Industry 4.0 to 5.0 during the industrial revolution. © 2023The Workshop was supported by EU H2020 project NanoMECommons, GA 952869, CHARISMA, GA 952921, EASI-STRESS, GA 953219, and EsSENce COST ACTION CA19118. This article/publication is based upon work from COST Action EsSENce COST ACTION CA19118, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). Miguel A. Bañares, Raquel Portela, Nina Jeliazkova, Enrique Lozano, Bastian Barton and Iván Moya have received financial support from the EU H2020 project CHARISMA, GA n. 952921, Bojan Boskovic, Ennio Capria, Costas Charitidis, Donna Dykeman, Spyros Diplas, Gerhard Goldbeck, Marco Sebastiani, Elias Koumoulos, Silvia Giovanna Avataneo, Miguel A. Bañares, Raquel Portela, Anastasia Alexandratou, Athanasios Katsavrias, Fotis Mystakopoulos have received financial support from the EU H2020 project NanoMECommons, GA n. 952869, Nikolaj Zangernberg and Ennio Capria have received financial support from the EU H2020 project EASI-STRESS, GA n. 953219, Natalia Konchakova has received financial support from the EU H2020 project VIPCOAT, GA n. 952903, Costas Charitidis, Elias Koumoulos, and Spyros Diplas have received financial support from the EsSENce COST ACTION CA19118. All authors would like to specially acknowledge Anastasia Alexandratou, Athanasios Katsavrias and Fotis Mystakopoulos for their support in NMBP-35 joint Workshop organisation and documentation, and Steffen Neumann for his insights during the NMBP-35 joint Workshop discussions.Peer reviewe

Common genetic variation near the connexin-43 gene is associated with resting heart rate in African Americans: A genome-wide association study of 13,372 participants

Genome-wide association studies have identified several genetic loci associated with variation in resting heart rate in European and Asian populations. No study has evaluated genetic variants associated with heart rate in African Americans