Atlantic versus Indo-Pacific influence on Atlantic-European climate

The influence of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans on Atlantic-European climate is investigated by analyzing ensemble integrations with the atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4 forced by anomalous sea surface temperature and sea ice conditions restricted to the Atlantic (AOGA) and Indo-Pacific (I+POGA) oceans. The forcing from both the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans are important for the generation of the sea level pressure (SLP) variability in the Atlantic region in the boreal winter season. Over the North Atlantic the SLP response in the I+POGA experiment projects on the North Atlantic Oscillation, while it projects on the East Atlantic Pattern in the AOGA experiment. In both experiments (I+POGA and AOGA) a quadrupole-type 500 hPa height anomaly pattern is simulated which emerges from the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans, respectively. In boreal summer the influence of the Atlantic Ocean dominates the SLP response in the Atlantic region. The tropical North Atlantic is a key region in forcing the SLP response over the Caribbean Sea in this season

Subsegmentation of the Kidney in Experimental MR Images Using Morphology-Based Regions-of-Interest or Multiple-Layer Concentric Objects.

Functional renal MRI promises access to a wide range of physiologically relevant parameters such as blood oxygenation, perfusion, tissue microstructure, pH, and sodium concentration. For quantitative comparison of results, representative values must be extracted from the parametric maps obtained with these different MRI techniques. To improve reproducibility of results this should be done based on regions-of-interest (ROIs) that are clearly and objectively defined.Semiautomated subsegmentation of the kidney in magnetic resonance images represents a simple but very valuable approach for the quantitative analysis of imaging parameters in multiple ROIs that are associated with specific anatomic locations. Thereby, it facilitates comparing MR parameters between different kidney regions, as well as tracking changes over time.Here we provide detailed step-by-step instructions for two recently developed subsegmentation techniques that are suitable for kidneys of small rodents: i) the placement of ROIs in cortex, outer and the inner medulla based on typical kidney morphology and ii) the division of the kidney into concentrically oriented layers.This chapter is based upon work from the COST Action PARENCHIMA, a community-driven network funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program of the European Union, which aims to improve the reproducibility and standardization of renal MRI biomarkers

Contact-induced charge contributions to non-local spin transport measurements in Co/MgO/graphene devices

Recently, it has been shown that oxide barriers in graphene-based non-local spin-valve structures can be the bottleneck for spin transport. The barriers may cause spin dephasing during or right after electrical spin injection which limit spin transport parameters such as the spin lifetime of the whole device. An important task is to evaluate the quality of the oxide barriers of both spin injection and detection contacts in a fabricated device. To address this issue, we discuss the influence of spatially inhomogeneous oxide barriers and especially conducting pinholes within the barrier on the background signal in non-local measurements of graphene/MgO/Co spin-valve devices. By both simulations and reference measurements on devices with non-ferromagnetic electrodes, we demonstrate that the background signal can be caused by inhomogeneous current flow through the oxide barriers. As a main result, we demonstrate the existence of charge accumulation next to the actual spin accumulation signal in non-local voltage measurements, which can be explained by a redistribution of charge carriers by a perpendicular magnetic field similar to the classical Hall effect. Furthermore, we present systematic studies on the phase of the low frequency non-local ac voltage signal which is measured in non-local spin measurements when applying ac lock-in techniques. This phase has so far widely been neglected in the analysis of non-local spin transport. We demonstrate that this phase is another hallmark of the homogeneity of the MgO spin injection and detection barriers. We link backgate dependent changes of the phase to the interplay between the capacitance of the oxide barrier to the quantum capacitance of graphene.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Advanced head and neck cancer: Long-term results of chemo-radiotherapy, complications and induction of second malignancies

Background: Chemo-radiotherapy is superior to radiotherapy alone in the treatment of advanced, inoperable head and neck cancer. The long-term treatment results, the induction of second malignant tumors, and other long-term toxicities are not well defined. Patients and Methods: 100 consecutive patients with advanced head and neck cancer who were treated at our center were studied. Treatment results, survival, the occurrence of late complications, and second malignant tumors (SMT) were investigated. 78 patients were treated with a protocol combining cisplatinum, 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid and hyper-fractionated irradiation. 22 patients were treated with other chemo-radiotherapy protocols. The relative risk of developing an SMT was compared with that within the normal population. Results: The cumulative total probability of survival was 51.1% at 2 years and 38.7% at 4 years. The probability of relapse-free survival was 39.9% at 2 years and 36.7% at 4 years. A total of 7 patients developed SMT (4 cases of lung cancer, 2 colon cancers, 1 skin cancer). After 6 years, a cumulative risk of SMT of 8.7% was observed. The relative risk of developing an SMT was significantly increased (4.45-fold in males) compared with a normal population. 13 of 38 evaluable patients (34.2%) had severe late complications like fibrosis of soft tissues, nerve lesions, or were dependent on tracheal cannulas. Conclusions: The treatment results and long-term prognoses in our population of unselected high-risk patients are unsatisfactory, but comparable to those from multicenter studies. About 35% of patients become long-term (> 4 years) survivors. SMT generally occur early, have a poor prognosis and, most likely, are not treatment-related. Approximately 30% of long-term survivors have severe, often incapacitating late effects. The treatment and - if possible - prevention of these late effects is important for the quality of life of patients who survived advanced head and neck cancer

RCP8.5-projected changes in German Bight storm surge characteristics from regionalized ensemble simulations for the end of the twenty-first century

This study investigates climate-induced changes in height, frequency and duration of storm surges in the German Bight. The regionally coupled climate model system MPIOM-REMO with a focus on the North Sea has been utilized to dynamically downscale 30 members of the global climate model system MPI-ESM1.1-LR for the historical period 1950–2005 and a continuation until 2099 with the RCP8.5 scenario. Results of all members have been collected into the historical (1970–1999) and the rcp85 (2070–2099) data pools amounting to 900 years of the corresponding climate state. The global mean sea level rise was not considered. Nevertheless, the mean ensemble German Bight SSH trend amounts to about 13 ± 1 cm/century (PI control: 3 cm/century) due to adaptation of the ocean circulation to the changing climatic conditions. Storm surges were defined as SSH above mean high tidal water plus 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 m for “regular”, heavy, extreme storm surges, and then clustered to events. Our simulated storm surge events show a clear location-dependent increase in frequency (6–11), median duration (4–24), and average duration (9–20) in the German Bight. Only along the central German Bight coast (Cuxhaven), longer lasting events gain more relevance. Heavy storm surge events show also a strong increase in frequency (7–34) and average duration (10–22). Maximum sea levels during storm events increase strongest and most significant along the northern German Bight and Danish coasts with more than 30 cm/century for the 60-year return period at Hörnum and 10–15 cm/century for shorter return periods. Levels of return periods shorter than a few years significantly increase everywhere along the southern German Bight coasts (around 5 cm/century for the 2-year return period). Highest SSH maxima do not change, and consequently, extreme storm surge events show hardly any response to climate change. Furthermore, our results indicate a shift of seasonality from the last to the first quarter of a year. As the main driver for the encountered alteration of German Bight storm surge characteristics, we identified a change in wind conditions with a pronounced increase of frequency of strong westerly winds

A review of predictability studies of the Atlantic sector climate on decadal time-scales

This review paper discusses the physical basis and the potential for decadal climate predictability over the Atlantic and its adjacent land areas. Many observational and modeling studies describe pronounced decadal and multidecadal variability in the Atlantic Ocean. However, it still needs to be quantified to which extent the variations in the ocean drive variations in the atmosphere and over land. In particular, although a clear impact of the Tropics on the midlatitudes has been demonstrated, it is unclear if and how the extratropical atmosphere responds to midlatitudinal sea surface temperature anomalies. Although the mechanisms behind the decadal to multidecadal variability in the Atlantic sector are still controversial, there is some consensus that some of the longer-term multidecadal variability is driven by variations in the thermohaline circulation. The variations in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation appear to be predictable one to two decades ahead, as shown by a number of perfect model predictability experiments. The next few decades will be dominated by these multidecadal variations, although the effects of anthropogenic climate change are likely to introduce trends. Some impact of the variations of the thermohaline circulation on the atmosphere has been demonstrated in some studies so that useful decadal predictions with economic benefit may be possible

Robust multi-year climate impacts of volcanic eruptions in decadal prediction systems

Major tropical volcanic eruptions have a large impact on climate, but there have only been three major eruptions during the recent relatively well-observed period. Models are therefore an important tool to understand and predict the impacts of an eruption. This study uses five state-of-the-art decadal prediction systems that have been initialized with the observed state before volcanic aerosols are introduced. The impact of the volcanic aerosols is found by subtracting the results of a reference experiment where the volcanic aerosols are omitted. We look for the robust impact across models and volcanoes by combining all the experiments, which helps reveal a signal even if it is weak in the models. The models used in this study simulate realistic levels of warming in the stratosphere, but zonal winds are weaker than the observations. As a consequence, models can produce a pattern similar to the North Atlantic Oscillation in the first winter following the eruption, but the response and impact on surface temperatures is weaker than in observations. Reproducing the pattern, but not the amplitude, may be related to a known model error. There are also impacts in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This work contributes towards improving the interpretation of decadal predictions in the case of a future large tropical volcanic eruption

Influence of rest on players’ performance and physiological responses during basketball play

Pre-match warm-ups are standard in many sports but the focus has excluded the substitute players. The aim of this research was to investigate the result of inactivity on physiological and performance responses in substitute basketball players during competition. Two basketball players from the second tier of the State League of Queensland, Australia volunteered for this study and were assessed for performance (countermovement jump—CMJ) and physiological (core temperature via ingestible pill; skin temperature at the arm, chest, calf and thigh; heart rate—HR) responses prior to and following a 20-min warm-up, and during the first half of a competitive basketball match (2 × 20-min real time quarters). Warm up resulted in increases in CMJ (~7%), HR (~100 bpm) and core (~0.8 °C) and skin (~1.0 °C) temperatures. Following the warm up and during inactivity, substitute players exhibited a decrease in all responses including CMJ (~13%), HR (~100 bpm), and core (~0.5 °C) and skin (~2.0 °C) temperatures. Rest resulted in reductions in key performance and physiological responses during a competitive match that poses a risk for match strategies. Coaches should consider implementing a warm up to enhance core/skin temperature for substitute players immediately before they engage with competition to optimise player performance