Receptor–drug association studies in the inhibition of the hematin aggregation process of malaria

AbstractDocking studies were performed to investigate the binding of several antimalarial compounds to the putative drug receptors involved in the hematin aggregation process. These studies reveal a binding profile that correlates with the complementarity of electrostatic potentials between the receptors and the active molecules. These results allow a possible explanation for the same molecular mechanism shown by 4-aminoquinolines, quinine, mefloquine, halofantrine and hydroxylated xanthones. The docking data presented in this work offer an interesting approach to the design of new molecules with potential antimalarial activity

Regionalization of droughts in Portugal

Comunicação apresentada na "6th International Conference on River Basin Management", Riverside, California, 2011Droughts are complex natural hazards that distress large worldwide areas every year with serious impacts on society, environment and economy. Despite their importance they are still among the least understood extreme weather events. This paper is focused on the identification of regional patterns of droughts in Mainland Portugal based on monthly precipitation data, from September 1910 to October 2004, in 144 rain gages distributed uniformly over the country. The drought events were described by means of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) applied to different time scales. To assess the spatial and temporal patterns of droughts, a principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering method (KMC) were applied to the SPI series. The study showed that, for the different times scales, both methods resulted in an equivalent areal zoning, with three regions with different behaviours: the north, the centre and the south of Portugal. These three regions are consistent with the precipitation spatial distribution in Portugal Mainland, which in general terms decrease from North to South, with the central mountainous region representing the transition between the wet north and the progressively dry south. As the mean annual precipitation decreases southwards the hydrological regime becomes more irregular and consequently more prone to droughts

Pervasive and intelligent decision support in Intensive Medicine – the complete picture

Series : Lecture notes in computer science (LNCS), vol. 8649In the Intensive Care Units (ICU) it is notorious the high number of data sources available. This situation brings more complexity to the way of how a professional makes a decision based on information provided by those data sources. Normally, the decisions are based on empirical knowledge and common sense. Often, they don’t make use of the information provided by the ICU data sources, due to the difficulty in understanding them. To overcome these constraints an integrated and pervasive system called INTCare has been deployed. This paper is focused in presenting the system architecture and the knowledge obtained by each one of the decision modules: Patient Vital Signs, Critical Events, ICU Medical Scores and Ensemble Data Mining. This system is able to make hourly predictions in terms of organ failure and outcome. High values of sensitivity where reached, e.g. 97.95% for the cardiovascular system, 99.77% for the outcome. In addition, the system is prepared for tracking patients’ critical events and for evaluating medical scores automatically and in real-time.(undefined

Spring drought forecasting in mainland Portugal based on large-scale climatic indices

[EN] The success of a strategy of mitigation of the effects of the droughts requires the implementation of an effective monitoring and forecasting system, able to identify drought events and follow their spatiotemporal evolution. This article demonstrates the capability of the artificial neural networks in predicting the spring standardized precipitation index, SPI, for Portugal. The validation of the models used the hindcasting, which is a technique by which a given model is tested through its application to historical data followed by the comparison of the results thus achieved with the data. The SPI index was calculated at the timescale of six months and the climate indices used as external predictors in the hindcasting were the North Atlantic Oscillation and temperatures of the sea surface. The study showed the added value of the inclusion of previous predictors in the model. Maps of the probabilities of the drought occurrences which may be very important for integrated planning and management of water resources were also developed.[PT] O sucesso de uma estratégia de mitigação dos efeitos da seca passa pela implementação de um sistema de monitorização e previsão eficaz, capaz de identificar os eventos de seca e de seguir a sua evolução espácio-temporal. Neste artigo demonstrase a eficiência de redes neuronais artificiais na previsão, para Portugal, do índice de precipitação padronizada, SPI, relativo à primavera. A validação dos modelos recorreu ao hindcasting, designando-se, por tal, a técnica através da qual um dado modelo é testado mediante a sua aplicação a períodos temporais históricos, com comparação dos resultados obtidos com as respectivas observações. O índice SPI foi calculado à escala temporal de 6 meses tendo o hindcast utilizado como indicadores climáticos a oscilação do Atlântico Norte e temperaturas da superfície do mar. O estudo evidenciou a mais valia da inclusão dos anteriores predictores externos no modelo de previsão. Elaboraram-se, ainda, mapas de probabilidade de ocorrência de seca os quais constituem importantes ferramentas no planeamento integrado e na gestão de recursos hídricosSantos, J.; Portela, M.; Pulido-Calvo, I. (2015). Previsão de secas na primavera em Portugal Continental com base em indicadores climáticos de larga escala. Ingeniería del Agua. 19(4):211-227. doi:10.4995/ia.2015.4109.SWORD211227194Agnew, C.T. (2000). Using the SPI to identify drought. Drought Network News, 12, 6-12.ASCE Task Committee on Application of Artificial Neural Networks in Hydrology. (2000a). Artificial neural networks in hydrology. I. Preliminary concepts. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 5(2), 115-123. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2000)5:2(115)ASCE Task Committee on Application of Artificial Neural Networks in Hydrology. (2000b). Artificial neural networks in hydrology. II. Hydrologic applications. 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Informe de observadores ATSW 2001

En este informe se presentan los resultados preliminares obtenidos en el año 2001 por el Programa de Observadores Científicos a bordo de buques comerciales, que el Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) viene desarrollando en aguas del Atlántico Suroccidental (ATSW) desde 1988. Además se contó con la información recogida por observadores contratados por la Asociación Nacional de Armadores de Buques Congeladores de Pesca de Merluza (ANAMER), dentro de un Proyecto Estudio cofinanciado por la DG PESCA de la Comisión Europea, titulado “Data collection for assessment of two hakes (Merluccius hubbsi and Merluccius australis) in International and Falkland waters of the SW Atlantic”. En total seis observadores fueron desplazados al área de estudio, realizando su labor de observación a bordo, entre el 4 de febrero y el 30 de noviembre de 2001IE

Analysis of the spatio-temporal pattern of Southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis australis) abundance in the bottom-trawl fisheries in the southwest Atlantic using GIS techniques

Southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis australis ) inhabits the waters of the Southern Hemisphere, and in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. It is distributed over an area next to the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, where it is commonly the most abundant commercial finfish species. This fish migrates to the outer Falkland shelf and aggregates in dense schools to spawn in August-September in the south-western part of the islands. Feeding concentrations of Southern blue whiting are targeted by specialized surimi vessels until the following March. Southern blue whiting is also taken as an occasional bycatch by finfish trawlers. Fishery and biological information collected by scientific observers aboard commercial Spanish trawlers between 1988 and 2003 were analysed in relation to physical and environmental factors to establish the spatio-temporal pattern of the species. The data included 26 168 commercial hauls of which 4 797 positive (including effort, catches and discards, as well as biological and environmental information). CPUE (Catch Per Unit Effort, kg⋅hr-1) was used as abundance index. The analysis of the general spatio-temporal pattern of fish abundance, and the influence of environmental factors, such as SST, SBT and depth on fish abundance and distribution, was based on correlation, variograms, and time-series maps created using GIS. Mature individuals and more specifically spawning females were recorded mainly in the waters south and south-west of the Islands, between 100 and 200 m isobaths

Remotely sensed local oceanic thermal features and their influence on the distribution of hake (Merluccius hubbsi) at the Patagonian shelf edge in the SW Atlantic

We propose a new index based on sea surface temperature that can be used to locate local oceanic thermal features. The concept of relative spatial variability of local SST (SST RV), and the algorithm used to derive it, are introduced. The utility of this index is compared with that of SST gradient in an analysis of environmental correlates of the distribution and abundance of the hake Merluccius hubbsi (Marini, 1933) on the Patagonian shelf edge between 44.5◦S and 47.0◦S and around the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). The SST RV and SST gradient were calculated from AVHRR SST data. SST RV is suggested to be a more sensitive index than SST gradient for detecting local oceanic thermal features such as fronts. Local hake abundance varied between years and showed strong (albeit complex) relationships with depth and SST, as well as with parameters (SST RV and SST gradient) that indicate the presence of ocean surface thermal features. Although local hake abundance was positively correlated with both SST RV and SST gradient, the former correlation was stronger and in two out of three studied months SST RV was the better predictor of CPUE. Although CPUE tended to increase with SST RV, this relationship breaks down at the highest SST RV values, possibly because hake avoid the most turbulent waters

The spatio-temporal pattern of Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) abundance in the Spanish bottom-trawl fishery in the southwest Atlantic.

The Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) is a common neritic species occurring in waters off Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands in the southwest Atlantic. Illex is the most important cephalopod species in the area and plays a significant role in the ecosystem. It is object of major fisheries using both trawlers (mostly from European countries) and jigging vessels (mainly from Asian countries) and the actual total annual catch could reach up to 700 thousand tons. Fishery and biological information collected by scientific observers aboard commercial trawlers between 1988 and 2003 was analysed in relation to physical and environmental factors to establish the spatio-temporal pattern of the species distribution. The data included 26 168 fishing haul records, of which 11103 were positive. CPUE (Catch Per Unit Effort, kg⋅hr-1) was used as abundance index. The analyses of the general spatio-temporal pattern of fish abundance, and the influence of environmental factors, such as SST, SBT and depth on squid abundance and distribution, was based on correlation, variograms, and time-series maps created using GIS. The areas of the highest densities were found in deep waters of the High Seas between 44.5º S – 47.0º S outside the Argentinean EEZ and to the north-west of the Islands in February–May. The correlations between squid abundance and cloud index at different moon phases were also analyzed

Hydraulic–hydrologic model for water resources management of the Zambezi basin

The paper focuses on the development of the hydraulic–hydrological model used to simulate water resources management scenarios in the Zambezi River basin. The main challenges of the implementation of the model are the scarcity of continuous reliable discharge data and the significant influence of large floodplains. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool, a semidistributed physically based continuous time model, was chosen as simulation tool. Given the complexity and the size of the basin under study, an automated calibration procedure was applied to optimize the relative error and the volume ratio at multiple stations. Using data derived from satellite observations, the model is first stabilized during two years, then calibrated over six years and finally validated over three years. The study evidences the importance of evaluating the model at different points of the basin and the complementarities between performance indicators