Combination of stable isotope analysis and chemometrics to discriminate geoclimatically and temporally the virgin olive oils from three mediterranean countries

The knowledge of the isotopic composition of virgin olive oil (VOO) allows the evaluation of authenticity and geographical origin, being an important tool against fraud. This study aimed to assess if VOOs produced in three Mediterranean regions could be discriminated on the basis of multivariate statistical analysis of geoclimatic and isotopic data. A total of 138 geo-referenced VOO samples from Portugal, France and Turkey from two different cultivation years were collected. The isotopic composition (δ13C, δ2H and δ18O) of VOOs was obtained using an elemental analyzer coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS). One-way analysis of variance for δ13C, δ2H and δ18O showed some significant differences either between crop years or geoclimatic conditions. Based on multiple regression analyses using meteorological and geographical parameters, a meteoric water line for olive oil from Portugal, France and Turkey, in two harvest years, were created to assess the impact of climate change on their δ2H and δ18O values. Principal component analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis, used to sort samples according to geoclimatic origin, performed best for French and Portuguese olive oils. In light of the results, multivariate isotopic analysis of VOO samples may discriminate not only between geoclimatic regions but also among cultivation years

IMU-based monitoring of discharged patients with COVID-19 for the assessment of in-home recovering

No abstract available.publishe

Olive Actual “on Year” Yield Forecast Tool Based on the Tree Canopy Geometry Using UAS Imagery

Olive has a notable importance in countries of Mediterranean basin and its profitability depends on several factors such as actual yield, production cost or product price. Actual “on year” Yield (AY) is production (kg tree-1) in “on years”, and this research attempts to relate it with geometrical parameters of the tree canopy. Regression equation to forecast AY based on manual canopy volume was determined based on data acquired from different orchard categories and cultivars during different harvesting seasons in southern Spain. Orthoimages were acquired with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) imagery calculating individual crown for relating to canopy volume and AY. Yield levels did not vary between orchard categories; however, it did between irrigated orchards (7000–17,000 kg ha-1) and rainfed ones (4000–7000 kg ha-1). After that, manual canopy volume was related with the individual crown area of trees that were calculated by orthoimages acquired with UAS imagery. Finally, AY was forecasted using both manual canopy volume and individual tree crown area as main factors for olive productivity. AY forecast only by using individual crown area made it possible to get a simple and cheap forecast tool for a wide range of olive orchards. Finally, the acquired information was introduced in a thematic map describing spatial AY variability obtained from orthoimage analysis that may be a powerful tool for farmers, insurance systems, market forecasts or to detect agronomical problems

Algal lipids reveal unprecedented warming rates in alpine areas of SW Europe during the industrial period

Alpine ecosystems of the southern Iberian Peninsula are among the most vulnerable and the first to respond to modern climate change in southwestern Europe. While major environmental shifts have occurred over the last similar to 1500 years in these alpine ecosystems, only changes in the recent centuries have led to abrupt environmental responses, but factors imposing the strongest stress have been unclear until now. To understand these environmental responses, this study, for the first time, has calibrated an algal lipid-derived temperature proxy (based on long-chain alkyl diols) to instrumental historical data extending alpine temperature reconstructions to 1500 years before present. These novel results highlight the enhanced effect of greenhouse gases on alpine temperatures during the last similar to 200 years and the long-term modulating role of solar forcing. This study also shows that the warming rate during the 20th century (similar to 0.18 degrees C per decade) was double that of the last stages of the Little Ice Age (similar to 0.09 degrees C per decade), even exceeding temperature trends of the high-altitude Alps during the 20th century. As a consequence, temperature exceeded the preindustrial record in the 1950s, and it has been one of the major forcing processes of the recent enhanced change in these alpine ecosystems from southern Iberia since then. Nevertheless, other factors reducing the snow and ice albedo (e.g., atmospheric deposition) may have influenced local glacier loss, since almost steady climate conditions predominated from the middle 19th century to the first decades of the 20th century.Peer reviewe

Warm SiO gas in molecular bullets associated with protostellar outflows

In this paper we present the first SiO multiline analysis (from J=2-1 to J=11-10) of the molecular bullets along the outflows of the Class 0 sources L1448-mm and L1157-mm, obtained through observations with IRAM and JCMT. We have computed the main physical parameters in each bullet and compared them with other tracers of warm and dense gas and with models for the SiO excitation in shocks. We find that the bullets close to L1448--mm, associated with high velocity gas, have higher excitation conditions (n(H2) ~ 10^{6} cm^{-3}, T > 500 K) with respect to the L1157 bullets (n(H2) ~1-5 10^{5} cm^{-3}, T ~ 100-300 K). In both the sources, there is a clear evidence of the presence of velocity components having different excitation conditions, with the denser and/or warmer gas associated with the gas at the higher speed. In L1448 the bulk of the emission is due to the high-excitation and high velocity gas, while in L1157 most of the emission comes from the low excitation gas at ambient velocity. The observed velocity-averaged line ratios are well reproduced by shocks with speeds v_s larger than ~ 30 km/s and densities ~ 10^{5} - 10^{6} cm^{-3}. Plane-parallel shock models, however, fail to predict all the observed line profiles and in particular the very similar profiles shown by both low and high excitation lines. The overall observations support the idea that the L1157 clumps are shock interaction events older than the L1448 bullets close to the driving source. In the latter objects, the velocity structure and the variations of physical parameters with the velocity resemble very closely those found in optical/IR jets near the protostar, suggesting that similar launching and excitation mechanisms are also at the origin of collimated jets seen at millimetre wavelengths.Comment: 11pages, 9 figures, A&A accepte

The CaT strength in Seyfert nuclei revisited: analyzing young stars and non-stellar light contributions to the spectra

In a former paper (Garcia-Rissmann et al. 2005; hereafter Paper I), we have presented spectra of 64 active, 9 normal and 5 Starburst galaxies in the region around the near-IR Calcium triplet absorption lines and the [SIII]9069 line. In the present paper we analyze the CaT strength (WCaT), and kinematical products derived in that study, namely stellar and ionized gas velocity dispersions. Our main results may be summarized as follows: (1) Seyfert 2s show no sign of dilution in WCaT with respect to the values spanned by normal galaxies, even when optical absorption lines such as the CaII K band at 3933 A are much weaker than in old, bulge-like stellar populations. (2) The location of Seyfert 2s in the WCaT-WCaK plane is consistent with evolutionary synthesis models. The implication is that the source responsible for the dilution of optical lines in these AGN is a young stellar population, rather than an AGN featureless continuum, confirming the conclusion of the pioneer study of Terlevich, Diaz & Terlevich. (3) In Seyfert 1s, both W[SIII] and WCaT tend to be diluted due to the presence of a non-stellar component, in agreement with the unification paradigm. (4) A comparison of stellar and gas velocity dispersions confirms the existence of a correlation between the typical velocities of stars and clouds of the Narrow Line Region. The strength and scatter around this correlation are similar to those previously obtained from the [OIII]5007 line width.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures. Paper accepted for publication in MNRA

Nonlinear focusing of ultrasonic waves by an axisymmetric diffraction grating embedded in water

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 107, 204103 (2015); doi: 10.1063/1.4935917 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4935917.We report the nonlinear focusing of ultrasonic waves by an axisymmetric diffraction grating immersed in water. In the linear regime, the system presents high focal gain (32 dB), with a narrow beam-width and intense side lobes as it is common in focusing by Fresnel-like lenses. Activating the nonlinearity of the host medium by using high amplitude incident waves, the focusing properties of the lens dramatically change. Theoretical predictions show that the focal gain of the system extraordinary increases in the strongly nonlinear regime (Mach number of 6.1 x 10(-4)). Particularly, the harmonic generation is locally activated at the focal spot, and the second harmonic beam is characterized by strongly reduced side-lobes and an excellent beam profile as experiments show in agreement with theory. The results can motivate applications in medical therapy or second harmonic imaging. (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.The work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Union FEDER through Projects FIS2011-29734-C02-01 and -02, MTM2012-36740c02-02, and PAID 2012/253.Jimenez, N.; Romero García, V.; Picó Vila, R.; García-Raffi, LM.; Staliünas, K. (2015). Nonlinear focusing of ultrasonic waves by an axisymmetric diffraction grating embedded in water. Applied Physics Letters. 107(20). doi:10.1063/1.4935917S20410310720Farnow, S. A., & Auld, B. A. (1974). Acoustic Fresnel zone plate transducers. Applied Physics Letters, 25(12), 681-682. doi:10.1063/1.1655359Sleva, M. Z., Hunt, W. D., & Briggs, R. D. (1994). Focusing performance of epoxy‐ and air‐backed polyvinylidene fluoride Fresnel zone plates. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 96(3), 1627-1633. doi:10.1121/1.410242Wang, H., Xing, D., & Xiang, L. (2008). Photoacoustic imaging using an ultrasonic Fresnel zone plate transducer. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 41(9), 095111. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/41/9/095111Molerón, M., Serra-Garcia, M., & Daraio, C. (2014). Acoustic Fresnel lenses with extraordinary transmission. Applied Physics Letters, 105(11), 114109. doi:10.1063/1.4896276Clement, G., Nomura, H., & Kamakura, T. (2015). Ultrasound field measurement using a binary lens. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 62(2), 350-359. doi:10.1109/tuffc.2014.006800Jiménez, N., Romero-García, V., Picó, R., Cebrecos, A., Sánchez-Morcillo, V. J., Garcia-Raffi, L. M., … Staliunas, K. (2014). Acoustic Bessel-like beam formation by an axisymmetric grating. EPL (Europhysics Letters), 106(2), 24005. doi:10.1209/0295-5075/106/24005Sarvazyan, A. P., Rudenko, O. V., Swanson, S. D., Fowlkes, J. B., & Emelianov, S. Y. (1998). Shear wave elasticity imaging: a new ultrasonic technology of medical diagnostics. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 24(9), 1419-1435. doi:10.1016/s0301-5629(98)00110-0Nightingale, K., Soo, M. S., Nightingale, R., & Trahey, G. (2002). Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging: in vivo demonstration of clinical feasibility. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 28(2), 227-235. doi:10.1016/s0301-5629(01)00499-9Konofagou, E. E., & Hynynen, K. (2003). Localized harmonic motion imaging: theory, simulations and experiments. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 29(10), 1405-1413. doi:10.1016/s0301-5629(03)00953-0Duck, F. A. (2002). Nonlinear acoustics in diagnostic ultrasound. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 28(1), 1-18. doi:10.1016/s0301-5629(01)00463-xBailey, M. R., Khokhlova, V. A., Sapozhnikov, O. A., Kargl, S. G., & Crum, L. A. (2003). Physical mechanisms of the therapeutic effect of ultrasound (a review). Acoustical Physics, 49(4), 369-388. doi:10.1134/1.1591291M. A. Averkiou , D. N. Roundhill , and J. Powers , in IEEE Proceedings of the Ultrasonics Symposium ( IEEE, 1997), Vol. 2, pp. 1561–1566.Nguyen, M. M., Shin, J., & Yen, J. (2014). Harmonic Imaging with Fresnel Beamforming in the Presence of Phase Aberration. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 40(10), 2488-2498. doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.03.030Lu, J.-Y., & Greenleaf, J. F. (1990). Ultrasonic nondiffracting transducer for medical imaging. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, 37(5), 438-447. doi:10.1109/58.105250N. Jiménez , “ Nonlinear acoustic waves in complex media,” Ph.D. thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2015

Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy Type 1 is associated with a high risk of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and end-stage heart failure

\ua9 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.Background and Aims: Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is caused by variants in EMD (EDMD1) and LMNA (EDMD2). Cardiac conduction defects and atrial arrhythmia are common to both, but LMNA variants also cause end-stage heart failure (ESHF) and malignant ventricular arrhythmia (MVA). This study aimed to better characterize the cardiac complications of EMD variants. Methods: Consecutively referred EMD variant-carriers were retrospectively recruited from 12 international cardiomyopathy units. MVA and ESHF incidences in male and female variant-carriers were determined. Male EMD variant-carriers with a cardiac phenotype at baseline (EMDCARDIAC) were compared with consecutively recruited male LMNA variant-carriers with a cardiac phenotype at baseline (LMNACARDIAC). Results: Longitudinal follow-up data were available for 38 male and 21 female EMD variant-carriers [mean (SD) ages 33.4 (13.3) and 43.3 (16.8) years, respectively]. Nine (23.7%) males developed MVA and five (13.2%) developed ESHF during a median (inter-quartile range) follow-up of 65.0 (24.3-109.5) months. No female EMD variant-carrier had MVA or ESHF, but nine (42.8%) developed a cardiac phenotype at a median (inter-quartile range) age of 58.6 (53.2-60.4) years. Incidence rates for MVA were similar for EMDCARDIAC and LMNACARDIAC (4.8 and 6.6 per 100 person-years, respectively; log-rank P =. 49). Incidence rates for ESHF were 2.4 and 5.9 per 100 person-years for EMDCARDIAC and LMNACARDIAC, respectively (log-rank P =. 09). Conclusions: Male EMD variant-carriers have a risk of progressive heart failure and ventricular arrhythmias similar to that of male LMNA variant-carriers. Early implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation and heart failure drug therapy should be considered in male EMD variant-carriers with cardiac disease

Biomimetic Magnetic Nanocarriers Drive Choline Kinase Alpha Inhibitor inside Cancer Cells for Combined Chemo-Hyperthermia Therapy

Choline kinase a1 (ChoKa1) has become an excellent antitumor target. Among all the inhibitors synthetized, the new compound Ff35 shows an excellent capacity to inhibit ChoKa1 activity. However, soluble Ff35 is also capable of inhibiting choline uptake, making the inhibitor not selective for ChoKa1. In this study, we designed a new protocol with the aim of disentangling whether the Ff35 biological action is due to the inhibition of the enzyme and/or to the choline uptake. Moreover, we offer an alternative to avoid the inhibition of choline uptake caused by Ff35, since the coupling of Ff35 to novel biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles (BMNPs) allows it to enter the cell through endocytosis without interacting with the choline transporter. This opens the possibility of a clinical use of Ff35. Our results indicate that Ff35-BMNPs nanoassemblies increase the selectivity of Ff35 and have an antiproliferative effect. Also, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the tandem Ff35-BMNPs and hyperthermia.This research was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2013-46612 and CGL2016-76723 projects), Ramón y Cajal programme (RYC-2014-16901) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). Also, this research was aided by the Andalusian regional government (CTS-236)