Shelves of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands (I): Morphology and sediment types

Here we present a synthesis of bedforms and sediment types on the shelves surrounding the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, after the integration several pieces of bathymetric, morphological and sedimentological datasets. The Iberian and Balearic shelves are divided into segments according to the largescale margin configuration, fluvial sediment supply and hydrodynamic regime. Their geological settings and large-scale sedimentation patterns place the investigated shelves into two broad categories: abrupt, steep and narrow sediment-starved shelves, illustrated by the Cantabrian shelf, and gentle, smooth and wide sediment- fed shelves, such as the shelves off some major flivial systems. An in-depth classification was subsequently attempted, based on morpho-sedimentary types. Under this approach, the Iberian and Balearic shelves can be classified as: (1) storm-dominated shelves, with erosional rocky floors, frequent abrasion surfaces and coarse-grained sediments; (2) current-dominated shelves, showing a good equilibriumbetween sediment fluxes and coastal and shallow ocean circulation, with laterally extensive muddy belts; (3) sediment supply-dominated shelves, where extensive subaqueous deltas develop off river mouths; and (4) wave-dominated shelves that occur off coastal stretches with minor and/or multiple fluvial sediment sources and enhanced littoral current

Neonatal overfeeding during lactation rapidly and permanently misaligns the hepatic circadian rhythm and programmes adult NAFLD

Childhood obesity is a strong risk factor for adult obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms that link early adiposity with late-onset chronic diseases are poorly characterised. We developed a mouse model of early adiposity through litter size reduction. Mice reared in small litters (SLs) developed obesity, insulin resistance, and hepatic steatosis during adulthood. The liver played a major role in the development of the disease. Objective: To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms that link early development and childhood obesity with adult hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. Methods: We analysed the hepatic transcriptome (Affymetrix) of control and SL mice to uncover potential pathways involved in the long-term programming of disease in our model. Results: The circadian rhythm was the most significantly deregulated Gene Ontology term in the liver of adult SL mice. Several core clock genes, such as period 1e3 and cryptochrome 1e2, were altered in two-week-old SL mice and remained altered throughout their life course until they reached 4e6 months of age. Defective circadian rhythm was restricted to the periphery since the expression of clock genes in the hypothalamus, the central pacemaker, was normal. The period-cryptochrome genes were primarily entrained by dietary signals. Hence, restricting food availability during the light cycle only uncoupled the central rhythm from the peripheral and completely normalised hepatic triglyceride content in adult SL mice. This effect was accompanied by better re-alignment of the hepatic period genes, suggesting that they might have played a causal role in mediating hepatic steatosis in the adult SL mice. Functional downregulation of Per2 in hepatocytes in vitro confirmed that the period genes regulated lipid-related genes in part through peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (Ppara). Conclusions: The hepatic circadian rhythm matures during early development, from birth to postnatal day 30. Hence, nutritional challenges during early life may misalign the hepatic circadian rhythm and secondarily lead to metabolic derangements. Specific time-restricted feeding interventions improve metabolic health in the context of childhood obesity by partially re-aligning the peripheral circadian rhythm

Estudi de l'impacte de la ciclogènesi en el mar Mediterrani

Màster en Meteorologia[cat] En el present treball s'estudia la relació entre els episodis d'inundacions dins del període d'entre 1990 i 2004 i la presència d'un centre ciclònic en la conca Mediterrània durant aquests episodis, a partir de dades proporcionades pel projecte internacional MEDEX (MEDiterranean Experiment, projecte, recolzat per l'Organització Mundial de la Meteorologia, centrat en l'estudi dels ciclons que produeixen un impacte elevat en el mar Mediterrani). Un cop identificada l'existència d'un o més cicló en cada episodi d'inundació, s'ha realitzat un anàlisi regional, per veure la distribució dels centres ciclònics, i un anàlisi temporal, per estudiar l'evolució al llarg del temps del nombre d'episodis d'inundacions amb un centre ciclònic. A continuació, s'han caracteritzat els ciclons utilitzant criteris dinàmics: estructura vertical i circulació geostròfica. A partir d'aquesta caracterització es poden classificar els ciclons presents en els episodis d'inundacions analitzats. Es representa la distribució dels centres ciclònics per cada any (des de 1990 fins 2004), diferenciant els ciclons profunds, intermedis i els superficials. Per finalitzar, s'ha fet una anàlisi de components principals dels nivells de 500 hPa, 850 hPa i de 1000 hPa, de tots els dies compresos en els episodis d'inundacions, per tal d'identificar les situacions sinòptiques en que es produeixen els episodis amb presència de ciclons. Es conclou el treball amb una discussió dels resultats obtinguts i una proposta de treball futur, en la qual es plantegen nous mètodes d'anàlisis per tal d'aprofundir en l'estudi de l'impacte produït pels episodis d'inundacions amb presència de ciclons, en la conca del Mediterrani.[eng] The Mediterranean basin is usually affected by high impact weather events that produce high impacts in all Mediterranean countries and causes important damages. This work presents the study of the relationship between the flood episodes, and the presence of cyclones in the Mediterranean basin during those episodes, between 1990 and 2004, using the MEDEX database (MEDiterranean EXperiment on cyclones that produce high impact weather in the Mediterranean. Project sponsored by the World Meterological Organization) Once the presence of one or more cyclones during each flood episode had been identified, temporal and regional analyses were made to determine the distribution of the cyclonic centers and to study the evolution of the flood episodes with the presence of one or more cyclonic center. Next step was to characterize cyclones using dynamic criteria: vertical structures and geostrophic circulation. From this characterization, cyclonic centers could be classified into six different classes: deep, medium and shallow; strong, moderate and weak cyclones. Finally, a principal components analysis was made at the 500hPa, 850hPa and 1000hPa levels, for each day of a flood episode, to identify synoptic situations in which a flood episode occurs concurrently with a cyclonic center. The work concludes with a discussion of the results obtained and a proposal for future work, including new methods to analyze with more detail the impact of the flood episodes with the a presence of a cyclonic center in the Mediterranean basin