Comparison of upwelling indices off Baja California derived from three different wind data sources

This report is not copyrighted. The definitive version was published in California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 48 (2007): 204-214.We compared the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s Environmental Research Division (formerly Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory: PFEL) coastal upwelling indices along the northern Baja California coast with those derived from winds measured by coastal meteorological stations and estimated by the QuikSCAT satellite. With the exception of the PFEL series at 33°N, the three data sets compare reasonably well, having similar typical year patterns, correlations >0.6, and significant coherences for periods three to five days or longer. By contrast, the seasonal variations, the timing and magnitude of maximum upwelling, and the variability of the PFEL indices at 33°N are significantly different compared to all the other time series, including QuikSCAT at that location. The performance of the QuikSCAT winds close to shore was evaluated using the coastal meteorological station data. Although large root-meansquare (RMS) errors in direction were found for the QuikSCAT winds, both datasets have properties similar to the variance ellipses, and show reasonable coherences for frequencies in the weather band and lower, particularly south of 33°N.This project was partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grants to J. P. and M. L

SPARC-mediated long-term retention of nab-paclitaxel in pediatric sarcomas

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is a matricellular glycoprotein overexpressed by several cancers. Because SPARC shows high binding affinity to albumin, we reasoned that pediatric sarcoma xenografts expressing SPARC would show enhanced uptake and accumulation of nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel, a potent anticancer drug formulation. We first evaluated the expression of SPARC in patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) of Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma, finding variable SPARC gene expression that correlated well with SPARC protein measured by immunoblotting. We revealed that the activity of the fusion gene chimera EWSR1-FLI1, the genetic driver of Ewing sarcoma, leads to lower expression of the gene SPARC in these tumors, likely due to enriched acetylation marks of the histone H3 lysine 27 at regions including the SPARC promoter and potential enhancers. Then, we used SPARC-edited Ewing sarcoma cells (A673 line) to demonstrate that SPARC knocked down (KD) cells accumulated significantly less amount of nab-paclitaxel in vitro than SPARC wild type (WT) cells. In vivo, SPARC KD and SPARC WT subcutaneous xenografts in mice achieved similar maximum intratumoral concentrations of nab-paclitaxel, though drug clearance from SPARC WT tumors was significantly slower. We confirmed such SPARC-mediated long-term intratumoral accumulation of nab-paclitaxel in Ewing sarcoma PDX with high expression of SPARC, which accumulated significantly more nab-paclitaxel than SPARC-low PDX. SPARC-high PDX responded better to nab-paclitaxel than SPARC-low tumors, although these results should be taken cautiously, given that the PDXs were established from different patients that could have specific determinants predisposing response to paclitaxel. In addition, SPARC KD Ewing sarcoma xenografts responded better to soluble docetaxel and paclitaxel than to nab-paclitaxel, while SPARC WT ones showed similar response to soluble and albumin-carried drugs. Overall, our results show that pediatric sarcomas expressing SPARC accumulate nab-paclitaxel for longer periods of time, which could have clinical implications for chemotherapy efficacy.AMC acknowledges funding from AECC Scientific Foundation, MINECO (SAF2011-22660), European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (PIRG-08-GA-2010-276998) and ISCIII-FEDER (CP13/00189 and CPII18/00009). EDA, OMT and JM acknowledge support of AECC Scientific Foundation (GCB13131578). NU acknowledges funding by the Basque Government, Research Groups of the Basque University System (Project No. IT 1186-19). We thank support of the Central Service of Analysis in Alava, SGIker (UPV/EHU/ERDF, EU) and Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya (XBTC) sponsored by Pla Director d'Oncologia de Catalunya.Peer reviewe

Propagación de variaciones de baja frecuencia en la temperatura superficial del Pacífico nor-oriental

Se estudia la propagación de señales de baja frecuencia en ocho años de datos (1982-1989) de Temperatura Superficial del Mar (fSM) en el noreste del Océano Pacifico. El análisis de las observaciones muestra que la variabilidad interanual de la TSM está asociada con la presencia de El Niño. Este se manifiesta como un frente paralelo a la costa así como una intrusión de agua más caliente que el promedio proveniente del océano interior. La primera eigenfunción (61 %) esta asociada con la presencia de El Niño en la costa en su fase madura y con su decaimiento en forma de señal que se propaga hacia el oeste en bajas latitudes. La segunda eigenfunción (29%) esta asociada con la intrusión proveniente del océano interior, posiblemente inducida por advección de gran escala provocada por una intensificación de los vientos en el Pacífico central. Esta señal esta desfasada en el tiempo aproximadamente año y medio con respecto a! frente costero. La rapidez de propagación hacia el oeste de la señal detectada inicialmente en la costa, se estimo de 3.4 a 1.7 km/dfa en latitudes menores de 25°N. La posición de la fase teórica de una onda de Rossby se ajusta a los desplazamientos de la señal costera observada, identificando el posible mecanismo de esta propagación en la TSM. doi: https://doi.org/10.22201/igeof.00167169p.1994.33.3.118

Estudio de la interacción hidrodinámica entre lagunas costeras y mares adyacentes mexicanos.

El litoral mexicano se caracteriza por la presencia de sistemas lagunares que soportan una gran biodiversidad y tienen un alto impacto ecológico y económico a nivel regional. Por lo tanto, resulta pertinente y relevante analizar la hidrodinámica de dichos sistemas y determinar su influencia en las zonas oceánicas adyacentes. En esta investigación proponemos analizar la hidrodinámica de dos sistemas lagunares mexicanos: el sistema lagunar Bahía Magdalena-Bahía Almeja, ubicado en el Pacifico Nororiental, y el sistema lagunar Tamiahua, localizado en la costa oriental del Golfo de México. Ambos sistemas lagunares se encuentran en la frontera tropical-subtropical del litoral mexicano; no obstante, tienen características morfológicas diferentes entre sí y colinda con ambientes oceánicos cuyas características son también diferentes. Proponemos el uso de dos modelos hidrodinámicos, uno estructurado de diferencias nitas, el Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) y otro de malla no estructurada llamado Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) para reproducir y analizar la dinámica de los dos sistemas lagunares de interés y analizar las interacciones entre éstos y los ambientes oceánicos circundantes. La propuesta incluye estudiar los tiempos de residencia y el tiempo medio de recambio de volumen de cada sistema, especialmente en relación a su morfología y a los forzamientos oceánicos externos. Proponemos reproducir la hidrodinámica correspondiente al periodo 1980-2015 y analizar la variación estacional e interanual de los ujos de volumen, sal, y calor y el transporte de partículas con diferentes características a través de las fronteras oceánicas. Es de especial interés analizar las características mencionadas en función de las características contrastantes de los dos sistemas lagunares, especialmente en cuanto al tamaño y características de la boca y de los ujos del océano adyacentes. Lo anterior exige una previa descripción de la circulación interna y del intercambio a través de la boca para cada sistema

Multi-modal self-adaptation during object recognition in an artificial cognitive system

The cognitive connection between the senses of touch and vision is probably the best-known case of multimodality. Recent discoveries suggest that the mapping between both senses is learned rather than innate. This evidence opens the door to a dynamic multimodality that allows individuals to adaptively develop within their environment. By mimicking this aspect of human learning, we propose a new multimodal mechanism that allows artificial cognitive systems (ACS) to quickly adapt to unforeseen perceptual anomalies generated by the environment or by the system itself. In this context, visual recognition systems have advanced remarkably in recent years thanks to the creation of large-scale datasets together with the advent of deep learning algorithms. However, this has not been the case for the haptic modality, where the lack of two-handed dexterous datasets has limited the ability of learning systems to process the tactile information of human object exploration. This data imbalance hinders the creation of synchronized datasets that would enable the development of multimodality in ACS during object exploration. In this work, we use a multimodal dataset recently generated from tactile sensors placed on a collection of objects that capture haptic data from human manipulation, together with the corresponding visual counterpart. Using this data, we create a multimodal learning transfer mechanism capable of both detecting sudden and permanent anomalies in the visual channel and maintaining visual object recognition performance by retraining the visual mode for a few minutes using haptic information. Our proposal for perceptual awareness and self-adaptation is of noteworthy relevance as can be applied by any system that satisfies two very generic conditions: it can classify each mode independently and is provided with a synchronized multimodal data set

Contemporary use of cefazolin for MSSA infective endocarditis: analysis of a national prospective cohort

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the real use of cefazolin for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) infective endocarditis (IE) in the Spanish National Endocarditis Database (GAMES) and to compare it with antistaphylococcal penicillin (ASP). Methods: Prospective cohort study with retrospective analysis of a cohort of MSSA IE treated with cloxacillin and/or cefazolin. Outcomes assessed were relapse; intra-hospital, overall, and endocarditis-related mortality; and adverse events. Risk of renal toxicity with each treatment was evaluated separately. Results: We included 631 IE episodes caused by MSSA treated with cloxacillin and/or cefazolin. Antibiotic treatment was cloxacillin, cefazolin, or both in 537 (85%), 57 (9%), and 37 (6%) episodes, respectively. Patients treated with cefazolin had significantly higher rates of comorbidities (median Charlson Index 7, P <0.01) and previous renal failure (57.9%, P <0.01). Patients treated with cloxacillin presented higher rates of septic shock (25%, P = 0.033) and new-onset or worsening renal failure (47.3%, P = 0.024) with significantly higher rates of in-hospital mortality (38.5%, P = 0.017). One-year IE-related mortality and rate of relapses were similar between treatment groups. None of the treatments were identified as risk or protective factors. Conclusion: Our results suggest that cefazolin is a valuable option for the treatment of MSSA IE, without differences in 1-year mortality or relapses compared with cloxacillin, and might be considered equally effective