New method to study stochastic growth equations: a cellular automata perspective

We introduce a new method based on cellular automata dynamics to study stochastic growth equations. The method defines an interface growth process which depends on height differences between neighbors. The growth rule assigns a probability $p_{i}(t)=\rho$ exp$[\kappa \Gamma_{i}(t)]$ for a site $i$ to receive one particle at a time $t$ and all the sites are updated simultaneously. Here $\rho$ and $\kappa$ are two parameters and $\Gamma_{i}(t)$ is a function which depends on height of the site $i$ and its neighbors. Its functional form is specified through discretization of the deterministic part of the growth equation associated to a given deposition process. In particular, we apply this method to study two linear equations - the Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) equation and the Mullins-Herring (MH) equation - and a non-linear one - the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation. Through simulations and statistical analysis of the height distributions of the profiles, we recover the values for roughening exponents, which confirm that the processes generated by the method are indeed in the universality classes of the original growth equations. In addition, a crossover from Random Deposition to the associated correlated regime is observed when the parameter $\kappa$ is varied.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Evaluation of the CPTEC/AGCM wind forecasts during the hurricane Catarina occurrence

International audienceIn March 2004 occurred the first hurricane registered at South Atlantic Ocean. The system named Catarina begun as an extratropical cyclone and remained quasi-stationary some days over the South Atlantic Ocean. The system displaced westward, acquiring characteristics of a hurricane and hit the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina (SC) between the 27 and the 28 March, causing destruction and deaths. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies, Atmospheric Global Circulation Model (CPTEC/AGCM) forecast performance of some synoptic patterns associated with Catarina. The surface wind and reduced Sea Level Pressure (SLP) were examined. Moreover, the implementation of 10-m wind forecast (V10m) was evaluated. This variable was not available in the CPTEC/AGCM during the Catarina occurrence and in this study it was compared with the wind at first sigma-level of the AGCM. The CPTEC-Eta reanalyses were used to comparisons. According to reanalyses, more intense winds were observed in northeast, south and southwest edges of the cyclone. The system was not predicted by the CPTEC/AGCM forecasts longer than 24 h, then the analyses were carried out only for 24 h forecasts. In general, the first sigma-level wind forecasts underestimated the wind magnitude and the cyclone intensity. However, the Catarina formation and its displacement southeastward between the 20 and the 21 March were well represented by the model. The CPTEC/AGCM presents deficiencies to predict the system intensity, but in short-range forecasts it was possible to predict the system formation and its atypical trajectory. The wind results from the new implementation did not exhibit better performance compared with the wind at first sigma-level. These results will be better investigated in the future

The South American Land Data Assimilation System (SALDAS) 5-Year Retrospective Atmospheric Forcing Datasets

The definition and derivation of a 5-year, 0.125deg, 3-hourly atmospheric forcing dataset for the South America continent is described which is appropriate for use in a Land Data Assimilation System and which, because of the limited surface observational networks available in this region, uses remotely sensed data merged with surface observations as the basis for the precipitation and downward shortwave radiation fields. The quality of this data set is evaluated against available surface observations. There are regional difference in the biases for all variables in the dataset, with biases in precipitation of the order 0-1 mm/day and RMSE of 5-15 mm/day, biases in surface solar radiation of the order 10 W/sq m and RMSE of 20 W/sq m, positive biases in temperature typically between 0 and 4 K, depending on region, and positive biases in specific humidity around 2-3 g/Kg in tropical regions and negative biases around 1-2 g/Kg further south

High levels of T lymphocyte activation in Leishmania-HIV-1 co-infected individuals despite low HIV viral load

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Concomitant infections may influence HIV progression by causing chronic activation leading to decline in T-cell function. In the Americas, visceral (AVL) and tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) have emerged as important opportunistic infections in HIV-AIDS patients and both of those diseases have been implicated as potentially important co-factors in disease progression. We investigated whether leishmaniasis increases lymphocyte activation in HIV-1 co-infected patients. This might contribute to impaired cellular immune function.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To address this issue we analyzed CD4⁺T absolute counts and the proportion of CD8⁺T cells expressing CD38 in <it>Leishmania</it>/HIV co-infected patients that recovered after anti-leishmanial therapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that, despite clinical remission of leishmaniasis, AVL co-infected patients presented a more severe immunossupression as suggested by CD4⁺T cell counts under 200 cells/mm³, differing from ATL/HIV-AIDS cases that tends to show higher lymphocytes levels (over 350 cells/mm³). Furthermore, five out of nine, AVL/HIV-AIDS presented low CD4⁺T cell counts in spite of low or undetectable viral load. Expression of CD38 on CD8⁺T lymphocytes was significantly higher in AVL or ATL/HIV-AIDS cases compared to HIV/AIDS patients without leishmaniasis or healthy subjects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>Leishmania </it>infection can increase the degree of immune system activation in individuals concomitantly infected with HIV. In addition, AVL/HIV-AIDS patients can present low CD4⁺T cell counts and higher proportion of activated T lymphocytes even when HIV viral load is suppressed under HAART. This fact can cause a misinterpretation of these laboratorial markers in co-infected patients.</p

Incidence of cardiovascular events after kidney transplantation and cardiovascular risk scores: study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of death after renal transplantation. Not only conventional CVD risk factors, but also transplant-specific risk factors can influence the development of CVD in kidney transplant recipients.</p> <p>The main objective of this study will be to determine the incidence of post-transplant CVD after renal transplantation and related factors. A secondary objective will be to examine the ability of standard cardiovascular risk scores (Framingham, Regicor, SCORE, and DORICA) to predict post-transplantation cardiovascular events in renal transplant recipients, and to develop a new score for predicting the risk of CVD after kidney transplantation.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Observational prospective cohort study of all kidney transplant recipients in the A Coruña Hospital (Spain) in the period 1981-2008 (2059 transplants corresponding to 1794 patients).</p> <p>The variables included will be: donor and recipient characteristics, chronic kidney disease-related risk factors, pre-transplant and post-transplant cardiovascular risk factors, routine biochemistry, and immunosuppressive, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment. The events studied in the follow-up will be: patient and graft survival, acute rejection episodes and cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, invasive coronary artery therapy, cerebral vascular events, new-onset angina, congestive heart failure, rhythm disturbances and peripheral vascular disease).</p> <p>Four cardiovascular risk scores were calculated at the time of transplantation: the Framingham score, the European Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) equation, and the REGICOR (Registre Gironí del COR (Gerona Heart Registry)), and DORICA (Dyslipidemia, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Risk) functions.</p> <p>The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular events will be analyzed by competing risk survival methods. The clinical relevance of different variables will be calculated using the ARR (Absolute Risk Reduction), RRR (Relative Risk Reduction) and NNT (Number Needed to Treat).</p> <p>The ability of different cardiovascular risk scores to predict cardiovascular events will be analyzed by using the c index and the area under ROC curves. Based on the competing risks analysis, a nomogram to predict the probability of cardiovascular events after kidney transplantation will be developed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study will make it possible to determine the post-transplant incidence of cardiovascular events in a large cohort of renal transplant recipients in Spain, to confirm the relationship between traditional and transplant-specific cardiovascular risk factors and CVD, and to develop a score to predict the risk of CVD in these patients.</p

Uso de leguminosas na dieta de ruminantes: adaptação às mudanças climáticas e mitigação da emissão de gases de efeito estufa.

Frente aos evidentes sinais de mudanças climáticas, o uso de leguminosas forrageiras na dieta de ruminantes torna-se de grande relevância para a otimização da produção animal, o uso racional dos recursos naturais e a manutenção do meio ambiente. Ao longo deste capítulo serão abordadas as características de cultura e de desempenho animal referente, principalmente, ao consórcio de gramíneas com as leguminosas macrotiloma ou feijão guandu. Observou-se que ambas as leguminosas, quando consorciadas, demonstraram serem eficientes em reduzir a emissão de metano quando levado em consideração o desempenho animal (dados preliminares), sendo, portanto, uma boa estratégia para mitigação das emissões de gases de efeito estufa