25 research outputs found

    The Ross Sea: In a Sea of Change

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    The Ross Sea, the most productive region in the Antarctic, reaches farther south than any body of water in the world. While its food web is relatively intact, its oceanography, biogeochemistry, and sea ice coverage have been changing dramatically, and likely will continue to do so in the future. Sea ice cover and persistence have been increasing, in contrast to the Amundsen-Bellingshausen sector, which has resulted in reduced open water duration for its biota. Models predict that as the ozone hole recovers, ice cover will begin to diminish. Currents on the continental shelf will likely change in the coming century, with a projected intensification of flow leading to altered deep ocean ventilation. Such changes in ice and circulation will lead to altered plankton distributions and composition, but it is difficult at present to predict the nature of these changes. Iron and irradiance play central roles in regulating phytoplankton production in the Ross Sea, but the impacts of oceanographic changes on the biogeochemistry of iron are unclear. Unlike other Southern Ocean regions, where continental shelves are very narrow and Antarctic krill dominates the herbivorous fauna, the broad shelf of the Ross Sea is dominated by crystal krill and silverfish, which are the major prey items for higher trophic levels. At present, the Ross Sea is considered to be one of the most species-rich areas of the Southern Ocean and a biodiversity hotspot due to its heterogeneous habitats. Despite being among the best-studied regions in the entire Southern Ocean, accurate predictions of the impacts of climate change on the oceanography and ecology of the Ross Sea remain fraught with uncertainty

    Cooling and ventilating the abyssal ocean

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    The abyssal ocean is filled with cold, dense waters that sink along the Antarctic continental slope and overflow sills that lie south of the Nordic Seas. Recent integrations of chlorofluorocarbon‐11 (CFC) measurements are similar in Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) and in lower North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), but Antarctic inputs are ≈ 2°C colder than their northern counterparts. This indicates comparable ventilation rates from both polar regions, and accounts for the Southern Ocean dominance over abyssal cooling. The decadal CFC‐based estimates of recent ventilation are consistent with other hydrographic observations and with longer‐term radiocarbon data, but not with hypotheses of a 20th‐century slowdown in the rate of AABW formation. Significant variability is not precluded by the available ocean measurements, however, and interannual to decadal changes are increasingly evident at high latitudes

    Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

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    BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

    La renovación de la palabra en el bicentenario de la Argentina : los colores de la mirada lingüística

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    El libro reúne trabajos en los que se exponen resultados de investigaciones presentadas por investigadores de Argentina, Chile, Brasil, España, Italia y Alemania en el XII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística (SAL), Bicentenario: la renovación de la palabra, realizado en Mendoza, Argentina, entre el 6 y el 9 de abril de 2010. Las temáticas abordadas en los 167 capítulos muestran las grandes líneas de investigación que se desarrollan fundamentalmente en nuestro país, pero también en los otros países mencionados arriba, y señalan además las áreas que recién se inician, con poca tradición en nuestro país y que deberían fomentarse. Los trabajos aquí publicados se enmarcan dentro de las siguientes disciplinas y/o campos de investigación: Fonología, Sintaxis, Semántica y Pragmática, Lingüística Cognitiva, Análisis del Discurso, Psicolingüística, Adquisición de la Lengua, Sociolingüística y Dialectología, Didáctica de la lengua, Lingüística Aplicada, Lingüística Computacional, Historia de la Lengua y la Lingüística, Lenguas Aborígenes, Filosofía del Lenguaje, Lexicología y Terminología

    On the circulation and stratification of the Weddell Gyre

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    Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references.Not availabl

    Role of tides on the formation of the Antarctic Slope Front at the Weddell-Scotia Confluence

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    © 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. The structure of the Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) and the associated Antarctic Slope Current (ASC) on the Scotia Sea side of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence (WSC) is described using data from a hydrographic survey and three 1 year long moorings across the continental slope. The ASC in this region flows westward along isobaths with an annual mean speed of ∼0.2 m s-1, with time variability dominated by the K1 and O1 tidal diurnal constituents, a narrowband oscillation with ∼2-week period attributable to the spring/neap tidal cycle, and seasonal variability. Realistic and idealized high-resolution numerical simulations are used to determine the contribution of tides to the structure of the ASF and the speed of the ASC. Two simulations forced by realistic atmospheric forcing and boundary conditions integrated with and without tidal forcing show that tidal forcing is essential to reproduce the measured ASF/ASC cross-slope structure, the time variability at our moorings, and the reduced stratification within the WSC. Two idealized simulations run with tide-only forcing, one with a homogeneous ocean and the other with initial vertical stratification that is laterally homogeneous, show that tides can generate the ASC and ASF through volume flux convergence along the slope initiated by effects including the Lagrangian component of tidal rectification and mixing at the seabed and in the stratified ocean interior. Climate models that exclude the effects of tides will not correctly represent the ASF and ASC or their influence on the injection of intermediate and dense waters from the WSC to the deep ocean. Key Points: Tides set mean properties of Antarctic Slope Front in Weddell-Scotia Confluence Volume convergence by tidal rectification, plus mixing, creates Slope Current Shelf water properties in Weddell-Scotia Confluence modified by tidesThis research was supported by the Spanish Research and Innovation (I+D+I) National Plan (CGL2007-28783-e/ANT, CTM2008-04623-E/ANT, CTM2009-08287-E/ANT, and CTM2011-14056-E), the National Science Foundation (ANT-0818061, ANT-0830398, and OCE-0961405), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX08AN67G and ECCO2 project), and the NASA Postdoctoral Program administered by Oak Ridge Associated UniversitiesPeer Reviewe

    On the outflow of dense ventilated slope water into the Scotia Sea west of the Orkney Passage

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    Póster presentado en el VIII Simposio de Estudios Polares (8th Symposium on Polar Studies), celebrado del 7 al 9 de septiembre de 2011 en Palma de Mallorca (España)Peer Reviewe

    Recycling bottom waters

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