Gobal and regional chemical influence of sprites: Reconciling modeling results and measurements

Mesospheric electrical discharges, known as sprites, formed by fast-propagating streamers, have been shown to create localized enhancements of atmospheric constituents such as N, O, NOx, N2O, and HOx, as indicated by both, modeling results and space-based measurements. In this study, we incorporate the occurrence rate of sprites into a chemistry-climate model using meteorological parameters as a proxy. Additionally, we introduce the injection of chemical species by sprites into the model, based on electrodynamical modeling of individual sprite streamers and observations from space. Our modeling results show a good agreement between the simulated sprite distribution and observed data on a global scale. While the global influence of sprites on the atmospheric chemistry is found to be negligible, our findings reveal their measurable chemical influence at regional scale, particularly for the concentration of HNO3 and HNO4 within the mesosphere. The simulations also suggest that sprites could be responsible for the observed NO2 anomalies at an altitude of 52 km above thunderstorms, as reported by MIPAS. Finally, a projected simulation reveals that the occurrence rate of sprites could increase at a rate of 14 % per 1 K rise in the global temperature

Multilevel Multiphase Feedforward Space-Vector Modulation Technique

Multiphase converters have been applied to an increasing number of industrial applications in recent years. On the other hand, multilevel converters have become a mature technology mainly in medium- and high-power applications. One of the problems of multilevel converters is the dc voltage unbalance of the dc bus. Depending on the loading conditions and the number of levels of the converter, oscillations appear in the dc voltages of the dc link. This paper presents a feedforward modulation technique for multilevel multiphase converters that reduces the distortion under balanced or unbalanced dc conditions. The proposed modulation method can be applied to any multilevel-converter topology with any number of levels and phases. Experimental results are shown in order to validate the proposed feedforward modulation technique.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2009-07004Ministerio de Eduación y Ciencia TEC2007-6187

A parameterization of long-continuing-current (LCC) lightning in the lightning submodel LNOX (version 3.0) of the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy, version 2.54)

Lightning flashes can produce a discharge in which a continuing electrical current flows for more than 40 ms. Such flashes are proposed to be the main precursors of lightning-ignited wildfires and also to trigger sprite charges in the mesosphere. However, lightning parameterizations implemented in global atmospheric models do not include information about the continuing electrical current of lashes. The continuing current of lightning flashes cannot be detected by conventional lightning location systems. Instead, these so-called long-continuing-current (LCC) flashes are commonly observed by extremely low-frequency (ELF) sensors and by optical instruments located in space. Reports of LCC lightning flashes tend to occur in winter and oceanic thunderstorms, which suggests a connection between weak convection and the occurrence of this type of discharge

Variation of lightning-ignited wildfire patterns under climate change

Lightning is the main precursor of natural wildfires and Long-Continuing-Current (LCC) lightning flashes are proposed to be the main igniters of lightning-ignited wildfires (LIW). Previous studies predict a change of the global occurrence rate and spatial pattern of total lightning. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of lightning-ignited wildfire occurrence to climate change is uncertain. Here, we investigate space-based measurements of LCC lightning associated with lightning ignitions and present LCC lightning projections under the Representative Concentration Pathway RCP6.0 for the 2090s by applying a recent LCC lightning parameterization based on the updraft strength in thunderstorms. We find a 41% global increase of the LCC lightning flash rate. Increases are largest in South America, the western coast of North America, Central America, Australia, Southern and Eastern Asia, and Europe, while only regional variations are found in northern polar forests, where fire risk can affect permafrost soil carbon release. These results show that lightning schemes including LCC lightning are needed to project the occurrence of lightning-ignited wildfires under climate chang

Combination of T-Gel chromatography and immunoaffinity and new protoco to removel immunoglobulins and albumin from serum samples: the case od rheumatoid arthritis

Comunicaciones a congreso

Estimating the Relationship between Reading in Primary Education, Educational Attainment and Social Welfare. The Case of Extremadura (Spain)

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the Social Welfare Index and the reading habits of primary school students in Extremadura (Spain). A study has been performed which consists of two parts. First, we conducted 4,288 surveys on reading habits in 87 municipalities. Second, we calculated the social welfare index. The statistical analysis refl ects two conclusions: firstly, educational and socio-economic policies have resulted in equal opportunities that allow for similar social possibilities throughout the territory; secondly, Educational Attainment of parents is the most decisive factor in obtaining the best results in terms of students' reading habits

Association of Accelerated Dynamics of Telomere Sequence Loss in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes With Incident Knee Osteoarthritis in Osteoarthritis Initiative Cohort

[Abstract] Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease, being the main cause of laboral inability. Decreased telomere size in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) has been correlated with age-related pathologies, like knee OA. In a dynamic approach, telomere-qPCR was performed to evaluate the relative percentage of PBL telomere loss after a 6-year follow-up, in 281 subjects from the prospective osteoarthritis initiative (OAI) cohort. A radiological Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade ≥ 2 was indicative of knee OA. Individuals with knee OA at recruitment (n = 144) showed a higher PBL telomere loss after 6 years than those without knee OA at baseline (n = 137; p = 0.018). Moreover, individuals that developed knee OA during the follow-up (n = 39) exhibited a higher telomere loss compared to those that remained without OA (n = 98; p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that PBLs telomere loss was not significantly associated with knee OA at recruitment, but behaves as an independent risk factor associated with incidence after follow-up (OR: 1.043; p = 0.041), together with maximum KL grade (OR: 3.627; p = 0.011), body mass index-BMI (OR: 1.252; p < 0.001) and WOMAC-index (OR: 1.247; p = 0.021), at recruitment. The telomere decay in PBLs is faster in individuals with incident knee OA, possibly reflecting a systemic-global accelerated aging that enhances the cartilage degeneration.The work was supported by grants PI17/01987 and PI16/02124 from Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain, a part of the National Plan for Scientific Program, Development and Technological Innovation, 2013–2016, and the ISCIII-General Subdirection of Assessment and Promotion of Research-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) ‘A way of making Europe’, and grant IN607A 2021/07 from Xunta de Galicia.Xunta de Galicia; IN607A 2021/0

La Didáctica de la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil en los planes docentes universitarios españoles

En el presente estudio se analizan las asignaturas obligatorias en lengua española relacionadas con la Didáctica de la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil en los grados de maestros en Educación Primaria de las universidades españolas a partir del análisis de los datos reflejados en sus planes docentes. Se obtuvo la información de 40 universidades españolas. Se examinaron diversos aspectos como el campo de conocimiento de origen (Didácticas específicas - Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas, o Filología - Humanidades), su carácter obligatorio en el plan de estudio, el número de créditos asignados, la denominación como asignatura, así como los autores más citados en sus bibliografías. De este análisis eminentemente cuantitativo y descriptivo se extrajo la conclusión general de que existe una gran heterogeneidad en la presentación de las asignaturas. Todo ello puede deberse a la relativamente reciente creación de los departamentos de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura en la universidad española, que repercute tanto en los esfuerzos por perimetrar el área, como en el progresivo acomodo epistemológico de la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil en los títulos donde se desarrolla

Impaired metabolic flexibility in the osteoarthritis process: a study on transmitochondrial cybrids

[Abstract] Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent joint disease; however, the etiopathogenesis is still unclear. Chondrocytes rely primarily on glycolysis to meet cellular energy demand, but studies implicate impaired mitochondrial function in OA pathogenesis. The relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and OA has been established. The aim of the study was to examine the differences in glucose and Fatty Acids (FA) metabolism, especially with regards to metabolic flexibility, in cybrids from healthy (N) or OA donors. Glucose and FA metabolism were studied using D-[14C(U)]glucose and [1-14C]oleic acid, respectively. There were no differences in glucose metabolism among the cybrids. Osteoarthritis cybrids had lower acid-soluble metabolites, reflecting incomplete FA β-oxidation but higher incorporation of oleic acid into triacylglycerol. Co-incubation with glucose and oleic acid showed that N but not OA cybrids increased their glucose metabolism. When treating with the mitochondrial inhibitor etomoxir, N cybrids still maintained higher glucose oxidation. Furthermore, OA cybrids had higher oxidative stress response. Combined, this indicated that N cybrids had higher metabolic flexibility than OA cybrids. Healthy donors maintained the glycolytic phenotype, whereas OA donors showed a preference towards oleic acid metabolism. Interestingly, the results indicated that cybrids from OA patients had mitochondrial impairments and reduced metabolic flexibility compared to N cybrids.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; CB06/01/0040Instituto de Salud Carlos III; RETIC-RIER-RD16/0012/0002Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI12/00329Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI14/01254Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI16/02124Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PRB3-ISCIII-PT17/0019Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI17/0021