Mediterranean semi-arid watersheds are characterized by a climate type with long periods of drought and infrequent but high-intensity rainfalls. These factors lead to the formation of temporary flow ...tributaries which present flashy hydrographs with response times ranging from minutes to hours and high erosion rates with significant sediment transport. Modeling of suspended sediment concentration in such watersheds is of utmost importance due to flash flood phenomena, during which, large quantities of sediments and pollutants are carried downstream. The aim of this study is to develop a modeling framework for suspended sediment transport in a karstic watershed and assess the impact of climate change on flow, soil erosion and sediment transport in a hydrologically complex and intensively managed Mediterranean watershed. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was coupled with a karstic flow and suspended sediment model in order to simulate the hydrology and sediment yield of the karstic springs and the whole watershed. Both daily flow data (2005–2014) and monthly sediment concentration data (2011–2014) were used for model calibration. The results showed good agreement between observed and modeled values for both flow and sediment concentration. Flash flood events account for 63–70% of the annual sediment export depending on a wet or dry year. Simulation results for a set of IPCC “A1B” climate change scenarios suggested that major decreases in surface flow (69.6%) and in the flow of the springs (76.5%) take place between the 2010–2049 and 2050–2090 time periods. An assessment of the future ecological flows revealed that the frequency of minimum flow events increases over the years. The trend of surface sediment export during these periods is also decreasing (54.5%) but the difference is not statistically significant due to the variability of the sediment. On the other hand, sediment originating from the springs is not affected significantly by climate change.
Estimation of (a) spatial distribution of annual sediment export, (b) cumulative distribution of sediment mass originating from springs for the 1973–2090 period, (c) cumulative distribution of surface sediment mass for the 1973–2090 period, using the modified SWAT Model and three IPCC “A1B” climate change scenarios. Display omitted
•SWAT model was modified to simulate the karst contribution to the sediment transport.•Flood events account for 63–70% of the annual sediment export on a wet or dry year.•Major decreases in surface and spring flow during the 2010–2049 and 2050–2089 periods.•Surface sediment export decreases significantly but has high variability.•Climate change does not affect spring sediment.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
Crete is a Mediterranean, karst-dominated island, characterized by long drought periods. The Karst-SWAT model, combined with 11 climate change scenarios, was run to assess climate change impacts on ...the island under two set-ups, both using the auto-irrigation function of the model: (1) with water drawn from the shallow or deep aquifer, and (2) with irrigated water derived from an unlimited outside source. The first set-up provided insight into the fluctuation of future irrigation needs, and when compared to the second set-up, enabled quantification of the future water deficit. The Water Exploitation Index was used to describe the spatial variability of future water stress on Crete. A decrease in both surface and karstic spring flows is foreseen, especially after 2060 (24.2 and 16.5%, respectively). Simulated irrigation water demand and water deficit show continuous increase throughout the projection period (2020-2098).
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
We present the Herschel-SPIRE photometric atlas for a complete flux limited sample of 43 local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), selected at 60 μm by IRAS, as part of the HERschel ULIRG ...Survey (HERUS). Photometry observations were obtained using the SPIRE instrument at 250, 350, and 500 μm. We describe these observations, present the results, and combine the new observations with data from IRAS to examine the far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these sources. We fit the observed SEDs of HERUS objects with a simple parametrized modified blackbody model, where temperature and emissivity β are free parameters. We compare the fitted values to those of non-ULIRG local galaxies, and find, in agreement with earlier results, that HERUS ULIRGs have warmer dust (median temperature T = 37.9 ± 4.7 K compared to 21.3 ± 3.4 K) but a similar β distribution (median β = 1.7 compared to 1.8) to the Herschel reference sample (HRS, Cortese et al. 2014) galaxies. Dust masses are found to be in the range of 107.5-109 M⊙, significantly higher than that of HRS sources. We compare our results for local ULIRGs with higher redshift samples selected at 250 and 850 μm. These latter sources generally have cooler dust and/or redder 100-to-250 μm colours than our 60 μm-selected ULIRGs. We show that this difference may in part be the result of the sources being selected at different wavelengths rather than being a simple indication of rapid evolution in the properties of the population.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between hand-grip force and maximum inspiratory pressure (PImax) in healthy young and middle-age individuals.
All individuals underwent assessment of ...inspiratory muscle strength by maximum inspiratory pressure using a U-type water manometer and evaluation of hand-grip force by a hydraulic hand dynamometer.
The correlation of PImax and hand-grip force was strong (r = 0.76). A multilinear regression model was built to investigate the ability of various parameters, such as hand-grip force, sex, and body mass index measurements, to predict PImax. PImax can be accurately predicted by 80% (r = 0.76) with a simple equation of easily evaluable factors, such as hand-grip force, body mass index, and sex.
The results showed significant correlation between hand flexors' force and strength of inspiratory muscles in healthy individuals. This appears to be an easy way to evaluate the results indirectly and can help to assess the relationship between hand flexor and inspiratory muscle capacity, especially the diaphragm. Our study should be viewed as a hypothesis-generating one, and further studies are required in the population of critically ill or difficult-to-wean patients. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT02423616.).
In this work, a series of supervised and unsupervised pattern recognition techniques are assessed for the first time as a tool in order to elaborate a common approach able to classify different plant ...species based on a common pattern determined by their geographical origin. For this reason, soil samples and extracts from various parts of 7 self-sown indigenous Greek plants were collected in nature from two regions (highlands and insular) in NW Greece. Based on the chemical profiling of each species and the respective soil matrix composition, the identification of similarities and dissimilarities on a regional basis were pursued. The results indicate that hierarchical cluster classification and discriminant analysis using the chemical profile of inorganic elements and soil matrix composition provide the basis for the provision of an area-specific geographic marker that enables the classification of different herbs based on their origin with high discrimination efficiency.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
6.
Bladder cancer Kamat, Ashish M, Prof; Hahn, Noah M, MD; Efstathiou, Jason A, MD ...
The Lancet (British edition),
12/2016, Volume:
388, Issue:
10061
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Summary Bladder cancer is a complex disease associated with high morbidity and mortality rates if not treated optimally. Awareness of haematuria as the major presenting symptom is paramount, and ...early diagnosis with individualised treatment and follow-up is the key to a successful outcome. For non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the mainstay of treatment is complete resection of the tumour followed by induction and maintenance immunotherapy with intravesical BCG vaccine or intravesical chemotherapy. For muscle-invasive bladder cancer, multimodal treatment involving radical cystectomy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy offers the best chance for cure. Selected patients with muscle-invasive tumours can be offered bladder-sparing trimodality treatment consisting of transurethral resection with chemoradiation. Advanced disease is best treated with systemic cisplatin-based chemotherapy; immunotherapy is emerging as a viable salvage treatment for patients in whom first-line chemotherapy cannot control the disease. Developments in the past 2 years have shed light on genetic subtypes of bladder cancer that might differ from one another in response to various treatments.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
In our study, 9 C-T and 9 common digital thermometers were used in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines. ...9 randomly selected nonseptic patients who were hospitalized for at least 3days in ...the intensive care unit (ICU) have been included. The "Halo effect" (also known as phenomenon "Stefanis") on the noncopper parts of the C-T was also evaluated. ...216 samples have been collected (72 axillary, 72 from the 4 points of the common thermometer, and 72 from the 4 points of C-T) (Table).
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
Summary Background MDV3100 is an androgen-receptor antagonist that blocks androgens from binding to the androgen receptor and prevents nuclear translocation and co-activator recruitment of the ...ligand-receptor complex. It also induces tumour cell apoptosis, and has no agonist activity. Because growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer is dependent on continued androgen-receptor signalling, we assessed the antitumour activity and safety of MDV3100 in men with this disease. Methods This phase 1–2 study was undertaken in five US centres in 140 patients. Patients with progressive, metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer were enrolled in dose-escalation cohorts of three to six patients and given an oral daily starting dose of MDV3100 30 mg. The final daily doses studied were 30 mg (n=3), 60 mg (27), 150 mg (28), 240 mg (29), 360 mg (28), 480 mg (22), and 600 mg (3). The primary objective was to identify the safety and tolerability profile of MDV3100 and to establish the maximum tolerated dose. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00510718. Findings We noted antitumour effects at all doses, including decreases in serum prostate-specific antigen of 50% or more in 78 (56%) patients, responses in soft tissue in 13 (22%) of 59 patients, stabilised bone disease in 61 (56%) of 109 patients, and conversion from unfavourable to favourable circulating tumour cell counts in 25 (49%) of the 51 patients. PET imaging of 22 patients to assess androgen-receptor blockade showed decreased18 F-fluoro-5α-dihydrotestosterone binding at doses from 60 mg to 480 mg per day (range 20–100%). The median time to progression was 47 weeks (95% CI 34–not reached) for radiological progression. The maximum tolerated dose for sustained treatment (>28 days) was 240 mg. The most common grade 3–4 adverse event was dose-dependent fatigue (16 11% patients), which generally resolved after dose reduction. Interpretation We recorded encouraging antitumour activity with MDV3100 in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. The results of this phase 1–2 trial validate in man preclinical studies implicating sustained androgen-receptor signalling as a driver in this disease. Funding Medivation, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, National Cancer Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
The following pages form a commentary on my own thoughts, notes, sketches and final printed texts of six pieces written between 2009 and 2013. The purpose of the text is twofold: to inform the reader ...of the intentions and poetic impulses of the composer and to make an accompanying statement for a researcher or musicologist who might attempt an actual analysis of the pieces. It is not, in my view, the work of a composer to self-analyze the extensively or to deconstruct the entities that are represented by finished compositions. However, the commentary itself is a reflection of the music – a personal account of what was important during the creative stages of ‘inventing’ a music the very essence of my thoughts during the period when I composed the music. In that it is, unquestionably, the most complete, appropriate and succinct account the composer might offer, regarding the thoughts behind the sounds. From a technical point of view, the methods I used for the compositions in this portfolio range from using scalar formations and basic techniques such as inversions, permutations, augmentations or diminutions of materials all the way to more abstract methods of organising sound, whereby the choice of register, for example, is the outcome of a correspondence with an extra-musical narrative. The structure of my commentary is that of a sonata, with this abstract being the motif. After an introduction (Nostalgia – ‘what is silence?’), I start out with a triple exposition (Regeneration – Ordinatio – Nos dec), continue with a development (Exelixis, meaning literally ‘development’) and finish off with a recapitulation (Quantum, where the themes of the exposition and the recapitulation meet). The coda is a resounding ‘confession’ that if little has been achieved, much has been questioned in the process. Why the sonata form? A commentary on certain structures ought to be structured in an opposite way.
The following pages form a commentary on my own thoughts, notes, sketches and final printed texts of six pieces written between 2009 and 2013. The purpose of the text is twofold: to inform the reader ...of the intentions and poetic impulses of the composer and to make an accompanying statement for a researcher or musicologist who might attempt an actual analysis of the pieces. It is not, in my view, the work of a composer to self-analyze the extensively or to deconstruct the entities that are represented by finished compositions. However, the commentary itself is a reflection of the music – a personal account of what was important during the creative stages of ‘inventing’ a music the very essence of my thoughts during the period when I composed the music. In that it is, unquestionably, the most complete, appropriate and succinct account the composer might offer, regarding the thoughts behind the sounds. From a technical point of view, the methods I used for the compositions in this portfolio range from using scalar formations and basic techniques such as inversions, permutations, augmentations or diminutions of materials all the way to more abstract methods of organising sound, whereby the choice of register, for example, is the outcome of a correspondence with an extra-musical narrative. The structure of my commentary is that of a sonata, with this abstract being the motif. After an introduction (Nostalgia – ‘what is silence?’), I start out with a triple exposition (Regeneration – Ordinatio – Nos dec), continue with a development (Exelixis, meaning literally ‘development’) and finish off with a recapitulation (Quantum, where the themes of the exposition and the recapitulation meet). The coda is a resounding ‘confession’ that if little has been achieved, much has been questioned in the process. Why the sonata form? A commentary on certain structures ought to be structured in an opposite way.