Describing the connectivity of chemical and/or biological systems using networks is a straight gate for the introduction of mathematical tools in proteomics. Networks, in some cases even very large ...ones, are simple objects that are composed at least by nodes and edges. The nodes represent the parts of the system and the edges geometric and/or functional relationships between parts. In proteomics, amino acids, proteins, electrophoresis spots, polypeptidic fragments, or more complex objects can play the role of nodes. All of these networks can be numerically described using the so‐called Connectivity Indices (CIs). The transformation of graphs (a picture) into CIs (numbers) facilitates the manipulation of information and the search for structure‐function relationships in Proteomics. In this work, we review and comment on the challenges and new trends in the definition and applications of CIs in Proteomics. Emphasis is placed on 1‐D‐CIs for DNA and protein sequences, 2‐D‐CIs for RNA secondary structures, 3‐D‐topographic indices (TPGIs) for protein function annotation without alignment, 2‐D‐CIs and 3‐D‐TPGIs for the study of drug‐protein or drug‐RNA quantitative structure‐binding relationships, and pseudo 3‐D‐CIs for protein surface molecular recognition. We also focus on CIs to describe Protein Interaction Networks or RNA co‐expression networks. 2‐D‐CIs for patient blood proteome 2‐DE maps or mass spectra are also covered.
The physical characterisation of metrics representative of ambient air particle concentration is becoming a topic of great interest for urban air quality monitoring and human exposure assessment. In ...this article, the influence of sea breeze circulation and primary road traffic emissions on the relationship between the urban aerosol number (N3, particles >3
nm), black carbon <10
μm (BC), PM1, PM2.5, PM2.5–10 (PM
x) concentrations was studied in a coastal city (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands). The daily cycles of sea and mountain breezes (inland during daylight and seaward at night) and road traffic emissions exerted a great, and well differentiated, influence on the BC, N3 and PM
x concentrations. In this scenario, the following major aerosol features were observed: (1) fresh vehicle exhaust emissions resulted in high BC and N3 concentrations, in such a way that these two metrics increased when the “road traffic intensity (vehicles
h
−1)/wind speed” ratio increased, (2) PM1 and PM2.5 levels were lower during daylight (due to inland entry of relatively clean marine air masses) than at night (due to the seaward drainage airflow resulting in the transport of aged particulate pollutants from the city), (3) although N3 and BC concentrations exhibited a significant correlation during the whole study period, the N3/BC ratio experienced a daily evolution with a maximum during daylight. Thus, high N3 concentrations associated with high N3/BC ratios and high solar irradiance conditions were recorded during the daylight inland breeze period due to an enhancement of processes favouring new particle formation. Data analysis points out that this enhancement in the new particle formation processes is strongly related to the nucleation of photo-oxidized vapours under the relatively low PM
x (and consequently low aerosol surface area) concentrations prompted by the inland entry of clean marine air due to the daylight breeze blowing. The results obtained show that, in addition to the vehicle exhaust emissions, new particle formation in coastal urban areas due to photo-oxidation processes may significantly contribute to the ultrafine particle concentration.
A study on the contribution of vehicle exhausts, ships and an oil refinery emission to the ambient air concentration of ultrafine particles (UFPs) is presented. It is based on a data set of particle ...number coarser than 2.5nm (N), black carbon (BC), gaseous pollutants (NOx, SO2, CO and O3), PM2.5 and PM10 measured from 2008 to 2010 in the ambient air of Santa Cruz de Tenerife City, where a previous study found an association between hospitalizations due to heart failure and exposure to UFPs in the ambient air. The observed relationship between N, BC and gaseous pollutants allowed segregating UFP concentrations in a set of components linked to each source. It was found that vehicle exhausts contribute to the background of UFPs, whereas high UFP episodes were due to the emissions of the refinery and ships. The concentration of UFP linked to vehicle exhaust emissions maximized in the morning (07:00–09:00 GMT, 5000–25,000cm−3=25th–75th percentile), whereas those linked to ship (15,000–45,000cm−3) and refinery (25,000–95,000cm−3) emissions maximized in the 10:00–17:00 GMT period due to the effects of meteorology and photochemistry. It was found that the UFP concentrations were more sensitive to the fresh emissions of the three sources than PM2.5, which was mostly linked to aged fine particles (0.1–1μm) of the urban background. BC was the better tracer of vehicle exhaust emissions. It was concluded that the simultaneous monitoring of UFP, BC and PM2.5 is a suitable strategy of tracing aerosol pollutants of different nature (fresh vs. aged) and from different sources.
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► Previous studies on urban ultrafine particles have focused on vehicle exhaust emissions. ► We found that downwind of oil refineries and ship emissions, vehicle exhaust results in moderate ultrafine particle concentrations. ► Ultrafine particles pollution episodes are induced by emission of oil refineries and ships. ► Ultrafine particles background is dominated by vehicle exhaust emissions.
González Yenny; Mirtha González de García; Gloria Delmás de Rojas; Rosa Degen de Arrúa. 2016. “Morfología y anatomía de Phyllanthus orbiculatus (Phyllanthaceae) comercializada como «para para’í» en ...Paraguay y sus posibles sustituyentes”. Lilloa 53 (2). Paraguay es un país caracterizado por una rica tradición en el uso de plantas medicinales, al igual que otros países de la región. Estas especies se emplean para prevenir, paliar o tratar enfermedades; en este contexto se encuentra la especie que en Paraguay se comercializa con el nombre común de «para para’i»; Phyllantus orbiculatus , que se emplea para tratar proble- mas renales. Otras dos especies, P. niruri y P. tenellus , se emplean en Argentina y Brasil para tratar las mismas afecciones. El presente trabajo tuvo por objetivo describir los carac- teres morfológicos y anatómicos de diagnóstico para la caracterización e identificación de Phyllanthus orbiculatus y sus posibles sustituyentes: P. niruri y P. tenellus . Las muestras fueron obtenidas del Jardín de Aclimatación de la Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Para las observaciones anatómicas se realizó el levantamiento de epidermis y cortes transversales a mano alzada. Como caracteres diferenciales se ha determinado: para P. orbiculatus , hoja re- dondeada, hipostomática, con índice de estomas (IE) de13,89 <=16,75 <=19,05, cristales prismáticos y drusas en el mesófilo; para P. niruri hoja oblongo-elíptica, hipostomática, con IE de, 5,66 <=10,10 <=12,28 y drusas en el mesófilo; para P. tenellus, hoja elíptica a ovada, anfistomática, con IE de 4 <=6,96 <=9,47 en la epidermis adaxial y 9,09 <=11,48 <=14,70 en la epidermis abaxial. Se aportan de esta manera elementos de diagnóstico para caracterizar e identificar a las especies estudiadas y que pueden utilizarse para el control de calidad de drogas vegetales y sus derivados.
Two years of experimental data (2008–2009) of particle number (≥2.5 nm diameter) and black carbon concentrations and of gaseous pollutants recorded in the ambient air of a coastal city were analysed ...in order to assess the impact of ship emissions on the ultrafine particles (UFPs, diameter <100 nm) concentrations in urban ambient air. The observed relationship between particle number and the other air pollutants, allowed segregating the contribution of vehicle exhaust and of ship emissions to the UFP concentrations in the urban ambient air. Vehicle exhausts resulted in high concentrations of UFP, black carbon and NO
x during the early morning, when UFPs showed concentrations 15–30 × 10
3 cm
−3. Pollutants linked to this source rapidly decreased when inland sea breeze started to flow. However, this airflow resulted in inland transport of ship plumes (emitted in the harbour and in the sea) into the city and in high concentrations of SO
2, NO
x and UFP from mid morning to the evening. In this context, UFPs showed concentrations 35–50 × 10
3 cm
−3, being the 65–70% of these linked to ship emissions mostly related to SO
2 (gas phase precursor). UFPs pollution is a matter of concern due to adverse effects on human health. Up to the date, most of studies on urban air quality and UFPs have focused on vehicle exhaust emissions. This study shows how inland transport of ship plumes due to sea breeze blowing results in UFPs pollution in coastal cities.
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► Urban ambient air quality. ► Ultrafine particles emissions by ships. ► Inland transport of ship plumes by sea breeze. ► Ultrafine particles emissions by vehicle exhausts. ► Sources and processes contributing to ultrafine particles.
The isotopic composition of water vapour provides integrated perspectives on the hydrological histories of air masses and has been widely used for tracing physical processes in hydrological and ...climatic studies. Over the last two decades, the infrared laser spectroscopy technique has been used to measure the isotopic composition of water vapour near the Earth's surface. Here, we have assembled a global database of high temporal resolution stable water vapour isotope ratios (δ
O and δD) observed using this measurement technique. As of March 2018, the database includes data collected at 35 sites in 15 Köppen climate zones from the years 2004 to 2017. The key variables in each dataset are hourly values of δ
O and δD in atmospheric water vapour. To support interpretation of the isotopologue data, synchronized time series of standard meteorological variables from in situ observations and ERA5 reanalyses are also provided. This database is intended to serve as a centralized platform allowing researchers to share their vapour isotope datasets, thus facilitating investigations that transcend disciplinary and geographic boundaries.
Detailed knowledge on the formation of new aerosol particles in the atmosphere from precursor gases, and their subsequent growth, commonly known as new particle formation (NPF) events, is one of the ...largest challenges in atmospheric aerosol science. High pre-existing particle loadings are expected to suppress the formation of new atmospheric aerosol particles due to high coagulation and condensation (CS) sinks. However, NPF events are regularly observed in conditions with high concentrations of pre-existing particles and even during intense desert dust intrusions that imply discrepancies between the observations and theory. In this study, we present a multi-site analysis of the occurrence of NPF events under the presence of desert dust particles in dust-influenced areas. Characterization of NPF events at five different locations highly influenced by desert dust outbreaks was done under dusty and non-dusty conditions using continuous measurements of aerosol size distribution in both fine and coarse size fractions. Contrary to common thought, our results show that the occurrence of NPF events is highly frequent during desert dust outbreaks, showing that NPF event frequencies during dusty conditions are similar to those observed during non-dusty conditions. Furthermore, our results show that NPF events also occur during intense desert dust outbreaks at all the studied sites, even at remote sites where the amounts of precursor vapours are expected to be low. Our results show that the condensation sink associated with coarse particles (CSC) represents up to the 60 % of the total CS during dusty conditions, which highlights the importance of considering coarse-fraction particles for NPF studies in desert-dust-influenced areas. However, we did not find a clear pattern of the effect of desert dust outbreaks on the strength of NPF events, with differences from site to site. The particle growth rate (GR) did not present a clear dependence on the CS during dusty and non-dusty conditions. This result, together with the fact that desert dust has different effects on the growth and formation rates at each site, suggests different formation and growth mechanisms at each site between dusty and non-dusty conditions, probably due to differences in precursor vapours' origins and concentrations as well as changes in the oxidative capacity of pre-existing particles and their effectiveness acting as CS. Further investigation based on multiplatform measurement campaigns and chamber experiments with state-of-the-art gaseous and particulate physical and chemical properties measurements is needed to better understand the role of catalyst components present in desert dust particles in NPF. Finally, our results reveal a significant impact of NPF events on the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budget during desert dust outbreaks at the studied sites. Therefore, since desert dust contributes to a major fraction of the global aerosol mass load, and since there is a foreseeable increase in the frequency, duration and intensity of desert dust episodes due to climate change, it is imperative to improve our understanding of the effect of desert dust outbreaks on NPF and the CCN budget for better climate change prediction.
The mineralogical composition of airborne dust particles is an important but often neglected parameter for several physiochemical processes, such as atmospheric radiative transfer and ocean ...biochemistry. We present the development of the METAL-WRF module for the simulation of the composition of desert dust minerals in atmospheric aerosols. The new development is based on the GOCART-AFWA dust module of WRF-Chem. A new wet deposition scheme has been implemented in the dust module alongside the existing dry deposition scheme. The new model includes separate prognostic fields for nine (9) minerals: illite, kaolinite, smectite, calcite, quartz, feldspar, hematite, gypsum, and phosphorus, derived from the GMINER30 database and also iron derived from the FERRUM30 database. Two regional model sensitivity studies are presented for dust events that occurred in August and December 2017, which include a comparison of the model versus elemental dust composition measurements performed in the North Atlantic (at Izaña Observatory, Tenerife Island) and in the eastern Mediterranean (at Agia Marina Xyliatos station, Cyprus Island). The results indicate the important role of dust minerals, as dominant aerosols, for the greater region of North Africa, South Europe, the North Atlantic, and the Middle East, including the dry and wet depositions away from desert sources. Overall, METAL-WRF was found to be capable of reproducing the relative abundances of the different dust minerals in the atmosphere. In particular, the concentration of iron (Fe), which is an important element for ocean biochemistry and solar absorption, was modeled in good agreement with the corresponding measurements at Izaña Observatory (22% overestimation) and at Agia Marina Xyliatos site (4% overestimation). Further model developments, including the implementation of newer surface mineralogical datasets, e.g., from the NASA-EMIT satellite mission, can be implemented in the model to improve its accuracy.
RESUMEN Introducción: con la reducción de la caries dental en adolescentes la atención se ha dirigido hacia otros problemas como las maloclusiones, que son el resultado de la anormalidad morfológica ...y funcional de los componentes óseos, musculares y dentarios y que crean un problema funcional y estético para el individuo. Son importantes los criterios de diagnóstico para planificar actividades de prevención y de atención. Objetivo: determinar la prevalencia de maloclusiones en la población estudiada y describir el comportamiento de los componentes del Dental Aesthetic Index según el sexo. Método: se realizó una investigación descriptiva, transversal en 146 estudiantes de 12 años de edad de la Secundaria Básica Urbana “Eduardo Anoceto” de Santa Clara entre septiembre y julio de 2010. Resultados: la prevalencia de maloclusiones fue de 58,2x100 estudiantes con necesidad de tratamiento. La maloclusión definida estuvo presente en 19,8x100 adolescentes, la severa en 9,6x100 y la muy severa en 28,8x100. Se encontró mayor prevalencia de maloclusión definida en los varones y en las hembras severa y muy severa. Predominó el resalte anterior maxilar aumentado, seguido por la irregularidad anterior inferior y la alteración de la relación molar antero-posterior. Conclusiones: existió una alta prevalencia de maloclusiones con predominio de muy severa, seguida de maloclusión definida; no existieron diferencias significativas para los sexos. La maloclusión más frecuente fue el resalte anterior aumentado.
The role of manganese (Mn) in ecosystem carbon (C) biogeochemical cycling is gaining increasing attention. While soil Mn is mainly derived from bedrock, atmospheric deposition could be a major source ...of Mn to surface soils, with implications for soil C cycling. However, quantification of the atmospheric Mn cycle, which comprises emissions from natural (desert dust, sea salts, volcanoes, primary biogenic particles, and wildfires) and anthropogenic sources (e.g., industrialization and land‐use change due to agriculture), transport, and deposition, remains uncertain. Here, we use compiled emission data sets for each identified source to model and quantify the atmospheric Mn cycle by combining an atmospheric model and in situ atmospheric concentration measurements. We estimated global emissions of atmospheric Mn in aerosols (<10 μm in aerodynamic diameter) to be 1,400 Gg Mn year−1. Approximately 31% of the emissions come from anthropogenic sources. Deposition of the anthropogenic Mn shortened Mn “pseudo” turnover times in 1‐m‐thick surface soils (ranging from 1,000 to over 10,000,000 years) by 1–2 orders of magnitude in industrialized regions. Such anthropogenic Mn inputs boosted the Mn‐to‐N ratio of the atmospheric deposition in non‐desert dominated regions (between 5 × 10−5 and 0.02) across industrialized areas, but that was still lower than soil Mn‐to‐N ratio by 1–3 orders of magnitude. Correlation analysis revealed a negative relationship between Mn deposition and topsoil C density across temperate and (sub)tropical forests, consisting with atmospheric Mn deposition enhancing carbon respiration as seen in in situ biogeochemical studies.
Key Points
We modeled the atmospheric manganese (Mn) cycle and compared our model results to existing observations that we compiled
Human activity contributes to ∼1/3 of global atmospheric Mn, shortening the surface soil Mn turnover time by 1–2 orders of magnitude
Mn correlates with topsoil carbon (C) in temperate and (sub)tropical forests, along with N deposition and other climatic factors
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