The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is having negative health, social and economic consequences ...worldwide. In Europe, the pandemic started to develop strongly at the end of February and beginning of March 2020. Subsequently, it spread over the continent, with special virulence in northern Italy and inland Spain. In this study we show that an unusual persistent anticyclonic situation prevailing in southwestern Europe during February 2020 (i.e. anomalously strong positive phase of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations) could have resulted in favorable conditions, e.g., in terms of air temperature and humidity among other factors, in Italy and Spain for a quicker spread of the virus compared with the rest of the European countries. It seems plausible that the strong atmospheric stability and associated dry conditions that dominated in these regions may have favored the virus propagation, both outdoors and especially indoors, by short-range droplet and aerosol (airborne) transmission, or/and by changing social contact patterns. Later recent atmospheric circulation conditions in Europe (July 2020) and the U.S. (October 2020) seem to support our hypothesis, although further research is needed in order to evaluate other confounding variables. Interestingly, the atmospheric conditions during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 seem to have resembled at some stage with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
•First study to explore the effects of large-scale atmospheric patterns on COVID-19.•Anticyclonic conditions could have favored early spread of COVID-19 over Europe.•Transmission by droplets and/or aerosols, and social contact could be enhanced.•Resemblances with spatial and atmospheric conditions during the 1918 Spanish flu.
Yebes 40m radio telescope is the main and largest observing instrument at Yebes Observatory and it is devoted to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and single dish observations since 2010. It ...has been covering frequency bands between 2 GHz and 90 GHz in discontinuous and narrow windows in most of the cases, to match the current needs of the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA).
Nanocosmos project, a European Union funded synergy grant, opened the possibility to increase the instantaneous frequency coverage to observe many molecular transitions with single tunnings in single dish mode. This reduces the observing time and maximises the output from the telescope.
We present the technical specifications of the recently installed 31.5 - 50GHz (Q band) and 72 - 90.5 GHz (W band) receivers along with the main characteristics of the telescope at these frequency ranges. We have observed IRC+10216, CRL 2688 and CRL 618, which harbour a rich molecular chemistry, to demonstrate the capabilities of the new instrumentation for spectral observations in single dish mode.
The results show the high sensitivity of the telescope in the Q band. The spectrum of IRC+10126 offers a signal to noise ratio never seen before for this source in this band. On the other hand, the spectrum normalised by the continuum flux towards CRL 618 in the W band demonstrates that the 40 m radio telescope produces comparable results to those from the IRAM 30 m radio telescope, although with a smaller sensitivity. The new receivers fulfil one of the main goals of Nanocosmos and open the possibility to study the spectrum of different astrophysical media with unprecedented sensitivity.
We describe a revised collection of the number of sunspot groups from 1610 to the present. This new collection is based on the work of Hoyt and Schatten (
Solar Phys
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179
, 189,
1998
). The main ...changes are the elimination of a considerable number of observations during the Maunder Minimum (hereafter, MM) and the inclusion of several long series of observations. Numerous minor changes are also described. Moreover, we have calculated the active-day percentage during the MM from this new collection as a reliable index of the solar activity. Thus, the level of solar activity obtained in this work is greater than the level obtained using the original Hoyt and Schatten data, although it remains compatible with a grand minimum of solar activity. The new collection is available in digital format.
Serous cystic neoplasm (SCN) is a cystic neoplasm of the pancreas whose natural history is poorly known. The purpose of the study was to attempt to describe the natural history of SCN, including the ...specific mortality.
Retrospective multinational study including SCN diagnosed between 1990 and 2014.
2622 patients were included. Seventy-four per cent were women, and median age at diagnosis was 58 years (16-99). Patients presented with non-specific abdominal pain (27%), pancreaticobiliary symptoms (9%), diabetes mellitus (5%), other symptoms (4%) and/or were asymptomatic (61%). Fifty-two per cent of patients were operated on during the first year after diagnosis (median size: 40 mm (2-200)), 9% had resection beyond 1 year of follow-up (3 years (1-20), size at diagnosis: 25 mm (4-140)) and 39% had no surgery (3.6 years (1-23), 25.5 mm (1-200)). Surgical indications were (not exclusive) uncertain diagnosis (60%), symptoms (23%), size increase (12%), large size (6%) and adjacent organ compression (5%). In patients followed beyond 1 year (n=1271), size increased in 37% (growth rate: 4 mm/year), was stable in 57% and decreased in 6%. Three serous cystadenocarcinomas were recorded. Postoperative mortality was 0.6% (n=10), and SCN's related mortality was 0.1% (n=1).
After a 3-year follow-up, clinical relevant symptoms occurred in a very small proportion of patients and size slowly increased in less than half. Surgical treatment should be proposed only for diagnosis remaining uncertain after complete workup, significant and related symptoms or exceptionally when exists concern with malignancy. This study supports an initial conservative management in the majority of patients with SCN.
IRB 00006477.
We report progress on the ongoing recalibration of the Wolf sunspot number (SN) and group-sunspot number (GN) following the release of version 2.0 of SN in 2015. This report constitutes both an ...update of the efforts reported in the 2016 Topical Issue of Solar Physics and a summary of work by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) International Team formed in 2017 to develop optimal SN and GN reconstruction methods while continuing to expand the historical sunspot-number database. Significant progress has been made on the database side while more work is needed to bring the various proposed SN and (primarily) GN reconstruction methods closer to maturity, after which the new reconstructions (or combinations thereof) can be compared with (a) “benchmark” expectations for any normalization scheme (e.g., a general increase in observer normalization factors going back in time), and (b) independent proxy data series such as F10.7 and the daily range of variations of Earth’s undisturbed magnetic field. New versions of the underlying databases for SN and GN will shortly become available for years through 2022 and we anticipate the release of the next versions of these two time series in 2024.
An analysis of the sunspot observations made by Hevelius during 1642-1645 is presented. These records are the only systematic sunspot observations just before the Maunder Minimum (MM). We have ...studied different phenomena meticulously recorded by Hevelius after translating the original Latin texts. We reevaluate the observations of sunspot groups by Hevelius during this period and obtain an average value 7% greater than that calculated from his observations given in the current group database. Furthermore, the average of the active day fraction obtained in this work from Hevelius's records previous to the MM is significantly greater than the solar activity level obtained from Hevelius's sunspot observations made during the MM (70% versus 30%). We also present the butterfly diagram obtained from the sunspot positions recorded by Hevelius for the period 1642-1645. It can be seen that no hemispheric asymmetry exists during this interval, in contrast with the MM. Hevelius noted a ∼3-month period that appeared to lack sunspots in early 1645 that gave the first hint of the impending MM. Recent studies claim that the MM was not a grand minimum period, speculating that astronomers of that time, due to the Aristotelian ideas, did not record all sunspots that they observed, producing thus an underestimation of the solar activity level. However, we show that the good quality of the sunspot records made by Hevelius indicates that his reports of sunspots were true to the observations.
The objective of this study was to analyze the perceived barriers to dual career success and athletic identity of student-athletes according to disability type and level of professionalization. The ...final sample consisted of 203 student-athletes with disabilities from five European countries. The questionnaires used were ESTPORT, EBBS and AIMS. Depending on disability type, it was found that student-athletes with hearing and physical impairment showed the highest difficulty in reconciling sports and studies (p = 0.001); that student-athletes with a hearing impairment showed the highest score in the barrier 'the cost of education is high' (p = 0.023); that student-athletes with a physical impairment had the highest scores in the barrier 'Exercise tires me' (p = 0.013); that student-athletes with cerebral palsy showed the highest scores in the barrier 'I do not have enough university/educational institution support' (p = 0.014) and 'Exercise facilities do not have convenient timetables for me' (p = 0.001). Depending on sports professionalization level, semi-professional student-athletes showed the highest values in the barrier 'the university/educational institution is far from my training center' (p = 0.040); while professional student-athletes had the highest score in the barrier 'exercise takes too much time from family responsibilities' (p = 0.034). In most of the variables related to identity as athletes, professional student-athletes showed the highest values, followed by semi-professional athletes (p = 0.043- < 0.001). In conclusion, the self-perception of barriers is quite relevant, with differences arising from disability type and level of professionalization, whereas the identity as an athlete is only different according to the level of professionalization.
The Maunder Minimum (MM) was a prolonged period of low solar activity that occurred between 1645 and 1715. The true level of solar activity corresponding to this epoch is still a matter of debate. In ...order to compare solar activity during the MM with that of other epochs, we have evaluated the umbra-penumbra area ratio (U/P hereafter) during the MM. Thus, we have analyzed 196 sunspot drawings, including 48 different sunspots observed during the period 1660-1709. The mode value of the ratio obtained from the occurrence frequency distribution lies between 0.15 and 0.25. Furthermore, the median and mean values are equal to 0.24 0.07 and 0.27 0.08 with a sigma clipping, respectively. These results are consistent with recent research using more modern data. Higher U/P values mean faster sunspot decay rates. From our results, the absence of sunspots during the MM could not be explained by changes in the U/P since the values of the ratio obtained in this work are similar to values found for other epochs.
Abstract Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection remains a major complication of solid organ transplantation. Because of management of CMV is variable among transplant centers, in 2011 the Spanish ...Transplantation Infection Study Group (GESITRA) of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) developed consensus guidelines for the prevention and treatment of CMV infection in solid organ transplant recipients. Since then, new publications have clarified or questioned the aspects covered in the previous document. For that reason, a panel of experts revised the evidence on CMV management, including immunological monitoring, diagnostics, prevention, vaccines, indirect effects, treatment, drug resistance, immunotherapy, investigational drugs, and pediatric issues. This document summarizes the recommendations.
ABSTRACT
We revise the sunspot observations made by Galileo Galilei and Christoph Scheiner in the context of their controversy regarding the nature of sunspots. Those of their sunspot records not ...included in the current sunspot group database, used as a basis to calculate the sunspot group number, are analysed. Within the documentary sources consulted in this work, we can highlight the sunspot observations by Scheiner included in the letters sent under the pseudonym Apelles to Marcus Welser and the first sunspot observations made by Galileo, which can be consulted in Le opere di Galileo Galilei. These sunspot observations would extend the temporal coverage for these two observers and fill some gaps in the current group database in the earliest period, where the data available are sparse. Moreover, we have detected changes in the quality of the sunspot drawings made by Galileo and Scheiner in their observation series, affecting the number of groups recorded by the two observers. We also compare these records with sunspot observations made by other astronomers of that time. According to this comparison and regarding the same observation days, Scheiner was generally the astronomer who reported more sunspot groups, while Harriot, Cigoli and Galileo recorded a similar number of groups. We conclude that these differences are mainly because of the observational methods used by the observers.
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