Histone deacetylase 2 is phosphorylated, ubiquitinated, and degraded by cigarette smoke

Cigarette smoke (CS)–induced lung inflammation involves the reduction of histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) abundance, which is associated with steroid resistance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in individuals with severe asthma who smoke cigarettes. However, the molecular mechanism of CS-mediated reduction of HDAC2 is not clearly known. We hypothesized that HDAC2 is phosphorylated and subsequently degraded by the proteasome in vitro in macrophages (MonoMac6), human bronchial and primary small airway epithelial cells, and in vivo in mouse lungs in response to chronic CS exposure. Cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in MonoMac6 and in bronchial and airway epithelial cells led to phosphorylation of HDAC2 on serine/threonine residues by a protein kinase CK2-mediated mechanism, decreased HDAC2 activity, and increased ubiquitin-proteasome–dependent HDAC2 degradation. CK2 and proteasome inhibitors reversed CSE-mediated HDAC2 degradation, whereas serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid, caused phosphorylation and subsequent ubiquitination of HDAC2. CS-induced HDAC2 phosphorylation was detected in mouse lungs from 2 weeks to 4 months of CS exposure, and mice showed significantly lower lung HDAC2 levels. Thus, CS-mediated down-regulation of HDAC2 in human macrophages and lung epithelial cells in vitro and in mouse lung in vivo involves the induction of serine/threonine phosphorylation and proteasomal degradation, which may have implications for steroid resistance and abnormal inflammation caused by cigarette smoke

Rising Temperatures and Dwindling Water Supplies? Perception of Climate Change Among Residents of the Spanish Mediterranean Tourist Coastal Areas

In this article, we discuss the results of a survey on the perception of climate change in the 14 “tourist zones” (as defined by the Spanish Statistical Institute, INE) that stretch from the French border to Gibraltar alongside the Spanish Mediterranean coast, including the Balearic Islands. Our sample consisted of 1,014 telephone interviews stratified according to the number of tourists staying in each zone. Respondents showed concern for the likely impacts of climate change on jobs and thought that climate change would reduce the economic activity of their areas. Responses were also pessimistic regarding future water availability but agreed with the development of alternative sources such as desalination and water re-use. Household size, educational levels, and employment tended to be the most significant statistical explanatory factors regarding attitudes toward climate change. Respondents in larger households (a variable not tested in the literature as far as we know), respondents with higher education, and respondents working for a wage tended to express more concerns than the rest.Financial support for this research was provided by the ESPON-Climate Project (European Union) and by the Spanish CICYT under grants CSO2009-12772-03-01, CSO2009-12772-03-03, and CSO2012-36997-C02-01. Currently, Hug March has a 3-year contract Juan de la Cierva (JCI-2011-10709), granted by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain

Percepción de recursos convencionales y no convencionales en áreas sujetas a estrés hídrico: el caso de Alicante

Los denominados recursos hídricos convencionales se encuentran crecientemente y a nivel global sujetos a una confrontación social debido a sus impactos ambientales y socioeconómicos. En paralelo se están implementando con fuerza recursos alternativos como la desalación y la reutilización de aguas residuales depuradas. A pesar del gran potencial que pueden presentar, también pueden ser rechazados por la población, y en este sentido contamos con un conocimiento limitado acerca de cómo estos recursos alternativos son percibidos por la población. El presente artículo utiliza el caso de la provincia de Alicante, un área sujeta a un frágil equilibrio hídrico en la costa mediterránea española, para explorar la percepción ciudadana de distintas alternativas hídricas, con especial énfasis en la reutilización de aguas depuradas. Ello se ha llevado a cabo a través de una encuesta efectuada a una muestra de 450 residentes de diez municipios alicantinos. Los principales resultados obtenidos muestran que, la desalación, la estrategia principal llevada a cabo en España para sustituir a los trasvases, no goza de gran preferencia entre la población y es superada por las aguas pluviales y la reutilización de aguas regeneradas. La encuesta nos muestra que esta última alternativa, con un gran potencial de suministro, estaría ampliamente aceptada para usos que no impliquen contacto directo con el cuerpo humano.The so-called conventional water resources are increasingly subject to social contestation due to their environmental and socio-economic impacts. In parallel, various alternative resources are being implemented, such as desalination and reuse of treated wastewater. Despite their great potential, we have a limited understanding of how these alternative resources are perceived by the population, particularly whether they will be accepted or not. This article presents a case study of the province of Alicante, an area along the Spanish Mediterranean coast with a delicate water balance, to explore public perceptions of various alternative water sources, with special emphasis on the reuse of treated wastewater. Herein we present a survey of 450 residents from ten municipalities within the region of Alicante. The main results show that, desalination; the main strategy carried out in Spain to replace dams, does not appeal to respondents and lags behind rainwater and the reuse of reclaimed water in terms of social preferences. The survey shows that water reuse would be widely accepted provided that it is used in forms that do not involve direct contact with the human body.Esta investigación ha sido financiada por la CICYT española (proyectos CSO2012-36997-C02-01 y CSO2012-36997-C02-02). El primer autor reconoce financiamiento del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (JCI-2011-10709) durante el período 2012-2014

Assessing domestic water use habits for more effective water awareness campaigns during drought periods: a case study in Alicante, eastern Spain

The design of water awareness campaigns could benefit from knowledge of the specific characteristics of domestic water use and the factors that may influence certain water consumption habits. This paper investigates water use in 450 households in 10 municipalities of drought-prone Alicante (Spain). We aim to increase knowledge about existing domestic water behaviors and therefore help to improve the design and implementation of future water awareness campaigns and even to consolidate reductions in water use after drought periods. The survey suggests that awareness campaigns should revise their scope and their channels of diffusion on a regular basis. In a more specific way, for the Alicante case we propose policy-oriented recommendations on the scope of action for further reductions.This work was supported by the Spanish CICYT under grants number CSO2009-12772-03-01, CSO2009-12772-03-03 and JCI-2011-10709

Tree-Independent Dual-Tree Algorithms

Dual-tree algorithms are a widely used class of branch-and-bound algorithms. Unfortunately, developing dual-tree algorithms for use with different trees and problems is often complex and burdensome. We introduce a four-part logical split: the tree, the traversal, the point-to-point base case, and the pruning rule. We provide a meta-algorithm which allows development of dual-tree algorithms in a tree-independent manner and easy extension to entirely new types of trees. Representations are provided for five common algorithms; for k-nearest neighbor search, this leads to a novel, tighter pruning bound. The meta-algorithm also allows straightforward extensions to massively parallel settings.Comment: accepted in ICML 201

The key role of off-axis singularities in free-space vortex transmutation

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of off-axis phase singularities in a vortex transmutation process induced by the breaking of rotational symmetry. The process takes place in free space by launching a highly-charged vortex, owning full rotational symmetry, into a linear thin diffractive element presenting discrete rotational symmetry. It is shown that off-axis phase singularities follow straight dark rays bifurcating from the symmetry axis. This phenomenon may provide new routes towards the spatial control of multiple phase singularities for applications in atom trapping and particle manipulation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optic

What lies behind domestic water use? : a review essay on the drivers of domestic water consumption

Water constitutes and essential flow for the reproduction of urban environments. However and differently than other essential flows such as energy, money or materials, water is essentially bounded to local or regional environments for direct uses. Water stressed urban environments (such those in Mediterranean areas) are prone to suffer water scarcity both due to physical variables but also to human and social factors. Thus, understanding which factors lay behind urban water consumption is critical both in theory terms and also in technical and policy related matters. While the economic and technical literature has paid a great deal of attention to the role of price and other socio-economic drivers, the present work reviews other types of research carried out in the field of domestic water consumption drivers, and highlights the potential contributions of studying territorial, demographic and cultural factors, all of them of great interest for Geography

Depilating Global Charge From Thermal Black Holes

At a formal level, there appears to be no difficulty involved in introducing a chemical potential for a globally conserved quantum number into the partition function for space-time including a black hole. Were this possible, however, it would provide a form of black hole hair, and contradict the idea that global quantum numbers are violated in black hole evaporation. We demonstrate dynamical mechanisms that negate the formal procedure, both for topological charge (Skyrmions) and complex scalar-field charge. Skyrmions collapse to the horizon; scalar-field charge fluctuates uncontrollably

Geospatial modeling in marine recreational fisheries science

El presente trabajo de tesis doctoral propone diferentes enfoques geoespaciales destinados al análisis de la dimensión espacial de las pesquerías recreativas costeras utilizando métodos cuantitativos y herramientas computacionales. Diferentes tipos de información espacial,relativas a los hábitats bentónicos así como a la movilidad y a la calidad de las capturas, han sido combinadas para estimar el esfuerzo de pesca y las capturas totales, utilizando un enfoque original y espacialmente explícito. El objetivo es el de progresar en la comprensión del comportamiento espacial del pescador a través de un enfoque holístico basado en datos empíricos y modelos estadísticos. La modalidad de pesca del 'roquer', una de las pesquerías recreativas costeras más populares en el Mediterráneo, ha sido utilizada como caso de estudio en la bahía de Palma (en el Mediterráneo noroccidental)This thesis proposes different geospatial approaches for assessing the spatial dimension of the coastal recreational fisheries using quantitative methods and computational tools. Spatial information on benthic habitats, fish mobility and fishing quality were combined for estimating fishing effort and harvest using an original spatially-explicit approach. The aim is to advance in our understanding of angler spatial behaviour using a holistic approach based on empirical data and statistical models. In order to illustrate the proposed framework, the ‘roquer’ modality, one of the most popular coastal recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea, was used as case study at Palma Bay (NW Mediterranean

The end of scarcity? Water desalination as the new cornucopia for Mediterranean Spain

In this paper we explore the new orientation taken by Spanish water policy since the beginning of the 21st century and very specifically the shift towards desalination as an alternative to other water supply options such as river regulation or inter-basin water transfers. Desalination has been seen as the cure for everything that dams and inter-basin water transfers were unable to solve, including droughts, scarcities, social conflicts, environmental impacts, and political rivalries among the different Spanish regions. Desalination also means a new and powerful element in water planning and management that could provide water for the continuous expansion of the urban and tourist growth machine in Mediterranean Spain and thus relax possible water constraints on this growth. However, by 2012 most new desalination plants along the Mediterranean coast remained almost idle. Focusing on the case of the Mancomunidad de Canales del Taibillla in South-eastern Spain, our aim is to develop a critical, integrated and reflexive perspective on the use of desalination as a source of water for urban and regional growth