Climate teleconnections modulate global burned area.

Climate teleconnections (CT) remotely influence weather conditions in many regions on Earth, entailing changes in primary drivers of fire activity such as vegetation biomass accumulation and moisture. We reveal significant relationships between the main global CTs and burned area that vary across and within continents and biomes according to both synchronous and lagged signals, and marked regional patterns. Overall, CTs modulate 52.

Integrated graph measures reveal survival likelihood for buildings in wildfire events.

Wildfire events have resulted in unprecedented social and economic losses worldwide in the last few years. Most studies on reducing wildfire risk to communities focused on modeling wildfire behavior in the wildland to aid in developing fuel reduction and fire suppression strategies. However, minimizing losses in communities and managing risk requires a holistic approach to understanding wildfire behavior that fully integrates the wildland's characteristics and the built environment's features.

Evaluation of Research Opportunities and Limitations for Plastic Surgery Residents: An International Survey.

Background: Conducting research during specialty training provides an opportunity to develop critical thinking and leadership skills along with a better understanding of the scientific literature. However, trainees often find it difficult to undertake research, in the context of labor-intensive surgical training. The aim of this study is to evaluate the research output and limitations of plastic surgery residents in different countries.

Coupled effects of climate teleconnections on drought, Santa Ana winds and wildfires in southern California.

Projections of future climate change impacts suggest an increase of wildfire activity in Mediterranean ecosystems, such as southern California. This region is a wildfire hotspot and fire managers are under increasingly high pressures to minimize socio-economic impacts. In this context, predictions of high-risk fire seasons are essential to achieve adequate preventive planning.

Assessing and reinitializing wildland fire simulations through satellite active fire data.

Large wildfires can cover millions of hectares of forest every year worldwide, causing losses in ecosystems and assets. Fire simulation and modeling provides an analytical scheme to characterize and predict fire behavior and spread in several and complex environments. Spatial dynamics of large wildfires can be analyzed using satellite active fire data, a cost-effective way to acquire information systematically worldwide.

Heterozygous NPR2 Mutations Cause Disproportionate Short Stature, Similar to Léri-Weill Dyschondrosteosis.

Context: SHOX mutations have been detected in approximately 70% of Léri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) and approximately 2.5% of idiopathic short stature (ISS) cases, suggesting the implication of other genes or loci. The recent identification of NPR2 mutations in ISS suggested that NPR2 mutations may also be involved in disproportionate short stature.

Carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia must identify 'apparently mild' CYP21A2 alleles which associate neonatal salt-wasting disease.

Objective: Couples at risk of severe congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) may be offered prenatal treatment or preimplantation diagnosis. However, proper genetic counselling requires the accurate identification of apparently 'mild alleles' in partners of CAH-carriers/patients.

Methods: CYP21A2 gene analyses were performed in 255 patients with severe 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD), 94 with mild 21-OHD, 752 parental samples, 233 clinically unaffected partners and 253 historic DNA samples.

Lessons learned from long-term university training in minimally invasive surgery in Spain.

Purpose: Starting from our prolonged experience in university minimally invasive surgery training (1993 to 2005), we aim to analyze the most important differences in participants' requirements from these courses along this time span.

Methods: Surveys' answers from the 6 first course editions (from 1993 to 1999, group 1) are compared with the last 6 ones (from 1999 to 2005, group 2), for a number of items including reasons to choose these courses, opinion about duration of training minimally invasive surgery (MIS) courses, responsibility of training MIS, and opinion about experimental training with animals.

Results: Total number (N) of participants was 341, with 177 in group 1 and 164 in group 2.

Organization pattern of nacre in Pteriidae (Bivalvia: Mollusca) explained by crystal competition.

Bivalve nacre is a brick-wall-patterned biocomposite of aragonite platelets surrounded by organic matter. SEM-electron back scatter diffraction analysis of nacre of the bivalve family Pteriidae reveals that early aragonite crystals grow with their c-axes oriented perpendicular to the growth surface but have their a- and b-axes disoriented. With the accumulation of successive lamellae, crystals progressively orient themselves with their b-axes mutually parallel and towards the growth direction.