University of Lleida

About: University of Lleida is a education organization based out in Lleida, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Pregnancy. The organization has 2939 authors who have published 5853 publications receiving 148417 citations. The organization is also known as: Escola Superior Politècnica & Universitat de Lleida.

Lipidomics Reveals a Tissue-Specific Fingerprint.

Abstract: In biological systems lipids generate membranes and have a key role in cell signaling and energy storage. Therefore, there is a wide diversity of molecular lipid expressed at the compositional level in cell membranes and organelles, as well as in tissues, whose lipid distribution remains unclear. Here, we report a mass spectrometry study of lipid abundance across 7 rat tissues, detecting and quantifying 652 lipid molecular species from the glycerolipid, glycerophospholipid, fatty acyl, sphingolipid, sterol lipid and prenol lipid categories. Our results demonstrate that every tissue analyzed presents a specific lipid distribution and concentration. Thus, glycerophospholipids are the most abundant tissue lipid, they share a similar tissue distribution but differ in particular lipid species between tissues. Sphingolipids are more concentrated in the renal cortex and sterol lipids can be found mainly in both liver and kidney. Both types of white adipose tissue, visceral and subcutaneous, are rich in glycerolipids but differing the amount. Acylcarnitines are mainly in the skeletal muscle, gluteus and soleus, while heart presents higher levels of ubiquinone than other tissues. The present study demonstrates the existence of a rat tissue-specific fingerprint.

Supplanting ecosystem services provided by scavengers raises greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract: Global warming due to human-induced increments in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) is one of the most debated topics among environmentalists and politicians worldwide. In this paper we assess a novel source of GHG emissions emerged following a controversial policy decision. After the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Europe, the sanitary regulation required that livestock carcasses were collected from farms and transformed or destroyed in authorised plants, contradicting not only the obligations of member states to conserve scavenger species but also generating unprecedented GHG emission. However, how much of this emission could be prevented in the return to traditional and natural scenario in which scavengers freely remove livestock carcasses is largely unknown. Here we show that, in Spain (home of 95% of European vultures), supplanting the natural removal of dead extensive livestock by scavengers with carcass collection and transport to intermediate and processing plants meant the emission of 77,344 metric tons of CO2 eq. to the atmosphere per year, in addition to annual payments of ca. $50 million to insurance companies. Thus, replacing the ecosystem services provided by scavengers has not only conservation costs, but also important and unnecessary environmental and economic costs.

Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA

Abstract: This work analyses the contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport on the continental scale. The analysis is based on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Suspended Sediment and Ancillary database. Data were obtained from 1314 catchments, comprising more than 2 500 000 daily events. The total number of days in the dataset amounts to 10 000 years. Catchments are of different sizes and belong to distinct climatic environments; they are distributed for the analysis according to USA hydrological divisions (HDs). The main objective of the research is to examine the effect of the n-largest event on the total suspended sediment load over recorded periods, and to discuss different behaviour between HDs. To accomplish this, the daily events at each catchment are ranked by magnitude, and then the percentage represented by the n-largest event (e.g. 3-largest, 5-largest, 10-largest, 15-largest, 20-largest, 25-largest) is calculated from the total accumulated load. Results indicate that suspended sediment transported by the 25-largest events represents on average more than 50 per cent of the total load. The California HD, mostly under Mediterranean climatic conditions, accounts for the highest percentage of sediment transport across conterminous USA, whatever n-largest daily events are selected. There, the 3-largest events contribute, on average, 38 per cent of the total sediment load, the 10-largest events represent 61 per cent and the 25-largest events produce more than 76 per cent of the total sediment transport. Overall, the contribution of largest daily events seems not to depend on the climatic conditions in small catchments (<100 km2) and, in addition, the percentage of suspended sediment increases over all HDs, while, at the same time, the catchment size decreases. Finally, we discuss differences between catchments across the USA, according to climatic and historical (i.e. land use) factors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.