Ignitions explain more than temperature or precipitation in driving Santa Ana wind fires.

Autumn and winter Santa Ana wind (SAW)-driven wildfires play a substantial role in area burned and societal losses in southern California. Temperature during the event and antecedent precipitation in the week or month prior play a minor role in determining area burned. Burning is dependent on wind intensity and number of human-ignited fires.

Precipitation regime change in Western North America: The role of Atmospheric Rivers.

Daily precipitation in California has been projected to become less frequent even as precipitation extremes intensify, leading to uncertainty in the overall response to climate warming. Precipitation extremes are historically associated with Atmospheric Rivers (ARs). Sixteen global climate models are evaluated for realism in modeled historical AR behavior and contribution of the resulting daily precipitation to annual total precipitation over Western North America.

Alphaxalone Binds in Inner Transmembrane β+-α- Interfaces of α1β3γ2 γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptors.

Background: Neurosteroids like alphaxalone are potent anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, amnestics, and sedative-hypnotics, with effects linked to enhancement of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor gating in the central nervous system. Data locating neurosteroid binding sites on synaptic αβγ GABAA receptors are sparse and inconsistent. Some evidence points to outer transmembrane β-α interfacial pockets, near sites that bind the anesthetics etomidate and propofol.

Precipitation in a warming world: Assessing projected hydro-climate changes in California and other Mediterranean climate regions.

In most Mediterranean climate (MedClim) regions around the world, global climate models (GCMs) consistently project drier futures. In California, however, projections of changes in annual precipitation are inconsistent. Analysis of daily precipitation in 30 GCMs reveals patterns in projected hydrometeorology over each of the five MedClm regions globally and helps disentangle their causes.

A spatially comprehensive, hydrometeorological data set for Mexico, the U.S., and Southern Canada 1950-2013.

A data set of observed daily precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature, gridded to a 1/16° (~6 km) resolution, is described that spans the entire country of Mexico, the conterminous U.S. (CONUS), and regions of Canada south of 53° N for the period 1950-2013.

Mutations at beta N265 in γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors alter both binding affinity and efficacy of potent anesthetics.

Etomidate and propofol are potent general anesthetics that act via GABAA receptor allosteric co-agonist sites located at transmembrane β+/α- inter-subunit interfaces. Early experiments in heteromeric receptors identified βN265 (M2-15') on β2 and β3 subunits as an important determinant of sensitivity to these drugs. Mechanistic analyses suggest that substitution with serine, the β1 residue at this position, primarily reduces etomidate efficacy, while mutation to methionine eliminates etomidate sensitivity and might prevent drug binding.

The key role of dry days in changing regional climate and precipitation regimes.

Future changes in the number of dry days per year can either reinforce or counteract projected increases in daily precipitation intensity as the climate warms. We analyze climate model projected changes in the number of dry days using 28 coupled global climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, version 5 (CMIP5). We find that the Mediterranean Sea region, parts of Central and South America, and western Indonesia could experience up to 30 more dry days per year by the end of this century.

Carboetomidate inhibits alpha4/beta2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at concentrations affecting animals.

Background: Carboetomidate is an etomidate derivative that produces hypnosis without inhibiting adrenal corticosteroid synthesis. Similar to etomidate, carboetomidate modulates γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors, but its effects on other ion channel targets of general anesthetics are unknown.

Methods: We compared etomidate and carboetomidate effects on human N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors or neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nnAChRs) expressed in Xenopus oocytes, using 2-microelectrode voltage clamp electrophysiology.

Two-frequency injection on a multimode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser.

We have studied experimentally effects of two-frequency optical injection on a multimode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The injected signal comes from another VCSEL. Polarization switching (PS) with and without frequency locking occurs for relatively small frequency detuning.

Future dryness in the southwest US and the hydrology of the early 21st century drought.

Recently the Southwest has experienced a spate of dryness, which presents a challenge to the sustainability of current water use by human and natural systems in the region. In the Colorado River Basin, the early 21st century drought has been the most extreme in over a century of Colorado River flows, and might occur in any given century with probability of only 60%. However, hydrological model runs from downscaled Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment climate change simulations suggest that the region is likely to become drier and experience more severe droughts than this.

Selecting global climate models for regional climate change studies.

Regional or local climate change modeling studies currently require starting with a global climate model, then downscaling to the region of interest. How should global models be chosen for such studies, and what effect do such choices have? This question is addressed in the context of a regional climate detection and attribution (D&A) study of January-February-March (JFM) temperature over the western U.S.

Sustainable water deliveries from the Colorado River in a changing climate.

The Colorado River supplies water to 27 million users in 7 states and 2 countries and irrigates over 3 million acres of farmland. Global climate models almost unanimously project that human-induced climate change will reduce runoff in this region by 10-30%. This work explores whether currently scheduled future water deliveries from the Colorado River system are sustainable under different climate-change scenarios.

Human-induced changes in the hydrology of the western United States.

Observations have shown that the hydrological cycle of the western United States changed significantly over the last half of the 20th century. We present a regional, multivariable climate change detection and attribution study, using a high-resolution hydrologic model forced by global climate models, focusing on the changes that have already affected this primarily arid region with a large and growing population. The results show that up to 60% of the climate-related trends of river flow, winter air temperature, and snow pack between 1950 and 1999 are human-induced.