Using a global ocean biogeochemical model combined with a forecast of physical oceanic and atmospheric variables from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, we assess the skill of a chlorophyll concentrations forecast in the Equatorial Pacific for the period 2012-2015 with a focus on the forecast of the onset of the 2015 El Niño event. Using a series of retrospective 9-month hindcast...

For purposes of the present study, it was hypothesized that field (in)dependence would introduce systematic variance into Iranian EFL learners’ overall and task-specific performance on task-based reading comprehension tests. 1743 freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior students all majoring in English at different Iranian universities and colleges took the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). Th...

BMI has been recommended for evaluating overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in the clinical setting. Definitions of overweight and obesity are based on percentile cutoff points. There are both strengths and limitations of BMI for this use. The strengths include the fact that BMI is cheap and relatively easy to use. The weaknesses include the fact that BMI percentiles are not wide...

BACKGROUND Birthweight remains one of the strongest predictors of perinatal mortality and disability. Birthweight percentiles form a reference that allows the detection of neonates at higher risk of neonatal and postneonatal morbidity. The aim of the study is to present updated national birthweight percentiles by gestational age for male and female twins born in Australia. METHODS Population ...

OBJECTIVE To present updated national birthweight percentiles by gestational age for male and female singleton infants born in Australia. DESIGN AND SETTING Cross-sectional population-based study of 2.53 million singleton live births in Australia between 1998 and 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Birthweight percentiles by gestational age and sex. RESULTS Between 1998 and 2007, women in Austral...

OBJECTIVE To study free- and protein-bound cobalamin absorption and the correlation with atrophic gastritis in healthy middle-aged and older subjects. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS Fifty-two healthy subjects, aged 26 to 87 years, apparently free from conditions known to influence the cobalamin status. Middle-aged subjects were defined as those younger than 65 years of age (me...

PURPOSE Our study tried to find a relationship between baseline FEF25-75% and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and whether a greater FEF25-75% impairment may be a marker of a more severe hyperresponsiveness in subjects with normal FEV1 and FEV1/FVC and suggestive asthma symptoms. Besides, we tried to asses a FEF25-75% cut-off value to identify hyper-reactive subjects. METHODS 4,172 subjects (...