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Identifying deep convection is of paramount importance, as it may be associated with extreme weather that has significant impact on the environment, property and the population. A new method, the Hail Detection Tool (HDT), is described for identifying hail-bearing storms using multi-spectral Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) data. HDT was conceived as a two-phase method, in which the first step is the Convective Mask (CM) algorithm devised for detection of deep convection, and the second a Hail Detection algorithm (HD) for the identification of hail-bearing clouds among cumulonimbus systems detected by CM. Both CM and HD are based on logistic regression models trained with multi-spectral MSG data-sets comprised of summer convective events in the middle Ebro Valley between 2006–2010, and detected by the RGB visualization technique (CM) or C-band weather radar system of the University of León. By means of the logistic regression approach, the probability of identifying a cumulonimbus event with CM or a hail event with HD are computed by exploiting a proper selection of MSG wavelengths or their combination. A number of cloud physical properties (liquid water path, optical thickness and effective cloud drop radius) were used to physically interpret results of statistical models from a meteorological perspective, using a method based on these "ingredients." Finally, the HDT was applied to a new validation sample consisting of events during summer 2011. The overall Probability of Detection (POD) was 76.9% and False Alarm Ratio 16.7%.

The influence of adrenalin on the pharmacokinetics of lidocaine given interpleurally to 10 patients with pancreatic neoplasia was studied. Five patients received an interpleural dose of lidocaine (200 mg; control group), and 5 patients received an interpleural dose of lidocaine (200 mg) plus adrenalin (1:200,000). Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of lidocaine were measured before and at specified times (up to 8 hours) after the dose. The analytical technique was radioimmunoassay; and plasma and CSF data were assessed using noncompartmental analysis. The drug was quickly absorbed into the plasma in the control group (Cmax = 2.76 +/- 0.10 microgram/mL at 0.33 +/- 0.14 hours after administration); whereas drug access to CSF was decreased and occurred slowly (Cmax = 0.32 +/- 0.07 microgram/mL at 1.66 +/- 1.35 hours). The drug was eliminated more quickly from plasma than from CSF, with half-lives of 1.71 +/- 0.43 hours and 3.86 +/- 1.27 hours, respectively. The simultaneous administration of adrenalin delayed absorption (tmax = 0.91 +/- 0.52 hours). The drug elimination half-lives in plasma and CSF of this group increased to 3.22 +/- 1.22 hours and 8.71 +/- 3.28 hours, respectively. The duration of the analgesia, evaluated as the time until the patient needed another dose, increased from 8.2 +/- 1.5 hours in the control group to 9.7 +/- 1.3 hours in the group that received adrenalin. From these results the levels that would be reached on a multiple-dose regimen (D = 200 mg, tau = 8 hours) were predicted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)