The roles of the atmosphere and ocean in driving Arctic warming due to European aerosol reductions

Clean air policies can have significant impacts on climate in remote regions. Previous modeling studies have shown that the temperature response to European sulfate aerosol reductions is largest in the Arctic. Here, we investigate the atmospheric and ocean roles in driving this enhanced Arctic warming using a set of fully‐coupled and slab‐ocean simulations (specified ocean heat convergence fluxes) with the Norwegian Earth system model (NorESM), under scenarios with high and low European aerosol emissions relative to year 2000. We show that atmospheric processes drive most of the Arctic response. The ocean pathway plays a secondary role inducing small temperature changes mostly in the opposite direction of the atmospheric response. Important modulators of the temperature response patterns are changes in sea‐ice extent and subsequent turbulent heat flux exchange, suggesting that a proper representation of Arctic sea‐ice and turbulent changes are key to predicting the Arctic response to mid‐latitude aerosol forcing

Enhanced terrestrial carbon export from East Antarctica during the early Eocene

Terrestrial organic carbon (TerrOC) acts as an important CO2 sink when transported via rivers to the ocean and sequestered in coastal marine sediments. This mechanism might help to modulate atmospheric CO2 levels over short- and long timescales (103 to 106 years), but its importance during past warm climates remains unknown. Here we use terrestrial biomarkers preserved in coastal marine sediment samples from Wilkes Land, East Antarctica (~67°S) to quantify TerrOC burial during the early Eocene (~54.4 to 51.5 Ma). Terrestrial biomarker distributions indicate the delivery of plant-, soil- and peat-derived organic carbon (OC) into the marine realm. Mass accumulation rates of plant- (long-chain n-alkane) and soil-derived (hopane) biomarkers dramatically increase between the earliest Eocene (~54 Ma) and the early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; ~53 Ma). This coincides with increased OC mass accumulation rates and indicates enhanced TerrOC burial during the EECO. Leaf wax δ 2H values indicate that the EECO was characterised by wetter conditions relative to the earliest Eocene, suggesting that hydroclimate exerts a first-order control on TerrOC export. Our results indicate that TerrOC burial in coastal marine sediments UOB Open could have acted as an important negative feedback mechanism during the early Eocene, but also during other warm climate intervals

Power Quality Enhancement in Sensitive Local Distribution Grid Using Interval Type-II Fuzzy Logic Controlled DSTATCOM

In the current scenario, integration of renewables, growth of non-linear industrial and commercial loads results in various power quality issues. Among commercial utilities connected to the grid, hospital-operated loads include sensitive, linear, non-linear, and unbalanced loads. These loads are diverse as well as prioritized, which also causes major power quality issues in the local distribution system. Due to its widespread divergence, it leads to harmonic injection and reactive power imbalance. Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) is proposed as a solution for harmonic mitigation, load balancing, reactive power imbalances, and neutral current compensation. The present work utilizes Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Controller (IT2FLC) with Recursive Least Square (RLS) filter for generating switching pulses for IGBT switches in the DSTATCOM to improve power quality in the Local Distribution Grid. The proposed approach also shows superior performance over Type 1 fuzzy logic controller and Conventional PI controller in mitigating harmonics. For effective realization, the proposed system is simulated using MATLAB software

Changes in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control rates over 20 years in National Capital Region of India: results from a repeat cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite being one of the leading risk factors of cardiovascular mortality, there are limited data on changes in hypertension burden and management from India. This study evaluates trend in the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the urban and rural areas of India's National Capital Region (NCR). DESIGN AND SETTING: Two representative cross-sectional surveys were conducted in urban and rural areas (survey 1 (1991-1994); survey 2 (2010-2012)) of NCR using similar methodologies. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3048 (mean age: 46.8±9.0 years; 52.3% women) and 2052 (mean age: 46.5±8.4 years; 54.2% women) subjects of urban areas and 2487 (mean age: 46.6±8.8 years; 57.0% women) and 1917 (mean age: 46.5±8.5 years; 51.3% women) subjects of rural areas were included in survey 1 and survey 2, respectively. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Hypertension was defined as per Joint National Committee VII guidelines. Structured questionnaire was used to measure the awareness and treatment status of hypertension. A mean systolic blood pressure <140 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg was defined as control of hypertension among the participants with hypertension. RESULTS: The age and sex standardised prevalence of hypertension increased from 23.0% to 42.2% (p<0.001) and 11.2% to 28.9% (p<0.001) in urban and rural NCR, respectively. In both surveys, those with high education, alcohol use, obesity and high fasting blood glucose were at a higher risk for hypertension. However, the change in hypertension prevalence between the surveys was independent of these risk factors (adjusted OR (95% CI): urban (2.3 (2.0 to 2.7)) rural (3.1 (2.4 to 4.0))). Overall, there was no improvement in awareness, treatment and control rates of hypertension in the population. CONCLUSION: There was marked increase in prevalence of hypertension over two decades with no improvement in management

Accelerated increases in global and Asian summer monsoon precipitation from future aerosol reductions

There is large uncertainty in future aerosol emissions scenarios explored in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways(SSPs), with plausible pathways spanning a range of possibilities from large global reductions in emissions to 2050 to mod-erate global increases over the same period. Diversity in emissions across the pathways is particularly large over Asia. Rapid anthropogenic aerosol and precursor emission reductions between the present day and the 2050s lead to enhanced increases inglobal and Asian summer monsoon precipitation relative to scenarios with weak air quality policies. However, the effects of aerosol reductions don’t persist in precipitation to the end of the 21st century, when response to greenhouse gases dominatesdifferences across the SSPs. The relative magnitude and spatial distribution of aerosol changes is particularly important for South Asian summer monsoon precipitation changes. Precipitation increases here are initially suppressed in SSPs 2-4.5 and5-8.5 relative to SSP 1-1.9 and 3-7.0 when the impact of East Asian emission decreases is counteracted by that due to continuedincreases in South Asian emissions

Report from a symposium on catalyzing primary and secondary prevention of cancer in India

PurposeOral, breast, and cervical cancers are amenable to early detection and account for a third of India’s cancer burden. We convened a symposium of diverse stakeholders to identify gaps in evidence, policy, and advocacy for the primary and secondary prevention of these cancers and recommendations to accelerate these efforts. MethodsIndian and global experts from government, academia, private sector (health care, media), donor organizations, and civil society (including cancer survivors and patient advocates) presented and discussed challenges and solutions related to strategic communication and implementation of prevention, early detection, and treatment linkages.ResultsInnovative approaches to implementing and scaling up primary and secondary prevention were discussed using examples from India and elsewhere in the world. Participants also reflected on existing global guidelines and national cancer prevention policies and experiences.ConclusionsSymposium participants proposed implementation-focused research, advocacy, and policy/program priorities to strengthen primary and secondary prevention efforts in India to address the burden of oral, breast, and cervical cancers and improve survival

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

High latitude hydrological changes during the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2

The Eocene hyperthermals, including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2), represent extreme global warming events ~56 and 54 million years ago associated with rapid increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. An initial study on PETM characteristics in the Arctic region argued for intensification of the hydrological cycle and a substantial increase in poleward moisture transport during global warming based on compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotopic (2H/1H) records from sedimentary leaf-wax lipids. In this study, we apply this isotopic and hydrological approach on sediments deposited during ETM2 from the Lomonosov Ridge (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 302). Our results show similar 2H/1H changes during ETM2 as during the PETM, with a period of 2H-enrichment (~20‰) relative to "pre-event" values just prior to the negative carbon isotope shift (CIE) that is often taken as the onset of the hyperthermal, and more negative lipid δ2H values (~ - 15‰) during peak warming. Notably, lipid 2H-enrichment at the base of the event is coeval with colder TEX86H temperatures.If 2H/1H values of leaf waxes primarily reflect the hydrogen isotopic composition of precipitation, the observed local relationship between temperature and 2H/1H values for the body of ETM2 is precisely the opposite of what would be predicted using a simple Rayleigh isotope distillation model, assuming a meridional vapor trajectory and a reduction in equator-pole temperature gradients. Overall, a negative correlation exists between the average chain length of n-alkanes and 2H/1H suggesting that local changes in ecology could have impacted the hydrogen isotopic compositions of leaf waxes. The negative correlation falls across three separate intervals - the base of the event, the initial CIE, and during the H2 hyperthermal (of which the assignment is not fully certain). Three possible mechanisms potentially explain 2H-enriched signals at the base of the event, including (1) intense local drying and cooling leading to evaporative 2H-enrichment; (2) changes in frequency/intensity of storm events and its impact on high latitude amount effects; and (3) changes in low-latitude temperatures. Evidence for hydrological shifts at the base of both hyperthermals suggests that hydrological change or the factors promoting hydrological change played a role in triggering the release of greenhouse gases. Generation of similar high-resolution isotopic- and temperature records at other latitudes is crucial for understanding the causal links between temperature and hydrological changes and may help constrain the source and mechanism of carbon release that triggered the early Eocene hyperthermals