Extreme Smog Challenge of India Intensified by Increasing Lower Tropospheric Stability

Extreme smog in India widely impacts air quality in late autumn and winter months. While the links between emissions, air quality and health impacts are well-recognized, the association of smog and its intensification with climatic trends in the lower troposphere, where aerosol pollution and its radiative effects manifest, are not understood well. Here we use long-term satellite data to show a significant increase in aerosol exceedances over northern India, resulting in sustained atmospheric warming and surface cooling trends over the last two decades. We find several lines of evidence suggesting these aerosol radiative effects have induced a multidecadal (1980–2019) strengthening of lower tropospheric stability and increase in relative humidity, leading to over fivefold increase in poor visibility days. Given this crucial aerosol-radiation-meteorological feedback driving the smog intensification, results from this study would help inform mitigation strategies supporting stronger region-wide measures, which are critical for solving the smog challenge in India

Study of morbidity, mortality and survival of low birth weight babies born in a tertiary care hospital Vadodara Gujarat

Introduction: The birth weight of an infant is strongly conditioned by health and nutritional status of mother and is an important determinant of survival, healthy growth and development of the newborn. Low Birth Weight has been defined by World Health Organization as weight at birth of less than 2500 grams. Materials and Methods: 252 babies having birth weight between 2.0 Kg to 2.5 Kg born during August 2012 to January 2013 in Jamnabai Hospital of Vadodara city were included in this prospective study of six month for assessing Survival rate and morbidity among them. Results: All 249 babies (3 drop out), who were followed up 6 months survived. Prevalence rate (sick babies) varied from 17.27 % to 41.2 %, Prevalence rate (Morbidity) varied from 18.07 % to 42.4%. Common morbidities were fever, cough, cold, diarrhea, vomiting, rash. Babies who were fully immunized had lesser morbidity compared to babies who were not fully immunized. Conclusion: The 6 months prospective study which was carried out on small sample of specific group of babies in Urban area has value that it reflects the situation of babies in middle and lower middle class families

Can Forest Fires Be an Important Factor in the Reduction in Solar Power Production in India?

The wildfires over the central Indian Himalayan region have attracted the significant attention of environmental scientists. Despite their major and disastrous effects on the environment and air quality, studies on the forest fires’ impacts from a renewable energy point of view are lacking for this region. Therefore, for the first time, we examine the impact of massive forest fires on the reduction in solar energy production over the Indian subcontinent via remote sensing techniques. For this purpose, we used data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIPSO), the Satellite Application Facility on support to Nowcasting/Very Short-Range Forecasting Meteosat Second Generation (SAFNWC/MSG) in conjunction with radiative transfer model (RTM) simulation, in addition to 1-day aerosol forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The energy production during the first quarter of 2021 was found to reach 650 kWh/m2 and the revenue generated was about INR (Indian rupee) 79.5 million. During the study period, the total attenuation due to aerosols and clouds was estimated to be 116 and 63 kWh/m2 for global and beam horizontal irradiance (GHI and BHI), respectively. The financial loss due to the presence of aerosols was found to be INR 8 million, with the corresponding loss due to clouds reaching INR 14 million for the total Indian solar plant’s capacity potential (40 GW). This analysis of daily energy and financial losses can help the grid operators in planning and scheduling power generation and supply during the period of fires. The findings of the present study will drastically increase the awareness among the decision makers in India about the indirect effects of forest fires on renewable energy production, and help promote the reduction in carbon emissions and greenhouse gases in the air, along with the increase in mitigation processes and policies

Predictive value of plasma N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide for early major adverse cardiac event following elective vascular interventions

Objective: Vascular interventions are associated with a substantial risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in perioperative period. We aimed to analyze the predictive value of plasma N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for early MACE following elective vascular intervention. Materials and Methods: We conducted a single-center, prospective, observational study at Jain Institute of Vascular Sciences, Bengaluru. One hundred and two patients undergoing elective vascular intervention were enrolled in the study. Results: A total of nine patients had MACE comprising seven acute coronary syndromes, one atrial fibrillation, and one congestive cardiac failure in perioperative period. Three patients had MACE preoperatively. Mean age was higher in MACE group (68 years vs. 62 years, P = 0.21). Receiver operator curve analysis demonstrated NT-ProBNP threshold cutoff> 1580 ng/ml and> 2020 ng/ml, pre- and post-operatively. In patients with MACE, mean plasma concentration of pre- and post-operative NT-proBNP was 13,293.34 ng/L and 5628.84 ng/L compared to non-MACE group of 664.60 ng/L and 818.75 ng/L, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values for pre- and post-operative NT-proBNP were 24%, 98.5% and 33%, 98.8%, respectively. Conclusion: Presence of hypertension and elevated pre- and post-operative NT-proBNP values is significantly associated with higher incidence of early MACE (30 days) and is not influenced by age, gender, and previous coronary artery disease. NT-proBNP can be considered for the quantification of perioperative cardiac risk in vascular surgery patients