Exposure to and annoyance with second-hand smoke in Switzerland: results of the Tobacco Monitoring Survey

Summary.: Objectives: To present selected results on exposure to secondhand smoke and experienced annoyance with second-hand smoke in the Swiss population, particularly in restaurants and in the workplace. Methods: The data were collected as part of the Swiss Survey of Tobacco Use ("Tobacco Monitoring”) commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. It is a representative, continuous survey of tobacco consumption among 14- to 65-year-olds in Switzerland. Since January 2001, four times a year a new sample of 2 500 persons has been taken (i. e. 10 000 participants annually). The survey was conducted using standardized telephone interviews in German, French and Italian. Results: Approximately half of the working population in Switzerland is exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace. In restaurants, cafes and bars, nearly 9 out of 10 people are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. Non-smokers in particular report annoyance with second-hand smoke. Conclusions: The Swiss population has a high level of exposure to second-hand smoke. There is a need for public health educational programs and legislation aiming at banning smoking in public areas and in the workplac

A novel framework to investigate wind-driven snow redistribution over an Alpine glacier: combination of high-resolution terrestrial laser scans and large-eddy simulations

Wind-driven snow redistribution affects the glacier mass balance by eroding or depositing mass from or to different parts of the glacier’s surface. High-resolution observations are used to test the ability of large-eddy simulations as a tool for distributed mass balance modeling. We present a case study of observed and simulated snow redistribution over Hintereisferner glacier (Ötztal Alps, Austria) between 6 and 9 February 2021. Observations consist of three high-resolution digital elevation models (Δx=1 m) derived from terrestrial laser scans taken shortly before, directly after, and 15 h after snowfall. The scans are complemented by datasets from three on-site weather stations. After the snowfall event, we observed a snowpack decrease of 0.08 m on average over the glacier. The decrease in the snow depth can be attributed to post-snowfall compaction and the wind-driven redistribution of snow. Simulations were performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model at Δx=48 m with a newly implemented snow drift module. The spatial patterns of the simulated snow redistribution agree well with the observed generalized patterns. Snow redistribution contributed −0.026 m to the surface elevation decrease over the glacier surface on 8 February, resulting in a mass loss of −3.9 kg m−2, which is on the same order of magnitude as the observations. With the single case study we cannot yet extrapolate the impact of post-snowfall events on the seasonal glacier mass balance, but the study shows that the snow drift module in WRF is a powerful tool to improve knowledge on wind-driven snow redistribution patterns over glaciers.Austrian Science FundDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftPeer Reviewe

Exposure to and annoyance with second-hand smoke in Switzerland: results of the Tobacco Monitoring Survey

Summary.: Objectives: To present selected results on exposure to secondhand smoke and experienced annoyance with second-hand smoke in the Swiss population, particularly in restaurants and in the workplace. Methods: The data were collected as part of the Swiss Survey of Tobacco Use ("Tobacco Monitoring”) commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. It is a representative, continuous survey of tobacco consumption among 14- to 65-year-olds in Switzerland. Since January 2001, four times a year a new sample of 2 500 persons has been taken (i. e. 10 000 participants annually). The survey was conducted using standardized telephone interviews in German, French and Italian. Results: Approximately half of the working population in Switzerland is exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace. In restaurants, cafes and bars, nearly 9 out of 10 people are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. Non-smokers in particular report annoyance with second-hand smoke. Conclusions: The Swiss population has a high level of exposure to second-hand smoke. There is a need for public health educational programs and legislation aiming at banning smoking in public areas and in the workplac

The Red Rock ice cliff revisited – six decades of frontal, mass and area changes in the Nunatarssuaq area, Northwest Greenland

We present changes of the ice margin in Northwest Greenland at the Eastern part of the Nunatarssuaq Ice Cap (NIC) over six decades. The ice margin in this area terminates as a near-vertical ice cliff of between 9 and 33 m thickness. During the years 1954–1957 and in 1965 multi-disciplinary studies were performed. We digitise and orthorectify material, that is often difficult to access, in order to use the historical data as an absolute starting point of our change assessment. We compare the cliff morphology of the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s with various time-steps between 1985 and 2017. The studied ice margin remained remarkably constant with very subtle changes of changing sign: rather slow advance rates are reported from the 1950s and 1960s that accelerated until 1985 and were followed by a general retreat until 2012 and a subsequent advance until 2017. Thickness changes are negative throughout the entire time-period, however, different rates of thinning are shown and there is a positive relationship with air temperature anomalies. Compared to similar elevations on the adjacent Greenland ice sheet, we find significantly weaker thinning rates at the NIC

Steep ice – progress and future challenges in research on ice cliffs

Ice cliffs are features along ice sheet margins, along tropical mountain glaciers, at termini of mountain glaciers and on debris-covered glacier tongues, that have received scattered attention in literature. They cover small relative areas of glacier or margin surface respectively, but have been involved in two apparent anomalies. On the one hand, they have been identified as potential hotspots of extreme melt rates on debris-covered tongues contributing to their relatively rapid ablation, compared to the surrounding glacier surface. On the other hand, they appear where the ice margin is stable (or temporarily advancing) even under conditions of negative mass balance. In this manuscript, we recapitulate why ice cliffs remain interesting features to investigate and what we know about them so far. We conclude by suggesting to further investigate their genesis and variable morphology and their potential as windows into past climates and processes

Evaluation der FDM-Beratung: Am Beispiel der Kontaktstelle Forschungsdatenmanagement der FSU Jena

Die Kontaktstelle Forschungsdatenmanagement (KS FDM) an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (FSU) wurde im März 2015 eingerichtet, um mit einer angemessen Organisations- und Kompetenzstruktur auf den sich schnell entwickelnden Bedeutungszuwachs von Forschungsdatenmanagement (FDM) zu antworten. Das Leistungsportfolio der KS umfasst Sensibilisierung, Information (Grundlagen, aktuelle Entwicklungen), Beratung, Qualifizierung, Vernetzung, Strategische Entwicklung sowie Forschung und Entwicklung im Bereich des FDM. Seit der Gründung der KS FDM ist die Anzahl der Anfragen von Forschenden, die Unterstützung suchen, jedes Jahr weiter angestiegen und zeigt somit den Bedarf an Beratungsangeboten zum Thema FDM. Um die bisherige Beratungsarbeit der Kontaktstelle zu evaluieren und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten zu identifizieren, wurden 68 Ratsuchende kontaktiert und zu verschiedenen Aspekten der FDM Beratung befragt. Als Grundlage diente das Beratungsprotokoll der KS FDM (Strukturmerkmale der Ratsuchenden, wissenschaftlicher oder organisatorischer Kontext) sowie eine Online-Befragung der von der KS FDM beratenen Personen (Themen und ihre Relevanz, Bearbeitung und dabei erreichte Lösungen, Einschätzung der zukünftigen Bedeutung des FDM im wissenschaftlichen Umfeld, Bedarf an weiteren FDM-Services). 23 der Ratsuchenden nahmen an der Umfrage teil. Es zeigte sich, dass die Beratung der KS FDM einen reellen Bedarf zur Unterstützung von Forschenden abdeckt und Forschende eine zentrale Anlaufstelle für ihre Fragen zum Thema FDM begrüßen. Der Großteil der Befragten (ca. 73%) schätzte die eigenen Kenntnisse bezüglich FDM gering bis grundlegend ein. Die Anliegen wurden in den meisten Fällen zur Zufriedenheit der Ratsuchenden gelöst (ca. 79%). Zwei Drittel (ca. 67%) wünschen sich für ihr Arbeitsfeld mehr Angebote zum Thema FDM. Prinzipiell waren die Ratsuchenden mit der Unterstützung durch die KS FDM zufrieden bis sehr zufrieden und würden die KS Ihren Kollegen weiterempfehlen. Die Evaluation wurde durchgeführt im Rahmen des Projektes eeFDM „Aufbau und Erprobung von Bausteinen für ein effektives und effizientes Forschungsdatenmanagement“, das durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) im Rahmen der Förderrichtlinie „Erforschung des Managements von Forschungsdaten in ihrem Lebenszyklus an Hochschulen und außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen“ gefördert wurde. Ein ausführlicher Bericht ist unter https://doi.org/10.22032/dbt.40382 veröffentlicht

Unverpixelter Hass

UNVERPIXELTER HASS Unverpixelter Hass / Kahane, Anetta (Rights reserved) ( -

Coatomer and dimeric ADP ribosylation factor 1 promote distinct steps in membrane scission

During membrane budding, coatomer drives initial curvature of the bud, whereas dimeric Arf1 is necessary for membrane scission

Helicobacter pylori cag-Pathogenicity Island-Dependent Early Immunological Response Triggers Later Precancerous Gastric Changes in Mongolian Gerbils

Infection with Helicobacter pylori, carrying a functional cag type IV secretion system (cag-T4SS) to inject the Cytotoxin associated antigen (CagA) into gastric cells, is associated with an increased risk for severe gastric diseases in humans. Here we studied the pathomechanism of H. pylori and the role of the cag-pathogenicity island (cag-PAI) for the induction of gastric ulcer and precancerous conditions over time (2–64 weeks) using the Mongolian gerbil model. Animals were challenged with H. pylori B128 (WT), or an isogenic B128ΔcagY mutant-strain that produces CagA, but is unable to translocate it into gastric cells. H. pylori colonization density was quantified in antrum and corpus mucosa separately. Paraffin sections were graded for inflammation and histological changes verified by immunohistochemistry. Physiological and inflammatory markers were quantitated by RIA and RT-PCR, respectively. An early cag-T4SS-dependent inflammation of the corpus mucosa (4–8 weeks) occurred only in WT-infected animals, resulting in a severe active and chronic gastritis with a significant increase of proinflammatory cytokines, mucous gland metaplasia, and atrophy of the parietal cells. At late time points only WT-infected animals developed hypochlorhydria and hypergastrinemia in parallel to gastric ulcers, gastritis cystica profunda, and focal dysplasia. The early cag-PAI-dependent immunological response triggers later physiological and histopathological alterations towards gastric malignancies