Newly identified climatically and environmentally significant high-latitude dust sources

Dust particles from high latitudes have a potentially large local, regional, and global significance to climate and the environment as short-lived climate forcers, air pollutants, and nutrient sources. Identifying the locations of local dust sources and their emission, transport, and deposition processes is important for understanding the multiple impacts of high-latitude dust (HLD) on the Earth\u27s systems. Here, we identify, describe, and quantify the source intensity (SI) values, which show the potential of soil surfaces for dust emission scaled to values 0 to 1 concerning globally best productive sources, using the Global Sand and Dust Storms Source Base Map (G-SDS-SBM). This includes 64 HLD sources in our collection for the northern (Alaska, Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Sweden, and Russia) and southern (Antarctica and Patagonia) high latitudes. Activity from most of these HLD sources shows seasonal character. It is estimated that high-latitude land areas with higher (SI ≥0.5), very high (SI ≥0.7), and the highest potential (SI ≥0.9) for dust emission cover >1 670 000 km$^{2}$, >560 000 km$^{2}$, and >240 000 km$^{2}$, respectively. In the Arctic HLD region (≥60$^{∘}$ N), land area with SI ≥0.5 is 5.5 % (1 035 059 km$^{2}$), area with SI ≥0.7 is 2.3 % (440 804 km$^{2}$), and area with SI ≥0.9 is 1.1 % (208 701 km$^{2}$). Minimum SI values in the northern HLD region are about 3 orders of magnitude smaller, indicating that the dust sources of this region greatly depend on weather conditions. Our spatial dust source distribution analysis modeling results showed evidence supporting a northern HLD belt, defined as the area north of 50$^{∘}$ N, with a “transitional HLD-source area” extending at latitudes 50–58∘ N in Eurasia and 50–55$^{∘}$ N in Canada and a “cold HLD-source area” including areas north of 60$^{∘}$ N in Eurasia and north of 58$^{∘}$ N in Canada, with currently “no dust source” area between the HLD and low-latitude dust (LLD) dust belt, except for British Columbia. Using the global atmospheric transport model SILAM, we estimated that 1.0 % of the global dust emission originated from the high-latitude regions. About 57 % of the dust deposition in snow- and ice-covered Arctic regions was from HLD sources. In the southern HLD region, soil surface conditions are favorable for dust emission during the whole year. Climate change can cause a decrease in the duration of snow cover, retreat of glaciers, and an increase in drought, heatwave intensity, and frequency, leading to the increasing frequency of topsoil conditions favorable for dust emission, which increases the probability of dust storms. Our study provides a step forward to improve the representation of HLD in models and to monitor, quantify, and assess the environmental and climate significance of HLD

Newly identified climatically and environmentally significant high-latitude dust sources

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Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

The land reclamation concept as a key factor in solving the environmental problems of coal mining regions

The impact of coal mining in Kuzbass on the ecosystem of the region is studied in the article. Large-scale mining operations have led to land disturbance over large areas. The coal industry development program, which provides for a significant increase in production, will further aggravate the identified problem. There are a lot of reclamation mechanisms, they must be implemented comprehensively, be high-tech. Large-scale disturbance of land resources, and land retirement, its pollution and littering are the most significant problems requiring a primary solution. The mechanism of state and regional legal regulation of disturbed land reclamation is proposed. Improving the quality of reclamation will be facilitated by the development of a strategy for the environmental remediation, which would be included into the Concept for reclamation of disturbed lands

Environmental and Economic Efficiency of Comprehensive Technology of Sulfur Oxides, Nitrogen Oxides and Mercury Removal from Flue Gases

The article reviews the issues of environmental and economic efficiency of the comprehensive technology of removing sulphur and nitrogen oxides and mercury from flue gases. The purpose of the study is to justify the choice of the methods for the analysis of environmental and economic effectiveness of the designed air protection activities and to perform a number of calculations. The article analyses main processing methods for reducing the concentration of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the flue gases from the combustion of coal fuels, thus generating maximum ecological and economic benefits. The main result of the work is development of the adapted system of technical, environmental and economic indicators characterizing the high efficiency of the proposed technical solutions. The results of the study can be recommended to heating enterprises in support of effective environment-friendly management decisions justifying implementation of appropriate flue gas cleaning technologies

Environmental and Economic Efficiency of Comprehensive Technology of Sulfur Oxides, Nitrogen Oxides and Mercury Removal from Flue Gases

The article reviews the issues of environmental and economic efficiency of the comprehensive technology of removing sulphur and nitrogen oxides and mercury from flue gases. The purpose of the study is to justify the choice of the methods for the analysis of environmental and economic effectiveness of the designed air protection activities and to perform a number of calculations. The article analyses main processing methods for reducing the concentration of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the flue gases from the combustion of coal fuels, thus generating maximum ecological and economic benefits. The main result of the work is development of the adapted system of technical, environmental and economic indicators characterizing the high efficiency of the proposed technical solutions. The results of the study can be recommended to heating enterprises in support of effective environment-friendly management decisions justifying implementation of appropriate flue gas cleaning technologies

Nonspecific pain in the lumbosacral area: clinical features of and approachesto drug therapy (according to the materials of the European guidelinesfor the management of nonspecific lumbosacral pain)

The paper describes the .specific features of the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of pain syndrome in the lumbosacral area

The impact of fire on plant biodiversity in the semideserts of Central Kazakhstan

The dynamics of species richness and diversity indices in pyrogenic successions of sagebrush and perennial saltwort communities in Central Kazakhstan were analyzed. The biodiversity of such communities during the initial years after fires was higher than that in unburnt phytocenoses. However, values of biodiversity parameters significantly decreased 27-31 years after fires

Structure-Functional Study of Tyrosine and Methionine Dipeptides: An Approach to Antioxidant Activity Prediction

Quantum chemical methods allow screening and prediction of peptide antioxidant activity on the basis of known experimental data. It can be used to design the selective proteolysis of protein sources in order to obtain products with antioxidant activity. Molecular geometry and electronic descriptors of redox-active amino acids, as well as tyrosine and methionine-containing dipeptides, were studied by Density Functional Theory method. The calculated data was used to reveal several descriptors responsible for the antioxidant capacities of the model compounds based on their experimentally obtained antioxidant capacities against ABTS (2,2′-Azino-bis-(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonate)) and peroxyl radical. A formula to predict antioxidant activity of peptides was proposed