Causes of Higher Climate Sensitivity in CMIP6 Models

Equilibrium climate sensitivity, the global surface temperature response to CO urn:x-wiley:grl:media:grl60047:grl60047-math-0001 doubling, has been persistently uncertain. Recent consensus places it likely within 1.5–4.5 K. Global climate models (GCMs), which attempt to represent all relevant physical processes, provide the most direct means of estimating climate sensitivity via CO urn:x-wiley:grl:media:grl60047:grl60047-math-0002 quadrupling experiments. Here we show that the closely related effective climate sensitivity has increased substantially in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), with values spanning 1.8–5.6 K across 27 GCMs and exceeding 4.5 K in 10 of them. This (statistically insignificant) increase is primarily due to stronger positive cloud feedbacks from decreasing extratropical low cloud coverage and albedo. Both of these are tied to the physical representation of clouds which in CMIP6 models lead to weaker responses of extratropical low cloud cover and water content to unforced variations in surface temperature. Establishing the plausibility of these higher sensitivity models is imperative given their implied societal ramifications

Smoking cessation in pregnant women using financial incentives: a feasibility study

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of smoking pregnant women in Dutch areas with lower socioeconomic status and the consecutively harmful exposure to tobacco to both mother and child, depicted a high need for a novel intervention. According to other studies, the utilisation of financial incentives appeared to be a promising method for smoking cessation in pregnant women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of implementing contingent financial incentives as smoking cessation support for pregnant women in the Netherlands. METHODS: Feasibility study consisting of four developmental phases: (1) acceptability of Dutch population regarding financial-incentive-intervention by conducting an online questionnaire, (2) composing a pilot study utilising the financial-incentive-intervention in clinical practice, (3) execution of the composed pilot study and (4) evaluation of the executed pilot study utilising a mixed-methods approach. A financial-incentive-intervention, given in a contingent financial scheme (during five consequential appointments, respectively €25/€50/€100/€150/€250), if smoking abstinence was proven by the amount of cotinine in the urine of the pregnant women measured utilising a urine dipstick test. The public acceptability for the financial-incentive-intervention was assessed using 5-Likert scales. The number of pregnant women able to abstain from smoking during the pilot study and utilising the financial-incentive-intervention in clinical practice were used to assess the prosperity and practicality of the pilot study respectively. The pilot study was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. RESULTS: In total, 55.1% of the Dutch population sample (n = 328) found a financial incentive inappropriate for smoking cessation in pregnant women, while the healthcare professionals and pilot study participants thought the financial-incentive-intervention to be a helpful approach. Eleven vouchers were given during the pilot study, and one woman completed all test points and tested negative for cotinine at the end of the pilot study. CONCLUSION: Although the financial-incentive-intervention appeared to be a promising approach for smoking cessation in pregnant women, the acceptability of the Dutch population and the number of pregnant women able to abstain smoking during this pilot study was low. Despite the limited study population, this study proved the concept of this financial-incentive-intervention to be feasible for implementation in the Netherlands. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable since this is a feasibility study prior to a trial. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-022-05292-9

The Dynamics of Transmission and Spatial Distribution of Malaria in Riverside Areas of Porto Velho, Rondônia, in the Amazon Region of Brazil

The study area in Rondônia was the site of extensive malaria epidemic outbreaks in the 19th and 20th centuries related to environmental impacts, with large immigration flows. The present work analyzes the transmission dynamics of malaria in these areas to propose measures for avoiding epidemic outbreaks due to the construction of two Hydroelectric Power Plants. A population based baseline demographic census and a malaria prevalence follow up were performed in two river side localities in the suburbs of Porto Velho city and in its rural vicinity. The quantification and nature of malaria parasites in clinical patients and asymptomatic parasite carriers were performed using microscopic and Real Time PCR methodologies. Anopheles densities and their seasonal variation were done by monthly captures for defining HBR (hourly biting rate) values. Main results: (i) malaria among residents show the riverside profile, with population at risk represented by children and young adults; (ii) asymptomatic vivax and falciparum malaria parasite carriers correspond to around 15% of adults living in the area; (iii) vivax malaria relapses were responsible for 30% of clinical cases; (iv) malaria risk for the residents was evaluated as 20–25% for vivax and 5–7% for falciparum malaria; (v) anopheline densities shown outdoors HBR values 5 to 10 fold higher than indoors and reach 10.000 bites/person/year; (vi) very high incidence observed in one of the surveyed localities was explained by a micro epidemic outbreak affecting visitors and temporary residents. Temporary residents living in tents or shacks are accessible to outdoors transmission. Seasonal fishermen were the main group at risk in the study and were responsible for a 2.6 fold increase in the malaria incidence in the locality. This situation illustrates the danger of extensive epidemic outbreaks when thousands of workers and secondary immigrant population will arrive attracted by opportunities opened by the Hydroelectric Power Plants constructions

The Near-Sun Streamer Belt Solar Wind: Turbulence and Solar Wind Acceleration

The fourth orbit of Parker Solar Probe (PSP) reached heliocentric distances down to 27.9 Rs, allowing solar wind turbulence and acceleration mechanisms to be studied in situ closer to the Sun than previously possible. The turbulence properties were found to be significantly different in the inbound and outbound portions of PSP's fourth solar encounter, likely due to the proximity to the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) in the outbound period. Near the HCS, in the streamer belt wind, the turbulence was found to have lower amplitudes, higher magnetic compressibility, a steeper magnetic field spectrum (with spectral index close to -5/3 rather than -3/2), a lower Alfv\'enicity, and a "1/f" break at much lower frequencies. These are also features of slow wind at 1 au, suggesting the near-Sun streamer belt wind to be the prototypical slow solar wind. The transition in properties occurs at a predicted angular distance of ~4{\deg} from the HCS, suggesting ~8{\deg} as the full-width of the streamer belt wind at these distances. While the majority of the Alfv\'enic turbulence energy fluxes measured by PSP are consistent with those required for reflection-driven turbulence models of solar wind acceleration, the fluxes in the streamer belt are significantly lower than the model predictions, suggesting that additional mechanisms are necessary to explain the acceleration of the streamer belt solar wind

Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) Guidelines for CYP2C9 and HLA-B Genotype and Phenytoin Dosing

Phenytoin is a widely used antiepileptic drug with a narrow therapeutic index and large inter-patient variability partly due to genetic variations in CYP2C9. Furthermore, the variant allele HLA-B*15:02 is associated with an increased risk of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in response to phenytoin treatment. We summarize evidence from the published literature supporting these associations and provide recommendations for the use of phenytoin based on CYP2C9 and/or HLA-B genotype (also available on PharmGKB: www.pharmgkb.org)

Ab initio alpha-alpha scattering

Processes involving alpha particles and alpha-like nuclei comprise a major part of stellar nucleosynthesis and hypothesized mechanisms for thermonuclear supernovae. In an effort towards understanding alpha processes from first principles, we describe in this letter the first ab initio calculation of alpha-alpha scattering. We use lattice effective field theory to describe the low-energy interactions of nucleons and apply a technique called the adiabatic projection method to reduce the eight-body system to an effective two-cluster system. We find good agreement between lattice results and experimental phase shifts for S-wave and D-wave scattering. The computational scaling with particle number suggests that alpha processes involving heavier nuclei are also within reach in the near future.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Rmi1 stimulates decatenation of double Holliday junctions during dissolution by Sgs1-Top3

double Holliday junction (dHJ) is a central intermediate of homologous recombination that can be processed to yield crossover or non-crossover recombination products. To preserve genomic integrity, cells possess mechanisms to avoid crossing over. We show that Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sgs1 and Top3 proteins are sufficient to migrate and disentangle a dHJ to produce exclusively non-crossover recombination products, in a reaction termed "dissolution." We show that Rmi1 stimulates dHJ dissolution at low Sgs1-Top3 protein concentrations, although it has no effect on the initial rate of Holliday junction (HJ) migration. Rmi1 serves to stimulate DNA decatenation, removing the last linkages between the repaired and template DNA molecules. Dissolution of a dHJ is a highly efficient and concerted alternative to nucleolytic resolution that prevents crossing over of chromosomes during recombinational DNA repair in mitotic cells and thereby contributes to genomic integrity