Last month was the world’s record-breaking October, the EU’s weather watchdog said on Wednesday, as months of exceptional heat are expected to make 2023 the record year.
As temperatures exceed previous averages exceptionally, scientists say pressure on world leaders over greenhouse pollutants linked to global warming has never been more pressing as they prepare to gather in Dubai for the climate convention UNCOP28 this month, AFP said.
Drought ravaged parts of the United States and Mexico in October, while giant swaths of the planet experienced wetter than general conditions, related to storms and cyclones, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.
Sea surface temperatures hit the month’s record, a phenomenon caused by global warming that scientists say plays a key role in making storms more ferocious and destructive.
“October 2023 was marked by exceptional temperature anomalies, after four months of breaking global temperature records,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
“We can say with almost certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year ever recorded and that it is 1. 43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average of late. The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action ahead of COP28 has never been greater. “
In the historic Paris Agreement, some 200 countries set out to restrict global warming to just under two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times and preferably to a safer level of 1. 5°C.
These temperature thresholds will be measured as averages over several decades rather than a single year.
This year also saw the onset of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which is warming the waters of the South Pacific and causing warmer weather in the future; Scientists expect the worst effects to be felt by the end of 2023 and next year.
October is 1. 7°C warmer than the estimated average for October in the pre-industrial era, Copernicus said.
Global average temperatures since January have been the same as since 1940, the monitor added, registering 1. 43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average from 1850 to 1900.
Beyond those official records, scientists say indirect weather data going back to earlier times (such as tree rings or ice cores) suggest that this year’s temperatures could be unprecedented in human history, potentially the warmest in more than 100,000 years.
‘Uncharted territory’
Average sea surface temperatures for the month of the polar regions also reached a record high for the month of October, at 20. 79°C.
According to scientists, the oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat produced by human activity since the beginning of the commercial era.
The warming of the oceans is linked to the increased intensity of typhoons and the melting of the ice shelves that protect the vast Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, threatening destructive sea level rise.
An environment also maintains more humidity, resulting in more rainfall.
Leaders gathered in the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 convention from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 will have to respond to a damning report on the progress of the Paris global commitments after early clinical reports made clear the world is out of the way.
A temperature of just under 1. 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial degrees has triggered a series of extreme, calamitous and costly weather events.
This year, many people around the world have faced heat waves and droughts, while severe flooding has hit the United States, China, India and beyond.
The report warns that humanity has entered “uncharted territory” with warming threatening the Earth.
Leader William Ripple, a professor at Oregon State University, said average annual temperatures will most likely start to register above 1. 5°C.
“As warming continues, we face increasing danger from amplified weather commentary cycles and tilt issues such as melting polar ice caps and forest dieback,” he said.
“Once overcome, those tipping issues may also simply adjust our climate into tactics that would possibly be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. “
From the 1910s to the early 1930s, the Art Deco era was popular in Europe after its origin in France. It was a taste that represented luxury, glamour and wealthy exuberance, according to the Daily Mail.
Now, a new exhibition in London includes some of the most iconic advertising posters of the era. One of them, dating back to 1910, features an earlier edition of the famous Bonhomme Michelin, the mascot of the French tyre company of the same name.
Another highlights the automotive prowess of France’s leading automaker, Renault, at its peak in the 1920s. Also on display is a 1933 London Underground advertisement for Hyde Park, featuring depictions of the well-dressed categories.
Other posters in the exhibition advertise the pleasures of places like Australia, Nice and Swiss ski resorts. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with London’s AntikBar gallery, opens Saturday at the forty-fifth Park Lane luxury hotel.
Kirill Kalinin, founder of AntikBar, said: “We are very happy to display such exceptional and rare old posters in such an iconic Art Deco-inspired hotel. Travel, recreation, and luxury create a great combination for such a design-driven hotel. space.
A poisonous blanket of grey smog hangs over New Delhi’s monuments and skyscrapers. Schools were closed and structures were banned. People should go back to wearing masks.
In the Indian capital, it’s that time of year again. Authorities are suffering from severe levels of air pollution, an annual and chronic health crisis that disrupts the lives of more than 20 million people in the city each year.
On Tuesday, the air quality index approached the 400 mark for tiny particulate matter, a noxious point and more than 10 times the global protection threshold, according to SAFAR, India’s most sensible environmental watchdog. This is the fifth consecutive day of bad air in the region.
“There’s too much smog. I look at the air quality index and I’m scared of this weather,” said Srinivas Rao, a guest from the state of Andhra Pradesh who wore a mask as he walked early in the morning near the city’s India Gate. Monument.
Authorities have deployed water sprays and smog guns in the haze and announced a fine of 20,000 rupees ($240) for drivers caught using smog-generating petrol and diesel cars, buses and trucks. Meanwhile, doctors begged citizens to wear masks and avoid leaving doors as much as possible, as smog can cause respiratory infections, flu and asthma attacks.
Pollution also threatens to disrupt the cricket World Cup in India after Sri Lanka had to cancel their consultation in New Delhi this weekend before facing Bangladesh on Monday at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Demand for air purifiers increased last week, media reported.
Residents like Renu Aggarwal, 55, worry the smog will worsen ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of light that includes the lighting of firecrackers, this weekend. Her daughter suffers from a pollen allergy that is made worse by pollution.
“She can’t breathe. Even if we keep the doors and windows closed in our house, pollutants still affect him so much that he even finds it difficult to go to the bathroom. And she takes her breath away,” he said.
New Delhi tops the list of many Indian cities with poor air quality almost every year, especially in winter, when the burning of crop residues in neighboring states coincides with cooler temperatures that trap harmful vapors.
The burning of crop residues at the beginning of the winter wheat planting season is one of the main causes of pollution in northern India. The government has tried to dissuade farmers by offering them monetary incentives to buy machinery to do their jobs. Burnt crops still account for 25% of pollutants in New Delhi, according to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune.
New Delhi experienced a strong accumulation of 32% of small waste in the air between 2019 and 2020, a drop of 43. 7% in 2021 and a stable accumulation in 2022 and 2023, according to Breathe Living Sciences, an organization that monitors air quality and other environmental factors.
The severe air pollutant crisis affects everyone in the city, but the millions of people who paint outdoors are even more vulnerable.
Gulshan Kumar, who drives a rickshaw, said his nose, throat and eyes were full of dirt in the air.
His children are begging him to return to his hometown in the state of Bihar. “They ask me why I work in this polluted, unsanitary city,” he says. “If I had a job at home, I wouldn’t have done it. “come to Delhi to see pictures. “
Scientists at the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research (OICR) have discovered one of the tactics in which smoking causes cancer and makes it more difficult to treat by undermining the body’s protective measures against cancer.
The new study, published in the journal Science Advances, links smoking to negative changes in DNA called “gain-prevention mutations” that tell the body to stop making certain proteins before they fully form.
Mohammed Shaaban, a researcher at Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute, described the mutations as “defective incomplete proteins” and added that “the findings are very important because they provide a greater understanding of the molecular mechanisms through which smoking contributes to development. “Cancer and its resistance to treatment.
The study found that those stop-gain mutations were specifically prevalent in genes known as “tumor suppressors,” which produce proteins that would normally prevent cell growth.
“Our study showed that smoking is linked to DNA changes that disrupt the formation of tumor suppressors,” says Nina Adler, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, who led the study in her graduate studies in Dr. Jüri Reimand’s lab at the IOCR.
“Without them, cells can continue to grow unchecked through cellular defenses and cancer can grow more easily,” he added.
Adler, Reimand and their colleagues used rugged computer equipment to analyze the DNA of more than 12,000 tumor samples from 18 other types of cancer. Their research showed a strong link between stop-and-gain mutations in lung cancer and the telltale “fingerprint” that smoking leaves in the DNA. .
The researchers then looked at whether the amount of tobacco a consumer consumed had an impact. In fact, their research showed that smoking more led to more of those destructive mutations, which in the end can make cancer more complex and harder to treat.
“Smoking excessively can make cancer more complex and difficult to treat by selling the accumulation of those mutations in cancer genomes. The more a user smokes, the more those destructive mutations increase, which can lead to cellular disruption and have effects on a must-have. “tumor suppression pathways, which makes the disease difficult to control,” Shaaban says.
This means that people who smoke excessively are not only more likely to develop cancer, but also face increased complexity of their tumors, which affects treatment outcomes, he adds.
“Tobacco damages our DNA a lot and this can have a primary impact on the functioning of our cells. Our study highlights how smoking actually deactivates critical proteins, which are the building blocks of our cells, and has an effect on this. can have on our long-term health,” Reimand said.
The study also identified other points and processes culprit in creating a large number of stop-and-gain mutations strongly linked to breast cancer and other cancers, such as poor nutrition and alcohol consumption, which are also likely to have adverse effects on DNA. However, Reimand says more data is needed to fully understand how this works.
As for smoking, Adler says the study’s findings are a vital piece of the puzzle behind one of the leading causes of cancer worldwide. “Everyone knows that smoking can cause cancer, but one of the tactics that works at the molecular level is a vital step in understanding how our way of life affects our cancer threat,” Adler says.
IOCR President and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi says this new wisdom deserves the fact that tobacco use is one of the biggest threats to our health.
“These studies may lead to the progression of new remedial methods and can be used to expand more effective tobacco control campaigns. By better understanding how smoking inactivates tumor suppressors, we can explore specific treatments to mitigate the effects of those mutations,” says Shaaban.
“This study paper opens the door to a new era of personalized cancer treatment, tailoring interventions based on an individual’s smoking history and genetic profile, which ultimately leads to more effective and accurate cancer care. “
A recent Canadian study found that a drug prescribed to treat heart failure could improve kidney and core health for people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
The effects were presented on November 4 at ASN Kidney Week 2023 organized by the American Society of Nephrology, in Philadelphia.
The study of a drug called “sotagliflozin,” which was approved by the FDA in May as a treatment for heart failure, also involved non-diabetic patients.
Sotagliflozin is a sodium-glucose-2 cotransporter (SGLT2) inhibitor, which lowers blood sugar by inhibiting glucose absorption in the kidneys and can also be used to treat diabetes 2.
Researchers have found that these drugs supply kidneys and hearts to diabetic and non-diabetic patients.
Over the course of the study, the study team observed that 10,584 patients with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular problems gained either sotagliflozin or placebo.
During a median follow-up of 16 months, the researchers found that sotagliflozin reduced glomerular filtration rate by 50% and dialysis or kidney transplantation by 38%.
They also found that, compared to placebo, sotagliflozin reduced the risk of heart and kidney problems, as well as cardiovascular disease-related deaths, by 23%.
“These effects are in addition to the previously reported benefits of sotagliflozin in heart failure and in ischemic occasions such as myocardial infarction or stroke,” said David Cherney of the University of Toronto.
“Sotagliflozin is now approved by the FDA to decrease the threat of cardiovascular death and center failure with a broad label that includes patients with center failure or chronic kidney disease. The drug is now an option for nephrologists and cardiologists, as well as the number one care physicians. . , to be prescribed,” he told the York Alert website.
Go to any gym and you might find someone walking backwards on a treadmill. While some would possibly use the opposite movement as part of a physical treatment program, others would possibly do so for their fitness and overall health, according to CNN.
“I think it’s amazing to add a little bit of backward movement to your day. Today, there are too many people and several movements are missing,” said Grayson Wickham, a physical therapist at Lux Physical Therapy and Functional Medicine in New York City.
Many studies have been done on the prospect of walking backwards. Participants who walked backwards on a treadmill for 30 minutes straight for 4 weeks improved their balance, walking pace, and cardiopulmonary fitness, according to a March 2021 study.
In addition, a decrease in body fat and improved cardiorespiratory fitness were achieved after a six-week program of running and walking backwards, according to a clinical trial whose effects were published in April 2005.
Other studies suggest that backward movement may help others with knee osteoarthritis and chronic back pain, as well as aid gait and balance.
Walking backwards can even sharpen your brain and help you be more attentive, as your brain wants to be more alert when you move in this new way. For this reason, in addition to the fact that backward movement helps with balance, older adults can especially benefit from incorporating some steps backwards into their routine, as indicated by a 2021 study of chronic stroke patients.
– Change the one you use
Why is backward movement so useful?”When you push forward, it’s a dominant hamstring movement. If you walk backwards, it’s a role reversal, where your quadriceps pull and you do knee extensions,” said Landry Estes, a qualified strength and conditioning specialist in College Station, Texas.
This way you work other muscles, which is beneficial, and you gain strength. “Strength overcomes a lot of shortcomings,” Estes said.
You also move your frame in some way. Most people spend their days living and moving in the sagittal plane (forward and backward movements), and almost exclusively in the forward sagittal plane, Wickham said.
“The frame adapts to the positions, movements, and postures that you perform most often. This can lead to strain on the muscles and joints, leading to joint compensation, then wear and tear on the joints, and then aches and pains and injuries. The more different movements we can make, to our daily activities or to the gym, the more important it is for the body,” Wickham said.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) on Sunday inaugurated the “32nd Academy” to provide education systems in line with foreign practices to expand the capacities of specialists in the research, progress and innovation sector, as well as personnel in those sectors. fields. science and technology.
The academy also trains academics interested in research, progression, and innovation.
In addition, the academy seeks to qualify and expand national frameworks to achieve sustainable impact on research, progress, and innovation through its qualitative systems and network partnerships consistent with progress plans.
The Shaheen falcon sold for a total of SAR 300,000 on the 23rd night of the auction being held in Riyadh.
It also gives many to falcon breeders.