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Satellite National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) thermal data and well observations in Kamchatka peninsula, Far East, Russia were analysed together. Thermal anomalies arising as a reaction to three strong earthquakes were recorded. Water temperature, debit and hydrogen ion exponent (pH) changes were observed as a response on seismic events. Joint analysis indicates similarity in reaction of both satellite and ground observations on earthquakes. The model of litho-atom-ionospheric coupling in seismic processes is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood is a fluid connective tissue of human body, where it plays vital functions for the nutrition, defense and well-being of the organism. When circulating in peripheral districts, it is exposed to some physical stresses coming from outside the human body, as electromagnetic fields (EMFs) which can cross the skin. Such fields may interact with biomolecules possibly inducing non thermal-mediated biological effects at the cellular level. In this study, the occurrence of biochemical/biological modifications in human peripheral blood lympho-monocytes exposed in a reverberation chamber for times ranging from 1 to 20 h to EMFs at 1.8 GHz frequency and 200 V/m electric field strength was investigated. Morphological analysis of adherent cells unveiled, in some of these, appearance of an enlarged and deformed shape after EMFs exposure. Raman spectra of the nuclear compartment of cells exposed to EMFs revealed the onset of biochemical modifications, mainly consisting in the reduction of the DNA backbone-linked vibrational modes. Respirometric measurements of mitochondrial activity in intact lympho-monocytes resulted in increase of the resting oxygen consumption rate after 20 h of exposure, which was coupled to a significant increase of the FoF1-ATP synthase-related oxygen consumption. Notably, at lower time-intervals of EMFs exposure (i.e. 5 and 12 h) a large increase of the proton leak-related respiration was observed which, however, recovered at control levels after 20 h exposure. Confocal microscopy analysis of the mitochondrial membrane potential supported the respiratory activities whereas no significant variations in the mitochondrial mass/morphology was observed in EMFs-exposed lympho-monocytes. Finally, altered redox homeostasis was shown in EMFs-exposed lympho-monocytes, which progressed differently in nucleated cellular subsets. This results suggest the occurrence of adaptive mechanisms put in action, likely via redox signaling, to compensate for early impairments of the oxidative phosphorylation system caused by exposure to EMFs. Overall the data presented warn for health safety of people involved in long-term exposure to electromagnetic fields, although further studies are required to pinpoint the leukocyte cellular subset(s) selectively targeted by the EMFs action and the mechanisms by which it is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a joint analysis of ground-based and satellite observations of very low-frequency and low-frequency (VLF/LF) signals during periods of strong seismic activity in the region of Kuril Islands and Japan in 2004–2010. Ground and satellite data was processed using a method based on the difference between the real signal in nighttime and that of a model. The results of the analysis show a good correlation between ground-based and satellite data for several cases of strong ( M ⩾ 6.8) earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochemical modifications of single cells of human keratinocytes exposed to different concentrations of chlorpyriphos solutions were detected by means of Raman microspectroscopy. The modifications mainly consist of breakdown of amide linkage between aminoacids. Fragmentation of DNA bases and single aminoacids occurs as well. The protein and DNA damage are already detectable at a chlorpyriphos concentration value (10-6M), which is at least three orders of magnitude lower than the concentration estimated as cytotoxic (10-3M). Raman microspectroscopy technique results to be a very sensitive technique to detect molecular changes even in single human cells exposed to toxic pesticide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]