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The impacts of climate change have severely affected geosphere, biosphere and cryosphere ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The impact has been accelerating further during the last few decades due to rapid increase in anthropogenic activities such as modernization, industrialization and urbanization, along with energy demands. In view of this, the present work attempts to examine aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the HKH region using the long-term homogeneous MERRA-2 reanalysis data from January, 1980 to December, 2020. The AOD trends are examined statistically with student's t-test (t). Due to a vast landmass, fragile topography and harsh climatic conditions, we categorized the HKH region into three sub-regions, namely, the northwestern and Karakoram (HKH1), the Central (HKH2) and the southeastern Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau (HKH3). Among the sub-regions, the significant enhancement of AOD is observed at several potential sites in the HKH2 region, namely, Pokhara, Nainital, Shimla and Dehradun by 55.75 × 10 − 4 ± 3.76 × 10 − 4 , 53.15 × 10 − 4 ± 3.94 × 10 − 4 , 51.53 × 10 − 4 ± 4.99 × 10 − 4 and 39.16 × 10 − 4 ± 4.08 × 10 − 4 AOD year − 1 (550 nm), respectively, with correlation coefficients (Rs) of 0.86 to 0.93. However, at a sub-regional scale, HKH1, HKH2 and HKH3 exhibit 23.33 × 10 − 4 ± 2.28 × 10 − 4 , 32.20 × 10 − 4 ± 2.58 × 10 − 4 and 9.48 × 10 − 4 ± 1.21 × 10 − 4 AOD year − 1 , respectively. The estimated trends are statistically significant (t > 7.0) with R from 0.81 to 0.91. Seasonally, the present study also shows strong positive AOD trends at several potential sites located in the HKH2 region, such as Pokhara, Nainital, Shimla and Dehradun, with minimum 19.81 × 10 − 4 ± 3.38 × 10 − 4 to maximum 72.95 × 10 − 4 ± 4.89 × 10 − 4 AOD year − 1 with statistical significance. In addition, there are also increasing AOD trends at all the high-altitude background sites in all seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of atmospheric aerosols and clouds on the surface solar radiation and solar energy at Nainital, a high-altitude remote location in the central Gangetic Himalayan region (CGHR). For this purpose, we exploited the synergy of remote-sensed data in terms of ground-based AERONET Sun Photometer and satellite observations from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), with radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations and 1 day forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). Clouds and aerosols are one of the most common sources of solar irradiance attenuation and hence causing performance issues in the photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) plant installations. The outputs of RTM results presented with high accuracy under clear, cloudy sky and dust conditions for global horizontal (GHI) and beam horizontal irradiance (BHI). On an annual basis the total aerosol attenuation was found to be up to 105 kWh m−2 for the GHI and 266 kWh m−2 for BHI, respectively, while the cloud effect is much stronger with an attenuation of 245 and 271 kWh m−2 on GHI and BHI. The results of this study will support the Indian solar energy producers and electricity handling entities in order to quantify the energy and financial losses due to cloud and aerosol presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other tobacco-related products are becoming widely popular as alternatives to tobacco, little has been published on the knowledge of healthcare workers about their use. Thus, the aim of this study was to elicit the current knowledge and perceptions about e-cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction (THR) among medical residents in public health (MRPH)., Material and Methods: A Europe-wide cross-sectional study was carried out amongst MRPH from the countries associated with the European Network of MRPH from April to October 2018 using an online questionnaire., Results: 256 MRPHs agreed to participate in the survey. Approximately half the participants were women (57.4%), with a median age of 30 years, and were mainly Italian (26.7%), Spanish (16.9%) and Portuguese (16.5%). Smoking prevalence was 12.9%. Overall, risk scores significantly differed for each investigated smoking product when compared with e-cigarettes; with tobacco cigarettes and snus perceived as more risky, and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and non-NRT oral medications seen as less risky ( p < 0.01 for all). Regarding the effects of nicotine on health, the vast majority of MRPHs associated nicotine with all smoking-related diseases. Knowledge of THR was low throughout the whole sample., Conclusions: European MRPH showed a suboptimal level of knowledge about e-cigarettes and THR. Training programs for public health and preventive medicine trainees should address this gap.

An isocratic, stability-indicating, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was developed for the quantitative determination of doxofylline and terbutaline sulphate, used for the treatment of respiratory problems. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Zorbax-SB Phenyl 250 × 4.6mm × 5 μm column with the mobile phase consisting of a mixture of 25 mM ammonium acetate (pH 5.0) : acetonitrile (85:15 %v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The eluate was monitored at 274 nm using a PDA detector. Forced degradation studies were performed on the bulk sample of doxofylline and terbutaline sulphate using acid (0.1N HCl), base (0.1N NaOH), oxidation (10% hydrogen peroxide), photolytic, and thermal degradation conditions. Good resolution was observed between the degradants and analytes. Degradation products resulting from the stress studies did not interfere with the detection of doxofylline and terbutaline sulphate, thus the assay is stability-indicating. The method has the requisite accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity, and precision for the simultaneous estimation of doxofylline and terbutaline sulphate in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The limit of quantitation and limit of detection were found to be 1.16 μg/ml and 0.38 μg/ml for doxofylline, 2.08 μg/ml and 0.62 μg/ml for terbutaline sulphate, respectively.