Therapeutic Role of Shwasa Kuthar Rasa in the Management of Tamaka Shwasa (Bronchial Asthma): A Single Group Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Bronchial Asthma is a disease of airways that is characterized by hyper-responsiveness of the tracheobronchial tree to a variety of stimuli resulting in widespread spasmodic narrowing of the airway. According to WHO 2016, Asthma affects 235 million people worldwide, out of which 15-20 million people are from India. In India, the prevalence of self-reported asthma is 2% among women aged 15-49 years and 1% among young women aged 15-19 years as well as men aged 15-49 years as per the latest report. Prevalence of asthma is more in urban areas than rural area as due to smoke, pollution and environmental factor. In Ayurveda Bronchial Asthma has a high resemblance with Tamaka Shwasa which comes under Pranavaha Srotas. It is described in Brihatrayee as well as Laghutrayee. Acharya Charak and Sushruta has given detailed description of Tamaka Shwasa. Aim and Objectives: To study the effect of shwasa kuthar rasa in the management of (bronchial asthma) and to find out an effective Ayurvedic medicine for Tamaka Shwasa (Bronchial Asthma). Material and Methods: For this open clinical study, 10 patients of Tamak Shwasa (bronchial asthma) were registered from OPD of Kayachikitsa department and admitted in IPD of Pt. Khushilal Govt (Auto.) Ayurveda Hospital Bhopal. The patient was treated with Shwasa Kuthar Rasa. Duration of study was 30 days and follow up was done after completion of trial every week for 1 month, assessment was done on the basis of symptomatic relief and increase the range of FEV1 and FVC value after treatment. Observation: yielded symptomatic relief after treatment. The overall effect of the treatment in patient suggested that, there is 87.50 % relief in cough (Kasa), 90.01% relief in dyspnoea (Shwasakashta), 93.37% relief in chest tightness (Urashool) and 74.99% relief in wheezing (Ghurghurak) and value of FEV1 and FVC were increased up to 22.29% & 24.43% after treatment. Conclusion: On the basis of result obtained, it can be concluded that Shwasa Kuthar Rasa can be used as an effective medicine in the management of (Bronchial asthma). Key words: Tamaka Shwasa, Bronchial Asthma, Shwasa Kuthar Rasa.

Isotopic signatures of methane emissions from tropical fires, agriculture and wetlands: the MOYA and ZWAMPS flights

We report methane isotopologue data from aircraft and ground measurements in Africa and South America. Aircraft campaigns sampled strong methane fluxes over tropical papyrus wetlands in the Nile, Congo and Zambezi basins, herbaceous wetlands in Bolivian southern Amazonia, and over fires in African woodland, cropland and savannah grassland. Measured methane δ 13 C CH 4 isotopic signatures were in the range −55 to −49‰ for emissions from equatorial Nile wetlands and agricultural areas, but widely −60 ± 1‰ from Upper Congo and Zambezi wetlands. Very similar δ 13 C CH 4 signatures were measured over the Amazonian wetlands of NE Bolivia (around −59‰) and the overall δ 13 C CH 4 signature from outer tropical wetlands in the southern Upper Congo and Upper Amazon drainage plotted together was −59 ± 2‰. These results were more negative than expected. For African cattle, δ 13 C CH 4 values were around −60 to −50‰. Isotopic ratios in methane emitted by tropical fires depended on the C3 : C4 ratio of the biomass fuel. In smoke from tropical C3 dry forest fires in Senegal, δ 13 C CH 4 values were around −28‰. By contrast, African C4 tropical grass fire δ 13 C CH 4 values were −16 to −12‰. Methane from urban landfills in Zambia and Zimbabwe, which have frequent waste fires, had δ 13 C CH 4 around −37 to −36‰. These new isotopic values help improve isotopic constraints on global methane budget models because atmospheric δ 13 C CH 4 values predicted by global atmospheric models are highly sensitive to the δ 13 C CH 4 isotopic signatures applied to tropical wetland emissions. Field and aircraft campaigns also observed widespread regional smoke pollution over Africa, in both the wet and dry seasons, and large urban pollution plumes. The work highlights the need to understand tropical greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the goals of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, and to help reduce air pollution over wide regions of Africa. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Rising methane: is warming feeding warming? (part 2)'.

Assessment of Smoke Pollution Caused by Wildfires in the Baikal Region (Russia)

Climate change has increased the prevalence of wildfires, resulting in longer fire seasons and larger geographic area burned. The aim of this work was to assess the air pollution and health risk to the population caused during exposure to smoke in fire season. The study design included: an analysis of long-term air pollution to determine background levels; an analysis of short-term (<24 h) and subchronic (10–14 days) concentrations during wildfires; and an assessment of the health risk in the industrial center of the Baikal region (Russia). In Irkutsk, at a distance of 2000 km from the fire focal points, the maximum short-term concentrations of pollution were noted during the smoke period, when the average CO level increased 2.4 times, and PM1 increased 1.4 times relative to the background levels in August 2021. In Bratsk, located near the fires, the increases in short-term concentrations were: CO—21.0; SO2—13.0; formaldehyde—12.0; TPM—4.4 times. The hazard indices of respiratory and coronary diseases in the burning period exceeded the acceptable level. Acute reactions to smoke can be expected in 30% of the exposed population near fires and 11% in remote areas (Bratsk). The results obtained from the remote sensing of atmospheric smoke can be used to urgently resolve the issue of organizing medical assistance or evacuating the population groups most sensitive to the effects of smoke in fire season.

Implementation of Land Procurement for Public Green Open Space Development in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia

The provision of land to build green open spaces in urban areas as in the city of Yogyakarta is important considering that the increasing activities of urban communities will cause various environmental problems, such as an increase in vehicle smoke pollution, a decrease in the quality and quantity of groundwater, flooding, and so on. This study aims to determine how the implementation of land acquisition for the construction of public green open space in Yogyakarta City and the obstacles that arise in land acquisition for the construction of public green open space. This research is a type of empirical juridical research, which begins with understanding the legal rules or norms governing green open spaces in urban areas. Because of the limited land available to build this Public Urban Green Space, what the Yogyakarta City Government does is one of the ways to acquire land to build Public Urban Green Space is to buy people's land as allowed in the Land Acquisition Law and its implementing regulations.

Air pollution, human health and climate change: Newspaper coverage of Australian bushfires

We examine 512 Australian newspaper articles published over a 5-year period (2016 to 2021) that report on air pollution due to bushfire smoke and resulting human health impacts. We analyze to what extent these articles provide information on the possible range of negative health impacts due to bushfire smoke pollution, and to what extent they report on climate change as a driver behind increased bushfire risk. A temporary surge in articles in our sample occurs during the unusually severe 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. However, most articles are limited to general statements about the health impacts of bushfire smoke, with only 50 articles in the sample (9%) mentioning an explicit link between bushfire smoke inhalation and cardiovascular and respiratory problems or increases in mortality risk. 148 of the 512 articles in the sample (29%) established a connection between bushfire risk and climate change. We carry out a further keyword analysis to identify differences in reporting by Australia’s two main publishing groups (News Corp Australia and Nine Entertainment), which shows that articles in News Corp Australia outlets offered the lowest climate change coverage. We suggest that more detailed communication strategies are needed to strengthen public preparedness for future impacts.

Physiological and transcriptome analysis of Magnolia denudata leaf buds during long-term cold acclimation

Background Magonlia denudata is an important perennial tree species of the Magnoliaceae family, known for its ornamental value, resistance to smoke pollution and wind, role in air purification, and robust cold tolerance. In this study, a high-throughput transcriptome analysis of leaf buds was performed, and gene expression following artificial acclimation 22 °C, 4 °C and 0 °C, was compared by RNA sequencing. Results Over 426 million clean reads were produced from three libraries (22 °C, 4 °C and 0 °C). A total of 74,503 non-redundant unigenes were generated, with an average length of 1173.7 bp (N50 = 1548). Based on transcriptional results, 357 and 235 unigenes were identified as being upregulated and downregulated under cold stress conditions, respectively. Differentially expressed genes were annotated using Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses. The transcriptomic analysis focused on carbon metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction associated with cold acclimation. Transcription factors such as those in the basic helix-loop-helix and AP2/ERF families were found to play an important role in M. denudata cold acclimation. Conclusion M. denudata exhibits responses to non-freezing cold temperature (4 °C) to increase its cold tolerance. Cold resistance was further strengthened with cold acclimation under freezing conditions (0 °C). Cold tolerance genes, and cold signaling transcriptional pathways, and potential functional key components for the regulation of the cold response were identified in M. denudata. These results provide a basis for further studies, and the verification of key genes involved in cold acclimation responses in M. denudata lays a foundation for developing breeding programs for Magnoliaceae species.

Fire-weather interaction fed the 2020 western USA gigafire

Wildfires threaten human lives, destroy infrastructure, disrupt economic activity, and damage ecosystem services. A record-breaking gigafire event ravaged the western United States (USA) in mid-September 2020, burning 1.2 million acres (4,900 km2) in Oregon and California, and resulting in severe smoke pollution with daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations over 300 µg/m3 for multiple days in many cities. Although previous studies have shown that regional warming escalates wildfire in the western USA, such an unprecedented fire cannot be explained by climate variability alone. Here we show that the synoptic-scale feedback between the wildfires and weather played an unexpectedly important role in accelerating the spread of this fire and also trapped pollutants in the shallow boundary layer over valley cities. Specifically, we find that aerosol-radiation interaction of the smoke plumes over the Cascade Mountains enhanced the downslope winds and weakened the moisture transport, thereby forming a positive feedback loop that amplified the fires and contributed to ~54% of estimated air-pollution related deaths. Our study underscores the complexity of the Earth system and the importance of understanding fundamental mechanisms to effectively mitigate disaster risks in a changing climate.

Ecology in Victorian Literature

Ecology, as a topic in studies of Victorian literature, is both longstanding and new. As recently as 2015, scholars were lamenting the field’s seemingly belated turn to ecocritical methods that had become commonplace in studies of romanticism and 19th-century US literature (Taylor 2015). Since then, as the scope of this article suggests, the prevalence of ecological approaches to Victorian literature has expanded greatly. Important forerunners tend to be premised on different assumptions than the newer studies, and, though the emerging field encompasses a variety of interests and approaches, it can be said to exhibit three overall defining characteristics that distinguish it from the ecocritical traditions of other fields: (1) a focus on social and anthropogenic natures; (2) a global, imperial, and systematic framework; and 3) an ethical investment in revealing the connections between 19th-century environmental transformations and environmental crises today. This last quality, above all, separates recent work from essential precursors, such as Raymond Williams’s The Country and the City (1973) and Gillian Beer’s Darwin’s Plots (1983), both of which remain dazzlingly insightful. Perhaps it is unsurprising that literature of the Victorian period, written in the immediate aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, would focus less on the disappearing pastoral of romantic literature and more on the nature-culture formations and anthropogenic assemblages of the modern world, making Victorian ecocriticism less immediately visible as a separate school of interpretation. The fog of Victorian London is one of the most iconic natural images of the era, for example, but only recently has ecocritical scholarship fully conveyed its roots in coal smoke pollution. Similarly, while we have long understood that the literature of the British Empire is formally as well as thematically attuned to interconnection, we have not always appreciated how this capacity also extends to its environmental understanding. The Victorian shockwave of Darwinian theory, which revealed the endless mutability and profound interrelation of species, together with new communication and transportation networks enabled by steam power, integrated the world into a continuous epistemological whole and simultaneously integrated humans into a natural world from which they had long held themselves apart. These new ecological understandings inspired thinkers like John Ruskin and William Morris to develop an environmentalist politics premised on averting the worst excesses of industrial capitalism, but such resistance could, arguably, only soften the blows. Taken together, Victorian literature bears witness, then, to the strange twin birth of “ecology,” a word coined in 1866, and global environmental crisis.

How Hospitals Respond to Wildfires

A new study tracks intensive care unit admissions after periods of wildfire smoke pollution. A prolonged or severe smoke event has the potential to strain hospital resources.