INFORMATION:
Water meters help scientists quantify river runoff at third pole
2021-06-24
(Press-News.org) The Third Pole centered on the Tibetan Plateau is home to the headwaters of multiple rivers in Asia. Despite the importance of these rivers, scientists have not known exactly how much water flows out of the mountains of the Third Pole as river runoff.
Now, however, researchers from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have quantified the total river runoff of 13 major rivers in the region.
The study was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and was based on data from an observational network of "water meters" at mountain outlets in the Third Pole.
The network generates comprehensive discharge data for 13 major Third Pole rivers and was established by Pan-TPE, a research program under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The water meters integrate both ground-based observations and numerical simulations.
"Monitoring changes in river runoff at mountain outlets in the Third Pole is particularly important because rivers in this region support millions of people in Asia and are very sensitive to climate change," said Prof. WANG Lei from ITP, lead author of the study.
Using data from the network, the scientists made the first-ever estimate of annual total river runoff for the 13 Third Pole rivers. The results, for 2018, peg total runoff at 656 ± 23 billion m3.
The scientists also found that the annual readings of the water meters varied widely among the different rivers, ranging from 2 to 176 billion m3. The higher values mainly corresponded to rivers in the Indian monsoon domain in the southern Third Pole, rather than in the westerly domain in the northern Third Pole.
Readings from these water meters offer valuable information about regional water resources. They also provide information relevant to hazard risk management. This is particularly important in the context of climate change since river runoff has significantly changed as a result of increasingly rapid snow and glacial melting in the region.
"We also plan to collect and process data for major rivers in the region prior to 2018 and improve the accuracy of discharge estimates, so that better cryosphere-hydrology models can be built for different river basins across the Third Pole," said Prof. YAO Tandong, co-author of the study and chief scientist at Pan-TPE.
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Smooth muscle overexpression of PGC1α attenuates atherosclerosis in rabbits
2021-06-24
In a new study published in Circulation Research, Chen-Yu Zhang and Xiaohong Jiang's group from Nanjing University and Dongjin Wang's group from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital reported a critical role of PGC1α in maintaining the contractile phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and highlighted the therapeutic potential of PGC1α for atherosclerosis.
The traditional view holds that aberrant proliferation of VSMCs promotes plaque formation after vessel injury and inflammation, whereas the presence of VSMCs in the fibrous cap of the plaque is beneficial. Although it has long been assumed that these seemingly contradictory functions of VSMCs during atherosclerosis arise from their remarkable ...
'Fight or flight' discovery in sleepwalkers paves way to new understanding of phenomenon
2021-06-24
Somnambulism - otherwise known as sleepwalking - is a phenomenon which has fascinated the public and neurologists for decades, but a lot of what causes it remains a mystery.
Affecting up to 4% of adults, sleepwalking is a non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep parasomnia that not only gives someone a poor night's sleep, but also puts them at serious risk of injury and, in some cases, lead to unintended violence against others.
The following day can also prove challenging as the sleepwalker will feel unrested and a strong desire to fall asleep (somnolence).
Unfortunately ...
'Subterranean estuaries' crucial to sustainable fishing and aquaculture industries
2021-06-24
Pioneering research, led by a team from Trinity College Dublin and the Marine Research Institute of the Spanish Research Council (IIM-CSIC) in Vigo (Galicia, Spain), suggests "subterranean estuaries" may be critical in managing sustainable fishing and aquaculture - two growing industries of global importance.
Subterranean estuaries are analogous to surface water estuaries, where freshwater flowing out to sea mixes with seawater, but are instead located underground, invisible to the naked eye. Yet the newly published research shows these hidden features are very important in the ecology of coastal systems and in filtering pollutants - some of which ...
A hidden driver of food insecurity and environmental crisis that we cannot ignore
2021-06-24
The cultivated planet is withstanding record-breaking pressure to ensure food security. To meet the rising demand of food, energy, and fiber, a 70%-100% increase in crop commodities will be needed globally by 2050. However, rapid urbanization and industrialization have caused dramatic loss of high-quality cropland and hence threatened food security. To stabilize cropland area, cropland expansion to marginal lands has become a widespread phenomenon worldwide. This study developed a systems framework to represent the trade-off among crop yield, production, and environmental cost, according to the competitive relationship of production, settlement, and ecological space and the link of "land - food - environment - policy". Using China as a case study, the authors ...
Mini-brains reveal cause of rare syndromes
2021-06-24
The rarity of these syndromes, caused by damage to a gene named HUWE1, means very few children are affected. Of course, the low absolute numbers are little consolation for children who are born with a severe intellectual disability as a result of gene mutation.
Many affected children have distinctive facial features, some struggle to learn to walk, and many never learn to speak. Some have an abnormally small head and have stunted growth.
There is no cure. Parents mainly focus on learning enough about how to cope to make everyday life workable.
A lot ...
Potato and rice protein shakes may be a viable vegan alternative to whey protein shakes
2021-06-24
A study from the Centre for Nutraceuticals at the University of Westminster found that plant-based protein shakes may be potential viable alternatives to milk-based whey protein shakes, particularly in people with need of careful monitoring of glucose levels.
The study, published in the journal Nutrients, is the first to show potato and rice proteins can be just as effective at managing your appetite and can help better manage blood glucose levels and reduce spikes in insulin compared to whey protein.
During the study the blood metabolic response of participants was measured after ...
Immunologists discover new trick used by MRSA superbug -- may aid vaccine development
2021-06-24
New research has uncovered a novel trick employed by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus to thwart the immune response, raising hopes that a vaccine that prevents deadly MRSA infections is a little closer on the horizon.
Immunologists from Trinity College Dublin, working with scientists at GSK - one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers - discovered the new trick of the troublesome Staphylococcus aureus, which is the causative agent of the infamous "superbug" MRSA.
They found that the bacterium interferes with the host immune response by causing toxic effects on white blood cells, which prevents them from engaging in their infection-fighting jobs.
Importantly, the study also showed in a pre-clinical ...
COVID-19 origins still a mystery
2021-06-24
Scientists using computer modelling to study SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, have discovered the virus is most ideally adapted to infect human cells - rather than bat or pangolin cells, again raising questions of its origin.
In a paper published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, Australian scientists describe how they used high-performance computer modelling of the form of the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the beginning of the pandemic to predict its ability to infect humans and a range of 12 domestic and exotic animals.
Their work aimed to help identify any intermediate animal vector that ...
Improving uniformity and quality of care for people undergoing intra-articular injection
2021-06-24
Although IAT is commonly performed, there is variation in how, why, and where it is done. EULAR aimed to help standardise the way IAT is delivered, and explain to people what they can expect from the treatment. A EULAR taskforce was set up to develop a set of new recommendations to give guidance and advice on best practice for IAT.
The taskforce included doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other health professionals, as well as patients. The taskforce looked at the evidence on IAT. Because there is little published evidence, the taskforce also conducted two surveys ...
Russian forests are crucial to global climate mitigation
2021-06-24
Russia is the world's largest forest country. Being home to more than a fifth of forests globally, the country's forests and forestry have enormous potential to contribute to making a global impact in terms of climate mitigation. A new study by IIASA researchers, Russian experts, and other international colleagues have produced new estimates of biomass contained in Russian forests, confirming a substantial increase over the last few decades.
Since the dissolution of the USSR, Russia has been reporting almost no changes in its forests, while data obtained ...