Underfunding, according to the new Adaptation Gap Report 2023. I’m unprepared. ” According to a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report released on November 2, ahead of the COP 28 climate change talks (November 30-December 12) in Dubai, adaptation finance for developing countries is The need is more than 50% higher than the adaptation financing needs of countries around the world. Previous estimates put the size at “10 to 18 times larger than international public financial flows.”
“We are in an adaptation emergency. We must act as such and take steps now to close the adaptation gap,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message. Stated.
As a result of growing adaptation financing needs and insufficient flows, the current adaptation financing gap is estimated at between $194 billion and $366 billion annually. Therefore, adaptation planning and implementation appears to have reached a plateau. This failure to adapt has significant consequences for loss and damage, especially for the most vulnerable.
“[The] growing influence [of climate change in 2023] Tell us that the world urgently needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and step up adaptation efforts to protect vulnerable people,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “Neither is happening.”
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“Even if the international community stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, climate change would take decades to reverse. I therefore urge policymakers to heed the Adaptation Gap Report. I strongly recommend that you do so. [and] We will strengthen our finances,” she added.
The report’s newly updated estimates show that the financial needs for adaptation in developing countries are even higher. It is estimated to be in the central range of $215 billion per year to $387 billion per year over this decade, and is projected to increase significantly by 2050. However, official multilateral and bilateral adaptation financing flows to developing countries fell by 15% in 2018 to $21 billion. 2021. This drop came despite a promise made at COP 26 in Glasgow to provide $40 billion in annual adaptation financing support by 2025.
The report further notes that neither the goal of doubling 2019 international financial flows to developing countries by 2025, nor the possible new collective quantitative targets for 2030, will themselves increase the adaptation finance gap. It is pointed out that it is not possible to fill in the gap significantly.
Wasabi boosts brain power in older people: study
Fresh wasabi rhizome. | Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
A recent study by a team of Japanese researchers found that wasabi has (root Mustard (belonging to the same family as wasabi and wasabi) is a traditional Japanese spice containing 6-methylsulfinylhexyl isothiocyanate (6-MSITC), which is known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Improves cognitive function in healthy adults. The results of this study, a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, were published in the latest issue of the journal. nutrientsa peer-reviewed journal.
Researchers investigated the effects of 12 weeks of wasabi consumption in older adults. They hypothesized that taking 6-MSITC (as a pill) would improve working and episodic memory, inhibitory capacity, and processing speed in older adults.
The Japanese versions of the “Frontal Assessment Battery” and “Mini-Mental State Exam,” along with the “Geriatric Depression Scale,” were used to screen participants’ baseline cognitive function.
The participants were between 60 and 80 years old (mean age 65) and had no history of diabetes, psychiatric disorders, heart disease, or cranial nerve disease. They were right-handed native Japanese speakers, primarily female, and had no known food allergies. They were randomly assigned to the 6-MSITC group or the placebo group.
Post-intervention assessments were conducted using standardized cognitive assessment methods, including symbol search, digit symbol coding, Stroop task, digit cancellation task, and colored progressive matrix task.
In this publication, we reported that episodic and working memory functions were improved in older adults after 12 weeks of supplementation with 6-MSITC. However, this was not found to improve other cognitive functions.
According to the researchers, mechanisms by which 6-MSITC may act include reducing inflammation and oxidant levels in the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory function. Reducing levels of oxidants and inflammation in the brain may also improve brain functions such as neuroplasticity.
Cork bottle interface is the key to wine storage
A typical wine storage facility. | Photo credit: PNAS Nexus, November 2023
The aging potential of wine stored in bottles is primarily related to its inherent molecular composition, especially the collective antioxidant properties of low molecular weight biochemicals. Therefore, wine bottles are fixed with stoppers to prevent the wine from oxidizing. However, controlled hypoxic uptake is also usually required for wine to evolve and acquire optimal sensory properties. An important step in improving wine quality is being able to determine the appropriate amount of oxygen required.
Premium wines reach their optimal organoleptic properties through aging periods ranging from months to years or even decades. Therefore, the shelf life of bottled wine is an important consideration in the wine industry, which relies primarily on storage using microagglomerated cork (tightly bonded cork grains less than 2 mm in size). I am.
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Among the works recently published in magazines Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Nexus, A team of French researchers has demonstrated that the glass-cork interface is the main pathway for oxygen to enter bottled wine.
In this study, we investigated the evolution of oxygen diffusion properties of a bottleneck stopper system under conditions simulating the storage of wine in bottles. It was found that the oxygen diffusion coefficient of the stopper alone did not change regardless of storage conditions. The position of the bottle, vertical (cork in contact with the gas phase of the model wine) or horizontal (cork in contact with the liquid phase) during 24 months of storage did not affect oxygen transfer.
At 20 °C, we found that the glass-cork interface accounted for almost 75 percent of the total oxygen transfer compared to cork studied without model wine. At higher storage temperatures (35 and 50 °C), the oxidation barrier properties of the bottleneck cork system were stable for up to 9 and 3 months, respectively. Beyond this period, an increase in migration at the glass-cork interface was observed.
