[1] The Bodélé depression of northern Chad is considered one of the world’s largest sources of atmospheric mineral dust. Mineral composition of such transported dust is essential to our understanding of climate forcing, mineralogy of dust sources, aerosol optical properties, and mineral deposition to Amazon forests. In this study we examine hyperspectral information acquired over the Bodélé by ...

Effects of simulated nitrogen (N) deposition on soil net nitrogen mineralization (NNM) were examined in situ during two growing seasons, using the resin-core technique in the semiarid meadow steppe in Inner Mongolia, China. The aim of this study is to clarify the effect of N levels (0, 10, and 20 kg N ha-1yr-1) and forms (NH4+ and NO3-) on soil mineral N and NNM. Our results showed that N level...

Electron-opaque granules are deposited in isolated rat-liver mitochondria concomitant with the energy-linked accumulation of Sr(++) by these organelles. High temperature microincineration (600 degrees C) of thin sections of mitochondria containing different amounts of Sr(++) shows that a clear qualitative correlation exists between the number of inorganic residues remaining after incineration a...

Numerous medical studies performed during the past decades (e.g. Lippmann, 1990; Heesterberg & Hart, 2001) have demonstrated that exposure to airborne mineral fibers, and especially to asbestos fibers, presents a significant health hazard. Accumulation of fibers in the lung enhances the risk of lung diseases, such as asbestosis, pneumoconiosis, and asbestos-induced lung cancer. The highest dama...

Nowadays, the treatment of osteoporosis is still a great challenge in the medical field. The combination of enhancement of osteogenesis and the inhibition of adipogenesis of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) is considered an efficient therapeutic strategy for the treatment of osteoporosis. In the present study, we investigated the effects of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) on the proliferation, osteo...

Large-scale aeolian erosion features such as pans usually develop upon a relatively homogeneous erodible sedimentary rock substratum and show simple concave morphologies. However, some erosional depressions in semi-arid to arid settings more complex geological contexts, associating basins outcrops of non-erodible basement. In basins, the geomorphic evolution is controlled by interplay between p...

Mineral dust aerosols impact Earth's radiation budget through interactions with clouds, ecosystems, and radiation, which constitutes a substantial uncertainty in understanding past and predicting future climate changes. One of the causes of this large uncertainty is that the size distribution of emitted dust aerosols is poorly understood. The present study shows that regional and global circula...