Promising behavior change techniques for climate-friendly behavior change - a systematic review.

Introduction: Besides societal and governmental actions to mitigate greenhouse gases, individual behavioral changes are also urgently needed to limit global temperature rise. However, these individual changes have proven to be difficult to achieve in the general population.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review in five electronic databases with the aim of systematically depicting the content of interventions that promote climate-friendly behavior in individuals and households in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

Environmental Burden of Disease due to Emissions of Hard Coal- and Lignite-Fired Power Plants in Germany.

The study estimated the environmental burden of disease (EBD) attributable to a long-term exposure of the population to nitrogen dioxide (NO) and fine particulate matter (PM) emissions from hard coal- and lignite-fired power plants in Germany for the year 2015. The contribution of coal-fired power plants to the total air pollutant concentration was modelled using a chemical transport model and then combined with population data to assess the corresponding population exposure. We calculated years of life lost (YLL), years of life with disability, or disability-adjusted life years for different health outcomes with a strong evidence for an association with the exposure.

Risk Perception of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Influencing Factors and Implications for Environmental Health Crises.

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and climate change are two simultaneously occurring large scale environmental health crises. This provides an opportunity to compare the risk perception of both crises in the population. In particular, whether experiencing the acute pandemic sensitizes people to the risks of ongoing climate change.

Combined inhibition of PI3Kβ and PI3Kγ reduces fat mass by enhancing α-MSH-dependent sympathetic drive.

Obesity is defined as an abnormal increase in white adipose tissue and has become a major medical burden worldwide. Signals from the brain control not only appetite but also energy expenditure, both of which contribute to body weight. We showed that genetic or pharmacological inhibition of two phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Kβ and PI3Kγ) in mice reduced fat mass by promoting increased energy expenditure.

A VASP-Rac-soluble guanylyl cyclase pathway controls cGMP production in adipocytes.

The ubiquitous second messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) plays an important role in metabolism and promotes brown adipocyte differentiation. We showed that ablation of the gene encoding vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP), a major downstream component of the cGMP signaling cascade, increased cellular cGMP content in brown and white adipocytes and mouse embryonic fibroblasts. VASP-deficient cells showed increased activation of Rac1, which in turn increased the abundance of the cGMP-producing enzyme soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), the main receptor for nitric oxide.