Our changing atmosphere: evidence based on long-term infrared solar observations at the Jungfraujoch since 1950.

The Institute of Astrophysics of the University of Liège has been present at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, since the late 1940s, to perform spectrometric solar observations under dry and weakly polluted high-mountain conditions. Several solar atlases of photometric quality, extending altogether from the near-ultra-violet to the middle-infrared, were produced between 1956 and 1994, first with grating spectrometers then with Fourier transform instruments. During the early 1970s, scientific concerns emerged about atmospheric composition changes likely to set in as a consequence of the growing usage of nitrogen-containing agricultural fertilisers and the industrial production of chlorine-bearing compounds such as the chlorofluorocarbons and hydro-chlorofluorocarbons.

Endoscopic resection of an endobronchial hypernephroma metastasis using a polypectomy snare.

A 69 yr old male patient developed an acute respiratory distress. The emergency bronchoscopic examination showed a polypoid tumour obstructing the left main bronchus. A snare used for colorectal polypectomy was introduced through the bronchofibrescope to remove the tumour.