The Iowa Graduated Driver Licensing program: effectiveness in reducing crashes of teenage drivers

PROBLEM: Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs vary in the United States in terms of implementation and restrictions. The State of Iowa's GDL program is assessed for its effectiveness in reducing crashes among teenage drivers. METHOD: Time series analysis was used to evaluate police documented crashes involving 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old drivers over a 10 year period, with an intervention identified at the point of GDL implementation. RESULTS: After controlling for seasonal trends and auto-correlative effects, a significant reduction in the crash rate of and 16- and 17-year-old drivers was observed due to the GDL implementation. However, there were no significant reductions in crash rates for 18-year-old drivers. DISCUSSION: The analyses suggest that the Iowa GDL program is effective in reducing the crash rates of 16- and 17-year-old drivers but the effects do not sustain for 18-year-old drivers. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The results suggest that the program appears to be working, however further analysis is needed to determine what factors are preventing lasting effects for these teenage drivers.     

Evaluation of solubility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ethyl lactate/water versus ethanol/water mixtures for contaminated soil remediation applications

Solubility data of recalcitrant contaminants in cosolvents is essential to determine their potential applications in enhanced soil remediation. The solubilities of phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene in ethyl lactate/water and ethanol/water mixtures were measured using equilibrium techniques. The cosolvency powers derived from solubility data were then applied to the model developed from the solvophobic approach to predict the capability of ethyl lactate and ethanol in enhancing the desorption of contaminants from soils. Both ethyl lactate and ethanol cosolvents were shown to be able to enhance the solubilisation of the tested four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by > 4 orders of magnitude above the levels obtained with water alone. However, ethyl lactate demonstrated a greater capacity to enhance PAH solubility than ethanol. The cosolvency powers of ethyl lactate/water system obtained from the end-to-end slope (σ) and the end-to-half slope (σ_0.5) of the solubilisation curve were 1.0--1.5 and 2.0--2.9 higher than ethanol/water system respectively. In line with this, ethyl lactate/water was demonstrated to enhance the desorption of contaminants from soil by 20%--37% and 18%--61% higher compared to ethanol/water system in low organic content and high organic content soils respectively, with a 2:1 (V/W) ratio of solution:soil and with cosolvent fraction as low as 0.4. With the exception of benzo[a]pyrene, the experimental desorption results agreed fairly with the predicted values, under an applied solution:soil ratio that was enough to hold the capacity of released contaminants.     

Three-dimensional biogenic C-doped Bi2MoO6/In2O3-ZnO Z-scheme heterojunctions derived from a layered precursor

Novel 3D biogenic C-doped Bi_2 MoO_6/In_2O_3-ZnO Z-scheme heterojunctions were synthesized for the first time, using cotton fiber as template. The as-prepared samples showed excellent adsorption and photodegradation performance toward the hazardous antibiotic doxycycline under simulated sunlight irradiation. The morphology, phase composition and in situ carbon doping could be precisely controlled by adjusting processing parameters. The carbon doping in Bi_2 MoO_6/In_2O_3-ZnO was derived from the cotton template, and the carbon content could be varied in the range 0.9–4.4 wt.% via controlling the heat treatment temperature. The sample with Bi_2 MoO_6/In_2O_3-ZnO molar ratio of 1:2 and carbon content of1.1 wt.% exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity toward doxycycline degradation,which was 3.6 and 4.3 times higher than those of pure Bi_2 MoO_6 and Zn In Al-CLDH(calcined layered double hydroxides), respectively. It is believed that the Z-scheme heterojunction with C-doping, the 3D hierarchically micro–meso–macro porous structure, as well as the high adsorption capacity, contributed significantly to the enhanced photocatalytic activity.     

Lobar holoprosencephaly: prenatal MR diagnosis with postnatal MR correlation

Holoprosencephaly is a congenital anomaly characterized by lack of cleavage of the prosencephalon. Although, relatively rare, it is the most common anomaly that involves both the brain and the face. Prenatal diagnosis of this anomaly using ultrasonography, particularly of the less severe forms, is difficult. Magnetic resonance imaging has recently become an important complement to US in prenatal diagnosis of CNS anomalies. We herein report a patient in whom, at 23 weeks of gestation, US suggested agenesis of the corpus callosum and in whom, at 24 weeks of gestation, MRI correctly diagnosed lobar holoprosencephaly, which was confirmed by a postnatal MRI at 3 weeks of age. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Role of amniotic fluid interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis in patient management

We retrospectively reviewed 309 amniotic fluid interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses performed from October 1995 to June 1999 to assess the role of interphase FISH in the management of patients at increased risk for fetal aneuploidies. Gestational age and indications for amniocentesis, clinical interventions after FISH results, as well as interventions after final culture reports were analyzed. There were 244 (79%) normal, 50 (16%) abnormal and 15 (5%) inconclusive FISH results. There were no false-positive or false-negative results, but there were nine (3%) clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities not detectable by FISH. Of the 50 women with abnormal FISH results, 26 (52%) elected to terminate the pregnancy prior to the availability of the standard chromosome analysis. In two of the fetuses with trisomy 21 no abnormalities were reported by ultrasound examination. Our experience indicates that interphase FISH results played an important role in decision making, especially for pregnancies close to 24 weeks' gestation. Standard karyotype analysis is still required for detection of chromosome abnormalities not detectable by interphase FISH techniques and for clarification of unusual or inconclusive FISH results. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The economic impact of sea-level rise on nonmarket lands in Singapore

Sea-level rise, as a result of climate change, will likely inflict considerable economic consequences on coastal regions, particularly low-lying island states like Singapore. Although the literature has addressed the vulnerability of developed coastal lands, this is the first economic study to address nonmarket lands, such as beaches, marshes and mangrove estuaries. This travel cost and contingent valuation study reveals that consumers in Singapore attach considerable value to beaches. The contingent valuation study also attached high values to marshes and mangroves but this result was not supported by the travel cost study. Although protecting nonmarket land uses from sea-level rise is expensive, the study shows that at least highly valued resources, such as Singapore's popular beaches, should be protected.     

山西省循环流化床粉煤灰环境风险评估及管控建议

为服务山西省循环流化床粉煤灰环境管理,本文在对全省循环流化床锅炉粉煤灰调查的基础上,选取典型粉煤灰开展了物理化学性质及污染物赋存及浸出特征研究,开展了不同暴露途径的环境风险评估,提出了环境风险管控建议.结果表明,循环流化床粉煤灰堆存对土壤和地下水无致癌风险,但具有一定的危害性,需强化堆存规范性、着力源头减量、拓宽综合利...     

性别和暴露时间对全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）暴露后斑马鱼基因表达的影响

全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）是全氟和聚氟烷基物质（PFASs）人造类别中的一员,是全世界在水体、人类、哺乳动物和鱼类中最常检测到的PFAS之一。斑马鱼（Danio rerio）是一种小型淡水鱼类,被认为是研究化合物毒性的合适的脊椎动物模型。先前的研究表明,雄性和雌性斑马鱼中脂肪酸结合蛋白（fabps）的组织特异性生物蓄积和表达的改变可能是由于PFAS和脂肪酸转运体之间的相互作用。此外,有报道显示人类和动物暴露于PFAS后导致神经系统的影响。因此,本研究旨在探讨PFOS暴露是否影响斑马鱼肝脏、肠道、心脏和卵巢脂肪酸代谢相关基因（fabp1a、fabp2和fabp10a）,以及大脑和肌肉中涉及神经系统的基因（ChAT、ngf、bdnf、AChE和hdac6）的表达。结果表明,与脂肪酸代谢和神经功能相关的基因表达随暴露浓度和性别的变化而变化。此外,我们的发现强调了这些基因的表达随暴露时间的不同而不同。我们的研究结果将PFOS作用的知识基础扩展到其他组织,而不是仅限于研究较为透彻的肝脏。这项调查结果为今后研究PFOS作为环境中最丰富的PFAS之一的潜在风险提供了依据。