Accuracy of amniotic fluid testing before 21 weeks' gestation in prenatal diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common cause of intrauterine infection. Recent publications show amniocentesis to have an 81–100 per cent sensitivity in antenatal diagnosis after 21 weeks' gestation. Testing before 21 weeks' gestation is less well documented. We performed 36 amniocenteses between 14 and 20 weeks' gestation. The sensitivity was 45 per cent and the specificity 100 per cent. Implications and possible causes of this low sensitivity are discussed.     

Energie-Speicherung und Methoden des Energie-Transports

The Science of Nature - Because of the sudden rise in primary-energy costs and the rapid inflation of plants which are used for the conversion of primary to secondary energy, the storage of energy,...     

Mosaicism of 46,XX/47,XX,+9/47,XX,+?mar in the same amniotic fluid with apparent loss of one cell line after delivery

A 46,XX; 47,XX,+9; 47,XX, + ?mar karyotype was detected in an amniotic fluid cell culture and confirmed in a subsequent fetal blood sample from a 40-year-old woman. After termination of the pregnancy, none of the 186 mitoses obtained from a second blood sample was trisomic for chromosome 9 (p<0.001). Selection against cells containing trisomy 9 is postulated to explain the disappearance of the lymphocyte clone.     

Research priorities for managing the impacts and dependencies of business upon food,energy, water and the environment

Delivering access to sufficient food, energy and water resources to ensure human wellbeing is a major concern for governments worldwide. However, it is crucial to account for the ‘nexus’ of interactions between these natural resources and the consequent implications for human wellbeing. The private sector has a critical role in driving positive change towards more sustainable nexus management and could reap considerable benefits from collaboration with researchers to devise solutions to some of the foremost sustainability challenges of today. Yet opportunities are missed because the private sector is rarely involved in the formulation of deliverable research priorities. We convened senior research scientists and influential business leaders to collaboratively identify the top forty questions that, if answered, would best help companies understand and manage their food-energy-water-environment nexus dependencies and impacts. Codification of the top order nexus themes highlighted research priorities around development of pragmatic yet credible tools that allow businesses to incorporate nexus interactions into their decision-making; demonstration of the business case for more sustainable nexus management; identification of the most effective levers for behaviour change; and understanding incentives or circumstances that allow individuals and businesses to take a leadership stance. Greater investment in the complex but productive relations between the private sector and research community will create deeper and more meaningful collaboration and cooperation.     

Creosote DNAPL Recovery‐Well Design for Mass Removal

Sites with dense nonaqueous‐phase liquid (DNAPL) contamination present significant remediation challenges in terms of technical practicability and cost. Remedial approaches to DNAPL sites often follow a management approach rather than removal or eradication approaches, particularly due to the uncertainties associated with the benefits of partial source mass removal, as complete source removal is unlikely. Mass‐removal technologies should be evaluated for all DNAPL sites, although implementation of recovery technologies will be limited to a few sites based upon site‐specific factors. Sitewide remedial strategies that employ source reduction, where applicable, and incorporate associated risk‐reduction technologies, including monitored natural attenuation, are advised. Creosote DNAPL sites are particularly challenging, as they are predominantly composed of low‐solubility polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that form long‐term continuing sources. Additionally, the physical properties of creosote DNAPL, including high viscosity and relatively low density, result in significant migration potential and considerable dissolved‐phase groundwater impacts. An innovative creosote DNAPL source recovery well design was developed to achieve separate‐phase removal of pooled creosote DNAPL. The design presented herein employs modified circulation‐well technology to mobilize DNAPL to the engineered recovery well, where it is gravity‐settled into a sump to permit separate‐phase mass removal of the emplaced DNAPL source without groundwater production or treatment. A discharge mass flux protocol was developed to verify dissolved‐phase plume stability and the benefit of the source mass removal. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Quantitative gap analysis for the West Coast of Florida based on experts’ opinion

The primary objective of this study was to identify gaps in coastal and marine data available through the Gulf Geospatial Assessment of Marine Ecosystems (GAME) project for the west coast of Florida. A survey was designed and sent to more than 2,000 experts working with coastal and ocean issues in the Gulf of Mexico to elicit their opinions. The survey asked the experts to rank 12 data categories and score the relevance of four qualifiers (spatial resolution, temporal resolution, age of data, and level of detail) using a discrete choice approach. The statistical interpretation of experts?? responses allowed assigning a relative value to each available data set, based upon their qualifiers. The results were then displayed in a Geographic Information System to visually show how the total value for all data categories or for a specific data category varies spatially and to identify data gaps. It was found that the total data set value is generally higher within Tampa Bay and along the coast. Areas with low total value show a lack of data sets that have qualifiers falling within the ideal range, as per experts?? opinions. The gap maps created for this project are useful to identify priority areas where money should be invested for future data collection.     

A multi-biomarker approach to assess the impact of farming systems on black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon)

This study examined the advantages of the use of biomarkers as an early warning system by applying it to different shrimp farming systems in Soctrang and Camau provinces, main shrimp producers in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Shrimp were collected at 15 different farms divided into four different farming systems: three farms were converted from originally rice paddies into intensive shrimp farming systems (IS1, IS2, IS3); three farms were rice-shrimp integrated farming systems (RS4, RS5, RS6); three farms were intensive farming systems (IS7, IS8, IS9); six farms were extensive shrimp farming systems (From ES1 to ES6). Lipid peroxidation (LPO) and total glutathione (GSH) were measured as well as catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and acetylcholinesterase activities (ACHE). Organ specificity was observed between gills and hepatopancreas with generally higher activity of GST in gills (GSTG) whereas the contrary was observed for LPO level in gills (LPOG). Hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis clearly indicated that shrimp reared in extensive culture system formed a distinct group from those reared in intensive or rice-shrimp integrated systems. CAT in gills (CATG), GPX in gills (GPXG) and hepatopancreas (GPXHP) and ACHE in muscle (ACHEM) of shrimp collected in extensive farms showed a general higher level than those in intensively farmed shrimp. On the contrary, we observed clear high levels of GSTG and GST in hepatopancreas (GSTHP) and LPOG and hepatopancreas (LPOHP) of shrimp sampled in intensive and rice-shrimp integrated systems. Thus, we propose that LPO and CAT, GPX, GST and ACHE can be used as a set of biomarkers for the assessment of health condition and can discriminate between shrimp cultivated in different farming systems. These findings provide the usefulness of integrating a set of biomarkers to define the health status of shrimp in different shrimp culture systems.