Anatomic correlates of ultrasonographic prenatal diagnosis

In utero sonographic diagnoses from forty-five malformed infants were correlated with their autopsy findings. Fifty-two malformations were diagnosed prenatally in 42 of the patients but 90 additional malformations were not. Nine sonographically diagnosed abnormalities were not confirmed at autopsy. Factors compromising sonographic diagnosis included: limited examinations, small fetal size, timing of examination, oligohydramnios, fetal position, nature of the malformation and unfamiliarity of the ultrasonographer with specific malformation syndromes. In vitro ultrasonography is an invaluable tool of diagnosing congenital malformations but has limitations.     

A survey of identified kairomones and synomones used by insect parasitoids to locate and accept their hosts

Summary The host utilization process of insect parasitoids can be described by three stages of (1)habitatlocation, (2)host-location, and (3)host-acceptance andoviposition. There are 19 systems in which chemicals used inhabitat-location have been identified, 12 systems in which chemical cues leading tohost-location have been identified, and 16 systems in which chemicals elicitinghost-acceptance andoviposition have been identified. Both the chemical class and the source of the infochemical change with the stage of the host utilization process. Semiochemicals identified in thehabitatlocation stage were predominantly aldehydes, alcohols, sulfur-containing compounds, esters and terpenes, and were equally likely to be from the host-plant of the host, or from the host itself. Semiochemicals identified in thehost-location stage were sugars, alkanes, terpenes and heterocyclic aromatic compounds and 3/4 of them were host-produced cues. In thehost-acceptance andoviposition stage the identified semiochemicals were all produced by the host and were proteins, amino acids, triglycerides and salts. The importance of recognizing specific cues involved in host utilization by parasitoids is discussed, and suggestions for future research are made.     

Coda-wave interferometry analysis of time-lapse VSP data for monitoring geological carbon sequestration

Injection and movement/saturation of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a geological formation will cause changes in seismic velocities. We investigate the capability of coda-wave interferometry technique for estimating CO₂-induced seismic velocity changes using time-lapse synthetic vertical seismic profiling (VSP) data and the field VSP datasets acquired for monitoring injected CO₂ in a brine aquifer in Texas, USA. Synthetic VSP data are calculated using a finite-difference elastic-wave equation scheme and a layered model based on the elastic Marmousi model. A possible leakage scenario is simulated by introducing seismic velocity changes in a layer above the CO₂ injection layer. We find that the leakage can be detected by the detection of a difference in seismograms recorded after the injection compared to those recorded before the injection at an earlier time in the seismogram than would be expected if there was no leakage. The absolute values of estimated mean velocity changes, from both synthetic and field VSP data, increase significantly for receiver positions approaching the top of a CO₂ reservoir. Our results from field data suggest that the velocity changes caused by CO₂ injection could be more than 10% and are consistent with results from a crosswell tomogram study. This study demonstrates that time-lapse VSP with coda-wave interferometry analysis can reliably and effectively monitor geological carbon sequestration.     

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Endangered Species Hotspots in the United States

Abstract: Given limited resources, many researchers advocate focusing conservation efforts on hotspots, geographical areas with high numbers of species (i.e., richness), endemic species, rare or threatened species, and/or high levels of threat to species survival. The hotspot approach is an efficient and simple way to conserve species diversity, assuming that hotspots do not change over space or time. We tested whether hotspots change across space and time using a database of endangered and threatened species listed by the U.S. government from 1967 to 1999. We determined hotspots based on the cumulative set of species listed for three overlapping and successively longer time periods: 1967–1979, 1967–1989, and 1967–1999. We used minimum area complimentarity analysis, which selected the smallest set of areas (in our study, U.S. counties) needed to represent a chosen set of species. Over time, the number of endangered and threatened species in the United States increased from 76 in 1967 to 1123 in 1999. As the number of species increased over time, hotspots changed in two ways: the number of hotspots increased and the rank of hotspots shifted. Hotspots increased from 84 in 1979, to 166 in 1989, to 217 in 1999. Only 63 of these counties were designated as hotspots in all three periods. The remaining changes resulted from addition and deletion of counties as hotspots over time. Some counties were removed from the list or changed in relative rank from one time period to the next regardless of their rank. Counties added as hotspots could rank anywhere on the list, and they were not merely low-ranking counties added to represent one or a few species. Therefore, hotspots serve as a useful tool for guiding conservation efforts but, given their spatiotemporal variability, do not represent a final solution.     

Rapid discrimination of plastic packaging materials using MIR spectroscopy coupled with independent components analysis (ICA)

Plastic packaging wastes increased considerably in recent decades, raising a major and serious public concern on political, economical and environmental levels. Dealing with this kind of problems is generally done by landfilling and energy recovery. However, these two methods are becoming more and more expensive, hazardous to the public health and the environment. Therefore, recycling is gaining worldwide consideration as a solution to decrease the growing volume of plastic packaging wastes and simultaneously reduce the consumption of oil required to produce virgin resin. Nevertheless, a major shortage is encountered in recycling which is related to the sorting of plastic wastes. In this paper, a feasibility study was performed in order to test the potential of an innovative approach combining mid infrared (MIR) spectroscopy with independent components analysis (ICA), as a simple and fast approach which could achieve high separation rates. This approach (MIR-ICA) gave 100% discrimination rates in the separation of all studied plastics: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polylactide (PLA). In addition, some more specific discriminations were obtained separating plastic materials belonging to the same polymer family e.g. high density polyethylene (HDPE) from low density polyethylene (LDPE). High discrimination rates were obtained despite the heterogeneity among samples especially differences in colors, thicknesses and surface textures. The reproducibility of the proposed approach was also tested using two spectrometers with considerable differences in their sensitivities. Discrimination rates were not affected proving that the developed approach could be extrapolated to different spectrometers. MIR combined with ICA is a promising tool for plastic waste separation that can help improve performance in this field; however further technological improvements and developments are required before it can be applied at an industrial level given that all tests presented here were performed under laboratory conditions.     

Drivers and constraints of waste-to-energy incineration for sustainable municipal solid waste management in developing countries

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Implementation of waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration has recently surged in developing countries, but the drivers of this growth and the...     

Respiratory regulation and the role of the blood in the burrowing shrimp Callianassa californiensis (Decapoda: Thalassinidae)

Questions relating to oxygen extraction and hemolymph oxygen transport have been investigated in the burrowing shrimp Callianassa californiensis Dana. The relationship of oxygen consumption to oxygen tension was determined in intermolt and postmolt shrimp. Soft postmolt individuals had higher rates of oxygen consumption and a somewhat lower critical oxygen tension than intermolt specimens. Both oxygen-carrying capacity and hemocyanin content are somewhat lower in postmolt compared to intermolt shrimp. The measured gradient between postbranchial (pericardial sinus) and prebranchial (abdominal sinus) hemolymph oxygen content is small and highly variable, and is not affected by exposure to anoxic stress. Hemolymph pH and buffering capacity are high. The oxygen consumption-oxygen tension relationships and respiratory properties of the hemolymph are discussed in relation to the hypoxic environment associated with the habitat of these crustaceans.Supported in part by Institutional Sea Grant 04-3-158-4 and Public Health Service Grant HL 12326.Communicated by J.S. Pearse, Santa Cruz