Atelosteogenesis type II: Sonographic and radiological correlation

Atelosteogenesis type II is a lethal chondrodysplasia characterized by severe micromelia, spinal abnormalities, talipes equinovarus, and abducted thumbs and toes. We present a case diagnosed at 21 weeks of gestation in which antenatal sonographic and post-mortem radiological findings were correlated. The patient had a recurrence of this disorder in a subsequent pregnancy which was terminated at 15 weeks, supporting previous reports of an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. The feasibility of diagnosing the following morphological features by prenatal ultrasonography is demonstrated: coronal clefts of the vertebral bodies, metaphyseal and epiphyseal abnormalities, spinal deviations such as cervical kyphosis and a horizontal sacrum, additional ossification centres in the pelvis, and preaxial deviation of the thumbs and toes. The differential diagnosis of this disorder from other skeletal dysplasias with similar features is discussed.     

Adapting to urban challenges in the Amazon: flood risk and infrastructure deficiencies in Belém,Brazil

Regional Environmental Change - Sustainable urban infrastructure transition is perhaps the biggest challenge confronting cities in the global south in a time of climate change. Fast-growing cities...     

Environmental justice and the expanding geography of wind power conflicts

Wind power is expanding globally. Simultaneously, a growing number of conflicts against large-scale wind farms are emerging in multiple locations around the world. As these processes occur, new questions arise on how electricity from wind is being generated, how such energy is flowing within societies, and how these production-flows are being shaped by specific power structures. The present paper explores the expanding geography of wind energy conflicts by analyzing 20 case studies from across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Based on the Environmental Justice Atlas database, it reflects on how land pressures and patterns of uneven development emerge as two features of the current expansion of wind farms. Following a relational analysis, these patterns are examined to interpret the plural instances of opposition emerging throughout the rural spaces of the world. The article argues that previously unexplored forms of collective action are expanding the scope and content of the “wind energy debate”. In addition to the claims of “landscape” and “wildlife protection” addressed by the existing literature, this study sheds light on the rural/peripheral contexts where opposition emerges through the defense of indigenous territories, local livelihoods and communal development projects. The study contends that these “emerging storylines” embrace an environmental justice perspective when challenging the socially unequal and geographically uneven patterns reproduced by the ecological modernization paradigm. From this lens, cases of local opposition are not interpreted as selfish forces blocking a low-carbon transition, but instead, are understood as political instances that enable a wider discussion about the ways such transition should take place.     

Development of a simple, accurate SPME-based method for assay of VOCs in column breakthrough experiments

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography is to be used for assay of effluent liquid samples from soil column experiments associated with VOC fate/transport studies. One goal of the fate/transport studies is to develop accurate, highly reproducible column breakthrough curves for 1,2-cis-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) to better understand interactions with selected natural solid phases. For SPME, the influences of the sample equilibration time, extraction temperature and the ratio of volume of sample bottle to that of the liquid sample (V(T)/V(w)) are the critical factors that could influence accuracy and precision of the measured results. Equilibrium between the gas phase and liquid phase was attained after 200 min of equilibration time. The temperature must be carefully controlled due to variation of both the Henry's constant (K(h)) and the fibre/gas phase distribution coefficient (K(fg)). K(h) decreases with decreasing temperature while K(fg) increases. Low V(T)/V(w) yields better sensitivity but results in analyte losses and negative bias of the resultant assay. High V(T)/V(w) ratio yields reduced sensitivity but analyte losses were found to be minimal, leading to better accuracy and reproducibility. A fast SPME method was achieved, 5 min for SPME extraction and 3.10 min for GC analysis. A linear calibration function in the gas phase was developed to analyse the breakthrough curve data, linear between a range of 0.9-236 microgl(-1), and a detection limit lower than 5 microgl(-1).     

A New Ozonated Cassava Film with the Addition of Cellulose Nanofibres: Production and Characterization of Mechanical,Barrier and Functional Properties

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - In this study cassava starch modified by ozone technology and cellulose nanofibres were used to produce films. These nanocomposites were produced by...     

Chemical ecology and origin of defensive compounds in the Antarctic nudibranch Austrodoris kerguelenensis (Opisthobranchia: Gastropoda)

The common Antarctic nudibranch Austrodoris kerguelenensis (Bergh) contains diterpene diacylglycerides only present in its external body parts. These compounds provide a chemical defense against sympatric predators, such as the seastar Odontaster validus Koehler. Bioassays conducted with O. validus revealed that live nudibranchs, mantle tissue and Et₂O extract of the A. kerguelenensis mantle deterred feeding by the seastar. Further bioassays testing organic fractions of the Et₂O mantle extract showed that the diterpene diacylglycerides, as well as corresponding monoacylglycerides and monoacylglycerides of regular fatty acids, were responsible for the feeding deterrence in O. validus. We suggest that A. kerguelenensis derives the bioactive diacylglycerides by de novo biosynthesis rather than by sequestration from its sponge diet, since the mollusk does not contain active metabolites in the viscera, and neither the active compounds nor precursors were detected in the sponge diet. Furthermore, A. kerguelenensis did not show a strong chemodetection or feeding preference for its main diet, hexactinellid sponges, in Y-maze and food choice experiments, respectively.     

Nitrogen deposition in Mediterranean forests

Atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen was studied at two forested sites in the Montseny mountains (northeast Spain), peripheral to the Barcelona conurbation, and at a nearby lowland town, using bulk deposition, wet-only deposition, throughfall, and dry deposition inferred from branch-washes and surrogate surfaces (metacrylate plates). Bulk deposition inputs of ammonium and nitrate did not show significant temporal trends over a 16-year period. Bulk inputs of inorganic N were moderate, ranging from 6 to 10 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) depending on the time period considered and the degree of site exposure to polluted air masses from the Barcelona conurbation. Large dry-sedimented particles played a minor role, since wet-only inputs were virtually identical to bulk inputs. On the contrary, branch- and plate-washes indicated substantial dry inputs of N gases and small particles. Total atmospheric deposition was estimated at 15-22 kg N ha(-1) year(-1), most of it being retained within the studied broadleaved evergreen forests. Ecosystem N availability is thus likely to be increasing in these forests.     

Analysis of Factors Determining Accumulation of 137Cs by Woody Plants

The accumulation of ¹³⁷Cs by coniferous (Pinus sylvestris) and deciduous (Betula pendula) trees was studied in the area contaminated with radioactive products after the Chernobyl accident. The availability of ¹³⁷Cs to woody plants is determined by its vertical distribution in the soil profile, the proportion of its exchangeable form, and the distribution of tree roots in the soil. The index of biological availability of ¹³⁷C in the soil is proposed, and its linear dependence on the coefficients of ¹³⁷Cs transfer to wood is demonstrated.     

Characterization of soil fauna under the influence of mercury atmospheric deposition in Atlantic Forest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The increasing levels of mercury (Hg) found in the atmosphere arising from anthropogenic sources, have been the object of great concern in the past two decades in industrialized countries. Brazil is the seventh country with the highest rate of mercury in the atmosphere. The major input of Hg to ecosystems is through atmospheric deposition (wet and dry), being transported in the atmosphere over large distances. The forest biomes are of strong importance in the atmosphere/soil cycling of elemental Hg through foliar uptake and subsequent transference to the soil through litter, playing an important role as sink of this element. Soil microarthropods are keys to understanding the soil ecosystem, and for such purpose were characterized by the soil fauna of two Units of Forest Conservation of the state of the Rio de Janeiro, inwhich one of the areas suffer quite interference from petrochemicals and industrial anthropogenic activities and other area almost exempts of these perturbations. The results showed that soil and litter of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil tend to stock high mercury concentrations, which could affect the abundance and richness of soil fauna, endangering its biodiversity and thereby the functioning of ecosystems.