Split notochord syndrome variant: prenatal findings and neonatal management

Spilt notochord syndrome is an extremely rare form of spinal dysraphism characterized by a complete cleft of the spine and a persistent communication between endoderm and ectoderm. A variant of split notochord syndrome was diagnosed in a 25-week-old fetus showing a prolapsed congenital colostomy and a spinal cystic lesion. The final diagnosis included protruding colon segment, imperforate anus with a rectourethral fistula and lipomyelomeningocele. The ultrasound features of the condition and the post-natal management are discussed. The neonate was successfully treated with a posterior sagittal anorectoplasty, while the lipomyelomeningocele was resected at a later stage. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Loss of genetic diversity in Harpacticoida near offshore platforms

Offshore oil and gas production platforms can be a source of chronic stress that could lead to sublethal impacts on resident benthic organisms. In June 1993 and January 1994, genetic diversity of Harpacticoida (Copepoda) living proximal to operating, offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico was estimated to test if platforms are associated with strong selective pressures. Because harpacticoids have short generation times and direct benthic development, they are suitable organisms for examining population responses. Genetic diversity was estimated by comparing restriction fragment length polymorphisms generated from mitochondrial DNA amplified by the polymerase chain reaction on individuals of five species (Cletodes sp., Enhydrosoma pericoense, Normanella sp., Robertsonia sp., and Tachidiella sp.). Populations living at Near regions (stations<50 m from a platform) had significantly less haplotype diversity than populations of the same species living at Far regions (stations>3 km from a platform). The levels of haplotype diversity exhibited by the Far populations were similar at three different platforms located hundreds of kilometers apart. The differences in haplotype diversity between Near and Far regions were the result of a higher proportion of dominant haplotypes, and a loss of less common haplotypes. Haplotypic diversity was inversely correlated with a multivariate measurement of levels of sediment contaminants. The pattern of haplotype diversity on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf seems to consist of a uniform level of haplotype diversity, punctuated by islands of lower diversity around oil and gas platforms. The selective pressures that lead to a loss of genetic diversity may be the result of contaminants, other differences in the physico-chemical environment, or disturbance in general.     

Coping with riverbank erosion hazard and displacement in bangladesh: survival strategies and adjustments

As a deltaic plain, Bangladesh annually experiences riverbank erosion hazard due to sudden and rapid channel shifting, particularly in the major floodplain areas of the country. Consequently, valuable cultivable land is lost; also village settlements, markets and towns are destroyed, displacing tens of thousands of people. This paper examines the magnitude of river channel migration and encroachment on land, and the nature of human adjustment systems in the Brahmaputra–Jamuna floodplain, by investigating aspects of the social and cultural dynamics of resettlement of the displaced people. Some policy measures are recommended to improve the ability of the people in the floodplain to cope with these hazards.     

The role of socio-economic data in food needs assessment and monitoring

This paper reviews six case studies examined as part of a project to review targetting methodologies employed by non-government organisations in Africa during the 1984-6 food crisis. Most agencies have not yet fully evaluated the role of data in informing policy decisions during their respective emergency programmes. The case studies presented reflect a wide variety of approaches to targetting emergency food aid that are based largely on the use of 'socio-economic' data. The recent emergency relief operations in Africa seem to indicate a change in relief agencies' approaches to the assessment and monitoring of needs of the affected populations. Earlier dependance on nutritional data has given way to an increasing reliance on the use of socio-economic indicators. There was a wide variation in the case studies of the type of indicators collected and utilised in needs assessment and monitoring. There were those who relied almost exclusively on nutritional data to target resources during the 1984-86 African crisis, and others whose experiences during that period lead them to attach more weight to socio-economic data. Other agencies appear to have recognised the problems of relying solely on nutritional data to target food aid during their 1984–86 emergency programmes, and thus more or less abandoned classical anthropometric surveys in their needs assessment and monitoring methodologies during this period. Thus nutritional data has a less significant role in the decision making process than previously had been the case.     

Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of fish otoliths

Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of the aragonite of fish otoliths was measured on 175 specimens comprising 24 different species in 1989 and 1990. All specimens but two came from the northern Adriatic Sea or the northern Tyrrhenian Sea (two freshwater specimens were studied for comparison with the marine fish). The data obtained confirm the results of previous research suggesting the existence of equilibrium conditions between the otolith aragonite and ambient water with respect to ·¹⁸O(CO₃ ^2-) values. Examination of one of the species indicated that the CaCO₃ of otoliths probably accumulates continuously over time, seasonal isotopic changes being clearly visible (from a set of radial spot samples) for both oxygen and carbon isotopes. The apparent isotopic equilibrium with ambient water suggests that the ¹⁸O(H₂O) of the endolymph is equal to that of seawater and considerably different from that of fish body water. In the case of ¹³C(CO₃ ^2-), isotopic equilibrium with dissolved carbon species in seawater is never reached, even though the contribution of metabolic CO₂ is variable among different species and even among different individuals of the same species. This rules out the possibility of using ¹³C(CO₃ ^2-) values obtained from fossil otoliths for paleoenvironmental and paleobiological conclusions.     

Planktonic bioluminescence in the pack ice and the marginal ice zone of the Beaufort Sea

An icebreaker cruise into the Beaufort Sea in the fall of 1986 provided a unique opportunity for studying planktonic bioluminescence in ice fields and in the marginal ice zone. Bathyphotometer casts (bioluminescence intensity, seawater temperature, beam attenuation coefficient, and salinity) and biological collections were made to a depth of 100 m. A light budget, which describes the planktonic species responsible for the measured bioluminescence, and a dinoflagellate species budget were constructed from the mean light output from luminescent plankton and plankton counts. The vertical distribution of bioluminescence among the ice stations was similar. The maximum intensities were 2 to 8×10⁶ photons s^-1 cm^-3 in the upper 50 m of the sea-ice interface. The marginal ice zone station (MIZ) exhibited a maximum intensity of 2 to 3×10⁸ photons s^-1 cm^-3 between 5 and 30 m depth. At Ice Station 2, Metridia longa and their nauplii contributed approximately 80% of stimulable bioluminescence in the upper 10 m but, overall, Protoperidinium spp. dinoflagellates contributed most of the light to a depth of 100 m. In the MIZ, Protoperidinium spp. dinoflagellates contributed 90% of the light within the upper 10 m, decreasing to 43% of the contributed light at a depth of 40 m. Below 40 m, dinoflagellate bioluminescence decreased to a few percent of the total to a depth of 90 m. Metridia spp. copepods contributed more than 50% of the light at depths from 40 to 90 m. Ostracods, larvaceans, and euphausiid furcilia contributed <1% of all bioluminescence at all depths sampled. Correlation analyses between measured bioluminescence (photons s^-1 cm^-3), the number of bioluminescent dinoflagellates and the light budget for the MIZ indicated highly significant associations: r=0.919, p=0.001, and r=0.912, p<0.001, respectively (Student's two-tailed t-tests). Bioluminescence was negatively correlated with seawater salinity at all stations (p=0.001). Maximum bioluminescence was measured in the less saline surface waters at all stations.     

Relationships between porewater nutrients and seagrasses in a subtropical carbonate environment

The feeding, diet and egg production of the copepod Acartia tonsa were dermined during ten experiments in Los Angeles Harbor, California, between November 1986 and October 1987. Copepods were incubated in situ, in quasi-natural food environments. Water temperatures ranged from 14.6 to 21.5°C. Particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON) were high (534 to 3710 g Cl^-1, 51 to 459 Nl^-1) but dominated by small (<8 m diam) particles. Plankton (phytoplankton and microzooplankton) C-biomass composed about 10% of the total POC and was usually dominated by particles >8 m. Plankton biomass was always low. Daily ingestion rates ranged from 3 to 96% of body C; egg production ranged from 4 to 35% of body carbon. Mean ingestion and egg production rates during spring-summer were 1.9 and 1.5 times higher than average for the entire study, respectively. The average gross efficiency of egg production for the study was 80%; the spring-summer mean was 41%. Bivariate and multiple-regression analyses revealed that the ingestion rate was dependent upon both temperature and food availability, but that, below 21°C, egg production depended more upon temperature than upon food concentration. To detect dietary preferences, the composition of diet was compared with that of the food supply. Selective feeding was infrequent, but the diet was often dominated by dinoflagellates and ciliates. It would appear that within metabolic limits governed by temperature, the feeding response of A. tonsa is dependent upon food concentration, while egg production depends more on qualitative attributes of the food supply.     

Planktonic ciliates in Southampton Water: abundance,biomass, production,and role in pelagic carbon flow

The abundance and biomass of marine planktonic ciliates were determined at monthly intervals at two stations in Southampton Water between June 1986 and June 1987. The two stations, an outer one at Calshot and an inner one at N. W. Netley, were subject to differing marine and terrestrial influences. The potential ciliate production at cach station on each visit was estimated from these data. Enumeration of ciliates and measurements of biovolume were performed on Lugol's iodinepreserved samples and potential production was calculated using a predictive relationship based on temperature and cell volume. Heterotrophic ciliate abundance and biomass were greatest at both stations during spring and summer months, with respective maxima of 16x10³ organisms 1^-1 and 219 g Cl^-1 recorded at N. W. Netley. Estimates of the potential production of the ciliate community ranged from <1 to 18 g Cl^-1 d^-1 at Calshot and <1 to 141 g Cl^-1 at N. W. Netley, with annual values of 2 and 9 mg Cl^-1 yr^-1, respectively. Abundances, biomass and potential production estimates were generally greater at N. W. Netley than at Calshot. Carbon flow through the ciliate community was assessed using annual production values from both this study and the literature. The annual ciliate carbon requirement was equivalent to 9 and 11% of annual primary production at Calshot and N. W. Netley, and potential annual ciliate production was equivalent to 34% and >100% of the energy requirements of metazoan zooplankton at these locations, although comprising only 8 and 10% of their available food.     

Persistent “upwelling shadows” and their influence on zooplankton distributions

Physical (temperature and salinity) and biological (zooplankton) properties were sampled over a 15 mo period in 1988 and 1989 to monitor nearshore environmental variability in northern Monterey Bay, California, USA. During the upwelling seasons of 1988 and 1989, there were two distinct bodies of water along the sampling transect. The offshore water body was characterized by recently upwelled water (typically <12°C) while the nearshore body was significantly warmer (approaching 16°C). A sharp thermal gradient (=front) separated the two water bodies. This front persisted 6.5 km from shore throughout the upwelling season of 1988 and was present again in 1989. Zooplankton-assemblage analysis confirmed the presence of two distinct regions in northern Monterey Bay. We refer to this phenomenon as an upwelling shadow, which is the result of the advection of recently upwelled water bearing nutrients and larvae past coastal recesses which are equatorward of upwelling centers.     

Comparative feeding preference of Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Echinoidea) for the invasive seaweed Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides (Chlorophyceae) and four other seaweeds

Laboratory experiments conducted during 1987 on Appledore Island, Maine, USA, tested whether feeding preference or the absence of an attractant was the cause for the occurrence of beds of Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides (herein referred to as Codium fragile) within rocky barrens grazed clear of kelp by the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Consumption of C. fragile in single-diet experiments (1 seaweed/sea urchin) was highly variable and was not significantly different from that for several other seaweeds (Agarum cribrosum, Ascophyllum nodosum, Chondrus crispus, and Laminana saccharina) important in the field diet of the green sea urchin. In multiple-diet experiments (5 seaweeds/sea urchin) significantly less Codium fragile was eaten than Chondrus crispus, but significantly more Codium fragile was eaten than A. cribrosum. Chemosensory experiments suggest that C. fragile does not attract the sea urchin. Sea urchins are unable to detect C. fragile but will eat it when they come in contact with it.