Fetal marfan syndrome: Prenatal ultrasound diagnosis with pathological confirmation of skeletal and aortic lesions

Sonography was performed during the second trimester in two pregnancies at risk for the Marfan syndrome. In one, the limbs were significantly longer than expected (p < 0·0025) and a diagnosis of the Marfan syndrome was established. Pathological examination of the fetus after pregnancy interruption showed typical foci of cystic medial necrosis in the ascending aorta.     

Synthesis of copolyesters containing poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(ε-caprolactone) units and their susceptibility toPseudomonas sp. lipase

Copolyesters containing poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(-caprolactone) (PCL) were synthesized from PET and PCL homopolymers by transesterification reaction at 270°C in the presence of catalyst. The copolyesters were characterized by¹³C-NMR and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The degradation behavior of PCL byPseudomonas sp. lipase in buffer solution (pH 7) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) was investigated by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and¹H-NMR. From these experiments, it was found thatPseudomonas sp. lipase acted endoenzymatically on PCL. Using this lipase, degradation tests for PET/PCL copolyesters whose PCL content was below 50% by weight were also performed in buffer solution (pH 7). However, evenPseudomonas sp. lipase with high degradation activity on PCL did not easily degrade the PCL unit in PET/PCL copolyesters.     

Controlling various contaminants in wastewater effluent through membranes and engineered wetland

For effective wastewater reclamation and water recovery, the treatment of natural and effluent organic matters (NOM and EfOM), toxic anions, and micropollutants was considered in this work. Two different NOM (humic acid of the Suwannee River, and NOM of US and Youngsan River, Korea), and one EfOM from the Damyang wastewater treatment plant, Korea, were selected for investigating the removal efficiencies of tight nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with different properties. Nitrate, bromate, and perchlorate were selected as target toxic anions due to their well known high toxicities. Tri-(2-chloroethyl)-phosphate (TCEP), oxybenzone, and caffeine, due to their different K _ow and pK _a values, were selected as target micropollutants. As expected, the NF membranes provided high removal efficiencies in terms of all the tested contaminants, and the UF membrane provided fairly high removal efficiencies for anions (except for nitrate) and the relatively hydrophobic micropollutant, oxybenzon. Through the wetlands, nitrate was successfully removed. Therefore, a fair process of combining membranes with an engineered wetland could be proposed for sustainable wastewater reclamation and optimum control of contaminats.     

SENSITIVITY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN MODELING HYDROLOGIC PROCESSES WITH DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL1

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of a hydrologic models to the type of DEM used. This was done while modeling basin water quality with 1:24,000 and 1:250,000 U.S. Geological Survey DEMs as input to model hydro‐logical processes. The manner in which the model results were sensitive to the choice of raster cell size (scale) is investigated in this study. The Broadhead watershed, located in New Jersey, USA, was chosen as a study area. Curve numbers were estimated by a trial and error to match simulated and observed total discharge. Monthly runoff for the watershed was used in the calibration process. Higher runoff volumes were simulated by the model when the 1:24,000 DEM were used as input data, probably due to the finer resolution which simulated increased average slope and hence higher estimated runoff from the watershed. As the simulated slope of the watershed is flatten with the 1:250,000 DEM, the response of stream flow was delayed and simulated less runoff volume.     

Utilization of waste bittern from saltern as a source for magnesium and an absorbent for carbon dioxide capture

During solar salt production, large quantities of bittern, a liquid by-product containing high inorganic substance concentrations, are produced. The purpose of this research was to examine the utilization of waste bittern generated from salterns as a source for Mg production and as an absorbent for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture. The study was conducted in a sequential two-step process. At NaOH/Mg molar ratios of 2.70–2.75 and pH 9.5–10.0, > 99% Mg precipitation from the bittern was achieved. After washing with water, 100–120 g/L of precipitate containing 94% Mg(OH)₂ was recovered from the bittern. At the optimum NH₄OH concentration of 5%, 120 g of sodium bicarbonate precipitate per liter of bittern were recovered, which was equivalent to 63 g CO₂ captured per liter of bittern. These results can be used to support the use of bittern as a resource and reduce economic losses during solar salt production.     

Optimizing Agricultural Best Management Practices in a Lake Erie Watershed

Implementing agricultural best management practices (BMPs) is influenced by a balance of desired environmental outcomes, economic feasibility, and stakeholder familiarity, the latter taken to be related to BMP acceptability. To explore this balance, we developed a multi‐objective decision support system for allocating BMP type and placement by coupling the Soil and Water Assessment Tool with a nondominated sorted genetic algorithm that minimizes total phosphorus (TP) yields from agricultural hydrologic response units (HRUs) and costs, while using stakeholder BMP familiarity as a constraint; conventional tillage, no tillage, nutrient management, riparian buffers, and contour cropping were explored. Using constraints representing current conditions, the optimization resulted in 59.6 to 81.0% reduction in agricultural TP yield from HRUs at costs ranging between US $0.8 and US $5.3 million. The constrained optimization tended to select mostly single BMPs or at most two BMPs for a given HRU due to these BMPs having higher acceptability to stakeholders. In contrast, the unconstrained case, representing full familiarity, selected 2‐ and 3‐BMP applications. There was little difference in costs between the constrained and unconstrained cases below an 80% TP yield reduction; however, significant differences were found at larger reductions, supporting the value of stakeholder education and extension efforts. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

Suitability of a magnetic particle immunoassay for the analysis of PBDEs in Hawaiian euryhaline fish and crabs in comparison with gas chromatography/electron capture detection-ion trap mass spectrometry

A gas chromatograph/electron capture detector-ion trap mass spectrometer (GC/ECD-ITMS) was used for the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in euryhaline fish and crabs. GC/ECD-ITMS results showed that average recoveries from the spiked fish samples are in a range of 58-123% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 5-19%. PBDE concentrations obtained from GC/ECD-ITMS ranged from 28 ng/g to 1845 ng/g lipid weight (lw) in all aquatic species collected from Hawaiian brackish waters. The general BDE congener concentration profile observed in this study is BDE-47 > BDE-100 > BDE-154 > BDE-99 > BDE-153 > BDE-28 > BDE-183. The ELISA results expressed as BDE-47 equivalents correlated well with those of GC/ECD-ITMS, with a correlation coefficient (R² = 0.68) and regression coefficient (slope = 0.82). Comparison of ELISA with GC/ECD-ITMS results demonstrated that ELISA provides a timely and cost-effective method to screen PBDEs in fish and crab samples.     

Redox activity of urban quasi-ultrafine particles from primary and secondary sources

To characterize the redox activity profiles of atmospheric aerosols from primary (traffic) and secondary photochemical sources, ambient quasi-ultrafine particles were collected near downtown Los Angeles in two different time periods – morning (6:00–9:00 PDT) and afternoon (11:00–14:00 PDT) in the summer of 2008. Detailed chemical analysis of the collected samples, including water-soluble elements, inorganic ions, organic species and water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) was conducted and redox activity of the samples was measured by two different assays: the dithiothreitol (DTT) and the macrophage reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays. Tracers of secondary photochemical reactions, such as sulfate and organic acids were higher (2.1 ± 0.6 times for sulfate, and up to 3 times for the organic acids) in the afternoon period. WSOC was also elevated by 2.5 ± 0.9 times in the afternoon period due to photo-oxidation of primary particles during atmospheric aging. Redox activity measured by the DTT assay was considerably higher for the samples collected during the afternoon; on the other hand, diurnal trends in the ROS-based activity were not consistent between the morning and afternoon periods. A linear regression between redox activity and various PM chemical constituents showed that the DTT assay was highly correlated with WSOC (R² = 0.80), while ROS activity was associated mostly with water soluble transition metals (Vanadium, Nickel and Cadmium; R² > 0.70). The DTT and ROS assays, which are based on the generation of different oxidizing species by chemical PM constituents, provide important information for elucidating the health risks related to PM exposure from different sources. Thus, both primary and secondary particles possess high redox activity; however, photochemical transformations of primary emissions with atmospheric aging enhance the toxicological potency of primary particles in terms of generating oxidative stress and leading to subsequent damage in cells.     

Effect of the Spatial Variability of Land Use,Soil Type,and Precipitation on Streamflows in Small Watersheds1

Abstract: The spatial variability of the data used in models includes the spatial discretization of the system into subsystems, the data resolution, and the spatial distribution of hydrologic features and parameters. In this study, we investigate the effect of the spatial distribution of land use, soil type, and precipitation on the simulated flows at the outlet of “small watersheds” (i.e., watersheds with times of concentration shorter than the model computational time step). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool model was used to estimate runoff and hydrographs. Different representations of the spatial data resulted in comparable model performances and even the use of uniform land use and soil type maps, instead of spatially distributed, was not noticeable. It was found that, although spatially distributed data help understand the characteristics of the watershed and provide valuable information to distributed hydrologic models, when the watershed is small, realistic representations of the spatial data do not necessarily improve the model performance. The results obtained from this study provide insights on the relevance of taking into account the spatial distribution of land use, soil type, and precipitation when modeling small watersheds.