Report from the First International Symposium

The First International Symposium on Acid Precipitation and the Forest Ecosystem sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, and by the Atmospheric Sciences Program of The Ohio State University was held in Columbus, Ohio, May 12-15, 1975. Approximately 300 people from 12 countries attended the Symposium.     

A comparison of PCDD/PCDFs exposure in infants via formula milk or breast milk feeding

Food is the major source for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) accumulation in human body. In infant period, breast milk and formula milk are the major food sources. Congener-specific analyses of 17 PCDD/PCDFs were performed on 10 brands of formula milk samples which were milk-based and 37 breast milk samples collected from women living in southern Taiwan. The levels of 17 PCDD/PCDFs in 10 formula milk samples ranged from 0.468 to 0.962 pg WHO-TEQ/g lipid, with a mean value of 0.713+/-0.163 pg WHO-TEQ/g lipid. For the 37 breast milk samples, their PCDD/PCDF levels were 14.7+/-9.36 pg WHO-TEQ/g lipid, with a range between 4.21 and 52.8 pg WHO-TEQ/g lipid. At 12th month of age for infants, average daily intakes (ADI) of PCDD/PCDFs were 2.1 pg WHO-TEQ/kg/day for the formula-feeding infants, and 13 pg WHO-TEQ/kg/day for the breast-feeding infants. The present data may provide useful information for risk-benefit evaluation of formula- and breast-feeding.     

Limited occurrence of denitrification in four shallow aquifers in agricultural areas of the United States

The ability of natural attenuation to mitigate agricultural nitrate contamination in recharging aquifers was investigated in four important agricultural settings in the United States. The study used laboratory analyses, field measurements, and flow and transport modeling for monitoring well transects (0.5 to 2.5 km in length) in the San Joaquin watershed, California, the Elkhorn watershed, Nebraska, the Yakima watershed, Washington, and the Chester watershed, Maryland. Ground water analyses included major ion chemistry, dissolved gases, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes, and estimates of recharge date. Sediment analyses included potential electron donors and stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes. Within each site and among aquifer-based medians, dissolved oxygen decreases with ground water age, and excess N(2) from denitrification increases with age. Stable isotopes and excess N(2) imply minimal denitrifying activity at the Maryland and Washington sites, partial denitrification at the California site, and total denitrification across portions of the Nebraska site. At all sites, recharging electron donor concentrations are not sufficient to account for the losses of dissolved oxygen and nitrate, implying that relict, solid phase electron donors drive redox reactions. Zero-order rates of denitrification range from 0 to 0.14 micromol N L(-1)d(-1), comparable to observations of other studies using the same methods. Many values reported in the literature are, however, orders of magnitude higher, which is attributed to a combination of method limitations and bias for selection of sites with rapid denitrification. In the shallow aquifers below these agricultural fields, denitrification is limited in extent and will require residence times of decades or longer to mitigate modern nitrate contamination.     

A new technique for reducing extremely low frequency magnetic field emissions affecting large building structures

When large structures such as residential compounds or public buildings are under the influence of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields, such as the one generated by a system of railways fed by 16.67 Hz, standard methods of designing shielding structures by numerical methods usually fail. The latter can be explained by the difficulty posed in the computing process by the large aspect ratios involved due to thin layers of metal (a few millimetres or centimetres) in contrast to the large dimensions of the affected structure (several tens of meters). In some cases one has to utilize special approximations such as surface conductivity, which are not easy to handle when the designed shielding structure is clearly three -dimensional. Other alternatives such as experimentation in situ are very costly. Here, a new technique is presented of mitigating the field by using three-dimensional propagation of induced currents optimizing the field reduction factors and minimizing the cost of shielding material. The particular designing method is a hybrid of numerical simulations combined with lab experimentation using scaled models of the large structure. The method is rather cost-effective and flexible as various designs can be easily tested. Results are presented in the form of magnetic field values, at various locations in the buildings, before and after this mitigation technique is applied.     

Survey of Columnar Cacti and Carrying Capacity for Nectar-Feeding Bats on Curaçao

We estimated the population sizes of the three species of columnar cacti that grow on the island of Curaçao using ground and aerial transects, and we examined the island's carrying capacity for two species of nectar-feeding bats that depend on nectar from the flowers of these cacti. We calculated carrying capacity based on the daily availability of mature flowers between January and December 1993 and the field energy requirements of bats as estimated from an equation for eutherian mammals (low estimate) and one for passerine birds (high estimate) based on body mass. Additional energy requirements of pregnancy and lactation were taken into account. We estimated that 461,172 columnar cacti were present on Curaçao (38% Subpilocereus repandus , 51% Stenocereus griseus , and 11% Pilosocereus lanuginosus ). May through September are the critical months when bats rely most heavily on cactus for food. July 1993 was a bottleneck with the smallest number of mature flowers per day. July and August were months of greatest energy demand because females were lactating. We estimate that the carrying capacity for Glossophaga longirostris in July, when the bat ( Leptonycteris curasoae ) population was 900, was near 1200, an estimate that fits the observed population size of nectar-feeding bats on the island. We suggest that the extensive removal of native vegetation occurring on Curaçao be strictly regulated because further destruction of the cacti will result in a decrease and potential loss of the already low populations of nectar-feeding bats.     

New objective function for data reconciliation in water balance from industrial processes

The promotion of a better rational use of water in industry requires an adequate knowledge of aqueous streams inside industrial plants. The main difficulty found in this respect is a lack of accurate measurement of such streams. In order to overcome this difficulty, a water balance tool with data reconciliation is used. This paper presents a method based on the idea that an estimated assumption can be made for any flow rate based on the best available information (quality of information). The quality of information is inversely proportional to the uncertainty of the estimated or measured flow rate and therefore there is a proportionality constant that relates these two. This paper demonstrates that the values of the proportionality constants in the real system are proximally the same for any stream. Furthermore, the proposed method has been applied to real systems with very poor measurement. This method enables the data reconciliation from water balances without data redundancy and without having to ignore flow rates with high levels of uncertainty.     

Ochratoxin A and Penicillic acid interaction in mice

Abstract

Penicillic Acid (PA) and Ochratoxin A (OA) are toxic fungal metabolites that are synergistic in combination. This interaction was investigated using mice which were dosed orally as follows: control, none; solvent control, 0.2 ml bicarbonate buffer; PA, 40 mg/kg; OA, 10 mg/kg and combination, 40 mg/kg PA + 10 mg/kg OA. The only significant histopathologic change observed was an acute multifocal toxic tubular nephrosis which appeared most severe in the combination‐treated mice killed on day 10. While the combination group had a death rate of 20% (5/25), no deaths occurred in the other treatment groups. The increased death rate and the extensive nephrotoxic findings in the combination group indicate a toxic interaction between OA and PA at sub‐lethal dose levels and is consistent with a renal site of action.     

Cultured amniotic fluid cells for prenatal diagnosis of lysosomal storage disorders: A methodological study

The influence of culture conditions on the ultrastructure and enzyme activities of amniotic fluid cells are reported. Morphological changes were determined as a function of the number of lysosomal-like inclusion bodies per cell, and these results correlated to the activity of Thiexosaminidase, a-mannosidase, β-glucuronidase, arylsulphatase C and 5′ nucleotidase. The parameters examined were pH of the culture media, type of media, increasing cell passage and day of harvest. Our results indicate that enzyme activities are less sensitive to changes in culture conditions as compared to ultrastructural changes. We therefore recommend that in order to obtain reliable ultrastructural results for the diagnosis of storage disorders, cultures should be grown in MEM as the culture medium, the pH of the medium carefully monitored to remain below pH 7·4, examining the cultures no later than the eighth cell passage and no later than the 10th day after subculture.