Fully automated FISH examination of amniotic fluid cells

Objective Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis has become a valuable adjunct in cytogenetics, providing a rapid screen for common chromosome abnormalities that is particularly helpful in prenatal diagnosis. FISH analysis using standard microscopy is expensive and labor intensive, requiring both a high skill level and subjective signal interpretation. A reliable fully automated system for FISH analysis could improve laboratory efficiency and potentially reduce errors and costs. Methods The efficacy of an automated system was compared to standard manual FISH analysis. Two sets of slides were generated from each of 152 amniotic fluid samples. Following hybridization with a standard panel of five chromosome FISH probes, one set of slides was evaluated using manual microscopy. The other set was evaluated using an automated microscopy system. Results A diagnostic outcome was obtained for all 152 samples using manual microscopy and for 146 of 152 (96%) samples using automated microscopy. Three cases of aneuploidy were detected. For those samples for which a diagnostic outcome was determined by both manual and automated microscopy, 100% concordance was observed. All FISH analysis results were confirmed by karyotype. Conclusion These data suggest that an automated microscopy system is capable of providing accurate and rapid enumeration of FISH signals in amniocytes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Release of nitrogen and trace metal species from field stacked biosolids

Concerns over elevated nitrate (NO3-) levels found in groundwater near former biosolid stockpiling locations resulted in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) imposing stricter regulations governing the stockpiling of biosolids in October 2002. The goals of this study were to measure the amount and speciation of nitrogen (N) and trace metals leaving stockpiled biosolids and travelling through the soil column. The biosolids were placed on plastic-lined cells to collect all leachate. Ammonium (NH4+), ranging from 2000 to 4900 mg L(-1), was the dominant N species (90% of total N) in the leachate from the Class B lime-stabilized biosolids in the lined cell experiment. Nitrate (NO3-) and nitrite (NO2-) concentrations were negligible, remaining below 0.25 and 0.1 mg L(-1), respectively. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations as high as 8900 mg L(-1) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) as high as 37 000 mg L(-1) were measured in the leachate leaving the lined cell. Fifteen zero-tension pan lysimeters (ZTP-lysimeter) were installed in a 90 m2 plot at depth intervals of 30, 60, and 100 cm. Leachate passing through the soil column underlying the biosolids stockpile was collected in the ZTP-lysimeters. The average ZTP-lysimeter NH4+ concentrations ranged from 1400 mg L(-1) at 60 cm depth to 145 mg L(-1) at 90 cm depth. The average ZTP-lysimeter DOC concentrations ranged from 2000 mg L(-1) at 60 cm to 525 mg L(-1) at 90 cm. Trace metal determinations of the leachate collected from the lined cell and ZTP-lysimeters showed arsenic loading rates exceeded the state limits of 0.5 kg ha(-1) year(-1) by an order of magnitude. Arsenic concentrations were in excess of several thousand milligrams per litre in the lined-cell leachate and several hundred milligrams per litre in the ZTP-lysimeters as deep as 90 cm under the biosolid stockpile. Phosphorus, iron and manganese in excess of several thousand milligrams per litre were observed in both the lined-cell leachate and ZTP-lysimeters. Significant concentrations of other trace metals were found at depth in the zero-tension ZTP-lysimeter plot. Trace metals were largely mobilized by the DOC from the biosolids and due to the presence of anaerobic environment, especially in the underlying soil.     

Adapting the bioblitz to meet conservation needs

When conservation strategies require new, field‐based information, practitioners must find the best ways to rapidly deliver high‐quality survey data. To address this challenge, several rapid‐assessment approaches have been developed since the early 1990s. These typically involve large areas, take many months to complete, and are not appropriate when conservation‐relevant survey data are urgently needed for a specific locale. In contrast, bioblitzes are designed for quick collection of site‐specific survey data. Although bioblitzes are commonly used to achieve educational or public‐engagement goals, conservation practitioners are increasingly using a modified bioblitz approach to generate conservation‐relevant data while simultaneously enhancing research capacity and building working partnerships focused on conservation concerns. We term these modified events expert bioblitzes. Several expert bioblitzes have taken place on lands of conservation concern in Southern California and have involved collaborative efforts of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, botanic gardens, museums, and universities. The results of expert bioblitzes directly informed on‐the‐ground conservation and decision‐making; increased capacity for rapid deployment of expert bioblitzes in the future; and fostered collaboration and communication among taxonomically and institutionally diverse experts. As research and conservation funding becomes increasingly scarce, expert bioblitzes can play an increasingly important role in biodiversity conservation.     

Sketching sustainable land use in Europe by 2040: a multi-stakeholder participatory approach to elicit cross-sectoral visions

The continuously growing global demands on a finite land resource will require better strategic policies and management of trade-offs to avoid conflicts between different land-use sectors. Visions of the future can support strategic planning by stimulating dialogue, building a consensus on shared priorities and providing long-term targets. We present a novel approach to elicit stakeholder visions of future desired land use, which was applied with a broad range of experts to develop cross-sectoral visions in Europe. The approach is based on (i) combination of software tools and facilitation techniques to stimulate engagement and creativity; (ii) methodical selection of stakeholders; (iii) use of land attributes to deconstruct the multifaceted sectoral visions into land-use changes that can be clustered into few cross-sectoral visions, and (iv) a rigorous iterative process. Three cross-sectoral visions of sustainable land use in Europe in 2040 emerged from applying the approach in participatory workshops involving experts in nature conservation, recreation, agriculture, forestry, settlements, energy, and water. The three visions—Best Land in Europe, Regional Connected and Local Multifunctional—shared a wish to achieve a land use that is sustainable through multifunctionality, resource use efficiency, controlled urban growth, rural renewal and widespread nature. However, they differ on the scale at which land services are provided—EU-wide, regional or local—reflecting the land-sparing versus land-sharing debate. We discuss the usefulness of the approach, as well as the challenges posed and solutions offered by the visions to support strategic land-use planning.

     

A Gis‐Based Approach to Watershed Classification for Nebraska Reservoirs1

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is charged with establishing standards and criteria for assessing lake water quality. It is, however, increasingly evident that a single set of national water quality standards that do not take into account regional hydrogeologic and ecological differences will not be viable as lakes clearly have different inherent capacities to meet such standards. We demonstrate a GIS‐based watershed classification strategy for identifying groups of Nebraska reservoirs that have similar potential capacity to attain a certain level of water quality standard. A preliminary cluster analysis of 78 reservoirs was performed to determine the potential number of Nebraska reservoir groups. Subsequently, a Classification Trees method was used to refine number of classes, describe the structure of reservoir watershed classes, and to develop a predictive model that relates watershed conditions to reservoir classes. Results suggest that Nebraska reservoirs can be represented by nine classes and that soil organic matter content in the watershed is the most important single variable for segregating the reservoirs. The cross‐validation prediction error rate of the Classification Tree model was 26.3%. Because all geospatial data used in this work are available nationally, the method could be adopted throughout the U.S. Hence, this GIS‐based watershed classification approach could provide water resources managers an effective decision‐support tool in managing reservoir water quality.     

GM Crops: Patently Wrong?

This paper focuses on the ethical justifiability of patents on Genetically Modified (GM) crops. I argue that there are three distinguishing features of GM crops that make it unethical to grant patents on GM crops, even if we assume that the patent system is in general justified. The first half of the paper critiques David Resnik’s recent arguments in favor of patents on GM crops. Resnik argues that we should take a consequentialist approach to the issue, and that the best way to do so is to apply the Precautionary Principle, and that the Precautionary Principle, in this case, supports patents on GM crops. I argue that his argument in favor of a consequentialist treatment is invalid; his Precautionary Principle in any case appears to be incompatible with consequentialism; and his conception of reasonable precautions is too ill-defined to have any argumentative purchase. In the second half of the paper, I argue against GM crop patents, on three grounds. First, there is insufficient evidence to say whether allowing patents on GM crops will make research go faster than not having patents, whilst there is a good reason to think that, other things being equal, a society that allows patents on GM crops will be less just than one that does not. Second, even assuming that patents on GM crops will increase the pace of GM crop research, there is no social need to do so. Third, patents on GM crops will frequently have ethically unacceptable side effects.     

The Role of Science in Public Policy: Higher Reason,or Reason for Hire?

The traditional vision of the role science should play in policy making is of a two stage process of scientists first finding out the facts, and then policy makers making a decision about what to do about them. We argue that this two stage process is a fiction and that a distinction must be drawn between pure science and science in the service of public policy. When science is transferred into the policy realm, its claims to truth get undermined because we must abandon the open-ended nature of scientific inquiry. When we move from the sphere of science to the sphere of policy, we pick an arbitrary point in the open-ended scientific process, and ask our experts to give us the answer. The choice of the endpoint, however, must always be arbitrary and determined by non-scientific factors. Thus, the two stages in the model of first finding the facts, and then making a decision about what to do, cannot be clearly separated. The second stage clearly affects the first. This conclusion will have implications about existing scientific policy institutions. For example, we advocate that the environmental assessment process be radically overhauled, or perhaps even let go. It will be our position that ultimately a better model for the involvement of scientists in public policy debates is that of being participants in particular interest groups (“hired guns”), rather than as supposedly unbiased consultants to decision-makers.     

应对恐怖袭击之策

本文作者Zeigler博士在防护服研究试验、防护服行业规定及标准、大规模杀伤性武器等方面具有专业知识。作者是美国材料与试验学会（ASTM）防护服F23委员会微粒物质分委员会主任，也是美国防火委员套紧急医疗服务和危险物质防护服厦装备技术委员会成员。为应对恐怖袭击，本文从美国政府拨款、协调机构、信息通报、危机分析、防护服装配备和储存、人员培训等方面进行了论述，有一定参考价值，现予发表，供有关部门、企业和广大读者参阅。