Molecular prenatal diagnosis: the impact of modern technologies

Originally prenatal diagnosis was confined to the diagnosis of metabolic disorders and depended on assaying enzyme levels in amniotic fluid. With the development of recombinant DNA technology, molecular diagnosis became possible for some genetic conditions late in the 1970s. Here we briefly review the history of molecular prenatal diagnostic testing, using Duchenne muscular dystrophy as an example, and describe how over the last 30 years we have moved from offering testing to a few affected individuals using techniques, such as Southern blotting to identify deletions, to more rapid and accurate PCR-based testing which identifies the precise change in dystrophin for a greater number of families. We discuss the potential for safer, earlier prenatal genetic diagnosis using cell free fetal DNA in maternal blood before concluding by speculating on how more recent techniques, such as next generation sequencing, might further impact on the potential for molecular prenatal testing. Progress is not without its challenges, and as cytogenetics and molecular genetics begin to unite into one, we foresee the main challenge will not be in identifying the genetic change, but rather in interpreting its significance, particularly in the prenatal setting where we frequently have no phenotype on which to base interpretation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adapting to changing climate risk by local government in New Zealand: institutional practice barriers and enablers

Adaptation to climate change has been reviewed in several developed nations, but in none where consideration of the effects of climate change is required by statute and devolved to local government. We examine the role of institutional arrangements, the players operating under them, the barriers and enablers for adaptation decision-making in the developed nation of New Zealand. We examine how the roles and responsibilities between national, regional and local governments influence the ability of local government to deliver long-term flexible responses to changing climate risk. We found that the disciplinary practices of law, engineering and planning, within legal frameworks, result in the use of static mechanisms which create inflexible responses to changing risk. Several enablers are identified that could create greater integration between the different scales of government, including better use of national policy instruments, shared professional experience, standardised information collection and risk assessment methods that address uncertainties. The framing of climate risk as dynamic and changing that differentiates activities over their lifetime, development of mechanisms to fund transitions towards transformational change, are identified as necessary conditions for delivering flexible responses over time.     

Dispersal: an alternative mating tactic conditional on sex ratio and body size

Summary Small male milkweed beetles are less successful at obtaining mates than are larger males. Larger males usually win fights and prevent smaller males from obtaining mates and from choosing larger more fecund females as mates. When sex ratios are male-biased, smaller males are particularly likely to experience these mating disadvantages. It follows that smaller males should be especially responsive to their local competitive environment and behave so as to minimize the mating disadvantages of their smaller size. This paper tests the hypothesis that smaller males disperse from host plant patches with male-biased sex ratios and remain in patches with female-biased sex ratios more readily than larger males.Results show both larger and smaller males disperse from patches with male-biased sex ratios more frequently than from patches with femalebiased sex ratios. As predicted, however, small males are more likely to disperse from patches with male-biased sex ratios and remain in patches with female-biased sex ratios than are larger males.The data also show that smaller males dispersing from patches with male-biased sex ratios obtain more matings than non-dispersing males.For milkweed beetles, moving between patches can be viewed as an alternative mating tactic conditional on male body size and local sex ratio.     

The top ten reasons why phase I environmental assessment reports miss the mark

Recently, there has been considerable professional concern over many of the issues associated with environmental assessments, including report writing. Unfortunately there still are no nationally recognized published guidelines on what constitutes an acceptable report. In this article the authors show how reports can be vastly improved to help companies evaluate risks and make better business decisions. Their guidance can be applied to a broad range of auditing and assessment activity to improve environmental quality performance.     

Interactions between Sitka spruce, the green spruce aphid, sulphur dioxide pollution and drought

Sitka spruce trees, with and without the aphid Elatobium abietinum and/or drought treatment, were subjected to 25 nl litre(-1) of sulphur dioxide over a 2-month period. Aphids became three times as abundant on the fumigated trees if they were well watered and twice as abundant on trees from which water was withheld, compared with unfumigated controls. Growth parameters of the trees were little affected by pollution alone, but were substantially reduced by either aphids or drought. There was a significant interaction between SO(2) and aphids in a further reduction of both leader extension and root weight. Root weight was also reduced by 24% more than expected from the additive effects of the combined SO(2) and drought treatment.     

SYNTHESIS OF FLOW-DURATION CURVES FOR UNREGULATED STREAMS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE1

ABSTRACT: Flow-duration curves are concise pictures of flow variability at a point on a stream, and provide essential information for all water-resource planning. In New Hampshire, useful estimates of flow-duration curves for ungaged points on unregulated streams can be made using only information readily available from contour maps: 1) area of the basin above the point of interest; and 2) either the measured mean basin elevation or the elevations of the highest and lowest points in the basin. Measured or estimated mean basin elevation is then used in regression equations to estimate mean flow QC and the flow exceeded 95% of the time, Q₉₅. QC is assumed to occur at the 27% exceedance frequency. Q₀₂, Q₀₅, and Q₃₀ are estimated as multiples of QC. Equations are provided for calculating 95% confidence intervals for future estimates using the method. The dependence of mean flow on elevation is due to positive vertical precipitation gradients and negative vertical evapotranspiration gradients. The dependence of Q₉₅ on elevation appears to be due largely to the fact that it rains more often, that snowmelt takes longer, and that evapotranspiration is reduced at higher elevations.     

The behavioral component in the meaning of places

How do people think about the physical setting in the world around them? Part of the answer to this question may be in terms of the behaviors that occur there. To explore people's knowledge of behavior—place associations, twenty places (shown via color photographs) were assessed in five ways: (a) ratings of the place's suitability for each of eleven behaviors, (b) ratings of the expected frequency of occurrence of the eleven behaviors, (c) free listings of reasons for going to each place, (d) free listings of activities-while-there and (e) free listings of activities associated with the place. Results showed that people can distinguish places on the basis of behaviors, that the behavioral component of place meaning is composed of distinct aspects, and that knowledge of behavior is related to a global, overall representation of a place.     

Novel Biocomposites Sheet Molding Compounds for Low Cost Housing Panel Applications

Biocomposites were made by a novel high volume processing technique named biocomposite sheet molding compound panel (BCSMCP) manufacturing process. This process design was inspired by the commercial glass fiber–polyester resin composite fabrication method called sheet molding compounding (SMC). This process yields continuous production of biocomposites on a large scale, and thus can be easily adopted in industries. A unique fiber dispersion method, which enabled uniform distribution of natural fibers, was used in this process. Consistency of the process was tested by evaluating the repeatability of the resultant materials mechanical properties. The low cost biocomposites produced as a result of the processing will be used for various panel applications such as housing and transportation. The molded samples were tested for various mechanical and thermal properties, in accordance with ASTM procedures. The biocomposites were made with various natural fibers including, big blue stem grass, jute, and industrial hemp. By combining different natural fibers in varying mass fractions, hybrid biocomposites were made using this process. Grass fiber reinforced polyester biocomposites processed by the SMC line showed very promising results.