Congenital heart anomalies in the first trimester: From screening to diagnosis

Congenital heart defects occur in approximately 1% of liveborn children and represent the most common form of congenital malformation. Due to the small size and complexity of the heart structures, prenatal diagnosis is most often made in the second trimester of pregnancy. Early diagnosis however offers significant advantages regarding the timing of further investigations, prenatal counseling, and access to management options. In the last decade, advances in antenatal imaging have improved the detection of cardiac malformations with increasing emphasis on earlier pregnancy screening and diagnosis. We aim to summarize current “state of the art” imaging of the fetal heart in the first trimester.     

Novel Biodegradable Thermoplastic Elastomer Based on Poly(butylene succinate) and Epoxidized Natural Rubber Simple Blends

Novel biodegradable thermoplastic elastomer based on epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) blend was prepared by a simple blend technique. Influence of blend ratios of ENR and PBS on morphological, mechanical, thermal and biodegradable properties were investigated. In addition, chemical interaction between ENR and PBS molecules was evaluated by means of the rheological properties and infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, the phase inversion behavior of ENR/PBS blend was predicted by different empirical and semi-empirical models including Utracki, Paul and Barlow, Steinmann and Gergen models. It was found that the co-continuous phase morphology was observed in the blend with ENR/PBS about 58/42 wt% which is in good agreement with the model of Steinmann. This correlates well to morphological and mechanical properties together with degree of crystallinity of PBS in the blends. In addition, the biodegradability was characterized by soil burial test after 1, 3 and 9 months and found that the biodegradable ENR/PBS blends with optimum mechanical and biodegradability were successfully prepared.     

Global climate change: an opportunity for coastal dunes??

The predictions for coastal change under the scenario of global sea-level rise offer impending disaster for the variety of coastal morphologies, their associated habitats, and the accompanying infrastructure. However, the predictions tend to ignore the role of sediment budget in the maintenance of coastal morphology and the dynamics of sediment transfers in the beach-dune sand-sharing system. Accepting that shoreline displacement may be an outcome of sea-level rise and a negative sediment budget, conditions are presented that could lead to a positive or equilibrium sediment budget in the coastal foredune and the retention of the foredune system even as it is being displaced. Accommodation space is a key requirement for the continued functioning of the foredune morphologies during periods of sea-level rise.     

Hydrolytic biodegradation of chlorothalonil in the soil and in cabbage crops

Broccoli and Chinese cabbage crops were treated at planting by pouring an emulsion of the fungicide chlorothalonil around the stem of the plant. During culture, chlorothalonil was biodegraded in soil into l,3‐dicarbamoyl‐2,4,5,6‐tetrachlorobenzene (compound 1), l,3‐dicyano‐4‐hydroxy‐2,5,6‐trichlorobenzene (compound 2), and l‐carbamoyl‐3‐cyano‐4‐hydroxy‐2,5,6‐trichlorobenzene (compound 3). Compounds 1 and 2 were the major metabolites in soil. In the harvested broccoli (in the flower) and Chinese cabbages (the leaves), the concentrations of chlorothalonil and of compounds 1 and 2 were lower respectively than 0.1, 0.1 and 0.5mg/kg fresh weight.     

Sediment budget as a driver for sediment management at plumb beach,New York,USA: vectors of change and impacts

Persistent erosion at Plumb Beach, New York, USA, has been countered by a series of isolated actions to stabilize the shoreline. Sediment placed at the erosion site has quickly been removed and re-deposited in downdrift locations to the detriment of the existing habitats. In a renewed effort to better understand the dimensions of change at Plumb Beach, detailed spatial analysis of shoreline displacement, dune-beach profile evolution, and sediment budget has been undertaken through intensive surveying and comparisons of Digital Elevation Models. Products derived from these surveys establish that the sector of maximum erosion has shifted downdrift and that the scale of the changes is twice the volume exchange as previously estimated. Improved knowledge of the dimensions and spatial distributions of the changes is used to create a focused approach that is functioning within the scale of the local sediment budget and reducing its impacts.     

Feasibility versus sustainability in urban water management

Decision making in urban water management is exemplified by the case of Austria: Although researchers define a comprehensible concept of sustainability, practitioners emphasize feasibility and accept limitations in sustainability. Could the specification of particular methods, chosen from some decision support methodology, remedy this situation? While an integrative assessment of sustainability should not be based on prescribed or standardized criteria, or even a certain assessment method, it should force the decision makers to make their chosen premise more visible. To this end a change of the decision making process is proposed, which will allow the decision makers to adapt the decision making process to the circumstances of a specific project in a way that is accepted by the stakeholders.     

Biologische Effekte von Hexachlorbenzol (HCB) in aquatischen Modell?kosystemen

Ohne Zusammenfassung The online version of the original article can be found at     

Dose estimation and radon action level problems due to nanosize radon progeny aerosols in underground manganese ore mine

One of the essential parameters influencing of the dose conversion factor is the ratio of unattached short-lived radon progeny. This may differ from the value identified for indoor conditions when considering special workplaces such as mines. Inevitably, application of the dose conversion factors used in surface workplaces considerably reduces the reliability of dose estimation in the case of mines.This paper surveyed the concentration of radon and its short-lived radon progeny and identified the unattached fraction of short-lived radon progeny. As well equilibrium factor during the month of August was calculated simultaneously at two extraction faces in a manganese ore mine.During working hours the average radon concentrations were 220 Bq m⁻³ and 530 Bq m⁻³ at Faces 1 and 2; the average short-lived progeny concentration was 90 Bq m⁻³ and 190 Bq m⁻³, the average equilibrium factors were 0.46 and 0.36, and the average unattached fractions were 0.21 and 0.17, respectively. The calculated dose conversion factor was between 9 and 27 mSv WLM⁻¹, but higher values could also be possible.     

Accumulation of mercury and methylmercury by mushrooms and earthworms from forest soils

Accumulation of total and methyl-Hg by mushrooms and earthworms was studied in thirty-four natural forest soils strongly varying in soil physico-chemical characteristics. Tissue Hg concentrations of both receptors did hardly correlate with Hg concentrations in soil. Both total and methyl-Hg concentrations in tissues were species-specific and dependent on the ecological groups of receptor. Methyl-Hg was low accounting for less than 5 and 8% of total Hg in tissues of mushrooms and earthworms, respectively, but with four times higher concentrations in earthworms than mushrooms. Total Hg concentrations in mushrooms averaged 0.96 mg Hg kg⁻¹ dw whereas litter decomposing mushrooms showed highest total Hg and methyl-Hg concentrations. Earthworms contained similar Hg concentrations (1.04 mg Hg kg⁻¹ dw) whereas endogeic earthworms accumulated highest amounts of Hg and methyl-Hg.     

Design of an institutional decision-making process: the case of urban water management

Urban water infrastructure expenditures cause a major financial burden to municipalities. In the opinion of many policy-makers, public funds may alleviate this burden and facilitate environmental policies. However, practice has shown that despite ambitious policies, funding often follows traditional cost-dominated thinking. In Austria, national policy-makers were interested in new guidelines for funding that increase the transparency of the planning, ensure the adequate treatment of ecological problems, and foster stakeholder involvement, but keep the process as simple as possible, and require minimal changes of the current guidelines. An interdisciplinary project team conducted such a study. Its outcome was tested in two pilot projects. Based on these experiences, policy-makers finally implemented the recommended guidelines for the funding of communal urban water infrastructure projects. A general observation about the policy-making process was a conservative attitude of policy-makers. They prefer simple constraints (precautionary principle) and flexible negotiations (delegation) to complex assessment and decision-aid methodologies.