Parvovirus B19 infection in pregnancy: new insights and management

In this article, we review the virology, pathology, epidemiology and clinical spectrum of intrauterine human parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection, including intrauterine fetal death, non-immune hydrops fetalis, thrombocytopenia and neurological manifestations such as pediatric stroke and perivascular calcifications. In addition, we discuss the new insights into the neurodevelopmental outcome of intrauterine B19V infection. Current diagnosis and management of B19V infection is summarized, including a diagnostic and follow-up flowchart for practical clinical use. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

History and Development of the NRCS Lag Time Equation1

Abstract: Many of the hydrologic methods that are used in engineering practice today resulted from the Spring Flood of 1936, which blanketed the Northeastern portion of the United States. Because of the flood damage that was caused by this rainfall‐snowmelt event, many federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) implemented the hydrologic theories that were available in the literature at this time and developed hydrologic procedures for design flow estimation. Sherman had recently published his unit hydrograph theory in 1932, and later in 1938 Snyder, who had been charged by the Water Resource Council to develop a synthetic unit hydrograph, published his famous paper. The SCS unit hydrograph theory was developed by Victor Mockus in the late 1950s. Most if not all of the theories at that time reported the rainfall‐runoff process for floods as a surface phenomenon, and as such those theories all required some type of a timing parameter to estimate watershed response time. This article documents the development of the SCS lag equation.     

Diet of the Humboldt penguin (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Spheniscus humboldti</Emphasis>) in northern and southern Chile

The diet of the Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) was examined and compared in two colonies in Chile. Field work was conducted on Pan de Azúcar Island in northern Chile in the breeding season 1998/1999 and on the Puñihuil Islands in southern Chile over two successive breeding seasons during 1997/1998 and 1998/1999. Penguin diet was studied by stomach-pumping birds and analysed by species composition, size and mass of prey. Fish were the dominant prey item at both sites, the contribution of cephalopods and crustaceans varying between sites. The fish prey consisted predominantly of school fish, but there were clear latitudinal differences in fish prey taken. Penguins in the northern colony consumed primarily garfish (Scomberesox saurus), while birds at the southern colony of Puñihuil fed primarily on anchovy (Engraulis ringens), Araucanian herring (Strangomera bentincki) and silverside (Odontesthes regia). The results showed significant differences in terms of numbers of fish taken between the two breeding seasons at Puñihuil. In 1997/1998 penguins consumed almost exclusively anchovy, while they fed primarily on silversides in the successive year. Almost all prey, except stomatopods, were characterised as being pelagic species that occur in relatively inshore water, consistent with the foraging behaviour of Humboldt penguins. The dependence of Humboldt penguins on commercially exploited, schooling prey species makes the species particularly susceptible to changes in prey stocks, due to non-sustainable fisheries management.Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe