First-trimester screening for Down syndrome; the role of nasal bone assessment in the Korean population

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of nasal bone assessment in first-trimester screening for Down syndrome (DS) in the Korean population. Methods From July 2004 to March 2006, we prospectively evaluated the fetal nasal bones at 11–14 weeks' gestation in the Korean population. Results A successful evaluation was possible in 6490 of 6787 fetuses (95.6%). Absent, hypoechoic, and short nasal bones were seen in 4 (26.7%), 4 (26.7%), and 1 (6.7%) of 15 fetuses with DS, respectively, whereas in 5 (0.1%), 11 (0.2%), and 246 (3.8%) of 6456 normal fetuses. The incidence of absent and hypoechoic nasal bone showed significant differences between normal fetuses and fetuses with DS (P < 0.0005, both). Screening for DS using an absent or hypoechoic nasal bone resulted in a sensitivity of 53.3%, a specificity of 99.8%, a positive likelihood ratio of 215.2, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.5. Conclusion Our study showed that nasal bone abnormality at 11–14 weeks of gestation had a high association with DS in the Korean population. This suggests that nasal bone assessment can be used to supplement the current first-trimester screening for DS in the Korean population. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Green procurement in the Asian public sector and the Hong Kong private sector

Since the 1980s, green purchasing/green procurement has increasingly been recognised as an effective means of addressing and reducing negative environmental impacts related to product production and consumption around the world. This paper reviews the procurement practices and policies of five Asian countries and Hong Kong, in the context of an international overview of green purchasing and practices. The extent of government involvement in green procurement is found to directly determine its overall effectiveness, and up-to-date information resources clearly enhance delivery and performance. A case study in Hong Kong demonstrates how public leadership on green procurement has advanced green procurement in the private sector.     

PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Beijing: Seasonal variations, sources, and risk assessment

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) have been of health concern due to its carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. In this study, we aimed to assess the variations, sources, and lifetime excessive cancer risk(ECR) attributable to PAHs bound to ambient particulate matters with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm(PM_(2.5)) in metropolitan Beijing, China. We collected24-hour integrated PM_(2.5) samples on daily basis between November 2014 and June 2015 across both central heating(cold months) and non-heating(warm months) seasons, and further analyzed the PAH components in these daily PM_(2.5) samples. Our results showed that total concentrations of PM_(2.5)-bound PAHs varied between(88.6 ± 75.4) ng/m~3 in the cold months and(11.0 ± 5.9) ng/m~3 in the warm months. Benzo[a]pyrene(Ba P), the carcinogenic marker of PAHs,averaged at 5.7 and 0.4 ng/m~3 in the cold and warm months, respectively. Source apportionment analyses illustrated that gasoline, biomass burning, diesel, coal combustion and cooking were the major contributors, accounting for 12.9%, 17.8%, 24.7%, 24.3% and 6.4% of PM_(2.5)-bound PAHs, respectively. The BaP equivalent lifetime ECR from inhalation of PM_(2.5)-bound PAHs was 16.2 cases per million habitants. Our results suggested that ambient particulate reduction from energy reconstruction and adaption of clean fuels would result in reductions PM_(2.5)-bound PAHs and its associated cancer risks. However, as only particulate phased PAHs was analyzed in the present study, the concentration of ambient PAHs could be underestimated.     

The impact on food security and future adaptation under climate variation: a case study of Taiwan’s agriculture and fisheries

According to Food and Agriculture Organization and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, climate change will lead to a severe food-supply problem. In the future, food production will continually decrease because of aggravated effects of climate change, causing food production to continually decrease. Food production will be unable to satisfy the demand of the global population, leading to a food-security crisis. As the world population continues to increase, the shortage of food will become increasingly severe, particularly for those located in “climate impact hotspots” of tropical, subtropical, small-island countries, and countries that are dependent on imports to meet domestic demand such as Taiwan. Numerous Taiwanese studies have suggested that agricultural and fishery productivity has declined because of climate variation, which may cause changes and instability in food quantity and quality, and increase deficiency and uncertainty in the food supply. Therefore, to discuss the risks posed by climate change to the stability of food supply and demand, this paper, taking Taiwan as a case, explored the impact of climate variation on food security and future adaptation strategies. TaiCCAT’s supportive system for decision-making (TSSDA) was adopted here to assess and analyze the current situations of agricultural and fisheries production and supply, as well as future food supply risks, in addition to evaluating the deficiencies in the existing climate adaptation strategies in order to plan and revise feasible future adaptation alternatives. Based on the rule of risk management, the adaptation strategies recommended in this study were differentiated into two categories: proactive adaptation and planned adaptation. Proactive adaptation is emphasized to counter the uncertainty of food production, which increases the difficulty of production and necessity to import food. Conversely, planned adaptation can be used to manage the uncertainty of food supply to implement adjustments in production and marketing, as well as to mitigate the impact of climate variation.     

Suppression pheromone and cockroach rank formation

Although agonistic behaviors in the male lobster cockroach (Nauphoeta cinerea) are well known, the formation of an unstable hierarchy has long been a puzzle. In this study, we investigate how the unstable dominance hierarchy in N. cinerea is maintained via a pheromone signaling system. In agonistic interactions, aggressive posture (AP) is an important behavioral index of aggression. This study showed that, during the formation of a governing hierarchy, thousands of nanograms of 3-hydroxy-2-butanone (3H-2B) were released by the AP-adopting dominant in the first encounter fight, then during the early domination period and that this release of 3H-2B was related to rank maintenance, but not to rank establishment. For rank maintenance, 3H-2B functioned as a suppression pheromone, which suppressed the fighting capability of rivals and kept them in a submissive state. During the period of rank maintenance, as the dominant male gradually decreased his 3H-2B release, the fighting ability of the subordinate gradually developed, as shown by the increasing odds of a subordinate adopting an AP (OSAP). The OSAP was negatively correlated with the amount of 3H-2B released by the dominant and positively correlated with the number of domination days. The same OSAP could be achieved earlier by reducing the amount of 3H-2B released by the dominant indicates that whether the subordinate adopts an offensive strategy depends on what the dominant is doing.     

In utero sonographic diagnosis of a communicating enteric duplication cyst in a giant omphalocele

Enteric duplications are rare lesions, and relatively few cases have been diagnosed prenatally. We present, to our knowledge, the first case of an associated communicating ileal duplication cyst in a huge omphalocele diagnosed prenatally. The prenatal ultrasound findings revealed four features of the cystic lesion including peristaltic movements of the cystic wall, communication between the cyst and normal bowel lumen, intra-cystic echogenic contents, and echogenic mesenteric tissue (fat) close to the cyst. These distinct characteristics helped us to make a firm in utero diagnosis. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Histopathological findings of the nose of Down syndrome abortuses

Recent reports of absent nasal bone in fetuses with Down syndrome have sparked much interest in the use of this finding for the screening of Down syndrome. We describe the histopathological findings of nasal bones of two fetuses with Down syndrome, one with absence and the other with normal ossification of the nasal bone. We propose that histopathological examination of the nasal bone could improve the accuracy of diagnosis of nasal hypoplasia among Down syndrome abortuses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.