The fiscal pit and the federalist pendulum: Explaining differences between US States in protecting health and the environment

Summary The US federal government has deliberately shifted a great deal of responsibility for protecting public health and the environment to the 50 US States. Some States are able and willing to assume control, but many others cannot or will not. It is argued that the American federal government should be prepared to intervene in those States that do not place health and environment on their agenda.Dr. Michael Greenberg is Professor of the School of Urban and Regional Policy at Rutgers as well as being an Advisory Board member to this journal. Prof. Frank Popper chairs the Department of Urban Studies and Community Health at Rutgers University. He has written extensively about land use issues and the American Great Plains. Bernadette West is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development, Rutgers University. Her thesis concerns scientific and political issues in developing cancer research centers.     

Coping patterns as predictors of burnout: The function of control and escapist coping patterns

The paper attempts to bring concepts developed in cognitive approaches to stress and coping to a model which predicts burnout as a function of organizational demands and resources. Workers in a mental hospital (N = 177) provided information regarding coping patterns, burnout, and organizational commitment as well as various demands and resources in the work environment. A LISREL analysis confirmed that burnout is best considered a function of coping patterns as well as a function of organizational demands and resources. Control coping cognitions and actions were associated with decreased burnout, while escapist coping strategies were associated with increased burnout. The analysis indicated relationships of coping patterns with organizational commitment could be operating indirectly through the relationships of both coping patterns and commitment with the burnout. The paper discusses implications of these findings for interventions designed to alleviate or prevent burnout.     

瑞典区域气候模拟计划(SWECLIM)综述

瑞典区域气候模拟计划(SWECLIM)是一个历时6年半的国家研究网络计划,该研究网络主要涉及区域气候模拟、区域气候变化预测以及水文影响评估,并且为广大的利益相关人士提供相应信息.大部分研究活动主要针对北欧区域气候系统.最终促使建立一个先进的大气-海洋-水文相耦合的区域气候模型系统和一套区域气候变化预测体系,并促成了相关数据的积累和相关过程研究的进步.反过来,作为对不同社会部门影响分析的一个起点,这些也可以用来作为信息源和为教育服务,而且还为国际气候研究做出了贡献.     

Normal fetal cardiac anatomy–a basis for the echocardiographic detection of abnormalities

Real-time examination of the fetal heart in 350 pregnancies has allowed a composite picture of normal fetal cardiac anatomy to be established and echocardiographic interpretation has been confirmed by anatomical studies. Two echocardiographic sections are readily obtainable and are suggested as applicable to routine scanning but the specialist nature of interpreting abnormalities is stressed. Six abnormalities have been suspected during the study and five confirmed anatomically or at cardiac catheterization. In view of the low incidence of congenital heart disease in a normal obstetric population, high risk groups should perhaps be selected for cardiac scanning at the present time. These include mothers of previously affected babies, diabetic mothers and certain abnormalities of pregnancy. Fetal ascites is particularly important, being present in three of the four proven cases of cardiac abnormality.     

Prenatal diagnosis and carrier detection in mucopolysaccharidosis type II by mutation analysis. A 47,xxy male heterozygous for a missense point mutation

Identification of iduronate-2-sulphatase (IDS) gene mutations in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II, Hunter syndrome) allows fast and reliable carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis. We describe here three cases of prenatal diagnosis by direct detection of the gene mutation. In addition to two affected male fetuses from two different families, a 47,XXY fetus carrying both the normal and the mutant allele was diagnosed in a third family. The latter pregnancy was carried to term and the child is obviously not affected by MPS II.     

Optimizing carbon sequestration in commercial forests by integrating carbon management objectives in wood supply modeling

This paper provides a methodology for generating forest management plans, which explicitly maximize carbon (C) sequestration at the forest-landscape level. This paper takes advantage of concepts first presented in a paper by Meng et al. (2003; Mitigation Adaptation Strategies Global Change 8:371–403) by integrating C-sequestration objective functions in existing wood supply models. Carbon-stock calculations performed in Woodstock^TM (RemSoft Inc.) are based on C yields generated from volume table data obtained from local Forest Development Survey plots and a series of wood volume-to-C content conversion factors specified in von Mirbach (2000). The approach is used to investigate the impact of three demonstration forest-management scenarios on the C budget in a 110,000 ha forest in south-central New Brunswick, Canada. Explicit demonstration scenarios addressed include (1) maximizing timber extraction either by clearcut or selection harvesting for greatest revenue generation, (2) maximizing total C storage in the forest landscape and in wood products generated from harvesting, and (3) maximizing C storage together with revenue generation. The level of clearcut harvesting was greatest for scenario 1 (≥15 × 10⁴ m³ of wood and ≥943 ha of land per harvesting period), and least for scenario 2 (=0 m³ per harvesting period) where selection harvesting dominated. Because softwood saw logs were worth more than pulpwood ($60 m⁻³ vs. $40 m⁻³) and were strategic to the long-term storage of C, the production of softwood saw logs exceeded the production of pulpwood in all scenarios. Selection harvesting was generally the preferred harvesting method across scenarios. Only in scenario 1 did levels of clearcut harvesting occasionally exceed those of selection harvesting, mainly in the removal of old, dilapidated stands early in the simulation (i.e., during periods 1 through 3). Scenario 2 provided the greatest total C-storage increase over 80 years (i.e., 14 × 10⁶ Mg C, or roughly 264 Mg ha⁻¹) at a cost of $111 per Mg C due to lost revenues. Scenarios 3 and 1 produced reduced storage rates of roughly 9 × 10⁶ Mg C and 3 × 10⁶ Mg C, respectively; about 64% and 22% of the total, 80-year C storage calculated in scenario 2. The bulk of the C in scenario 2 was stored in the forest, amounting to about 76% of the total C sequestered.     

Prenatal demonstration of a cervical myelocystocele

Myelocystocele is a rare spinal cord disorder and has not been described prenatally. We report a case in which prenatal ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a posterior cervical mass which was initially thought to be a meningocele or an atypical cystic hygroma. Surgery performed at 1 day of age showed this to be a myelocystocele. Therefore, the differential diagnosis of an extracranial cystic mass in the posterior cervical region should be expanded to include myelocystoceles.