An inter-laboratory study to test the ability of amendments to reduce the availability of Cd, Pb, and Zn in situ

An international inter-laboratory research program investigated the effectiveness of in situ remediation of soils contaminated by cadmium, lead and zinc, measuring changes in soil and soil solution chemistry, plants and soil microbiota. A common soil, from mine wastes in Jasper County MO, was used. The soil was pH 5.9, had low organic matter (1.2 g kg(-1) C) and total Cd, Pb, and Zn concentrations of 92, 5022, and 18 532 mg kg(-1), respectively. Amendments included lime, phosphorus (P), red mud (RM), cyclonic ashes (CA), biosolids (BIO), and water treatment residuals (WTR). Both soil solution and NH4NO3 extractable metals were decreased by all treatments. Phytotoxicity of metals was reduced, with plants grown in P treatments having the highest yields and lowest metal concentration (0.5, 7.2 and 406 mg kg(-1) Cd, Pb, and Zn). Response of soil micro-organisms was similar to plant responses. Phosphorus addition reduced the physiologically based extraction test Pb from 84% of total Pb extracted in the untreated soil to 34.1%.     

Assessing risk and adaptation options to fires and windstorms in European forestry

Risks can generally be described as the combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Using this framework, we evaluated the historical and future development of risk of fire and wind damage in European forestry at the national level. Fire risk is expected to increase, mainly as a consequence of an increase in fire hazard, defined as the Fire Weather Index in summer. Exposure, defined as forest area, is expected to increase slightly as a consequence of active afforestation and abandonment of marginal agricultural areas. Adaptation options to fire risk should therefore aim to decrease the vulnerability, where a change in tree species from conifers to broadleaves had most effect. Risk for wind damage in forests is expected to increase mainly as a consequence of increase in exposure (total growing stock) and vulnerability (defined by age class and tree species distribution). Projections of future wind climate indicate an increase in hazard (storminess) mainly over Western Europe. Adaptation options should aim to limit the increase in exposure and vulnerability. Only an increase in harvest level can stop the current build-up of growing stock, while at the same time it will lower vulnerability through the reduction of the share of old and vulnerable stands. Changing species from conifers to broadleaves helps to reduce vulnerability as well. Lowering vulnerability by decreasing the rotation length is only effective in combination with a high demand for wood. Due to data limitations, no forecast of future fire area or damaged timber amount by storms was possible.     

Twelve years of assessing the quality of preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders

Objective

Genomics Quality Assessment has provided external quality assessments (EQAs) for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for 12 years for eight monogenic diseases to identify sub-optimal PGT strategies, testing and reporting of results, which can be shared with the genomics community to aid optimised standards of PGT services for couples.

Method

The EQAs were provided in two stages to mimic end-to-end protocols. Stage 1 involved DNA feasibility testing of a couple undergoing PGT and affected proband. Participants were required to report genotyping results and outline their embryo testing strategy. Lymphoblasts were distributed for mock embryo testing for stage 2. Submitted clinical reports and haplotyping results were assessed against peer-ratified criteria. Performance was monitored to identify poor performance.

Results

The most common testing methodology was short tandem repeat linkage analysis (59%); however, the adoption of single nucleotide polymorphism-based platforms was observed and a move from blastomere to trophectoderm testing. There was a variation in testing strategies, assigning marker informativity and understanding test limitations, some clinically unsafe. Critical errors were reported for genotyping and interpretation.

Conclusion

EQA provides an overview of the standard of preimplantation genetic testing-M clinical testing and identifies areas of improvement for accurate detection of high-risk embryos.     

Turner syndrome-omphalocele association: Incidence,karyotype, phenotype and fetal outcome

Objective

Omphalocele is known to be associated with genetic anomalies like trisomy 13, 18 and Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, but not with Turner syndrome (TS). Our aim was to assess the incidence of omphalocele in fetuses with TS, the phenotype of this association with other anomalies, their karyotype, and the fetal outcomes.

Method

Retrospective multicenter study of fetuses with confirmed diagnosis of TS. Data were extracted from a detailed questionnaire sent to specialists in prenatal ultrasound.

Results

680 fetuses with TS were included in this analysis. Incidence of small omphalocele in fetuses diagnosed ≥12 weeks was 3.1%. Including fetuses diagnosed before 12 weeks, it was 5.1%. 97.1% (34/35) of the affected fetuses had one or more associated anomalies including increased nuchal translucency (≥3 mm) and/or cystic hygroma (94.3%), hydrops/skin edema (71.1%), and cardiac anomalies (40%). The karyotype was 45,X in all fetuses. Fetal outcomes were poor with only 1 fetus born alive.

Conclusion

TS with 45,X karyotype but not with X chromosome variants is associated with small omphalocele. Most of these fetuses have associated anomalies and a poor prognosis. Our data suggest an association of TS with omphalocele, which is evident from the first trimester.     

Towards a climate change adaptation strategy for coffee communities and ecosystems in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico

The mountain chain of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in southern Mexico is globally significant for its biodiversity and is one of the most important coffee production areas of Mexico. It provides water for several municipalities and its biosphere reserves are important tourist attractions. Much of the forest cover outside the core protected areas is in fact coffee grown under traditional forest shade. Unless this (agro)forest cover can be sustained, the biodiversity of the Sierra Madre and the environmental services it provides are at risk. We analyzed the threats to livelihoods and environment from climate change through crop suitability modeling based on downscaled climate scenarios for the period 2040 to 2069 (referred to as 2050s) and developed adaptation options through an expert workshop. Significant areas of forest and occasionally coffee are destroyed every year by wildfires, and this problem is bound to increase in a hotter and drier future climate. Widespread landslides and inundations, including on coffee farms, have recently been caused by hurricanes whose intensity is predicted to increase. A hotter climate with more irregular rainfall will be less favorable to the production of quality coffee and lower profitability may compel farmers to abandon shade coffee and expand other land uses of less biodiversity value, probably at the expense of forest. A comprehensive strategy to sustain the biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods of the Sierra Madre in the face of climate change should include the promotion of biodiversity friendly coffee growing and processing practices including complex shade which can offer some hurricane protection and product diversification; payments for forest conservation and restoration from existing government programs complemented by private initiatives; diversification of income sources to mitigate risks associated with unstable environmental conditions and coffee markets; integrated fire management; development of markets that reward sustainable land use practices and forest conservation; crop insurance programs that are accessible to smallholders; and the strengthening of local capacity for adaptive resource management.     

上海市能源消费CO2排放清单与碳流通图

基于上海市能源统计数据,参照IPCC(2006)方法,测算了上海市能源CO2排放清单,并绘制了2007年上海市碳流通图.结果表明,上海市能源相关的CO2排放总量从1995年的1.10亿t增长到2007年的2.01亿t,期间年均增长率为5.0%.其中“交通”对应的CO2排放量增长最为迅速,年均增长率达15.1%;而“热电厂”的CO2排放量增幅逐渐变缓,其原因为近年上海市外来电力比重增大.2007年“热电厂”、“工业与建筑业”、“交通”、“商业”、“居民生活”与“农业”各部分CO2排放分担率分别为35.4%、34.4%、23.8%、4.0%、2.0%、0.4%.由2007年上海市碳流通图可见,15.6%的煤炭直接由终端使用,这不利于能源效率的提高与污染物的减排;成品油存在较多的交叉流通,若能够减少不必要的流通,不但能够缓解成品油的运输,还能够减少其在转运过程中的输配损失.     

都匀毛尖茶土壤中总磷含量的调查研究

目的:调查都匀毛尖茶土壤中总磷的含量;方法:以贵州省都匀市毛尖茶产地--螺丝壳山的土壤为研究对象,采用酸法消解,用钼酸铵分光光度法于700 nm波长处测定土壤中总磷含量;结果:都匀螺丝壳山中土壤中总磷含量在177.58 mg·kg-1~353.92 mg·kg-1之间;结论:都匀毛尖茶土壤中的总磷含量在全国基本水平范围以内,总磷含量与土壤的类型、土壤所处海拔高度无明显关系。     

Communities of different plant diversity respond similarly to drought stress: experimental evidence from field non-weeded and greenhouse conditions

Accelerating rate of species loss has prompted researchers to study the role of species diversity in processes that control ecosystem functioning. Although negative impact of species loss has been documented, the evidence concerning its impact on ecosystem stability is still limited. Here, we studied the effects of declining species and functional diversity on plant community responses to drought in the field (open to weed colonization) and greenhouse conditions. Both species and functional diversity positively affected the average yields of field communities. However, this pattern was similar in both drought-stressed and control plots. No effect of diversity on community resistance, biomass recovery after drought and resilience was found because drought reduced biomass production similarly at each level of diversity by approximately 30?%. The use of dissimilarity (characterized by Euclidean distance) revealed higher variation under changing environments (drought-stressed vs. control) in more diverse communities compared to less species-rich assemblages. In the greenhouse experiment, the effect of species diversity affected community resistance, indicating that more diverse communities suffered more from drought than species-poor ones. We conclude that our study did not support the insurance hypothesis (stability properties of a community should increase with species richness) because species diversity had an equivocal effect on ecosystem resistance and resilience in an environment held under non-weeded practice, regardless of the positive relationship between sown species diversity and community biomass production. More species-rich communities were less resistant against drought-stressed conditions than species-poor ones grown in greenhouse conditions.