Biocultural diversity in traditional rice-based agroecosystems: indigenous research and conservation of mavo (Oryza sativa L.) upland rice landraces of eastern Indonesia

Traditional crop landraces play dynamic roles in the expression of native biological and cultural diversity via their central position in the genetic resource base, agroecosystems and social heritage of indigenous peoples. Farmer varieties provide farmers with an “agricultural survival kit” for household welfare and for adaptation to changing conditions. These varieties meet local cultural practices and environmental constraints, and play an intrinsic role in cultural survival by constituting a living repository of ancestral customs including cultivar-specific recipes, songs, handicrafts, stories of origin, and unique planting, harvesting, processing, and storage rituals and techniques. The centrality of rice in Southeast Asian agricultural and social systems, contrasted with the significant erosion of rice-based biological and cultural diversity in native communities, calls for increased attention to the links between traditional rice varieties and indigenous rice-based customs. This study represents the research efforts of rice farmers pertaining to the Tado clan, a Kempo Manggarai community on Flores␣Island, in association with USA academicians. Research results demonstrate: (i) a complex suite of upland rice-based ethnobotanical traditions; (ii) significant and␣dynamic regional flux and dissemination of “old” and “new” landraces; (iii)␣community-level maintenance of distinct genotypes across a range of microenvironments; (iv) localized “extinctions” of ancestral landraces within 1–2 generations and a concomitant loss of related traditions; and (v) the contributions of a collaborative (indigenous and academic) approach to ethnographic and agronomic research.     

Treated wood in livestock facilities: relationships among residues of pentachlorophenol, dioxins, and furans in wood and beef.

Wood and other environmental samples were collected from sites that produced beef with higher than average residues of dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD) and dibenzofuran (PCDF). Analyses of these samples for PCDD/Fs and pentachlorophenol (PCP) indicated that the high beef residues were associated with PCP-treated wood in the animal facilities. Concentrations of PCDD/Fs in wood as toxic equivalents ranged from 10 to 320,000 pg/g. These concentrations were closely related to the concentrations of PCP, indicating that analysis for PCP provides an economical method to identify wood with high concentrations of PCDD/Fs. Further evidence for the PCP-treated wood as the source of the beef residues is provided by the similarity of the congener profiles in beef from the sites and those profiles predicted from the profiles in wood.     

Prenatal diagnosis for women aged 37 years and over: to have or not to have

Forty percent of pregnant women aged 37 years and over do not have prenatal diagnosis despite being eligible for a free test. The present study aimed to determine how often, and which, untested women were making a choice about this, how many declined an offer and why. A questionnaire was given to untested women, aged 37 years and over, at no less than 24 weeks gestation. A total of 375 (81.5%) women declined, 72 (16%) were not offered a test and 13 presented too late antenatally. There was a three-fold increased likelihood (OR 3.10 95% CI 1.44, 6.65) of no offer for urban non-English speaking background women, compared with the reference group (metropolitan, English speaking). Unpartnered women were also significantly less likely to receive an offer (OR 3.18, 95% CI 1.19, 8.46). Risk to the baby was the main reason for declining. When offered non-invasive prenatal screening, most decliners of prenatal diagnosis accepted, even those who declined because they were opposed to abortion. We estimate that overall 33% of older pregnant women were being offered and declining amniocentesis and/or chorion villus sampling (CVS). Only 6% were not offered a test, but this small proportion is over-represented by minority groups who must be given equal opportunity to make this choice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Significance of active and passive depuration in the clearance of naphthalene from the tissues of Hemigrapsus nudus (Crustacea: Decapoda)

Photosynthate incorporation into lipids, low molecular weight compounds, polysaccharides and proteins by individual phytoplankton species isolated from natural populations is described. This sensitive method uses serial solvent extraction and liquid scintillation counting and gives results indentical to those obtained from filtering large numbers of cells from suspension. The time course of incorporation of ¹⁴C into these polymers for algae isolated from estuarine and coastal populations shows (i) considerable differences in the carbon metabolism among species, (ii) the pattern of incorporation by any individual species may not reflect that of the phytoplankton community and (iii) significant reallocation of cell carbon among carbon pools and net protein synthesis at night. This technique permits the in-situ carbon metabolism of individual species to be examined.     

Occurrence of tri-n-butyltin-caused imposex in the North Pacific marine snail Nucella lima in Auke Bay,Alaska

Like female dog whelks (Nucella lapillus) in the Atlantic Ocean, females of the Pacific gastropod N. lima respond to low concentrations of tri-n-butyltin (TBT) by growing a penis and vas deferens. This condition, termed imposex, was found to occur in N. lima collected from August 1987 to May 1988 along a TBT pollution gradient associated with a marina in Auke Bay, Alaska. The suite of symptoms characteristic of imposex in N. lima was slightly different than in N. lapillus. Imposex, as measured by relative penis size (RPS) of females to males, increased from 0.0 to 34.27 along this gradient and as measured by vas deferens sequenceindex (VDS) increased similarly from 0.0 to 4.29. Concentrations of TBT in N. lima increased from below detection limits (about 0.010 g Sn g^-1 dry tissue wt) to 0.065 g Sn g^-1 dry tissue wt along the gradient. The gradient was determined by measuring TBT in whole-body tissues of bay mussels (Mytilus edulis). Concentrations of TBT in mussels increased from below detection limits to 0.833 g Sn g^-1 dry tissue wt in mussels from within the marina that was the major local source of TBT. Imposex, tissue TBT burden, and position along a TBT pollution gradient are significantly correlated (P<0.01) in N. lima. TBT was tested as a causative agent for imposex by exposing snails at a distant control site to TBT paint. After 1 mo exposure, 33% of the females grew a penis ranging in size from 0.2 to 0.8 mm. Our results generally corroborate those found for N. lapillus and indicate that imposex in N. lima is caused by environmental TBT exposure. We suggest that the RPS in the genus Nucella may be useful in monitoring TBT in coastal waters worldwide.     

Dental Workers,Musculoskeletal CumulativeTrauma,and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Who is at Risk? A Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted at a dental clinic to identify (a) the prevalence of musculoskeletal cumulative trauma disorders (MCTD), (b) associated symptoms (with special attention paid to carpal tunnel syndrome [CTS]), and (c) practitioners at risk. Videotapes, two questionnaires, a medical record review, and interviews were used. Forty-five dental workers participated and were classified into three categories: (a) dentists, (b) dental assistants and special assistants (DA/SA), and (c) dental hygienists and dental assistant-expanded function (DH/DAEF). Categorical data were analyzed using the chi- square statistic and risk ratios. The Fisher exact probability test was used for categorical data with a small cell. One or more symptoms associated with CTS were noted by 75.6% of the dental workers, 11% reported diagnosed CTS, and 53% reported back and shoulder pain. Both psychosocial factors and job demands appear to be associated with MCTD. All three categories of dental workers reported MCTD symptoms, and the DH/DAEF group was found to be at greatest risk for developing upper extremity symptoms, CTS, and back pain.     

Effects of the California graduated driver licensing program

PROBLEM: On July 1, 1998, in an effort to ameliorate the problem of high teenage driver crash rates, California implemented a graduated driver licensing system (GDLS). METHOD: Data on injury crashes of 16- and 17-year-old drivers from a pre-GDLS year were compared with data from two post-GDLS years. Per-capita crash rate ratios were adjusted for changes in crash rates of 25- to 34-year-old drivers, who were unaffected by the GDLS. Prevented numbers and 95% confidence intervals were estimated. RESULTS: Fatal or severe injury crash rates were significantly lower during each of the two post-GDLS years (adjusted rate ratios (RR)=0.72 and 0.83, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Significant rate reductions were observed for all crash types, particularly for struck object (RR=0.71 and 0.80, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively) and non-collision (RR=0.63 and 0.72, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Minor injury crash rates were also lower during post-GDLS years (RR=0.87 and 0.90, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Percent reductions were notably larger during the hours of the late night driving restriction (midnight-5 a.m.) (RR=0.79 and 0.87, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). SUMMARY: The implementation of the California GDLS was followed by large reductions in the rate of injury-producing motor-vehicle crashes. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This evaluation supports previous evidence that GDLS is an effective countermeasure to adolescent motor-vehicle crashes and their associated injuries. States with a traditional licensing system may prevent adolescent driver crashes by adopting a GDLS. Future studies should examine factors that influence teenager compliance with GDLS provisions and identify approaches to improving compliance.     

A new approach to propellant formulation: minimizing life-cycle costs through science-based design

The traditional approach to developing propellants for specific gun applications relies heavily on trial and error. Candidate formulations must be made in small quantities and subjected to burning-rate measurements and small-scale vulnerability assessments. If the properties of these candidates fail to meet expectations, the process must be repeated. This approach, while historically unavoidable, is obviously inefficient in time and expense, but it also can generate considerable waste streams associated with unsuccessful formulations. With added considerations of life-cycle costs including environmental impact at all stages of development, use, and disposal, this traditional approach becomes increasingly unworkable. In this report a new approach is proposed which makes maximal use of scientific understanding embodied in models during the early phases of the propellant-development cycle. Through simple simulations, it is shown that this strategy can have a significant impact on the overall costs of the development process. In analogy to the DOE program to convert the nuclear-weapon stewardship from testing-based to science-based, we term the new approach "science-based design." It is argued that the modeling contribution to the propellant-development process is most efficiently implemented by subjecting candidate formulations to a hierarchy of models of different sophistication and input-data requirements, reserving the most rigorous models (usually the most data-intensive and least robust) for the most promising candidates. This new approach will require concentration and leveraging of resources toward the most critical early-phase development steps, but it may be the only credible strategy to reconcile the need for higher-performance weapons with the reality of declining resources.     

Comparisons of PBDE composition and concentration in fish collected from the Detroit River,MI and Des Plaines River,IL

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were identified in fish collected from the Detroit River, MI and Des Plaines Rivers, IL. In the Detroit River fish, carp and large mouth bass, the congener patterns were dominated by the 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromo (BDE-47) congener, however, in Des Plaines River carp the dominant isomers were the heptabromo congeners BDE-181 and BDE-183 and lesser amounts of another heptabromo congener, BDE-190, and two hexabromo congeners, BDE-154 and BDE-153. Three possible sources exist for these less-commonly identified PBDE congeners: (a) waste discharge from manufacturing or discarded products near the river, (b) public owned treatment work (POTW) effluents which constitute more than 75% of the flow in the Des Plaines River, (c) or formation of these congeners by debromination of in-place deposits of decabromodiphenyl ether. Average concentration totals (sum of concentrations for seven of the dominant PBDE congeners) were similar on a wet weight bases for the carp (5.39 ng/g wet weight) and large mouth bass (5.25 ng/g) in the Detroit River samples; however, the bass were significantly higher, p = 0.01, when compared on a lipid basis (bass--163 ng/g vs. carp--40.5 ng/g lipid weight). Some of the PBDE congeners were positively correlated with increasing lipid levels in both fish species. Average total PBDE concentrations in the carp from the Des Plaines River (12.48 ng/g wet weight) were significantly higher, p = 0.01, than in carp from the Detroit River. The residues were isolated using standard organochlorine methods for fish and analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-negative chemical ionization methods.