Split notochord syndrome variant: prenatal findings and neonatal management

Spilt notochord syndrome is an extremely rare form of spinal dysraphism characterized by a complete cleft of the spine and a persistent communication between endoderm and ectoderm. A variant of split notochord syndrome was diagnosed in a 25-week-old fetus showing a prolapsed congenital colostomy and a spinal cystic lesion. The final diagnosis included protruding colon segment, imperforate anus with a rectourethral fistula and lipomyelomeningocele. The ultrasound features of the condition and the post-natal management are discussed. The neonate was successfully treated with a posterior sagittal anorectoplasty, while the lipomyelomeningocele was resected at a later stage. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risky health and safety habits related to perceived value of the future

Risk homeostasis theory postulates that people accept a specific level (target level) of risk in a given activity in return for benefits accruing from that activity. It follows that, if people expect a great deal from the future, the less likely they are to jeopardise it by taking risks in respect of their health and safety. One effective method for reducing target level of risk are incentives, and the available literature contains ample evidence of the effectiveness of incentives programmes in accident prevention. As incentives essentially imply an enhanced quality of life in the future, the question arises as to how expectations of the future may be related to health and safety habits. In order to explore the relationship between perceived value of the future and health and safety habits, an analysis of the psychological literature on individual differences in future time orientation/perspective is presented. Four factors are identified: (1) clear ideation of the future, (2) active planning for the future, (3) time pressure, and (4) optimistic expectations about events outside one's own control. It is hypothesised that factors (1) and (2) are associated with positive health and safety habits, while factors (3) and (4) may characterise individuals with relatively high target levels of physical risk. Research questions and procedures for the study of these relationships are discussed.     

Loss of genetic diversity in Harpacticoida near offshore platforms

Offshore oil and gas production platforms can be a source of chronic stress that could lead to sublethal impacts on resident benthic organisms. In June 1993 and January 1994, genetic diversity of Harpacticoida (Copepoda) living proximal to operating, offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico was estimated to test if platforms are associated with strong selective pressures. Because harpacticoids have short generation times and direct benthic development, they are suitable organisms for examining population responses. Genetic diversity was estimated by comparing restriction fragment length polymorphisms generated from mitochondrial DNA amplified by the polymerase chain reaction on individuals of five species (Cletodes sp., Enhydrosoma pericoense, Normanella sp., Robertsonia sp., and Tachidiella sp.). Populations living at Near regions (stations<50 m from a platform) had significantly less haplotype diversity than populations of the same species living at Far regions (stations>3 km from a platform). The levels of haplotype diversity exhibited by the Far populations were similar at three different platforms located hundreds of kilometers apart. The differences in haplotype diversity between Near and Far regions were the result of a higher proportion of dominant haplotypes, and a loss of less common haplotypes. Haplotypic diversity was inversely correlated with a multivariate measurement of levels of sediment contaminants. The pattern of haplotype diversity on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf seems to consist of a uniform level of haplotype diversity, punctuated by islands of lower diversity around oil and gas platforms. The selective pressures that lead to a loss of genetic diversity may be the result of contaminants, other differences in the physico-chemical environment, or disturbance in general.     

Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of fish otoliths

Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of the aragonite of fish otoliths was measured on 175 specimens comprising 24 different species in 1989 and 1990. All specimens but two came from the northern Adriatic Sea or the northern Tyrrhenian Sea (two freshwater specimens were studied for comparison with the marine fish). The data obtained confirm the results of previous research suggesting the existence of equilibrium conditions between the otolith aragonite and ambient water with respect to ·¹⁸O(CO₃ ^2-) values. Examination of one of the species indicated that the CaCO₃ of otoliths probably accumulates continuously over time, seasonal isotopic changes being clearly visible (from a set of radial spot samples) for both oxygen and carbon isotopes. The apparent isotopic equilibrium with ambient water suggests that the ¹⁸O(H₂O) of the endolymph is equal to that of seawater and considerably different from that of fish body water. In the case of ¹³C(CO₃ ^2-), isotopic equilibrium with dissolved carbon species in seawater is never reached, even though the contribution of metabolic CO₂ is variable among different species and even among different individuals of the same species. This rules out the possibility of using ¹³C(CO₃ ^2-) values obtained from fossil otoliths for paleoenvironmental and paleobiological conclusions.     

Planktonic bioluminescence in the pack ice and the marginal ice zone of the Beaufort Sea

An icebreaker cruise into the Beaufort Sea in the fall of 1986 provided a unique opportunity for studying planktonic bioluminescence in ice fields and in the marginal ice zone. Bathyphotometer casts (bioluminescence intensity, seawater temperature, beam attenuation coefficient, and salinity) and biological collections were made to a depth of 100 m. A light budget, which describes the planktonic species responsible for the measured bioluminescence, and a dinoflagellate species budget were constructed from the mean light output from luminescent plankton and plankton counts. The vertical distribution of bioluminescence among the ice stations was similar. The maximum intensities were 2 to 8×10⁶ photons s^-1 cm^-3 in the upper 50 m of the sea-ice interface. The marginal ice zone station (MIZ) exhibited a maximum intensity of 2 to 3×10⁸ photons s^-1 cm^-3 between 5 and 30 m depth. At Ice Station 2, Metridia longa and their nauplii contributed approximately 80% of stimulable bioluminescence in the upper 10 m but, overall, Protoperidinium spp. dinoflagellates contributed most of the light to a depth of 100 m. In the MIZ, Protoperidinium spp. dinoflagellates contributed 90% of the light within the upper 10 m, decreasing to 43% of the contributed light at a depth of 40 m. Below 40 m, dinoflagellate bioluminescence decreased to a few percent of the total to a depth of 90 m. Metridia spp. copepods contributed more than 50% of the light at depths from 40 to 90 m. Ostracods, larvaceans, and euphausiid furcilia contributed <1% of all bioluminescence at all depths sampled. Correlation analyses between measured bioluminescence (photons s^-1 cm^-3), the number of bioluminescent dinoflagellates and the light budget for the MIZ indicated highly significant associations: r=0.919, p=0.001, and r=0.912, p<0.001, respectively (Student's two-tailed t-tests). Bioluminescence was negatively correlated with seawater salinity at all stations (p=0.001). Maximum bioluminescence was measured in the less saline surface waters at all stations.     

Planktonic ciliates in Southampton Water: abundance,biomass, production,and role in pelagic carbon flow

The abundance and biomass of marine planktonic ciliates were determined at monthly intervals at two stations in Southampton Water between June 1986 and June 1987. The two stations, an outer one at Calshot and an inner one at N. W. Netley, were subject to differing marine and terrestrial influences. The potential ciliate production at cach station on each visit was estimated from these data. Enumeration of ciliates and measurements of biovolume were performed on Lugol's iodinepreserved samples and potential production was calculated using a predictive relationship based on temperature and cell volume. Heterotrophic ciliate abundance and biomass were greatest at both stations during spring and summer months, with respective maxima of 16x10³ organisms 1^-1 and 219 g Cl^-1 recorded at N. W. Netley. Estimates of the potential production of the ciliate community ranged from <1 to 18 g Cl^-1 d^-1 at Calshot and <1 to 141 g Cl^-1 at N. W. Netley, with annual values of 2 and 9 mg Cl^-1 yr^-1, respectively. Abundances, biomass and potential production estimates were generally greater at N. W. Netley than at Calshot. Carbon flow through the ciliate community was assessed using annual production values from both this study and the literature. The annual ciliate carbon requirement was equivalent to 9 and 11% of annual primary production at Calshot and N. W. Netley, and potential annual ciliate production was equivalent to 34% and >100% of the energy requirements of metazoan zooplankton at these locations, although comprising only 8 and 10% of their available food.     

Bacterivory: a novel dual role for thraustochytrids in the sea

Two thraustochytrids, Thraustochytrium striatum Schneider and Schizochytrium mangrovei Raghukumar, isolated in 1989 in axenic cultures using pine pollen in seawater from mangroves in Goa, India, were observed in continuous-flow chambers. When grown in the presence of bacteria, both species produced amoebae, which moved using pseudopodia and phagocytosed bacterial cells. Several amoebae were produced in sporangia, or isolated vegetative cells transformed directly into amoebae. These findings were confirmed with several single-cell isolations of the protists. The demonstration of phagotrophic amoebae in these organisms suggests a dual role for thraustochytrids in nature, namely a fungus-like breakdown of complex organic molecules as well as bacterivory. This phenomenon also places the thraustochytrics in a unique relationship with many other protistan groups.