The solitary median maxillary central incisor (SMMCI) syndrome: Associations,prenatal diagnosis,and outcomes

Solitary median maxillary central incisor (SMMCI) syndrome is a complex disorder consisting of multiple, developmental defects involving midline structures of the head, which includes the cranial bones, the maxilla, and its container dentition (specifically the central incisor tooth germ), together with other midline structures of the body. SMMCI may appear as an isolated trait or in association with other midline developmental anomalies. We describe the case of a patient with SMMCI. He presented with a solitary median maxillary incisor, short stature, corpus callosum anomalies and a microform of holoprosencephaly (HPE), diabetes insipidus, and neurodevelopmental delay. The diagnosis was performed postnatally based on clinical features, radiological imaging, and a comprehensive genetic study. SMMCI can be diagnosed during the prenatal or neonatal periods or during infancy. Evaluation of the superior maxillary bone is important for prenatal diagnosis. Direct evaluation through bidimensional ultrasound or the use of multiplanar ultrasound or tridimensional reconstruction should be performed in cases of brain or face malformations. Early diagnosis can contribute to improved prenatal assessment and postnatal management.     

Use of reference chemicals to determine passive uptake rates of common indoor air VOCs by collocation deployment of active and passive samplers

Passive samplers have become more popular in their application in the measurement of airborne chemicals. For volatile organic compounds, the rate of a chemical's diffusivity is a determining factor in the quantity of the chemical being collected for a given passive sampler. While uptake rate of a chemical in the passive sampler can be determined either by collocation deployment of both active and passive samplers or use of controlled facilities such as environmental chambers, a new approach without a need for accurate active flow rate in the collocation experiment was demonstrated in this study. This approach uses chemicals of known uptake rates as references to calculate the actual flow rate of the active sampling in the collocation experiment. The active sampling rate in turn can be used in the determination of the uptake rates of all other chemicals present in the passive samplers. The advantage of such approach is the elimination of the errors in actual active sampling rate associated with low flow employed in the collocation experiment. Using this approach, passive uptake rates of more than 80 volatile organic compounds commonly present in indoor air were determined. These experimentally determined uptake rates correlate well with air diffusivity of the chemicals, indicating the regression equation describing such correlation might be useful in predicting the uptake rates of other volatile organic chemicals in indoor air based on their air diffusivity.     

Optimal foraging, not biogenetic law, predicts spider orb web allometry

The biogenetic law posits that the ontogeny of an organism recapitulates the pattern of evolutionary changes. Morphological evidence has offered some support for, but also considerable evidence against, the hypothesis. However, biogenetic law in behavior remains underexplored. As physical manifestation of behavior, spider webs offer an interesting model for the study of ontogenetic behavioral changes. In orb-weaving spiders, web symmetry often gets distorted through ontogeny, and these changes have been interpreted to reflect the biogenetic law. Here, we test the biogenetic law hypothesis against the alternative, the optimal foraging hypothesis, by studying the allometry in Leucauge venusta orb webs. These webs range in inclination from vertical through tilted to horizontal; biogenetic law predicts that allometry relates to ontogenetic stage, whereas optimal foraging predicts that allometry relates to gravity. Specifically, pronounced asymmetry should only be seen in vertical webs under optimal foraging theory. We show that, through ontogeny, vertical webs in L. venusta become more asymmetrical in contrast to tilted and horizontal webs. Biogenetic law thus cannot explain L. venusta web allometry, but our results instead support optimization of foraging area in response to spider size.     

The Determinants of Plant Variety Protection Applications in China

China passed its Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) in 1997 which allowed us to do some initial testing of this proposition. We used a unique dataset on the applications of the new Plant Variety Protection (PVP), morphological characteristics, and institutional sources of all the important varieties of rice in three provinces of China to estimate the determinants of plant variety protection applications in China. The evidence suggests that both the government and private research programs are responding to economic and policy incentives and investing in plant variety protection as economists would expect profit maximizing firms to invest. The discussion of the evolution of the seed industry suggested that the combination of the new seed law in 2000 and the new plant variety protection regulation had changed the structure of the seed industry and provided an important incentive to invest in PVPs both by public research institutes and commercial firms. Finally, there is some preliminary evidence that private firms have smaller incentives to develop new varieties than to purchase the new varieties.     

Development of a field well head safety system for use with radiation generating devices

This paper discusses the design, testing and application of a new interlock system for field use with neutron generating bore hole probes at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Such probes produce 14 MeV neutrons at a yield up to 3×10⁸ neutrons/s, and present an ionizing radiation hazard to personnel particularly when operated in an unshielded configuration. This interlock system prevents personnel from being exposed to the relatively high radiation fields caused by an unsafe condition when an operating neutron generator probe is withdrawn from a well in the ground. An electromechanical interlock prototype system has been designed, built and tested, and has been found to be effective at preventing this event. The design is simple, is effective in mitigating the hazard, and can be installed in minutes. The system could be modified to interlock radiation-generating devices other than neutron generators that are used in similar environments.