Biochemical examination of fetal skin biopsy specimens obtained by fetoscopy: Use of the method for analysis of keratins and filaggrin

This paper describes a method for biochemical analysis of proteins from fetal skin biopsy samples. The method has wide potential application for diagnosis of disorders with a known protein abnormality detectable by protein staining or a specific antibody. Analysis requires a single 1 mm biopsy, is rapid (2 days) and extremely sensitive. In the present study, fetal skin biopsies from normal fetuses and a fetus at risk for lamellar ichthyosis were obtained. The epidermis or hairs with attached follicular cells were dissected from the remaining skin. Proteins were extracted and separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Proteins from duplicate gels were transferred to nitrocellulose and immunostained for the acidic and basic keratins and for the keratin filament associated protein, filaggrin, using monoclonal antibodies. All samples contained keratins typical of fetal epidermis at 20 weeks gestation. Presence of filaggrin is variable at this age and depends on the presence of keratinized cells of hair canals. No keratin abnormalities in the fetus at risk for lamellar ichthyosis were detected, however, in one presumably normal biopsy, an abnormally low proportion of the 67 kd keratin and the presence of follicular keratins were evident. These results demonstrate that biochemical analysis of fetal biopsies is possible, thus increasing the diagnostic potential of the fetal biopsy procedure for disorders in which a known protein or antigen is altered in utero.     

Wind Characteristics of Mesquite Streets in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA

Past research has shown that the most important areas for active sand movement in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert are mesquite-dominated desert ecosystems possessing sandy soil texture. The most active sand movement in the mesquite-dominated ecosystems has been shown to take place on elongated bare soil patches referred to as “streets”. Aerodynamic properties of mesquite streets eroded by wind should be included in explaining how mesquite streets are more emissive sand sources than surrounding desert land. To understand the effects of wind properties, we measured them at two flat mesquite sites having highly similar soil textures but very different configurations of mesquite. The differences in wind properties at the two sites were caused by differences of size, orientation, and porosity of the mesquite, along with the presence of mesquite coppice dunes (sand dunes stabilized by mesquites growing in the dune and on its surface) found only at one of the two sites. Wind direction, u_* (friction velocity), z₀ (aerodynamic roughness height) and D (zero plane displacement height) were estimated for 15-m tower and 3-m mast data. These aerodynamic data allowed us to distinguish five categories with differing potentials for sediment transport. Sediment transport for the five categories varied from unrestricted, free transport to virtually no transport caused by vegetation protection from wind forces. In addition, “steering” of winds below the level of the tops of mesquite bushes and coppice dunes allowed longer parallel wind durations and increased wind erosion for streets that aligned roughly SW–NE. U.S. Government right to retain a non-exclusive royalty-free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

Sperm traits of the quacking frog, Crinia georgiana: intra- and interpopulation variation in a species with a high risk of sperm competition

Sperm traits often show extreme variation both between and within species. Between-species variation may often be interpreted in the context of a sperm competition theory, but within-species variation has remained unexplained. Previous studies on intraspecific variation in sperm traits have focused on a limited set of variables and may have failed to explain observed variation because of potential trade-offs between different sperm traits. We report on variation in number, size, motility and longevity of sperm in the frog Crinia georgiana, a species where sperm competition is common. We found intrapopulation variation in sperm size and motility and interpopulation variation in relative sperm number and size. When we combined relative sperm number and size into one variable, and motility and longevity into another, we found significant interpopulation variation in these variables as well. We also detected considerable intra- and significant interpopulation variation in cumulative sperm quality, a combination of all four sperm traits. Furthermore, a significant effect of the interaction between population origin and male size on sperm characteristics indicated interpopulation variation in the strength of selection acting on sperm traits of males adopting different mating strategies. We discuss heterogeneity in the reproductive environment, a complex genetic background in the determination of sperm characteristics and varying levels of developmental noise as potential contributors to the observed variation in sperm traits.     

Environmental cleanup: The challenge at the Hanford Site,Washington, USA

Numerous challenges face those involved with developing a coordinated and consistent approach to cleaning up the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. These challenges are much greater than those encountered when the site was selected and the world’s first nuclear complex was developed almost 50 years ago. This article reviews Hanford’s history, operations, waste storage/disposal activities, environmental monitoring, and today’s approach to characterize and clean up Hanford under a Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, signed by DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Washington Sate Department of Ecology. Although cleanup of defense-related waste at Hanford holds many positive benefits, negative features include high costs to the US taxpayer, numerous uncertainties concerning the technologies to be employed and the risks involved, and the high probability that special interest groups and activists at large will never be completely satisfied. Issues concerning future use of the site, whether to protect and preserve its natural features or open it to public exploitation, remain to be resolved.     

Noninvasive prenatal screening for patients with high body mass index: Evaluating the impact of a customized whole genome sequencing workflow on sensitivity and residual risk

Objective

Women with high body mass index (BMI) tend to have reduced fetal fraction (FF) during cell-free DNA-based noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS), causing test failure rates up to 24.3% and prompting guidelines that recommend aneuploidy screening other than NIPS for patients with significant obesity. Because alternatives to NIPS are only preferable if they perform better, we compared the respective sensitivities at different BMI levels of traditional aneuploidy screening and a customized whole-genome sequencing NIPS.

Method

The relationship between FF, aneuploidy, and BMI was quantified from 58 105 patients screened with a customized NIPS that does not fail samples because of low FF alone. Expected analytical sensitivity as a function of aneuploidy and BMI (eg, trisomy 18 sensitivity when BMI = 35) was determined by scaling the BMI- and aneuploidy-specific FF distribution by the FF- and aneuploidy-specific sensitivity calculated from empirically informed simulations.

Results

Across all classes of obesity and assuming zero FF-related test failures, analytical sensitivity for the investigated NIPS exceeded that of traditional aneuploidy screening for trisomies 13, 18, and 21.

Conclusion

Relative to traditional aneuploidy screening, a customized NIPS with high accuracy at low FF and a low test-failure rate is a superior screening option for women with high BMI.     

Large-scale oceanic distribution and population structure of Calanus finmarchicus, in relation to physical environment, food and predators

The investigation was carried out from 62°N to 73°N and from 14°E to 11°W in the Norwegian Sea during 19 June-12 July 1997. Regional differences in the phase of the seasonal development of the plankton community were evident, most pronounced across the Arctic front. In the Coastal and eastern Atlantic domains, post-bloom conditions prevailed, characterised by low chlorophyll a (chl a) levels and a phytoplankton assemblage dominated by coccolithophorids and small flagellates. During the study period, egg production rates of Calanus finmarchicus were low (<10 eggs female^-1 day^-1), older copepodite stages dominated, and the seasonal descent to deeper waters had started. In the Arctic domain, bloom conditions were evident by high chl a levels and a high abundance of large diatoms. Egg production rates were higher (a maximum of 29 eggs female^-1 day^-1), but the dominance of stages CI-CIII indicated that considerable spawning had already occurred prior to the spring bloom. The seasonal descent had barely started. Both invertebrate and fish predators were most abundant in the Coastal and eastern Atlantic domains, with abundance strongly decreasing north-westwards. No tight relationship between total abundance of invertebrate or fish predators and that of C. finmarchicus was apparent. However, a weak, but significant, relationship between abundance of young stages of chaetognaths and Euchaeta spp. versus young stages of C. finmarchicus was found, indicating that these invertebrate predators develop parallel to the development of the new cohort of C. finmarchicus. In early summer, C. finmarchicus had reached overwintering stages, and had started to accumulate in deeper waters in areas with the highest abundance of horizontally migratory planktivorous fish.     

Growth and sexual maturity of the northern propellerclam (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyrtodaria siliqua</Emphasis>) in Eastern Canada,with bomb radiocarbon age validation

The northern propellerclam Cyrtodaria siliqua is a common bycatch in the Arctic surfclam, Mactromeris polynyma fishery on Banquereau Bank in Eastern Canada. Samples of the propellerclam from this exploited fishery were used to determine the life history characteristics of the population. The age structure of the population is dominated by old animals to ages exceeding 100 years. We validated the age estimates for the propellerclam through analysis of bomb-produced radiocarbon in the shell growth increments deposited before, during and after the atmospheric atomic bomb testing periods of the 1950s and 1960s. Radiocarbon from shells with presumed birth dates between the late 1950s and 1970s clearly reflected the sharp increase in oceanic radiocarbon attributable to previous nuclear testing, indicating that age estimates based on shell increment counts are accurate. Estimates of von Bertalanffy growth parameters revealed that the growth rate of the population was relatively rapid for the first 20 years of life, slowing down to very low growth rates thereafter. Sexual maturity was estimated as being reached at 28.6 mm in length and 4.7 years in age. Size–weight morphometric relationships were also calculated.     

Development of injury criteria for pelvic fracture in frontal crashes

OBJECTIVE: This article assesses the position-dependent injury tolerance of the hip in the frontal direction based on testing of eight postmortem human subjects. METHODS: For each subject, the left and right hemipelvis complex was axially loaded using a previously developed test configuration. Six positions were defined from a seated femur neutral condition, combining flexed, neutral, and extended femur positions with abducted, neutral, and adducted positions. RESULTS: Axial injury tolerances based on peak force were found to be 6,850 +/- 840 N in the extended, neutral position and 4,080 +/- 830 N in the flexed, neutral position. From the flexed neutral orientation, the peak axial force increased 18% for 20 degrees abduction and decreased 6% for 20 degrees adduction. From the extended, neutral orientation, the peak axial force decreased 4% for 20 degrees abduction and decreased 3% for 20 degrees adduction. However, as there is evidence that increases in loading may occur after the initiation of fracture, the magnitude of the peak force is likely related to the extent of injury, not to the initial tolerance. Using the axial femur force at the initiation of fracture (assessed with acoustic crack sensors) as a potentially more relevant indicator of injury may lower the existing injury criteria. This fracture initiation force varied by position from 3,010 +/- 560 N in the flexed, neutral position to 5,470 N in the extended, abducted position. Further, there was a large position-dependent variation in the ratio of fracture initiation force to the peak axial force. The initiation of fracture was 83% of the peak axial force in the extended, abducted position, but the ratio was 34% in the extended, adducted position. CONCLUSIONS: This may have significant implications for the development of pelvic injury criteria by automobile designers attempting to mitigate pelvis injuries.     

Determining older driver crash responsibility from police and insurance data

This study aimed to determine the extent to which older drivers can be considered responsible for their crashes, to identify key factors in those crashes for which older drivers have been judged responsible, and to assess the extent to which older drivers' extra crash responsibility contributes to the road toll. Insurance claims from the State of Tasmania, Australia, for 1998-2002 were linked with police records for crashes involving drivers aged either 41-55 years or 65 years or older. Insurance and police data sets contained independent judgments of crash responsibility. There was a high level of agreement between the two sets of judgments, with older drivers judged around 1.5 times more likely to be responsible for their crashes than middle-aged drivers and, conversely, older drivers were around 0.6 as likely to be absolved from crash responsibility. It was concluded that older drivers' additional crash responsibility while valuable in explaining "what went wrong," currently makes only a small contribution to the overall road toll.     

Influence of task demands on occupational stress: Gender differences

IntroductionOccupational stress is a common phenomenon in our society, and generates problems for both workers' health and the functioning of organizations. Over past decades numerous studies have examined occupational stress from the perspective of gender, offering somewhat contradictory results. Some of them found no differences and others indicated that either men or women suffer from greater amounts of occupational stress.MethodThe purpose of this study was to analyze gender differences in stress in situations that involve certain occupational demands. The data used were taken from a random sample population of 11,054 (5,917 men and 5,137 women) from the VI National Survey on Working Conditions (NSWC) which was conducted in Spain in 2007. To carry out this study, a probabilistic model was constructed using Bayesian networks, with the following variables related to task demands: working with tight deadlines, quick work, intellectually demanding work, complicated tasks, repetitive tasks, excessive work, and work demanding high attention levels.ResultsThe results of this study reveal that: the indicators studied significantly increased stress levels; women initially had higher stress levels than men; and when exposed to determined task demands, stress differences between genders tended to increase.Impact on IndustryCompanies need to consider the gender of their workers when assigning tasks in high demand/stress jobs.