Landfill site restoration: the inimical challenges of ethylene and methane

Vertically migrating landfill gases pose inimical challenges to site revegetation strategies. Laboratory studies were made to examine the efficacy of ectomycorrhizae and soil cover to obviate the challenges of ethylene and methane. In the presence of ethylene concentrations 相似文献   

Desertification,and climate change: the case for greater convergence

Poor knowledge of links between desertification and globalclimate change is limiting funding from the Global Environment Facility foranti-desertification projects and realization of synergies between theConvention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the FrameworkConvention on Climate Change (FCCC). Greater convergence betweenresearch in the two fields could overcome these limitations, improve ourknowledge of desertification, and benefit four areas of global climate changestudies: mitigation assessment; accounting for land cover change in thecarbon budget; land surface-atmosphere interactions; and climate changeimpact forecasting. Convergence would be assisted if desertification weretreated more as a special case in dry areas of the global process of landdegradation, and stimulated by: (a) closer cooperation between the FCCCand CCD; (b) better informal networking between desertification and globalclimate change scientists, e.g. within the framework of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Both strategies wouldbe facilitated if the FCCC and CCD requested the IPCC to provide ascientific framework for realizing the synergies between them.     

Congenital cystic hygroma of the neck diagnosed prenatally: Outcome with normal and abnormal karyotype

Twenty-two cases of cystic hygromas were diagnosed prenatally at Eastern Virginia Medical School and followed through the neonatal period. Our series was combined with 131 cases which have been described in the literature. Karyotypes were obtained in 110 fetuses and 80 (72·7 per cent) were abnormal. Fifty-one were not terminated: 30 with abnormal and 21 with normal karyotypes. There were no neonatal survivors in the group with abnormal karyotypes. There were five survivors in the 21 with normal karyotypes but only 2/21 without severe medical complications. Combining our series with those previously reported in the literature would suggest only a 2–3 per cent rate of intact survivors when fetal cystic hygromas are diagnosed in utero. This information should be helpful when counselling patients whose pregnancies carry this diagnosis.     

Specific floater home ranges and prospective behaviour in the European starling,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Sturnus vulgaris</Emphasis>

In many bird species, floaters are present on the breeding grounds in one or more years before they breed. There is increasing evidence that they have specific home ranges in which they search for information about current and future breeding opportunities. We investigated the role of prospecting in a migratory European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) population. Radio-tracking showed that male starling floaters use specific home range areas during the breeding period. Nest-box observations demonstrated that non-parental nest intrusion is common in the starling and that it is significantly more frequent during the nestling than during the incubation period. In addition, small groups of nest boxes were more likely to be occupied by starlings if they had been put up during the preceding breeding season. The results suggest that floaters try to acquire information about local breeding communities. One specific type of information may be the location of potential breeding sites.     

Prenatal diagnosis of glutathione synthase deficiency

Prenatal diagnosis for glutathione synthase (EC 6·3.2·3) deficiency in two pregnancies of an at-risk couple was performed on amniotic fluid taken at 16 weeks' gestation. 5-Oxoproline (pyroglutamic acid) levels were 970 and 790 μmol/l compared with the normal mean value of 29 μmol/l (range 13–51 μmol/l). The pregnancies were terminated and the diagnosis in one case was subsequently confirmed by assay of glutathione synthase in cultured fetal fibroblasts. In the other, post-mortem tissue samples failed to grow.