Barriers and opportunities for adapting to climate change on the North Coast of São Paulo,Brazil

Regional Environmental Change - This paper examines barriers and opportunities for climate change adaptation in an urban coastal setting where adaptation is in its infancy. It draws on a diagnostic...     

Responses of plant functional groups to natural nitrogen fertility on an alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Species distribution is often closely associated with soil nutrients in terrestrial ecosystem. In contrast to most manipulated N (nitrogen) experimental studies, there are few observation experiments examining the distribution of species or functional groups along a natural soil N gradient. Alpine meadows with higher soil spatial heterogeneity at fine scale, which have a large gradient in soil N gradient, provides an ideal system to examine the distribution of species or functional groups. Here we used redundancy analysis (RDA) to examine the relationships between soil and plant properties in northeast of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau over two years. The results showed the relative biomass of forbs increased, while those of legumes and grasses decreased with the soil N availability. This suggests that legumes and grasses had stronger tolerance to infertile soils than forbs, which may due to the N₂-fixed for legumes and high nutrient use efficiency for grasses. Furthermore, the positive significant relationships between the percentage of legumes biomass and N: P (phosphorus) ratio were found in the whole community and non-legumes, confirming the presence of legumes improved the vegetation N status even for non-legumes.     

Potential distribution of Blumea balsamifera in China using MaxEnt and the ex situ conservation based on its effective components and fresh leaf yield

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Blumea balsamifera is a famous Chinese Minority Medicine, which has a long history in Miao, Li, Zhuang, and other minority areas. In recent years, due...     

Therapeutic effect of dithiophenolato chitosan nanocomposites against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Our previous study showed that dithiophenolate (DTP) and its chitosan nanoparticles (DTP-CSNPs) have abilities to bind with DNA helixes. So in this...     

Management of fetofetal transfusion syndrome

Feto-fetal transfusion syndrome contributes heavily to high rates of perinatal mortality and morbidity in monochorionic multiple pregnancies. Its prenatal management has been controversial for at least 25 years. We review the recent literature in order to present the basis for a pragmatic reappraisal of the management of this condition. Laser surgery of the chorionic plate inter-twin anastomoses is the best first-line treatment when the syndrome develops before 26 weeks' gestation. Survival (including quality of survival) and gestational age at delivery are improved when compared to serial amnioreduction. Second-line treatment options include repeat-laser, intra-uterine blood transfusion, serial amnioreduction, selective feticide using bipolar cord coagulation or elective delivery, depending upon gestational age and the severity of the disease and its complications. We have found that fetoscopic placental surgery has proven itself over simplicity of amnioreduction. There is no evidence that treatment should be customized according to the stage of the disease at diagnosis. Early recognition of the syndrome through fortnightly serial ultrasound follow-up of all monochorionic pregnancies should ensure timely referral and make up for geographical constraints. Laser surgery should now be available in fetal medicine units that are managing at least 20 cases per year. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Herbicide Roundup® and its main constituents cause oxidative stress and inhibit acetylcholinesterase in liver of Carassius auratus

Roundup® is a glyphosate-based herbicide containing a mixture of surfactants. This paper evaluates the toxic effects of Roundup® and its main constituents on the goldfish, Carassius auratus, after 7 days exposure. Fish were exposed to 0.16, 0.032 and 0.0064 mg/L of Roundup® [containing 41% isopropylamine salt of glyphosate (G.I.S) and 18% polyoxyethylene amine (POEA)], G.I.S, and POEA. Their livers were taken for determining reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehye (MDA) content and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Hydroxyl radical (·OH) could be induced by exposing Roundup® at a rate of 43%–111%, G.I.S at 90%–124% and POEA at142%–157%. A decreased SOD activity was observed in fish exposed to G.I.S and POEA. The contents of MDA significantly increased when exposed to Roundup® at all concentrations, 0.16 mg/L G.I.S and 0.032 mg/L POEA. The exposure led to an inhibition of AChE in livers overall during the experimental periods. POEA was more toxic than Roundup® or G.I.S during this experiment. AChE and ·OH are supposed to be sensitive biomarkers of the exposure of Roundup® and its main constituents to C. auratus.