Prenatal exclusion of Hurler's disease by leucocyte α-L-iduronidase assay

Hurler's disease was excluded in a fetus at 23 weeks' gestation by demonstrating normal iduronidase activity in fetal leucocytes following failure of amniotic cell culture after amnic-centesis at 16 and 19 weeks' gestation. The diagnosis was confirmed in the neonate.     

Genetic amniocentesis in biamniotic twin pregnancies by a single transabdominal insertion of the needle

We present a technique to aspirate amniotic fluid from both sacs in biamniotic twin pregnancies using a single abdominal insertion with a spinal needle. It was successful in 48 out of 55 cases of biamniotic twin pregnancies referred to our perinatal unit between 1985 and 1994. The single insertion technique was used when the inter-amniotic membrane was clearly evident and two separate free amniotic fluid pools could be reached by the operator with a single puncture. An adequate amount of amniotic fluid was sampled from both sacs to make a cytogenetic diagnosis in all cases. There were four fetuses with trisomy 21 in three twin pregnancies. In two cases, only one twin was affected whilst the co-twin was normal, so that a selective feticide was performed. No miscarriages due to genetic amniocentesis were reported. After 1990, all genetic amniocenteses in biamniotic twin pregnancies (except for one case due to late booking) were performed between 14 and 15 weeks of gestation and with all cases except one, it was possible to sample both twins by a single puncture. We suggest that early amniocentesis (14–15 weeks) by a single abdominal puncture could be a reliable and safe alternative to first-trimester chorionic villus sampling in twin pregnancies.     

Mitigation of the Impact of Tropical Cyclones in Northern Australia through Community Capacity Enhancement

Community mitigation of hazard impact requires hazard knowledge and preparedness on the part of the members of diverse and complex communities. Longitudinal research in the tropical cyclone prone north of Australia has gathered extensive datasets on community awareness, preparedness and knowledge, in order to contribute to education campaigns and mitigation strategies. Data have been used to identify issues of vulnerability to cyclones and capacity to deal with the hazard. This has been developed as a community vulnerability and capacity model that may be applied to diverse communities in order to assess levels of capability to mitigate and deal with the cyclone hazard. The model is presented here in a simplified form as its development is evolving and ongoing.     

Analysis of the hydrocyclone stock cleaning process for wasted fibre in a paper mill

The main objective of this project was to evaluate the possibility of reducing the quantity of fibre wasted at one of many hydrocyclone (centrifugal) cleaning processes in a paper mill. It was found that the application of elutriation water to both the tertiary and quaternary cleaners was essential to minimise the fibre discharged to the sewer, and the pressure of this elutriation water had a dramatic effect of reducing the fibre wastage. Accordingly, it has been shown that 150–160 kPa as the optimum pressure range to apply elutriation water to minimise the product grade fibre wasted whilst sending undesired shive fibre to the sewer. Also, monitoring of the press uhle box wastewater revealed that the paper mill has the potential to make substantial cost savings by reducing the waste stream. Further investigation is necessary to determine the types of fibre that are being wasted, and the viability of a screen to recycle the wasted fibre to the process. However, these fibres may be unsuitable to reuse in the process and alternative uses must be found.     

Chinese life cycle impact assessment factors

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＬｉｆｅｃｙｃｌｅａｓｓｅｓｓｍｅｎｔ(ＬＣＡ)ｉｓａｎｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｍａｎａｇｅｍｅｎｔｔｏｏｌｔｈａｔｉｓｕｓｅｄｔｏｅｘａｍｉｎｅａｎｄｅｖａｌｕａｔｅｔｈｅｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｉｍｐａｃｔｓａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｅｄｗｉｔｈｔｈｅｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅｏｆｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｓ(Ｊｅｎｓｅｎ,1998;Ｗｅｉｄｅｍａ,1997;Ｗｅｎｚｅｌ,1997).ＴｈｅｆｏｃｕｓｏｆＬＣＡｉｓｏｎｔｈｅｅｎｔｉｒｅｌｉｆｅｃｙｃｌｅｏｆｔｈｅｐｒｏｄｕｃｔ,ｉ.ｅ.ｆｒｏｍｔｈｅｅｘｔｒａｃｔｉ…