Prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of Toriello–Carey syndrome

Toriello–Carey syndrome is a rare malformative complex, described for the first time in 1988, characterized by agenesis of the corpus callosum, facial anomalies, cardiac defects and hypotonia. Relatively few neonatal cases have been reported. We describe here the first prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of the syndrome based on the detection of agenesis of the corpus callosum and spongious cardiomyopathy in a 22-week-old fetus of a couple with positive family history. The first sib of the couple was diagnosed with Toriello–Carey syndrome at 1 year of age, and had, in addition to the typical facial anomalies not detectable by ultrasound, agenesis of the corpus callosum and the same heart lesion (spongious cardiomyopathy). This report demonstrates that prenatal diagnosis of Toriello–Carey syndrome is feasible in the second trimester of pregnancy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design and validation of a practical index for trauma assessment

In the past 20 years a variety of indices have been suggested for measuring the severity of trauma, however none of them meets the requirement of being a simple and objective instrument that can be utilized efficiently by lay persons and providers of health services without previous experience in triaging. A new system has been proposed which meets this requirement and which has been validated with 197 injured persons at the emergency ward of the Valle University Hospital in Call, Colombia. The instrument showed a high level of concordance with the conventional triaging method and classifies victims into four categories: critical with recovery unlikely, critical but recoverable, moderately serious, and ambulatory. There is discussion on the reliability of this instrument and it is recommended that it be validated with victims from larger disasters. Regardless, it has the advantage of being specific and free of the subjectivity that characterizes other indices.     

Oxidative properties of ambient PM2.5 and elemental composition: Heterogeneous associations in 19 European cities

We assessed the extent to which constituents of PM_2.5 (transition metals, sodium, chloride) contribute to the ability to generate hydroxyl radicals (OH) in vitro in PM_2.5 sampled at 20 locations in 19 European centres participating in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. PM_2.5 samples (n = 716) were collected on filters over one year and the oxidative activity of particle suspensions obtained from these filters was then assessed by measuring their ability to generate OH in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Associations between OH formation and the studied PM constituents were heterogeneous. The total explained variance ranged from 85% in Norwich to only 6% in Albacete. Among the 20 centres, 15 showed positive correlations between one or more of the measured transition metals (copper, iron, manganese, lead, vanadium and titanium) and OH formation. In 9 of 20 centres OH formation was negatively associated with chloride, and in 3 centres with sodium. Across 19 European cities, elements which explained the largest variations in OH formation were chloride, iron and sodium.     

Vegetable and synthetic tannins induce hormesis/toxicity in sea urchin early development and in algal growth

Mimosa tannin and phenol-based synthetic tannin (syntan) were tested for toxicity to sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus and Sphaerechinus granularis) early development and to marine algal growth (Dunaliella tertiolecta). Sea urchin embryogenesis was affected by vegetable tannin and syntan water extracts (VTWE and STWE) at levels >or=1mg/L. Developmental defects were significantly decreased at VTWE and STWE levels of 0.1 and 0.3mg/L when control cultures displayed suboptimal quality, i.e. <70% "viable" (normal or retarded) larvae. Fertilization success of sea urchin sperm was increased up to 0.3 mg/L STWE or VTWE, then was inhibited by increasing tannin levels (1-30 mg/L). Offspring abnormalities, following sperm exposure to VTWE or STWE, showed the same shift from hormesis to toxicity. Cell growth bioassays in D. tertiolecta exposed to VTWE or STWE (0.1-30 mg/L) showed non-linear concentration-related toxicity. Novel criteria are suggested in defining control quality that should reveal hormetic effects.     

Injury risk functions for frontal oblique collisions

Objective: The objective of this article was the construction of injury risk functions (IRFs) for front row occupants in oblique frontal crashes and a comparison to IRF of nonoblique frontal crashes from the same data set.

Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) were used as the basis for the construction of a logistic injury risk model. Static deformation, measured via displaced voxels on the postcrash vehicles, was used to calculate the energy dissipated in the crash. This measure of accident severity was termed objective equivalent speed (oEES) because it does not depend on the accident reconstruction and thus eliminates reconstruction biases like impact direction and vehicle model year. Imputation from property damage cases was used to describe underrepresented low-severity crashes―a known shortcoming of GIDAS. Binary logistic regression was used to relate the stimuli (oEES) to the binary outcome variable (injured or not injured).

Results: IRFs for the oblique frontal impact and nonoblique frontal impact were computed for the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+ and 3+ levels for adults (18–64 years). For a given stimulus, the probability of injury for a belted driver was higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique frontal crashes. For the 25% injury risk at MAIS 2+ level, the corresponding stimulus for oblique crashes was 40 km/h but it was 64 km/h for nonoblique frontal crashes.

Conclusions: The risk of obtaining MAIS 2+ injuries is significantly higher in oblique crashes than in nonoblique crashes. In the real world, most MAIS 2+ injuries occur in an oEES range from 30 to 60 km/h.     

Efficacy of new mass-trapping devices against Bactrocera oleae (Diptera tephritidae) for minimizing pesticide input in agroecosystems

Decreasing pesticide use in olive groves is central to controlling pathogens and pests such as Bactrocera oleae. This has led to the development of mass trapping devices which not only minimize pesticide use but, with improved efficacy of attractants, also decrease costs associated with pest control and ensures that the quality of olive oil is safe for human consumption. This study was undertaken to test a new device which utilizes reduced quantities of both insecticide (lambda-cyalothrin) as well as the female olive fly pheromone (1,7-dioxaspiro-(5.5)-undecane). The new device was tested against an older device manufactured by the same company. The use of plastic polymers as substrate for encapsulating the pheromone allowed for a slower pheromone release, prolonging the efficacy and duration and thus reducing costs. The density of adult populations was monitored using yellow chromotropic traps that were checked every ten days and the degree of olive infestation, as determined by preimago stages, was assessed by analyzing 100 drupes per plot. Infestation analyses were performed every ten days. The control plot had the lowest density of adults and the highest drupe infestation rate. The new devices were more effective than the older devices in both attracting adults and controlling infestation of drupes. Moreover, the new devices containing reduced amounts of pheromone and insecticide were cheaper and exhibited longer functional efficacy. In addition to the slower release of attractants, the plastic polymers used in these newer devices were also more resistant to mechanical and weather degradations. Results demonstrate that mass trapping can indeed be an effective means of controlling B. oleae via eco-sustainable olive farming.     

Nonideal transport of contaminants in heterogeneous porous media: 10. Impact of co-solutes on sorption by porous media with low organic-carbon contents

The impact of co-solutes on sorption of tetrachloroethene (PCE) by two porous media with low organic-carbon contents was examined by conducting batch experiments. The two media (Borden and Eustis) have similar physical properties, but significantly different organic-carbon (OC) contents. Sorption of PCE was nonlinear for both media, and well-described by the Freundlich equation. For the Borden aquifer material (OC = 0.03%), the isotherms measured with a suite of co-solutes present (1,2-dichlorobenzene, bromoform, carbon tetrachloride, and hexachloroethane) were identical to the isotherms measured for PCE alone. These results indicate that there was no measurable impact of the co-solutes on PCE sorption for this system. In contrast to the Borden results, there was a measurable reduction in sorption of PCE by the Eustis soil (OC = 0.38%) in the presence of the co-solutes. The organic-carbon fractions of both media contain hard-carbon components, which have been associated with the manifestation of nonideal sorption phenomena. The disparity in results observed for the two media may relate to relative differences in the magnitude and geochemical nature of these hard-carbon components.     

PM2.5 assessment in 21 European study centers of ECRHS II: Method and first winter results

The follow-up of a cohort of adults from 29 European centers of the former European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) I (1989-1992) will examine the long-term effects of exposure to ambient air pollution on the incidence, course, and prognosis of respiratory diseases, in particular asthma and decline in lung function. The purpose of this article is to describe the methodology and the European-wide quality control program for the collection of particles with 50% cut-off size of 2.5 microm aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) in the ECRHS II and to present the PM2.5 results from the winter period 2000-2001. Because PM2.5 is not routinely monitored in Europe, we measured PM2.5 mass concentrations in 21 participating centers to estimate background exposure in these cities. A standardized protocol was developed using identical equipment in each center (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Well Impactor Ninety-Six [WINS] and PQ167 from BGI, Inc.). Filters were weighed in a single central laboratory. Sampling was conducted for 7 days per month for a year. Winter mean PM2.5 mass concentrations (November 2000-February 2001) varied substantially, with Iceland reporting the lowest value (5 microg/m3) and northern Italy the highest (69 microg/m3). A standardized procedure appropriate for PM2.5 exposure assessment in a multicenter study was developed. We expect ECRHS II to have sufficient variation in exposure to assess long-term effects of air pollution in this cohort. Any bias caused by variation in the characteristics of the chosen monitoring location (e.g., proximity to traffic sources) will be addressed in later analyses. Given the homogenous spatial distribution of PM2.5, however, concentrations measured near traffic are not expected to differ substantially from those measured at urban background sites.     

Combined molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical study of (+)-multifidene structure and conformation

Molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical tools have been used to explore the conformational space of (+)(3S,4S)-multifidene bioactive compounds. All the computations have been performed in the absence and presence of the solvent, simulated by the explicit introduction of a number of water molecules or by the polarized continuum model (PCM). Three conformational minima, both in vacuo and in water (simulated by PCM tool), have been confirmed at ab initio level of theory (B3LYP and MP2). All minima lie in a very narrow range of energy, and the interconversion between them is possible with a small amount of energy expense.     

Prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of frontonasal dysplasia

We report a case of prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of frontonasal dysplasia. This represents a very rare disorder involving the face (hypertelorism, median cleft lip, absence of the nasal tip) and often the central nervous system (CNS) (cranium bifidum occultum, ethmoidal cephalocele, agenesis of the corpus callosum). Although several of the typical anomalies are diagnosable by ultrasound in utero (hypertelorism, median cleft lip, anterior cephalocele), very few cases have been reported prenatally, the present being only the third. In the present case, hemimegalencephaly is first reported among the anomalies possibly associated with frontonasal dysplasia. The diagnosis was made at 22 weeks' gestation and was confirmed by necropsy following termination of pregnancy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.