Meckel-Gruber syndrome: Prenatal diagnosis at 10 menstrual weeks using embryoscopy

A case of Meckel—Gruber syndrome was diagnosed by embryoscopy at 10 menstrual weeks, allowing for early termination of pregnancy. Post-mortem examination confirmed the presence of polydactyly and bilateral cystic lesions of the mesonephros and metanephros. Both the forming nephrons and the collecting ducts were involved in the formation of renal cysts.     

Dental microwear patterns of extant and extinct Muridae (Rodentia, Mammalia): ecological implications

Extant species of Muridae occupy a wide array of habitats and have diverse dietary habits. Consequently, their dental microwear patterns represent a potential clue to better understand the paleoecology of their extinct relatives, which are abundant in many Old World Neogene localities. In this study, dental microwear is investigated for specimens of 17 extant species of murine and deomyine rodents in order to test the reliability of this method and infer dietary preferences on the fossil species Saïdomys afarensis. This extinct form comes from a mid-Pliocene site (AL 327) located at the Hadar Formation (Ethiopia) known to have delivered many hominid specimens of Australopithecus afarensis. A significant correlation between microwear patterns and diet is detected. Thus, grass, fruit, and insect eaters display, respectively, high amounts of fine scratches, wide scratches, and large pits. Moreover, some aspects of the paleoecology of S. afarensis, including feeding habits, could be assessed in regard to its dental microwear pattern. Indeed, it probably had feeding habits similar to that of living grass eaters. These results concur with the presence of open to woodland areas covered by an herbaceous vegetal layer, including monocotyledons, in the vicinity of this mid-Pliocene locality.     

Queen control of egg fertilization in the honey bee

The study investigated the precision with which honey bee queens can control the fertilization of the eggs they lay. Because males and workers are reared in different-sized cells, the honey bee is one of the few Hymenoptera in which it is possible for the experimenter to know which type of egg a queen “intends” to lay. Eggs were collected from both worker and drone (male) cells from four honey bee colonies. Ploidy of the embryo was determined using polymorphic DNA microsatellites. All 169 eggs taken from worker cells were heterozygous at at least one microsatellite locus showing that the egg was fertilized. All 129 eggs taken from drone cells gave a single band at the B124 locus, strongly suggesting haploidy. These data show that honey bee queens have great, and quite possibly complete, ability to control the fertilization of the eggs they lay. Data from the literature suggest that in two species of parasitoid Hymenoptera (Copidosoma floridanum, Colpoclypeus florus) females have great, but not complete, ability to control fertilization. Received: 23 December 1997 / Accepted after revision: 17 May 1998     

Impact of dry deposition of semi-volatile organic compounds on secondary organic aerosols

Dry deposition of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) is not currently treated in most chemical transport models of air quality and this omission has been identified as a possible major source of uncertainty. The effect of dry deposition of SVOC on the concentration of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) is investigated in summertime with the chemical transport model CHIMERE that simulates SOA concentrations by means of molecular SOA surrogate species. Omitting dry deposition could overestimate SOA concentrations by as much as 50%. This overestimation is larger during nighttime due to higher relative humidity.     

Can the African food supply model learn from the Asian food supply model? Quantification with statistical methods

This study seeks to verify the relationship or correlation between food supply and four variables that are fertilizers, machinery, permanent cropland and permanent pasture land in Africa and Asia. The data were obtained from FAOSTATS and the World Resource Institute. The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 19. Pearson’s correlation statistical tool and the multiple linear regression methods were then used within the SPSS interface to analyze the data. The results show that the levels of fertilizer application and machinery use are more significant in affecting food supply in Asia than in Africa with respect to the four variables. In Africa, permanent cropland is of greater significance when food supply is concerned with respect to these four variables. The likely trend is for Africa to enact policies that will encourage investments in machines and organic fertilizers to be able to improve its food production and supply rather than merely increasing farm sizes.     

Distribution and relationships of As,Cd, Pb and Hg in freshwater fish from five French fishing areas

The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead in 149 muscle samples of eight freshwater fish species (European eel, bream, common carp, European catfish, roach, perch, pike and pikeperch) from five different French fishing areas from contaminated and control sites were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after microwave digestion under pressure. No significant correlation was found between the condition factor (CF), based on the length–mass relationship, and As, Cd and Pb levels in all the samples analysed, but a positive correlation was detected between CF and Hg levels (P < 0.0001, R = 0.49). Positive correlations with body length were only found for Hg in roach (P < 0.05, R = 0.32) and Pb in bream (P < 0.05, R = 0.48) and correlations with both body weight and length were also found for Hg in pike (P < 0.05, R = 0.90 and 0.86) and Cd in European eel (P < 0.01, R = ?0.35 and ?0.37). The average content and the standard deviation in fish muscle samples was 0.007 ± 0.012, 0.102 ± 0.077, 0.142 ± 0.097 and 0.035 ± 0.053 mg kg^?1 of wet mass for Cd, As, Hg and Pb, respectively. Significant differences were established between groups of predatory fish and non-predatory fish for Hg and Pb, and between control and contaminated sites in the whole selection and also within feeding guilds, i.e. the values of Hg in the benthophagic fish were significantly different between these sites. Finally, these results were also compared for each species with previous French and European studies.