Prevalence of HIV among childbearing women and women having termination of pregnancy: multidisciplinary steering group study.

OBJECTIVE--To determine the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women, in particular those whose behaviour or that of their partners put them at "low risk" of infection. DESIGN--Voluntary named or anonymous HIV testing of pregnant women during 21 months (November 1988 to July 1990). SUBJECTS AND SETTING--All women who planned to continue their pregnancy and attended clinics serving the antenatal populations of Edinburgh and Dundee. All women admitted for termination of pregnancy to gynaecology wards serving the pregnant populations of Dundee and outlying rural areas. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Period prevalence of HIV antibody positivity. RESULTS--91% of antenatal clinic attenders and 97% of women having termination of pregnancy agreed to HIV testing on a named or anonymous basis. HIV period prevalences for antenatal clinic attenders and women having termination of pregnancy tested in Dundee were 0.13% and 0.85% respectively, and for antenatal clinic attenders tested in Edinburgh 0.26%. For those at "low risk" rates for antenatal clinic attenders and women having termination of pregnancy in Dundee were 0.11% and 0.13%, and for antenatal clinic attenders in Edinburgh 0.02%. In Dundee HIV prevalence among women having a termination of pregnancy (0.85%) was significantly greater than that among antenatal clinic attenders (0.13%). CONCLUSIONS--HIV infection is undoubtedly occurring among women at "low risk," and it is clear that a policy of selective testing of those at only "high risk" is inadequate for pregnant women living in areas of high prevalence such as Edinburgh and Dundee. Moreover, when studying pregnant populations in such areas there is the need to include those having a termination of pregnancy.     

Terrestrial Mammal Occupancy in the Context of Widespread Forest Loss and a Proposed Interoceanic Canal in Nicaragua's Decreasingly Remote South Caribbean Region

Central America is experiencing rapid forest loss and habitat degradation both inside and outside of protected areas. Despite increasing deforestation, the Caribbean region of Nicaragua plays an important role in the survival or extinction of large mammal populations in Central America given that it still retains core areas of habitat for large mammal species. The proposed interoceanic canal project that would bisect the southern half of this Caribbean region represents a new threat that, combined with an advancing agricultural frontier, could affect populations of large mammal species such as jaguars, white-lipped peccaries, and Baird’s tapirs. We used occupancy models to examine the relative occupancy probabilities for an assemblage of terrestrial mammals in the south Caribbean region of Nicaragua to identify current core areas for our study species and conduct a preliminary evaluation of the potential impacts of the proposed interoceanic canal. We modeled a community level distribution of eight species with varying levels of sensitivity to human encroachment and a range of habitat associations. Our model results reveal three priority areas for terrestrial mammal conservation in our study area. The mapped predictions show that the only remaining area of suitable habitat for large mammals in the path of the proposed interoceanic canal is a relatively thin strip of forest that runs along the Caribbean Coast. In light of these findings, we propose five recommendations that will help ensure the conservation of this area of the proposed canal route as suitable habitat for our study species.     

Tracking cod Gadus morhua L. in a Scottish sea loch

Equipment has been developed and used to follow the movements of free-swimming individual fish in the sea. A pulsed ultrasonic transmitter inserted into the stomach is tracked by measuring differences in the time of arrival of the acoustic pulses at an array of omnidirectional hydrophones. The method was used to plot the movements of cod in an enclosed sea-loch. After an initial phase of active movement the cod became less mobile and adopted a nocturnal cycle of activity.     

Use of Phloem exudate technique in the study of amino Acid transport in pea plants

The phloem exudation technique using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was evaluated in studies of amino acid translocation in Pisum sativum L. seedlings. Exudation of phloem sap from cut petioles of fully expanded leaves was enhanced by EDTA (20 millimolar disodium salt [pH 7.0]). Amino acids (mainly asparagine, homoserine, glutamate, and also aspartate and serine) were present in petiole exudates from EDTA-treated leaves at levels which were commonly 5- to 10-fold (or more) higher compared with water-treated controls. Exudation was greater from darkened leaves, and the pattern of amino acids was markedly different from the more uniform mixture leaking from water-treated controls.     

Lucky rugose corals on crinoid stems: unusual examples of subepidermal epizoans from the Devonian of Morocco

Berkowski, B & Klug, C. 2011: Lucky rugose corals on crinoid stems: unusual examples of subepidermal epizoans from the Devonian of Morocco. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 24–33. In the fossil record, evidence for true epizoans, i.e. living animals inhabiting other living host‐animals, is rather rare. A host reaction is usually needed to proof the syn vivo‐settling of the epizoan. Herein, we provide a first report of such an epizoan biocoenosis from various strata of the Early Devonian of Hamar Laghdad, the world‐renowned Moroccan mud‐mound locality. In this case, solitary rugose corals settled as larvae on crinoid stems, perhaps at a spot where the epidermis was missing for some reason (injury, disease). Both the crinoid and the coral began to grow around each other. By doing so, the affected crinoid columnals formed a swelling, where ultimately only an opening slightly larger than the coral orifice remained. We discuss both macroecological and small‐scale synecological aspects of this biocoenosis. The coral profited from its elevated home because it reached into more rapid currents providing the polyp with more food than at the densely populated seafloor, which was probably covered by a coral‐meadow around the mounds and hydrothermal vents. □Corals, crinoids, Early Devonian, epizoans, Morocco, Rugosa.     

Investigations of decayed sandstone colonised by a species ofTrentepohlia

The occurrence of a sub-aerial microbial community dominated by a species ofTrentepohlia, a red-orange pigmented filamentous green alga, growing on a 13th century sandstone building in the Scottish borders appears to be associated with unusual stone decay. Decay, in the form of extensive surface spalling and grain dissagregation over large areas of external stonework, are coincident with the distribution of the algal community on the north facade of the building. Comparison of S.E.M. images taken of fresh intact stone and spalled stone from decayed zones suggests that the mechanisms of decay may, in part, be a physical process which results in quartz crystals becoming separated. The investigations carried out revealed little evidence of chemical processes which may be involved in the decay. Large filaments ofTrentepohlia are clearly visible growing vertically between separate grains of stone and the amount of highly absorbent mucilage present makes the friable dry spall become soft and gelatinous on wetting. It is possible that the observed decay may have been created through the mechanical action of wet-dry cycling of mucilage and expansive stress from the growth of algal filaments.