How Can the Eco‐efficiency of a Region be Measured and Monitored?

The concept of eco-efficiency is commonly referred to as a business link to sustainable development. In this article, ecoefficiency is examined at a regional level as an approach to promoting the competitiveness of economic activities in the Finnish Kymenlaakso region and mitigating their harmful impacts on the environment. The aim is to develop appropriate indicators for monitoring changes in the eco-efficiency of the region. A starting point is to produce indicators for the environmental and economic dimensions of regional development and use them for measuring regional eco-efficiency. The environmental impact indicators are based on a life-cycle assessment method, producing different types of environmental impact indicators: pressure indicators (e.g., emissions of CO₂), impact category indicators (e.g., CO₂ equivalents in the case of climate change), and a total impact indicator (aggregating different impact category indicator results into a single value). Environmental impact indicators based on direct material input, total material input, and total material requirement of the Kymenlaakso region are also assessed. The economic indicators used are the gross domestic product, the value added, and the output of the main economic sectors of Kymenlaakso. In the eco-efficiency assessment, the economic and environmental impact indicators are monitored in the same graph. In a few cases eco-efficiency ratios can also be calculated (the economic indicators are divided by the environmental indicators). Output (= value added + intermediate consumption) is used as an economic indicator related to the environmental impact indicators, which also cover the upstream processes of the region's activities. In the article, we also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using the different environmental impact indicators.     

Interferon affects the formation of adhesion plaques in human monocyte cultures

When monocytes isolated from human blood adhere to glass substratum, actin- and vinculin-containing punctate plaques rapidly appear at the ventral surface of the cells. We show here that highly purified human leukocyte interferon (IFN) can inhibit formation of these adhesion plaques in a dose-dependent manner. Complete inhibition was obtained when 300 IU/ml IFN were added into the cell-seeding medium. Plaques already formed in the absence of IFN were only partially affected by subsequent addition of IFN into the culture medium. Prevention by IFN of the formation of the adhesion plaques was associated with loosened attachment of the cells to the substratum. Effect of IFN on cellular morphology was complex. At higher doses, IFN added to the cultures within 24 h of seeding almost completely inhibited the differentiation of monocytes to macrophages and most of the cells remained rounded. At lower doses, however, an enhancement of the bipolar spreading was seen and the end result was a culture with predominantly elongated fibroblastoid cells. The latter cells, unlike the fibroblastoid cells in untreated monocyte-macrophage cultures, were completely devoid of the actin plaques, while the reorganization of vimentin-type intermediate filaments took place in a normal manner. These results further support the view that the actin- and vinculin-containing plaques have a role in mediating firm adherence of human monocytes to growth substratum.     

Some investigations of the mechanism of the so-called “methylation” reactions used in mucosubstance histochemistry

Summary The results reported in this paper substantiate Vilter's (1968) hypothesis that the absence of basophilia of acid mucosubstances after a so-called histochemical methylation with acidified methanol may be due to, among other factors, the lactonisation of carboxyl groups rather than, as is generally held, their esterification. Sections from several fixed tissues of Syrian hamster and mouse were treated at 60 ° or at room temperature with dry methanol, ethanol, butan-l-ol, benzene or cyclohexane containing 0.35% hydrogen chloride or 1% thionyl chloride. Others were treated with methanolic methyl iodide or etheral diazomethane. With most of these solutions, the azurophilia attributable to mucosubstance carboxyl and sulphate half-ester groups was eventually abolished; subsequent saponification restored only the azurophilia due to carboxyl groups. However, some variation was found for each methylating agent, and also between different mucosubstances.     

Cardiovascular, ventilatory and total activity responses of brown trout to handling stress

Changes in total activity, heart and ventilation rates were observed in 2-year-old brown trout, following handling stress, using non-contact bioelectronic monitoring equipment. Experiments were carried out in laboratory conditions at water temperatures below 4° C, Transfer between tanks as well as 5 min restraint stress increased the total activity of fish for 24 to 48 h, after which it declined to near the pre-stress level. The transfer and struggle both elevated the heart rate for 3 to 4 days. Ventilation rate was elevated to a maximum of about 30% above the nominal level and recovered within 3 to 4 days. Both heart and ventilation rates were higher in feeding fish relative to fasting fish after stress and rates remained higher throughout a 7 day period of recovery. A diel rhythm of lower rates during the night appeared in both heart and ventilation rates within 3 to 4 days after handling stress.     

Interaction of abscisic acid and indole-3-acetic acid-producing fungi with Salix leaves

The molds Botrytis cinerea, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and the yeast Aureobasidium pullulans, isolated from the leaves of three short-rotation Salix clones, were found to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Abscisic acid (ABA) production was detected in B. cinerea. The contents of IAA and ABA in the leaves of the Salix clones and the amounts of fungal propagules in these leaves were also measured, in order to evaluate whether the amounts of plant growth regulators produced by the fungi would make a significant contribution to the hormonal quantities of the leaves. The content of ABA, and to a lesser degree that of IAA, showed a positive correlation with the frequency of infection by the hormone-producing organisms. The amounts of hormone-producing fungi on leaves that bore visible colonies were, however, not sufficiently high to support the claim that either the fungal production of ABA or IAA would significantly contribute to the hormonal contents of the leaves of the Salix clones. It is therefore suggested that the effect of fungal IAA production on plants is limited to the rhizosphere and that B. cinerea, which is a known pathogen, induces ABA production by the mother plant as a response to physiological stress.Abbreviations ABA abscisic acid - ABA-Me abscisic acid methyl ester - GC-MS-SIM gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring-mass spectrometry - IAA indole-3-acetic acid - IAA-Me indole-3-acetic acid methyl ester Author for correspondence.     

Evidence for Linkage of Bipolar Disorder to Chromosome 18 with a Parent-of-Origin Effect

A susceptibility gene on chromosome 18 and a parent-of-origin effect have been suggested for bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). We have studied 28 nuclear families selected for apparent unilineal transmission of the BPAD phenotype, by using 31 polymorphic markers spanning chromosome 18. Evidence for linkage was tested with affected-sib-pair and LOD score methods under two definitions of the affected phenotype. The affected-sib-pair analyses indicated excess allele sharing for markers on 18p within the region reported previously. The greatest sharing was at D18S37: 64% in bipolar and recurrent unipolar (RUP) sib pairs (P = .0006). In addition, excess sharing of the paternally, but not maternally, transmitted alleles was observed at three markers on 18q: at D18S41, 51 bipolar and RUP sib pairs were concordant for paternally transmitted alleles, and 21 pairs were discordant (P = .0004). The evidence for linkage to loci on both 18p and 18q was strongest in the 11 paternal pedigrees, i.e., those in which the father or one of the father's sibs is affected. In these pedigrees, the greatest allele sharing (81%; P = .00002) and the highest LOD score (3.51; θ = 0.0) were observed at D18S41. Our results provide further support for linkage of BPAD to chromosome 18 and the first molecular evidence for a parent-of-origin effect operating in this disorder. The number of loci involved, and their precise location, require further study.     

Niche relations among dung-inhabiting beetles

Summary The whole dung-inhabiting (adult) beetle community living in southern Finland was studied with reference to the seasonal (6 summer months), macrohabitat (open field, half-open pine forest and closed spruce forest) and successional (30 days) gradients. The material comprised 50 coprophagous and 129 carnivorous species, represented by 26,650 and 35,850 individuals, respectively. The most important characteristics of each species are given in an Appendix.In the coprophages the species-abundance relations fitted the lognormal distribution well, but in the carnivores the distribution was strikingly less even. A great number of other differences (see below) apparent between the two trophic groups were explained as the result of a difference in the degree of specialization, apart from the difference in their trophic position: coprophages are microhabitat (dung) and food specialists, while carnivores are microhabitat generalists (and therefore their critical niche space was not completely covered in this study).In the coprophages, two important species guilds were observed: the first occurred at the very geginning of the succession (mean position 2.5 days), and consisted mainly of true dung specialists; the second guild contained species with wider utilization along the successional dimension (mean position 6.5 days), and species of more generalist nature (saprophages). The utilization of carnivores along the successional gradient was more continuous, probably because of their more diversified food resources. The total niche width among the coprophages increased from early successional species to species occurring mainly later on, but was more constant in carnivores. The environmental dimensions proved to be totally independent of each other among the carnivores, while the coprophages showed a clear supplementary relationship along them. Among the carnivores, a spherical niche shape dominated, but among the coprophages elongated and disk-liked shapes were also well represented, especially in specialist species. In both groups, a significant positive correlation existed between niche width and dominance, but not between niche width and abundance. It is suggested that the patchy distribution and transient occurrence of suitable microhabitats contributes to the coexistence of many ecologically similar species.     

Genetic Variation of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis Bacteriophages Isolated from Cheese Processing Plants in Finland

The genomes of four Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis bacteriophages were characterized by restriction endonuclease mapping, Southern hybridization, and heteroduplex analysis. The phages were isolated from different cheese processing plants in Finland between 1950 and 1972. All four phages had a small isometric head and a long noncontractile tail. Two different types of genome (double-stranded DNA) organization existed among the different phages, the pac type and the cos type, corresponding to alternative types of phage DNA packaging. Three phages belonged to the pac type, and a fourth was a cos-type phage. The pac-type phages were genetically closely related. In the genomes of the pac-type phages, three putative insertion/deletions (0.7 to 0.8 kb, 1.0 kb, and 1.5 kb) and one other region (0.9 kb) containing clustered base substitutions were discovered and localized. At the phenotype level, three main differences were observed among the pac-type phages. These concerned two minor structural proteins and the efficiency of phage DNA packaging. The genomes of the pac-type phages showed only weak homology with that of the cos-type phage. Phage-related DNA, probably a defective prophage, was located in the chromosome of the host strain sensitive to the cos-type phage. This DNA exhibited homology under stringent conditions to the pac-type phages.     

Increased urinary excretion of free N-acetylneuraminic acid in thirteen patients with Salla disease

Thirteen severely retarded patients with Salla disease, a new type of lysosomal storage disorder, have been studied biochemically. All patients excreted approximately ten times more free sialic acid than normal individuals. The isolated sialic acid was characterized by paper chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, optical rotation, 13C and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry of its permethylated derivative. The results clearly indicated that the excreted sialic acid was identical to N-acetylneuraminic acid. The main sialylated trisaccharide present in the urine of the patients was identified as 3'-sialyllactose by sugar and methylation analysis. The excreted amounts were found to be within normal range.     

Changes in coronary risk factors during comprehensive five-year community programme to control cardiovascular diseases (North Karelia project).

A comprehensive community programme to control cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in North Karelia, Finland, was carried out during 1972-7. The central intermediate objective of the programme was to reduce the prevalence of smoking, the serum cholesterol concentration, and raised blood-pressure values among the population of the area. The effect was evaluated by examining independent representative population samples in 1972 and 1977 in both the county of North Karelia and a matched control county. Over 10 000 subjects were studied each time, the participation rate being around 90%. The decrease that occurred in the risk factors, especially in men, was in general greater in North Karelia compared with the control county. When a multiple logistic function was used for the three risk factors an overall mean net reduction of 17% among men and 12% among women was observed in the estimated risk for coronary heart disease in North Karelia. This community programme effectively reduced the levels of the three main risk factors for CVD in the population, and thus mortality and morbidity from CVD should fall. This is assessed in further studies.