Alien Registration- Greenway, John H. (Brownville, Piscataquis County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/11546/thumbnail.jp

Episiotomy and Obstetric Trauma in Nevada: Evidence from Linked Hospital Discharge and Birth Data

Based on the perception that episiotomy prevents obstetric trauma, the procedure is liberally performed in U.S. Hospitals. Using linked Nevada Birth Registry and Nevada Impatient Hospital Discharges (2000 to 2005), we applied descriptive analyses and logistic regression to examine the status of Nevada episiotomy practice and its impact on birth trauma for mothers. Of 106,461 vaginal live births, 26,383 (24.8%) episiotomies were conducted. Obstetric trauma rate declined from 5.2% of vaginal deliveries in 2000 to 4.4% in 2005. After statistically controlling for the effect of other risk factors, zero parity, episiotomy, other instrument assisted deliveries, non-MDs as birth attendants, rural hospitals, urban county residences, and non-teaching hospitals are associated with an elevated risk obstetric trauma. We conclude that Nevada is on par with the year over year decline in national episiotomy rates

Optimization of pH as a strategy to improve enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw for enhancing bioethanol production

In this work, wheat straw (WS) was used as a lignocellulosic substrate to investigate the influence of pH on enzymatic saccharification. The optimum enzymatic hydrolysis occurred at pH range 5.8 – 6.0, instead of 4.8 - 5.0 as has been widely reported in research. Two enzymes cocktails, Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, Cellic® CTec2 and endo-1, 4-β-Xylanase, were used for the pH investigation over a pH range of 3.0 – 7.0. The highest concentration of total reduced sugar was found at pH 6.0 for all the different enzymes used in this study. The total reduced sugar produced from the enzymatic saccharification at pH 6.0 was found to be 7.0, 7.4 and 10.8 (g L-1) for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4-β-Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2, respectively. By increasing the pH from 4.8 to 6.0, the total reduced sugar yield increased by 25% for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and endo-1, 4-β-Xylanase and 21% for Cellic® CTec2. The results from this study indicate that WS hydrolysis can be improved significantly by elevating the pH at which the reaction occurs to the range of 5.8 to 6.0

Interaction of temperature, salinity and extracellular polymeric substances controls trace element incorporation into tufa calcite

The influence of extracellular polymeric substances on carbonate mineral growth in natural settings remains one of the most poorly understood contributors to the growth of non-marine carbonate sediments. The influences of these materials are complicated by their association with living cells creating local microenvironments via metabolism and enzyme production, and by our uncertainty about the extracellular polymeric substances materials themselves. Different mixtures of extracellular polymeric substance molecules may behave in different ways, and differences in the local physical environment may alter how the mixtures influence mineral formation, and even result in different patterns of polymerization. Here, the influence of extracellular polymeric substances on calcite precipitation rate and Mg/Cacalcite in the absence of cells is investigated using extracts of extracellular polymeric substances from temperate fluvial tufa biofilm. The influence is complex, with the concentration of extracellular polymeric substances in solution altering deposition rate and trace element incorporation. Moreover, the results show interaction of the presence/absence of extracellular polymeric substances and both temperature and salinity. However, despite extracting extracellular polymeric substances from the same parent sample, a uniform influence was not found in these experiments, implying that the mixture is sufficiently variable within a sample for microenvironments within the biofilm to either promote or inhibit mineralization. As sedimentologists, we can no longer take the view that extracellular polymeric substances are a bystander material, or that they have a single set of coherent and predictable or intuitive influences. Rather, the emphasis must be on investigating the specific mixtures present in nature, and their complex and dynamic interaction with both mineral surfaces and hydrochemical conditions

Toxicity of polyelectrolyte-functionalized titania nanoparticles in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

We investigated the effects of short-term exposure of bare TiO2NPs and polyelectrolyte-coated TiO2NPs in the 5-25 nm size range, at relatively high concentrations (of 500 and 1000 mg/L) under light or dark conditions, in D. rerio embryos. The biological endpoints investigated included embryo viability and mRNA transcript levels of antioxidant and membrane transport genes relative to control embryos. The presence of nanoparticles on the surface of embryos was assessed using TEM. The results confirm an accumulation of TiO2NPs on the outer surface (chorion) of the embryo, but not within the embryo. No significant difference in embryo viability was detected following each exposure regime. The expression of antioxidant biomarker, SOD2, was significantly impacted by the type of TiO2NP, with TiO2NPs/PSS/PAH coating exposure showing down regulation; the concentration of the nanoparticles, with down regulation at 500 mg/L; and dark/light condition with down regulation in the light. The expression levels of the hypoxia and membrane markers, HIF1 and Pxmp2, were not significantly impacted by any factor. The study indicates that SOD2 mRNA expression levels may be useful in the detection of apparent oxidative stress induced by the titania nanoparticle build up on the embryo chorion surface

The response of ostracod faunal assemblages to hydrology, lake level and carbon cycling in a Jamaican marl lake: a palaeolimnological investigation

Ostracod taxa from shallow freshwater lakes are sensitive to a range of limnological factors including temperature, hydrological habitat, lake level and the distribution of aquatic plants. Ostracod assemblages preserved in Quaternary lake sediments can be used to reconstruct limnological change and are therefore potentially valuable palaeoenvironmental proxies. However, lack of autecological information about some taxa may limit the validity of such reconstructions. We use fossil ostracod assemblages recovered from radiocarbon-dated Late Holocene sediments from Wallywash Great Pond, a small, shallow and freshwater lake in Southwest Jamaica, to reconstruct limnological change over the past ~1800 years. We circumvent ongoing taxonomic and ecological uncertainties associated with the identification of fossil ostracod taxa by drawing on observations of the ecology of ostracods found living in Jamaican water bodies. By combining this information with limnological data from the extant lake, and with sedimentological and isotopic data from the lake sediments, we show that a published interpretation of ostracod assemblages for the Late Quaternary of Wallywash Great Pond is simplistic, at least for the Late Holocene section of the sediment record. We conclude that changes in ostracod assemblages are linked to variations in the input of undersaturated groundwater to the northern part of the lake from which the core was recovered. These variations, which were driven by changes in the precipitation/evaporation ratio (effective moisture), also controlled sedimentation, with reduced effective moisture and a decline in undersaturated groundwater input favouring marl precipitation, whereas organic sediments are linked to increased effective moisture and enhanced groundwater input. Our findings suggest that the dramatic shifts in ostracod assemblages at this site are a complex response to changes in hydrology, sedimentology and carbonate saturation rather than being a simple indicator of lake-level change. Combining ostracod assemblage data with the results of other palaeolimnological analyses also allows more detailed reconstructions to be made for this lake and such a multiproxy approach is recommended for similar lakes elsewhere

Selection of Psyllid-Resistant Forage Varieties from an Inter-Specific Breeding Program of \u3cem\u3eLeucaena leucocephala\u3c/em\u3e with \u3cem\u3eL. pallida\u3c/em\u3e

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) pastures for beef cattle production are productive and sustainable; however, susceptibility to the psyllid insect (Heteropsylla cubana) has limited expansion of current commercial cultivars into more humid areas (\u3e 800 mm/yr) (Shelton and Dalzell 2007). Psyllids can also cause intermittent damage in lower rainfall regions during humid periods. The psyllid, which arrived in Australia in 1986, is a leaf-sucking insect specific to the Leucaena genus, feeding on the growing tips of susceptible cultivars (Bray 1994). Psyllid damage can reduce production by as much as 50-70% in humid regions and 20-50% in subhumid environments (Bray 1994; Mullen and Shelton 2003). Work on psyllid resistance in the Leucaena genus through the 1990s showed that several Leucaena species, including the tetraploid L. pallida, had good levels of resistance (Mullen et al. 2003). A breeding program to develop psyllid-resistant varieties began in 2002 at The University of Queensland (UQ) based on the F1 inter-specific hybrids between L. leucocephala and L. pallida (known as ‘KX2’), developed at the University of Hawaii (Brewbaker 2008). Between 2002 and 2005, UQ initiated a program of recurrent selection in an attempt to produce stable outcrossed KX2-derived lines but inbreeding depression for yield and poor forage quality led to a change in the breeding strategy, and a backcrossing program was implemented between 2005 and 2008. Two cycles of backcrossing to elite L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata material were completed followed by 2 cycles of progeny testing and selection for self-compatibility to achieve stability and uniformity (2009 - 2012). Forty elite psyllid-resistant lines were then evaluated to identify the most suitable lines for release to industry. This paper describes the results of these trials