Fetal heterotaxy with tricuspid atresia, pulmonary atresia, and isomerism of the right atrial appendages at 22 weeks.

We report the accurate prenatal diagnosis at 22 weeks gestation of right atrial isomerism in association with tricuspid atresia. Several distinctive sonographic features of isomerism of the right atrial appendages were present in this fetus: complex cardiac abnormality, ventriculoarterial discordance, juxtaposition of the aorta and the inferior vena cava to the right side, pulmonary atresia, and anomalous pulmonary venous return to the morphological right atrium. Tricuspid atresia, which is an extremely rare lesion within heterotaxy spectrum disorders, was present. Postnatal investigations confirmed all prenatally diagnosed abnormalities, with additional findings of pulmonary atresia with discontinuous pulmonary arteries and bilateral arterial ducts, asplenia, and bilateral eparterial bronchi. To our knowledge, tricuspid atresia in the setting of isomerism of the right atrial appendages has not previously been diagnosed or reported prenatally. Because of the complexity of cardiac lesions that may be present in cases of atrial isomerism, these disorders should be considered even if sonographic findings are uncommon or atypical

Stress Field at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements performed in four holes (USW G-1, USW G-2, USW G-3, and Ue25P1) indicate that at Yucca Mountain, the least horizontal stress S_h is less than the vertical stress S_v. Values of the greatest horizontal stress S_H are intermediate between S_h and S_v, corresponding to a normal faulting regime with values of Φ = (S_H-S_h)/(S_v-S_h) between 0.25 and 0.7. Drilling-induced hydraulic fractures seen on borehole televiewer logs indicate an S_h direction of N. 60° W. to N. 65° W. in USW G-1, USW G-2, and USW G-3. The same S_h direction is inferred from breakout orientations in USW G-2 and Ue25P1. The S_h values in the upper parts of the three USW G holes are less than the pressure of a column of water filling the borehole to the surface. Thus, the long drilling-induced hydraulic fractures in the shallow parts of these holes could have been formed in attempts to maintain circulation during drilling. These low S_h values may be intimately related to the low water table and fracture-dominated hydrology of Yucca Mountain

Different Ways of Reading, or Just Making the Right Noises?

What does reading look like? Can learning to read be reduced to the acquisition of a set of isolable skills, or proficiency in reading be equated with the independence of the solitary, silent reader of prose fiction? These conceptions of reading and reading development, which figure strongly in educational policy, may appear to be simple common sense. But both ethnographic data and evidence from literary texts suggest that such paradigms offer, at most, a partial and ahistorical picture of reading. An important dimension, neglected in the dominant paradigms, is the irreducibly social quality of reading practices

Seasonal flight pattern of the western balsam bark beetle, Dryocoetes confusus Swaine (Coleoptera: Curculioniae), in Central British Columbia

Seasonal flight pattern of the western balsam bark beetle, Dryocoetes confusus Swaine, in stands of subalpine fir, Abies lasiocarpa (Hook) Nutt., in north-central British Columbia was monitored for three years using multiple-funnel traps baited with (±)-exo-brevicomin.  There were two major flight periods per year, the first commencing in mid- to late June, and the second occurring in mid- to late August.  The first flight was predominantly males, while the second flight was composed primarily of females, probably reemerged parent adults.  Little flight occurred until within-stand temperatures exceeded 15ºC.  Traps placed 6 m above ground caught 4 times as many beetles as traps placed 2 m above ground.  Our results indicate that semio-chemical-based manipulation of the western balsam bark beetle should be implemented by early May

Effects of perceived racial discrimination on health status and health behavior: A differential mediation hypothesis

Objective: Prospective data tested a “differential mediation” hypothesis: The relations (found in previous research) between perceived racial discrimination and physical health status versus health-impairing behavior (problematic substance use) are mediated by two different types of affective reactions, internalizing and externalizing. Method: The sample included 680 African American women from the Family and Community Health Study (M age = 37 years at Time 1; 45 years at Time 4). Four waves of data were analyzed. Perceived discrimination was assessed, along with anxiety and depression (internalizing) and hostility/anger (externalizing) as mediators, and physical health status and problematic substance use (drinking) as outcomes. Results: Structural equation modeling indicated that discrimination predicted increases in both externalizing and internalizing reactions. These affective responses, in turn, predicted subsequent problematic substance use and physical health status, respectively, also controlling for earlier reports. In each case, the indirect effects from discrimination through the affective mediator to the specific health outcome were significant and consistent with the differential mediation hypothesis. Conclusions: Perceived racial discrimination is associated with increases in internalizing and externalizing reactions among Black women, but these reactions are related to different health outcomes. Changes in internalizing are associated with self-reported changes in physical health status, whereas changes in externalizing are associated with changes in substance use problems. Discussion focuses on the processes whereby discrimination affects health behavior and physical health status

Outdoor, Indoor, and Personal Exposure to VOCs in Children

We measured volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures in multiple locations for a diverse population of children who attended two inner-city schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fifteen common VOCs were measured at four locations: outdoors (O), indoors at school (S), indoors at home (H), and in personal samples (P). Concentrations of most VOCs followed the general pattern O ≈ S < P ≤ H across the measured microenvironments. The S and O environments had the smallest and H the largest influence on personal exposure to most compounds. A time-weighted model of P exposure using all measured microenvironments and time–activity data provided little additional explanatory power beyond that provided by using the H measurement alone. Although H and P concentrations of most VOCs measured in this study were similar to or lower than levels measured in recent personal monitoring studies of adults and children in the United States, p-dichlorobenzene was the notable exception to this pattern, with upper-bound exposures more than 100 times greater than those found in other studies of children. Median and upper-bound H and P exposures were well above health benchmarks for several compounds, so outdoor measurements likely underestimate long-term health risks from children’s exposure to these compounds

Negative Consequences of Substance Use in European University Students: Results from Project SNIPE

Background: University students are a risk group for heavy substance use and the experience of various potentially severe negative substance use consequences which may impact on their health, social, and academic functioning. Whilst the experience of negative consequences of substance use is well understood in North American student samples, there is little data on these experiences in European students. In order to develop effective harm prevention and reduction interventions for students’ substance use, there needs to be an understanding of the types of consequences experienced in European student samples. Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of the experience of negative substance use-related consequences amongst university students in 7 European countries. Methods: University students (n = 4,482) in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, and the UK completed an online survey of their substance use behaviours and the experience of associated negative consequences. Results: European students reported that experiencing a hangover or illness, missing class, being short of money, and experiencing memory loss were the most commonly experienced negative consequences of substance use. Not living with other students and using alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, and cocaine were also associated with higher odds of experiencing these negative consequences. Conclusions: In contrast to North American data, European university students tended to experience consequences that are associated with lower level health risks rather than more severe consequences (e.g., drink-driving and physical injury). Harm prevention and reduction interventions for students should be targeted towards those consequences that are most salient to the target group to ensure feedback is relevant and potentially more effective in changing students’ substance use behaviours