Cloning crops in a CELSS via tissue culture: Prospects and problems

Micropropagation is currently used to clone fruits, nuts, and vegetables and involves controlling the outgrowth in vitro of basal, axillary, or adventitious buds. Following clonal multiplication, shoots are divided and rooted. This process has greatly reduced space and energy requirements in greenhouses and field nurseries and has increased multiplication rates by greater than 20 fold for some vegetatively propagated crops and breeding lines. Cereal and legume crops can also be cloned by tissue culture through somatic embryogenesis. Somatic embryos can be used to produce 'synthetic seed', which can tolerate desiccation and germinate upon rehydration. Synthetic seed of hybrid wheat, rice, soybean and other crops could be produced in a controlled ecological life support system. Thus, yield advantages of hybreds over inbreds (10 to 20 percent) could be exploited without having to provide additional facilities and energy for parental-line and hybrid seed nurseries

Whiplash and Concussion: Similar Acute Changes in Middle-Latency SEPs

Objective: Middle-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) following median nerve stimulation can provide a sensitive measure of cortical function. We sought to determine whether the mechanical forces of whiplash injury or concussion alter normal processing of middle-latency SEPs. Methods: In a cross-sectional pilot study 20 subjects with whiplash were investigated (50% between 0.5-2 months and 50% between 6-41 months post injury) and compared to 83 healthy subjects using a standard middle-latency SEP procedure. In a subsequent prospective study subjects with either acute whiplash (n=13) or Grade 3 concussion (n=16) were investigated within 48 hours and again three months post injury. Results: In the pilot study the middle-latency SEP component N60 was significantly increased in the ten subjects investigated within two months after whiplash. In contrast, the ten subjects examined more than six months after injury showed normal latencies. In the prospective study N60 latencies were increased after whiplash and concussion when tested within 48 hours of injury. At three months, latencies were improved though still significantly different from controls post whiplash and concussion. Conclusion: Both whiplash injury and concussion alter processing of the middle-latency SEP component N60 in the acute post traumatic period. The acute changes appear to normalize between three-six months post injury. The SEP similarities suggest that the overlapping clinical symptomatology post whiplash and concussion may reflect a similar underlying mechanism of rotational mild traumatic brain injur

Final Report: Biological Monitoring of the John U. Lloyd Beach Renourishment: 1989

In 1987, Nova University (Contractor) with ERM South (Subcontractor) was awarded a contract to provide biological monitoring services for the John U Lloyd State Recreation Area Beach Renourishment Project. A notice to proceed for the initial biological monitoring (Phase I - Preconstruction) was issued in February, 1989. Phase I preconstruction field monitoring took place in February and March, 1989. Phase II post-construction field work took place in August and Spetember, 1989. Phase III post-construction field monitoring took place in August, 1990. Laboratory work occurred from March, 1989 to January, 1991. Renourishment dredging took place from May 16, 1989 to July 14, 1989. Approximately 603,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed and subsequently emplaced on 1.6 miles of shoreline