Health consultation : Sub-Slab Gas and Air Sampling Data Alcoa – Davenport Works CERCLIS No. IAD005270160 Riverdale, Scott County, Iowa (2005)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Alcoa – Davenport Works Facility (Alcoa), and concerned citizens and community leaders of Riverdale, Iowa requested the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Hazardous Waste Site Health Assessment Program to evaluate the health impacts of exposures to volatile organic vapors detected within residences located immediately to the west of the Alcoa property. This health consultation addresses inhalation exposure to individuals that may have occupied the currently vacant residences in which the air sampling was completed.

Immunogenicity and safety of yellow fever vaccination for 102 HIV-infected patients.

BACKGROUND: Yellow fever vaccine (17DV) has been investigated incompletely in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, and adequate immunogenicity and safety are of concern in this population. METHODS: In the Swiss HIV Cohort Study, we identified 102 patients who received 17DV while they were HIV infected. We analyzed neutralization titers (NTs) after 17DV administration using the plaque reduction neutralization test. NTs of 1:>or=10 were defined as reactive, and those of 1:<10 were defined as nonreactive, which was considered to be nonprotective. The results were compared with data for HIV-uninfected individuals. Serious adverse events were defined as hospitalization or death within 6 weeks after receipt of 17DV. RESULTS: At the time of 17DV administration, the median CD4 cell count was 537 cells/mm(3) (range, 11-1730 cells/mm(3)), and the HIV RNA level was undetectable in 41 of 102 HIV-infected patients. During the first year after vaccination, fewer HIV-infected patients (65 [83%] of 78; P = .01) than HIV-uninfected patients revealed reactive NTs, and their NTs were significantly lower (P < .001) than in HIV-uninfected individuals. Eleven patients with initially reactive NTs lost these reactive NTs <or= 5 years after vaccination. Higher NTs during the first year after vaccination were associated with undetectable HIV RNA levels, increasing CD4 cell count, and female sex. We found no serious adverse events after 17DV administration among HIV-infected patients. CONCLUSION: Compared with HIV-uninfected individuals, HIV-infected patients respond to 17DV with lower reactive NTs, more often demonstrate nonprotective NTs, and may experience a more rapid decline in NTs during follow-up. Vaccination with 17DV appears to be safe in HIV-infected individuals who have high CD4 cell counts, although rate of serious adverse events of up to 3% cannot be excluded.

1012-007 Yellow River Headwaters Final Report

The Yellow River Headwaters Watershed (YRHW) drains 26,730 acres of rural land within Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties. While portions of the river have been designated as a High Quality Resource by the State of Iowa, other portions appear on the State's 303(d) List of Impaired Waters due to excessive nutrients, sediment and other water quality issues. The Winneshiek SWCD was fortunate enough to secure WSPF/WPF funds for FY2009 to begin addressing many of the sources of the identified problems, especially along the all-to-critical stream corridor. Initial landowner I producer interest has exceeded expectations and several key BMPs have been installed within the identified critical areas. Yet due to the current budget constraints in the WSPF/WPF programs, we currently have greater landowner I producer interest than we do funds, which is why the District is applying for WIRB funding, to provide supplemental incentives to continue the installation of needed Grade Stabilization Structures, Terraces and Manure Management Systems in identified critical areas. Other funding, currently available to the District, will cover the remaining portions of the project's budget, including staff and our outreach efforts.

06001-001 Norfolk Creek Watershed Final Report

This project would target Norfolk Creek Subwatershed for land treatment practices. The Norfolk Creek Subwatershed is 14,035 acres located southwest of Waukon. The landscape is characterized by rugged karst topography and is marked with hundreds of sinkholes, providing direct drainage into the water table, affecting wells, springs, and community water sources. The surface groundwater runoff from this karst landscape eventually flows into the Yellow River. The potential point and non-point pollution sources are complicated and expensive to resolve. Extensive water quality monitoring has been completed on Norfolk Creek and has tested high in many parameters. We hope that with the upland treatment included in this grant request, terraces, grade stabilization structures, sediment control basins, and livestock manure management systems, these will improve. Continued water quality sampling will monitor this. This application has been reviewed and approved by the Allamakee County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners.

07008-002 Yellow River Watershed Improvement Project Final Report

Two sections of the Yellow River have been named to the State of Iowa’s 303d list of impaired waters. The listing reflects streams with pollution problems linked to habitat alterations, in addition to those with potential disease causing bacteria, viruses and parasites. This fact, combined with local knowledge of water quality problems, shows the need for land treatment practices and habitat improvement measures. This project would target the Yellow River watershed, which totals approximately 49,800 acres. Areas that drain directly into the Yellow River mainstream will be targeted. Individually, these areas are too small to be considered sub-watersheds. This project will assess the drainage areas for active gullies and prioritize grade stabilization structures based upon severity and impact on the fishery. Funding would be utilized to target high priority grade stabilization structure sites and provide cost-share for those projects. A prerequisite for cost-share allocation is 75% of the land contributing to the drainage area must have some form of treatment in place. The Allamakee SWCD has received an EPA Region 7 Grant toward grade stabilization structures in the same area. Landowners have indicated that 75% cost-share is necessary to implement practices. To meet this request, the EPA funding would be used at a 15% cost-share rate if matched with 60% cost-share from WIRB funding. If matched with Federal EQIP funds, 25% of funds obtained from WIRB would be used. If other funds were depleted, WIRB funds would be utilized for the entire 75% cost-share.

05011-055 Yellow River Watershed Improvement Project Final Report

An overall effort has been initiated to improve the quality of the Yellow River in Northeast Iowa by reducing the amount of sediment and bacteria entering the stream. Funding for this project will be utilized to improve stream quality to the level of fully supporting game fish such as brown, rainbow and brook trout, walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass. The Yellow River has the potential to be one of the top trout streams, not only in Iowa, but in the entire Upper Midwest. This project will greatly enhance recreational activities such as fishing, canoeing and inner tubing and will greatly increase tourism dollars to the state. The project will specifically address two sources of impairment: stream bank erosion and coliform bacteria from both livestock and inadequate human septic systems.

Evolutionary and dispersal history of Eurasian house mice Mus musculus clarified by more extensive geographic sampling of mitochondrial DNA.

We examined the sequence variation of mitochondrial DNA control region and cytochrome b gene of the house mouse (Mus musculus sensu lato) drawn from ca. 200 localities, with 286 new samples drawn primarily from previously unsampled portions of their Eurasian distribution and with the objective of further clarifying evolutionary episodes of this species before and after the onset of human-mediated long-distance dispersals. Phylogenetic analysis of the expanded data detected five equally distinct clades, with geographic ranges of northern Eurasia (musculus, MUS), India and Southeast Asia (castaneus, CAS), Nepal (unspecified, NEP), western Europe (domesticus, DOM) and Yemen (gentilulus). Our results confirm previous suggestions of Southwestern Asia as the likely place of origin of M. musculus and the region of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India, specifically as the ancestral homeland of CAS. The divergence of the subspecies lineages and of internal sublineage differentiation within CAS were estimated to be 0.37-0.47 and 0.14-0.23 million years ago (mya), respectively, assuming a split of M. musculus and Mus spretus at 1.7 mya. Of the four CAS sublineages detected, only one extends to eastern parts of India, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, South China, Northeast China, Primorye, Sakhalin and Japan, implying a dramatic range expansion of CAS out of its homeland during an evolutionary short time, perhaps associated with the spread of agricultural practices. Multiple and non-coincident eastward dispersal events of MUS sublineages to distant geographic areas, such as northern China, Russia and Korea, are inferred, with the possibility of several different routes.

Watermelon transformation with Zucchini yellow mosaic virus coat protein gene and comparison with parental cultivar

The objective of this work was to transfer Zucchini yellow mosaic virus coat protein (ZYMV-CP) and neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) genes to the watermelon 'Crimson Sweet'(CS) genome, and to compare the transgenic progenies T1 and T2 with the nontransformed parental cultivar for morphological, pomological, growth and yield characteristics. The ZYMV-CP gene was transferred by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The presence of the gene in transgenic T0, T1 and T2 plants was determined by polymerase chain reaction, and the results were confirmed by Southern blot. Two experiments were performed, one in the winter-spring and the other in the summer-autumn. In both experiments, the hypocotyl length of transgenic seedlings was significantly higher than that of nontransgenic parental ones. In the second experiment, the differences between transgenic and nontransgenic individuals were significant concerning fruit rind thickness, flesh firmness, fruit peduncle length, size of pistil scar, and a* values for fruit stripe or flesh color. Transferring ZYMV-CP gene to CS genome affected only a few characteristics from the 80 evaluated ones. The changes in rind thickness, flesh firmness and flesh color a* values are favorable, while the increase in the size of pistil scar is undesirable. The transgenic watermelon line having ZYMV-CP gene and the parental cultivar CS are very similar.

Inventory of sparse forest populations using adaptive cluster sampling

Abstract

Prediction of soil orders with high spatial resolution: response of different classifiers to sampling density

The objective of this work was to evaluate sampling density on the prediction accuracy of soil orders, with high spatial resolution, in a viticultural zone of Serra Gaúcha, Southern Brazil. A digital elevation model (DEM), a cartographic base, a conventional soil map, and the Idrisi software were used. Seven predictor variables were calculated and read along with soil classes in randomly distributed points, with sampling densities of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 4 points per hectare. Data were used to train a decision tree (Gini) and three artificial neural networks: adaptive resonance theory, fuzzy ARTMap; self‑organizing map, SOM; and multi‑layer perceptron, MLP. Estimated maps were compared with the conventional soil map to calculate omission and commission errors, overall accuracy, and quantity and allocation disagreement. The decision tree was less sensitive to sampling density and had the highest accuracy and consistence. The SOM was the less sensitive and most consistent network. The MLP had a critical minimum and showed high inconsistency, whereas fuzzy ARTMap was more sensitive and less accurate. Results indicate that sampling densities used in conventional soil surveys can serve as a reference to predict soil orders in Serra Gaúcha.

Sensitivity of yellow passion fruit to ultraviolet-B radiation

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of UV-B radiation on the vegetative growth and on the gas exchange characteristics of passion fruit plants (Passiflora edulis) grown in greenhouse. The average unweighted UV-B radiation near the apex of the plants was 8 W m-2 for the UV-B treatment (high UV-B), and 0.8 W m-2 for the control plants (low UV-B). Plants were irradiated with UV-B for 7 hours per day, centered on solar noon, during 16 days. High UV-B radiation resulted in lower shoot dry matter accumulation per plant. The content of UV-B absorbing compounds and anthocyanins was increased in the plants exposed to high UV-B radiation, when compared with the control. UV-B radiation did not affect stomatal conductance or transpiration rate, but reduced photosynthesis and instantaneous water-use efficiency, and increased intercellular CO2 concentration. The accumulation of UV-B-absorbing compounds and anthocyanins did not effectively shield plants from supplementary UV-B radiation, since the growth and photosynthetic processes were significantly reduced.

Comparison of randomized branch sampling with and without replacement at the first stage

Abstract

Sparse image reconstruction on the sphere: implications of a new sampling theorem.

We study the impact of sampling theorems on the fidelity of sparse image reconstruction on the sphere. We discuss how a reduction in the number of samples required to represent all information content of a band-limited signal acts to improve the fidelity of sparse image reconstruction, through both the dimensionality and sparsity of signals. To demonstrate this result, we consider a simple inpainting problem on the sphere and consider images sparse in the magnitude of their gradient. We develop a framework for total variation inpainting on the sphere, including fast methods to render the inpainting problem computationally feasible at high resolution. Recently a new sampling theorem on the sphere was developed, reducing the required number of samples by a factor of two for equiangular sampling schemes. Through numerical simulations, we verify the enhanced fidelity of sparse image reconstruction due to the more efficient sampling of the sphere provided by the new sampling theorem.

Graphitized carbon black in quartz tubes for the sampling of indoor air nicotine and analysis by microwave thermal desorption-capillary gas chromatography

Nicotine in a smoky indoor air environment can be determined using graphitized carbon black as a solid sorbent in quartz tubes. The temperature stability, high purity, and heat absorption characteristics of the sorbent, as well as the permeability of the quartz tubes to microwaves, enable the thermal desorption by means of microwaves after active sampling. Permeation and dynamic dilution procedures for the generation of nicotine in the vapor phase at low and high concentrations are used to evaluate the performances of the sampler. Tube preparation is described and the microwave desorption temperature is measured. Breakthrough volume is determined to allow sampling at 0.1-1 L/min for definite periods of time. The procedure is tested for the determination of gas and paticulate phase nicotine in sidestream smoke produced in an experimental chamber.

Adult sampling and larva rearing of the cork oak pest Coraebus undatus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

Coraebus undatus is the main insect pest of cork oak worldwide. The larvae tunnel in the cortical cambium filling the bark with galleries and causing the cork to break at harvest. The first objective of this study was to test the effect of purple traps in the attraction of C. undatus because this colour is attractive to other buprestid beetles. The second objective was to develop a diet in which field-collected larvae could be reared to adulthood. Pairs of purple and clear (control) sticky traps were placed in a cork oak forest in Girona, Spain in the summer of 2008