Coordinating ecological restoration options analysis and risk assessment to improve environmental outcomes.

Ecological risk assessment as currently practiced has hindered consideration of ecosystem services endpoints and restoration goals in the environmental management process. Practitioners have created barriers between procedures to clean up contaminated areas and efforts to restore ecosystem functions. In this article, we examine linkages between contaminant risk assessment approaches and restoration efforts with the aim of identifying ways to improve environmental outcomes.

Derivation of soil-screening thresholds to protect the chisel-toothed kangaroo rat from uranium mine waste in northern Arizona.

Chemical data from soil and weathered waste material samples collected from five uranium mines north of the Grand Canyon (three reclaimed, one mined but not reclaimed, and one never mined) were used in a screening-level risk analysis for the Arizona chisel-toothed kangaroo rat (Dipodomys microps leucotis); risks from radiation exposure were not evaluated. Dietary toxicity reference values were used to estimate soil-screening thresholds presenting risk to kangaroo rats. Sensitivity analyses indicated that body weight critically affected outcomes of exposed-dose calculations; juvenile kangaroo rats were more sensitive to the inorganic constituent toxicities than adult kangaroo rats.

Invitational theory and perioperative nursing preceptorships.

The role of perioperative nurses is unique in that they must be able to maintain clinical expertise in nursing practice and develop technical surgical skills. Even experienced perioperative nurses who transfer to the OR from other hospital settings or change employment to another facility require a certain amount of preceptor orientation. The current shortage of experienced perioperative nurses calls for the development of strategies to increase their number.

Effects of depleted uranium on the health and survival of Ceriodaphnia dubia and Hyalella azteca.

Depleted uranium (DU) has been used as a substitute for the fissionable enriched uranium component of atomic weapons tested at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (Los Alamos, NM, USA) since the early 1950s, resulting in considerable concentrations of DU in the soils within the test sites. Although the movement of DU into major aquatic systems has been shown to be minimal, there are many small-order ephemeral streams and areas of standing water in canyons throughout LANL that may be affected by inputs of DU via runoff, erosion, and leaching. Ninety-six-hour acute and 7-d chronic toxicity assays were conducted to measure the toxicity of DU on survival and reproduction of Ceriodaphnia dubia.