Capturing, protecting and restoring plant diversity in the UK: RBG Kew and the Millennium Seed Bank.

seed banking is a practical and cost-effective means of preserving wild plant diversity and a crucial complement to the conservation and restoration of species and habitats. As pressures on the natural environment have grown, so has the call for seed banks to provide scientifically-robust, practical solutions to seed-related problems in nature conservation, from single-species recovery and reintroduction to the restoration of complex, dynamic communities at the largest scales. In this paper, we discuss how the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and its Millennium Seed Bank have responded to this call in the United Kingdom.

Conservation of the Threatened Species, Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. (Pasqueflower), is Aided by Reproductive System and Polyploidy.

Population loss due to habitat disturbance is a major concern in biodiversity conservation. Here we investigate the genetic causes of the demographic decline observed in English populations of Pulsatilla vulgaris and the consequences for conservation. Using 10 nuclear microsatellite markers, we compare genetic variation in wild populations with restored and seed-regenerated populations (674 samples).

Military return to duty and civilian return to work factors following burns with focus on the hand and literature review.

Functional recovery and outcome from severe burns is oftentimes judged by the time required for a person to return to work (RTW) in civilian life. The equivalent in military terms is return to active duty. Many factors have been described in the literature as associated with this outcome.

Combat casualty hand burns: evaluating impairment and disability during recovery.

This study evaluated the use of the American Medical Association (AMA) impairment guides and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire in U.S. military casualties recovering from burn injury to the hand.

The reliability and concurrent validity of the figure-of-eight method of measuring hand edema in patients with burns.

Objective: Water volumetry is considered the "gold standard" for hand edema assessment. This technique requires considerable time, staff, and specialized equipment. The figure-of-eight method for hand edema assessment has been tested only in the orthopedic population.

Two simple leg net devices designed to protect lower-extremity skin grafts and donor sites and prevent decubitus ulcer.

Burn therapists routinely are tasked to position the lower extremities of burn patients for pressure ulcer prevention, skin graft protection, donor site ventilation, and edema reduction. We developed two durable and low-maintenance devices that allow effective positioning of the lower extremities. The high-profile and low-profile leg net devices were simple to fabricate and maintain.

Computerized manufacturing of transparent face masks for the treatment of facial scarring.

In this work an integrated system of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing specifically designed to fabricate affordable transparent face masks is discussed. FaceScan, a custom-designed software system, integrates shape capture, mask design, and pattern fabrication. The software controls a linear scan noncontact laser imager for facial topography acquisition and a milling machine for pattern fabrication.