Windmill-task as a New Quantitative and Objective Assessment for Mirror Movements in Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study.

Objective: To introduce the Windmill-task, a new objective assessment tool to quantify the presence of mirror movements (MMs) in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP), which are typically assessed with the observation-based Woods and Teuber scale (W&T).

Design: Prospective, observational, cohort pilot study.

Setting: Children's hospital.

A dynamic leaf gas-exchange strategy is conserved in woody plants under changing ambient CO2 : evidence from carbon isotope discrimination in paleo and CO2 enrichment studies.

Rising atmospheric [CO2 ], ca , is expected to affect stomatal regulation of leaf gas-exchange of woody plants, thus influencing energy fluxes as well as carbon (C), water, and nutrient cycling of forests. Researchers have proposed various strategies for stomatal regulation of leaf gas-exchange that include maintaining a constant leaf internal [CO2 ], ci , a constant drawdown in CO2 (ca  - ci ), and a constant ci /ca . These strategies can result in drastically different consequences for leaf gas-exchange.

The establishment of genetically engineered canola populations in the U.S.

Concerns regarding the commercial release of genetically engineered (GE) crops include naturalization, introgression to sexually compatible relatives and the transfer of beneficial traits to native and weedy species through hybridization. To date there have been few documented reports of escape leading some researchers to question the environmental risks of biotech products. In this study we conducted a systematic roadside survey of canola (Brassica napus) populations growing outside of cultivation in North Dakota, USA, the dominant canola growing region in the U.

Changing pollen types/concentrations/distribution in the United States: fact or fiction?

The buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has resulted in global climate change that is having a significant effect on many allergenic plants through increases in plant productivity and pollen allergenicity and shifts in plant phenology. Based on experimental studies, increased atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have directly increased plant productivity. This has affected the total amount of pollen produced in some species.

Medicare finances: findings of the 2008 Trustees Report.

Each year Medicare's Board of Trustees issues a report that describes the financial condition of the Medicare program in the near term and over the next 75 years. Similar to recent trustees reports, the 2008 report projects that Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted in 2019, at which time scheduled income will cover 78 percent of expenditures. Looking at these projections, some observers contend that Medicare must be fundamentally restructured in order to put the program--and the overall federal budget--on a sound fiscal course.

Long-distance GM pollen movement of creeping bentgrass using modeled wind trajectory analysis.

The importance of understanding the role of atmospheric conditions in pollen dispersal has grown in recent years with increased field-testing of genetically modified (GM) crop plants. An atmospheric model was used to characterize wind trajectories at 10 m and 100 m above GM pollen source fields located within a 4452-ha "control" area north of Madras, Oregon, USA, designated by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). The area was used in 2003 for the growth of GM creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) engineered to be resistant to glyphosate herbicide.

Medicare finances: findings of the 2007 Trustees report.

Each year Medicare's Board of Trustees issues a report that describes the financial condition of the Medicare program in the near term and over the next 75 years. Similar to recent trustees reports, the 2007 report projects that Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted in 2019, at which time scheduled income will cover 79 percent of expenditures. For the first time, the trustees have issued a "Medicare funding warning," which means that more than 45 percent of Medicare will be financed by general (non-dedicated) revenues within the next seven years.

Medicare finances: findings of the 2006 trustees report.

Medicare helps pay medical expenses for 37 million Americans age 65 and older and 6 million persons with disabilities. The benefits are financed primarily by dedicated taxes on wages and self-employment income, premiums paid by beneficiaries, and payments from general revenues. According to the 2006 report of Medicare's trustees, Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) program is not adequately financed.

Evidence for landscape-level, pollen-mediated gene flow from genetically modified creeping bentgrass with CP4 EPSPS as a marker.

Sampling methods and results of a gene flow study are described that will be of interest to plant scientists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and stakeholders assessing the environmental safety of transgenic crops. This study documents gene flow on a landscape level from creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.), one of the first wind-pollinated, perennial, and highly outcrossing transgenic crops being developed for commercial use.

Pollen count forecasting.

Pollen forecasting is becoming increasingly important to allergists as an adjunct to effective patient care. Forecasts allow patients to avoid exposure to high pollen levels and prompt them to take prophylactic medication and to plan outdoor activities for periods of low pollen levels. Investigators are making progress in developing effective models for daily and seasonal forecasts for important pollen allergens; however, current models are limited to specific geographic areas.

An assessment of predictive forecasting of Juniperus ashei pollen movement in the Southern Great Plains, USA.

Juniperus ashei pollen, a significant aeroallergen, has been recorded during December and January in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the past 20 years. The nearest upwind source for this pollen is populations growing in southern Oklahoma and central Texas, at distances of 200 km and 600 km respectively. Long-distance dispersal of J.

Leaf δC variability with elevation, slope aspect, and precipitation in the southwest United States.

Leaves from several desert and woodland species, including gymnosperms and angiosperms with both C and C physiology, were analyzed to detect trends in δC with elevation and slope aspect along two transects in southeastern Utah and south-central New Mexico, USA. The main difference between the two transects is the steeper elevational gradient for mean annual and summer precipitation in the southern transect. For any given species, we found that isotopic differences between individual plants growing at the same site commonly equal differences measured for plants along the entire altitudinal gradient.

Environmental contributions to allergic disease.

The environment is a major contributor to allergic disease, and great effort is being expended to identify the chemical pollutants and allergens that make a significant impact. Exposure to high levels of ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and diesel exhaust particles is known to reduce lung function. Studies continue to delineate the role of these particles as adjuvants and carriers of allergens into the respiratory system.

Evaluations of primary metals from NHEXAS Arizona: distributions and preliminary exposures. National Human Exposure Assessment Survey.

NHEXAS AZ is a multimedia, multipathway exposure assessment survey designed to evaluate metals and other analytes. This paper reports the analyte-specific concentration distributions in each of the media examined (air, soil, house dust, food, beverage, and water), for various methodologies used (inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and hydride generation-atomic absorption spectroscopy). Results are reported for the five primary metals (Pb, As, Cd, Cr, and Ni).

Trends in Stomatal Density and 13C/12C Ratios of Pinus flexilis Needles During Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle.

Measurements of stomatal density and delta(13)C of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) needles (leaves) preserved in pack rat middens from the Great Basin reveal shifts in plant physiology and leaf morphology during the last 30,000 years. Sites were selected so as to offset glacial to Holocene climatic differences and thus to isolate the effects of changing atmospheric CO(2) levels. Stomatal density decreased approximately 17 percent and delta(13)C decreased approximately 1.