Association between maternal antenatal depression and infant development: a hospital-based prospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the association between antenatal depression and infant development after controlling for confounding factors.

Methods: A hospital-based prospective cohort study (Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children's Health) was conducted between July 2002 and October 2005 in Sapporo, Japan. Of 309 mothers who delivered at Sapporo Toho Hospital during the study period and who agreed with the clinical assessment of depression, 154 mother-infant pairs were eligible for analysis.

The role of free radicals in disease.

Evidence is accumulating that most of the degenerative diseases that afflict humanity have their origin in deleterious free radical reactions. These diseases include atherosclerosis, cancer, inflammatory joint disease, asthma, diabetes, senile dementia and degenerative eye disease. The process of biological ageing might also have a free radical basis.

Toxicity of nickel ores to marine organisms.

Queensland Nickel proposes to import New Caledonian (Ballande) and Indonesian (Gebe) nickel ores, one option being ship-to-barge transfer in Halifax Bay, North Queensland. Because small amounts of ore may be split during the unloading and transfer operations, it was important to investigate the potential impact of the spilt ore on the ecological health of the Bay. Long-term leaching of the ores with seawater showed that only nickel and chromium (VI) were released from the ores in sufficient concentrations to cause toxicity to a range of marine organisms.

Trace element speciation by anodic stripping voltammetry.

The effects of a range of complexing agents and a detergent on the stripping process in anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) were compared by using both differential-pulse and d.c. techniques.