HHS preparing to issue new Baby Doe rules

Since a U.S. district court struck down its initial "Baby Doe" regulations, the Department of Health and Human Services is preparing a second version of federal rules designed to ensure appropriate treatment of handicapped newborns with life-threatening but correctible conditions. While child advocacy groups support the regulations with some reservations about the intrusive style of enforcement, most medical organizations, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, are strongly opposed. Both houses of Congress have become involved with the issue by proposing to include handicapped infants under the Child Abuse and Treatment Act.     

Isotopic Composition of Cellulose from C3, C4, and CAM Plants Growing Near One Another

Cellulose from plants having crassulacean acid metabolism was enriched in deuterium but not in oxygen-18 in relation to cellulose from C(3) and C(4) plants growing in the same area, indicating that the deuterium enrichment is due to isotopic fractionation during biochemical reactions rather than during evapotranspiration. Hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of cellulose from the plants in this restricted area showed more variability than that observed in samples collected across an entire continent. Biological factors appear to be as important as environmental factors in determining the isotope ratios of plant cellulose.     

Origin of espanola island and the age of terrestrial life on the galapagos islands

Geological studies of Espa?ola (Hood) Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, indicate that the island had a subaerial rather than a submarine origin. Because the younger lava flows are dated at 3 million years, Espa?ola has apparently existed as an island for at least that long. Thus terrestrial life may have existed or arrived on the Galápagos Islands at least 3 million years ago, more than twice as long as had been assumed.