Wastewater discharge degrades coastal waters and reef communities in southern Thailand.

Runoff and sewage discharge from land developments can cause significant changes in water quality of coastal waters, resulting in coral degradation. Coastal waters around Phuket, Thailand are influenced by numerous sewage outfalls associated with rapid tourism development. Water quality and biological monitoring around the Phuket region was undertaken to quantify water quality and biotic characteristics at various distances from sewage outfalls. The surveys revealed strong gradients in water quality and biotic characteristics associated with tourism concentration levels as well as seasonal variability. Water and reef quality tended to decrease with increasing tourist intensity, but improved with increasing distance from sewage discharge within each of the three study locations. In addition, the effect of wastewater discharge was not localised around the source of pollution, but appeared to be transported to non-developed sites by currents, and exacerbated in the wet season.

Alcohol, drugs, and family violence: perceptions of high school students in southwest Alaska.

Many programs have attempted to address alcohol and drug use and family violence as issues of public health. This paper examines the degree to which high school students in Southwest Alaska identify these issues as problems in their communities. Qualitative and quantitative data come from a 1995 survey of children in grades 9 to 12 in four villages, one town, and one boarding school in Alaska. Alcohol policies differ in rural Alaska, with "dry" communities banning alcohol possession, "damp" communities allowing alcohol possession but not sale, and "wet" communities permitting purchase and importation of alcohol. Although the majority of all students believe alcohol and drugs are problems in their communities, only 45% of town students and 22% of village students report too much family violence in their communities. Qualitative data indicate that alcohol and drugs are of concern to young people. One female student, when asked if she would be a successful person, responded "Yes, because I look at my drunk relatives and tell myself, that will never happen to me."

Child health care and "the new morbidity": toward a model for the linkage of private medical practice and the public schools.

A renewed, and somewhat overdue, emphasis on programs for children has become a widespread concern of the health and human services fields. This paper addresses the problems and potentials of achieving a greater degree of coordination of the child-oriented human services through an examination of the response and the interaction of the (largely private) medical care and the (largely public) educational systems with respect to the special situation of children with learning-related handicapping conditions. The perspectives and particular interests of each of these complex systems are described along with their special role in the detection, assessment, and intervention with regard to children with learning-related problems. A description is provided of the process through which children are placed in educational programs that give special recognition to their learning difficulties. Particular note is taken of those places where medical care providers can have an effective influence on the educational placement of the child. The paper concludes with four recommendations that should help to insure the interaction of child health and educational services for children with learning-related handicapping conditions.

Growth Responses to Sodium by Bryophyllum tubiflorum under Conditions Inducing Crassulacean Acid Metabolism.

The dry weight yield of plants of Bryophyllum tubiflorum Harvey, a species with Crassulacean acid metabolism characteristics, increased significantly (P < 1%) in response to added sodium (0.1 milliequivalents per liter NaCl was supplied to the culture solution initially containing less than 0.08 microequivalents per liter of Na) when grown under short day (8 hours) conditions but not when grown under long day conditions (16 hours).From results of other work with Crassulacean acid metabolism species, it appears likely that under long day conditions, the plants assimilate CO(2) by the C(3) pathway but under short day conditions by the Crassulacean acid metabolism pathway in which metabolic processes common to those operating in the C(1) dicarboxylic pathway are active. It is suggested that sodium is involved in plants assimilating CO(2) with the C(4) and Crassulacean acid metabolism pathways.

The requirement for sodium as a micronutrient by species having the c(4) dicarboxylic photosynthetic pathway.

Six species having characteristics of plants with the C(4) dicarboxylic photosynthetic pathway, Echinochloa utilis L. Ohwi et Yabuno (Japanese millet), Cynodon dactylon L. (Bermuda grass), Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb., Amaranthus tricolor L. cv. Early splendour, Kochia childsii Hort., and Portulaca grandiflora Hook (rose moss), responded decisively to 0.1 milliequivalent per liter NaCl supplied to their culture solutions initially containing less than 0.08 microequivalent per liter Na. Chlorosis and necrosis occurred in leaves of plants not receiving sodium. Portulaca failed to set flower in the sodium-deficient cultures. Under similar conditions Poa pratensis L. (Kentucky blue grass) having characteristics of the C(3) photosynthetic pathway made normal growth and did not respond to the addition of sodium. It is concluded from these results and previously reported work that sodium is generally essential for species having the C(4) pathway but not for species with the C(3) pathway.