The association between alpha-fetoprotein and βhcg levels prior to and following chorionic villus sampling in cases that spontaneously miscarried

Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (βhCG) measurements taken prior to chorionic villus sampling (CVS) in 21 patients who subsequently miscarried were compared with measurements in a control group of 113 patients with uneventful pregnancies. Patients with AFP levels of 10 iu/ml or more prior to the CVS had a 4·3 times greater risk of miscarriage (95 per cent confidence interval 1·3–13·6). AFP levels obtained 1 week after the CVS in the 13 patients with late miscarriages were higher than in the control group (P = 0·06). Patients miscarrying had a greater rise in AFP (P = 0·06) and a greater fall in βhCG levels (P = 0·04) following the CVS procedure, compared with the control subjects. Each 10-unit change in the difference between AFP or βhCG levels prior to and 1 week following the CVS was associated with a significantly increased risk for late miscarriage. Elevated maternal serum AFP levels early in pregnancy and changes in AFP and βhCG levels following CVS may predict an increased risk for subsequent miscarriage.     

DNA polymorphism and globin chain analysis in the prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassaemia major in Taiwan

Thirty-six pregnancies in 25 families at risk of β-thalassaemia major received prenatal diagnosis. Chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis was done in 35 pregnancies to obtain fetal cells for DNA linkage study, for which Southern blotting and DNA hybridization were used to detect seven restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) within the β-globin gene cluster: ϵ-HincII, ^Gγ-HindIII, ^Aγ-HindIII, Φβ-HincII, 3′Φβ-HincII, β-AvaII, and 3′β BarnHI. β-Thalassaemia major was diagnosed in seven and excluded in 22 pregnancies. In the remaining six cases, β-thalassaemia major could not be excluded. In these six pregnancies and another one with late booking, ultrasound-guided cordocentesis was performed at the 22nd to 27th week of gestation. Globin chain composition was determined with urea-acetic acid-Triton X-100-12 per cent polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. β-Thalassaemia major was diagnosed in two fetuses and excluded in the other five. Eleven fetuses (in which β-thalassaemia major was excluded) have been delivered and are healthy at more than 5 months old DNA linkage analysis coupled with globin chain electrophoresis provides an effective way for prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassaemia major, although these methods are being replaced by more direct detection techniques using oligonucleotide probes.     

Prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassaemia in Mediterranean populations by dot blot analysis with DNA amplification and allele specific oligonucleotide probes

In this study, we describe a simple strategy to detect β-thalassaemia mutations in prospective parents and to make prenatal diagnosis in pregnancies at risk in the Mediterranean population. Screening of prospective parents is carried out by dot blot analysis on enzymatically amplified DNA with a set of oligonucleotide probes complementary to the most common mutations in this population. Prenatal diagnosis is accomplished by the same procedure on enzymatically amplified amniocyte or trophoblast DNA. The main advantages of this procedure are the simplicity, sensitivity (0.05 μg of DNA), and rapidity (12–24 h). Further simplification is obtained by amplification of the DNA from crude amniotic cell lysate. The very low amount of fetal material necessary for this analysis eliminates the need to culture amniotic fluid cells and may decrease the fetal loss rate associated with trophoblast sampling. The number of specific DNA sequences obtained by the amplification procedure allowed us to use non-radioactive labelled oligonucleotide probes, which have several advantages compared to radioactive probes.     

Enzymatic degradation of poly([R,S] β-hydroxybutyrate)

The synthetic analogue of a bacterially produced polyester, poly(-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) was synthesized from racemic -butyrolactone using anin situ trimethyl aluminum-water catalyst. The polymer was fractionated into samples differing in molecular weight and isotactic diad content. The latter was closely related to degree of crystallinity. The biodegradation of these fractions were examined by monitoring mass loss over time in the presence of anAlcaligenes faecalis T1 extracellular bacterial poly(-hydroxybutyrate) depolymerase. The fraction with high isotactic diad tacticity content showed little or no degradation over a 50 hour incubation period, whereas the fraction of intermediate isotactic diad content degraded in a continuous steady fashion at a rate that was less than that for bacterial PHB. The low isotactic diad fraction underwent a rapid initial degradation, followed by no further mass loss. The presence of stereoblocks in the polymer structure of the various fractions was an influence on the degree of susceptibility towards degradation and is related to sample crystallinity.     

Enhanced production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) by filamentation-suppressed recombinantEscherichia coli in a defined medium

Fed-batch cultures of recombinantEscherichia coli strains were carried out for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB) in a chemically defined medium. TheE. coli strains used were XL1-Blue, harboring pSYL105, a stable high-copy number plasmid containing theAlcaligenes eutrophus polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) genes, and XL1-Blue, harboring pSYL107, which is pSYL105 containing theE. coli ftsZ gene to suppress filamentation. With XL1-Blue(pSYL105) the final cell mass and PHB concentration obtained in 62 h were 102 and 22.5 g/L, respectively. Fed-batch culture of XL1-Blue(pSYL107) under identical conditions resulted in a final cell mass and PHB concentration of 127.5 and 48.2 g/L, respectively. The PHB contents obtained with XL1-Blue(pSYL105) and XL1-Blue(pSYL107) were 22.1 and 37.8%, respectively. Therefore, PHB was more efficiently produced in a defined medium by employing filamentation-suppressed recombinantE. coli.     

β-In2S3的制备及其太阳光下降解土霉素

利用水热反应法制备β-In2S3纳米颗粒光催化剂,并利用SEM、TEM和XRD等对其进行分析表征;采用土霉素溶液模拟四环素类抗生素废水,探讨In2S3对土霉素的降解效果.结果表明,β-In2S3为立方相纳米颗粒结构,该纳米颗粒由纳米片组成,直径约15~30 nm.以太阳光为辐射光源,In2S3对土霉素具有良好的光催化降解效果,在4 h内对初始浓度为30 mg·L-1的土霉素降解率可达98%以上.降解土霉素后的催化剂在无水乙醇中清洗并烘干,经4次循环利用后,β-In2S3的降解能力仍能达到85%以上,表明β-In2S3光催化剂具有良好的稳定性以及光催化活性.     

β-环糊精/醋酸纤维素纳米纤维的制备及对染料废水的处理

制备了不同β-环糊精(β-CD)含量的醋酸纤维素(CA)纳米纤维膜,并对纤维膜的结构形貌、尺寸分布、孔隙率、比表面积以及纤维膜的力学性能进行表征分析。随后研究了不同β-CD含量、初始浓度、吸附时间下,纳米纤维膜对甲基红染料的截留性能和吸附性能。结果表明:过量(≥30%)的β-环糊精会使纳米纤维产生珠节,纤维的形貌和力学性能变差;吸附试验表明,β-CD的加入提高了CA纳米纤维膜对染料的吸附,MR吸附率可达93.48%,最大平衡吸附量可达181.74 mg/g,比纯CA纳米纤维膜提高了将近40%;此外,染料的截留实验表明,纳米纤维膜对染料的截留效果较差,最大截留率为50.35%。     

β射线法与重量法监测环境空气PM_(2.5)的应用比较

重量法是测量PM_(2.5)的传统手工经典方法,而β射线法加动态加热系统联用光散射法作为自动在线监测技术的常用方法被广泛使用。将5030-SHARP型β射线法加动态加热系统联用光散射法PM_(2.5)自动监测设备监测结果与手工法测量结果进行比对、分析,结果表明:β射线法与重量法监测结果具有一致性,测量结果不存在显著性差异;β射线法与重量法相对偏差值与温度、相对湿度、风速等气象因子的相关性不明显;β射线法与重量法监测结果的差异性与PM_(2.5)质量浓度、季节等条件有关;随着PM_(2.5)质量浓度逐渐升高,β射线法与重量法相对偏差的绝对值|RD|也随之增大,不同季节的|RD|平均值差异较大,春季、冬季的|RD|平均值大于夏季、秋季。     

Characterization of typical taste and odor compounds formed by Microcystis aeruginosa

Production and characteristics of typical taste and odor (T&O) compounds by Microcystis aeruginosa were investigated. A few terpenoid chemicals, including 2-MIB, β-cyclocitral, and β-ionone, and a few sulfur compounds, such as dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, were detected. β-Cyclocitral and β-carotene concentrations were observed to be relevant to the growth phases of Microcystis. During the stable growth phase, 41-865 fg/cell of β-cyclocitral were found in the laboratory culture. β-Cyclocitral concentrations correlated closely with β-carotene concentrations, with the correlation coefficient R2 = 0.96, as it is formed from the cleavage reaction of β-carotene. For dead cell cases, a high concentration of dimethyl trisulfide was detected at 3.48-6.37 fg/cell. Four T&O compounds, including β-cyclocitral, β-ionone, heptanal and dimethyl trisulfide, were tested and found to be able to inhibit and damage Microcystis cells to varying degrees. Among these chemicals, β-cyclocitral has the strongest ability to quickly rupture cells.     

新型磁性聚谷氨酸吸附剂对水中Pb2+的吸附去除

德岛大学安澤幹人首次利用γ-PGA在Fe3O4磁性纳米颗粒上进行涂层,制得了γ-聚谷氨酸-Fe3O4磁性纳米颗粒（PG-M）.本实验利用透射电镜以及扫描电镜对PG-M吸附剂的形貌进行了分析,发现PG-M与未涂层的Fe3 O4具有相似的形状以及大小,均为不规则的层状结构,且晶粒直径在120～320 nm之间;实验中针对性地对水溶液中Pb2＋进行了吸附探讨.在振荡实验中,通过主要参数的变化（pH值、吸附时间、竞争离子浓度、腐殖酸浓度）,得到如下结果：吸附最佳pH值为7.0;吸附量随着吸附时间的延长而增长,吸附平衡时间为45 min;Na＋对PG-M去除Pb2＋没有很强的干扰性,而Ca2＋则显示出一定的干扰作用;腐殖酸对吸附效果的影响是复杂的,表现为先增强吸附效果,随后降低吸附效果;最佳条件时Pb2＋的最大吸附量为93.3 mg/g.PG-M对Pb2＋的吸附均能较好地符合Freundlich和Langmuir等温吸附模型,其中Langmuir方程能更好地描述PG-M的吸附特征,说明PG-M在水溶液中对金属离子的吸附为单分子层吸附.PG-M吸附符合准二级动力学模型（r2〉0.99）.不同浓度的HCl和HNO3溶液的再生实验发现,0.1 mol/L的HCl溶液作为吸附再生液,可取得较好的再生效果.表明PG-M是可再生的,具有较好的经济性和可持续性.