Expanding multiple marker screening for Down's syndrome to include Edward'S syndrome

Information on maternal age and maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein, unconjugated oestriol (uE₃), and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) levels was used to investigate retrospectively the effect of estimating Edward's syndrome risk in women having multi-marker screening for Down's syndrome. The screened population comprised 15 pregnancies affected by Edward's syndrome, 15 with Down's syndrome and 5472 unaffected pregnancies. The use of all three markers to estimate Edward's syndrome risk would have led to the detection of 10–12 (67–80 per cent) cases with a false-positive rate of 0.3–0.6 per cent depending on the risk cut-off. A further case would have been detected as a result of screening for Down's syndrome alone. Similar results were obtained when the Edward's syndrome risk was based on uE₃ and hCG only. These data suggest that extending Down's syndrome screening to include Edward's syndrome risk will yield a high detection rate with only a small increase in the false-positive rate.     

~(134)Cs在水相生态系中的行为——~(134)Cs在水-萍-底泥中的消长与分配

~(134)Cs在水-萍-底泥系统中的消长遵循指数回归形式;萍能从水体中吸收~(134)Cs,并富集在其体内.萍种间的富集能力有差异,其中,小叶满江红>满江红>蕨状满江红>浮萍>卡州满江红,底泥对水体中的~(134)Cs有很强的吸附能力,从而减少萍对水体中Cs的吸收量;在适当的土水比下,底泥能有效地去除水体中的~(134)Cs;钾离子能抑制萍对~(134)Cs的吸收.     

Using environmental heterogeneity to plan for sea‐level rise

Environmental heterogeneity is increasingly being used to select conservation areas that will provide for future biodiversity under a variety of climate scenarios. This approach, termed conserving nature's stage (CNS), assumes environmental features respond to climate change more slowly than biological communities, but will CNS be effective if the stage were to change as rapidly as the climate? We tested the effectiveness of using CNS to select sites in salt marshes for conservation in coastal Georgia (U.S.A.), where environmental features will change rapidly as sea level rises. We calculated species diversity based on distributions of 7 bird species with a variety of niches in Georgia salt marshes. Environmental heterogeneity was assessed across six landscape gradients (e.g., elevation, salinity, and patch area). We used 2 approaches to select sites with high environmental heterogeneity: site complementarity (environmental diversity [ED]) and local environmental heterogeneity (environmental richness [ER]). Sites selected based on ER predicted present‐day species diversity better than randomly selected sites (up to an 8.1% improvement), were resilient to areal loss from SLR (1.0% average areal loss by 2050 compared with 0.9% loss of randomly selected sites), and provided habitat to a threatened species (0.63 average occupancy compared with 0.6 average occupancy of randomly selected sites). Sites selected based on ED predicted species diversity no better or worse than random and were not resilient to SLR (2.9% average areal loss by 2050). Despite the discrepancy between the 2 approaches, CNS is a viable strategy for conservation site selection in salt marshes because the ER approach was successful. It has potential for application in other coastal areas where SLR will affect environmental features, but its performance may depend on the magnitude of geological changes caused by SLR. Our results indicate that conservation planners that had heretofore excluded low‐lying coasts from CNS planning could include coastal ecosystems in regional conservation strategies.     

p,p'-DDE与雄激素受体突变体H874Y及T877A激动性作用机制的理论研究

1,1-二氯-2,2-双(对氯苯基)乙烯(p,p'-DDE)是一种已知的雄激素受体(androgen receptor,AR)拮抗剂。有趣的是,已有研究证实p,p'-DDE同时可经由作用于AR的2种天然突变体H874Y和T877A产生拟雄激素效应,但其相互作用的分子机制尚不清晰。本研究联用分子动力学模拟与MM-GBSA方法,以内源性激素二氢睾酮(DHT)作为对照,对p,p'-DDE与2种突变体的相互作用分子机制进行了研究。模拟结果指出范德华相互作用是维持p,p'-DDE与AR突变体结合的主要驱动力,而溶剂化作用的差异是导致p,p'-DDE与H874Y具有较高结合活性的主要原因,H874Y结合口袋与p,p'-DDE的结构匹配度优于与T877A。与内源性配体二氢睾酮相比较,范德华作用与静电相互作用的差异是造成p,p'-DDE比DHT结合活性低的主要原因,p,p'-DDE与AR突变体之间缺乏氢键的稳定。MM-GBSA的结果确定p,p'-DDE与突变体结合过程的关键氨基酸以疏水性残基为主,其中L704、M745、L873尤为重要。计算获得的p,p'-DDE对H874Y及T877A相互作用分子机制有助于理解该污染物在不同人群中内分泌干扰效应的差异。     

Stakeholders' expectations from the agri-environmental programme in Slovenia and Croatia

The agri-environmental programme (AEP) is the European Union policy instrument used for the delivery of environmental services expected by the society, but societal expectations for these environmental services are insufficiently assessed. In order to realistically meet the expectations of AEP, this research utilises analytical hierarchy process based web survey to assess the importance that various societal stakeholders in the European countries of Slovenia and Croatia give to specific environmental services and to also identify the agricultural practices that have the greatest potential to realise the expectations that society values the most. All stakeholders (overall group) from Slovenia and Croatia ranked water quality and availability as the first most important environmental service, and reduction of pesticides as the most important agricultural practice to deliver societal expectations. The results indicate that there is similar demand for environmental services in these two countries that differ in their agricultural settings.     

推拉理论视角下的农村宅基地退出机制研究——基于南京市栖霞区农户意愿调查

以推拉理论为视角,分别从农村宅基地作为资源和资产属性以及拥有农村宅基地使用权的农民迁移到城市这两个角度,重新梳理影响农户宅基地退出意愿的因素,建立了农村宅基地退出影响因素的推拉分析框架。在理论分析的基础上,利用在南京市栖霞区农村实地调查得到的数据,建立二元Logistic模型归纳主要影响农户退出意愿的推力和拉力因素。研究发现,受教育水平、农户年总收入、家庭居住人口数和农户是否参加农村养老保险是宅基地退出的主要推动因素;而非农业收入占比、外出务工人口数、是否参加城镇养老保险、是否拥有城镇住所、是否有宅基地产权证书以及宅基地抵押权认知情况是影响宅基地退出的主要拉力因素。基于以上的影响因素分析,提出完善农村宅基地退出机制的政策建议。     

Water saving effect on integrated water resource management

This study proposes an improved integrated water resource management (IWRM), in which water conservation was analyzed for the entire water use process. A multi-objective optimization method was applied to optimize the IWRM, which investigated the reduction of freshwater consumption and the total water supply cost. Customer's preference for saving water and an end use analysis (EUA) was applied in the water conservation analysis. Taking Tianjin as the study area, a reduction in customer's economic pressure (EP) was utilized to evaluate the degree of the customer's preference for saving water. The results revealed that agriculture had a greater preference for saving water than other sectors, where as the public had the weakest motivation for saving water. Improving the transportation method could contribute 62.1% of the total water savings in the agriculture sector. The optimization of the IWRM demonstrated that the local freshwater savings would be 21.5%, and the total cost for water supplies would decrease by 13%. However, a government subsidy of 87.5 million Yuan would be needed. Additionally, by analyzing the change in the amount of water savings affected by water price, the appropriate water price increase range was suggested to be 1.5–1.7 times the original price.     

中国食品工业可持续发展现状分析与对策——基于河南、四川、青海三省食品企业的调查

改革开放30多年来,中国的食品工业有突飞猛进的发展,食品企业的生产能力大幅提升,但中国食品工业仍然存在着诸如食品质量体系不健全、食品安全隐患大等问题.分析了我国食品工业可持续发展生产的背景,然后就河南、四川、青海三省的食品企业可持续发展生产状况做了问卷分析.根据问卷分析结果,从政府层面、企业层面、社会层面提出促进我国食品工业可持续发展的建议.     

Industrial and urban symbiosis in Japan: Analysis of the Eco-Town program 1997–2006

Japan's Eco-Town Program spearheaded in Japan the integration of Industrial Symbiosis and Urban Symbiosis, seeking to maximise the economic and environmental benefit from close geographic proximity of industrial and urban areas, through the use of previously discarded commercial, municipal and industrial waste materials in industrial applications. The program established 26 Eco-Towns around Japan. Approximately 1.65 billion USD was invested in 61 innovative recycling projects, with an average government subsidy of 36%. In addition at least 107 other recycling facilities have been constructed without government subsidy. 14 Eco-Towns primarily contributed to improving industry's productivity, whilst 10 Eco-Towns primarily contributed to improving environmental amenity. In 16 Eco-Towns the private sector was the most important actor supporting local government in the realisation of the Eco-Town, whilst in 9 Eco-Towns this was civil society. The availability of investment subsidies, the coming into force of ambitious recycling legislation with quantified, product-specific targets, access to the significant technological resources of the private sector, and widespread recognition of the urgency to act on environmental issues, all contributed to the success of the Eco-Town Program.     

西安市重污染与清洁天PM2.5组分及其活性氧物质对比

针对重霾污染,在西安市冬季重污染日(2015-11-30~2015-12-09)和清洁日(2016-01-13~2016-01-22)各进行了为期10d的PM_(2.5)采集,测量其中的有机碳、元素碳,及NH_4~+、NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-)等无机水溶性离子,探讨两种污染条件下的组分特征及其成因.结果表明:观测期,重霾日和清洁日PM_(2.5)质量浓度分别为(170±47.5)μg·m~(-3)和(48.6±17.9)μg·m~(-3),且重霾日伴随低能见度、高湿静风等多种不利气象条件;重霾日二次无机离子(NH_4~+、NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-))组分占PM_(2.5)质量浓度的49.8%±13.1%,而清洁日为19.4%±5.95%,并且重霾日硫氧化速率(sulfur oxidation ratio,SOR)和氮氧化速率(nitrogen oxidation ratio,NOR)分别为0.282±0.157和0.269±0.124,远高于清洁日(SOR和NOR分别为0.189±0.057和0.077±0.046),重霾日二次有机组分浓度[(6.22±3.87)μg·m~(-3)]是清洁日[(1.44±1.63)μg·m~(-3)]的5倍,表明二次污染及不利气象条件是造成重霾期间相关组分浓度升高的重要原因.最后,通过二氯荧光黄双乙酸盐(2',7'-DCFH)化学荧光分析法测定了其中活性氧物质(reactive oxygen species,ROS)的浓度,探讨其对于二次无机组分形成的影响,结果表明观测期ROS平均浓度(以H_2O_2计)分别为(4.99±1.54)nmol·m~(-3)(重霾期),(0.492±0.356)nmol·m~(-3)(清洁期),二次反应及积累效应可能是西安重霾条件下ROS浓度升高的主要原因.NO_3~-、SO_4~(2-)与ROS均呈现正相关(P0.05),表明ROS可能通过二次氧化过程参与到二次无机组分形成过程中.