Ecological Survey of Coastal I Water Adjacent to Nuclear Power I Plants in Taiwan

A total of six nuclear reactors installed in three power plants, two along the northern and one along the southern coasts of Taiwan, started their operations one after another since October 1977. Owing to the large quantities of cooling water intake into and discharge from the plants, some environmental factors such as water temperature, chlorine, environmental radioactivity and nearshore currents may be significantly changed. Variations of these abiotic environmental factors may influence the biological activities in the ecosystem, particularly doing some kinds of damage to marine biological resources. Therefore, the possible environmental impact upon the biological systems including the fishery resources along the northern and southern coasts of Taiwan should be studied before and during the plant operation.

We have started the long-term programmes of biological, chemical and hydro-graphical surveys of the nuclear power plant sites on both northern (since July 1974) and southern (since July 1979) coasts of Taiwan. the survey items include ocean currents, physical and chemical properties of sea water, primary productivity, specific compositions and interspecific relationships among phyto- and zooplankton, algae, invertebrates, corals, and fishes; and radionuclides in water and biological specimens, and fishery statistics. in general, except for a few events, the operations of the six units of nuclear power plants have not produced detectable effects on the marine ecosystem. Radio activity levels and radionuclides in water and the biological specimens remained the same as background levels throughout the survey period. However, the events of coral bleaching and fish body anomalies caused by thermal discharges were observed respectively along the outlets of third and second Nuclear Power Plants. the purposes of this paper are to report and evaluate these two events during the operations of nuclear power plants in Taiwan.     

A new report of mesomelic camptomelia,polydactyly and Dandy–Walker complex in siblings

Two male siblings with several malformations are reported. The anomalies detected in both fetuses were mesomelic camptomelia, postaxial hexadactyly and Dandy–Walker complex. There was only one similar previous report in the literature. This combination could represent a specific pattern of malformation or a new syndrome, with different variants. The parents' consanguinity and the recurrence in a subsequent pregnancy suggest an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prenatal diagnosis of Apert syndrome: report of two cases

Two de novo cases with Apert Syndrome detected prenatally are presented herein. In the first, fetal ultrasound findings of syndactyly of the hands, craniosynostosis and proptosis resulted in a prenatal diagnosis in the nineteenth week of gestation. This is the earliest prenatal diagnosis of this syndrome in a not-at-risk case. Following counseling, this pregnancy was terminated and subsequent pathological examination and DNA analysis confirmed the diagnosis of Apert Syndrome and coarctation of the aorta. In the second case, fetal ultrasound at 21 weeks' gestation revealed a hypoplastic left heart and clover-leaf skull. Following counseling, this pregnancy was also terminated. Further examination of the fetus and DNA analysis led to a diagnosis of Apert Syndrome. These cases emphasize the need to complete a thorough fetal ultrasound in cases with potentially lethal cardiac abnormality and the importance of incorporating a fetal pathologist, as well as a medical geneticist, in the investigations performed after delivery or pregnancy termination when a fetal abnormality is detected on ultrasound. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Specific features of the growth of Scots pine vegetative organs in the forest-steppe zone of Cisbaikalia

The dependence of the annual increment of vegetative organs on air temperature and humidity and the amount of precipitation per phenophase, as well as the period of their growth in Scots pine, were studied in the forest-steppe zone of Cisbaikalia. The multiple effect of variation in environmental conditions on the annual increment of organs increased when precipitation in September of the previous year was taken into account. These factors proved to have a stronger effect on variation in the annual increment of needles (R ² = 0.59, p = 0.00005) than that in the annual ring width (R ² = 0.38, p = 0.0002).     

氟离子慢性暴露对中国林蛙蝌蚪生长发育的毒性效应研究

氟元素以不同的结合形式广泛存在于自然界中,适量氟的摄取有益于龋齿预防和骨骼发育,然而过量氟的摄取会对动物及人体健康造成危害。近年来,大量的人类活动导致水环境中氟含量持续升高。为探究水域氟污染对中国林蛙的毒性影响,本研究以中国林蛙(Rana chensinensis)胚胎为试验材料,对卵黄栓期(G12期)胚胎进行了0、0.7、4.2、19.4、42.8 mg·L~(-1)F-慢性水体暴露直至胚胎发育到变态高峰期(G42期)的研究。分别于暴露25 d和40 d后取样测定了蝌蚪全长、体长、体重和发育分期;此外,分析了F-慢性暴露对变态率、G42期蝌蚪的全长、体长、体重和后肢长以及G42期蝌蚪骨骼发育的影响。结果表明:暴露25 d时,4.2 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组促进了林蛙蝌蚪的生长发育,而42.8 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组显著抑制了蝌蚪的生长发育;暴露40 d时,19.4 mg·L~(-1)F-和42.8 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组蝌蚪的生长发育均受到显著抑制。持续进行慢性暴露78 d后,4.2 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组蝌蚪的变态率显著升高,而42.8 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组蝌蚪的变态率受到了显著抑制。此外,42.8 mg·L~(-1)F-处理组G42期蝌蚪形态指标(全长、体长和后肢长)以及骨骼发育均受到抑制。依据G42期中国林蛙蝌蚪的生长发育指标和变态率为观察指标,氟离子慢性暴露对中国林蛙蝌蚪的最低可观察效应浓度(LOEC)为0.7 mg·L~(-1)。研究表明,水环境中高浓度的氟污染会对中国林蛙蝌蚪的生长发育、变态和骨骼发育等造成潜在的不利影响,水体氟污染的生态毒性效应理应引起高度重视。     

Evidence of Large-Scale Chronic Eutrophication in the Great Barrier Reef: Quantification of Chlorophyll a Thresholds for Sustaining Coral Reef Communities

Long-term monitoring data show that hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has reduced by >70 % over the past century. Although authorities and many marine scientists were in denial for many years, it is now widely accepted that this reduction is largely attributable to the chronic state of eutrophication that exists throughout most of the GBR. Some reefs in the far northern GBR where the annual mean chlorophyll a (Chl a) is in the lower range of the proposed Eutrophication Threshold Concentration for Chl a (~0.2–0.3 mg m⁻³) show little or no evidence of degradation over the past century. However, the available evidence suggests that coral diseases and the crown-of-thorns starfish will proliferate in such waters and hence the mandated eutrophication Trigger values for Chl a (~0.4–0.45 mg m⁻³) will need to be decreased to ~0.2 mg m⁻³ for sustaining coral reef communities.