厦门西港海水质量对鱼卵胚胎发育畸形率的影响

以养殖场培育的花尾胡椒鲷受精卵为实验材料测试了厦门西域5个站位的表层水水样对花尾胡椒鲷受精卵的胚胎发育毒性，并运用GC－MS手段分析了水样中的美国EPA优控的16PAHs组分的含量。结果表明：3号站位（厦门市工业和生活污水主要排放口的外侧）和4号站位（厦门西港的港区）的水样对鱼卵的胚胎发育的毒性最强。8号站位（位于主航道并濒临嵩屿电厂）的水样对鱼卵胚胎发良的毒性次之，1号站位（湾口）和5号站位（内港）的水样对鱼卵的胚胎发育的毒性较小。水样中的PAHs含量分析结果表明，仅用水样中的PAHs含量不能全面地反映水样对鱼卵胚胎发育的毒性。最后，对本实验方法应用于海洋环境生物监测的有效性进行了探讨。     

Fluoride distibution and the effect of some ions along Alexandria coastal Mediterranean seawater of Egypt

The coastal seawater of Mediterranean of Alexandria receives large amount of discharged waters containing industrial wastes, sewage, and agricultural and domestic drainage. Fluoride and some parameters were(chemical and physical) determined. The data gave indication that the content and the amount of the discharged water largely affect the chemical composition of the coastal water. Stepwise regression analysis was highly significant and the model was very fruitful, where the observed and calculated values were mostly concordant. This may indicated that there was a relation between fluoride content in coastal seawater and its content in the discharged water.     

Pitfalls in the prenatal diagnosis of peroxisomal β-oxidation defects by chorionic villus sampling

Variability in the level of expression of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) is documented in cultured chorionic villus (CV) cells derived from two fetuses, one at risk for an unusual peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation defect, and the other at risk for the X-linked form of adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD). Cells from early subcultures of chorionic cells from both cases gave normal values for VLCFA ratios. The results for the fetus at risk for the β-oxidation defect were interpreted to indicate that the fetus was not affected; however, at birth, the infant was clinically and biochemically affected. In the case of the fetus at risk for X-linked ALD, although VLCFAs were normal in subculture 1, the levels of these fatty acids increased dramatically in subculture 3, suggesting an abnormal fetus. Termination of the pregnancy and subsequent biochemical and morphological follow-up confirmed that the fetus was indeed affected by ALD.     

Extraction of DNA from amniotic fluid cells for the early prenatal diagnosis of genetic disease

Ten-ml samples of amniotic fluid were taken from pregnancies being terminated at 8–14 weeks' gestation. DNA was extracted from the amniotic cells by sequential centrifugation and analysed using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fifteen samples were analysed for evidence of maternal contamination using Mfd5 oligo-nucleotide primers for repeat polymorphisms. Ten amniotic fluid samples were tested for the Delta-F₅₀₈ deletion characteristic of cystic fibrosis to demonstrate a diagnostic application for the technique. In each case, DNA extracted from fetal tissue from the same pregnancy was included in the controls. In 14 of the 15 cases tested with the Mfd5 primers, both the amniotic fluid DNA and the fetal DNA showed no evidence of contaminating DNA. In one case, neither the amniotic fluid cells nor the fetal cells yielded results. In nine of the ten cases tested with the Delta-F₅₀₈ primers, the amniotic fluid cell DNA provided accurate information about the genetic status of the fetus; in the tenth, the fetal DNA failed to amplify. The results indicate that adequate DNA can be extracted from amniotic fluid from 8 weeks' gestation onward and these samples are suitable for prenatal diagnosis using PCR.     

Climate anomalies, Indonesian vegetation fires and terrestrial carbon emissions

There was a widespread misconception about the causes of vegetation and land fires in Indonesia. At a certain point, the public perceived that fires and the associated haze pollution were primarily caused by smallholders' agricultural activities. In fact, there was a variety of land-use activities including large-scale land clearing following deforestation for further land development. El Niño events and the associated dry weather were sometimes quoted by officials and the media as the cause of fires. The fire episodes from 1980 to 2000 were analysed in connection with climate anomalies and the implementation of land-use policies related to forest conversions. The analysis employs long-term climatic and sea surface temperature data to reconstruct climate distributions and anomalies including Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Outgoing Long-wave Radiation (OLR). In this study, the terrestrial carbon emissions from vegetation fires were estimated based on official statistical data on area burnt. The possible incentives for sustainable land management were discussed in the light of fire prevention. The underlying cause neglected in the discussion of Indonesian vegetation fires was forest and land development policy. Legitimated in the early 1980s, it drove massive forest conversions and the use of fires for land clearing. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) provided dry weather suitable for biomass burning and widespread fire, but it was hardly the cause of fires. The estimate of area burnt in the big fires in 1997 was about 11.6 Mha, resulting in carbon release of 1.45 Gt, equivalent to 0.73 ppmv of CO₂, or almost half the annual global atmospheric CO₂ growth. Based on the current carbon market price such emissions by the 1997 fire episode were worth around US$ 3.6 billion.     

Early prenatal diagnosis of an infratentorial arachnoid cyst: Association with an unbalanced translocation

Arachnoid cysts are an uncommon central nervous system malformation, representing only 1 per cent of all intracranial masses. We report the second-trimester prenatal diagnosis of a posterior fossa arachnoid cyst, associated with an unbalanced X;9 translocation.