Magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) significantly decreases the hybridization efficiency of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)

Fetal cells were enriched from maternal blood using density gradient centrifugation of Histopaque followed by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) to select CD71-positive cells. For each specimen, cells partially purified by Histopaque were split into equal portions, and each portion was subjected to purification by MACS in parallel. Cells before and after MACS were subjected to dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis with X- and Y-chromosome-specific probes. We found that the hybridization rates were decreased by approximately 10% after MACS based on duplicated analysis for each sample. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

细河流域水污染现状分析与建议

本文分析了阜新细河流域水污染特点,提出了有针对性的治理建议,为保障流域水质达标及城市可持续发展提供参考。     

Agricultural pesticide residues of farm runoff in the Okanagan Valley,British Columbia,Canada

The objectives of this study were to determine environmental occurrence and concentrations of selected currently-used-pesticides and some transformation products in agricultural farms in the Okanagan Valley (OKV), and to conduct a simple risk assessment of environmental pesticides levels detected in OKV on non-target aquatic organisms. The OKV is the tree fruit country of the Province of British Columbia where considerable amount of pesticides are applied annually. Water, sediment and soil samples were collected at eleven sites in early June and late September following rainfall events and/or extended periods of irrigation from drainage ditches and/or from small streams. Undisturbed reference sites were also sampled. Study results showed that forty of the eighty chemicals analyzed, including organochlorine, nitrogen-containing and organophosphate pesticides commonly used for OKV crops, were detected in runoff and small stream water samples. Among which, endosulfan-sulfate was the most frequently detected chemical. Also, azinophos-methyl (0.699–25.5 ng/L), diazinon (0.088–214 ng/L) exceeded, and α-, β- endosulfan, endosulfan sulphate approached the guidelines for the protection of aquatic life.     

An Evaluation System for National Park Selection in Taiwan

The purpose of this study is to analyse the proper factors to be contained in an evaluation system which can then be used to assess areas for designating national parks in Taiwan. In the first phase of work, the Delphi method was used to collect expert opinions on a total of 10 categories of evaluating factors. Six of them are used to assess the characteristics of a site and include diversity, representativeness,naturalness, rarity, fragility and suitability. The other four categories represent the potential for management objectives including conservation, research, education and other functions. This evaluating system will be used and examined in the second phase of our work.     

近20年来鄱阳湖流域泛滥平原沉积物微量元素含量与污染变化

查明鄱阳湖流域微量元素的污染状况、识别其潜在来源并评估生态风险,对制定保护流域生态系统的有效策略至关重要.为了全面了解鄱阳湖流域5条主要支流泛滥平原沉积物中Cd、Hg、Pb、As、Cu、Zn、Cr、Ni、Mn、Sb、W和Sn等12种微量元素间隔近20 a的含量、污染水平和生态风险的时空变化状况,采用富集因子（EF）和修正综合污染指数（MPI）评价了微量元素的污染水平,应用潜在生态风险因子（E_r）和修正生态风险指数（MRI）量化了微量元素引发的生态风险,并对污染水平显著变化区域的污染源进行了分析和探讨.研究结果显示,近20年来,鄱阳湖流域泛滥平原沉积物中Cd、Zn、Mn、W和Pb含量分别升高了134%、26%、41%、25%和8%,Hg、As、Cr、Ni、Sb和Sn含量分别降低了35%、15%、22%、10%、14%和13%,Cu含量无明显变化;饶河、赣江和信江流域的Cd含量分别升高了331%、151%和107%,抚河、赣江和修水流域的Hg含量分别降低了87%、41%和40%;其污染变化主要表现为Cd污染加剧和Hg污染降级,整个赣江流域Cd污染升级至中度和中度-重度,饶河乐安江Cd污染升级至重度,抚河流域Hg污染降至无或轻微;Cd污染加剧导致综合污染升级,极度和重度污染点位比例由17%升至33%;极高生态风险点位的比例由11%升至22%,其高MRI贡献率元素由Hg变为Cd,源于Hg污染的极高生态风险点降至中等生态风险.鄱阳湖流域泛滥平原沉积物中微量元素的显著污染变化主要源于矿产开发与冶炼、工业和农业生产等人为活动.研究成果可为河流污染防治和流域生态系统的优化管理提供科学依据.     

Water quality modeling to determine minimum instream flow for fish survival in tidal rivers

The Hsintien Stream is one of the major branches of the Danshuei River system, which runs through the metropolitan capital city of Taipei, Taiwan and receives a large amount of wastewater. The dissolved oxygen concentration is generally low in the tidal portion of the Hsintien Stream. Hypoxia/anoxia occurs often, particularly during the low-flow period when the Feitsui Reservoir, Chingtan Dam and Chihtan Dam impound the freshwater for municipal water supply. Fish kills happen from time to time. This paper describes the application of a numerical hydrodynamic and water quality model to the Danshuei River system, with special attention to the tidal portion of the Hsintien Stream. The model is recalibrated with the prototype conditions of the year 2000. The hydrodynamic portion of the model is recalibrated with measured surface elevation and velocity at various stations in the river system. The water quality portion of the model is recalibrated with respect to the field data provided by Taiwan EPA. The input data of point and nonpoint sources are also estimated. The model simulates the concentrations of various forms of nutrients, CBOD and dissolved oxygen. A series of sensitivity runs was conducted to investigate the effects of point source loadings and river flow on the DO level in the river. It is demonstrated that the augmentation of river flow has as much effect on raising DO level as the reduction of point source loadings. The completion of the Taipei sewer project is expected to reduce the point source loadings by at least 75%. Under these reduced loadings, if the daily instream flow is maintained above the monthly Q75 flow throughout the year, the minimum DO concentration in the river would not fall below 1mg/L, which is the suffocation level for most fish species in the Hsintien Stream. (Q75 is the flow which is equaled or exceeded 75% of the days in the month.) The Feitsui Reservoir, Chingtan Dam and Chihtan Dam may impound water during the high flow periods and release freshwater to maintain the flow at the Q75 value in the Hsintien Stream during the drought periods.     

WATER COLUMN LIGHT ATTENUATION IN DANSHUEI RIVER ESTUARY,TAIWAN1

ABSTRACT: The penetration of sunlight into the water column plays a critical role in the aquatic ecosystem. This study investigates light attenuation through the water column of the Danshuei River estuary and explores the models for quantifying it. The measurement of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) indicates that the conventional exponential attenuation of light with depth is a very good model. A light attenuation coefficient may be derived from the PAR measurements at each location. The simpler measurements of Secchi depth (SD) provide an approximate estimate of the attenuation coefficients through an inverse linear relationship. The results also reveal that the amount and kinds of materials, which are either dissolved or suspended in the water, control light attenuation through the water column. However, the linear regression with such a model results in very poor correlation, and a relatively large constant term for the Danshuei River estuary. The regression with salinity yields a good correlation, indicating that the fraction of sea water might be a good parameter for estimating light attenuation coefficient for practical application in the Danshuei River estuary.