Prenatal diagnosis of 21-hydroxylase deficiency by rflp analysis of the 21-hydroxylase,complement C4, and HLA class II genes

In 19 pregnancies at risk for 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) in 18 families with at lea one affected child, prenatal diagnosis was performed by RFLP analysis using the enzymi Taq I and EcoRI and the DNA probes specific for the 21 OH genes, the closely linke complement C4 genes and the highly polymorphic HLA class II genes DRB, DQB, and DPI For fetal DNA analysis either chorionic villi or cultivated amniotic cells were used. In all 1 cases, a clear prenatal diagnosis was possible either with the 21OH probe alone or in mo cases, by combining the results of the different closely linked loci.     

Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) in pregnant diabetic patients

The efficacy of the insulin infusion pump (CSII) in pregnancy was examined in 12 diabetic patients and compared with intermittent insulin therapy (IIT). In patients poorly controlled on IIT constant and rapid equilibrium was achieved with CSII (mean of glucose levels: CSII versus IIT=84 versus 137 mg/dl; S.D. = 36 versus 63 mg/dl; mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE)=65 versus 112 mg/dl. In patients well controlled on IIT, CSII led to a reduction in the variation of glucose excursions (S.D.= 29 versus 36 mg/dl; MAGE=48 versus 76 mg/dl). CSII generally produced a reduction of 20–37 per cent of daily insulin dose (in three cases there was an increase of dose with the achievement of glycemic control). Furthermore in CSII treated-patients amniotic glucose, insulin and C-peptide concentrations werefound tobeinthenormalrange(22.1±10.1 mg/dl; 5.2±2.7μ/ml; 1.25±0.71 ng/ml, respectively). All infants were horn at or near-term, had no macrosomia or neonatal problems. It is concluded that CSII is a highly efficient way to achieve normal glucose levels in pregnancy, not only in type I, hut also in type II or gestational diabetes.     

Hydrogen storage and distribution systems

Hydrogen storage and transportation or distribution is closely linked together. Hydrogen can be distributed continuously in pipelines or batch wise by ships, trucks, railway or airplanes. All batch transportation requires a storage system but also pipelines can be used as pressure storage system. Hydrogen exhibits the highest heating value per weight of all chemical fuels. Furthermore, hydrogen is regenerative and environment friendly. There are two reasons why hydrogen is not the major fuel of toady’s energy consumption: First of all, hydrogen is just an energy carrier. And, although it is the most abundant element in the universe, it has to be produced, since on earth it only occurs in the form of water. This implies that we have to pay for this energy, which results in a difficult economic task, because since the industrialization we are used to consuming energy for free. The second difficulty with hydrogen as an energy carrier is the low critical temperature of 33 K, i.e. hydrogen is a gas at room temperature. For mobile and in many cases also for stationary applications the volumetric and gravimetric density of hydrogen in a storage system is crucial. Hydrogen can be stored by six different methods and phenomena: high pressure gas cylinders (up to 800 bar), liquid hydrogen in cryogenic tanks (at 21 K), adsorbed hydrogen on materials with a large specific surface area (at T < 100 K), absorbed on interstitial sites in a host metal (at ambient pressure and temperature), chemically bond in covalent and ionic compounds (at ambient pressure), oxidation of reactive metals e.g. Li, Na, Mg, Al, Zn with water. These metals easily react with water to the corresponding hydroxide and liberate the hydrogen from the water. Finally, the metal hydroxides can be thermally reduced to the metals in a solar furnace.     

近期和长远时段内北极生态系统功能受到的影响

长期以来,就营养物质和碳循环而言,北极生态系统降低了初级生产力；能量,水和温室气体交换的水平已引起了局部和区域性的小幅度降温.大气CO2中的碳沉积在广袤而寒冷的有机土壤中,冰雪覆盖的低矮植被产生高的反射率,都影响了局部气候.然而,北极生态系统功能的许多方面都对气候变化及其产生的生物多样性影响敏感.当前的北极气候导致了低的有机物质分解速率,因此,尽管有机物和元素输入量较低,但北极生态系统还是趋向于积累有机物和元素,土壤中氮和磷等可利用元素结果成为促进碳固定以及生物量和有机物进一步积累的关键性限制因素.气候变暖可能增加特别是土壤中的碳和元素的周转,起初可能导致元素的丢失,但最后会慢慢的恢复.在北极生态系统中,单个物种和物种多样性已经明显地影响了元素的输入和滞留,另一方面,从长远来看,尽管CO2和紫外线增加对植物组织化学、分解和氮固定的影响可能变得重要,但对整个生态系统来说,影响可能很小.碳循环的示踪气体主要形式是CO2和CH4,大多数碳以CO2的形式损失,这些CO2是由植物和土壤生物产生.来自潮湿苔原生态系统以CH4形式释放的碳大约是CO2形式的5％,而且在没有任何其他变化的情况下,对变暖作出响应.冬天过程和植物类型也影响CH4释放和能量在生物圈和大气之间的交换,因为反射率从冬末到夏天存在很大的变化,在冬末,雪反射了入射的大部分光线,在夏天,生态系统吸收了入射的大部分光线,所以在所有的陆地生态系统中,北极生态系统在能量交换方面表现出巨大的季节性变化.植被深刻地影响北极生态系统水和能量交换.在冰雪覆盖期间,反射率从苔原、森林苔原、落叶林、常绿林依次降低.灌木和树增加了雪的深度,反过来又使冬天的土壤温度增加,因此,由气候变化而引起的未来植被方面的变化很可能深远地改变区域的气候.     

Prenatal diagnosis for dystrophia myotonica using the polymerase chain reaction

The polymerase chain reaction has been used to detect an abundant class of short repeat DNA families of the form (dC-dA)n.(dG-dT)n, known as microsatellites. These units are found throughout the human genome and have been characterized for several loci including APOC2 on chromosome 19ql2-ql3.2. The locus APOC2 is linked to the gene for dystrophia myotonica and a microsatellite within this locus was used to derive polymorphisms in a family to predict the inheritance of the disease. Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) was performed at 151/2 weeks' gestation. Following DNA extraction from the CVS material and parental blood samples, microsatellite analysis was carried out by the polymerase chain reaction.     

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.     

Prenatal diagnosis of Opitz (BBB) syndrome in the second trimester by ultrasound detection of hypospadias and hypertelorism

Prenatal diagnosis in a kindred with the Opitz (BBB) syndrome is presented. The inheritance is consistent with either autosomal dominant inheritance with sex limited expression or X-linked inheritance. The abnormalities in the kindred consist of hypertelorism, hypospadias, ambiguous genitalia, urocolic fistula, imperforate anus, mental retardation, diaphragmatic hernia, and malrotation with volvulus. A male fetus at 19 weeks was found by ultrasound to have hypertelorism and hypospadias with a small phallus consistent with the syndrome. The diagnosis was confirmed by pathologic examination after pregnancy termination. This is the first report of prenatal diagnosis of Opitz syndrome by ultrasonographic demonstration of hypertelorism and hypospadias in the second trimester.     

Prenatal diagnosis and post-mortem study of a fetus with mosaic trisomy 14 due to a dic(14)(p11)

Amniocentesis at 17 weeks' gestation revealed a mosaic karyotype—46,XX/46,XX, — 14,+dic(14)(p11). No abnormalities were detected on ultrasound. Growth and placentation were normal. The fetus was examined after termination of pregnancy and micrognathia and pulmonary hyperlobation were the only abnormalities detected. Several tissues were set up for cytogenetics, including fetal skin, kidney, ovary, and placenta. The diagnosis was confirmed by these studies. The level of mosaicism varied between tissues, with the trisomy 14 cell line highest in amniotic fluid.     

Prenatal application of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for identification of a mosaic Y-chromosome marker,IDIC(Yp)

An amniocentesis was performed at 13.3 weeks' gestation for advanced maternal age. A mosaic sex chromosome pattern was found: of 50 cells examined, 34 had a 45,X karyotype. In 14 cells with a modal number of 46, a recognizable Y was substituted by a small non-fluorescent marker. C-banding identified the marker as an isodicentric in 12 cells. In two cells, the non-fluorescent marker appeared to be monocentric and looked like a non-fluorescent del (Yq), but could have been an isodicentric Y with inactivation of one of the centromeres. Two cells with a modal number of 47 showed two copies of the monocentric marker. Fluorescent in situ hybridization with an alpha satellite Y-specific centromeric probe confirmed the Y-chromosome origin of the markers and allowed for more accurate prenatal diagnostic information.