Metaphyseal chondrodysplasia McKusick type in a Chinese fetus,caused by novel compound heterozygosity 64T> A and 79G >T in RMRPgene

We present the first confirmed case by molecular analysis of a metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, McKusick type, in a 22-week fetus. Two novel compound heterozygous mutations, 64T> A and 79G > T, were found in the highly conserved regions of the RMRP gene. Twenty-two heterozygous g.1018 T> C mutations, two homozygous g.1018 T> C mutations, two heterozygous insertion mutations g.799_g.800insC and one heterozygous insertion mutation g.849_g.850insT were found among 100 normal controls. Careful radiological examination of the fetus for skeletal dysplasia allowed definitive diagnosis, proper genetic counselling and future prenatal diagnosis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sonographic features of ileal duplication cyst at 12 weeks

Enteric duplication cyst is a congenital abnormality that is believed to arise from abnormal recanalization of the bowel during embryogenesis. Previous reports suggest that the condition may be suspected prenatally by sonographic demonstration of an intra-abdominal cystic mass in the second and third trimesters. We present the sonographic features of a fetus with ileal duplication cyst at 12 weeks of gestation, which show that the condition may present in the first trimester of pregnancy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

模糊层次综合评判法在火电厂选址决策中的应用

根据影响火电厂选址的因素较多、相互之间具有不确定性和模糊性这一特点,结合火电厂选址的实际情况,建立了火电厂选址综合效益评价指标体系;运用模糊层次综合评判法确定了各指标的权重分配;从可持续发展的角度对火电厂选址综合效益进行了评价;经过专家投票,将各因素层次化,得出模糊评价结果,即找到综合效益最好的厂址;并通过实例验证了该方法的可行性。可为火电厂决策者投资建设项目提供依据。     

热镀锌板表面硅烷处理耐蚀性能的研究

将镀锌钢板经表面处理后涂覆硅烷,研究成膜后的耐蚀性能。在3.5%NaCl溶液中的电化学极化曲线测试和交流阻抗表明,涂覆硅烷膜后,硅烷膜的存在能够明显地抑制腐蚀过程中的阴极和阳极反应,使电荷转移阻力大增,显著降低了锌的腐蚀速率,耐蚀效果较好。初步讨论了硅烷膜的成膜及耐蚀机理。     

氟碳涂层体系在我国水环境中防腐性能研究

通过现场曝露试验,获得氟碳涂层体系在我国淡水、海水和盐湖水环境中4年腐蚀结果,总结了它们的腐蚀行为。无论是在自然环境下的曝露试验,还是实验室条件下的盐雾试验和紫外光老化试验结果,都表明氟碳涂层具有优异的耐候性和耐水性;水气渗透性试验也表明氟碳涂层具有较低的渗水率;氟碳涂层虽具有低的表面能,但在淡水和海水环境中,其抗水生物附着性能仍不理想。     

Comprehensive characterization of indoor airborne bacterial profile

This is the first detailed characterization of the airborne bacterial profiles in indoor environments. Two restaurants were selected for this study. Fifteen genera of bacteria were isolated from each restaurant and identified by three different bacterial identification systems including MIDI, Biolog and Riboprinter®. The dominant bacteria of both restaurants were Gram-positive bacteria in which Micrococcus and Bacillus species were the most abundant. Most bacteria identified were representative species of skin and respiratory tract of human, and soil. Although the bacterial levels in these two restaurants were below the limit of the Hong Kong Indoor Air Quality Objective (HKIAQO) Level 1 standard (i.e., < 500 cfu/m³), the majority of these bacteria were opportunistic pathogens. These results suggested that the identity of airborne bacteria should also be included in the IAQ to ensure there is a safety guideline for the public.     

On the Observations and Environmental Modeling in Xingó Hydropower Plant - Northeast Brazil: Present and Future Hydroclimatic Features

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - The São Francisco River Basin plays a critical role in the hydroelectrical operational planning of Brazil. Understanding the hydroclimatic dynamic...     

Fate and degradation of the chemical warfare agent soman on sands

Soman is one of the most toxic nerve agents of the known chemical warfare agents. There is actually few knowledge on the behavior of soman in the event of an environmental contamination. It is in particular unknown whether soman remains on a given surface, evaporates into air, or degrades. Here, we studied the evaporation of soman deposited on silica sand using a laboratory-sized wind tunnel, thermal desorption, and gas chromatography. We also investigated the degradation of soman on silica sand by ³¹phosphorus solid state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results show that a drop of soman on silica sand spreads laterally while evaporating. The maximum vapor concentration was found when the spreading of the soman drop was maximum on the surface. Simultaneously, soman was absorbed gradually into the pore of sand and degraded to O-pinacolyl-methylphosphonic acid following a pseudo-first-order rate reaction over weeks. To our best knowledge, this is the first report on the fate of soman in a sandy environment.     

Ocean acidification induces budding in larval sea urchins

Ocean acidification (OA), the reduction of ocean pH due to hydration of atmospheric CO₂, is known to affect growth and survival of marine invertebrate larvae. Survival and transport of vulnerable planktonic larval stages play important roles in determining population dynamics and community structures in coastal ecosystems. Here, we show that larvae of the purple urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, underwent high-frequency budding (release of blastula-like particles) when exposed to elevated pCO₂ level (>700 μatm). Budding was observed in >50 % of the population and was synchronized over short periods of time (~24 h), suggesting this phenomenon may be previously overlooked. Although budding can be a mechanism through which larval echinoids asexually reproduce, here, the released buds did not develop into viable clones. OA-induced budding and the associated reduction in larval size suggest new hypotheses regarding physiological and ecological tradeoffs between short-term benefits (e.g. metabolic savings and predation escape) and long-term costs (e.g. tissue loss and delayed development) in the face of climate change.     

Effects of sex change on the implications of marine reserves for fisheries

Marine reserves have become widely used in biodiversity conservation and are increasingly proposed as fisheries management tools. Previous modeling studies have found that reserves may increase or decrease yields, depending on local environmental conditions and on the specific life-history traits of the fishery species. Sex-changing (female-to-male) fish are targets of some of the most important commercial and recreational fisheries in the world. The potential for disproportionate removal of the larger, older sex of such species requires new theory to facilitate our understanding of how reserves will affect the yields of surrounding fisheries, relative to fishes with separate sexes. We investigated this question by modeling the effects of marine reserves on a non-sex-changing and a sex-changing population. We used demographic parameter estimates for the common coral trout as a baseline, and we conducted extensive sensitivity analyses to determine how sustainable yields of sex-changing species are likely to be affected by reserves across a broad range of life-history parameters. Our findings indicate that fisheries for sex-changing species are unlikely to receive the same yield-enhancing benefit that non-sex-changing fisheries enjoy from marine reserves, and that often reserves tend to reduce sustainable yields for a given overall population size. Specifically, the increased egg production and high fertilization success within reserves is more than offset by the reduced egg production and fertilization success in the fished areas, relative to a system in which fishing mortality is distributed more evenly over the entire system. A key reason for this appears to be that fertilization success is reduced, on average, when males are unevenly distributed among subpopulations, as is the case when reserves are present. These findings suggests that, for sex-changing populations, reserves are more suited to rebuilding overfished populations and sustaining fishery viability, rather than enhancing fishery yields. These results are robust over a range of sex-change regimes, stock-recruitment relationships, adult mortality rates, individual growth strategies, and fertilization-success functions. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the different contributions of males and females to population growth and fishery yields when evaluating the efficacy of marine reserves for enhancement of fished species.