XII Ecdysone Workshop July 22–26, 1996 Barcelona,Spain

XII Ecdysone Workshop July 22–26, 1996 Barcelona, Spain     

Effects of atmospheric gases on terrestrial plants and critical levels of air pollution

An integrated approach was developed to determine the critical levels of air pollution for ecological standard setting based on the unified index of biological response, by taking into account the effects of all pollution components simultaneously. An empirical model of plant productivity was taken as the dose response model for gaseous pollutant effect on the productivity of trees and the annual productivity of plants was used as the above mentioned index. The CO2 increase in the lower atmosphere was considered to potentially increase plant productivity and NO2 was estimated as neutral while being dangerous for plants as a chemical precursor of ozone or as a source of acidification. The maximum permissible chronic O3 and SO2 levels for trees were estimated and it was found that O3 is much more phytotoxic, as compared to SO2 , with a rather narrow range of permissible levels (27-33 ppb) which complicates its monitoring and control.     

Prenatal cytogenetic diagnosis after transabdominal chorionic villus sampling in the first trimester

First trimester prenatal cytogenetic diagnosis was attempted in 350 pregnancies after trans-abdominal chorionic villus sampling. The cytogenetic investigation was performed using both a short-term method (24 h incubation) and cell culture. Adequate samples were obtained in 99·1 per cent and in all these cases the fetal karyotype was established. A chromosome abnormality was found in 2·0 per cent of cases. A discrepancy between the karyotype obtained after 24 h incubation and the karyotype in cell culture was observed in 2·3 per cent. Maternal cell contamination in the cultures was confirmed in 13 of 181 cases where the 24 h incubation revealed a male karyotype. Studies of culture morphology showed that colonies of convoluted cells may serve as a marker for contamination with maternal cells in culture. For the present, we recommend using a short-term method as well as cell culture for cytogenetic investigation until the problems with karyotype discrepancy and maternal cell contamination have been further clarified.     

Maternal sex chromosome mosaicism diagnosed by amniocentesis and percutaneous umbilical cord sampling

We present a remarkable chain of events in which percutaneous umbilical cord sampling was performed in an attempt to clarify a situation of possible fetal sex chromosome mosaicism in an amniotic fluid culture and led to the discovery that the mother herself had a 45,X/46,XX/ 47.XXX chromosome constitution. This may have simply represented the chance concurrence of pseudo-mosaicism in the amniotic fluid culture of a woman with an abnormal sex chromosome constitution, but it is also possible that the 45,X colony was maternal in origin. Although clearly a most unusual circumstance, the possibility should be kept in mind when termination of a pregnancy is being considered because of apparent mosaicism in a prenatal diagnostic study.     

潜艇舱室气态污染与环控生保技术发展趋势

首先介绍了潜艇舱室主要气态污染物,分析了其主要来源及其对人体的危害.然后基于潜艇大气控制系统、供氧系统、二氧化碳清除装置、空气净化装置、通风系统、应急供氧、潜艇大气环境监测系统等方面简述了潜艇舱室环境空气监测与控制技术的现状和发展趋势.关注了低温冷冻技术、光催化净化技术、等离子体催化净化技术、活性炭纤维吸附技术等一些具有开发应用潜力的监测和净化新技术.最后指出我国在潜艇大气环境领域的研究发展与国外先进水平还存在较大差距,在及时跟踪引进国外先进技术的同时,应注重该领域的基础性研究.     

大气中挥发性苯系物的Carbotrap吸附气相色谱法

本文研究以Ｃａｒｂｏｔｒａｐ作吸附剂，在常温采集大气中挥发性苯系物，直接采用热脱附气相色谱分析。对新型吸附剂Ｃａｒｂｏｔｒａｐ的采样－脱附－分析精度，回收率，突破体积等作了试验。本法具有灵敏度高，操作简单，不需复杂的样品预处理，色谱峰好，吸附剂可反复使用等优点。可对大气中１０－９级苯系物进行测定，ＲＳＤ≤３．５％。     

Maternal Serum CA 125 for aneuploidy detection in early pregnancy

Maternal serum CA 125 levels were determined at 9–11 menstrual weeks for 26 cases of trisomy 13 (n = 4), trisomy 18 (n = 7), trisomy 21 (n = 15), and appropriate controls. There were no statistically significant differences between groups.