拉普拉塔河流域以及巴塔哥尼亚地区及相关海域水生态栖息地的改变

本文描述了南美大陆南部陆地和东南沿海地区环境特性及水生栖息地和群落的现状(GIWA巴塔哥尼亚大陆架亚区),结果来自一项GIWA项目框架任务所完成的一份全面评估,绝大部分依据的是公开发表的数据.分析主要集中在跨边界水资源目前的情况和人类活动带来的影响.内陆水体的栖息地和群落变化主要是由为发电和其他用途而建的水坝和水库引起的.从活水环境到净水环境影响了生境,造成了生物群落的改变.在拉普拉塔(La Plata)河流域,外来入侵物种使本地物种消失.过度捕捞和污染影响了生物多样性,造成了海洋栖息地质量下降.本篇文章讨论了相关的原因,讨论了布宜诺斯艾利斯省和渔业资源由两国共享的阿根廷-乌拉圭公共渔业区对沿海生态环境的政策选择.     

Non-ketotic hyperglycinaemia: Glycine/serine ratio in amniotic fluid–an unreliable method for prenatal diagnosis

We describe a prenatal diagnosis of a fetus at risk for non-ketotic hyperglycinaemia based on the glycine/serine ratio in amniotic fluid at 16 weeks of gestation. Although the glycine level and the glycine/serine ratio in amniotic fluid were within the normal range, the fetus was affected and therefore a false-negative prediction was made. The reliability of this method is questioned.     

The impact of prenatal diagnosis on the occurrence of chromosome abnormalities

From the public health point of view, several formal attempts have been made to measure the impact of prenatal diagnosis (PND) on the incidence of Down's Syndrome (DS), but the results have varied widely. The impact of PND (reduction in the birth rate of chromosomally abnormal neonates) is related to utilization rates but quantitative estimates of this have not been established. In a three-year (1981–1983) total population study from Queensland, Australia, we present results to measure the impact of a voluntary PND programme on the birth incidence of DS, and also other chromosomally abnormal births. Utilization rates for the PND service were 15·5 per cent in that population of mothers 35 years and over. Numbers and rates of all cases of chromosomal abnormalities are presented, subclassified by type of diagnosis–-either by PND or by clinical diagnosis after birth. For the total population, 7·3 per cent of cases of DS were detected prenatally, and 15·4 per cent of all chromosome abnormalities. (A method for measuring the impact of PND is described.) Using this in conjunction with our demographic data, we estimate that with a 15 per cent utilization rate of PND by older mothers, 14 per cent of DS births can be prevented in this age group, or a 5 per cent overall reduction can be achieved if mothers of all ages are considered. One index–-the ratio of the percentage of DS births which are preventable compared with the population utilization rates of PND–-has potential for widespread use. Queensland data for this ratio is 0·34, a figure consistent with that from other studies. Thus a 3·5 per cent drop in the overall DS birth rate may be expected for each 10 per cent increase in the utilization rates of PND for mothers of 35 years and over. A diagram is presented which may serve as a model for improved data collection and better impact estimates in the future.     

Ontogenetic data and the evolutionary origin of the mammalian scapula

One of the most useful diagnostic therian features is the division of the lateral surface of the scapula into two fossae separated by a scapular spine. A new model to describe this evolutionary innovation based on ontogenetic data is provided, consistent with information provided by recent fossil discoveries. The development of the scapula in three didelphid and one dasyurid marsupials using histological sections was studied. Only the ventral, acromial portion of the scapular spine, which originates from the anterior margin of the scapular blade, is preformed in cartilage. The major dorsal portion is formed at a later stage by appositional bone, which expands from the perichondral ossification of the scapula into an intermuscular aponeurosis between the supra-and infraspinatus muscles. This intermuscular aponeurosis inserts more or less in the middle of the lateral surface of the developing scapula. Thus, the floor of the supraspinous fossa is already present at the beginning of scapular development, simultaneous with the infraspinous fossa. The portion of the scapular spine that is situated dorsal to the acromial process is hypothesized to be a neomorphic structure of therians. The dorsal portion of the scapular spine evolved as additional attachment for powerful supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles meeting near the middle of the lateral scapula.