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.     

城市草坪温室气体排放特征及影响因素

草坪作为城市绿地的重要组成部分，其温室气体的吸收或排放不容忽视.然而当前对亚热带城市草坪温室气体通量的研究相对匮乏.采用静态箱-气相色谱法，对杭州市城区典型城市草坪的多种温室气体（CO₂、CH₄、N₂O和CO）地气交换通量进行了连续观测研究.结果表明，城市草坪的温室气体月平均通量变化明显，而其日变化特征并不明显.城市草地和土壤（无植被生长的裸土）是大气N₂O的源，平均通量分别为（0.66±0.17）μg·（m²·min）^-1和（0.58±0.20）μg·（m²·min）^-1；是CH₄和CO的汇，其中CH₄平均通量分别为（-0.21±0.078）μg·（m²·min）^-1和（-0.26±0.10）μg·（m²·min）^-1，CO分别为（-6.36±1.28）μg·（m²·min）^-1和（-6.55±1.69）μg·（m²·min）^-1.城市草地和土壤CO₂平均通量分别为（5.28±0.75） mg·（m²·min）^-1和（4.83±0.91） mg·（m²·min）^-1.基于相关性分析研究发现，草地和土壤的CO₂和N₂O通量均与降水量呈显著的负相关，而CH₄和CO通量与降水量呈显著的正相关；除草地CH₄通量与土壤温度无显著相关、草地N₂O通量与土壤温度呈显著负相关外，其余各温室气体通量与土壤温度均呈显著正相关.另外，城市草坪的草地和土壤CO₂（R²为0.371和0.314）和N₂O （R²为0.371和0.284）通量季节变化受降水量的影响要大于其它温室气体，而土壤温度对CO通量的影响（R²为0.290和0.234）要显著于其它温室气体.