Prenatal diagnosis and outcomes of five cases of mosaicism for an isochromosome of 20q

Five cases of mosaicism for an isochromosome of 20q have been detected from a total of 50 000 cases analysed for prenatal diagnosis by amniocentesis. Karyotypes were designated mos 46,X_/46,X_,i(20q). In all cases, the abnormal cell line was detected in more than one primary culture, thus fulfilling the criterion for true (level III) mosaicism. Indications for prenatal diagnosis were parental anxiety (two cases), low maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (two cases), and high maternal serum AFP (one case). Level II ultrasounds on all five fetuses were normal, and the abnormal cell line was never detected in fetal blood and/or cord blood. All five pregnancies were continued and had normal outcomes, with birth weights ranging from 2.4 to 3.8 kg. The development of all five children has been normal, with the oldest child in the study now 4 years of age. We suggest that the abnormal cell line in each case was of extrafetal origin, and that this may be one of the more common examples of this phenomenon, occurring in approximately 1/10000 prenatal diagnoses. Mosaicism i(20q) may have been missed in the past because of the higher resolution necessary to detect this subtle change.     

Biological and economic optima in a tropical grazing ecosystem in Australia

Our aim in this study was to identify the economically optimal level of use of resources for a grazing system in tropical Australia and to compare it with the biological optimum. Grazing management trials were conducted in the Ord River irrigation area of north-western Australia. Biologists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization provided the biological data. The liveweight gains of Kimberley shorthorn steers were recorded, after a 1-year fattening period, for different grazing management strategies. Five different stocking rates were used on irrigated pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens) fertilized with nitrogen at five different rates. All other were applied at fixed, non-limiting levels.The results of the trials were modelled by a liveweight gain production function. This production function was used in an income simulation model to identify economically optimal (profit maximizing) stocking rates. This was done in two stages. First, a base analysis was undertaken on the basis o the economic conditions prevailing in September 1987. Second, sensitivity analysis was applied to the results of the base analysis. The parameters varied were the rate of interest, store cattle prices, finished cattle prices, transport costs and the length of the planning horizon.The biological optimum, when defined as maximum liveweight gain ha⁻¹, corresponds to a much higher intensity of use of resources than the economic optimum, and yields substantially lower profits or higher losses. These discrepancies increase when economic conditions worsen, or when the planning horizon of graziers is decreased from 50 to 10 years. Therefore, the adoption of the biological optimum cannot result in an econonomically stable grazing system in the medium to long term, when it is highly likely that economic parameters will fluctuate. The economic stability of the system is increased, but is still quite weak, if the economically optimal input combination is utilized. It was not possible to determine whether this economic optimum would result in long-term ecological stability because the relevant data were not collected during the trials.The relevance of management recommendations made to graziers and land administrators would be increased if these recommendations were based on an analysis of both the economic and the ecological stability of grazing systems over the medium to long term. We show in the last part of this study how this could be accomplished.     

林丹(γ-六六六)在土壤中的吸附性与其在土壤和小麦中残留量的关系

本文利用~(14)C—林丹研究了γ-六六六在不同土壤中的吸附性及其在土壤和小麦中残留量的关系。试验表明,γ-六六六在土壤中的吸附率与土壤中的有机质含量、可萃取铝含量和酸性等均有密切关系。同时,环境温度对吸附率也有一定影响。通过~(14)C—林丹在不同土壤和小麦植株中残留量的测定,证明土壤中γ-六六六的吸附率、小麦对土壤中r-六六六的吸收率以及γ-六六六在土壤和小麦中的残留量相互之间均有明显的相关性。为此,本研究不仅摸清了某些影响土壤吸附γ-六六六和小麦吸收γ-六六六的理化因子,同时,对用土壤某些理化性质的测定值来预测栽培试验时土壤和小麦中六六六的残留水平提供了一个途径。     

消油剂乳化率检验中标准曲线的选择

本文经过比实验，详细研究了添加双象１号消油剂对原油标线的影响，并对乳化率检验中的两种标准曲线进行了统计检验。结果表明：不添加消油剂制作的原油标线可使乳化率结果降低１￣３％左右，甚至个别消油剂的乳化率结果可相差２０％左右，两条标线的统计差异非常显著。所以制作标准曲线时必须按比例添加消测剂才能确保执法数据的可靠性。     

总有机碳测定仪的新用途──测气体中CO_2的研究

用ＴＯＣ总有机碳测定仪来鉴定污水和生活用水处理效果及污染指标是它的一项实际应用，而本义介绍的用来测定ＣＯ２则是一项开创性的工作。作者在对进口的ＴＯＣ仪使用的基础上研究了测定气体中总碳、总有机碳尤其是ＣＯ２问题，取得了较好的结果并应用到实际测定中。