Maternal age-specific risks for trisomies at 9—14 weeks' gestation

This study provides data on the incidence of fetal trisomies 21, 18, and 13 at 9–14 weeks' gestation in women aged 35–45 years and estimates of maternal age-specific risks in women aged 20–45 years. Our data from 5814 singleton pregnancies undergoing first-trimester karyotyping for the sole indication of maternal age ⩾ 35 years were combined with those from two previous reports and the incidence of the trisomies was calculated from a total of 15 793 pregnancies. Comparison of incidences at 9–14 weeks' gestation with published data at 15–20 weeks' gestation and in livebirths demonstrated that at birth the maternal age-specific incidence of trisomy 21 is 33 per cent lower than at 15–20 weeks' gestation and 54 per cent lower than at 9–14 weeks' gestation. Furthermore, the relative frequency of trisomies 18 and 13 decreases from 30 per cent at 9–14 weeks to 22 per cent at 15–20 weeks and 14 per cent at birth.     

欧亚大陆东南缘大陆地壳基底研究与展望

本文从不同方面和断代论述了中国东南地区的基底杂岩时代、性质、构造环境、边界变质条件、地球物理场及其反映的构造格局、断裂体系、中生代火山活动的基底构造及类型分区。在此基础上提出了东南地区的构造划分及构造演化阶段和格局。并提出了不同类型的地体及其分类、大陆裂解、增生的新概念。     

Adaptive-filtering of trisomy 21: risk of Down syndrome depends on family size and age of previous child

The neonatal incidence rate of Down syndrome (DS) is well-known to accelerate strongly with maternal age. This non-linearity renders mere accumulation of defects at recombination during prolonged first meiotic prophase implausible as an explanation for DS rate increase with maternal age, but might be anticipated from chromosomal drive (CD) for trisomy 21. Alternatively, as there is selection against genetically disadvantaged embryos, the screening system that eliminates embryos with trisomy 21 might decay with maternal age. In this paper, we provide the first evidence for relaxed filtering stringency (RFS) to represent an adaptive maternal response that could explain accelerating DS rates with maternal age. Using historical data, we show that the proportion of aberrant live births decrease with increased family size in older mothers, that inter-birth intervals are longer before affected neonates than before normal ones, and that primiparae exhibit elevated levels of DS incidence at higher age. These findings are predicted by adaptive RFS but cannot be explained by the currently available alternative non-adaptive hypotheses, including CD. The identification of the relaxation control mechanism and therapeutic restoration of a stringent screen may have considerable medical implications.     

重庆市居民头发重金属富集特征及相关性分析

本研究利用火焰原子吸收法测定了重庆主城与郊区居民头发中镉、铜、镍、铅和锌等5种重金属的浓度水平,比较分析了人发中5种重金属含量水平及与年龄、性别和吸烟与否的关系,最后通过相关性分析和主成分分析初步了解重庆居民人发中重金属可能的来源.结果表明,重庆主城人发中Cd、Cu、Ni、Pb和Zn的平均含量分别为3.1、24.3、9.7、42.8和209.6 μg·g^-1,郊区居民人发的平均含量分别为0.9、15.8、5.6、15.2和173.4 μg·g^-1;5种重金属在主城居民头发中的含量均显著高于郊区居民头发中含量（t-检验,P<0.01）,并且其组成与居民附近土壤样品的组成基本一致;5种重金属的含量在不同年龄段人群中的分布没有明显趋势,只是在郊区居民头发中的Cu和Zn含量随着年龄增长而减少;主城和郊区男性头发中Cd和Pb含量均显著高于女性（P<0.01）,并且在主城和郊区吸烟者头发中的Cd和Pb显著高于非吸烟者（P<0.01）;通过相关性分析发现主城和郊区中Cd、Cu、Ni和Pb之间具有相似的相关性模式,并且主成分分析结果显示,在主城中,人发Cu、Ni和Pb具有相似的来源,而在郊区中,人发Cd、Ni和Pb具有相似的来源.     

三峡库区水质和水龄数值模拟研究

三峡水库是我国重要的生态屏障和水资源战略储备库,保护水库的水质安全对于国家经济发展和社会稳定具有重要战略意义.本文基于EFDC模型模拟了2010-2014年三峡库区及主要支流的水动力水质过程,重点研究上游来水和重点支流对库区水质的影响及水龄变化特征,结果表明:①模型可定量研究重点支流输入对库区水质的影响,17条支流中仅...     

Autonomous emergency braking systems adapted to snowy road conditions improve drivers' perceived safety and trust

Objective: This study investigated drivers' evaluation of a conventional autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system on high and reduced tire–road friction and compared these results to those of an AEB system adaptive to the reduced tire–road friction by earlier braking. Current automated systems such as the AEB do not adapt the vehicle control strategy to the road friction; for example, on snowy roads. Because winter precipitation is associated with a 19% increase in traffic crashes and a 13% increase in injuries compared to dry conditions, the potential of conventional AEB to prevent collisions could be significantly improved by including friction in the control algorithm. Whereas adaption is not legally required for a conventional AEB system, higher automated functions will have to adapt to the current tire–road friction because human drivers will not be required to monitor the driving environment at all times. For automated driving functions to be used, high levels of perceived safety and trust of occupants have to be reached with new systems. The application case of an AEB is used to investigate drivers' evaluation depending on the road condition in order to gain knowledge for the design of future driving functions.

Methods: In a driving simulator, the conventional, nonadaptive AEB was evaluated on dry roads with high friction (μ = 1) and on snowy roads with reduced friction (μ = 0.3). In addition, an AEB system adapted to road friction was designed for this study and compared with the conventional AEB on snowy roads with reduced friction. Ninety-six drivers (48 males, 48 females) assigned to 5 age groups (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60–75 years) drove with AEB in the simulator. The drivers observed and evaluated the AEB's braking actions in response to an imminent rear-end collision at an intersection.

Results: The results show that drivers' safety and trust in the conventional AEB were significantly lower on snowy roads, and the nonadaptive autonomous braking strategy was considered less appropriate on snowy roads compared to dry roads. As expected, the adaptive AEB braking strategy was considered more appropriate for snowy roads than the nonadaptive strategy. In conditions of reduced friction, drivers' subjective safety and trust were significantly improved when driving with the adaptive AEB compared to the conventional AEB. Women felt less safe than men when AEB was braking. Differences between age groups were not of statistical significance.

Conclusions: Drivers notice the adaptation of the autonomous braking strategy on snowy roads with reduced friction. On snowy roads, they feel safer and trust the adaptive system more than the nonadaptive automation.     

不同碳源和泥龄对反硝化聚磷的影响

在4个SBR装置(1#~4#)中,对4种不同比例的丙酸/乙酸合成废水采用厌氧/缺氧方式驯化富集反硝化聚磷菌(DPB),研究了碳源浓度和污泥龄对除磷的影响。实验结果表明:(1)厌氧段碳源COD浓度越高,释磷越充分,溶解性正磷酸盐(SOP)去除率越高;但当碳源COD浓度超过某个浓度值时,未反应完全的有机物残留于后续缺氧段对缺氧吸磷产生抑制作用。(2)污泥龄SRT=15 d时,活性污泥的性能较好,达到了较好的除磷效果。(3)在相同碳源浓度和相同的污泥龄下,随着丙酸/乙酸比例的提高,SOP的去除率逐渐的降低。说明在厌氧/缺氧环境下,碳源中丙酸比例的提高不利于系统中磷的去除。高乙酸含量的碳源更适合反硝化除磷系统。     

环境健康价值评估中的年龄效应研究

在环境健康价值评估研究中,统计寿命价值和年龄之间的关系是理论和实证研究焦点之一,也是重要的学术问题。长久以来,环境政策效益评估中是否应该赋予老年人较低的统计寿命价值一直存在广泛争议,且尚未得到一致性结论。通过设计选择实验,对北京市空气质量改善的健康效益进行了抽样调查,并采用MNL模型对北京市约500个居民的调查数据进行回归分析,估算了不同年龄人群对健康风险减少的支付意愿,针对中国人群中统计寿命价值和年龄之间的关系进行实证探讨。结果表明:一方面,在总体样本中设置年龄虚拟变量,回归结果表明年龄变量系数的符号均显著为负,即年龄因素对减少空气污染带来的死亡风险降低的支付意愿具有显著的影响,年龄越大支付意愿相对越小;另一方面,不同年龄人群分组样本结果显示,统计寿命价值与年龄之间呈现"倒U型"关系,统计寿命价值在中国存在"老年折扣"现象。研究结果可为我国环境政策的健康效益分析中如何考虑年龄的影响提供重要依据。     

渗滤液污染包气带中铁的形态变化

从渗滤液场龄和包气带岩性两方面出发,研究了新、老渗滤液对亚粘土和细砂包气带环境中Fe的含量及存在形态的影响。结果表明：新、老渗滤液分别能使细砂包气带介质中除残渣态以外Fe的含量增加16.68%或降低13.82%。亚粘土比细砂作为包气带介质更能缓冲渗滤液对介质中Fe的影响程度,其受影响范围在包气带0～20 cm深度处。当亚粘土为介质的包气带被新渗滤液污染后,其表层介质中碳酸盐结合态Fe的含量会增加15倍之多,为缓冲渗滤液Fe的污染做出了巨大贡献,但这部分Fe的存在也是潜在的二次污染源,在环境pH急剧变化的情况下,它可能会引起地下水高铁污染。     

Effects of tree size and spatial distribution on growth of ponderosa pine forests under alternative management scenarios

Forest ecosystems may be actively managed toward heterogeneous stand structures to provide both economic (e.g., wood production and carbon credits) and environmental benefits (e.g., invasive pest resistance). In order to facilitate wider adoption of possibly more sustainable forest stand structures, defining growth expectations among alternative management scenarios is crucial. To estimate the effect of tree size and spatial distributions on growth for forest structures commonly considered in uneven-aged forest stand management, large (0.2 ha+) plots were established in 14 uneven-aged ponderosa pine stands in eastern Montana. All study trees were stem-mapped and measured for diameter and 10-year sapwood and basal area increment. A generalized growth model was developed to predict both total and merchantable 10-year basal area increment for nine hypothetical stand structures [three diameter distributions (reverse-J, irregular, flat) × three spatial distributions (clumpy, partial clumpy, uniform)]. Results indicate that the size and spatial distributions of individual trees have a considerable effect on overall stand growth. The greatest total stand growth was in stands with reverse “J” shaped tree size distributions, while the greatest merchantable stand growth was in stands with “flat” diameter distributions and uniform spatial distributions. Through better comprehension of generalized uneven-aged stand growth dynamics, forest managers may better assess the effects of alternative stand structures on stand growth while providing forest stand structures that may be more resilient in a changing climate.