First trimester maternal serum placenta growth factor (PIGF)concentrations in pregnancies with fetal trisomy 21 or trisomy 18

Placenta growth factor (PIGF), an angiogenic factor belonging to the vascular endothelial growth factor family, pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free β-human chorionic gonadotrophin (β-hCG) were measured in maternal serum from 45 pregnancies with trisomy 21, 45 with trisomy 18 and 493 normal controls at 10–13 completed weeks of gestation. In the normal pregnancies maternal serum PIGF levels increased exponentially with gestation. The median multiple of the median (MoM) PIGF concentration in the trisomy 21 group (1.26 MoM) was significantly higher (p<0.0001) than in the control group (1.00 MoM). In the trisomy 18 group the median PIGF was lower (0.889 MoM) but this did not quite reach significance (p=0.064). The corresponding median MoM values for PAPP-A were 1.00 MoM for the controls, 0.49 MoM for trisomy 21 and 0.16 MoM for trisomy 18. The median MoM values for free β-hCG were 1.00 MoM for the controls, 2.05 MoM for trisomy 21 and 0.38 MoM for trisomy 18. In the control group there was a small but significant correlation of PIGF with free β-hCG (r=+0.1024) and PAPP-A (r=+0.2288). In the trisomy 18 group there was a significant association between PIGF and free β-hCG (r=+0.2629) but not with PAPP-A (r=+0.0038). In the trisomy 21 group there was a small but significant association with PAPP-A (r=+0.1028) but not with free β-hCG (r=+0.0339). The separation of affected and unaffected pregnancies in maternal serum PIGF is small, and therefore it is unlikely that measurement of PIGF would improve screening for these abnormalities provided by the combination of fetal nuchal translucency and maternal serum PAPP-A and free β-hCG. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marketing issues related to waste-grown aquatic foods

Environmental Management - Are societal wastes all bad? Some of them, including heat from power plants and certain organic wastes, have been demonstrated to be potentially valuable for growing...     

关于建立资源与环境快速反应系统的探讨

本文阐述了国家快速反应系统的概念及其作用。以建立资源与环境快速反应系统为例,说明建立系统的必要性、系统的内容、组成及技术指示。     

游离羟基及表面活性剂对乙草胺光解的影响

以高压汞灯为光源,以p-亚硝基-N,N-二甲基苯胺(PNDA)作为·OH自由基的探针,研究了H2O2及表面活性剂0206-B(苯乙烯苯酚聚氧乙烯醚和十二烷基苯磺酸钙混剂)对除草剂乙草胺在水中间接光解作用的影响.结果表明,H2O2对水中乙草胺具有光敏化降解作用,其敏化作用效应与·OH有关;而0206-B对乙草胺具有光猝灭降解作用,光猝灭降解作用效应与0206-B减少水溶液中的·OH自由基含量有关.乙草胺直接光解与H2O2作用的乙草胺间接光解相同的产物有Rf(比移值)为0.12、0.52、0.61、0.72的化合物;H2O2敏化降解抑制了乙草胺直接光解产物Rf为0.04、0.10、0.18、0.21、0.79的化合物产生,但促进乙草胺间接光解Rf为0.45、0.66的新光解产物生成.     

Modeling thermal analysis for predicting thermal hazards relevant to transportation safety and runaway reaction for 2,2′-azobis(isobutyronitrile)

The pure decomposition behavior of 2,2′-azobis (isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) and its physical phase transformation were examined and discussed. The thermal decomposition of this self-reactive azo compound was explored using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to elucidate the stages in the progress of this chemical reaction. DSC was used to predict the kinetic and process safety parameters, such as self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT), time to maximum reaction rate under adiabatic conditions (TMR_ad), and apparent activation energy (E_a), under isothermal and adiabatic conditions with thermal analysis models. Moreover, vent sizing package 2 (VSP2) was applied to examine the runaway reaction combined with simulation and experiments for thermal hazard assessment of AIBN. A thorough understanding of this reaction process can identify AIBN as a hazardous and vulnerable chemical during upset situations. The sublimation and melting of AIBN near its apparent onset decomposition temperature contributed to the initial steps of the reaction and explained the exothermic attributes of the peaks observed in the calorimetric investigation.     

The influence of ClO− and acidity in the reaction between H2O2 and CuCl2

The potentially explosive reaction of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and copper chloride (CuCl₂) was investigated. Pressure tests revealed that the reaction was strongly temperature - dependent and can easily undergo runaway reaction. Nevertheless, there was only a slight pressure increase at the low temperatures studied or when using low concentrations of CuCl₂. Under the conditions generating the slight pressure increase, hypochlorite anions (ClO⁻) are generated and the acidity increases. As the reaction reaches completion, ClO⁻ disappears, and the acidity decreases. Interestingly, the addition of phosphate buffer to maintain the weakly acid conditions led to a runaway reaction, and the use of basic ClO⁻ promoted the exothermic reaction. Based on the results, acidity has a strong impact on the reaction behaviour.     

南京及邻近地区新近沉积土的动剪切模量和阻尼比的试验研究

通过对南京及其邻近地区漫滩相成因的粘土、粉质粘土、淤泥质粉质粘土、粉质粘土与粉砂互层土、粉土、粉细砂等 6类新近沉积土的自振柱试验 ,详细探讨了围压大小、剪应变水平、土的颗粒组成和结构性对这 6类新近沉积土的剪切模量G及阻尼比λ的影响。通过与Seed和Idriss建议的砂土G/Gmax～γ和λ～γ曲线变化范围的对比 ,结果表明 ,不能将粉质粘土与粉砂互层土简单地当作砂土或粉质粘土对待。通过试验和理论分析 ,给出了南京及其邻近地区 6类新近沉积土动剪切模量和阻尼比随剪应变变化的平均曲线的拟合曲线、包络线及其参数的推荐值 ,对实际工程具有一定的借鉴作用