Confined placental mosaicism for trisomy 14 and maternal uniparental disomy in association with elevated second trimester maternal serum human chorionic gonadotrophin and third trimester fetal growth restriction

A case of confined placental mosaicism (CPM) and maternal uniparental isodisomy 14 identified after placental karyotype revealed trisomy 14 in a newborn with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and minor dysmorphic features is reported. During the second trimester of the pregnancy, multiple marker screening revealed an increased risk for Down syndrome of >1 in 10. The maternal serum human chorionic gonadotrophin (MShCG) was markedly elevated at 4.19 MoM. Amniocentesis revealed a normal 46,XX karyotype. Fetal growth restriction has been associated with elevated MShCG and placental aneuploidy with CPM for chromosomes 2, 7, 9 and 16. The present case of CPM for chromosome 14 was also associated with fetal growth restriction and elevated second trimester MShCG, suggesting a common link. Further studies need to be done to determine if indeed elevation of second trimester MShCG is associated with increased risk of CPM. The present case again demonstrates the need to perform placental karyotype in unexplained fetal growth restriction. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unexpected structural chromosome rearrangements in prenatal diagnosis

Among 5315 prenatal diagnoses performed for various indications (maternal age, neural tube defect, metabolic diseases, X-linked diseases, pathologic pregnancies) 29 unexpected structural chromosome rearrangements were found in fetal cells. Fourteen were de novo chromosome rearrangements, six unbalanced, and eight balanced. Fifteen were inherited and balanced rearrangements. This high frequency of structural anomalies is discussed.     

Rare cell isolation using antibodies covalently linked to slides: application to fetal cells in maternal blood

We describe here a new type of method for isolation of rare cell populations in biological fluids. The method is based on the anthraquinone technology for covalent binding of molecules to a polymer surface. An anthraquinone molecule conjugated via a linker to an electrophilic group (AQ Immobilizer™ reagent, Exiqon A/S) is covalently bound to a polymer surface by UV irradiation. The electrophilic group of this AQ reagent can covalently bind a specific antibody directed against a specific cell marker. Applying a cell sample to the functional surface, the cells having the specific cell marker on the cell surface will bind to the antibody on the functional surface. Using this technique, even extremely small cell populations may be isolated. We succeeded in isolating fetal cells from maternal blood samples in the first trimester for chromosome defects genetic diagnosis. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emission reduction and profit-neutral permit allocations

The present paper addresses two policy objectives: to implement a market for pollution permits and to make regulation acceptable for businesses. Profit-neutral permit allocations are defined as the number of permits that the regulator should give for free so that post-regulation profits (i.e. a firm's profits in the products market plus the value of the allowances granted for free) are equal to pre-regulation profits. The proposed model is developed by assuming that firms use polluting technologies and compete “à la Cournot”. The paper demonstrates that a low number of free allowances is sufficient to meet these two goals. Moreover, the regulator can fully offset losses, even when the reduction in emissions is high, provided that the sectors concerned are not monopolies, both for isoelastic and linear demand functions.     

Economic growth,international trade,and the depletion or conservation of renewable natural resources

Conservation of renewable natural resources and promotion of economic growth are both sustainable development goals. Here, we study the interdependency between economic growth, international trade, and the use of renewable natural resources—under alternative institutional settings of either open access or full property rights—in an endogenous growth model. We find that if the resource is depleted over time, consumption growth is reduced. Economic growth and international trade only impact resource use when the resource is harvested under full property rights. Then, widening international trade can lead countries to shift from conservation to depletion. Changes in the institutional setting of resource use in one country may have repercussions on trading partners. Our results indicate potential trade-offs between the sustainable development goals and imply that policies focusing on resource use or trade (e.g., international trade bans or certified trade) are not sufficient to prevent resource depletion.     

A new baseline model for estimating willingness to pay from discrete choice models

We show a substantive problem exists with the widely-used ratio of coefficients approach to calculating willingness to pay (WTP) from discrete choice models. The correctly calculated standard error for WTP using this approach is shown to be undefined. This occurs because the cost parameter's standard error implies some possibility the true parameter value is arbitrarily close to zero. We propose a simple yet elegant way to overcome this problem by reparameterizing the (negative) cost variable's coefficient using an exponential transformation to enforce the theoretically correct positive coefficient. With it the confidence interval for WTP is now finite and well behaved.     

白眉蝮蛇毒精氨酸酯酶对CHL细胞增殖抑制和染色体畸变的影响

研究了蝮蛇清栓酶的有效成分精氨酸酯酶体外对中国仓鼠肺成纤维细胞 (CHL)增殖和染色体畸变的影响 .精氨酸酯酶的浓度以酶活单位U表示 .细胞增殖抑制试验和染色体畸变试验都用两种方法 :直接法和代谢活性法 .精氨酸酯酶设 3个浓度 :1.0× 10 -3 U /mL ,0 .5× 10 -3 U /mL和 0 .2 5× 10 -3U/mL .其中最高浓度比临床治疗浓度高约10 0倍 .细胞增殖抑制试验采用细胞贴壁培养 ,乙醇固定 ,结晶紫染色 ,单层细胞密度计测定细胞密度 .染色体畸变试验采用给药后 2 4h和 48h收集中期分裂细胞 ,低渗固定 ,制片 ,Giemsa染色 ,观察 10 0个中期分裂细胞的染色体结构异常及多倍体的出现率 .试验结果表明 ,精氨酸酯酶在上述浓度对CHL细胞的增殖没有抑制作用 ,对CHL细胞的染色体结构也没有影响 .表 2参 10     

环磷酰胺等三种化学物诱发褐斑大蠊染色体畸变分析

染色体的畸变分析是一种简便易行,经济的遗传毒理学方法,可用来探讨诱变物对生物遗传系统的影响。目前人们多利用鼠类、赤麂及人的培养细胞来进行染色体畸变分析,其它材料很少见,蜚蠊(俗称蟑螂)是一种重要的卫生昆虫,也是一种较好的遗传学研究材料,其分布广泛,与人的日常生活环境密切相关,能否利用它作为一种污染的监测因子呢?我们利用褐斑大蠊(Periplaneta brunnea,Burmeister 1838)进行了初步尝试。     

20世纪初以来沂蒙山区森林植被动态及其对气候变化的响应——基于遥感和树轮的研究

遥感能够直接反映植被生长信息,但目前观测时间较短;树轮资料可以弥补遥感手段的不足,但往往缺乏与植被生长状况（如植被生产力）的直接关联。已有研究往往计算不同植被指数指标和树轮指数的相关性,并基于此来重建长时间尺度的植被动态信息。但基于相关性所选取的指标在不同地区存在较大差异,不利于空间对比研究。以沂蒙山区为研究区,选取能够有效表征植被年初级生产力的生长季NDVI累积值指标,利用Bootstrap法建立了其与树轮宽度的关系,重建了20世纪初期以来植被动态时间序列,并分析了变化特征及其与气候变化的关系。结果表明：沂山地区生长季NDVI累积值的多年平均值为7.36,低于蒙山和塔山地区;蒙山地区植被状况呈现好转趋势,特别是20世纪90年代之后植被好转趋势更加明显,而塔山和沂山地区植被无显著变化。小波分析结果表明研究区植被动态存在较显著的2 a、4 a或8 a尺度的周期变化,与生长季帕尔默干旱指数及平均温度的周期变化相一致,但干旱指数与植被动态具有更高的相关性。本研究综合运用树轮与遥感技术发展了长时间尺度植被动态时间序列重建方法,有助于更好地理解植被动态及其对气候变化的响应。     

台风“杜鹃”降水δ18O的云雨区效应初探

我国东南地区台风降水显著,但对这种强降水事件中的稳定同位素研究较少,限制了对短时间极端降水稳定同位素变化过程和影响因素的认识。论文根据2015年9月28日至29日第21号台风“杜鹃”两次登陆（台湾宜兰、福建莆田）前后台北、福州两地气象数据和降水稳定同位素数据,分析了此次台风的降水稳定同位素变化特征及影响因素。台风期间,两地降水δ¹⁸O波动范围为-3.4‰~-15.0‰,变化幅度达11.6‰。台风前端和尾端两地降水同位素值相对偏正,平均值为-4‰~-6‰而台风中端两地降水同位素值极其偏负,平均值分别为-12.4‰和 -13.2‰。台风前端与尾端降水同位素值偏正,水汽受蒸发效应影响明显;而台风中端降水δ¹⁸O值极端偏负主要受“云雨区效应”的影响,即云雨区气流急剧上升,水汽在过饱和环境中快速凝结降落,受动力分馏作用小,降水δ¹⁸O极端偏负。结合降水δ¹⁸O变化特征、过量氘及模拟水汽轨迹,得到台风“杜鹃”降水主要的水汽来源为西太平洋海域。