Estimation of the maximal population frequency of “alien” biotypes taking into account a priori data

A method is described for calculating the probability that the percentage of alien biotypes is higher than a specified threshold (e.g., 5%) in a population in which a certain number of alien biotypes has been found preliminarily. The method is based on the Bayesian approach; it assumes that the researcher has preliminary (a priori) information on the frequency of these biotypes. This a priori information makes it possible to estimate the aforementioned probability more accurately than is possible with the use of the standard binomial estimation. The method is illustrated by the results of the estimation of cultivar purity in batches of stock and foundation seeds of spring barley with the use of protein markers.Translated from Ekologiya, No. 2, 2005, pp. 106–109.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Zhivotovsky, Pomortsev, Lyalina, Kalabushkin, Pukhalskii.     

Assessment of the Immune Status of Women Working in the Potassium Salt Industry and Their Children

The state of the immune system was studied in the women working at the OAO Uralkalii (Berezniki) and OAO Sil'vinit (Solikamsk), where they were permanently exposed to salts and halite waste, and their children born after at least three years of such exposure. The control group consisted of women who had no occupational contact with salts and halite wastes and of their children. No significant differences between the differential leukocyte counts and immunograms of the women working at the OAO Uralkalii and OAO Sil'vinit and their children were found. The main parameters of the immune system of women and their children both in the first and second groups were within the norm.