Trisomy 7 in chorionic villi: Follow-up studies of pregnancy,normal child,and placental clonal anomalies

Cytogenetic study of chorionic villi sampled because of advanced maternal age revealed, after overnight culture, an apparently non-mosaic trisomy 7. Amniocentesis showed exclusively normal mitoses, and the pregnancy continued normally. One hundred mitoses from cord blood of the normal newborn revealed a non-mosaic 46,XX complement. No cells with a proven trisomy 7 were found in cultures from either of two biopsies of the morphologically normal placenta, but the peripheral biopsy showed in multiple cultures an abnormal clone: 47,XX, + 20,-2,-21, + t(2;21)(p13;q22). To our knowledge, this is the first case of non-mosaic trisomy 7 detected on CVS which has had follow-up studies of amniotic fluid, cord blood, and term placenta.     

Defining Historical Baselines for Conservation: Ecological Changes Since European Settlement on Vancouver Island,Canada

Abstract: Conservation and restoration goals are often defined by historical baseline conditions that occurred prior to a particular period of human disturbance, such as European settlement in North America. Nevertheless, if ecosystems were heavily influenced by native peoples prior to European settlement, conservation efforts may require active management rather than simple removal of or reductions in recent forms of disturbance. We used pre‐European settlement land survey records (1859–1874) and contemporary vegetation surveys to assess changes over the past 150 years in tree species and habitat composition, forest density, and tree size structure on southern Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada. Several lines of evidence support the hypothesis that frequent historical burning by native peoples, and subsequent fire suppression, have played dominant roles in shaping this landscape. First, the relative frequency of fire‐sensitive species (e.g., cedar [Thuja plicata]) has increased, whereas fire‐tolerant species (e.g., Douglas‐fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii]) have decreased. Tree density has increased 2‐fold, and the proportion of the landscape in forest has greatly increased at the expense of open habitats (plains, savannas), which today contain most of the region's threatened species. Finally, the frequency distribution of tree size has shifted from unimodal to monotonically decreasing, which suggests removal of an important barrier to tree recruitment. In addition, although most of the open habitats are associated with Garry oak (Quercus garryana) at present, most of the open habitats prior to European settlement were associated with Douglas‐fir, which suggests that the current focus on Garry oak as a flagship for the many rare species in savannas may be misguided. Overall, our results indicate that the maintenance and restoration of open habitats will require active management and that historical records can provide critical guidance to such efforts.     

胎盘内多环芳烃分布及源解析研究

探讨多环芳烃在胎盘中的分布,并对其进行源解析。从2012年6月—2013年6月在云南省第一人民医院产科分娩的产妇中随机抽取30例,利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MS)检测其胎盘中多环芳烃的含量;比较胎盘的中央部分和边缘部分多环芳烃含量的差异;对多环芳烃进行源解析,探讨其主要来源。胎盘中检测到多种多环芳烃成分;其中2~4个苯环的多环芳烃占总量的90%以上,尤其是萘、苊、芴、菲、蒽、芘、荧蒽的含量较高;萘、苊烯、苊、茚并(1,2,3-c,d)芘、二苯并(a,h)蒽5种多环芳烃在胎盘中央的含量高于边缘,具有显著性差异(P0.05),其他多环芳烃在胎盘中央和边缘的含量无显著性差异(P0.05)。多环芳烃源解析提示80%研究对象体内的多环芳烃主要来自石油产品的燃烧或暴露于石油产品。