Anaemia, iron deficiency and vitamin A status among school-aged children in rural Kazakhstan

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency and vitamin A status among school-aged children in rural Kazakhstan and identify factors associated with anaemia in this population. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. SETTING: School-aged children in rural Kazakhstan. SUBJECTS: Socio-economic and anthropometric information was collected from 159 school-aged children living in the Kzyl-Orda region of Kazakhstan. Blood samples were collected and the concentrations of haemoglobin (Hb), serum iron, serum ferritin (SF), erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP), serum retinol and beta-carotene, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin saturation (TS) and other haematological indices were measured. RESULTS: Among the 159 children, the prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency defined by the multiple criteria model (SF, TS and EP) was 27% and 13%, respectively. Nine per cent had iron-deficiency anaemia and 21% had serum retinol value < 1.05 micromol l(-1). Mean SF and serum iron concentrations and TS were significantly lower in anaemic children than in their non-anaemic peers, while TIBC and EP were significantly higher in children with anaemia. Hb was significantly correlated with serum iron and retinol concentrations. Serum retinol and SF concentrations and mean corpuscular volume were significantly correlated with Hb by multiple regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Anaemia among school-aged children in rural Kazakhstan appears to be related to iron indices and vitamin A status.     

Rapid, Micro-Methods to Estimate Plant Silicon Content by Dilute Hydrofluoric Acid Extraction and Spectrometric Molybdenum Method

By treating 0.5 g DW of a plant sample directly with 10 ml of a dilute hydrofluoric acid solution (HF solution, 1.5 M HF—0.6 M HCl), all the silica in plant (as much as 150 mg SiO₂) was dissolved within 1 h. After dilution of the extract with 40 mL of distilled water, the silica in the extract was measured by the spectrometric molybdenum yellow method. The molybdenum yellow method, in which silica in 0.1 mL of the diluted extract can be determined in 8 min, is well suited to rapid, micro-estimations of the silica content in plants. In the micro-modification, the size of the plant sample was reduced to 100 mg DW. The analytical procedure was simple, and the analytical time was less than 2 h. The method can save much labor and time, compared with the gravimetric analysis. The dissolution with HF solution and the molybdenum yellow method were also applied to the measurement of the content of silica separated by acid digestion of rice plants. Excellent agreement in the silica measurement of rice plants was confirmed among the direct extraction method, the gravimetric method and the digestion-separation-dissolution method. In the molybdenum yellow method, the addition of boric acid enabled to mask the interference of hydrofluoric acid, and the least amount of citric acid required for the elimination of phosphorus interference was proposed. In conclusion in this report, recommended methods for the rapid estimation of the silica content in rice plants were presented.     

Green tea polyphenols inhibit metalloproteinase activities in the skin,muscle, and blood of rainbow trout

We have investigated the inhibitory effects of polyphenols from natural products, such as green tea, bilberry, grape, ginkgo, and apple, on rainbow trout gelatinase activities. Gelatinases from the skin, muscle, and blood of rainbow trout contained serine proteinase, metalloproteinase, and other proteinase activities as measured by gelatin zymography. The polyphenols of green tea caused the strong inhibition of some gelatinase activities when compared with those of the other products. This inhibition was quite similar to that of metalloproteinase by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, suggesting that the effects of green tea polyphenols on proteinase activities are specific for metalloproteinases. The major catechins of green tea polyphenols were then separated and identified by reverse-phase chromatography to be (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (-)-epigallocatechin, (-)-epicatechin gallate, and (-)-epicatechin. The effects of these catechins on gelatinase activities were examined; the most potent inhibitor of metalloproteinase activities was found to be EGCG. These results have indicated that green tea polyphenols including EGCG are useful for regulating metalloproteinase activities of fish meat.     

Diurnal changes in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in coral reef water

Coral reefs are considered to be a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide because of their high calcium carbonate production and low net primary production. This was tested by direct measurement of diurnal changes in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (Pco(co2)) in reef waters during two 3-day periods, one in March 1993 and one in March 1994, on Shiraho reef of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Although the Pco(co2) values in reef waters exhibited large diurnal changes ranging from 160 to 520 microatmospheres, they indicate that the reef flat area is a net sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. This suggests that the net organic production rate of the reef community exceeded its calcium carbonate production rate during the observation periods.     

Sex-linked genetic influence on caste determination in a termite

The most ecologically successful and destructive termite species are those with both a nymph caste and an irreversibly wingless worker caste. The early developmental bifurcation separating these castes is widely accepted to be strictly environmentally determined. We present evidence that genotype also influences this process. Offspring from four different crosses of nymph- and worker-derived secondary reproductive individuals had strongly differentiated caste and sex ratios, despite uniform rearing conditions. These data fit an X-linked, one-locus-two-allele model. Of five possible genotypes, one was lethal, two resulted in workers, and two resulted in either nymphs or environmentally determined workers. Caste is thus controlled both by environment and by a complex genetic inheritance pattern.     

Chromosomal locations of the murine T-cell receptor alpha-chain gene and the T-cell gamma gene

Two independent methods were used to identify the mouse chromosomes on which are located two families of immunoglobulin (Ig)-like genes that are rearranged and expressed in T lymphocytes. The genes coding for the alpha subunit of T-cell receptors are on chromosome 14 and the gamma genes, whose function is yet to be determined, are on chromosome 13. Since genes for the T-cell receptor beta chain were previously shown to be on mouse chromosome 6, all three of the Ig-like multigene families expressed and rearranged in T cells are located on different chromosomes, just as are the B-cell multigene families for the Ig heavy chain, and the Ig kappa and lambda light chains. The findings do not support earlier contentions that genes for T-cell receptors are linked to the Ig heavy chain locus (mouse chromosome 12) or to the major histocompatibility complex (mouse chromosome 17).     

Tertiary sediment from the East pacific rise

More than 50 cores ranging in age from Pliocene to Lower Miocene have been recovered from the East Pacific Rise. Near the crestal regions the sediment cover is thin or lacking, and only Pleistocene sediments were recovered. On the flanks, the sediment thickness increases and pre-Pleistocene sediments are encountered. This pattern of increasing age and increasing sediment thickness away from the axis of the rise is in agreement with that predicted for spreading of the ocean floor.     

Discovery of a Jupiter/Saturn analog with gravitational microlensing

Searches for extrasolar planets have uncovered an astonishing diversity of planetary systems, yet the frequency of solar system analogs remains unknown. The gravitational microlensing planet search method is potentially sensitive to multiple-planet systems containing analogs of all the solar system planets except Mercury. We report the detection of a multiple-planet system with microlensing. We identify two planets with masses of approximately 0.71 and approximately 0.27 times the mass of Jupiter and orbital separations of approximately 2.3 and approximately 4.6 astronomical units orbiting a primary star of mass approximately 0.50 solar mass at a distance of approximately 1.5 kiloparsecs. This system resembles a scaled version of our solar system in that the mass ratio, separation ratio, and equilibrium temperatures of the planets are similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn. These planets could not have been detected with other techniques; their discovery from only six confirmed microlensing planet detections suggests that solar system analogs may be common.     

GaN photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser at blue-violet wavelengths

Shorter-wavelength surface-emitting laser sources are important for a variety of fields, including photonics, information processing, and biology. We report on the creation of a current-driven blue-violet photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser. We have developed a fabrication method, named "air holes retained over growth," in order to construct a two-dimensional gallium nitride (GaN)/air photonic-crystal structure. The resulting periodic structure has a photonic-crystal band-edge effect sufficient for the successful operation of a current-injection surface-emitting laser. This represents an important step in the development of laser sources that could be focused to a size much less than the wavelength and be integrated two-dimensionally at such short wavelengths.