Profile and removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals by using an ER/AR competitive ligand binding assay and chemical analyses

An estrogen receptor （ER）/androgen receptor （AR） ligand competitive binding assay （ER/AR-binding assay） and chemical analyses were used to evaluate the endocrine disrupting chemicals （EDCs） behavior of two municipal wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） （K and S）. In the influents, estrone （E 1）, androsterone （A）, androstenedione （AD）, BPA （bisphenol A）, NP （nonylphenol） and daidzein （DZ） were detected in high amounts with subsequent 24 h-average concentrations of 350, 1000, 29, 1300, 3900, and 5700 ng/L in K-WWTP and of 310, 620, 59, 1600, 2600, and 8400 ng/L in S-WWTP. The estrogenic （androgenic） activity as 17β-estradiol （E2） equivalents （EEQ） or testosterone （Te） equivalents （TEQ） was consequently 620 ng E2/L （570 ng Te/L） and 580 ng E2/L （800 ng Te/L） for the two WWTPs. The removal efficiencies of the above mentioned sole target chemicals were 51%-100% for K-WWTP and 55.6%-100% for S-WWTP. The removal efficiencies of EEQ were about 73% for both WWTPs, while the removal efficiencies of TEQ were 62.1% for K-WWTP and 98.4% for S-WWTP. In addition, chemical-derived EEQ were about 1.2%-52.4% of those by ER-binding assay for K-WWTP and the corresponding ratios were 1.3%-83.3% for S-WWTP, while chemical derived TEQ were less than 3% of values measured by the AR-binding assay for both WWTPs.

Two-Way but Asymmetrical Reproductive Interference between an Invasive <i>Veronica</i>Species and a Native Congener

Recent studies have suggested that reproductive interference, a deleterious interspecific interaction in the mating process, plays an important role in biological invasions. In the system of plant species, however, the border with the pollen limitation has often been vague in past studies. This study, using field and laboratory experiments and field observations, examined the reproductive success of an endangered native herbaceous plant, Veronica polita lilacina, in the context of the reproductive interference by the alien congener, V. persica. The auto-pollination experiment confirmed that both species can usually produce seeds even without external conspecific pollens. Results of the artificial pollination experiment demonstrated that pollination with the heterospecific pollens significantly decreases the number of seeds in the native species, but not in the alien species. A transplant experiment revealed that the coexistence with the alien species reduced the fruiting success of the native species. Field observations have shown the interaction between two species in the native patch with only one intruding alien species. They demonstrated that native individuals placed closer to the alien individual suffered a greater decrease in fruiting success and the seed production and that the alien intruder produced no seed. These results demonstrate that species that could reproduce via the auto-pollination suffered the reproductive interference and that the native species also exert the resistive reproductive interference slightly. These interactions can explain the displacement pattern of the native species by the alien congener in Japan.

日本结核分枝杆菌北京家族株的系统发生学与基因学特征

为评价目前在日本流行的结核分枝杆菌的基因结构特征,对从全日本结核病患者中分离到的237株北京家族株进行了系统发生学的研究。与之前来自于其他国家的报道不同,古老亚型菌株是日本的主要流行株。成簇分析建立在JATA-VNTR(日本防痨协会随机重复序列的可变数目)的基础上,这种方法可以描述日本结核分枝杆菌菌株的独特的VNTR方法,结果揭示了现代亚型菌株间没有地域来源的区别,具有高度的相似性。JATA-VNTR方法可能对在经常分离出古老亚型菌株的菌群中进行系统发生学研究是有价值的。