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PubMedDate not supplied

Characterization of selenate removal from drainage water using rice straw.

Removal of selenium (Se) from agricultural drainage water is very important for protecting wildlife in wetland systems. We conducted a series of experiments on selenite [Se(IV)] adsorption and selenate [Se(VI)] reduction to determine Se removal from drainage water amended with 1000 microg/L of Se(VI) or Se(IV) and 5 g of rice (Oryza sativa L.) straw. Under sterile conditions, the added Se(IV) was not adsorbed to the rice straw within 2 d of the experiment and the added Se(VI) was not reduced within 14 d. In contrast, added Se(VI) in a nonsterile rice-straw solution was reduced rapidly, from 930 microg/L at Day 3 to 20 microg/L at Day 5, with an increase in unprecipitated elemental Se [Se(0)] and total Se(0). In the last several days of the experiments, unprecipitated Se(0) was the major Se form in the rice-straw solution, with a small amount of organic Se(-II). This study showed that Se removal from drainage water in the presence of rice straw involves a two-step process. The first is the microbial reduction of Se(VI) to Se(IV) and then to colloidal Se(0). The second is flocculation and precipitation of colloidal Se(0) to the bottom of the experimental flasks and the surface of rice straw.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2003

HIV gp120 vaccine - VaxGen: AIDSVAX, AIDSVAX B/B, AIDSVAX B/E, HIV gp120 vaccine - Genentech, HIV gp120 vaccine AIDSVAX - VaxGen, HIV vaccine AIDSVAX - VaxGen.

VaxGen is developing prophylactic vaccines against HIV-1 consisting of two recombinant gp120 surface proteins from different HIV-1 strains.This profile has been selected from R&D Insight, a pharmaceutical intelligence database produced by Adis International Ltd. The bivalent vaccines [AIDSVAX B/B and AIDSVAX B/E] are being evaluated in two phase III trials. The first multicentre phase III trial of AIDSVAX B/B, was conducted principally in Canada and the US but also at some sites in the Netherlands and Puerto Rico. The trial was completed at the end of 2002. The second phase III trial is being conducted in Thailand with the AIDSVAX B/E vaccine. VaxGen announced in July 2002 that it would be delaying its Biologics License Application (BLA) for AIDSVAX until 2004 to enable the company to fulfil pre-approval manufacturing requirements. AIDSVAX is based on an earlier monovalent gp120 vaccine developed by Genentech that was shown to be safe in humans. VaxGen (formerly Genenvax) was formed as a spin-off company from Genentech with the sole purpose of developing the gp120 vaccine. VaxGen announced in July 2002 that the original License and Supply agreement with Genentech, signed in May 1997, had been amended. Under the revised agreement, Genentech maintains its right to market and sell AIDSVAX in North America, but has relinquished its options to commercialise the vaccine candidate in the rest of the world. Genentech's earlier decision to waive its option to manufacture AIDSVAX has also been formalised in this agreement. Additionally, VaxGen's royalty payments to Genentech for sales to the WHO or UN for underdeveloped nations have also been reduced by up to 50% and Genentech has extended the milestone date associated with VaxGen submitting an NDA. A $US120 million joint venture (Celltrion) has been formed between VaxGen and South Korean investors to manufacture more than 200 million doses of AIDSVAX a year. Celltrion will build and operate two biotechnology manufacturing facilities: a pilot plant in South San Francisco and a larger plant in Incheon, South Korea. VaxGen will retain a 44% interest in the new company, as well as any profit generated by the AIDS vaccine. If AIDSVAX wins regulatory approval, VaxGen is committed to purchasing a minimum of 87 million doses a year. Celltrion announced in July 2002 that it had acquired 24 acres of land in Incheon, South Korea, for the site of its major biologics manufacturing facility. The facility is scheduled to be ready for commercial operation by 2005. The US FDA granted fast-track designations to the two vaccines AIDSVAX B/B and AIDSVAX B/E in December 2002. The study volunteers included 5108 men who have sex with men and 309 at-risk women, all of whom were meant to be HIV negative when they joined the trial. During the 36-month trial, a total of seven injections were administered at months 0, 1, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30. The ratio of vaccine to placebo recipients was 2:1. On February 24 2003, VaxGen announced that AIDSVAX B/B did not prove effective in the trials conducted in North America and Europe. The study did not show a statistically significant reduction of HIV infection within the study population as a whole, which was the primary endpoint of the trial. However, the study did show a statistically significant reduction of HIV infection in certain vaccinated groups. Trial data indicate that black and Asian volunteers appeared to produce higher levels of antibodies against HIV. White and Hispanic volunteers appeared to develop consistently lower levels of protective antibodies following vaccination. VaxGen intends to conduct additional analyses to confirm if there was a direct correlation between the level of antibodies and the prevention of infection. The company intends to continue development of the vaccine through licensure, including any studies necessary to evaluate the protective riticism in the media about the statistical analysis of the non-Caucasian data, VaxGen issued a statement on 27 February 2003 claiming that the analysis of data from the trial followed a statistical analysis plan that was agreed on in advance with the US FDA. The plan included analyses of various subgroups, including racial backgrounds. Subsequently, VaxGen presented further analyses of the phase III data at the Keystone Symposia on 31 March 2003, and stated that the differences in vaccine efficacy observed between the Caucasian and non-Caucasian (Black, Asian and other) vaccinees could not have been due solely to chance. In May 2003, VaxGen stated that it would only continue developing AIDSVAX if government agencies and philanthropic organisations provide the necessary funding. AIDSVAX B/E is designed to protect against strains of HIV-1 prevalent in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Like the North American study, this trial also includes an interim efficacy analysis, set for 24 months after completion of enrolment. Results from this trial are expected to be announced in the second half of 2003. This trial received its final favourable review from the DSMB in October 2002. Based on this result, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) has decided to pursue only one of the two previously planned phase III trials involving immunisation with vCP1452 and AIDSVAX B/B. The NIAID will not conduct the North and South American phase III trial. It will, however, proceed with the planned 'prime-boost' phase III trial in Thailand, to evaluate the efficacy of a similar vaccine combination, ALVAC-HIV-vCP1521 and AIDSVAX B/E, both of which incorporate envelope antigens from the predominant circulating HIV (CRF_AE_01) in Thailand. The trial is expected to begin enrolling volunteers in March 2003. VaxGen was a awarded $US3.3 million contract to supply AIDSVAX B/E for the trial, which will be funded by the NIH and conducted by the US Army. NIAID and the HIV Trials Network (HVTN) are conducting a phase II trial (HVTN 026), testing the immunogenicity of vCP1452 alone and in combination with AIDSVAX among populations in Brazil, Haiti, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.

AIDS Vaccines↗
PubMed2005

Immobilization of arsenic in a tailings material by ferrous iron treatment.

Weathering and internal dissolution processes in mining waste materials may mobilize elevated levels of arsenic (As), contaminating ground and surface waters. Treating the polluted waters with iron oxyhydroxides is an established remediation method. By contrast, little knowledge is available to stabilize As in source materials by treating it with Fe precipitates and, on this way, to prevent the generation of polluted waters. In the present work the efficiency of Fe(II) treatment on As immobilization in a tailings material (TM) was studied with regard to the Fe:As molar ratio, the influence of CaCO3 amendment, and the As desorption at continued intensive leaching of Fe-treated TM. Fe precipitates were created by aerobic treatment of TM with Fe(II)sulfate at several Fe:As molar ratios with or without adding CaCO3, followed by aging the Fe-treated TM. The As retention in the treated tailings was studied by 4-fold elution with water, and the As desorption kinetics was examined by suspension leaching in laboratory microcosms over 3 weeks. Fe(II) treatment of TM reduced the water-extractable total As to <10 microg/L as the Fe:As molar ratio increased from 0 to 8. The water-soluble As of Fe-treated tailings could be reduced to 10-30 microg/L also under conditions of intensive leaching. Stabilizing the pH with CaCO3 resulted in consistently higher As release. The As desorption data followed the first-order kinetics in the early time stages of the desorption whereas at longer times the parabolic diffusion model was valid.

Arsenic↗
PubMed2001

An EORTC phase I study of epirubicin in combination with fixed doses of cyclophosphamide and infusional 5-fu (CEF-infu) as primary treatment of large operable or locally advanced/inflammatory breast cancer.

PURPOSE: The association of continuous infusion 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin (50 mg/m2 q 3 weeks) and a platinum compound (cisplatin or carboplatin) was found to be very active in patients with either locally advanced/inflammatory (LA/I) [1, 2] or large operable (LO) breast cancer (BC) [3]. The same rate of activity in terms of response rate (RR) and response duration was observed in LA/I BC patients when cisplatin was replaced by cyclophosphamide [4]. The dose of epirubicin was either 50 mg/m2 [ 1, 2, 3] or 60 mg/m2/cycle [4]. The main objective of this study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of epirubicin when given in combination with fixed doses of cyclophosphamide and infusional 5-fluorouracil (CEF-infu) as neoadjuvant therapy in patients with LO or LA/I BC for a maximum of 6 cycles. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients had LO or LA/I BC, a performance status 0-1, adequate organ function and were <65 years old. Cyclophosphamide was administered at the dose of 400 mg/m2 day 1 and 8, q 4 weeks and infusional 5-fluorouracil 200 mg/m2/day was given day 1-28, q 4 weeks. Epirubicin was escalated from 30 to 45 and to 60 mg/m2 day 1 and 8; dose escalation was permitted if 0/3 or 1/6 patients experienced dose limiting toxicity (DLT) during the first 2 cycles of therapy. DLT for epirubicin was defined as febrile neutropenia, grade 4 neutropenia lasting for >7 days, grade 4 thrombocytopenia, or any non-haematological toxicity of CTC grade > or =3, excluding alopecia and plantar-palmar erythrodysesthesia (this toxicity was attributable to infusional 5-fluorouracil and was not considered a DLT of epirubicin). RESULTS: A total of 21 patients, median age 44 years (range 29-63) have been treated. 107 courses have been delivered, with a median number of 5 cycles per patient (range 4-6). DLTs on cycles I and 2 on level 1, 2, 3: grade 3 (G3) mucositis occurred in 1/10 patients treated at the third dose level. An interim analysis showed that G3 PPE occurred in 5/16 pts treated with the 28-day infusional 5-FU schedule at the 3 dose levels. The protocol was subsequently amended to limit the duration of infusional 5-fluorouracil infusion from 4 to 3 weeks. No G3 PPE was detected in 5 patients treated with this new schedule. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes that epirubicin 60mg/m2 day 1 and 8, cyclophosphamide 400mg/m2 day 1 and 8 and infusional 5-fluorouracil 200 mg/m2/day day 1-21. q 4 weeks is the recommended dose level. Given the encouraging activity of this regimen (15/21 clinical responses) we have replaced infusional 5-fluorouracil by oral capecitabine in a recently activated study.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[The sono-capsule: a new method for measuring gastrointestinal motility].

PURPOSE: We developed a noninvasive procedure using ultrasound and a specially designed capsule to permit determination of transit times in the gastrointestinal tract. METHODS: The ultrasound capsule consisted of a latex balloon of 1 cm diameter filled with water and containing a solid metal ball. After ingestion the marker was visualised in the gastrointestinal tract at defined intervals using conventional ultrasound machines. The various transit times were determined in 10 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: On account of its artifact-in-artifact structure (cystic configuration and reverberation), the ultrasound capsule was first detected in the stomach without any difficulty. During its further passage through the gastrointestinal tract the location of the capsule in the small and large bowel could be identified on the basis of the surrounding plicae circulares and haustrations. The mean oropyloric transit time was 2.4 hours; passage through the small bowel took 1.5 to 3 hours, and pyloro-anal transit times between 6 and 10 hours. CONCLUSION: the ultrasound capsule is a suitable method for investigating the gastrointestinal transport. It is non-invasive and does not expose the patient to radiation.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Colonization of soil by Arthrobacter and Pseudomonas under varying conditions of water and nutrient availability as studied by plate counts and transmission electron microscopy.

Arthrobacter globiformis and a Pseudomonas soil isolate were incubated separately and in combination in soil that had been presterilized by autoclaving. Growth and other responses of the cells in situ in this soil were monitored by plate counts and transmission electron microscopy examinations of cell sections. During the soil incubations, some of the samples were first allowed to dry and then were remoistened with water or with a dilute or a concentrated nutrient solution. Based on plate counts and ultrastructural analysis. Arthrobacter seemed to be in a non-multiplying coccoid-rod resting state and to be virtually immune to soil drying. Addition of a dilute nutrient solution helped maintain cell ultrastructure and prevent a low level of lysing that occurred in the absence of nutrient addition. Addition of a concentrated nutrient solution brought on cell multiplication as both coccoid-rods and long rods, but the ultimate form with further incubation was the coccoid-rod. The Pseudomonas strain suffered death and ultrastructural deterioration as water became less available. It responded by cell multiplication to an equal extent when either water or dilute nutrients were added, but possibly was able to give a growth response to nutritive amendment when a concentrated nutrient addition was made. The Arthrobacter was not affected by the presence of Pseudomonas in dual culture. The Pseudomonas, however, possibly suffered a nutritive deficiency under these conditions.

Arthrobacter↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Public benefits and costs of government funding for abortion.

In state referenda to end public funding of abortions for poor women, one of the most successful tactics of abortion foes has been to charge that abortion funding increases the burden on taxpayers. A state-by-state analysis by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) shows that the opposite is the case. For every tax dollar spent to pay for abortions for poor women, about four dollars is saved in public medical and welfare expenditures. The savings are in public expenditures that otherwise would have to be incurred because of the babies that poor women would have borne. On the basis of earlier research, it was assumed that 20 percent of Medicaid-eligible women who could not obtain abortions would give birth. Public costs examined in the AGI analysis include Medicaid expenditures for prenatal care, delivery and postnatal care for the mother, and for newborn care, neonatal intensive care and pediatric care for the child for the first two years of life; as well as expenditures for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps and the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) during those first two years. The benefit-to-cost ratio varies from about 9:1 in Massachusetts to 2:1 in Hawaii and Pennsylvania. The net savings for the nation as a whole over a two-year period if abortions were publicly funded in every state would total at least $339.6 million.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1993

Probing activated sludge with oligonucleotides specific for proteobacteria: inadequacy of culture-dependent methods for describing microbial community structure.

Bacterial community structures in activated sludge samples from aeration tanks of a two-stage system with a high-load first stage and a low-load second stage were analyzed with oligonucleotide probes. The probes were complementary to conserved regions of the rRNA of the alpha, beta, and gamma subclasses of proteobacteria and of all bacteria. Group-specific cell counts were determined by in situ hybridization with fluorescent probe derivatives. Contributions of the proteobacterial subclasses to total bacterial rRNA were quantified by dot blot hybridization with digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotides. The activated sludge samples were dominated by proteobacteria from the alpha, beta, or gamma subclass. These proteobacteria account for about 80% of all active bacteria found in the activated sludge. For both samples the community structures determined with molecular techniques were compared with the composition of the heterotrophic saprophyte flora isolated on nutrient-rich medium. Probes were used to rapidly classify the isolates and to directly monitor population shifts in nutrient-amended, activated sludge samples. The rich medium favored growth of gamma-subclass proteobacteria (e.g., enterobacteria) and selected against beta-subclass proteobacteria. The culture-dependent community structure analysis of activated sludge produced partial and heavily biased results. A more realistic view will be obtained by using in situ techniques.

Bacteria↗
PubMed2006

Implant-borne prosthetic rehabilitation of bone-grafted cleft versus traumatic anterior maxillary defects.

PURPOSE: This study hypothesizes comparable implant success in bone-grafted cleft-alveolus versus traumatic anterior maxillary defects. Though of different pathogenesis, both defects comprise bone deficit, scarred periosteum, and soft tissues. Additional complicating factors are isolated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty cleft and 20 traumatic defect cases were followed-up 48 months in average. After 9 secondary and 11 tertiary cleft-osteoplasties, 25 implants were inserted; in traumatic defects following 8 two-stage and 12 one-stage osteoplasties, 37 incisor or canine implants were inserted. After secondary and tertiary cleft-osteoplasties, 57 and 13 months elapsed until implantation, 4 months in the two-stage posttraumatic osteoplasties. Implants were loaded at 6 months by single crowns. RESULTS: Four (20%) cleft patients faced 2 failures and 2 first-year losses; 2 (10%) trauma cases faced 2 failures and 2 first-year losses; and cumulative 5-year implant success was 80% and 88%, respectively. Other parameters' 12-month results were: values for mean cleft, trauma patients (+/- standard deviation), significance of comparison in t testing at a cut-off level of alpha = 0.05; bone loss 0.3+/-0.5 mm, 0.5+/-0.7 mm, P < .2; Periotest score 1.1+/-3.1, 1.2+/-2.5, P < .7; gingival recession 2.1+/-0.3 mm, 2.2+/-0.5 mm, P < .6; periimplant probing depth 2.5+/-0.5 mm, 2.8+/-2.6 mm, P < .3. CONCLUSION: Similar success rates without statistically significant differences were found; a multiple factor analysis discerned as positive predictive factors the following; generous transplant volume, 3 to 6 months latency, sufficient implant dimension, early adulthood. Early loading cannot be encouraged from the success rates. Negative predictive factors were spongiosa or milled-bone transplants, dehiscence, smoking, and anorexia. Intraorally harvested membranous bone transplants may prospectively amend secondary osteoplasty-associated bone resorption. Donor site morbidity, local growth, and tooth breakthrough require additional observation in a prospective study when implant insertion should directly follow the growth spurt.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Willet M. Hays, great benefactor to plant breeding and the founder of our association.

Willet M. Hays was a great benefactor to plant breeding and the founder of the American Genetic Association (AGA). We commemorate the AGA's centennial. We mined university archives, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yearbooks, plant breeding textbooks, scientific periodicals, and descendants for information. Willet Hays first recognized the individual plant as the unit of selection and started systematic pure-line selection and progeny tests in 1888. He developed useful plant breeding methods. He selected superior flax (Linum usitatissimum L.), wheat (Triticum vulgare L.), corn (Zea mays L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and oat (Avena sativa L.) varieties, and discovered Grimm alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.); all became commercially important. He initiated branch stations for better performance testing. Willet Hays befriended colleagues in other universities, in federal stations, in a London conference, and in Europe. He gathered and spread the scientific plant breeding gospel. He also improved rural roads and initiated animal breeding records and agricultural economics records. He started the AGA in 1903, serving as secretary for 10 years. He became assistant secretary of agriculture in 1904. He introduced the project system for agricultural research. He authored or coauthored the Nelson Amendment, the Smith-Lever Act, the Smith-Hughes Act, and the protocol leading to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-all involved teaching agricultural practices that improved the world.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1993

Phase I trial of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil plus interferon-alpha 2b in patients with advanced breast cancer.

alpha-Interferon (IFN-alpha) enhances the activity of 5-fluorouracil in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. Preclinical evidence suggests a similar potential role for IFN-alpha combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin (Adriamycin, Adria Laboratories, Columbus, OH), and 5-fluorouracil (CAF) in advanced adenocarcinoma of the breast. To determine a maximum tolerated dose of IFN-alpha that could be combined with CAF and that did not compromise CAF dose intensity and to determine the effect of IFN-alpha on the pharmacokinetics of doxorubicin, a phase I study of IFN-alpha plus CAF was performed by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Nine patients with advanced breast cancer received CAF (cyclophosphamide at 100 mg/m2/day p.o. on days 1-14, doxorubicin at 30 mg/m2 and 5-fluorouracil at 500 mg/m2 i.v. bolus on days 1 and 8) plus IFN-alpha (1 milliunit/m2, n = 6, or 2 milliunits/m2, n = 3) given s.c. on days 1, 3, 5, and 8 (1 h prior to the doxorubicin and 5-FU injection on days 1 and 8) of each cycle every 28 or more days. Escalation of the IFN-alpha dose occurred in cohorts of 3-6 patients if a dose-limiting toxic event (neutropenic fever, platelet nadir of < 25,000/microliters, > 2-week treatment delay, or a > 50% dose reduction in day 8 CAF) occurred during the first two cycles in 0 of 3 or 1 of 6 patients. During cycle 1, IFN-alpha was omitted on day 1, and multiple plasma samples were drawn on day 1 (without IFN-alpha) and day 8 (with IFN-alpha) after each doxorubicin injection and were analyzed for plasma doxorubicin concentration. The maximum tolerated dose of IFN-alpha by our criteria was 1 milliunit/m2, and neutropenia was the predominant toxic effect that precluded IFN-alpha dose escalation. The dose intensity of CAF achieved with IFN-alpha was identical to that for CAF alone observed in prior studies. IFN-alpha had no significant effect on the pharmacokinetics of doxorubicin, although 3 of 7 patients studied had reduced doxorubicin clearance, ranging from 32% to 69%. Alternative CAF drug delivery schedules (all drugs given i.v. every 3-4 weeks) that are more amendable to hematopoietic growth factor support may be more suitable to combine with higher doses of IFN-alpha that may produce modulation.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2006

Functional characterization of a novel hydrocarbonoclastic Pseudomonas sp. strain PUP6 with plant-growth-promoting traits and antifungal potential.

A novel hydrocarbonoclastic bacterium was isolated from rice rhizospheric soil using an enrichment culture technique. Detailed taxonomic studies identified the organism, designated strain PUP6, as a member of the genus Pseudomonas. The bacterium grew in minimal medium amended with n-alkane members of hydrocarbons, n-dodecane (C12H26), n-hexadecane (C16H34), n-octadecane (C18H38), n-octacosane (C28H58); and petroleum fractions such as crude oil and lubricating oil when provided as sole carbon and energy source. Degradation of these n-alkane hydrocarbons and oils in minimal salts medium by strain PUP6 was estimated using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. In addition to its hydrocarbonoclastic properties, this bacterium exhibits a broad spectrum of fungal antibiosis against various phytopathogenic fungi. An antifungal metabolite produced by strain PUP6 was isolated, characterized and identified as phenazine-1-carboxamide on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopic analyses. Strain PUP6 also produced plant-growth-promoting siderophores, indoleacetic acid (IAA), phosphate solubilizing enzymes, and fungal cell wall degrading enzymes such as protease and chitinase. This study can be considered as the first report on n-alkane hydrocarbon and oil degradation by a rhizosphere soil bacterium that exhibits biofertilizing and biocontrol traits. Due to its innate multiple functional traits beyond its role in degradation of hydrocarbons, strain PUP6 may be used as plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium and biocontrol agent against phytopathogenic fungi.

Alkanes↗
PubMed2001

Degradation of household biowaste in reactors.

Household derived biowaste was degraded by biological methods. The system involves the combined method of low-solids (up to 10% w/v of total solids (TS)) anaerobic digestion and aerobic degradation for the recovery of energy (biogas) and the production of fine humus-like material which can be used as a soil amender or a substrate for further thermal treatment (pyrolysis, gasification). The performance of batch and continuous processes carried out in bioreactors (stirred tank reactor, air-lift) of working volume 6 and 18 dm(3), at different temperatures (25-42 degrees C) was monitored by reduction of TS, volatile solids, chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, C/N in time. The application of continuous process with recirculation (33%) caused that for residence time of 8-16 h the obtained degree of organic load reduction was similar to that obtained after 72-96 h of the batch process. The experimental data of batch aerobic degradation was also subjected to kinetic analysis. The sequence of the two processes: aerobic and anaerobic or anaerobic and aerobic showed that the degree of organic load reduction was similar in both cases, while the amount of produced biogas was four times higher when the first stage was anaerobic. The final product after dewatering was subjected to pyrolysis and gasification. The gases obtained were characterised by a high heat of combustion of about 11-15 MJ Nm(-3).

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed2006

Nitroaromatic reduction kinetics as a function of dominant terminal electron acceptor processes in natural sediments.

The reductive transformation of p-cyanonitrobenzene (pCNB) was investigated in laboratory batch slurries exhibiting dominant terminal electron accepting processes (TEAPs). Pseudo-first-order rate constants (k(obs)) were measured for the reduction of pCNB in nitrate-reducing, iron-reducing, sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic sediment slurries. Reduction was extremely slow in nitrate-reducing slurries but increased in slurries exhibiting TEAPs with significant concentrations of solution phase Fe(ll). As the reduction of pCNB progressed in the Fe(ll) rich systems, significant but nonstoichiometric decreases in aqueous Fe(ll) concentration were measured. Normalization of k(obs) to initial aqueous Fe(ll) concentrations (k(obs)/[Fe(ll)]t=0) gave values ranging from 0.0040 to 0.0052 d(-1) microM(-1) for nitrate-reducing, iron-reducing, and methanogenic sediment slurries as well as sulfate-reducing sediment slurries in which lactate served as a source of organic carbon. The k(obs)/ [Fe(ll)]t=0 ratios were 1-fold greater for sulfate-reducing batch slurries amended with acetate and iron-reducing slurries equilibrated with a 3% H2 atmosphere indicating that the electron source and system parameters such as pH play a determinant role in the reaction kinetics. Although these data demonstrate that aqueous phase Fe(ll) must be present for significant reduction to occur, a limited role for aqueous phase Fe(ll) as a quantitative indicator of reactivity is suggested.

Anions↗
PubMed2003

WinLALS for a linked-atom least-square refinement program for helical polymers on WINDOWS PCs.

Fiber diffraction dada from polymers are sufficiently different in kind and quantity from single crystal data as to warrant analyses with a different emphasis: refinement of competing molecular models where torsion angles and bond angles are the explicit variables rather than atomic coordinates. The first linked-atom least-squares (LALS) refinement program had been devolved at Arnott's laboratories at King's College London [Arnott, S., Wonacott, A.J., 1966a. Polymer 7, 157] on mainframe and several revised versions were maintained at Purdue University [Smith, P.J.C., Arnott, S., 1978. Acta Crystallogr. Sect. A 34, 3; Chandrasekan, R. 2000. LALS Users Manual, Whistler Centre for Carbohydrate Researchm Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN] on workstation. Today the LALS users have to choose correctly any one program that they want to use, trigonometric or Bessel functions, from some versions. To develop a new WinLALS program based on the dimensioned version of the latest LALS2000 program [LALS Users Manual (2000)], we reviewed all the mathematical expressions and corrected the optimization of the non-bonded atomic contact terms. The WinLALS is coded with FORTRAN 90 and runs on MICROSOFT-WINDOWS PCs and the many amendments including changing input/output assignments, expanding array sizes, arranging that the update files have all output parameters of each cycle, and correcting several bugs are performed. This paper describes the mathematical expressions in detail employed in WinLALS and compares results of its applications obtained with those obtained earlier.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Use of Coniothyrium minitans transformed with the hygromycin B resistance gene to study survival and infection of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum sclerotia in soil.

A Coniothyrium minitans strain (T3) co-transformed with the genes for beta-glucuronidase (uidA) and hygromycin phosphotransferase (hph), the latter providing resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin B, was used to investigate the survival and infection of sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum by C. minitans over time in four different soils. Infection of sclerotia was rapid in all cases, with the behaviour of transformant T3 and wild type parent A69 being similar. Differences were seen between the soils in the rate of infection of sclerotia by C. minitans and in their indigenous fungal populations. Amendment of agar with hygromycin B enabled the quantification of C. minitans in soil by dilution plating where there was a high background of other microorganisms. In Lincoln soil from New Zealand, which had a natural but low population of C. minitans, the hygromycin B resistance marker allowed the umambiguous discrimination of the applied transformed isolate from the indigenous hygromycin B sensitive one. In this soil, although the indigenous C. minitans population was detected from sclerotia, none were recovered on the dilution plates, indicating the increased sensitivity of C. minitans detection from soil using sclerotial baiting. C. minitans was a very efficient parasite, being able to infect a large proportion of sclerotia within a relatively short time from an initially low soil population. The addition of hygromycin B to agar also allowed the detection of C. minitans from decaying sclerotia by inhibiting secondary fungal colonisers. This is the first report to show that fungi colonising sclerotia already infected by C. minitans mask the detection of C. minitans from sclerotia rather than displacing the original parasite.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed1999

Reductive dechlorination of chlorinated ethenes and 1, 2-dichloroethane by "Dehalococcoides ethenogenes" 195.

"Dehalococcoides ethenogenes" 195 can reductively dechlorinate tetrachloroethene (PCE) completely to ethene (ETH). When PCE-grown strain 195 was transferred (2% [vol/vol] inoculum) into growth medium amended with trichloroethene (TCE), cis-dichloroethene (DCE), 1,1-DCE, or 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA) as an electron acceptor, these chlorinated compounds were consumed at increasing rates over time, which indicated that growth occurred. Moreover, the number of cells increased when TCE, 1,1-DCE, or DCA was present. PCE, TCE, 1,1-DCE, and cis-DCE were converted mainly to vinyl chloride (VC) and then to ETH, while DCA was converted to ca. 99% ETH and 1% VC. cis-DCE was used at lower rates than PCE, TCE, 1,1-DCE, or DCA was used. When PCE-grown cultures were transferred to media containing VC or trans-DCE, products accumulated slowly, and there was no increase in the rate, which indicated that these two compounds did not support growth. When the intermediates in PCE dechlorination by strain 195 were monitored, TCE was detected first, followed by cis-DCE. After a lag, VC, 1,1-DCE, and trans-DCE accumulated, which is consistent with the hypothesis that cis-DCE is the precursor of these compounds. Both cis-DCE and 1,1-DCE were eventually consumed, and both of these compounds could be considered intermediates in PCE dechlorination, whereas the small amount of trans-DCE that was produced persisted. Cultures grown on TCE, 1,1-DCE, or DCA could immediately dechlorinate PCE, which indicated that PCE reductive dehalogenase activity was constitutive when these electron acceptors were used.

Bacteria, Anaerobic↗
PubMed2003

Estimating the cost of the Medicare Pharmacist Services Coverage Act of 2001.

BACKGROUND: In recent years considerable attention has focused on pharmacists' professional evolution toward patient care-oriented practice. The Pharmacist Provider Coalition (PPC), established in 2000, seeks recognition and payment for pharmacists' patient care services. Concerted effort by the PPC on this issue resulted in the introduction of the Medicare Pharmacist Services Coverage Act of 2001, which would have amended Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create new types of covered services under Medicare and recognize pharmacist practitioners as providers. However, the legislation was not passed by the 107th Congress. STUDY OBJECTIVES: The PPC engaged The Moran Company to measure the potential net cost to the United States government of the Medicare Pharmacist Services Coverage Act of 2001, and to perform this measurement in a manner that is consistent with the cost-projection methods used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). DESIGN: The model is anchored to the 10-year projection of revenues and spending within the federal government developed annually by the CBO. It examines the anticipated magnitude and cost of patient care services with respect to chronic disease and pharmaceutical therapy management, in both facility and nonfacility settings. RESULTS: The methodology yields a final cost estimate of 427 million dollars in 2004, the first year of implementation, and a 10-year estimate of 13 billion dollars. CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of pharmacists as providers of selected drug therapy management services under Medicare will have a considerable financial impact. It is instructive, however, to view the 10-year cost estimate of 13 billion dollars for pharmaceutical therapy management in light of the CBO's projected 1.5 trillion dollars estimate, over the same time frame, for drug spending among the Medicare population.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗