A description of glucose uptake in Navicula pelliculosa (Breb) Hilse including a brief comparison with an associated Flavobacterium sp

Navicula pelliculosa and an associated Flavobacterium sp. were isolated from the epiphyton of Scirpus maritimus, an emergent macrophyte growing in a brackish drainage dyke. Both micro-organisms possessed active transport systems for glucose uptake. In N. pelliculosa the transport system was fully induced in the dark in the absence of glucose, and subsequently inactivated when transferred to the light in the absence of the substrate. The presence of glucose during the dark induction period prevented the achievement of maximum specific activity of the transport system, while incubation at a high light intensity with or without the presence of the substrate resulted in a very marked inhibition of glucose uptake. Inhibition in the light was partially offset by blocking photosynthetic electron flow with 3'(3,4 dichlorophenyl)1'1' dimethyl urea. The transport system accumulated 3-O-methyl glucose against a concentration gradient and was highly specific for glucose as there was no competition by most of the other sugars tested. However, 6-deoxyglucose was taken up instead of glucose and this suggested that glucose was transported in a non-phosphorylated state, whereas inhibition of glucose transport activity with dicyclohexylcarbodimide implicated the involvement of an adenosine triphosphatase on the cell membrane. Inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation tetrachlorosalicylaniline and carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone also inhibited glucose transport activity. The affinity of the diatom for glucose was greater than that shown by the bacterium, but the Km for glucose transport, 1.5x10-5M was too high to allow effective removal of glucose at in situ concentrations.     

Effect of mirror resistivity on loss-angle measurements in open resonators

Microwave measurements of dielectric loss by a hemispherical open resonator may be in error if the resistivity of the plane mirror on which the sample rests differs greatly from that of the concave mirror. The error can be corrected if the ratio of the two resistivities is known or eliminated by using a sample which is an integral number of half wavelengths long.     

Outbreak of influenza in a neonatal intensive care unit

An outbreak of influenza A/Victoria/3/75 (H3N2) involving five infants in a neonatal intensive care unit is described. The clinical signs and symptoms were indistinguishable from those seen in bacterial sepsis. There was no evidence of meningoencephalitis. All infants recovered without any sequelae.     

Factors affecting nutrient loads in some Iowa streams

The export and concentration of inorganic nitrogen and total phosphorus from 34 watersheds in a northwestern Iowa lake district were measured during March 1971–August 1973. Annual nutrient losses were approximately 0.35 kg ha⁻¹ P. 6.7 kg ha⁻¹ NO₃-N, and 1.0 kg ha⁻¹ NH₃-N. A statistical analysis of the relationship between land-use and plant nutrients was used to determine differences among streams. Animal units in feedlots were significantly correlated with phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen (mg l⁻¹ and kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Nitrate nitrogen was negatively correlated with the percentage of watershed in marshland. Tile drainage and surface runoff from grasslands, feedlots, cornfields, and soybean fields were analyzed for nitrogen and phosphorus in spring 1974: mean values are given.