Removal of nitrates from groundwater through the use of artificial wetlands

Intensive fertilizer use has led to nitrate contamination of groundwater in many areas. This article examines the possibility of removing nitrates through the construction of artificial wetlands. A pilot study conducted in Denmark has found that the method is effective and economical, at least for small waterworks, though further treatment is necessary before an acceptable microbiological water quality is attained.     

The function of the reproductive system in x-ray-irradiated male rats after the transplantation of a culture of testicular cells from newborn piglets

The effect exerted by transplantation of the 5 day culture of testicles from newly born piglets on the hypogonadal state of mature X-ray irradiated (3 Gy) rats was studied. It has been found that a month after transplantation (two months after irradiation) the hypogonadal state disappeared for a while, which is confirmed by normalization of the weight of seminal vesicles, content of testosterone and biologically active lutropine, restoration of the reproductive function of rats. No significant changes in steroidogenesis activity have been found, which proves a substituent character of transplantation. The effect disappears three months later but certain restoration of the content of nucleic acids in the testicles is observed.     

Fungicidal effect of 15 disinfectants against 25 fungal contaminants commonly found in bread and cheese manufacturing.

Resistance of 19 mold and 6 yeast species to 15 commercial disinfectants was investigated by using a suspension method in which the fungicidal effect and germination time were determined at 20 degrees C. Disinfectants containing 0.5% dodecyldiethylentriaminacetic acid, 10 g of chloramine-T per 1, 2.0% formaldehyde, 0.1% potassium hydroxide, 3.0% hydrogen peroxide, or 0.3% peracetic acid were ineffective as fungicides. The fungicidal effect of quaternary ammonium compounds and chlorine compounds showed great variability between species and among the six isolates of Penicillium roqueforti var. roqueforti tested. The isolates of P roqueforti var. carneum, P. discolor, Aspergillus versicolor, and Eurotium repens examined were resistant to different quaternary ammonium compounds. Conidia and vegetative cells were killed by alcohols, whereas ascospores were resistant. Resistance of ascospores to 70% ethanol increased with age. Both P. roqueforti var. roqueforti and E. repens showed great variability of resistance within isolates of each species.     

Room electromagnetics

In analogy with the established discipline of room acoustics, various aspects of diffuse wideband microwave propagation in a room are treated. It is shown that an equivalent to Sabine's equation for reverberation time in a room is valid for the completely diffused field, depending only on the volume, the surface area, and an effective absorption coefficient. An exponential decay of the power as a function of the delay is a consequence of the assumptions. Furthermore, the concept of a reverberation distance is also valid. This is the distance from a transmitting antenna where the received diffuse, randomly scattered power equals the direct line-of-sight received power, such that the diffuse power dominates for distances larger than the reverberation distance. A number of measurements in a large room support the theory with an effective absorption coefficient of 0.5. The power delay profiles around the room from a transmitter in the ceiling vary only in the first arriving part of the impulse, whereas the tail, being dominated by the diffuse field, has the same power level for a given delay and the same decay rate all over the room. It is also a consequence of the theory that the diffuse fields incident on an antenna are uniformly distributed in angle.     

Comparative antagonism of kainate-activated kainate and AMPA receptors in hippocampal neurons

Native kainate receptors expressed by cultured hippocampal cells were studied in the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique by using a fast perfusion system. About 80% of the neurons expressed kainate receptors independently of the time in culture (0-4 days), which coincided with the number of cells immunoreactive for a monoclonal antibody against the GluR5/6/7 subunits. Three types of cells were considered: neurons in which the rapid application of kainate induced a rapidly desensitizing current, cells in which kainate induced a more slowly rising, non-desensitizing, response and those in which a mixture of both responses was apparent. Steady responses induced by 300 microM kainate were inhibited by 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 = 0.92 microM). CNQX was less potent in blocking transient kainate-induced responses (IC50 = 6.1 microM). Responses to kainate, whether steady or transient, were also inhibited by NS102, showing poor selectivity for the transient response (IC50 = 4.1 and 2.2 microM respectively). The new alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole (AMPA) receptor antagonist NS394 was very potent in inhibiting steady kainate-induced currents (IC50 = 0.45 microM), but was even more effective in preventing peak responses (IC50 = 0.13 microM). In contrast, cyclothiazide did not affect transient kainate-induced responses but did potentiate current induced by activation of AMPA receptors by AMPA or kainate. These results demonstrate the lack of complete selectivity amongst some available competitive antagonists for AMPA and kainate receptors, and indicate that kainate receptors expressed by hippocampal cells lack the cyclothiazide modulatory site present at AMPA receptors. In addition, the present data support the idea that low-affinity kainate binding sites in the brain correspond to receptor channels selectively activated by kainate.