Methane production using whole and screened dairy manure in conventional and fixed-film reactors

The technical feasibility of adopting the fixed-film reactor concept for biogas production from screened dairy manure was investigated. The methane production capability of laboratory-scale 4-L anaerobic reactors (conventional and fixed-film) receiving screened dairy manure and operated at 35 degrees C was compared. Dairy manure filtrate with 4.4% total solids (TS) and 3.4% volatile solids (VS) (average value) was prepared from 1:1 manure-water slurry. The feed material was added intermittently at loading rates ranging from 2.34 to 25 and 2.25 to 785 g VS/L d, respectively, for the conventional and fixed-film reactors. Maximum methane production rate (L CH(4)/L d) for the conventional reactor was 0.63 L CH(4)/L d achieved at a 6-day hydraulic retention time (HRT). For the fixed-film reactor the maximum production rate was 3.53 L CH(4)/L d when operated at a loading rate of 262 g VS/L d (3 h HRT). The fixed-film reactor was capable of sustaining a loading of 785 g VS/L d (1 h HRT). The fixed-film reactor performed much better than the conventional reactors. These results indicate that a large reduction of required reactor volume is possible through application of a fixed-film concept combined with a liquid-solid separation pretreatment of dairy manure.     

Square arrays and their role in ridge formation in human lens fibers

Square arrays in human lens fibers were studied with freeze-fracture and thin-section TEM. In superficial fibers a number of patches of square array particles in the P face and pits in the E face are found in the smooth membrane. In the deeper cortex and the nucleus, fiber cells have undulating membranes and many ridges. Numerous patches of the particles (P face) are distributed in the concave regions, and the pits (E face) in the convex areas of the bumpy membrane. In most ridges, patches of the particles occur at regular intervals in the "valley" portion, while the pits are on the "crest" portion of ridges. Also, continuous square arrays having the same "valley" location as the regularly arranged patches are found in areas with extensive ridge patterns. The overlapping of the outer portions of two adjacent square arrays is found on the sides between the "crest" and the "valley" of the ridges. Structurally, square arrays are located in a nonjunctional part of the membrane; in an orthogonal crystalline arrangement; and with a particle size of about 6 nm and center-center spacing about 6.4 nm. They are structurally different from gap junctions found in the lens fibers. Thin-section studies reveal two types of cellular contacts: thin pentalamellar structures (about 12-13 nm in overall thickness) associated with the ridge patterns are believed to be square arrays; thick heptalamellar structures (about 16-17 nm in overall thickness) with a narrow gap in between the two central laminae are believed to be gap junctions. This study strongly suggests that square arrays are specifically involved in ridge formation in human lens fibers.     

CVF-induced decomplementation: effect on lung transvascular protein flux after thrombin

We examined the effects of cobra venom factor (CVF) on the changes in pulmonary hemodynamics and transvascular fluid and protein exchange following thrombin-induced pulmonary microembolism. Studies were made in unanesthetized sheep prepared with lung lymph fistulas. The animals received tranexamic acid (100 mg) to suppress fibrinolysis and were then challenged with an intravenous infusion of alpha-thrombin (80 U/kg). Control-thrombin challenged sheep were compared with the CVF-treated sheep challenged with the same thrombin dosage. CVF treatment (187 U X kg-1 X day-1 for 4 days) decreased the total hemolytic complement activity by 45% of control. Thrombin infusion in control sheep increased the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa), pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and lymph protein clearance (pulmonary lymph flow X lymph-to-plasma protein concentration ratio, Clym). Thrombin infusion in CVF-treated sheep produced smaller increments in Ppa, PVR, and Clym. Pulmonary lymph obtained from control-thrombin and CVF-thrombin sheep induced migration of granulocytes obtained from normal unchallenged sheep. The granulocytes obtained from CVF-treated sheep responded relatively less to the migratory and O-2-generating stimuli (i.e., zymosan-treated serum, pulmonary lymph from sheep after thrombin challenge, and plasma from sheep after CVF treatment) compared with normal granulocytes. The attenuation of the thrombin-induced increases in Ppa, PVR, and lung transvascular fluid and protein exchange by CVF treatment may be the result of impaired function of granulocytes.     

Stimulation of hexose transport in L6 rat myoblasts by antibody and by glucose starvation.

Treatment of glucose-grown L6 rat myoblasts with rabbit or sheep anti-(L6-rat myoblast) antibody for 35 min or glucose starvation for at least 8 h results in a 2-fold increase in the Vmax. of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (dGlc) and 3-O-methyl-D-glucose uptake. In both cases, apparent transport affinities were not affected. Furthermore, once stimulation has occurred, further increases in hexose uptake could not be produced. Assays of antibody binding to whole cells suggested that the antibody is not internalized but remains bound on the cell surface. To elucidate the site and mechanism of antibody action, plasma-membrane vesicles from L6 cells were prepared. Anti-L6 antibody was found to cause a time- and dosage-dependent stimulation of dGlc transport in these vesicles. Maximum activation was achieved after 30 min exposure. This antibody-mediated activation could be inhibited by treatment of vesicles with various proteinase inhibitors. Treatment of vesicles with trypsin was also found to activate dGlc transport to levels observed with antibody. These results are virtually identical with those obtained with whole cells and suggest that antibody-mediated activation of hexose transport results from interaction of antibody with a specific membrane component(s).     

A simple immunological detection method for the direct screening of genes from clone banks

A simple immunoassay has been developed which can be used in the isolation of particular gene(s) from a clone bank of recombinant plasmids. A clone bank of the DNA is constructed with a plasmid vector and maintained in Escherichia coli. The recombinant clones were filtered onto a hydrophobic grid membrane and grown up into individual colonies, and a replica was made onto nitrocellulose paper. The bacterial cells were then lysed with chloroform and the proteins were immobilized onto the nitrocellulose paper. The nitrocellulose paper is then reacted with a rabbit antibody preparation made against the particular antigenic product to detect the recombinant clone which carries the corresponding gene. The bound antibodies can be detected easily by a colorimetric assay using goat anti-rabbit antibodies conjugated to horseradish peroxidase. Positively reacting clones can be recovered from the master hydrophobic grid membrane filter for further characterization. We proposed to call this method "colony ELISA blot" and described the isolation of the genes coding for the soluble antigens of Pasteurella haemolytica using this method.     

Approaches used to examine the mechanism and regulation of hexose transport in rat myoblasts

This review discusses some of the approaches and general criteria that we have used to examine the properties of the hexose transport system in undifferentiated L6 rat myoblasts. These approaches include studying the kinetics of hexose transport in whole cells and plasma membrane vesicles, the effects of various inhibitors on hexose transport, the isolation and characterization of hexose transport mutants, and the use of cytochalasin B (CB) to identify the transport component(s). Transport kinetics indicated that two transport systems are present in these cells. 2-Deoxy-D-glucose is transported primarily by the high affinity system, whereas 3-O-methyl-D-glucose is transported by the low affinity system. Furthermore, these two transport systems are inactivated to different extents by CB. CB has a higher binding affinity for the low affinity hexose transport system. The inhibitory effect of various hexose analogues also revealed the presence of two hexose transport systems. The effects of various ionophores and energy uncouplers on hexose transport suggest that the high affinity system is an active transport process, whereas the low affinity system is of the facilitated diffusion type. The high affinity system is also sensitive to sulfhydryl reagents, whereas the low affinity system is not. Further evidence for the presence of two transport systems comes from the characterization of hexose transport mutants. Two of the mutants isolated are shown to be defective in the high affinity transport system, but not in the low affinity transport system. These mutants are also defective in the CB low affinity binding site. Based on our results a tentative working model for hexose transport in L6 rat myoblasts is presented.