SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE VIABILITY OF SEWAGE BACTERIA IN RELATION TO SELF-PURIFICATION OF MUSSELS

SUMMARY: Autoclaved sea water and water removed from the shell cavity of mussels supported the growth of coli-aerogenes bacteria. Attempts to reproduce conditions which had favored multiplication of coli-aerogenes bacteria in purified mussels failed.
'Enrichment' of sea water by repeated re-use for storage of successive lots of mussels, in conjunction with sand filtration and aeration under conditions equivalent to 60 weeks of approved purification, did not promote the growth of coli-aerogenes bacteria.
A culture of Salmonella typhi and Salm. paratyphi B survived for a few days only in sea water favourable to the slow multiplication of Bacterium coli type I.     

STUDIES IN THE RELATIONSHIP OF EELWORMS AND BACTERIA TO CERTAIN PLANT DISEASES

Two types of organism are known to be present in strawberry plants suffering from cauliflower disease, namely, eelworms, Aphelenchoides ritzema-bosi and/or Aphelenchoides fragariae , and a bacterium, Corynebacterium fascians. Neither type, inoculated separately, has consistently reproduced the disease.
An experimental investigation of a possible obligate etiological relationship between the eelworm and the bacterium is described, in which Aphelenchoides ritzema-bosi and several strains of Corynebacterium fascians were inoculated together and separately.
No abnormalities appeared in the absence of the eelworm. Typical cauliflower symptoms were reproduced only by a combination of the eelworm and strains of C. fascians originally isolated from cauliflower strawberries. Small alaminate leaves and enations appeared in all treatments where the eelworm was introduced, including those where no bacteria were co-inoculated. Subsequent isolations, however, demonstrated the presence of contaminant strains of C. fascians in the latter plants. The severity of the enation symptom was related to the presence of a particular strain of C. fascians , but the alaminate leaves showed no such correlation. Evidence on the source of the contaminant strains found in the experimental plants is discussed.
In parallel field investigations it was established that eelworm-infested strawberries showing no cauliflower symptom frequently bore alaminate leaves, with which C. fascians was consistently associated. It is suggested therefore that cauliflower is simply the least frequent of a range of symptoms of a bacterial disease endemic in strawberry plants infested with Aphelenchoides spp.     

SKELETAL SUSPENSION IN THE TREATMENT OF DECUBITI

In the usual sacral decubitus, pressure may be relieved by skeletal suspension from Kirschner wires placed in the ilian crests. Pressure sores over the scapulae and thoracic spine may be handled by placing Kirschner wires through the clavicles. Both of these methods lend themselves to the preoperative care of a patient being prepared for the plastic closure of a decubitus.