Radiocarbon 14C differentiation of sparkling and carbonated wines

Specific 14C-activities, percent of modern 14C-activity, and calculated percent of fermentation CO2 are presented for CO2 contained in commercial sparkling wines, labeled as champagne or produced by the bulk (charmat) process. These data are given for the production years 1976-1982. The survey encompassed effervescent wines produced in Spain, Italy, West Germany, California, and New York. Addition of synthetic CO2 to approximately 40 samples represented as sparkling wines was indicated by low 14C-activities of CO2 in these wines. Data for 14C-activity were also presented for the ethanol distilled from sparkling wines for the years 1977-1980. In all cases, the 14C-activity of ethanol was appropriate to the year of vintage.     

Sighting of el chichon sulfur dioxide clouds with the nimbus 7 total ozone mapping spectrometer

The eruptions of El Chichón volcano on 28 March and 3 and 4 April 1982 were observed by the Nimbus 7 total ozone mapping spectrometer due to strong absorption by volcanic gases at the shortest wavelengths of the spectrometer (312.5 and 317.5 nanometers). These ultraviolet pictures permit a measurement of the volume, dispersion, and drift of volcanic gas clouds. The tropospheric clouds were rapidly dispersed in westerly winds while persistent stratospheric clouds drifted in easterly winds at speeds up to 13 meters per second. The spectral reflectance is consistent with sulfur dioxide absorption and rules out carbon disulfide as a major constituent. A preliminary estimate of the mass of sulfur dioxide deposited in the stratosphere by the large eruptions on 3 and 4 April is 3.3 x 10(6) tons. Prior estimates of volcanic cloud volume were based on extrapolation of locally measured sulfur dioxide concentrations.     

Dynamic visualization of thrombopoiesis within bone marrow

Platelets are generated from megakaryocytes (MKs) in mammalian bone marrow (BM) by mechanisms that remain poorly understood. Here we describe the use of multiphoton intravital microscopy in intact BM to visualize platelet generation in mice. MKs were observed as sessile cells that extended dynamic proplatelet-like protrusions into microvessels. These intravascular extensions appeared to be sheared from their transendothelial stems by flowing blood, resulting in the appearance of proplatelets in peripheral blood. In vitro, proplatelet production from differentiating MKs was enhanced by fluid shear. These results confirm the concept of proplatelet formation in vivo and are consistent with the possibility that blood flow-induced hydrodynamic shear stress is a biophysical determinant of thrombopoiesis.     

Solar proton event: influence on stratospheric ozone

Large-scale reductions in the ozone content of the middle and upper stratosphere over the polar cap regions were associated with the major solar proton event of 4 August 1972. This reduction, which was determined from measurements with the backscattered ultraviolet experiment on the Nimbus 4 satellite, is interpreted as being due to the catalytic destruction of ozone by odd-nitrogen compounds (NO(x)) produced by the event.     

Genetic Analysis of Egyptian Date (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoenix dactylifera</Emphasis> L.) Accessions Using AFLP Markers

Forty-seven samples of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) collected from eight locations in Egypt were studied using four sets of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers with near infrared fluorescence labeled primers. These samples belonged to 21 named accessions and 9 of unknown pedigrees. A total of 350 bands were scored and 233 (66.6%) were polymorphic. Twenty-seven Egyptian accessions and ‘Medjool’and ‘Deglet Noor’accessions from California could beclassified into the major cluster. This major cluster may represent a major group of date palm germplasm in North Africa. There were four other clusters, each containing one or two accessions. The variety ‘Halawy’and one accession of unknown provenance were most likely from hybridization between two clusters. Six groups of accessions of which had the same names, revealed similar but not identical AFLP profiles suggesting these accessions might derive from seedlings rather thanthrough clonal offshoot propagation.     

Aldicarb sulfoxidation by plant root extracts

Soybean root homogenates were found to oxidize aldicarb to aldicarb sulfoxide. Fractionation of soybean root homogenate indicates that the enzyme(s) which oxidize aldicarb to the sulfoxide are largely (63%) in the 25,000g supernatant. In vitro studies of the 25,000g supernatant showed a linear reaction rate at 24 and 34°C for periods of up to 2 and 1 hr, respectively, at the pH optimum of 5.5. Bean and soybean root 25,000g supernatants were the most active on a per milligram of protein basis followed by corn, sorghum, barley, and tomato (8–27 nmol/mg of protein/hr). A 140-fold purification of soybean root aldicarb sulfoxidase was achieved. In vitro studies indicated that methomyl, methiocarb, phorate, Counter, fensulfothion, fenthion, Nemacur, EPTC, vernolate, carboxin, dl-methionine, l-cysteine, l-methionyl-l-serine, thiodiglycolic acid, lipoic acid, thiourea, and thioacetic acid when present at a 10:1 ratio with aldicarb significantly inhibited soybean root aldicarb sulfoxidation.     

Ultrastructural study of the equine cecum during onset of laminitis

The morphologic and pathologic changes which occurred within the cecal mucosa of 4 horses during the onset of laminitis were determined from cecal biopsy materials obtained via a cecal fistula; the laminitis was induced with carbohydrate overload. The cecal epithelial mucosa specimens were obtained at 0 (base line), 24, 32, 48, and 72 hours after horses were given carbohydrate overload, and these were fixed and subsequently photographed. Changes in the cecal epithelium were examined by transmission electron and scanning electron microscopies. These histopathologic changes indicated that the mucosal barrier was substantially damaged by the carbohydrate overload.