Microbial diversity and activity in seafloor brine lake sediments (Alaminos Canyon block 601, Gulf of Mexico).

The microbial communities thriving in deep-sea brines are sustained largely by energy rich substrates supplied through active seepage. Geochemical, microbial activity, and microbial community composition data from different habitats at a Gulf of Mexico brine lake in Alaminos Canyon revealed habitat-linked variability in geochemistry that in turn drove patterns in microbial community composition and activity. The bottom of the brine lake was the most geochemically extreme (highest salinity and nutrient concentrations) habitat and its microbial community exhibited the highest diversity and richness indices. The habitat at the upper halocline of the lake hosted the highest rates of sulfate reduction and methane oxidation, and the largest inventories of dissolved inorganic carbon, particulate organic carbon, and hydrogen sulfide. Statistical analyses indicated a significant positive correlation between the bacterial and archaeal diversity in the bottom brine sample and NH4+ inventories. Other environmental factors with positive correlation with microbial diversity indices were DOC, H2 S, and DIC concentrations. The geochemical regime of different sites within this deep seafloor extreme environment exerts a clear selective force on microbial communities and on patterns of microbial activity.

Activity and species composition of aerobic methanotrophic communities in tundra soils.

The low-temperature, methane-oxidizing activities and species composition of methanotrophic communities in various tundra bog soils were investigated by radioisotopic and immunofluorescent methods. Methanotrophic bacteria carried out the methane oxidation process through all horizons of seasonally thawed layers down to permafrost. The highest activity of the process has been observed in the water surface layer of overmoistured soils and in water-logged moss covers. Up to 40% of(14)CH4 added was converted into(14)CO2, bacterial biomass, and organic exometabolites. By immunofluoresecent analysis it was demonstrated that the representatives of I+X (Methylomonas, Methylobacter, andMethylococcus) and II (Methylosinus, Methylocystis) methanotrophic groups occurred simultaneously in all samples at 61.6% and 38.4%, respectively. The number of methane-oxidizing bacteria in the ecosystems studied was 0.1-22.9×10(6) cells per gram of soil. Methanotrophic organisms ranged from 1% to 23% of the total bacterial number.

[Surgical anatomy of the vagus nerves in the vagotomy aspect]. / Khirurgicheskaia anatomiia bluzhdaiushchikh nervov v aspekte vagotomii.

The surgical anatomy of vagus nerves was studied in 25 corpses and in protocols of operations-vagotomies in patients with ulcer disease of the duodenum. The authors consider incomplete vagotomy to be responsible for insufficiently decreased secretion of hydrochloric acid after operation in 24 (23.1%) of 104 patients examined. It was found that both the right and the left vagus nerves had different numbers of trunks and branches. The knowledge of variants of branching and disposition of the vagus nerve branches decreases the risk of incomplete and inadequate vagotomy.