Effects of pulp bleach plant effluents on hepatic xenobiotic biotransformation enzymes in fish: Laboratory and field studies

The present preliminary report on studies of the influence of pulp bleach plant effluents on hepatic biotransformation enzymes in fish is a part of a major characterisation of biochemical and physiological effects of effluents from pulp industries in Sweden. Our studies on the xenobiotic biotransformation enzymes demonstrate, so far, that the pulp effluents have the potential to strongly induce 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity (EROD) in fish liver and that fish living in the receiving water of an effluent from a pulp bleach plant have induced hepatic EROD activities as well as higher hepatic UDP glucuronyltransferase activities than those living in an unpolluted area. It is thus apparent that measures of induction of biotransformation enzymes in fish liver may be a useful approach in monitoring the presence of potential hazardous compounds released from pulp industries.     

Comparison of cytochrome P450 in three butterflyfish species: Ecological implications of elevated CYP2B and CYP3A in Chaetodon capistratus

The relationship between cytochrome P450 and feeding on terpenoid-rich gorgonian corals was investigated in a species of tropical butterflyfish and compared with two other sympatric congeners that do not feed on gorgonians. Fish were collected from non-polluted waters in Belize and the levels of two cytochrome P450 isozymes (CYP2B and CYP3A) were immunoquantitated in addition to quantification of total P450. Chaetodon capistratus regularly feeds on gorgonian corals and has higher levels of total hepatic microsomal cytochrome P450 than C. ocellatus or C. striatus. The content of hepatic P450 (0.588–0.794 nmol mg⁻¹) in C. capistratus is among the highest ever reported in teleosts from non-polluted waters and is significantly greater than detected in C. ocellatus or C. striatus. Chaetodon capistratus also had a larger hepatic index (g liver per g fish) and more microsomal protein (mg protein per g liver), factors that translate into 3.3- to 8-fold more total P450 per g fish. Sexual differences in total P450 were observed between male and female C. capistratus, but not among the other species. The contents of proteins detected by immunoassay with polyclonal anti-scup P450B (CYP2B) and anti-human P4503A (CYP3A) were 2- to 10-fold and 2- to 20-fold greater, respectively, in C. capistratus than in the congeneric species. CYP2 and CYP3 gene families in mammals are thought to have evolved partially in response to dietary allelochemicals. These results suggest that these P450 isozymes may also be important in marine teleosts that feed on terpenoid-rich prey.     

Dynamics of ship collisions

This paper described a procedure for simulation of the outer dynamics in ship collisions.The simulation procedure is derived using the transient equations for the horizontal motion of a ship. The hydrodynamic forces acting on the ships' hull during the collision are calculated by a strip method, where the forces acting on each section are described by means of unit response functions. These functions are determined by cosine transformation of the sectional dampings. The sectional added masses and dampings, and thereby also the sectional unit response functions, are calculated by an approximate method. The deformations of the slip structures during the collisions are modelled as non-linear springs.The resulting system of non-linear equations is solved using a numerical time-integration procedure.A number of different collision situations are simulated by means of the procedure.     

Three-dimensional inversion of marine magnetic anomalies: Implications for crustal accretion along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (28°–31°30′ N)

We present magnetic field data collected over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the vicinity of the Atlantis Fracture Zone and extending out to 10 Ma-old lithosphere. We calculated a magnetization distribution which accounts for the observed magnetic field by performing a three-dimensional inversion in the presence of bathymetry. Our results show the well-developed pattern of magnetic reversals over our study area. We observe a sharp decay in magnetization from the axis out to older lithosphere and we attribute this decay to progressive low temperature oxidation of basalt. In crust which is 10 Ma, we observe an abrupt increase in magnetic field intensity which could be due to an increase in the intensity of magnetization or thickness of the magnetic source layer. We demonstrate that because the reversal epoch was of unusually long duration, a two-layer model comprised of a shallow extrusive layer and a deeper intrusive layer with sloping polarity boundaries can account for the increase in the amplitude of anomaly 5. South of the Atlantis Fracture Zone, high magnetization is correlated with bathymethic troughts at segment end points and lower magnetization is associated with bathymetric highs at segment midpoints. This pattern can be explained by a relative thinning of the magnetic source layer toward the midpoint of the segment. Thickening of the source layer at segment endpoints due to alteration of lower oceanic crust could also cause this pattern. Because we do not observe this pattern north of the fracture zone, we suggest it is a result of the nature of crustal formation process where mantle upwelling is focused. South of the fracture zone, reversals along discontinuity traces only continue to crust 2 Ma old. In crust >2 Ma, we observe bands of high, positive magnetization along discontinuity traces. We suggest that within the discontinuity traces, a high, induced component of magnetization is produced by serpentinized lower crust/upper mantle and this masks the contribution of basalts to the magnetic anomaly signal.     

Bathymetry of Molloy Deep: Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland

The sea floor of Fram Strait, the over 2500 m deep passage between the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, is part of a complex transform zone between the Knipovich mid-oceanic ridge of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge of the Arctic Ocean. Because linear magnetic anomalies formed by sea-floor spreading have not been found, the precise location of the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American plate is unknown in this region. Systematic surveying of Fram Strait with SEABEAM and high resolution seismic profiling began in 1984 and continued in 1985 and 1987, providing detailed morphology of the Fram Strait sea floor and permitting better definition of its morphotectonics. The 1984 survey presented in this paper provided a complete set of bathymetric data from the southernmost section of the Svalbard Transform, including the Molloy Fracture Zone, connecting the Knipovich Ridge to the Molloy Ridge; and the Molloy Deep, a nodal basin formed at the intersection of the Molloy Transform Fault and the Molloy Ridge. This nodal basin has a revised maximum depth of 5607 m water depth at 79°8.5N and 2°47E.