The relationships between particulate and soluble alkaline phosphatase activities and the concentration of phosphorus dissolved in the seawater of Toulon Bay (NW Mediterranean)

The activities of particulate and soluble phosphatase were analyzed monthly for 1 year in the coastal ecosystems of the NW Mediterranean Sea. The mean contribution of the particulate activity increased from 56% at an MUF-P concentration of 30 μM to 77% at 0.04 μM. This particulate activity was negatively correlated with the DIP, DOP and TDP concentrations when the activities were related to the seawater volume, chlorophyll a or the protein concentration. The TDP correlations were highly significant (p: 0.001). The DOP correlations were significant (p: 0.04) and became highly significant (p: 0.009) at low DIP concentrations (<0.13 μM). The DIP correlations were significant (p: 0.04) only at low DOP concentrations (<0.18 μM). Thus, the effects of seawater DIP and DOP were found to be linked. The soluble activity exhibited distinct phosphatase fractions with high (0.5–29.5 μM) and low (0.02–2 μM) Km values, but none exhibited significant correlations with phosphorus compounds.     

Oxidation of Elemental Mercury in the Atmosphere; Constraints Imposed by Global Scale Modelling

We use the global mercury model published by Bergan et al. (1999) to evaluate the potential role of ozone and the hydroxyl radical as gas phase oxidants for the oxidation of elemental mercury in the atmosphere. The magnitude of natural and man-made mercury emissions are taken from recent literature estimates. We consider only two mercury reservoirs, elemental mercury, Hg⁰, and the more soluble divalent form, HgII. Wet and dry deposition of HgII is explicitly treated.Applying monthly mean fields of ozone for the oxidation of gas phase Hg⁰ and using the reaction rate by Hall (1995) yields a global transformation of Hg⁰ to HgII which is too slow to keep the simulated concentration of Hg⁰ near observed values. This shows that there must be additional important removal processes for Hg⁰ or that the reaction rate proposed by Hall (1995) is too slow. A simulation in which the oxidation rate was artificially increased, so that the global turn-over time of Hg⁰ is one year and the simulated average concentration of Hg⁰ realistic, produces latitudinal and seasonal variations in Hg⁰ that do not support the hypothesis that gas phase reaction with O₃ is the major oxidation process for Hg⁰.Recent studies indicate that OH may be an important gas phase oxidant for Hg⁰ (Sommar et al., 2001). Using OH as the sole oxidantand applying the oxidation rate by Sommar et al., we calculate aconcentration of Hg⁰ well below (about a factor of three) the observations. By prescribing a slower rate, corresponding to a turn-over time of Hg⁰ of one year, we calculate concentrations of both Hg⁰ in surface air and HgII in precipitation which correspond reasonably well, both in magnitude and temporal variation, with seasonal observations in Europe and North America. This result supports the suggestion that the oxidation by OH is an important pathway for the removal of Hg⁰. In view of the uncertainties associated with our calculations, this conclusion should still be regarded as tentative.     

Speciation of Polysulfides and Zerovalent Sulfur in Sulfide-rich Water Wells in Southern and Central Israel

Zerovalent sulfur and inorganic polysulfides were determined in nine sulfide-rich water wells in central and southern Israel. Although the two locations belong to the same aquifer, they are characterized by different pH and hydrogen sulfide levels. Hydrogen sulfide in the central Israel wells ranged between 19 and 32 μM, and the pH was 7.26 ± 0.07. The southern basin is characterized by lower water circulation, lower pH (around 6.8), and higher hydrogen sulfide levels (>470 μM). Polysulfides were determined by a rapid single-phase methylation using methyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (methyl triflate) reagent. The summary polysulfide concentration for S₄²⁻–S₇²⁻ species was found to be around 0.14–0.75 μM in the central region of Israel and substantially higher, 2.3–4.6 μM in the southern region. The sum of polysulfide zerovalent sulfur and colloidal sulfur was quantitatively detected by cyanide derivatization and compared to polysulfide sulfur determined by methyl triflate derivatization and to the chloroform extraction of zerovalent sulfur. A method for the determination of sulfur undersaturation level—the ratio between dissolved elemental sulfur and its equilibrium concentration in the presence of solid sulfur—based on the observed levels of the major polysulfide species is described. The observed polysulfide speciation was compared with the predicted speciation under sulfur saturation conditions taking into account the water temperature, its ionic strength, and pH. Criteria for sulfur saturation versus unsaturated conditions were established based on (1) the chain length dependence of the ratio between the observed polysulfide concentrations and their predicted value under sulfur saturated conditions, and (2) the difference between the concentration of zerovalent sulfur, as determined by cyanolysis, and the total polysulfide sulfur. According to this dual criterion five of the water wells were classified as being undersaturated with respect to sulfur, though for all the examined water wells the majority of the zerovalent sulfur was in the form of polysulfide sulfur.     

Absolute Rate Coefficients for the Gas-Phase Reactions of NO3 Radical with a Series of Monoterpenes at T = 298 to 433 K

The aim of this work is to study the reactivity of some naturally emitted terpenes, 2-carene, sabinene, myrcene, -phellandrene, d-limonene, terpinolene and -terpinene, towards NO3 radical to evaluate the importance of these reactions in the atmosphere and their atmospheric impact. The experiments with these monoterpenes have been carried out under second-order kinetic conditions over the range of temperature 298–433 K, using a discharge flow system and monitoring the NO3 radical by Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF). This work is the first temperature dependence study for the reactions of the nitrate radical with the above-mentioned monoterpenes. The measured rate constants at 298 K for the reaction of NO3 with such terpenes are as follows: 2-carene, 16.6 ± 1.8, sabinene 10.7 ± 1.6, myrcene 12.8 ± 1.1, -phellandrene 42 ± 10, d-limonene 9.4 ± 0.9, terpinolene 52 ± 9 and -terpinene 24 ± 7, in units of 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. The proposed Arrhenius expressions, for the reactions of NO3 with 2-carene, sabinene, myrcene and -phellandrene are, respectively k1 = (1.4 ± 0.7) × 10-12 exp[(741 ± 190/T)] (cm3 molecule-1 s-1), k2=(2.3 ± 1.3) × 10-10 exp[–(940 ± 200/T)] (cm3 molecule-1 s-1), k3 = (2.2 ± 0.2) × 10-12 exp[(523 ± 35/T)] (cm3 molecule1 s-1) and k4 = (1.9 ± 1.3) × 10-9 exp[–(1158 ± 270/T)] (cm3 molecule-1 s-1). A decrease in the rate constants when raising the temperature has also been found for the reaction of d-limonene with NO3 while an increase in the rate constant with temperature has been observed for the reactions of terpinolene and -terpinene with NO3. Tropospheric half-lives for these terpenes have been calculated at night and during the day for typical NO3 and OH concentrations showing that both radicals provide an effective tropospheric sink for these compounds and that the night-time reaction with NO3 radical can be an important, if not dominant, loss process for these naturally emitted organics and for NO3 radicals.     

几种重组别藻蓝蛋白的抗氧化活性

藻胆蛋白是某些藻类特有的捕光色素蛋白,其中天然别藻蓝蛋白、藻蓝蛋白的抗氧化活性已经被证明。实验以2,2-盐酸脒基丙烷(AAPH)为自由基生成者,应用藏红花素退色反应为检测清除氢过氧自由基的方法,探讨了在大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)中表达并纯化的带有6×His(6×组氨酸)标签和带有麦芽糖结合蛋白(MBP)标签的重组别藻蓝蛋白及其α、β亚基的抗氧化活性。结果表明,带有His标签的6×Hisα-APC、6×Hisβ-APC和6×His-APC均显示出一定的清除氢过氧自由基的能力,其中6×Hisβ-APC清除氢过氧自由基的IC50值可达到27.2 mg/L,Ka/Kc(氢过氧自由基与重组别藻蓝蛋白和藏红花素反应的速度常数比)达到1.24,大于带有色素基团的天然APC清除氢过氧自由基能力(IC5057.5 mg/L);而带有MBP标签的重组别藻蓝蛋白亚基MBPα-APC和MBPβ-APC和MBP-APC(rAPC)则无明显的清除能力。结果首次证实了脱辅基蛋白具有清除氢过氧自由基能力,因而在天然藻胆蛋白中脱辅基蛋白是清除自由基的贡献者之一,这为进一步研究重组别藻蓝蛋白的抗肿瘤机理提供了线索。     

半透产O_2￣(·-)体系的建立

原有的产Ｏ·－２体系不适宜用作生物大分子的损伤研究。本实验以半透膜将产Ｏ·－２液相与待作用的样品液相分隔,使产Ｏ·－２液相中的组分选择性地透过至样品液相,对样品进行作用。这种半透产Ｏ·－２体系非常适于蛋白质、核酸等生物大分子损伤后的结构变化分析研究。本文给出了该体系用于生物大分子损伤以及结构变化研究的实验常数     

小球藻EC04产胞内多糖条件优化及抗氧化活性研究

小球藻胞内多糖等活性物质具有多种重要生物活性和生理功能。为提高小球藻EC04胞内多糖的产率, 采用单因素实验和L₉(3 ⁴)正交实验优化对其培养条件进行优化。在暗光比12∶12、温度24±1℃和2000Lux光照条件下, EC04产胞内多糖的最佳条件为: MgSO₄·7H₂O浓度112.5mg·L ^-1, K₂HPO₄浓度60mg·L ^-1, NaNO₃浓度1.2g·L ^-1, 维生素B₁浓度0.5mg·L ^-1, 维生素B₁₂浓度0.1μg·L ^-1。在此条件下, EC04产糖率为271.74mg·g ^-1, 细胞密度为48.027×10 ⁶cells·mL ^-1, 与基础培养基相比分别提高了97.49%和34.91%。添加VB₁、VB₁₂等也在不同程度上影响小球藻胞内多糖产率。对所提取胞内多糖进行抗氧化活性初探, 结果表明其具有一定的自由基的清除能力, 对DPPH·(1-二苯基-2-三硝基苯肼)和·OH(羟自由基)的最大清除率分别达到了82.32%和64.27%。     

Study on Treating Halobios Pollution by Hydroxyl Radical

Human beings are facing a serious environmental crisis which is even threatening their existence. Therefore, many scholars propose the concept of advanced oxidation method (technology or process, abbr. AOP or AOT). The advanced oxidation method includes the process of producing hydroxyl radicals (OH·) and a series of chain reactions excited by OH·. The radicals can attack various kinds of pollutants and microorganisms in water and finally decompose them into CO2, H2O and inorganic salt…     

Conversion rates of surface HOx radicals in Beijing City

Surface OH radical concentration in Beijing City was measured by impregnated filter trapping technique-high performance liquid chromatography (IFT-HPLC). The observed concentration of OH radical showed obvious diurnal and seasonal variations, with maximum readings at noon or afternoon, ∼80×10⁶OH/cm³ in summer and ∼20×10⁶-40×10⁶OH/cm³ in fall. On the basis of measured data, the reaction rates related to the photochemical process of HO_X (OH+HO₂) were derived and characteristics of atmospheric chemical processes in the city were analyzed. The results showed that conversion rates of atmospheric OH and HO₂ in the summer of Beijing City were about 700×10⁶ molecule/(cm³·s) and 600×10⁶molecule/(cm³·s), respectively. And the net production of OH in the air of the city mainly originate from the photolysis of the gaseous HNO₂, and the main sink of OH were the photochemical reactions with VOCs, NO₂, HCHO and CO. It was different from the clean area. Foundation item: Under the auspices of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40075026) Biography: REN xin-rong (1973 -), male, a native of Zhejiang Province, Ph. D., now a postdoctorship in Pennsylvania State University, USA, specialized in the reaction kinetics of atmospheric environment. E-mail: ren@essc.psu.edu     

Study on the Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Sea Cucumber （Paracaudina chinens vat.） Gelatin Hydrolysate

Gelatin from the sea cucumber （Paracaudina chinens var.） was hydrolyzed by bromelain and the hydrolysate was found to have a high free radical scavenging activity. The hydrolysate was fractionated through an ultrafiltration membrane with 5 kDa molecular weight cutoff （MWCO）. The portion （less than 5 kDa） was further separated by Sephadex G-25. The active peak was collected and assayed for free radical scavenging activity. The scavenging rates for superoxide anion radicals （O2·^-） and hydroxyl radicals （·OH） of the fraction with the highest activity were 29.02% and 75.41%, respectively. A rabbit liver mitochondrial free radical damage model was adopted to study the free radical scavenging activity of the fraction. The results showed that the sea cucumber gelatin hydrolysate can prevent the damage of rabbit liver and mitochondria.