Nitrogen cycling in Sabine Lake

As a part of continuing efforts to investigate nitrogen cycling in Texas estuaries, denitrification, nitrogen fixation, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and sediment oxygen demand were measured in Sabine Lake, Texas. Estuarine phytoplankton production can be limited by N availability, and sediments often are an important source of dissolved inorganic N ... . Denitrification transforms combined N to gaseous forms ... . These end-products represent unavailable nutrient sources to most estuarine producers (e.g., phytoplankton and bacteria; Howarth et al. 1988). Thus, denitrification may drive systems toward N limitation (Seitzinger 1990). The purposes of this study were to evaluate the importance of denitrification in nitrogen cycling and examine environmental conditions influencing nitrogen cycling in Sabine Lake. A membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS) for dissolved gas measurement and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system for ammonium isotope measurements were used to quantify denitrification, N-fixation, DNRA, and sediment oxygen demand. Four sampling trips to Sabine Lake were made in June, September, December 2000 and March 2001. Here, we report water column measurements and incubation experiment results.Final report submitted to: The Texas Water Development Board, contract #2000-483-337July 2001Marine Scienc

Substance P-expressing excitatory interneurons in the mouse superficial dorsal horn provide a propriospinal input to the lateral spinal nucleus

The superficial dorsal horn (laminae I and II) of the spinal cord contains numerous excitatory and inhibitory interneurons, and recent studies have shown that each of these groups can be divided into several neurochemically distinct populations. Although it has long been known that some neurons in this region have intersegmental (propriospinal) axonal projections, there have been conflicting reports concerning the number of propriospinal cells and the extent of their axons. In addition, little is known about the neurochemical phenotype of propriospinal neurons or about the termination pattern of their axons. In the present study we show, using retrograde tracing, that around a third of lamina I–II neurons in the lumbar enlargement project at least five segments cranially. Substance P-expressing excitatory neurons are over-represented among these cells, accounting for one-third of the propriospinal neurons. In contrast, inhibitory interneurons and excitatory PKCγ neurons are both under-represented among the retrogradely labelled cells. By combining viral vector-mediated Cre-dependent anterograde tracing with immunocytochemistry, we provide evidence that the lateral spinal nucleus (LSN), rather than the superficial dorsal horn, is the main target for axons belonging to propriospinal substance P-expressing neurons. These findings help to resolve the discrepancies between earlier studies and have implications for the role of the LSN in pain mechanisms

Multilayered Al/CuO thermite formation by reactive magnetron sputtering: Nano versus micro

Multilayered Al/CuO thermite was deposited by a dc reactive magnetron sputtering method. Pure Al and Cu targets were used in argon–oxygen gas mixture plasma and with an oxygen partial pressure of 0.13 Pa. The process was designed to produce low stress (<50 MPa) multilayered nanoenergetic material, each layer being in the range of tens nanometer to one micron. The reaction temperature and heat of reaction were measured using differential scanning calorimetry and thermal analysis to compare nanostructured layered materials to microstructured materials. For the nanostructured multilayers, all the energy is released before the Al melting point. In the case of the microstructured samples at least 2/3 of the energy is released at higher temperatures, between 1036 and 1356 K