Dual stable isotope abundances unravel trophic position of estuarine nematodes

The role and quantitative importance of free-living nematodes in marine and estuarine soft sediments remain enigmatic for lack of empirical evidence on the feeding habits and trophic position of most nematode species. Here we use natural abundances of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of some abundant nematode species/genera from estuarine intertidal sediments to assess their trophic level and major food sources. In all stations, d15N of different dominant nematode species/genera spanned a range of 3.6 to 6.3 ppt, indicating that at least two trophic levels were represented. The large nematodes Enoplus brevis, Enoploides longispiculosus and Adoncholaimus fuscus consistently had high d15N, in line with mouth-morphology based predictions and empirical evidence on their predacious feeding modes. Daptonema sp., Metachromadora remanei, Praeacanthonchus punctatus and ‘Chromadoridae’ (dominated by Ptycholaimellus ponticus) had comparatively lower d15N, and d13C suggesting that microphytobenthos (MPB) is their major carbon source, although freshly sedimented particulate organic matter may also contribute to their nutrition in silty sediments. The trophic position of Sphaerolaimus sp., a genus with documented predacious feeding mode, was ambiguous. Ascolaimus elongatus had d15N signatures indicating a predacious ecology, which is at variance with expectations from existing feeding type classifications. Our study shows that—despite limitations imposed by the biomass requirements for EA-IRMS (elemental analyser—isotope ratio mass spectrometry) natural isotope abundances of carbon and nitrogen are powerful tools to unravel trophic structure within nematode communities. At the same time, the prominence of different trophic levels results in a large span of d15N, largely invalidating the use of nitrogen isotope abundances to assess food sources and trophic level of whole nematode communities

The Immune System

Modern biotherapy has been in use for some 30 years. The first types of biotherapy were nonspecific stimulators of the immune response, but advances in genetic engineering are allowing the mass production of pure biological products which are now being tested as pharmaceutical agents. Biotherapy connotes the administration of products (1) that are coded by the mammalian genome; (2) that modify the expression of mammalian genes; or (3) that stimulate the immune system. In this chapter the discussion of the immune system will be limited primarily to topics relevant to cancer or autoimmune diseases. Because understanding the new biological agents requires an understanding of both the immune response and the molecular basis of oncogenesis, this chapter first presents a summary of the structure and function of the immune system. Following a discussion of immune responses, and the cells involved in these responses, will be a discussion on the current concepts of oncogenesis, particularly oncogenes and growth factors. Because research efforts are beginning to identify many biological proteins as having a role in autoimmune and other diseases, a brief introduction to autoimmune diseases is also included at the end of the chapter

Autothermal Reforming of Methane with Integrated CO2 Capture in a Novel Fluidized Bed Membrane Reactor. Part 2 Comparison of Reactor Configurations

The reactor performance of two novel fluidized bed membrane reactor configurations for hydrogen production with integrated CO2 capture by autothermal reforming of methane (experimentally investigated in Part 1) have been compared using a phenomenological reactor model over a wide range of operating conditions (temperature, pressure, H2O/CH4 ratio and membrane area). It was found that the methane combustion configuration (where part of the CH4 is combusted in situ with pure O2) largely outperforms the hydrogen combustion concept (oxidative sweeping combusting part of the permeated H2) at low H2O/CH4 ratios (<2) due to in situ steam production, but gives a slightly lower hydrogen production rate at higher H2O/CH4 ratios due to dilution with combustion products. The CO selectivity was always much lower with the methane combustion configuration. Whether the methane combustion or hydrogen combustion configuration is preferred depends strongly on the economics associated with the H2O/CH4 ratio

Fixed Implant Rehabilitations of the Edentulous Jaw

Wismeyer, D. [Promotor]Belser, U.C. [Promotor