Nitrogen Balance in the Post-Operative Patient Receiving Parenteral Nutrition

Nitrogen balance was measured in patients receiving balanced parenteral nutrition, most of whom were recovering from major surgery involving the alimentary tract. Their pre-operative nutritional status was found to be an important factor in relation to the nitrogen balance that was induced. Positive nitrogen balance did not occur in patients with little or no pre-operative weight loss, but when the weight loss was more than 6 kg. positive or very small negative nitrogen balances were readily induced. The urine creatine/creatinine ratio which is an indirect index of muscle metabolic activity can be used to anticipate the nitrogen balance that may be achieved in a post-operative patient receiving parenteral nutrition.

Quantitative study of fungi in the rhizosphere

Working with dwarf bean plants, the authors studied changes in the lengths of fungal mycelium in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil at different stages of plant growth, using the soil-agar film technique. In general it appears that the stimulation of microbial growth in the rhizosphere was slight in the early stages of plant growth; the length of mycelium in rhizosphere soil increased with increase in vegetative growth of the plants, and decreased markedly at senescence of the plants.Respirometric studies on rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil samples indicated greater activity in rhizosphere soil. The degree of stimulation of activity in rhizosphere soil varied according to the stage of plant growth, with maximum activity corresponding to the stage of maximum vegetative growth of the plants.

Ocular cysticercosis in India

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The initiation of the rhizosphere mycoflora of dwarf bean plants

An attempt was made, using the soil-washing box technique, to obtain detailed information about the initiation of the rhizosphere mycoflora of dwarf bean seedlings.Tabulated information of the fungi isolated from washed non-rhizosphere soil and washed rhizosphere soil from plants during the first 20 days after seed germination is presented together with data of the fungi isolated from the waters in which these soil samples were washed. These data are discussed in relation to previous observations of fungi isolated from rhizospheres by other methods.The results obtained revealed that in the early days after seed germination the rhizosphere mycoflora was qualitatively similar to that of the non-rhizosphere soil. However, a number of distinct differences were discernible between the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere populations even at these early stages of plant growth, namely that Cylindrocarpon radicicola, Humicola grisea, and a sterile sclerotial form (W1) were isolated with increased frequency from the rhizosphere, whereas Trichoderma viride was consistently isolated less frequently from the rhizosphere than from non-rhizosphere soil.