Differential acute toxicity of tetrachlorobenzene isomers to oligochaetes in soil and water: application of the critical body residue concept.

The acute, lethal potency of the 1,2,3,4-, 1,2,4,5- and 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene isomers was compared in the terrestrial and aquatic oligochaetes Eisenia andrei and Tubifex tubifex. 1,2,4,5-TeCB was neither lethal, nor produced any perceptible adverse effects, at lipid normalized concentrations predicted to be lethal according to the well-established critical body residue concept. If a narcotic is defined as a substance capable of inducing narcosis, rather than a substance displaying certain physical or chemical properties (e.g., log K(ow)), then we do not believe these findings challenge the critical body residue because by the former definition, 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene is not a narcotic.

Macro- and microscale rheological properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) aqueous solutions.

Electric conductivity measurements indicated that microviscosities of poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, solutions [up to 10% (w/w)] are comparable to that of pure water (contrary to Walden's rule), but are different (25%) from those determined from diffusion-controlled reaction measurements that coincide with the values obtained using pure water. Energies of activation of fluidity of PVA solutions are found to increase with PVA concentration, whereas those of the diffusion-controlled reactions are independent of PVA concentration. By comparing the macro- and microviscosities, it was concluded that PVA aqueous solutions can be envisioned as dynamic systems comprising hydrated PVA molecules (that affect the macroviscosity) and "interconnected water pools" (located between macromolecules), the rheological properties of which are very similar to that of pure water. Fluorescence depolarization measurements indicated that pool sizes are relatively large, which was corroborated by DSC measurements that showed that each PVA hydroxyl group interacts with no more than two water molecules.

The utilization of bathocuproinedisulfonic acid as a reagent for determining D-glucose and D-galactose levels in glycoconjugates.

A sensitive, rapid, and reliable method for measuring D-glucose and D-galactose levels in glycoconjugates has been developed. In this method, the NAD(P)H produced from the enzymatic oxidation of the monosaccharides is reacted with a CuSO4-bathocuproinedisulfonic acid reagent (Cu-BCS) to produce a color complex absorbing maximally at 486 nm. With galactose dehydrogenase and glucose dehydrogenase serving as the model enzymes, graphs of absorbance versus varying D-glucose or D-galactose concentrations yielded a linear plot from 2.5 to 250 nmol of sugar. Using this procedure, sugar released by acid hydrolysis from lactose, porcine submaxillary mucin and raffinose was quantified. When p-nitrophenyl-alpha-D-glucopyranoside and p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside were acid hydrolyzed and assayed with the Cu-BCS reagent, the amount of sugar released from each of the p-nitrophenyl compounds was found to be equal to the levels of p-nitrophenol in solution. This method is easy to use and with minor modifications can be employed for the quantification of D-glucose and D-galactose in other glycoconjugates.