Proteus 7.11
Jason
Throat cultures were taken in thirty-seven cases of burned patients, and also, at the same time, from twenty-three healthy persons. The results showed that the essential oro-pharyngeal flora in healthy persons were Neisseria (65.7%) and Streptococcus viridans (14.3%), and Staphylococcus aureus was obtained occasionally. In twenty-five out of thirty-seven patients dominant growth of invaders was observed. The prominent aerobic bacteria in patients included Serratia (9.33%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8.44%) and Proteus (7.11%). The positive rate of fungi was as high as 75.1%, of which Candida was the most commonly found organism. In 7 patients the number of bacteria in the throat was in excess of 108/cm2. Of these 7 patients, 4 died. Quantitative bacterial count of lungs were taken in 3 non-survivors, and the bacterial count was over 10(5)/g. The bacteria in the lungs were as same as the predominantly colonized bacteria in the throat, and in a part of cases were the same as the systemically disseminated bacteria. The study of the throat flora is simple, its result might help the prediction of pulmonary infection.
Paleozoic granitic plutons in Downeast Maine intruded between 420 and 370 Ma that contain variable amounts of uranium and its decay products, some of which are in groundwater. A large fraction of drinking water is derived from groundwater from wells in these granites. Exposure to radionuclides in the uranium decay chain can lead to a number of adverse health effects. A key question is where these radionuclides are located in the granite and how easily they can enter groundwater. A critical issue is whether uranium is in minerals or along grain boundaries (or both). Uranium and other elements within groundwater and rock were examined in four granites: Gouldsboro (420 Ma), the S-type Corea granite (376 Ma) which is a rapakivi granite, Tunk Lake, (366 Ma) an s-type concentrically zoned granite, and the Lucerne (370 Ma), an s-type biotite granite. In situ gamma spectroscopy provides an overall radioactivity (and U, Th, and K) of 8.2 μR/hr for the Gouldsboro granite, 1.6 μR/hr for the Gouldsboro mafic dikes, 18.0 μR/hr for the Corea, 21.1 μR/hr for the Tunk Lake, and 28.7 μR/hr for the Lucerne. Radon emanation from crushed samples was measured using a RAD7 were found to be 5.7 for the Gouldsboro granite, 0.7 for the Gouldsboro mafic dikes, 12.0 for the Corea, 35.4 for the Tunk Lake, and 41.0 for the Lucerne. Groundwater samples from the Gouldsboro and Corea pluton were analyzed by ICPMS to determine their geochemistry. Uranium concentration increases with well depth, with shallow wells having 0.00 to 0.28 ppb, and deeper drilled wells having 0.03 to 7.11 ppb. Crushed samples from each pluton were leached using 2 M HNO3 and 2 M HCl, and the leachate was analyzed on the ICP-MS. The 234U/238U ratio in the leachate can be used to evaluate whether the uranium is in mineral grains or along grain boundaries. The Corea, Tunk Lake, and Lucerne plutons had elevated 234U/238U ratios from the leaching that may be related to available uranium on grain boundaries. The Corea and Tunk Lake granites produce more radon than expected, which could be due to uranium on the grain boundaries, and this inference is supported by the leaching result of higher 234U/238U ratios. Thus, some of these granites may present a bigger challenge to public health because the uranium is more easily liberated.