Surfactant-enhanced remediation technology has shown promising potential for removing residual organics from contaminated soils and groundwater. Using a homologous series of cationic surfactants, alkylpyridinium bromide, it was found that the molar solubilization ratio (MSR) for naphthalene decreases with decreasing carbon number in the hydrophobic tail. In contrast, with nonylphenyl ethoxylate...

The purpose of this work was to analyze the efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner on the control of Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Phyllocnistidae) in laboratory and field trials. In the laboratory, four B. thuringiensis were used: Dipel (commercial formulation) tested at the concentrations of 25 x 10(6) and 25 x 10(8) spores/ml and the isolates K, 6, and 15 (collections of...

All interactions of microorganisms with their environment are surface phenomena, and therewith involve the properties of the microbial cell surface [1] and its possible disguise or hidden identity by an altered appearance. Since appearance is what one initially sees upon first encounter, a disguise always refers to surface properties, like cloths for people and hydrophobicity or charge for micr...

In the absence of an effective vaccine, educational or interventional strategies that decrease sexual transmission of HIV hold the greatest promise for slowing infection rates. Although a safe and effective microbicide could greatly help in this regard, progress in this area has been disappointing with microbicide development often failing to take into account advances in our understanding of h...

We have presented a series of lipid constructs as models of the sperm plasma membrane. We also isolated the plasma membrane from rabbit sperm cells and characterized the lipid composition. The behavior of these various membrane systems was evaluated using a vesicle leakage assay, in which surfactant (nonoxynol-9, N-9; or benzalkonium chloride, BZK) exposure induced membrane permeabilization. Th...