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Biological processes presented by the metabolic activity of different species of bacteria adhered at the mineral surfaces are a part of the geochemical processes. These bacteria accelerate, by the production of organic acids into the minerals structural bonds, the leaching of elements and their subsequent and gradual transformation to the secondary minerals. Microbial destructions of silicates are studied in order to processing low-quality mineral raw-materials and the remediation of soils, sediments and waters contaminated by industrial pollutants. The samples of material, used in our research, were obtained at 9 deposits of non-metallic raw-materials in Slovakia. The sediment sample was taken from the area of Baikal Lake. The presence of microorganisms in the matrix most frequently was determined by a subsequent isolation of microorganisms and identification of bacterial species presented in the silicate matrix. The species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas genus were the common representative of the microorganisms.

Infection with the virus of hepatitis B is found in haemodialyzed patients many times more frequently than in the normal population and it participates in their morbidity and mortality. It is also an important issue in patients after transplantation of the kidney. With regard to the alarmingly high prevalence of this infection in their haemodialyzation centre the authors analyzed retrospectively the effectiveness of the most successful preventive measure--active immunization--in 84 patients immunized with Engerix B according to the protocol recommended for haemodialyses. They found that: i) active immunization started after the onset of haemodialyzation has a low effectiveness and in patients who do lack protective antibodies anti-HBs before the onset of haemodialysis it is important to look for other preventive measures; ii) a certain effectiveness is achieved only by administration of more than three doses of vaccine.

Developmental dynamics was investigated in the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, E.C. 1.4.1.2.-4) and glutamine synthetase (GS, E.C. 6.3.1.2) in different parts of the digestive tract of lambs, in dependence on the age from 10 to 90 days; the goal of these investigations was to elucidate in greater detail the role of the above enzymes in nitrogen metabolism. The activity of GDH, and of the coenzymes NADH and NADPH, was followed in the digesta because simple organisms (bacteria, fungi, plants) have two glutamate dehydrogenases: they differ from each other by coenzyme specificity, unlike GDH from animal sources which can utilize both NADH coenzyme and NADPH coenzyme (Fahien et al., 1965; Frieden, 1964). The following activities of GDH and GS were found out in trials with lambs at the age of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 90 days, as to the different parts of digestive tract: in the tissues of rumen, omasum, reticulum, spleen, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, int. caecum and colon the activity of GDH (NADH) varied from 0.031 to 0.305 nkat/mg dry matter, in the digesta from 0 to 2.92 nkat/mg dry matter. An investigation of GDH (NADH, NADPH) dynamics in the digesta of lambs showed the relatively high activity of GDH (NADH) in the digesta of colon at the age of 10 days and that of GDH (NADPH) in the digesta of int. caecum. The activity of GDH (NADH) was also found to be high in the digesta of int. caecum at the age of 20 days. In that period the activity of GDH (NADH, NADPH) in the digesta of rumen, omasum and reticulum was zero.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A method of preparing the pure concentrate of epithelium-adherent bacteria in sheep rumen was worked out and it was tested in 24 samples of the rumen wall, obtained from 12 slaughtered sheep. The purity of the bacterial eluate was checked by transmission electron microscopy and negative staining, followed by electron-microscopic evaluation. Besides bacterial cells no residues of feed, epithelium and other undesirable impurities were found out in the eluate. The percent yield of this method was determined by scanning electron microscopy and it made 93.3%. An isolated pure concentrate of the mixture of bacterial cultures, previously adhered to the rumen epithelium, was prepared which can be used for morphological and biochemical studies of this interesting group of rumen bacteria.

The method of the use of the HD 1200-E automatic amino acid analyzer for the separation of amino acids was modified for the determination of 2-6-diaminopimelic acid (DAPA) as a bacterial marker, besides the other amino acids in the acid hydrolyzates of samples of bacteria isolated from the rumen of sheep. The reproducibility of the determination of DAPA in a standard amino acid mixture found in the tests corresponded with the reproducibility of the determination of the other amino acids as indicated by the manufacturer of the apparatus. The lower limit of DAPA determination sensitivity is between 2 and 5 nmol. In samples of bacteria isolated from rumen wall, from feed particles of rumen contents and from rumen fluid, different contents of nitrogen and DAPA were obtained; this is ascribed to the different proportions of bacterial species in the bacterial populations having different functions.