[1] We compare observations of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) by polar-orbiting satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) with plasma density measurements from the Republic of China Satellite (ROCSAT-1) in a low-inclination orbit. DMSP data were acquired in the evening sector at low magnetic latitudes between 1989 and 2002. ROCSAT-1 plasma densities were measured in March and April of 2000 and 2002. Observations of individual EPBs detected by both ROCSAT-1 and DMSP were well correlated when satellite orbital paths crossed the same longitude within approximately ±15 min. We compiled a statistical database of ROCSAT-1 EPB occurrence rates sorted by magnetic local time (MLT), magnetic latitude, and geographic longitude. The rate of ROCSAT-1 EPB encounters at topside altitudes rose rapidly after 1930 MLT and peaked between 2000 and 2200 MLT, close to the orbital planes of DMSP F12, F14, and F15. EPB encounter rates have Gaussian distributions centered on the magnetic equator with half widths of $8°. Longitudinal distributions observed by ROCSAT-1 and DMSP are qualitatively similar, with both showing significantly fewer occurrences than expected near the west coast of South America. A chain of GPS receivers extending from Colombia to Chile measured a west-to-east gradient in S4 indices that independently confirms the existence of a steep longitudinal gradient in EPB occurrence rates. We suggest that precipitation of energetic particles from the inner radiation belt causes the dearth of EPBs. Enhancements in the postsunset ionospheric conductance near the South Atlantic Anomaly cause a decrease in growth rate for the generalized Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Results indicate substantial agreement between ROCSAT-1 and DMSP observations and provide new insights on EPB phenomenology.

[1] It is well known that the interplanetary electric field can penetrate to the low-latitude ionosphere. It is generally believed that the penetration of electric fields can last only for $30 min because of the shielding effect in the ring current. In this paper we present the observations of the dayside ionospheric electric field enhancements at middle and low latitudes in association with reorientations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). In six cases, the eastward electric field in the dayside equatorial ionosphere, measured by the Jicamarca incoherent scatter radar, was enhanced for 2-3 hours after the IMF turned southward and remained continuously southward. In one case the eastward electric field in the dayside midlatitude ionosphere, measured by the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar, was continuously enhanced for $10 hours during southward IMF. Since Millstone Hill is close to the equatorward boundary of the auroral zone during magnetic storms, the penetration electric field there may be different from that at the equatorial ionosphere. The most striking feature of the measurements is that the enhancements of the ionospheric electric field can last for many hours without significant decay. The electric field enhancements in the middle-and low-latitude ionosphere are closely related to magnetic activity and occur during the main phase of magnetic storms. The observations show that the interplanetary electric field can continuously penetrate to the low-latitude ionosphere without shielding for many hours as long as the strengthening of the magnetic activity is going on under storm conditions. Citation: Huang, C.-S., J. C. Foster, and M. C. Kelley (2005), Long-duration penetration of the interplanetary electric field to the low-latitude ionosphere during the main phase of magnetic storms,

All mammals produce heparin, a negatively charged glycosaminoglycan that is a major constituent of the secretory granules of mast cells which are found in the peritoneal cavity and most connective tissues. Although heparin is one of the most studied molecules in the body, its physiological function has yet to be determined. Here we describe transgenic mice, generated by disrupting the N-deacetylase/N-sulphotransferase-2 gene, that cannot express fully sulphated heparin. The mast cells in the skeletal muscle that normally contain heparin lacked metachromatic granules and failed to store appreciable amounts of mouse mast-cell protease (mMCP)-4, mMCP-5 and carboxypeptidase A (mMC-CPA), even though they contained substantial amounts of mMCP-7. We developed mast cells from the bone marrow of the transgenic mice. Although these cultured cells contained high levels of various protease transcripts and had substantial amounts of mMCP-6 protein in their granules, they also failed to express mMCP-5 and mMC-CPA. Our data show that heparin controls, through a post-translational mechanism, the levels of specific cassettes of positively charged proteases inside mast cells.

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Detailed methodology is described for the reproducible preparation of collagen--glycosaminoglycan (GAG) membranes with known chemical composition. These membranes have been used to cover satisfactorily large experimental full-thickness skin wounds in guinea pigs over the past few years. Such membranes have effectively protected these wounds from infection and fluid loss for over 25 days without rejection and without requiring change or other invasive manipulation. When appropriately designed for the purpose, the membranes have also strongly retarded wound contraction and have become replaced by newly synthesized, stable connective tissue. In our work, purified, fully native collagen from two mammalian sources is precipitated from acid dispersion by addition of chondroitin 6-sulfate. The relative amount of GAG in the coprecipitate varies with the amount of GAG added and with the pH. Since coprecipitated GAG is generally eluted from collagen fibers by physiological fluids, control of the chemical composition of membranes is arrived at by crosslinking the collagen--GAG ionic complex with glutaraldehyde, or, alternately, by use of high-temperature vacuum dehydration. Appropriate use of the crosslinking treatment allows separate study of changes in membrane composition due to elution of GAG by extracellular fluid in animal studies from changes in composition due to enzymatic degradation of the grafted or implanted membrane in these studies. Exhaustive in vitro elution studies extending up to 20 days showed that these crosslinking treatments insolubilize in an apparently permanent manner a fraction of the ionically complexed GAG, although it could not be directly confirmed that glutaraldehyde treatment covalently crosslinks GAG to collagen. By contrast, the available evidence suggests strongly that high-temperature vacuum dehydration leads to formation of chemical bonds between collagen and GAG. Procedures are described for control of insolubilized and "free" GAG in these membranes as well as for control of the molecular weight between crosslinks (Mc). The insolubilized GAG can be controlled in the range 0.5--10 wt. % while "free" GAG can be independently controlled up to at least 25 wt. %; Mc can be controlled in the range 2500--40,000. Studies by infrared spectroscopy have shown that treatment of collagen--GAG membranes by glutaraldehyde or under high-temperature vacuum does not alter the configuration of the collagen triple helix in the membranes. Neither do these treatments modify the native banding pattern of collagen as viewed by electron microscopy. Collagen--GAG membranes appear to be useful as chemically well-characterized, solid macromolecular probes of biomaterial--tissue interactions.

Objectives This study assessed the antibacterial activity of short-, medium-, and long-chain fatty acids against various oral microorganisms. Methods The short-chain fatty acids [formic acid (C1), acetic acid (C2), propionic acid (C3), butyric acid (C4), isobutyric acid (C4), isovaleric acid (C5), hexanoic acid (C6)], medium-chain fatty acids [octanoic acid (C8), capric acid (C10), lauric acid (12)], and long-chain fatty acids [myristic acid (C14), palmitic acid (C16)], were investigated for antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans, S. gordonii, S. sanguis, Candida albicans, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Results The data demonstrated that the fatty acids exhibited patterns of inhibition against oral bacteria with some specificity that appeared related more to the bacterial species that the general structural characteristics of the microorganism. As a group the fatty acids were much less effective against C. albicans than the oral bacteria, with effectiveness limited to hexanoic, octanoic, and lauric acids. Formic acid, capric, and lauric acids were broadly inhibitory for the bacteria. Interestingly, fatty acids that are produced at metabolic end-products by a number of these bacteria, were specifically inactive against the producing species, while substantially inhibiting the growth of other oral microorganisms. Conclusions The results indicate that the antimicrobial activity of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) could influence the microbial ecology in the oral cavity via at least 2 potential pathways. First, the agents delivered exogenously as therapeutic adjuncts could be packaged to enhance a microbial-regulatory environment in the subgingival sulcus. Second, it would be the intrinsic nature of these fatty acid inhibitors in contributing to the characteristics of the microbial biofilms, their evolution, and emergence of species within the biofilms. Further studies on these functions are required to better understand the nature of these potential microbial interactions in the biofilms.

[1] Large-scale plasma density depletions are typically associated with equatorial spread F (ESF) plasma irregularities in the nightside F region, especially in the postsunset sector. Data gathered on the ROCSAT-1 spacecraft reveal numerous cases of localized, discrete plasma density enhancements in the nightside low-latitude region at $600 km altitude. In some cases, nearly simultaneous DMSP observations at $800 km reveal similar density enhancements in the same local time sector. These density enhancement structures occur in association with ESF plasma depletions, i.e., the density enhancements are observed in the same local time where ESF plasma depletions are also present simultaneously. Within these discrete structures, the plasma density may be enhanced by $2-3 times above the background density. The density enhancement regions have sharp, distinct edges with embedded irregularities that appear to have similar scale sizes and density fluctuation spectra as those typically found in plasma depletions. Examples studied here occur at local times about 3 hours after sunset near the equatorial anomaly region, $10°to 20°from the magnetic equator. The ion velocity data within the density enhancement regions show upward plasma drifts perpendicular to the magnetic field, similar to those within adjacent plasma depletion regions. The magnetic field-aligned plasma flows are generally poleward within the density enhancement regions. The observations suggest that density enhancement structures are caused by the polarization electric field which is generated within the equatorial plasma depletions and then maps to the higher latitudes along the magnetic field lines.

Abstract. We compare seasonal and longitudinal distributions of more than 8300 equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) observed during a full solar cycle from 1989-2000 with predictions of two simple models. Both models are based on considerations of parameters that influence the linear growth rate, γ RT , of the generalized Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the context of finite windows of opportunity available during the prereversal enhancement near sunset. These parameters are the strength of the equatorial magnetic field, B eq , and the angle, α, it makes with the dusk terminator line. The independence of α and B eq from the solar cycle phase justifies our comparisons.We have sorted data acquired during more than 75 000 equatorial evening-sector passes of polar-orbiting Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites into 24 longitude and 12 one-month bins, each containing ∼250 samples. We show that: (1) in 44 out of 48 month-longitude bins EPB rates are largest within 30 days of when α=0 • ; (2) unpredicted phase shifts and asymmetries appear in occurrence rates at the two times per year when α≈0 • ; (3) While EPB occurrence rates vary inversely with B eq , the relationships are very different in regions where B eq is increasing and decreasing with longitude. Results (2) and (3) indicate that systematic forces not considered by the two models can become important. Damping by interhemispheric winds appears to be responsible for phase shifts in maximum rates of EPB occurrence from days when α=0 • . Low EPB occurrence rates found at eastern Pacific longitudes suggest that radiation belt electrons in the drift loss cone reduce γ RT by enhancing E-layer Pedersen conductances. Finally, we analyze an EPB event observed during a magnetic storm at a time and place where α≈ −27 • , to illustrate how electric-field penetration from high latitudes can overwhelm the damping effects of weak gradients in Pedersen conductance near dusk.