The demonstration of biotin activity for microorganisms of such analogs of biotin as oxybiotin (

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Lactobacillus pentos8us 124-2 is a homolactic bacterium which on hexoses produces almost exclusively lactic acid. It also ferments pentoses, and then necessarily produces other products than lactic acid-mainly acetic acid (Peterson et al., 1922; Fred et al., 1921). It is a very sturdy organism, since it readily ferments such unfavorable sugar-containing materials as acid hydrolyzates of wood, sawdust, and sulfite waste liquor (Marten et al., 1927; Allgeier et al., 1929; Leonard et al., 1948). Its versatility and vigor make it an organism of possible industrial use; hence a study of its nutritional requirements seemed desirable. It is closely related to the organism that is used for vitamin and amino acid assays, Lactobacillu.s arabinosus 17-5, but on the whole appears to be more vigorous than the latter. There are but few reports in the literature concerning the nutritional requirements of this organism. In two papers Snell, Strong, and Peterson (1938, 1939) demonstrated the requirement of L. pentosus 124-2 for pantothenic acid. Snell and Strong (1939) reported that the organism did not need riboflavin, in fact synthesized it. Para-aminobenzoic acid was reported as an essential metabolite by Snell and Mitchell (1942-43). These same authors (1941) reported that the rate of growth was dependent on adenine, but in the presence of uracil part of this effect was nullified. Recently, Dunn and coworkers (1947; Shankman et al., 1947) investigated the vitamin and amino acid requirements of 23 lactic acid organisms, including L. pentosus 124-2. Pantothenic acid, nicotinic acid, and biotin were reported to be essential vitamins. When one amino acid at a time was omitted, they found valine, leucine, isoleucine, cysteine, and glutamic acid to be indispensable to growth as measured by acid production. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS AND RESULTS Culture and inoculum. The organism used in these studies was Lactobacillus pentosus 124-2. The stock culture was carried as a stab in a medium consisting of 0.5 per cent Difco yeast extract, 0.5 per cent glucose, 0.5 per cent sodium acetate, 2 per cent agar, and 0.05 ml of mineral salt solutions A and B per tube (table 1). The inoculum was prepared by transferring cells from a stab culture to 10 ml of medium A (table 1). After 24 hours the culture was centrifuged and the cells

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A study of dialysis costs in five major dialysis centers throughout the United States was conducted in 1973. When available, home, home training, limited care, satellite and in-hospital-full-care dialysis were included. The study's objective was to determine the cost per dialysis for each separate dialysis modality. All costs associated with the dialysis procedure were included. Using a uniform methodology, costs were collected on four care levels which vary significantly from each other in the use of direct labor. They are as follows: home, home care training, limited care and full care. Costs were also segregated into five expenditure categories: personnel, supplies, travel, equipment and other. They study was designed to show the range of costs in five "representative" centers throughout the country, but not to provide statistical "average" of dialysis costs. Cost per dialysis ranged from $33 to 66 for the home patient group, $100 to 116 for limited care, $144 to 172 for in-hospital and $146 to 259 for the home training units.