Enhancement of biological wastewater treatment by magnetic field exposure

W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań wpływu pola magnetycznego o indukcji 40 mT na usuwanie związków organicznych, przemiany związków azotu oraz aktywność oddechową mikroorganizmów nitryfikacyjnych podczas oczyszczania ścieków metodą osadu czynnego. Badania realizowano dla dwóch temperatur: w serii I dla 22 ± 2°C i w serii II dla 14 ± 1°C. W obu seriach badania prowadzono w dwóch równolegle pracujących układach laboratoryjnych do hodowli osadu czynnego. W jednym z układów na przewodzie przeznaczonym do recyrkulacji osadu czynnego z osadnika wtórnego do komory napowietrzania zainstalowano jedną parę magnesów stałych, a drugi stanowił układ kontrolny. Badania wykazały, że okresowe eksponowanie osadu czynnego w polu magnetycznym o indukcji 40 mT z wykorzystaniem magnesów stałych nie intensyfikowało eliminacji związków organicznych ze ścieków. Analiza przemian związków azotowych wykazała natomiast, że eliminacja azotu organicznego i Kjeldahla przebiegała efektywniej w układach, w których osad czynny okresowo eksponowano w polu magnetycznym. Potwierdzeniem intensywniejszych przemian związków azotu w układach, w których zainstalowano magnesy, jest również wyższa szybkość nitryfikacji. Badania nad aktywnością oddechową mikroorganizmów osadu czynnego pokazują, że okresowe eksponowanie osadu czynnego w polu magnetycznym o indukcji 40 mT intensyfikowało aktywność oddechową niryfikantów II fazy.In resent years increasing attention has been directed to the possibility of improvement of waste water treatment by static magnetic field. In this paper the results of investigations on the effect of magnetic field at induction 40 mT on organic compounds removal were presented. Moreover, the transformation of nitrogen compounds and the oxygen uptake rate of nitrifying microorganism in activated sludge wastewater treatment process were determined. The research was carried out at two temperatures - 22 ± 2°C (series I) and 14 ± 1°C (series II). The experiments were performed in two simultaneously operating laboratory activated sludge units. In one of the unit a pair of permanent magnets was installed on the pipe used to recycle of activated sludge from the secondary clarifier to the aeration vessel. The second one was a control unit. The process was realized keeping beneficial sludge age for nitrification process in the range from 15 d to 10 d (series I) and from 13 d to 12 d (series II). The dissolved oxygen concentration in the aeration vessel was kept at the level above 2 mgO2/dm3. The data show that the activated sludge exposure to magnetic field did not affect on the organic pollution removal. However, the analysis of nitrogen compounds transformations shows that elimination of organic and Kjeldahl nitrogen was more effective for the unit where activated sludge was exposed to magnetic field. The elimination of organic nitrogen for the unit with magnets was higher from 2 to 7% in the first series and from 4 to 16% in the second series as compare with the control unit. The studies on oxygen uptake rate of activated sludge microorganisms show also that the nitrification process was more effective for unit where magnets were installed. In every measuring day the oxygen uptake rate of the nitrification was higher for unit with magnets as compare with the control unit. The results show that magnetic field could be an improving factor for nitrification of domestic wastewater by activated sludge

The use of Alcaligenes faecalis bacteria in wastewater treatment with activated sludge

W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań dotyczących efektywności usuwania azotu organicznego i amonowego metodą osadu czynnego zaszczepionego bakteriami Alcaligenes faecalis, zdolnymi do prowadzenia procesu nitryfikacji heterotroficznej. Badania prowadzono w temperaturze 17±2°C w dwóch równolegle pracujących laboratoryjnych reaktorach SBR. Przemiany związków azotu badano z wykorzystaniem osadu czynnego zaszczepionego heterotroficznymi nitryfikantami oraz osadu czynnego kontrolnego niezaszczepionego tymi bakteriami. Badania realizowano, utrzymując stosunek ChZT/NKj na poziomie 11±1 i przy obciążeniu osadu czynnego ładunkiem zanieczyszczeń organicznych w zakresie od 0,16 do 0,49 g ChZT/g s.m.·d. W przedstawionych badaniach obserwowano wyższy o 4 do około 8% stopień usunięcia azotu organicznego w reaktorze, w którym osad czynny zaszczepiono bakteriami Alcaligenes faecalis w porównaniu z reaktorem kontrolnym. Odnotowano również w tym reaktorze wyższe szybkości nitryfikacji. Obserwowane różnice szybkości nitryfikacji są stosunkowo niewielkie między reaktorem z osadem czynnym zaszczepionym i niezaszczepionym. Jednakże analiza wykonana testem t-Studenta wykazała, że różnice te są znamienne, co oznacza, że przemiany związków azotu przebiegały efektywniej w reaktorze, w którym osad czynny zaszczepiono heterotroficznymi nitryfikantami Alcaligenes faecalis.In the present investigation we have studied the effectiveness of organic and ammonia nitrogen removal using activated sludge aided by bacteria Alcaligenes faecalis able to carry out heterotrophic nitrification. The experiments were performed at a temperature 17±2°C in two simultaneously operating laboratory sequencing batch reactors. The transformation of nitrogen compounds by non-inoculated activated sludge (control reactor) and activated sludge inoculated with heterotrophic nitrifier was examined. The research was realized keeping COD/TKN value of 11±1 and the loading of activated sludge in the range from 0.16 to 0.49 g COD/g MLSS·d. It was observed that the elimination of organic nitrogen for reactor with activated sludge inoculated with bacteria Alcaligenes faecalis was higher from 4 to 8% compared with control reactor. In this reactor there was also obtained a higher rate of nitrification. The resulting differences in the rate of nitrification are relatively small for reactor with inoculated activated sludge compared with non-inoculated. However, the analysis performed with t-test showed that these differences are significant. This means that the nitrogen compounds transformations were more effective for activated sludge inoculated withheterotrophic nitrifiers Alcaligenes faecalis

Wpływ pola magnetycznego na przemiany związków azotu w procesie oczyszczania ścieków metodą osadu czynnego

In this work, the influence of the magnetic field of induction 40 mT on the transformation of nitrogen compounds in activated sludge wastewater treatment process was determined. The experiment was carried out in unfavorable temperature for nitrification process - 14 ± 1°C in laboratory scale in two continuously operating activated sludge systems in parallel under identical condition. In one of system a pair of permanent magnets was installed on the pipe used to recycle activated sludge. The data show that transformation of nitrogen compounds was more effective in the system, in which the activated sludge periodically exposed to the magnetic field compared to the system which has remained outside the influence of the magnetic field. It has been noted that the oxygen uptake rate of second phase of nitrification was higher by 1.6 to 2.1 times in system with magnets compared to control system.W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań wpływu pola magnetycznego o indukcji 40 mT na przemiany związków azotu podczas oczyszczania ścieków metodą osadu czynnego. Badania prowadzono w niekorzystnej dla procesu nitryfikacji temperaturze - w 14 ± 1°C w skali laboratoryjnej w dwóch równolegle pracujących układach do hodowli osadu czynnego. W jednym z układów na przewodzie przeznaczonym do recyrkulacji osadu czynnego z osadnika wtór nego do komory napowietrzania zainstalowano jedną parę magnesów stałych. Badania wykazały, że przemiany związków azotu przebiegały efektywniej w układzie, w którym osad czynny okresowo eksponowano w polu magnetycznym w porównaniu z układem pozostającym poza wpływem pola magnetycznego. Zaobserwowano, że aktywność oddechowa bakterii II fazy nitryfikacji była wyższa o 1,6 do 2,1 razy w układzie z magnesami w porównaniu z kontrolą

Lymphoma and Leukemia Cell Vulnerabilities and Resistance Identified by Compound Library Screens

Response to anticancer agents is often restricted to subsets of patients. The recognition of factors underlying this heterogeneity and the identification of biomarkers associated with response to drugs would greatly improve the efficacy of drug treatment. Platforms that can comprehensively map drug response in high-throughput ex vivo provide a unique tool to identify associated biomarkers and provide hypotheses for mechanisms underlying variable response. Such screens can be performed on cell lines and short-term cultures of primary cells to take advantage of the respective models' strength, which include, e.g., the ability to silence genes in cell lines and the "indefinite" supply of primary cells where clonal selection can be avoided. Cohorts of such samples represent the natural diversity of cancers, including rarer mutations and combinatorial patterns of mutations.We here summarize a simple and scalable method for the measurement of viability after drug exposure based on ATP measurements as a surrogate for viability, which we use to measure and understand drug response in cell lines and primary cells

HSP90 promotes Burkitt lymphoma cell survival by maintaining tonic B cell receptor signaling.

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B cell neoplasm that is currently treated by intensive chemotherapy in combination with anti-CD20 antibodies. Due to their toxicity, current treatment regimens are often not suitable for elderly patients or for patients in developing countries where BL is endemic. Targeted therapies for BL are therefore needed. In this study, we performed a compound screen in 17 BL cell lines to identify small molecule inhibitors affecting cell survival. We found that inhibitors of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) induced apoptosis in BL cells in vitro at concentrations that did not affect normal B cells. By global proteomic and phosphoproteomic profiling we show that in BL, HSP90 inhibition compromises the activity of the pivotal B cell antigen receptor (BCR)-proximal effector spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), which we identified as an HSP90 client protein. Consistently, expression of constitutively active TEL-SYK counteracted the apoptotic effect of HSP90 inhibition. Together, our results demonstrate that HSP90 inhibition impairs BL cell survival by interfering with tonic BCR signaling, thus providing a molecular rationale for the use of HSP90 inhibitors in the treatment of BL

Discovery of novel drug sensitivities in T-PLL by high-throughput ex vivo drug testing and mutation profiling

T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is a rare and aggressive neoplasm of mature T-cells with an urgent need for rationally designed therapies to address its notoriously chemo-refractory behavior. The median survival of T-PLL patients is <2 years and clinical trials are difficult to execute. Here we systematically explored the diversity of drug responses in T-PLL patient samples using an ex vivo drug sensitivity and resistance testing platform and correlated the findings with somatic mutations and gene expression profiles. Intriguingly, all T-PLL samples were sensitive to the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SNS-032, which overcame stromal-cell-mediated protection and elicited robust p53-activation and apoptosis. Across all patients, the most effective classes of compounds were histone deacetylase, phosphoinositide-3 kinase/ AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin, heat-shock protein 90 and BH3-family protein inhibitors as well as p53 activators, indicating previously unexplored, novel targeted approaches for treating T-PLL. Although Janus-activated kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription factor (JAK-STAT) pathway mutations were common in T-PLL (71% of patients), JAK-STAT inhibitor responses were not directly linked to those or other T-PLL-specific lesions. Overall, we found that genetic markers do not readily translate into novel effective therapeutic vulnerabilities. In conclusion, novel classes of compounds with high efficacy in T-PLL were discovered with the comprehensive ex vivo drug screening platform warranting further studies of synergisms and clinical testing