Treatment of oily wastewater with membrane bioreactor systems

The aim of the present work was to investigate the behavior of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system for the treatment of oily wastewater. A bench scale MBR was fed with synthetic wastewater containing diesel fuel. Organic carbon, hydrocarbon and ammonium removal, kinetic constants, extracellular polymeric substances production, and membrane fouling rates were monitored. The MBR plant was operated for more than 200 days, and the results highlighted good carbon removal and nitrification, suggesting a sort of biomass adaptation to hydrocarbons. Membrane fouling analysis showed an increase in total resistance, likely due to hydrocarbons, which caused an irreversible fouling (pore blocking) mainly due to oil deposition

Comparison between two MBR pilot plants treating synthetic shipboard slops: the effect of salinity increase on biological performance, biomass activity and fouling tendency

The paper reports the main results of an experimental campaign carried out on two bench scale pilot plants for the treatment of synthetic shipboard slops. In particular, two membrane bioreactors (MBRs) with submerged configuration were analyzed. One MBR pilot plant (namely, Line A) was fed with synthetic shipboard slop and was subjected to a gradual increase of salinity. Conversely, the second MBR pilot plant (namely, Line B) was fed with the same synthetic shipboard slop but without salt addition, therefore operating as a \ue2\u80\u9ccontrol\ue2\u80\u9d unit. Organic carbon, hydrocarbons and ammonium removal, kinetic constants, extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) production and membranes fouling rates have been assessed. The observed results highlighted a stress effect exerted by salinity on the biological performances, with lower removal efficiencies in the Line A compared to Line B. Significant releases of soluble EPS in Line A promoted an increase of the resistance related to particle deposition into membrane pores (pore fouling tendency), likely due to a worsening of the mixed liquor features. Such a condition enhanced the reduction of the \ue2\u80\u9cpre-filter\ue2\u80\u9d effect of the cake layer

LinguAPP: An m-Health Application for Teledentistry Diagnostics

An Android/iOS application for low-cost mobile devices to aid in dental diagnosis through questionnaire and photos is presented in this paper. The main purposes of our app lie in the ease of use even for nonexperienced users, in the limited hardware requirements that allow a wide diffusion, and in the possibility to modify the questionnaire for different pathologies. This tool was developed in about a month at the beginning of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and is still in use in Italy to allow support to patients without going to the hospital, if not strictly necessary

Epidemiology of intensive care unit-acquired sepsis in Italy: results of the SPIN-UTI network

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is the major cause of mortality from any infectious disease worldwide. Sepsis may be the result of a healthcare associated infection (HAI): the most frequent adverse events during care delivery especially in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The main aim of the present study was to describe the epidemiology of ICU-acquired sepsis and related outcomes among patients enrolled in the framework of the Italian Nosocomial Infections Surveillance in ICUs - SPIN-UTI project. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective multicenter study. METHODS: The SPIN-UTI network adopted the European protocols for patient-based HAI surveillance. RESULTS: During the five editions of the SPIN-UTI project, from 2008 to 2017, 47.0% of HAIs has led to sepsis in 832 patients. Overall, 57.0% episodes were classified as sepsis, 20.5% as severe sepsis and 22.5% as septic shock. The most common isolated microorganisms from sepsis episodes were Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The case fatality rate increased with the severity of sepsis and the mean length of ICU-stay was significantly higher in patients with ICU-acquired sepsis than in patients without. CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence that ICU-acquired sepsis occurs frequently in Italian ICU patients and is associated with a high case fatality rate and increased length of stay. However, in order to explain these findings further analyses are needed in this population of ICU patient

Hydrogen sulfide protects renal grafts against prolonged cold ischemia-reperfusion injury via specific mitochondrial actions

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/ajt.14080 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Accepted manuscript online: 15 October 2016Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is unavoidably caused by loss and subsequent restoration of blood flow during organ procurement and prolonged IRI results in increased rates of delayed graft function and early graft loss. The endogenously produced gasotransmitter, hydrogen sulfide (H2 S), is a novel molecule that mitigates hypoxic tissue injury. The current study investigates the protective mitochondrial effects of H2 S during in vivo cold storage and subsequent renal transplantation (RTx) and in vitro cold hypoxic renal injury. Donor allografts from Brown Norway rats treated with University of Wisconsin (UW) solution + H2 S (150 μM NaSH) during prolonged (24-hour) cold (4°C) storage exhibited significantly (p1000-fold compared to similar levels of the non-specific H2 S donor, GYY4137 and also improved syngraft function and survival following prolonged cold storage compared to UW. H2 S treatment mitigates cold IRI-associated renal injury via mitochondrial actions and could represent a novel therapeutic strategy to minimize the detrimental clinical outcomes of prolonged cold IRI during RTx.This work was supported by grants from Physicians Services Incorporated and the Canadian Urological Association (AS) and by a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (IL). MW and MEW would like to thank the Medical Research Council UK (MR/M022706/1) for their generous research support. RT would like to acknowledge the Brian Ridge Scholarship for support

MicroRNA expression profiling of RAS-mutant thyroid tumors with follicular architecture: microRNA signatures to discriminate benign from malignant lesions

Purpose: RAS mutations represent common driver alterations in thyroid cancer. They can be found in benign, low-risk and malignant thyroid tumors with follicular architecture, which are often diagnosed as indeterminate nodules on preoperative cytology. Therefore, the detection of RAS mutations in preoperative setting has a suboptimal predictive value for malignancy. In this study, we investigated differentially expressed microRNA (miRNA) in benign and malignant thyroid tumors with follicular architecture carrying mutations in RAS genes. Methods: Total RNA was purified from 60 RAS-mutant follicular-patterned thyroid tumors, including follicular adenoma (FA), noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP), papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma cases (PTC, FTC); 22 RAS-negative FAs were used as controls. The expression analysis of 798 miRNAs was performed by digital counting (nCounter nanoString platform). Results: Comparing RAS-mutant and RAS-negative FAs, 12 miRNAs showed significant deregulation, which was likely related to the oncogenic effects of RAS mutations. Twenty-two miRNAs were differentially expressed in RAS-mutant benign versus malignant tumors. Considering the tumor type, 24 miRNAs were deregulated in PTC, 19 in NIFTP, and seven in FTC and compared to FA group; among these, miR-146b-5p, miR-144-3p, and miR-451a showed consistent deregulation in all the comparisons with the highest fold change. Conclusions: The miRNA expression analysis of follicular-patterned thyroid tumors demonstrated that RAS mutations influences miRNA profile in benign tumors. In addition, several miRNAs showed a histotype-specific deregulation and could discriminate between RAS-mutant benign and RAS-mutant malignant thyroid lesions, thus deserving further investigation as potential diagnostic markers

GYY4137, a slow-releasing hydrogen sulfide donor, ameliorates renal damage associated with chronic obstructive uropathy.

PURPOSE: Chronic obstructive uropathy can cause irreversible kidney injury, atrophy, and inflammation, which can ultimately lead to fibrosis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key trigger of fibrosis and is caused by upregulation of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) and angiotensin II (ANGII). Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced gasotransmitter with cytoprotective properties. The present study aims to elucidate the effects of the slow-releasing H2S donor GYY4137 on chronic ureteral obstruction and evaluate potential mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), male Lewis rats were given daily intraperitoneal (IP) administration of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) vehicle (UUO group) or PBS+200μmol/kg GYY4137 (UUO+GYY4137 group) for 30 days. Urine and serum samples were collected to determine physiological parameters of renal function and injury. Kidneys were removed on post-operative day 30 for evaluation of histopathology and protein expression. EMT in pig kidney epithelial cells (LLC-PK1) was induced with TGF-β1 and treated with GYY4137 to evaluate potential mechanisms via in vitro scratch wound assays. RESULTS: H2S treatment decreased serum creatinine and urine protein/creatinine excretion ratio following UUO. In addition, H2S mitigated cortical loss, inflammatory damage, and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Tissues exhibited decreased expression of EMT markers upon H2S treatment. EMT progression in LLC-PK1 was alleviated upon in vitro administration of GYY4137. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate, for the first time, the protective effects of H2S in chronic obstructive uropathy and may represent a potential therapeutic solution to ameliorate renal damage and improve clinical outcomes of urinary obstruction.This work was supported by a grant from the Lawson Health Research Foundation

Deux approches pour modifier les activités de résolution de problèmes en physique dans l'enseignement secondaire : une tentative de synthèse

Dans cet article les AA. présentent un cadre théorique pour analyser les activités de résolution de problèmes " papier crayon " issu de la confrontation des recherches menées par deux équipes (Gil Perez D. et Martinez Torregrossa J. en Espagne et Caillot M. et Dumas-Carré A. en France) dans le domaine de la physique. Le point de départ commun des deux équipes est de considérer que l'échec généralisé des élèves ne peut être imputé seulement (ni principalement) à des caractéristiques ou des lacunes des élèves, mais que la plus grande responsabilité doit être cherchée du côté de la didactique habituelle. Ce qui doit être remis en question de façon prioritaire est la conception même des activités de résolution de problèmes. Cette remise en question de la conception didactique commence par une interrogation sur le concept de problème lui-même. De même, le comportement habituellement retenu comme modèle (celui de l'expert) est remis en question| le comportement proposé comme modèle est celui du chercheur scientifiqu

ANATOMICAL DISSECTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURES OF THE UPPER LIMB

In 2015, a whole body dissection course was proposed by the University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy, thanks to the cooperation with the University of Malta, Msida, Malta. The purpose of this study was to show the the difference between the studyof anatomy on books and on corpses. The article focuses its attention on the dissection method of the upper limb. The astudy was performed on two corpses, a male and a female, by using a basic surgeon kit. Blunt dissection method was used for fasciae, innards and to isolate vascular-nervous structures from the fat; we used scalped for cutis, sub cutis, muscles, fasciae, veins, arteries and nerves of the upper limb from the shoulder to the hand. The upper limb dissection shows the difference between how a real body appears and shows the difference between how a real body appears and how books represent it