Investigating the removal of some pharmaceutical compounds in hospital wastewater treatment plants operating in Saudi Arabia

The concentrations of 12 pharmaceutical compounds (atenolol, erythromycin, cyclophosphamide, paracetamol, bezafibrate, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, caffeine, clarithromycin, lidocaine, sulfamethoxazole and Nacetylsulfamethoxazol (NACS)) were investigated in the influents and effluents of two hospital wastewater treatment plants (HWWTPs) in Saudi Arabia. The majority of the target analytes were detected in the influent samples apart from bezafibrate, cyclophosphamide, and erythromycin. Caffeine and paracetamol were detected in the influent at particularly high concentrations up to 75 and 12 ug/L, respectively. High removal efficiencies of the pharmaceutical compounds were observed in both HWWTPs, with greater than 90 % removal on average. Paracetamol, sulfamethoxazole, NACS, ciprofloxacin, and caffeine were eliminated by between >95 and >99 % on average. Atenolol, carbamazepine, and clarithromycin were eliminated by >86 % on average. Of particular interest were the high removal efficiencies of carbamazepine and antibiotics that were achieved by the HWWTPs; these compounds have been reported to be relatively recalcitrant to biological treatment and are generally only partially removed. Elevated temperatures and high levels of sunlight were considered to be the main factors that enhanced the removal of these compounds

Single dose pharmacodynamics of amphotericin B against Aspergillus species in an in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model

Conventional MIC testing of amphotericin B results in narrow MIC ranges challenging the detection of resistant strains. In order to discern amphotericin B pharmacodynamics, the in vitro activity of amphotericin B was studied against Aspergillus isolates with the same MIC with a new in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model that simulates amphotericin B human plasma levels. Clinical isolates of A. fumigatus, A. terreus and A flavus with the same CLSI modal MICs of 1 mg/l were exposed to amphotericin B concentrations following the plasma concentration-time profile after single bolus administration with Cmax 0.6, 1.2, 2.4 and 4.8 mg/L. Fungal growth was monitored up to 72h based on galactomannan production. Complete growth inhibition was observed only against A. fumigatus with amphotericin B Cmax ≥2.4 mg/L. At lower Cmaxs 0.6 and 1.2 mg/L, a significant growth delay of 34h and 52h was observed, respectively (pA flavus>A. terreus in the in vitro PK/PD model possibly reflecting the different concentration- and time-dependent inhibitory/killing activities amphotericin B exerting against these species

Honey Man : My Little Lovin\u27 Honey Man

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4132/thumbnail.jp

When Broadway Was A Pasture

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/2661/thumbnail.jp

Retardation and reduction of pulse distortion by group-velocity dispersion through pulse shaping

We show that a reduction in the pulse distortion caused by chromatic dispersion can be achieved through pulse shaping. We argue that a simple binary phase mask in the Fourier plane of the laser spectrum can improve the transmission of short pulses in a dispersive channel through reduced broadening. The argument was tested experimentally, and a good agreement was found with the theory

Purification-based quantum error mitigation of pair-correlated electron simulations

An important measure of the development of quantum computing platforms has been the simulation of increasingly complex physical systems. Before fault-tolerant quantum computing, robust error-mitigation strategies were necessary to continue this growth. Here, we validate recently introduced error-mitigation strategies that exploit the expectation that the ideal output of a quantum algorithm would be a pure state. We consider the task of simulating electron systems in the seniority-zero subspace where all electrons are paired with their opposite spin. This affords a computational stepping stone to a fully correlated model. We compare the performance of error mitigations on the basis of doubling quantum resources in time or in space on up to 20 qubits of a superconducting qubit quantum processor. We observe a reduction of error by one to two orders of magnitude below less sophisticated techniques such as postselection. We study how the gain from error mitigation scales with the system size and observe a polynomial suppression of error with increased resources. Extrapolation of our results indicates that substantial hardware improvements will be required for classically intractable variational chemistry simulations

Smart and Secure Blockchain Structure to Track Vehicle Record-keeping in the Sultanate of Oman

In the country of Sultanate of Oman, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) is responsible for carrying out the Inspection, Registration/Renewal, Transfer of ownership, Licensing of a vehicle and the Investigation of traffic accidents. The traditional system used for storing this information does not guarantee whether any information has been tampered with or manipulated. Having a tamper-proof methodology like Blockchain to capture this important information in a distributed ledger register can enable all the participants in the Registration Chain (Supplier of the vehicle, Owner of the vehicle, various Government Agencies and public at large) to gain confidence, build trust and authenticate records that are maintained by the centralised agency. In this paper, a groundbreaking solution built on Hyperledger Besu, a permissioned Ethereum blockchain platform, is introduced that offers a revolutionary approach to vehicle registration and management. It ensures secure and immutable vehicle registration, utilizing IPFS for document storage and ERC-20 tokens to track vehicle history. This Ethereum-powered system facilitates transparent ownership transfers, comprehensive vehicle history tracking, streamlined insurance renewals, seamless vehicle inspections, real-time tracking, and blockchain-based verification, all contributing to heightened efficiency and trust in vehicle processes for the Omani government. By integrating blockchain technology, this solution addresses the challenges of data integrity, security, and transparency that have long plagued the vehicle registration and transfer processes in Oman. This paper highlights the potential of blockchain to revolutionize governmental services and improve the overall efficiency and trustworthiness of vehicle-related transactions, ultimately benefiting both the government and citizens alike