Wastewater Refining and Reuse and City-Level Water Decision Making

Direct discharge of treated and untreated wastewater to natural surface water bodies, including rivers and lakes, is generally known to produce adverse environmental impacts that have been of concern for the past 10–15 years, particularly in the Great Lakes basin. Examples of these impacts include eutrophication and the emergence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Advancement in wastewater treatment plant operations alone may not be feasible to meet the 2016–2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), especially on phosphorus reduction targets. Diverting treated wastewater to land could present a multibarrier approach for integrated PPCPs management, and could also shift current phosphorus management from contamination to resource recovery. Two case studies were considered: one from a developing country and the other from an industrialised country. City-level decision making in this paradigm was investigated in the context of developing countries, taking Ghana as a case study. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior officials of seven participating organizations from local governments, academia, and international non-governmental organizations in Ghana. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was deployed to prioritize challenges as they were perceived by these institutions. Results show that social factors were the main barrier to wastewater reuse (31%), followed by financial (29%), institutional (24%), and technical challenges (16%). Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was also conducted. This was combined with a toxicological assessment of local waste stabilization ponds, whereby effluents were found to be suitable for reuse in agriculture as per the latest 2006 Food and Agriculture Organization guidelines. Several On-site Sanitation Systems (OSSs), commonly known as septic tanks in Canada and the United States, pose a threat to groundwater and surface water, and have the potential to negatively impact human health over the long term. A new Biochar-Modified Soil Aquifer Treatment (BMSAT) system was investigated for its ability to resist or reduce toxicity and microbiological contamination as per the 2012 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for water reuse in agriculture. The assessment included 18 chemical compounds, as well as E. coli. The BMSAT system showed promising results, and could be a possible alternative to existing OSSs in rural areas. Keywords: Water reuse, Wastewater treatment, Eutrophication, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products, Lakes, Impact, Socio-economic, Institutional challenges, Analytical Hierarchy Process, Decision Making, Interviews, Biochar, Soil Aquifer Treatment, Agriculture

Cytotoxic Activity of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate against Human Triple-negative/ Basal-like Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancy diagnosed in women and is the primary cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. It is a heterogeneous group of diseases that have a different response, prognosis, and clinical outcomes. Estrogen, progesterone and HER2 negative breast cancer, known as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), does not respond to hormonal therapy. Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) has shorter overall survival rate among other subtypes. Tumors sharing both TNBC and BLBC are considered less responsive to currently available treatment. Chemoresistance to treatment has been a challenge in cancer biology and force investigation toward developing new targeted therapies, which selectively target specific subtypes. Sphingolipid metabolites have an important physiological role in determining cell fate. Sphingolipid metabolites, ceramide, sphingosine, and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), are implicated in cancer. S1P exerts its functions via extracellular and intracellular targets. S1P synthesized inside the cell is exported outside and binds to G-protein coupled receptors, the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors 1-5 (S1PR1-5). Although the intracellular function is not well defined, its suggested intracellular S1P promotes cell apoptosis. The S1P pathway has received great attention recently due its function in cell survival and death. This effect was reported to be concentration dependent. In this research, I focused on S1P effect on nine TNBC/BLBC cell lines. I examined the in-vitro effects of S1P on apoptosis, proliferation, and cytotoxicity in triple negative/ basal-like breast cancer cell lines. Moreover, I studied the co-administration of S1P with currently used chemotherapeutic agents in these cell lines. Data show that S1P can selectively induce cell death in TNBC/BLBC cell lines at a specific concentration. In this research, I found that the mechanism of cell death following treatment with different S1P concentrations was mainly due to apoptosis. Results show that S1P leads to cell shrinkage, rounding and detachment in the nine TNBC/BLBC cell lines. S1P combination with doxorubicin and docetaxel at different concentrations shows no beneficial effect of the combination compared to the chemotherapeuitc agent alone. In some cell lines, the combination showed a protective effect. Further studies are required to determine the mechanism by which S1P induces cell apoptosis, inhibits cell growth, and demonstrates lack of responsiveness in combination studies

Significance of the Epithelial Collar on the Subepithelial Connective Tissue Graft

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142284/1/jper0924.pd

The Role of Factors Associated With Apoptosis in Assessing Periodontal Disease Status

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141031/1/jper1086-sup-0003.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141031/2/jper1086-sup-0002.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141031/3/jper1086.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141031/4/jper1086-sup-0001.pd

Fault Ride Through Capability Improvement of DFIG Based Wind Farm Using Nonlinear Controller Based Bridge-Type Flux Coupling Non-Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

High penetration of Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) into existing power grid can attribute complex issues as they are very sensitive to the grid faults. In addition, Fault Ride Through (FRT) is one of the main requirements of the grid code for integrating Wind Farms (WFs) into the power grid. In this work, to enhance the FRT capability of the DFIG based WFs, a Bridge-Type Flux Coupling Non-Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (BFC-NSFCL) is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed BFC-NSFCL is evaluated through performance comparison with that of the Bridge-Type Fault Current Limiter (BFCL) and Series Dynamic Braking Resistor (SDBR). Moreover, a dynamic nonlinear controller is also proposed for controlling the operation of the BFC-NSFCL. Extensive simulations are carried out in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment for both symmetrical and unsymmetrical temporary as well as permanent faults. Based on the simulation results and different numerical analysis, it is found that the proposed nonlinear controller based BFC-NSFCL is very effective in enhancing the FRT capability of the WF. Also, the BFC-NSFCL outperforms the conventional BFCL and SDBR by maintaining a near-seamless performance during various grid fault situations

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Targeting Telomerase Overexpression by Synthetic Dosage Lethality

The abstract of this item is unavailable due to an embargo