Roles of polyurethane foam in aerobic moving and fixed bed bioreactors

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of sponge as an active mobile carrier for attachedgrowth biomass in three typical types of aerobic bioreactors to treat a high strength synthetic wastewater. The results show that sponge thickness deteriorated the organic and nutrient removal and 1 cm is the optimumthickness for fixed-bed sponge biofilter (SBF). The sponge volume had significant impact on phosphorus removal rather than organic or nitrogen removal, and 20% volume of sponge could achieve 100% T-P removal within 3 h in a sponge batch reactor (SBR). When sponge coupled with submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR), the single system show outstanding ammonium (100% at filtration flux of 10 and 15 L/m2 h) and phosphorus (>91% at all fluxes range) removal with optimum pH range of 6-7. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd

Concepts towards a novel integrated assessment methodology of urban water reuse

Traditional supplies of large volumes of water and wastewater disposal technologies have offered a linear solution, thus intensifying environmental stress. In addition, provision of urban infrastructure especially any major augmentations are often the impractical or economically prohibitive. Urban water cycle should be viewed as an interactive and coordinated approach involving: • Available water resources, • Appropriate treatment technology producing fit for purpose water quality, and • Ascertaining long term balance between environmental, social and economic issues. Implementation of integrated water reuse scheme requires major paradigm shift within a number of technical (science, technology and knowledge) and non-technical (socio-cultural, economic, environment) dimensions. There are number of questions that arise from this scenario: • How to make decisions regarding selection, design, implementation and operation of any recycling scheme? • What knowledge is necessary to improve decision-making process? • How to assess and compare performance of the scheme? • What are the parameters for uniform evaluation process? The aim of this paper is to introduce a new concept for integrated assessment methodology that can be applied for urban water reuse schemes. The conceptual assessment methodology relies on decision that treatment technology represents a leading theme and is supported by selection of socio-economic and environmental factors, thus enabling holistic evaluation and quantification of the outcomes. © 2009 Desalination Publications

Roles of sponge sizes and membrane types in a single stage sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor for improving nutrient removal from wastewater for reuse

Sponge not only can reduce membrane fouling by means of mechanical cleaning and maintain a balance of suspended-attached microorganisms in submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR), but also can enhance dissolved organic matter and nutrient removal. This study investigated the performance of three different sizes of sponge (S28-30/45R, S28-30/60R and S28-30/90R) associated with continuous aerated SMBR. A laboratory-scale single stage sponge-SMBR (SSMBR) showed high performance for removing dissolved organic matter (>96%) and PO4-P (>98.8), while coarse sponges such as S28-30/45R, S28-30/60R could achieve more than 99% removal of NH4-N. When three-size sponges (S28-30/45R, S28-30/60R and S28-30/90R) were mixed at a ratio of 1:1:1 and in conjunction with two kinds of membranes (0.1 μm hollow fiber and 2 μm nonwoven), the SSMBR system has proved its generic merits of superior treated effluent quality and less membrane fouling. The NH4-N and PO4-P removal were found excellent, which were more than 99.8% and over 99% respectively. Molecular weight distribution also indicated that major fractions of organic matter could be successfully removed by SSMBR. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Delay in Retreatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection Increases Risk of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Background & Aims: Little is known about risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) in patients failed by Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy. We investigated the effects of different time until retreatment, after failure of initial H. pylori eradication therapy, on subsequent risk of UGIB. / Methods: We performed a territory-wide retrospective cohort study of 70,518 patients with H pylori infection who had received their first course of clarithromycin-based triple therapy from January 2003 through December 2012 in Hong Kong. Patients who required retreatment after failed initial therapy (n = 8330, 11.8%) were categorized based on time between initial and final H pylori eradication (3 months or less, 3–12 months, and more than 12 months). We collected clinical data from 30 days after prescription of the last course of H pylori therapy until hospitalization for non-variceal UGIB, death, or the end of the study (30 Jun 2016; median follow-up time, 7.65 years). The primary outcome was difference in development UGIB (determined from ICD-9 codes) between patients who required retreatment and those who did not (reference group). / Results: Compared with the reference group, patients who required retreatment had an overall higher risk of UGIB, even after last eradication therapy (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 1.50, 95% CI, 1.34–1.69). There was a progressive increase in risk of UGIB with longer time from initial until final eradication therapy: hazard ratio for time less than 3 months, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.88–1.54, hazard ratio for time 3–12 months, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.07–1.69, and hazard ratio for time more than 12 months, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.46–1.94 (P for trend = .038). / Conclusion: In a retrospective study of patients in Hong Kong, we found that those failed by initial H pylori eradication have an increased risk of UGIB, compared to patients who responded to the initial therapy. Risk increased progressively with longer time until retreatment. Early retreatment within 3 months should be considered to minimize subsequent UGIB risk

Galaxies in the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulation and in the Durham and Munich semi-analytical models

We compare global predictions from the eagle hydrodynamical simulation, and two semi-analytic (SA) models of galaxy formation, l-galaxies and galform. All three models include the key physical processes for the formation and evolution of galaxies and their parameters are calibrated against a small number of observables at z ≈ 0. The two SA models have been applied to merger trees constructed from the eagle dark matter only simulation. We find that at z ≤ 2, both the galaxy stellar mass functions for stellar masses M* 109.5 M⊙ differ in some instances by an order of magnitude, while the stellar mass–size relation in eagle is a factor of ≈2 tighter than for the two SA models. Our results suggest the need for a revision of how SA models treat the effect of baryonic self-gravity on the underlying dark matter. The treatment of gas flows in the models needs to be revised based on detailed comparison with observations to understand in particular the evolution of the stellar mass–metallicity relation

Identification and validation of oncologic miRNA biomarkers for Luminal A-like breast cancer

Introduction: Breast cancer is a common disease with distinct tumor subtypes phenotypically characterized by ER and HER2/neu receptor status. MiRNAs play regulatory roles in tumor initiation and progression, and altered miRNA expression has been demonstrated in a variety of cancer states presenting the potential for exploitation as cancer biomarkers. Blood provides an excellent medium for biomarker discovery. This study investigated systemic miRNAs differentially expressed in Luminal A-like (ER+PR+HER2/neu-) breast cancer and their effectiveness as oncologic biomarkers in the clinical setting. Methods: Blood samples were prospectively collected from patients with Luminal A-like breast cancer (n=54) and controls (n=56). RNA was extracted, reverse transcribed and subjected to microarray analysis (n=10 Luminal A-like; n=10 Control). Differentially expressed miRNAs were identified by artificial neural network (ANN) data-mining algorithms. Expression of specific miRNAs was validated by RQ-PCR (n=44 Luminal A; n=46 Control) and potential relationships between circulating miRNA levels and clinicopathological features of breast cancer were investigated. Results: Microarray analysis identified 76 differentially expressed miRNAs. ANN revealed 10 miRNAs for further analysis ( miR-19b, miR-29a, miR-93, miR-181a, miR-182, miR-223, miR-301a, miR-423-5p, miR-486-5 and miR-652 ). The biomarker potential of 4 miRNAs ( miR-29a, miR-181a , miR-223 and miR-652 ) was confirmed by RQ-PCR, with significantly reduced expression in blood of women with Luminal A-like breast tumors compared to healthy controls (p=0.001, 0.004, 0.009 and 0.004 respectively). Binary logistic regression confirmed that combination of 3 of these miRNAs ( miR-29a, miR-181a and miR-652 ) could reliably differentiate between cancers and controls with an AUC of 0.80. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the underlying molecular portrait of Luminal A-like breast cancer subtype. From an initial 76 miRNAs, 4 were validated with altered expression in the blood of women with Luminal A-like breast cancer. The expression profiles of these 3 miRNAs, in combination with mammography, has potential to facilitate accurate subtype- specific breast tumor detection

Dirac Equation with Spin Symmetry for the Modified P\"oschl-Teller Potential in DD-dimensions

We present solutions of the Dirac equation with spin symmetry for vector and scalar modified P\"oschl-Teller potential within framework of an approximation of the centrifugal term. The relativistic energy spectrum is obtained using the Nikiforov-Uvarov method and the two-component spinor wavefunctions are obtain are in terms of the Jacobi polynomials. It is found that there exist only positive-energy states for bound states under spin symmetry, and the energy levels increase with the dimension and the potential range parameter $\alpha$.Comment: 9 pages and 1tabl

Influence of the initial chemical conditions on the rational design of silica particles

The influence of the water content in the initial composition on the size of silica particles produced using the Stöber process is well known. We have shown that there are three morphological regimes defined by compositional boundaries. At low water levels (below stoichiometric ratio of water:tetraethoxysilane), very high surface area and aggregated structures are formed; at high water content (>40 wt%) similar structures are also seen. Between these two boundary conditions, discrete particles are formed whose size are dictated by the water content. Within the compositional regime that enables the classical Stöber silica, the structural evolution shows a more rapid attainment of final particle size than the rate of formation of silica supporting the monomer addition hypothesis. The clearer understanding of the role of the initial composition on the output of this synthesis method will be of considerable use for the establishment of reliable reproducible silica production for future industrial adoption

The effect of nitric oxide on the pressure of the acutely obstructed ureter

Acute ureteral obstruction leads to changes in pressure inside the ureter, interrupting ureter function. The aim of our study is to explore the relationship between nitric oxide (NO) concentration and pressure in the ureter and to observe the effects of nitric oxide on the revival of renal function. We created the animal models by embedding balloons in the lower ureters of anesthetized dogs and expanding them to simulate acute ureteral obstruction. First, the test animals were pre-treated intravenously with different doses of L-NAME (non-selective nitric oxide synthase inhibitor) to inhibit nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and 10 min later, each subject was administered an intravenous dose of isoproterenol (10 μg/kg). We measured ureter pressure (UP), total and peak concentrations of NO (using an NO monitor, model inNO-T) in ureteral urine, and the volume of the urine (UFV) leaking from the balloon edge. After a certain amount of time had elapsed, it became clear that the dose of L-NAME was inversely related to the total and peak concentrations of NO, the rate of change in UP, and the volume of urine produced. We conclude that L-NAME prevents the NOS from inhibiting the release of NO, then inhibits the effect of isoproterenol reducing the pressure of the acute obstructive ureter. Inversely, we think that NO can reduce the pressure of the acute obstructive ureter and make the obstructive ureter recanalization. And when more the concentration of nitric oxide, the more the pressure will be reduced, and more urine will be collected