Cell immobilized fog-trap system for fat, oil, and grease removal from restaurant wastewater

Cell immobilized lipase-producing bacteria on three different matrices were incorporated in a fat-, oil-, and grease (FOG) trap system for restaurant wastewater treatment. During a 16-day laboratory-scale experiment for the treatment of synthetic FOG wastewater containing soybean oil, no significant difference (two-tailed t test at 95% confidence interval) in the FOG removal between two systems was observed at FOG influent≤1,000 mg/L. However, the typical trap showed lower FOG removal efficiency than the matrix-based system when the influent FOG concentration was increased to ≥5,000 mg/L. In addition, the matrix-based trap system was able to sustain a stable high FOG removal, with <100 mg/L effluent, even at 10,000 mg/L influent FOG. Based on FOG heights measured and mass balance calculations, 97.4 and 99.5% of the total FOG load for 16 days were removed in a typical trap and matrix-based system, respectively. About 93.6% of the removal in the matrix-based was accounted to biodegradation. The 30-day full-scale operations demonstrated a distinguishably better performance in the matrix-based system (92.7±9.06% of 1,044.8±537.27 mg FOG/L) than in the typical trap system (74.6±27.13% of 463.4±296.87 mg FOG/L) for the treatment of barbeque restaurant wastewater. Similarly, matrix-based system revealed higher chemical oxygen demand removal (85.9±11.99%) than the typical trap system (60.4±31.26%). Characterizations of the influent, emulsified, adsorbed and effluent FOG indicated that straight saturated fatty acids constituted the cause of clogging problems in the FOG-trap and piping system. © 2009 ASCE

Grand Rounds: An Outbreak of Toxic Hepatitis among Industrial Waste Disposal Workers

CONTEXT: Industrial waste (which is composed of various toxic chemicals), changes to the disposal process, and addition of chemicals should all be monitored and controlled carefully in the industrial waste industry to reduce the health hazard to workers. CASE PRESENTATION: Five workers in an industrial waste plant developed acute toxic hepatitis, one of whom died after 3 months due to fulminant hepatitis. In the plant, we detected several chemicals with hepatotoxic potential, including pyridine, dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, and methylenedianiline. The workers had been working in the high-vapor-generating area of the plant, and the findings of pathologic examination showed typical features of acute toxic hepatitis. DISCUSSION: Infectious hepatitis and drug-induced hepatitis were excluded by laboratory findings, as well as the clinical course of hepatitis. All cases of toxic hepatitis in this plant developed after the change of the disposal process to thermochemical reaction–type treatment using unslaked lime reacted with industrial wastes. During this chemical reaction, vapor containing several toxic materials was generated. Although we could not confirm the definitive causative chemical, we suspect that these cases of hepatitis were caused by one of the hepatotoxic agents or by a synergistic interaction among several of them. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL OR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: In the industrial waste treatment process, the danger of developing toxic hepatitis should be kept in mind, because any subtle change of the treatment process can generate various toxic materials and threaten the workers’ health. A mixture of hepatotoxic chemicals can induce clinical manifestations that are quite different from those predicted by the toxic property of a single agent

Mixed Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking with Anomalous U(1) Gauge Symmetry

Models with anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry contain various superfields which can have nonzero supersymmetry breaking auxiliary components providing the origin of soft terms in the visible sector, e.g. the U(1) vector superfield, the modulus or dilaton superfield implementing the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism, U(1)-charged but standard model singlet matter superfield required to cancel the Fayet-Iliopoulos term, and finally the supergravity multiplet. We examine the relative strength between these supersymmetry breaking components in a simple class of models, and find that various different mixed mediations of supersymmetry breaking, involving the modulus, gauge, anomaly and D-term mediations, can be realized depending upon the characteristics of D-flat directions and how those D-flat directions are stabilized with a vanishing cosmological constant. We identify two parameters which represent such properties and thus characterize how the various mediations are mixed. We also discuss the moduli stabilization and soft terms in a variant of KKLT scenario, in which the visible sector K\"ahler modulus is stabilized by the D-term potential of anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figure

Asymmetric Origin for Gravitino Relic Density in the Hybrid Gravity-Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We propose the hybrid gravity-gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking where the gravitino mass is about several GeV. The strong constraints on supersymmetry viable parameter space from the CMS and ATLAS experiments at the LHC can be relaxed due to the heavy colored supersymmetric particles, and it is consistent with null results in the dark matter (DM) direct search experiments such as XENON100. In particular, the possible maximal flavor and CP violations from the relatively small gravity mediation may naturally account for the recent LHCb anomaly. In addition, because the gravitino mass is around the asymmetric DM mass, we propose the asymmetric origin of the gravitino relic density and solve the cosmological coincident problem on the DM and baryon densities \Omega_{\rm DM}:\Omega_{B}\approx 5:1. The gravitino relic density arises from asymmetric metastable particle (AMP) late decay. However, we show that there is no AMP candidate in the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (SM) due to the robust gaugino/Higgsino mediated wash-out effects. Interestingly, AMP can be realized in the well motivated supersymmetric SMs with vector-like particles or continuous U(1)_R symmetry. Especially, the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass can be lifted in the supersymmetric SMs with vector-like particles.Comment: RevTex4, 21 pages, 1 figure, minor corrections, JHEP versio

Synthesis, Electrical Measurement, and Field Emission Properties of α-Fe2O3Nanowires

α-Fe2O3nanowires (NWs) were formed by the thermal oxidation of an iron film in air at 350 °C for 10 h. The rhombohedral structure of the α-Fe2O3NWs was grown vertically on the substrate with diameters of 8–25 nm and lengths of several hundred nm. It was found that the population density of the NWs per unit area (DNWs) can be varied by the film thickness. The thicker the iron film, the more NWs were grown. The growth mechanism of the NWs is suggested to be a combination effect of the thermal oxidation rate, defects on the film, and selective directional growth. The electrical resistivity of a single NW with a length of 800 nm and a diameter of 15 nm was measured to be 4.42 × 103 Ωcm using conductive atomic force microscopy. The field emission characteristics of the NWs were studied using a two-parallel-plate system. A low turn–on field of 3.3 V/μm and a large current density of 10−3 A/cm2(under an applied field of about 7 V/μm) can be obtained using optimal factors ofDNWsin the cathode

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy Reverses Ischemia-Related Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Remodeling: Molecular-Cellular and Functional Assessment

An optimal treatment for patients with diffuse obstructive arterial disease unsuitable for catheter-based or surgical intervention is still pending. This study tested the hypothesis that extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) therapy may be a therapeutic alternative under such clinical situation. Myocardial ischemia was induced in male mini-pigs through applying an ameroid constrictor over mid-left anterior descending artery (LAD). Twelve mini-pigs were equally randomized into group 1 (Constrictor over LAD only) and group 2 (Constrictor over LAD plus ECSW [800 impulses at 0.09 mJ/mm2] once 3 months after the procedure). Results showed that the parameters measured by echocardiography did not differ between two groups on days 0 and 90. However, echocardiography and left ventricular (LV) angiography showed higher LV ejection fraction and lower LV end-systolic dimension and volume in group 2 on day 180 (p<0.035). Besides, mRNA and protein expressions of CXCR4 and SDF-1α were increased in group 2 (p<0.04). Immunofluorescence staining also showed higher number of vWF-, CD31-, SDF-1α-, and CXCR4-positive cells in group 2 (all p<0.04). Moreover, immunohistochemical staining showed notably higher vessel density but lower mean fibrosis area, number of CD40-positive cells and apoptotic nuclei in group 2 (all p<0.045). Mitochondrial protein expression of oxidative stress was lower, whereas cytochrome-C was higher in group 2 (all p<0.03). Furthermore, mRNA expressions of MMP-9, Bax and caspase-3 were lower, whereas Bcl-2, eNOS, VEGF and PGC-1α were higher in group 2 (all p<0.01). In conclusion, ECSW therapy effectively reversed ischemia-elicited LV dysfunction and remodeling through enhancing angiogenesis and attenuating inflammation and oxidative stress

Surgical treatment of congenital biliary duct cyst

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is acknowledged that total cyst excision is a safe and ideal surgical treatment for congenital biliary duct cyst, compared to simple internal drainage. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal operation occasion and the effect of laparoscopy on congenital biliary duct cyst based upon total cyst excision.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From January 2002 to January 2011, 217 patients were admitted to Southwest Hospital for congenital biliary duct cyst. To determine the optimal surgery occasion, we divided these subjects into three groups, the infant group (age ≤ 3 years), the immaturity group (3 < age ≤ 18 years), and the maturity group (age > 18 years), and then evaluated the feasibility, risk and long-term outcome after surgery in the three groups. To analyze the effect of laparoscopic technique on congenital biliary duct cyst, we divided the patients into the laparoscopy and the open surgery groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the three groups, the morbidity from cholangiolithiasis before surgical treatment had obvious discrepancy (p < 0.05) (lowest in the infant group), and intraoperative blood loss also had apparent diversity (p < 0.05). Furthermore, long-term outcomes (secondary cholangiolithiasis, stoma stenosis and cholangiocarcinoma) showed no significant difference between different groups (p > 0.05).</p> <p>Similarly, no significant discrepancy was observed in the morbidity from postoperative complications or long-term postoperative complications (p > 0.05) between the laparoscopic and the open surgery groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that total cyst excision should be performed as early as possible. The optimal treatment occasion is the infant period, and laparoscopic resection may be a new safe and feasible minimally invasive surgery for this disease.</p

Genetic determinants of co-accessible chromatin regions in activated T cells across humans.

Over 90% of genetic variants associated with complex human traits map to non-coding regions, but little is understood about how they modulate gene regulation in health and disease. One possible mechanism is that genetic variants affect the activity of one or more cis-regulatory elements leading to gene expression variation in specific cell types. To identify such cases, we analyzed ATAC-seq and RNA-seq profiles from stimulated primary CD4+ T cells in up to 105 healthy donors. We found that regions of accessible chromatin (ATAC-peaks) are co-accessible at kilobase and megabase resolution, consistent with the three-dimensional chromatin organization measured by in situ Hi-C in T cells. Fifteen percent of genetic variants located within ATAC-peaks affected the accessibility of the corresponding peak (local-ATAC-QTLs). Local-ATAC-QTLs have the largest effects on co-accessible peaks, are associated with gene expression and are enriched for autoimmune disease variants. Our results provide insights into how natural genetic variants modulate cis-regulatory elements, in isolation or in concert, to influence gene expression

Liquid metal nanodroplet dynamics inside nanocontainers

Here we report direct observations of spatial movements of nanodroplets of Pb metal trapped inside sealed carbon nanocontainers. We find drastic changes in the mobility of the liquid droplets as the particle size increases from a few to a few ten nanometers. In open containers the droplet becomes immobile and readily evaporates to the vacuum environment. The particle mobility strongly depends on confinement, particle size, and wetting on the enclosed surface. The collisions between droplets increase mobility but the tendency is reversed if collisions lead to droplet coalescence. The dynamics of confined nanodroplets could provide new insights into the activity of nanostructures in spatially constrained geometries

Characterization of an Nmr Homolog That Modulates GATA Factor-Mediated Nitrogen Metabolite Repression in Cryptococcus neoformans

Nitrogen source utilization plays a critical role in fungal development, secondary metabolite production and pathogenesis. In both the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, GATA transcription factors globally activate the expression of catabolic enzyme-encoding genes required to degrade complex nitrogenous compounds. However, in the presence of preferred nitrogen sources such as ammonium, GATA factor activity is inhibited in some species through interaction with co-repressor Nmr proteins. This regulatory phenomenon, nitrogen metabolite repression, enables preferential utilization of readily assimilated nitrogen sources. In the basidiomycete pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, the GATA factor Gat1/Are1 has been co-opted into regulating multiple key virulence traits in addition to nitrogen catabolism. Here, we further characterize Gat1/Are1 function and investigate the regulatory role of the predicted Nmr homolog Tar1. While GAT1/ARE1 expression is induced during nitrogen limitation, TAR1 transcription is unaffected by nitrogen availability. Deletion of TAR1 leads to inappropriate derepression of non-preferred nitrogen catabolic pathways in the simultaneous presence of favoured sources. In addition to exhibiting its evolutionary conserved role of inhibiting GATA factor activity under repressing conditions, Tar1 also positively regulates GAT1/ARE1 transcription under non-repressing conditions. The molecular mechanism by which Tar1 modulates nitrogen metabolite repression, however, remains open to speculation. Interaction between Tar1 and Gat1/Are1 was undetectable in a yeast two-hybrid assay, consistent with Tar1 and Gat1/Are1 each lacking the conserved C-terminus regions present in ascomycete Nmr proteins and GATA factors that are known to interact with each other. Importantly, both Tar1 and Gat1/Are1 are suppressors of C. neoformans virulence, reiterating and highlighting the paradigm of nitrogen regulation of pathogenesis