Prototyping a spinning adsorber submerged filter for continuous removal of wastewater contaminants

Adsorption process is widely used for the removal of wastewater contaminants. Classic adsorption units are fixed beds and membrane filtration systems. In this work a novel configuration of a bench scale spinning adsorber submerged filter is proposed. Different prototypes of cylindric, truncated cone or prismatic spinning adsorbers were studied using activated carbon of different particle sizes GAC (1.5 mm, Granulated), μGAC (0.475 mm, microGranulated), and cPAC (0.237 mm, coarse Powder) as adsorbent, and azorubine as model adsorbate. High maximum azorubine adsorptions per unit mass of adsorbent of 214, 225 and 275 mg/g for GAC, μGAC and cPAC, respectively, were obtained using the Langmuir isotherm adsorption model. Batch adsorption followed pseudo-second order kinetics, and adsorbate uptake rate increased with decreasing adsorbent particle size. Best adsorption unit was a tank equipped with a spinning rectangular prism adsorber prototype all made of stainless-steel woven wire filter of 180 mesh size. Running at 600 rpm and filled with a high cPAC concentration (25 g/L), adsorber can remove azorubine at similar rates that the use of free moving cPAC. Adsorber unit can run in continuous mode and works even better as a novel spinning submerged filter where filtered flow exits from a central pipe axis. This integrated adsorption-submerged filtration operation mode offer the possibility of adding a high initial dose or a continuous dosing of adsorbent in the tank, increasing the adsorbent concentration of the unit. This system can also offer novel opportunities for wastewater contaminants removal using different adsorbent materials located separately.We want to thank Hector Flores Aparicio (Industrial Design and Scientific Calculation Service, UPCT) for 3D printing of studied prototypes and useful suggestions. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors

TRIM: An architecture for transparent IMS-based mobility

In recent years, the development and deployment of new wired and wireless access net work technologies have made the ubiquitous Internet a reality. Users can access anywhere and anytime to the broad set of value added Internet services, which are delivered by means of the IP protocol. In this context, 3GPP is currently developing the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), as a key element that allows to evolve from the ubiquitous access to the Internet services towards a next generation network model, by providing a set of essen tial facilities such as session control, QoS, charging and service integration. Nevertheless, several open issues still need consideration before the future Internet becomes real, such as supporting user mobility in IP networks. Although mobility support in the Internet is receiving much attention, IMS networks present inherent particularities that require fur ther analysis. The solutions proposed so far for IMS do not support mobility transparently to the end user applications, or address the problem by introducing complex changes to the IMS infrastructure. This paper presents TRIM, an architecture for transparent IMS based mobility. TRIM supports mobility in IMS networks transparently to the end user applications, which are unaware of the handover management procedures executed between the mobile node and the network. We have performed several experiments with a TRIM prototype, using a real IMS testbed with 3G and WLAN access networks, validating the proposal for UDP and TCP based applications.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramPartially granted by the Madrid Community through the MEDIANET project (S 2009/TIC 1468)Publicad

A solution for transparent mobility with route optimization in the IP multimedia subsystem

This paper presents TRIM+, an architecture for transparent mobility management with route optimization in IMS based networks. The design of our architecture is based on a previous work referred to as TRIM. TRIM was originally devised to provide transparent mobility support in the IMS, although transparency came at the cost of using a suboptimal data path between communicating end points. TRIM+ maintains transparency as a design criterium, and thus end-user applications, running at the mobile node and its correspondent communication peers, are unaware of mobility management procedures. Additionally, the proposed design defines a set of route optimization procedures, allowing compliant devices to use the optimal data path for media communications. Furthermore, TRIM+ addresses packet loss management in scenarios where the media path cannot be maintained during the handover of the MN. To this end, our architecture enables the MN to request buffering capacity in its home network to temporarily store incoming media traffic during the handover, which would otherwise be dropped. This mechanism, as well as route optimization procedures, are executed transparently to the end-user applications running at the communicating end points. As a proof-of-concept, we have implemented a software prototype of the TRIM+ architecture, deploying it over a real IMS testbed. By means of a set of experiments, we have validated the mechanisms proposed in this paper, considering both UDP and TCP user traffic.This article has been partially granted by the Madrid Commu nity through the MEDIANET project (S 2009/TIC 1468), and by the European Community through the CROWD project (FP7 ICT 318115). The work of Ignacio Soto has been partially sup ported through the I MOVING project (TEC2010 18907).Publicad

Meta-analysis of studies analyzing the relationship between bladder cancer and infection by human papillomavirus

Purpose: Studies have been done of the possibility that infection by human papillomavirus is a risk factor contributing to bladder cancer but no definite conclusions have yet been drawn. We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies published until July 2005 to ascertain the degree of association between bladder cancer and human papillomavirus infection. Materials and methods: The MEDLINE database was searched using the key words bladder cancer and virus. Strict criteria were applied to select studies revealing the prevalence in serum of human papillomavirus infection or its direct detection in patients. A total of 44 articles with these methodological criteria were chosen. Results: In 39 studies the investigators determined the presence of human papillomavirus DNA, and found a prevalence of between 0% and 100% and significant homogeneity analysis (p <0.001). Pooled estimation of the presence of the infection was 16.0% (95% CI 12.8 to 19.1). Pooled OR estimation was 2.3 (95% CI 1.3 to 4.1) with no significant publication bias. In 7 studies human papillomavirus infection was studied by detecting the antigen or antibodies and a prevalence of between 14% and 60% was found with significant homogeneity analysis (p <0.001). Pooled estimation of the prevalence of infection was 32.4% (95% CI 17.0 to 47.8). Pooled OR estimation was 2.9 (95% CI 1.7 to 5.3). Conclusions: Finding a relationship between bladder cancer and human papillomavirus depends on the method used. In the literature examined there are insufficient cases and samples compared to controls and studies rely on a combination of various microbiological techniques in the same patient and sample, making it difficult to draw any definite conclusion

Significado clínico de los aislados de Streptococcus bovis en orina

Objective: Streptococcus bovis includes variants related to colorectal cancer and non-urinary infections. Its role as urinary pathogen is unknown. Our objective was to assess the presence of urinary infection by S. bovis, analysing the patients and subsequent clinical course. Methods: Observational study, with longitudinal data collection, performed at our centre between all the cultures requested between February and April 2015. Clinical course of the patients and response to treatment were analysed. Results: Two thousand five hundred and twenty urine cultures were analysed, of which 831 (33%) had a significant microbial count. S. bovis was isolated in 8 patients (0.96%). In 75% of these cases the urine culture was requested because of urinary tract infection symptoms; the remaining 25% because of fever of uncertain source; during the follow-up period no evidence of cancer or endocarditis was detected. S. gallolyticus subspecie pasteurianus was the only variant observed (100%). The clinical response to initial treatment was favourable in all cases. Conclusions: S. bovis bacteriuria may have clinical significance, especially when S. gallolyticus subspecies pasteurianus is isolated in cases with underlying urinary tract disease.Introducción. Streptococcus bovis comprende multitud de variantes de especie relacionados con infecciones no uri narias y cáncer colorrectal. Su papel como patógeno urinario es desconocido. Nuestro objetivo fue valorar la presencia de infección urinaria por S. bovis, analizando los pacientes y su evolución clínica posterior. Material y métodos. Estudio observacional, con obten ción de datos longitudinal, realizado en nuestro centro entre todos los urocultivos solicitados durante entre los meses de febrero y abril de 2015. Se analizó la evolución clínica y la respuesta al tratamiento. Resultados. Se analizaron 2.520 urocultivos, de los que en 831 (33%) hubo un recuento microbiano significativo. Se aisló S. bovis en 8 (0,96%) pacientes. En el 75% de estos casos el uro cultivo fue solicitado por clínica de infección del tracto urina rio. El 25% restante por fiebre sin foco evidente clínicamente, no objetivando historia de cáncer y/o endocarditis durante el periodo seguimiento. La única variante presente fue S. gallo lyticus subespecie pasteurianus (100%). La respuesta clínica al tratamiento inicial fue favorable en todos los casos. Conclusiones. La bacteriuria por S. bovis puede tener significación clínica, sobre todo cuando se aísla S. gallolyticus subespecie pasteurianus, en pacientes con patología previa del aparato urinari

Supporting mobility in an IMS-based P2P IPTV service: A proactive context transfer mechanism

In recent years, IPTV has received an increasing amount of interest from the industry, commercial providers and the research community, alike. In this context, standardization bodies, such as ETSI and ITU-T, are specifying the architecture of IPTV systems based on IP multicast. An interesting alternative to support the IPTV service delivery relies on the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) paradigm to distribute and push the streaming effort towards the network edge. However, while P2P IPTV was studied in fixed access technologies, there has been little attention paid to the implications arising in mobile environments. One of these involves the service handover when the user moves to a different network. By analyzing previous work from the perspective of an IPTV service, we concluded that a proactive approach is necessary for the handling of inter-network handovers. In this paper, we propose a new general handover mechanism for the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), while studying its applicability to a P2P IPTV service. Our solution, called proactive context transfer service, incorporates the existing IEEE 802.21 technology in order to minimize the handover delay. The proposal is validated by comparing it against solutions derived from previous work.This article has been partially granted by the Spanish MEC through the CONPARTE project (TEC2007–67966-C03–03/TCM) and by the Madrid Community through the MEDIANET project (S-2009/TIC-1468).Publicad

Relationship between peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) and chronic Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae infection. A meta-analysis

We carried out a meta-analysis of observational case-control studies published before May 2004 to assess the degree of association between Chlamydophila pneumoniae (Cp) infection and PAOD. A search of the Medline database was performed using atherosclerosis and "Chlamyd* pneumoniae" as keywords. Strict criteria were applied for the selection of case studies, which had to be studies of Cp seroprevalence or of Cp detection in patients versus controls. Forty-three published studies that met these criteria were selected. An association between PAOD and Cp was revealed by immunohistochemical analysis (OR=15.4, 95%CI=5.0-46.9) and nested PCR studies of arterial biopsies (OR=4.3, 95%CI=1.8-10), by PCR study of non-arterial samples (OR=2.9, 95%CI=1.2-7.0), by other direct-detection tests (OR=16.7, 95%CI=7.0-39.8), and by ELISA and MIF tests to detect high IgG (OR=2, 95%CI=1.1-3.5 and OR=1.7, 95%CI=1.0-2.9, respectively) and IgA (OR=1.9, 95%CI=1.1-3.4 and OR=1.5, 95%CI=1.1-2.0, respectively) titers. No significant association was found in simple PCR studies of arterial biopsies, MIF tests to detect low IgG titers or IgM, or ELISA studies to detect IgM. According to this review, the association between Cp infection and PAOD depends on the analytical method adopted. Establishing a relationship between Cp and PAOD will require a case-control study with an adequate number of cases and samples that uses a combination of direct and indirect techniques to identify the presence of the bacterium in different types of sample from the same subjects, correlating the results with the activity of the disease

High presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases and resistance to quinolones in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

A study was conducted to detect the presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in 706 isolates of Escherichia coli, largely from outpatients (75.2%). The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (formerly NCCLS)-recommended disk diffusion procedure was used to detect ESBL presence; the VITEK 2 system (bioMérieux, Marcy L'Etoile, France) was used to determine the susceptibility to antibiotics of clinical interest, and the ESBLs were characterized by biochemical study, determining the isoelectric point, and by molecular study with PCR. Clonal distribution was studied in eight hospital isolates. There were 115 ESBL-producing isolates (16.3%), with a predominance of CTX-M9 type (58.3%). We draw attention to the high resistance to quinolones (>70%) in CTX-M9 and SHV enzyme producing isolates and the lower aminoglycoside activity in the latter