The influence of calcium and magnesium in drinking water and diet on cardiovascular risk factors in individuals living in hard and soft water areas with differences in cardiovascular mortality

BACKGROUND: The role of water hardness as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease has been widely investigated and evaluated as regards regional differences in cardiovascular disease. This study was performed to evaluate the relation between calcium and magnesium in drinking water and diet and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in individuals living in hard and soft water areas with considerable differences in cardiovascular mortality. METHODS: A random sample of 207 individuals living in two municipalities characterised by differences in cardiovascular mortality and water hardness was invited for an examination including a questionnaire about health, social and living conditions and diet. Intake of magnesium and calcium was calculated from the diet questionnaire with special consideration to the use of local water. Household water samples were delivered by each individual and were analysed for magnesium and calcium. RESULTS: In the total sample, there were positive correlations between the calcium content in household water and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and negative correlations with s-cholesterol and s-LDL-cholesterol. No correlation was seen with magnesium content in household water to any of the risk factors. Calcium content in diet showed no correlation to cardiovascular risk factors. Magnesium in diet was positively correlated to diastolic blood pressure (DBP). In regression analyses controlled for age and sex 18.5% of the variation in SBP was explained by the variation in BMI, HbA1c and calcium content in water. Some 27.9% of the variation in s-cholesterol could be explained by the variation in s-triglycerides (TG), and calcium content in water. CONCLUSIONS: This study of individuals living in soft and hard water areas showed significant correlations between the content of calcium in water and major cardiovascular risk factors. This was not found for magnesium in water or calcium or magnesium in diet. Regression analyses indicated that calcium content in water could be a factor in the complexity of relationships and importance of cardiovascular risk factors. From these results it is not possible to conclude any definite causal relation and further research is needed

Advanced control of an industrial circulating fluidized bed boiler using fuzzy logic

Abstract Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boilers are widely used for multi-fuel combustion of waste and bio-fuels. When several non-homogeneous fuels, having varying heat values, are burned simultaneously, the boiler control system can be affected by various control challenges, especially since it is not feasible to reliably measure the energy content of the multi-fuel flow. In order to fulfill energy production needs and maintain the ability to burn low grade fuels, co-firing with high heat value fuels such as gas, oil or coal is needed. Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) has been successfully used for solving control challenges, where operators' process expertise can be transformed into automation. Real life control objects are often non-linear because the dynamics change with the operating point, or there might be other essential non-linearities in the combustion process. The proposed fuzzy control applications were developed to solve control challenges the operators meet in daily operation of a 150 MW(th) CFB at Varenso Oy's (Stora Enso Oyj) K6 boiler in Varkaus Finland. Before implementing the applications in the fullscale boiler, they were tested at a 2 MW(e) pilot plant boiler at Foster Wheeler Energia Oy's Research Center in Karhula, Finland. According to the industrial experiments, the four applications (steam pressure control, compensation of fuel quality fluctuation, fuel-feed optimization and increased bed inventory monitoring) discussed in this thesis, showed satisfactory performance and various improvements to the boiler control were achieved. Fuzzy logic control was shown to be a notable tool to improve the multi-fuel CFB boiler control