Seawater reverse osmosis desalination and (harmful) algal blooms

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Desalination 360 (2015): 61-80, doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.01.007.This article reviews the occurrence of HABs in seawater, their effects on the operation of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, the indicators for quantifying/predicting these effects, and the pretreatment strategies for mitigating operational issues during algal blooms. The potential issues in SWRO plants during HABs are particulate/organic fouling of pretreatment systems and biological fouling of RO membranes, mainly due to accumulation of algal organic matter (AOM). The presence of HAB toxins in desalinated water is also a potential concern but only at very low concentrations. Monitoring algal cell density, AOM concentrations and membrane fouling indices is a promising approach to assess the quality of SWRO feedwater and performance of the pretreatment system. When geological condition is favourable, subsurface intake can be a robust pretreatment for SWRO during HABs. Existing SWRO plants with open intake and are fitted with granular media filtration can improve performance in terms of capacity and product water quality, if preceded by dissolved air flotation or sedimentation. However, the application of advanced pretreatment using ultrafiltration membrane with in‐line coagulation is often a better option as it is capable of maintaining stable operation and better RO feed water quality during algal bloom periods with significantly lower chemical consumption.This study was conducted with the financial support of UNESCO‐IHE Institute for Water Education, Wetsus Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology and Water Desalination and Reuse Center (KAUST, Saudi Arabia). Support for D. M. Anderson was provided through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, National Science Foundation Grant OCE‐1314642 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grant 1‐P01‐ES021923‐01

Nanostructure of cellulose microfibrils in spruce wood

The structure of cellulose microfibrils in wood is not known in detail, despite the abundance of cellulose in woody biomass and its importance for biology, energy, and engineering. The structure of the microfibrils of spruce wood cellulose was investigated using a range of spectroscopic methods coupled to small-angle neutron and wide-angle X-ray scattering. The scattering data were consistent with 24-chain microfibrils and favored a “rectangular” model with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces exposed. Disorder in chain packing and hydrogen bonding was shown to increase outwards from the microfibril center. The extent of disorder blurred the distinction between the I alpha and I beta allomorphs. Chains at the surface were distinct in conformation, with high levels of conformational disorder at C-6, less intramolecular hydrogen bonding and more outward-directed hydrogen bonding. Axial disorder could be explained in terms of twisting of the microfibrils, with implications for their biosynthesis

Genetic Evaluation for Hereditary Cancer Syndromes Among African Americans: A Critical Review

While hereditary cancer syndromes have been described and studied for centuries, the completion of the human genome project fueled accelerated progress in precision medicine due to the introduction of genetic testing in the 1990s, creating avenues for tailored treatments and medical management options. However, genetic testing has not benefited everyone equitably, with nearly all of the published work based on individuals of non-Hispanic White/European ancestry. There remains a gap in knowledge regarding the prevalence, penetrance, and manifestations of common hereditary cancer syndromes in the African-American population due to significant disparities in access and uptake of genetic testing. This review summarizes the available literature on genetic testing for breast, colon, and prostate cancers in the African-American population and explores the disparities in access to genetic testing between non-Hispanic White and African-American patients. This article also addresses the barriers to genetic testing and discrepancies in the uptake of recommendations for hereditary cancer syndromes in the African-American population when compared with non-Hispanic Whites. The review offers practice implications for many healthcare providers and demonstrates gaps in the existing knowledge to be addressed in future studies to help eliminate the persisting health disparities faced by the African-American population

The objectives, design and implementation of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project

INTERGROWTH-21st is a multicentre, multiethnic, populationbased project, being conducted in eight geographical areas (Brazil, China, India, Italy, Kenya, Oman, UK and USA), with technical support from four global specialised units, to study growth, health and nutrition from early pregnancy to infancy. It aims to produce prescriptive growth standards, which conceptually extend the World Health Organization (WHO) Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) to cover fetal and newborn life. The new international standards will describe: (1) fetal growth assessed by clinical and ultrasound measures; (2) postnatal growth of term and preterm infants up to 2 years of age; and (3) the relationship between birthweight, length and head circumference, gestational age and perinatal outcomes. As the project has selected healthy cohorts with no obvious risk factors for intrauterine growth restriction, these standards will describe how all fetuses and newborns should grow, as opposed to traditional charts that describe how some have grown at a given place and time. These growth patterns will be related to morbidity and mortality to identify levels of perinatal risk. Additional aims include phenotypic characterisation of the preterm and impaired fetal growth syndromes and development of a prediction model, based on multiple ultrasound measurements, to estimate gestational age for use in pregnant women without access to early/frequent antenatal care

The roles of inflammation and immune mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease

AbstractThe Alzheimer's Association's Research roundtable met in April 2015 to explore the role of neuroinflammatory mechanisms in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The ability of innate immune cells, particularly microglia and astrocytes, to mediate neuroinflammation in AD has been implicated as a significant contributor to disease pathogenesis. Adaptive immunity, which plays an important role in responding to injury and some diseases of the central nervous system, may contribute to neuroinflammation in AD as well. Communication between the central and peripheral immune systems may also be important in AD. An increased understanding of the physiology of the innate immune system may aid the identification of new therapeutic targets or mechanisms. The development of predictive animal models and translatable neuroinflammation biomarkers for AD would also facilitate the advancement of novel treatments for innate immunity. Important challenges impeding the advancement of new therapeutic agents and strategies to overcome them were discussed

Population Empirical Likelihood Estimation in Dual Frame Surveys

Dual frame surveys are a device to reduce the costs derived from data collection in surveys and improve coverage for the whole target population. Since their introduction, in the 1960’s, dual frame surveys have gained much attention and several estimators have been formulated based on a number of different approaches. In this work, we propose new dual frame estimators based on the population empirical likelihood method originally proposed by Chen and Kim (2014) and using both the dual and the single frame approach. The extension of the proposed methodology to more than two frame surveys is also sketched. The performance of the proposed estimators in terms of relative bias and relative mean squared error is tested through simulation experiments. These experiments indicate that the proposed estimators yield better results than other likelihood-based estimators proposed in the literature.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spai

Self-management support interventions to reduce health care utilisation without compromising outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: There is increasing interest in the role of �self-management� interventions to support the management of long-term conditions in health service settings. Self-management may include patient education, support for decision-making, self-monitoring and psychological and social support. Self-management support has potential to improve the efficiency of health services by reducing other forms of utilisation (such as primary care or hospital use), but a shift to self-management may lead to negative outcomes, such as patients who feel more anxious about their health, are less able to cope, or who receive worse quality of care, all of which may impact on their health and quality of life. We sought to determine which models of self-management support are associated with significant reductions in health services utilisation without compromising outcomes among patients with long-term conditions. Methods: We used systematic review with meta-analysis. We included randomised controlled trials in patients with long-term conditions which included self-management support interventions and reported measures of service utilisation or costs, as well as measures of health outcomes (standardized disease specific quality of life, generic quality of life, or depression/anxiety).We searched multiple databases (CENTRAL, CINAHL, Econlit, EMBASE, HEED, MEDLINE, NHS EED and PsycINFO) and the reference lists of published reviews. We calculated effects sizes for both outcomes and costs, and presented the results in permutation plots, as well as conventional meta-analyses. Results: We included 184 studies. Self-management support was associated with small but significant improvements in health outcomes, with the best evidence of effectiveness in patients with diabetic, respiratory, cardiovascular and mental health conditions. Only a minority of self-management support interventions reported reductions in health care utilisation in association with decrements in health. Evidence for reductions in utilisation associated with self-management support was strongest in respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Studies at higher risk of bias were more likely to report benefits. Conclusions: Self-management support interventions can reduce health service utilization without compromising patient health outcomes, although effects were generally small, and the evidence was strongest in respiratory and cardiovascular disorders. Further work is needed to determine which components of self-management support are most effective

Can We Really Prevent Suicide?

Every year, suicide is among the top 20 leading causes of death globally for all ages. Unfortunately, suicide is difficult to prevent, in large part because the prevalence of risk factors is high among the general population. In this review, clinical and psychological risk factors are examined and methods for suicide prevention are discussed. Prevention strategies found to be effective in suicide prevention include means restriction, responsible media coverage, and general public education, as well identification methods such as screening, gatekeeper training, and primary care physician education. Although the treatment for preventing suicide is difficult, follow-up that includes pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, or both may be useful. However, prevention methods cannot be restricted to the individual. Community, social, and policy interventions will also be essentia

Bose-Einstein Correlations of Three Charged Pions in Hadronic Z^0 Decays

Bose-Einstein Correlations (BEC) of three identical charged pions were studied in 4 x 10^6 hadronic Z^0 decays recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. The genuine three-pion correlations, corrected for the Coulomb effect, were separated from the known two-pion correlations by a new subtraction procedure. A significant genuine three-pion BEC enhancement near threshold was observed having an emitter source radius of r_3 = 0.580 +/- 0.004 (stat.) +/- 0.029 (syst.) fm and a strength of \lambda_3 = 0.504 +/- 0.010 (stat.) +/- 0.041 (syst.). The Coulomb correction was found to increase the \lambda_3 value by \~9% and to reduce r_3 by ~6%. The measured \lambda_3 corresponds to a value of 0.707 +/- 0.014 (stat.) +/- 0.078 (syst.) when one takes into account the three-pion sample purity. A relation between the two-pion and the three-pion source parameters is discussed.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, accepted by Eur. Phys. J.