Oxidación y adsorción simultánea de amonio y azul ácido 74 en un reactor híbrido de flujo ascendente

En las últimas décadas se ha incrementado el uso de diversos compuestos en la industria química y textil, entre ellos colorantes, altas cargas de DQO, así como nitrógeno amoniacal, entre otros. Asimismo, la generación y descarga de efluentes industriales textiles a los ecosistemas acuáticos y terrestres (sin la debida supervisión de autoridades ambientales) ha incrementado de manera proporcional. Este acto ha tenido como consecuencia la perturbación de dichos ecosistemas, contaminando ríos, presas, lagos, etc., causando efectos negativos en los organismos acuáticos, limitando los procesos naturales como la fotosíntesis. Al mismo tiempo ha sido motivo de daños a la salud humana de los pueblos aledaños a estos ecosistemas. Así como también ha sido razón de la limitación del recurso hídrico. Simultáneamente, la generación e innovación de tecnologías para el tratamiento de estos efluentes antes de ser descargados, se ha incrementado últimamente, sin embargo, la mayoría de estas tecnologías debido a su ingeniería demandan costos y espacios de operación considerables por lo que su implementación a nivel industrial o piloto es escasa. En recientes estudios, se han propuesto sistemas de tratamiento de más de un contaminante a la vez en sistemas independientes o secuenciales. Sin embargo, recientemente la propuesta de sistemas híbridos se ha pensado como una tecnología que podría mejorar los costos y espacios de operación, así como el tratamiento simultáneo de diversos contaminantes. Por lo cual, el objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar una estrategia para tratar simultáneamente dos contaminantes, amonio y el colorante azul ácido 74 (ab74), mediante diversos tratamientos: Lacasa comercial (Lac), lodos activados (LA), lodos pre tratados (LPT), carbón activado (CA), y lodos activados soportados en carbón activado (CA+LA). Estos tratamientos fueron evaluados en sistemas en lote para obtener sus parámetros cinéticos enzimáticos y metabólicos, para determinar el tratamiento con mejores características de operación para posteriormente implementar dicho tratamiento en un reactor híbrido de flujo ascendente para la oxidación y adsorción simultánea de amonio y el colorante azul ácido 74 en una misma unidad experimental bajo condiciones aerobiasanaerobias. Esto en una fase nitrificante mediante lodos activados y carbón activado en soportes de poliuretano, y en una segunda fase anaerobia bajo condiciones desnitrificantes con lodos activados soportados en espuma de poliuretano sin carbón activado. Se han investigado adsorbentes amigables al ambiente de bajo costo como alternativas a costosos tratamientos para la eliminación de colorantes. Asimismo, se han encontrado lacasas bacterianas en lodos activados, sin embargo, su contribución aún no ha sido cuantificada. El zimograma y la oxidación de 2,2'-azinobis-(3-etilbenzotiazolin-6sulfonato) confirmaron la presencia de lacasas en LA y LPT. Ensayos de inhibición evidenciaron la contribución de lacasas para decolorar el ab74; decolorando 23.2 % y 19.1 % con LA y LPT, respectivamente. La decoloración del ab74 más efectiva se observó en CA+LA comparada con LA y LPT. CA+LA mostró un interesante efecto sinérgico en la decoloración del ab74; con una eficiencia de 76.6 ± 11.0 % y una tasa específica de decoloración de 5.9±0.4 mg ab74 /h gtratamiento. Posteriormente, estos mismos experimentos fueron evaluados en presencia de 100 mg/L de N-NH4+ en el cual se observó que para el tratamiento de CA+LA se obtuvieron las mejores eficiencias de decoloración y oxidación de amonio de 88.61 ± 0.1% y 72.62 ± 0.11%. Además, como resultado novedoso, LA fue capaz de regenerar in situ la capacidad de adsorción del carbón activado; esos resultados son prometedores para ser aplicados en el tratamiento de aguas residuales en un sistema híbrido propuesto. En una segunda etapa del presente estudio se implementó el tratamiento de CA+LA en el reactor híbrido evaluando una concentración de amonio de 100 mg N-NH4+/L en presencia de 30, 60 y 90 mg ab74/L. El sistema operó de manera eficiente a una concentración de 30 mg ab74/L con una eficiencia de consumo de amonio de 99.2 ± 0.5 %, una eficiencia consumo de nitrito (ENO2-%) de 63.5 ± 26.8 % y una eficiencia de consumo de nitrato (ENO3-%) de 54.8 ± 28.6 %. Debido al eficiente consumo de los productos de la oxidación del amonio y a la eficiencia de consumo de amonio a la salida del reactor híbrido, los resultados sugieren que el proceso nitrificante se acopló al proceso desnitrificante en una misma unidad experimental y se apreció la oxidación simultánea del ab74 con una eficiencia de 66.6 ± 5.6 % y una eficiencia de consumo de COT de 49.0 ± 8.8. Los resultados mostraron que tratamiento CA+LA implementado en el sistema híbrido tuvo la capacidad de oxidar simultáneamente de amonio y ab74 en una misma unidad experimental, y de manera in situ el CA pudo regenerarse al mismo tiempo mediante LA, lo que sugiere ser una tecnología atractiva para el tratamiento de aguas residuales de estas características, mejorando las condiciones y costos de operación.In the last decades, the use of many chemistry compounds had been increased in the chemistry and textile industry, as dyes, high loads of COD, nitrogen of ammonium, etc. At the same time the generation and discharge of textile industrial effluents to the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems have increased in the same way. This act has as result, the perturbation of those ecosystems that affect rivers, water dams, lakes, etc., and it is the reason of negative effects on aquatic organisms where the natural processes are affected, as the photosynthesis. At the same time, this act has been the cause of damages on the human health of the people who live close to these ecosystems as well as the limitation of the hydric resource. Simultaneously, the generation and innovation of technologies for the treatment of this kind of effluents before to discharge them to the ecosystems have been increased recently, however, the most of these technologies because of their engineering have costs and considerable operation spaces, and that is the reason because their implementation at industrial or pilot level have been limited. In recent studies, systems of treatment have been proposed to remove more than one pollutant in independent or sequential systems. However, the propose of hybrid systems have been thought as a technology that could improve the costs and spaces of operation and the removal of many pollutants simultaneously. The aim of this study was, develop a strategy to treat simultaneously two pollutants, ammonium and acid blue 74 dye, through some treatments: Commercial laccase (Lac), activated sludge (LA), pre treated sludge (LPT), activated carbon (CA) and activated sludge supported into activated carbon (CA+LA). These treatments were evaluated in batch to obtain the kinetic and metabolic parameters. After this, the best treatment was selected to implement it in the hybrid reactor of ascendant flow for the simultaneous oxidation of ammonium and acid blue 74 dye in the same experimental unit under aerobic-anaerobic conditions. This was in a nitrifying phase by activated sludge and activated carbon into polyurethane foam. The second phase was operated under denitrifying conditions by activated sludge supported into polyurethane foam without activated carbon. Some ecofriendly adsorbents have been reported with low costs as alternatives to high cost treatments for the removal of dyes. At the same time, bacterial laccases have been reported into activated sludge, however their contribution had not been quantified. The zymography and the oxidation of 2,2’-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6sulfonic acid) confirmed the presence of laccases into LA and LPT. Inhibition studies evidenced the contribution of laccases to discolor the acid blue 74 dye, the efficiencies of discoloration were 23.2 % and 19.09 % for LA and LPT respectively. The best discoloration of ab74 was observed with the treatment of CA+LA in contrast with LA and LPT. CA+LA showed an interesting synergic effect in the discoloration of ab74, with a efficiency of 76.6 ± 11 % and 5.9 ± 0.4 mg ab74/h gtreatment. The same experiments were done in presence of N-NH4+ and it was observed the same behavior in the CA+LA treatment with the best efficiencies of discoloration and ammonium oxidation of 88.61 ± 0.1% and 72.62 ± 0.1%, respectively. Also, as a new result, LA showed the capacity to regenerate in situ the capacity of adsorption of CA, these results are promising to be applied in the waste water treatment into a hybrid system. In a second stage of this study, it was implemented the CA+LA treatment into the hybrid reactor evaluating 100 mg N-NH4+/L in presence of 30, 60 and 90 mg ab74/L. The system was operated with high efficiency until 30 mg ab74/L, with a efficiency of ammonium oxidation of 99.2 ± 0.5 % and the yield of products in the effluent were YNO2 of 0.1 ± 0.1 and YNO3 of 0.1 ± 0.1. Because of the low yield of products and the high efficiency of ammonium oxidation, the results suggested that the nitrifying process was linked to the denitrifying process in the same experimental unit and simultaneously it was observed the oxidation of ab74 with efficiency of 66.6 ± 5.6 % and 49.0 ± 8.8% for COT. The results showed that the CA+LA treatment operated in the hybrid system had the capacity to oxide simultaneously ammonium and ab74 in the same experimental unit, and LA showed the capacity to regenerate in situ the adsorption capacity of CA. This suggests that CA+LA is a novel technology for the treatment of waste water with these characteristics that improve the conditions and operation costs

The Effects of Cuento Therapy on Reading Achievement and Psychological Outcomes of Mexican-American Students

This investigation evaluated the effects of cuento therapy (an intervention using Spanish-language tales) on children’s self-esteem, affect, and reading test performance. The sample was composed of 58 third-grade Mexican-American students who were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. The results showed a mean self-esteem gain score difference between groups in favor of the treatment group for Global, Academic, and General self-esteem scores. Following intervention, the treatment group reported less physiological anxiety than did the control group. The results also showed mean increases in the pre- and post-standardized high-stakes reading test scores for both groups. Other significant findings regarding selfesteem and anxiety are reported

Cognitive Composite Score Association With Alzheimer\u27S Disease Plaque And Tangle Pathology

Background: Cognitive composite scores are used as the primary outcome measures for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) prevention trials; however, the extent to which these composite measures correlate with AD pathology has not been fully investigated. Since many on-going AD prevention studies are testing therapies that target either amyloid or tau, we sought to establish an association between a cognitive composite score and the underlying pathology of AD. Methods: Data from 192 older deceased and autopsied persons from the Rush Religious Order Study were used in this study. All participants were classified at their initial evaluations with a clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI). Of these individuals, 105 remained NCI at the time of their death while the remaining 87 progressed to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD. A cognitive composite score composed of eight cognitive tests was used as the outcome measure. Individuals were classified into groups based on Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer\u27s Disease (CERAD) neuropathological diagnosis and Braak stage. Results: The rate of annualized composite score decline was significantly greater for the high CERAD (p \u3c 0.001, d = 0.56) and Braak (p \u3c 0.001, d = 0.55) groups compared with the low CERAD and Braak groups, respectively. Mixed-model repeated measure (MMRM) analyses revealed a significantly greater difference in composite score change from baseline for the high CERAD group relative to the low CERAD group after 5 years (Δ = -2.74, 95% confidence interval (CI) -5.01 to -0.47; p = 0.02). A similar analysis between low and high Braak stage groups found no significant difference in change from baseline (Δ = -0.69, 95% CI -3.03 to 1.66; p = 0.56). Conclusions: These data provide evidence that decreased cognitive composite scores were significantly associated with increased AD pathology and provide support for the use of cognitive composite scores in AD prevention trials

Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies

Infections early in life can have enduring effects on an organism's development and immunity. In this study, we show that this equally applies to developing ‘superorganisms’––incipient social insect colonies. When we exposed newly mated Lasius niger ant queens to a low pathogen dose, their colonies grew more slowly than controls before winter, but reached similar sizes afterwards. Independent of exposure, queen hibernation survival improved when the ratio of pupae to workers was small. Queens that reared fewer pupae before worker emergence exhibited lower pathogen levels, indicating that high brood rearing efforts interfere with the ability of the queen's immune system to suppress pathogen proliferation. Early-life queen pathogen exposure also improved the immunocompetence of her worker offspring, as demonstrated by challenging the workers to the same pathogen a year later. Transgenerational transfer of the queen's pathogen experience to her workforce can hence durably reduce the disease susceptibility of the whole superorganism

Review of the scientific and institutional capacity of small island developing states in support of a bottom-up approach to achieve sustainable development goal 14 targets

Capacity building efforts in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are indispensable for the achievement of both individual and collective ocean-related 2030 agenda priorities for sustainable development. Knowledge of the individual capacity building and research infrastructure requirements in SIDS is necessary for national and international efforts to be effective in supporting SIDS to address nationally-identified sustainable development priorities. Here, we present an assessment of human resources and institutional capacities in SIDS United Nations (UN) Member States to help formulate and implement durable, relevant, and effective capacity development responses to the most urgent marine issues of concern for SIDS. The assessment highlights that there is only limited, if any, up-to-date information publicly available on human resources and research capacities in SIDS. A reasonable course of action in the future should, therefore, be the collection and compilation of data on educational, institutional, and human resources, as well as research capacities and infrastructures in SIDS into a publicly available database. This database, supported by continued, long-term international, national, and regional collaborations, will lay the foundation to provide accurate and up-to-date information on research capacities and requirements in SIDS, thereby informing strategic science and policy targets towards achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) within the next decade

Gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in Tanzania: do plans and budgets match?

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been ratified by more countries than any other UN convention (Gabizon, 2016). The United Republic of Tanzania is one such country that hopes to fully utilize its human resources, both men and women, for socio-economic development. It is recognized that the continued marginalization of women constitutes a major obstacle to rapid socio-economic development of the country (MCDGC, 2005). The United Republic of Tanzania–through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children–has prioritized gender equality through different instruments: the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania was amended in 2005 to increase women’s participation in the National Parliament and Local Authorities; the Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000 puts more emphasis on women in development, and the National Strategy for Gender Development was intended to promote gender equality and equity. Despite these developments, challenges still remain, as demonstrated by Tanzania’s low ranking (123rd out of 149 countries) on the 2013 Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2015)

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment exerts antioxidant and neuropreservatory effects in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has shown limited promise so far in human clinical studies on Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet overwhelmingly positive preclinical work in animals and human brain cultures support the notion that the therapy remains potentially efficacious. Here, we elaborate on IVIG neuropreservation by demonstrating that IVIG protects human primary neurons against oxidative stress in vitro and that IVIG preserves antioxidant defense mechanisms in vivo. Based on these results, we propose the following translational impact: If the dosage and treatment conditions are adequately optimized, then IVIG treatment could play a significant role in preventing and/or delaying the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD. We suggest that IVIG warrants further investigation to fully exploit its potential as an anti-oxidant, neuroprotective and synapto-protecting agent

Staging of Alzheimer's Pathology in Triple Transgenic Mice: A Light and Electron Microscopic Analysis

The age-related pathological cascade underlying intraneuronal tau formation in 3xTg-AD mice, which harbor the human APPSwe, PS1M126V , and TauP301L gene mutations, remains unclear. At 3 weeks of age, AT180, Alz50, MC1, AT8, and PHF-1 intraneuronal immunoreactivity appeared in the amygdala and hippocampus and at later ages in the cortex of 3xTg-AD mice. AT8 and PHF-1 staining was fixation dependent in young mutant mice. 6E10 staining was seen at all ages. Fluorescent immunomicroscopy revealed CA1 neurons dual stained for 6E10 and Alz50 and single Alz50 immunoreactive neurons in the subiculum at 3 weeks and continuing to 20 months. Although electron microscopy confirmed intraneuronal cytoplasmic Alz50, AT8, and 6E10 reaction product in younger 3xTg-AD mice, straight filaments appeared at 23 months of age in female mice. The present data suggest that other age-related biochemical mechanisms in addition to early intraneuronal accumulation of 6E10 and tau underlie the formation of tau filaments in 3xTg-AD mice

Using macromolecular composition to predict optimal process settings in ring-die biomass pellet production

This study was performed to investigate if the process settings that give high pellet durability can be modelled from the biomass’ macromolecular composition. Process and chemical analysis data was obtained from a previous pilot-scale study of six biomass assortments that by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was confirmed as representative for their biomass types: hardwood, softwood bark, short rotation coppice (SRC), and straw and energy crops. Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Projections to Latent Structures (OPLS) models were created with the content of macromolecules as factors and the die compression ratio and the feedstock moisture content at which the highest pellet durability was obtained as responses. The models for die compression ratio (R2X = 0.90 and Q2 = 0.58) and feedstock moisture content (R2X = 0.87 and Q2 = 0.60), rendered a prediction error for obtained mechanical durability of approximately ±1%-unit, each. Important factors for modelling of the die compression ratio were: soluble lignin (negative), acetyl groups (negative), acetone extractives (positive), and arabinan (positive). For modelling of the feedstock moisture content, Klason lignin (negative), xylan (positive), water-soluble extractives (negative), and mannan (negative), were the most influential. Results obtained in this study indicate that it is possible to predict optimal process conditions in pelletizing based on the macromolecular composition of the raw material. In practice, this would mean a higher raw material flexibility in the pellet factories through drastically reduced risk when introducing new raw materials