The Darkening Cloud of Diabetes: Do trends in cardiovascular risk management provide a silver lining?

OBJECTIVE—We aimed to evaluate the changes in cardiovascular-related health care utilization (drug therapies, hospitalizations) and mortality for the diabetic population during a 9-year period in Saskatchewan, Canada

Short-term performance analysis of sludge-consolidation reed beds

Sludge consolidation reed beds represent an established technology for managing biosolids produced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, an analysis conducted on the stratigraphy of the sludge consolidation reed bed serving the municipal WWTPs of Helsinge (60,000 p.e., Denmark) are presented. The bed has been in operation since 1996. The analysis was conducted for four months including two consecutive loadings of the bed. The amount of dewatering during the short initial phase was significant and the rehydration of deeper layers was negligible. A clear reduction trend was observed for volatile solids and labile organic matter, which is the first step towards organic matter stabilization and humification. This hypothesis was also confirmed by water soluble carbon, which decreased with the increasing depth and the time of resting. About the N cycle, ammonification and nitrification showed a reciprocal balancing effect, so as to cause an equilibrium between the stable trends of N-NH4 + and N-NO3 - which were similar along the depth and the time of monitoring. The highest values of both parameters were found at the surface, where the combined effect of plant action, direct diffusive oxygen transfer from the atmosphere and high nutrient contents of the freshly loaded sludge was likely more intense