Effect of polyaluminium chloride water treatment sludge on effluent quality of domestic wastewater treatment

Water resources degeneration is accelerated by the discharge of untreated wastewater and its byproducts, hence, reuse of these wastes is a major contributor to sustaining fresh water for the coming decades. In this study, the reuse of polyaluminium water treatment sludge (PA-WTS) as a flocculant aid to improve the effluent quality of wastewater during primary sedimentation is evaluated and presented. PA-WTS was collected from Gabba water treatment plant (Gabba WTP) Uganda, after the coagulation-flocculation process that makes use of aluminium chlorohydrate (ACH). The average aluminium residue concentration in PA-WTS was 3.4 mg/L. During this study, batch laboratory experiments were conducted in a jar-test apparatus in which different doses of PA-WTS were added. The results obtained showed a decrease in total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total ammonium nitrogen (TAN), and total phosphates (TP) in the supernatant after 30 min of settlement. The optimal PA-WTS dosage of 37.5 mL/L significantly (P<0.05) increased the TSS, TP and COD removal efficiencies by 15, 22 and 30%, respectively. It can be concluded that the PA-WTS positively complimented the sedimentation process in the primary treatment of wastewater to achieve better effluent quality.Key words: Aluminium chlorohydrate, poly aluminium sludge, reuse, wastewater, water treatment sludge

Three-body dN interaction in the analysis of the 12C(pol_d,d') reaction at 270 MeV

We have measured the cross sections and analyzing powers Ay and Ayy for the elastic and inelastic scattering of deuterons from the 0+(g.s.), 2+(4.44 MeV), 3-(9.64 MeV), 1+(12.71 MeV), and 2-(18.3 MeV) states in 12C at an incident energy of 270 MeV. The data are compared with microscopic distorted-wave impulse approximation calculations where the projectile-nucleon effective interactionis taken from the three-nucleon t-matrix given by rigorous Faddeev calculations presently available at intermediate energies. The agreement between theory and data compares well with that for the (p,p') reactions at comparable incident energies/nucleon.Comment: 17 pages, 3 Postscript figure

Ten-Color flow cytometry reveals distinct patterns of expression of CD124 and CD126 by developing thymocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have developed a 12-parameter/10-color flow cytometric staining method for the simultaneous detection and characterization of 21 mouse thymocyte subpopulations that represent discreet stages of T cell development. To demonstrate the utility of this method, we assessed cytokine receptor expression on mouse thymocyte subsets. These experiments revealed distinct patterns of surface expression of receptors for the cytokines IL-4 and IL-6.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The IL-4 receptor α chain (CD124) was highly expressed on the earliest thymocyte subsets, then downregulated prior to T cell receptor β-selection and finally upregulated in the CD4/CD8 double positive cells prior to positive selection. The IL-6 receptor α chain (CD126) showed a different pattern of expression. It was expressed on the most mature subsets within the CD4 and CD8 single positive (SP) compartments and was absent on all other thymocytes with the exception of a very small cKit^-CD4^-CD8^-population. Intracellular staining of SP thymocytes for phosphorylated STAT-1 demonstrated that IL-6 signaling was confined to the most mature SP subsets.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This 12-parameter staining methodology uses only commercially available fluorochrome-coupled monoclonal antibodies and therefore could be employed by any investigator with access to a 4-laser flow cytometer. This novel staining scheme allowed us to easily phenotype thymocyte subpopulations that span across development, from the early thymic progenitors (ETPs) to the most mature subsets of the CD4 and CD8 single positive populations.</p

Regge description of two pseudoscalar meson production in antiproton-proton annihilation

A Regge-inspired model is used to discuss the hard exclusive two-body hadronic reactions (pbar p ----> pi+ pi-, pi0 pi0, K+ K-, Kbar0 K0) for the FAIR facility project at GSI with the Panda detector. The comparison between the differential cross sections predictions and the available data is shown to determine the values of the few parameters of the model.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure

FDG uptake, a surrogate of tumour hypoxia?

Introduction Tumour hyperglycolysis is driven by activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) through tumour hypoxia. Accordingly, the degree of 2-fluro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) uptake by tumours might indirectly reflect the level of hypoxia, obviating the need for more specific radiopharmaceuticals for hypoxia imaging. Discussion In this paper, available data on the relationship between hypoxia and FDG uptake by tumour tissue in vitro and in vivo are reviewed. In pre-clinical in vitro studies, acute hypoxia was consistently shown to increase FDG uptake by normal and tumour cells within a couple of hours after onset with mobilisation or modification of glucose transporters optimising glucose uptake, followed by a delayed response with increased rates of transcription of GLUT mRNA. In pre-clinical imaging studies on chronic hypoxia that compared FDG uptake by tumours grown in rat or mice to uptake by FMISO, the pattern of normoxic and hypoxic regions within the human tumour xenografts, as imaged by FMISO, largely correlated with glucose metabolism although minor locoregional differences could not be excluded. In the clinical setting, data are limited and discordant. Conclusion Further evaluation of FDG uptake by various tumour types in relation to intrinsic and bioreductive markers of hypoxia and response to radiotherapy or hypoxia-dependent drugs is needed to fully assess its application as a marker of hypoxia in the clinical setting

Single-neutron transfer from 11Be gs via the (p,d) reaction with a radioactive beam

The 11Be(p,d)10Be reaction has been performed in inverse kinematics with a radioactive 11Be beam of E/A = 35.3 MeV. Angular distributions for the 0+ ground state, the 2+, 3.37 MeV state and the multiplet of states around 6 MeV in 10Be were measured at angles up to 16 deg CM by detecting the 10Be in a dispersion-matched spectrometer and the coincident deuterons in a silicon array. Distorted wave and coupled-channels calculations have been performed to investigate the amount of 2+ core excitation in 11Be gs. The use of "realistic" 11Be wave functions is emphasised and bound state form factors have been obtained by solving the particle-vibration coupling equations. This calculation gives a dominant 2s component in the 11Be gs wave function with a 16% [2+ x 1d] core excitation admixture. Cross sections calculated with these form factors are in good agreement with the present data. The Separation Energy prescription for the bound state wave function also gives satisfactory fits to the data, but leads to a significantly larger [2 x 1d] component in 11Be gs.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics A. Added minor corrections made in proof to pages 26 and 3

Arsenic Metabolism by Human Gut Microbiota upon in Vitro Digestion of Contaminated Soils

BACKGROUND: Speciation analysis is essential when evaluating risks from arsenic (As) exposure. In an oral exposure scenario, the importance of presystemic metabolism by gut microorganisms has been evidenced with in vivo animal models and in vitro experiments with animal microbiota. However, it is unclear whether human microbiota display similar As metabolism, especially when present in a contaminated matrix. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the metabolic potency of in vitro cultured human colon microbiota toward inorganic As (iAs) and As-contaminated soils. METHODS: A colon microbial community was cultured in a dynamic model of the human gut. These colon microbiota were incubated with iAs and with As-contaminated urban soils. We determined As speciation analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS: We found a high degree of methylation for colon digests both of iAs (10 mu g methylarsenical/g biomass/hr) and of As-contaminated soils (up to 28 mu g/g biomass/hr). Besides the formation of monomethylarsonic acid (MMA(V)), we detected the highly toxic monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)). Moreover, this is the first description of microbial thiolation leading to monomethylmonothioarsonic acid (MMMTA(V)). MMMTA(V), the toxicokinetic properties of which are not well known, was in many cases a major metabolite. CONCLUSIONS: Presystemic As metabolism is a significant process in the human body. Toxicokinetic studies aiming to completely elucidate the As metabolic pathway would therefore benefit from incorporating the metabolic potency of human gut microbiota. This will result in more accurate risk characterization associated with As exposures

The first determination of Generalized Polarizabilities of the proton by a Virtual Compton Scattering experiment

Absolute differential cross sections for the reaction (e+p -> e+p+gamma) have been measured at a four-momentum transfer with virtuality Q^2=0.33 GeV^2 and polarization \epsilon = 0.62 in the range 33.6 to 111.5 MeV/c for the momentum of the outgoing photon in the photon-proton center of mass frame. The experiment has been performed with the high resolution spectrometers at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. From the photon angular distributions, two structure functions which are a linear combination of the generalized polarizabilities have been determined for the first time.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Evidence for Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q2Q^2 = 0.108 (GeV/c)2^2

We report on a measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons off unpolarized protons with the A4 apparatus at MAMI in Mainz at a four momentum transfer value of $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$ and at a forward electron scattering angle of 30$^\circ < \theta_e < 40^\circ$. The measured asymmetry is $A_{LR}(\vec{e}p)$ = (\Aphys $\pm$ \Deltastat$_{stat}$ $\pm$ \Deltasyst$_{syst}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. The expectation from the Standard Model assuming no strangeness contribution to the vector current is A$_0$ = (\Azero $\pm$ \DeltaAzero) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. We have improved the statistical accuracy by a factor of 3 as compared to our previous measurements at a higher $Q^2$. We have extracted the strangeness contribution to the electromagnetic form factors from our data to be $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ = \GEsGMs $\pm$ \DeltaGEsGMs at $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$. As in our previous measurement at higher momentum transfer for $G_E^s$ + 0.230 $G_M^s$, we again find the value for $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ to be positive, this time at an improved significance level of 2 $\sigma$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure