Performances of a hybrid adsorption/submerged membrane biological process for toxic waste removal.

This study focuses on a hybrid process, which combines adsorption on powdered activated carbon (PAC), membrane separation using immersed hollow fibers and biological activity. The first part shows that PAC addition in a complex system (containing dissolved molecules and biological particles) can reduce membrane fouling. In that system, DMP removal is function of the activated carbon concentration. Then, respirometric experiments allowed comparison of toxic sensitivity and biological degradation of different bioreactors (membrane bioreactor (MBR), adsorptive membrane bioreactor (PAC-MBR) and classical activated sludge bioreactor (AS)). Results point out that MBR sludge is less sensitive to the toxic than the AS. For high toxic concentration, PAC addition in the MBR decreases rapidly the toxic concentration under the EC50 in the bioreactor, which allows a better biodegradation of the toxic compound. DMP assimilation is completed more rapidly with the PAC-MBR than the MBR.     

Diagnostic angiography in life-threatening colonic hemorrhage in Crohn disease

Life-threatening colonic hemorrhage is a very rare condition in Crohn's disease. Lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage in Crohn's disease occurs in 0.6-2.5% of cases. In a patient presenting with severe gastrointestinal bleeding after ileocolectomy, mesenteric angiography provided precise localisation of the bleeding site in the area of the splenic flexure.     

Paradox segmentation along inter- and intrasomitic borderlines is followed by dysmorphology of the axial skeleton in the open brain (opb) mouse mutant

In open brain (opb) mutant embryos, developmental defects of the trunk spinal cord were spatially correlated with severe defects of the epaxial somite derivatives including sclerotomes, whereas hypaxial somite derivatives are much less affected. Later in development, the neural arches (epaxial sclerotome derivatives) formed but were severely disorganized, and also the distal ribs (hypaxial sclerotome derivatives) were malformed. Adjacent neural arches and vertebral bodies were often fused where joints should have formed suggesting defects of the intrasomitic borderlines. Moreover, neural arches frequently and ribs sometimes were split into halves at distinct levels along the dorso-ventral body axis. This suggests that 'resegmentation' of sclerotomes across the somite borders did not completely occur. These prominent skeletal defects were preceded by reduced expression of Pax1 along the intrasomitic borderlines, and incomplete maintenance of somite borders between central sclerotome moieties. The defects of the axial skeleton were accompanied by segmentation defects of the myotomes which were split distally, and also partly fused from adjacent segments across somite borders. The segmentation defects observed suggest that in opb mutants both segmental borderlines, the somite borders and the intrasomitic borderlines (fissures), were affected and behaved paradoxically.     

Hereditary angioedema. A rare cause of acute abdominal pain with ascites

HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS: Since the age of 16 years a now 25-year-old woman had been known to have C1-inhibitor (C1-INH) deficiency. She presented herself at the emergency department because of acute severe lower abdominal cramps. A urinary infection had been treated with antibiotics for the previous 4 days. There was marked pain on pressure over the lower abdomen, but there were no signs of peritonitis and bowel sound were normal. There had been no nausea or vomiting and the stools had been normal. INVESTIGATIONS: There was a leukocytosis of 10,200/microliter, moderately elevated C-reactive protein (44.8 mg/l), haemoglobin concentration of 17 g/dl and haematocrit of 51%. Radiology revealed oedema of the duodenum and sonography showed free fluid in the abdomen. TREATMENT AND COURSE: After excluding an acute abdomen and in view of the C1-INH deficiency treatment was symptomatic. All symptoms completely disappeared after 2 days. CONCLUSIONS: Exclusively gastrointestinal symptoms and ascites are rare in patients with hereditary angioedema. But knowledge of this manifestation of the disease is important because patients are sometimes operated under the false diagnosis of acute abdomen. In severe cases symptomatic treatment may have to be supplemented by C1-INH administration. Prevention with attenuated androgens should be started or modified, respectively.     

LED‐backlit computer screens influence our biological clock and keep us more awake

Abstract— In commodity LC flat‐panel displays, the traditional CCFL backlight is being replaced more and more by LEDs. The typical spectrum of LED‐lit displays shows a significantly higher amount of blue light in the range around 464 nm. Blue light in this wavelength area suppresses the melatonin level in humans and thus effects the biological clock. Our hypothesis was that the amount of blue light reaching the human eye from a LED‐backlit display is sufficient to have a significant effect on the biological clock. The results of clinical user studies comparing the effects of LED‐ vs. CCFL‐backlit displays on humans, resulting from the emitted amount of 464‐nm light, will be presented. It was found that the LED‐backlit display causes significant suppression of melatonin, which effects the biological clock of the test persons, indicating the necessity for displays with a controllable 464‐nm emission. A technical concept for a display with such functionality will be presented.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Editorial

     

Direct Catalyst Monitoring by Electrical Means: An Overview on Promising Novel Principles

By measuring the electrical properties of the catalyst coating itself, one can observe directly and in situ the state of TWC, LNT, and SCR catalysts. Two principles are possible: a contact method, for which the coating is applied to planar electrodes and the electrical impedance is measured, and a non-contact method, in which the coating material is penetrated by radio frequency waves. In either case, the catalyst state is directly correlated with the measured transmission or reflection characteristics of the electrical sensors.     

Influence of sex, age and smoking status on patient comfort during gastroscopy with pharyngeal anesthesia by a new benzocaine-tetracaine preparation

Twelve healthy male volunteers participated in this open, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-way crossover study to investigate the effects of cimetidine on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of oral trovafloxacin. Volunteers were randomized to receive either 400 mg cimetidine twice daily or placebo for 5 days. From day 3-5, volunteers received 200 mg trovafloxacin once daily in addition to either cimetidine or placebo. After a minimum 7-day washout period, the study was repeated: those volunteers who received placebo during the first study period were administered cimetidine, and vice versa. The maximum observed serum trovafloxacin concentration, the area under the concentration-time curve of trovafloxacin within the dosing interval of 24 h and the earliest time to the maximum serum concentration for trovafloxacin in volunteers receiving concomitant cimetidine were 2.4 microg/ml. 27.8 microg x h/ml and 1.4 h, respectively, compared with 2.5 microg/ml, 27.1 microg x h/ml and 1.5 h, respectively, in volunteers receiving concomitant placebo. Thus. multiple dosing with cimetidine had no significant effect on the absorption or disposition of trovafloxacin at steady state. Co-administration of cimetidine and trovafloxacin was also well tolerated and without serious adverse effects.     

Phenomenology and nursing: reflections

The project is about phenomenology and its elements. It points out the essential ideas of existential phenomenology interpreted by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's ideas and tries to connect this philosophy to nursing world.