Analysis of microfiltration performance with constant flux processing of secondary effluent.

This study involves the microfiltration (MF) of secondary effluent from a sequencing batch reactor processing industrial waste. The MF unit was a hollow fibre module with gas backwash capability, and operated with pumped permeate (controlled flux) and dead-end, crossflow or intermittent feed. The results showed that crossflow had no effect on flux and that intermittent dead-end filtration was less productive than non-intermittent operation. For dead-end filtration the cycle-time between gas backwashes depends very significantly on the imposed flux (varying from about 100 min at 30 L/m2 h to about 5 min at 90 L, m2 h) and the feed solids content. Optimal operation has to balance operating (energy for backwash) costs and the capital (membrane area) costs. Cost analysis based on capital and energy costs indicates that for lower energy cost the unit needs to be operated at lower imposed flux but to minimise total cost it is necessary to operate the unit above 60 L/m2 h imposed flux depending on the maximum transmembrane pressure (TMP) allowed before back washing. Further analysis of TMP profiles showed that membrane resistance increased over time towards a maximum, which tended to increase with imposed flux. This implies more frequent chemical cleaning for high flux operation. Specific cake resistances were deduced from the profiles and indicated cake compression at higher flux and larger maximum TMP. Results of long-term trials are also reported. Water quality analysis shows consistent quality of permeate

Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of gastric cancer among the Korean population.

Helicobacter pylori infection has been associated with chronic atrophic gastritis, a precursor of gastric cancer. We conducted a prospective, case-controlled study to investigate whether H. pylori infection increases the risk of gastric cancer in Korean people with a high risk of gastric cancer. We enrolled 160 gastric cancer patients who were confirmed by endoscopic biopsy during 1994 and 160 age-matched control subjects with non-ulcer dyspepsia were compared to document the relationship between H. pylori infection and gastric cancer. The presence of H. pylori infection was determined by the rapid urease test and/or histology by Wright-Giemsa staining. The overall presence of H. pylori infection was 60% in gastric cancer patients and 51.9% in age-matched control subjects (odds ratio 1.39; 95% confidence interval 0.894-2.17; P = 0.143). Carcinomas of cardia, body and antrum were not associated with H. pylori infection (odds ratio 1.43, 1.69 and 1.29, respectively; 95% confidence interval, 0.271-7.52, 0.787-3.62 and 0.689-2.43, respectively; P = 0.178, 0.177 and 0.642, respectively) nor was the intestinal or diffuse type of cancer (odds ratio 1.39 and 1.40, respectively; 95% confidence interval 0.791-2.45 and 0.681-2.87, respectively; P = 0.250 and 0.835, respectively). Gender was not a risk for gastric cancer. In contrast to previous studies, these results do not provide evidence of H. pylori infection for gastric carcinogenesis in Korea.

Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism in the bovine growth hormone gene related to growth performance and carcass quality of Korean Native Cattle.

This research was conducted to find restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers related to growth performance and meat quality of Korean Native Cattle. DNA was extracted from the blood of Korean Native Cattle steers and Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA digested with restriction enzymes was performed using a bovine growth hormone (GH) cDNA probe. The restriction enzyme that detected RFLPs most frequently was TaqI. Digested fragments with TaqI revealed 6.15, 5.2, 4.5, 4.3, 2.6, 2.4, 1.6, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 kb bands. The most frequent band was 1.6 kb, which was exhibited in 11 out of 15 animals. In GH-TaqI RFLP, the 4.3 kb band was correlated with average daily gain (p = 0.021) and carcass weight (p = 0.035). No markers related to meat quality were found.