ABSTRACT
Electrochemical oxidation by means of boron-doped diamond (BDD) anodes generates a very efficient oxidizing environment by forming hydroxyl radicals, providing effective water purification for elimination of persistent pollutants. In this project the degradation rates of organic and inorganic substances are investigated. Experiments were performed in laboratory and pilot scale with synthetic and industrial wastewaters. Performance parameters were evaluated in terms of total organic carbon/chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, specific energy consumption and current efficiency. The integration of this advanced oxidation technology combined with conventional technology was then applied in a wastewater treatment concept of landfill leachate. The raw leachate with a low biochemical oxygen demand/COD ratio was electrochemically oxidized to prepare the purified leachate for discharge into a sewage system or a receiving water body. The cost estimation regarding operation and capital costs addresses the economics for the treatment of heavily polluted effluents.
Subject(s)
Electrochemistry/methods , Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry , Water Purification/methods , Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis , Oxidation-ReductionABSTRACT
AIM: To find genetic alterations in PTC or other genes of the Shh/PTCH pathway in tumorous and non- tumorous samples from three families and to correlate them with the varying expression of disorders in presented nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) phenotypes. METHOD: DNA was extracted from archival paraffin-embedded tissues, tumor tissue or peripheral blood leukocytes, and the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and single strand conformational polymorphism analysis was performed using PCR with primers for polymorphic 9q22.3 markers (D9S196, D9S287, D9S180, D9S127); PTCH exons 3, 6, 8, 13, 15, 16; and smo (smoothened) exon 1. G-banding tecnique was used for cytogenetic analysis of the peripheral blood lymphocytes. RESULTS: We found a LOH for PTCH in several cases and variability in smo in one case. In one case NBCCS could reasonably be ascribed to hemizygous PTCH inactivation, while in other two families this typical correlation between the syndrome phenotype and the observed genetic alterations could not been established. CONCLUSIONS: Further analysis of relatively sparse cases of NBCCS is needed before the symptoms of the syndrome could be convincingly explained by genetic alterations in the Shh/PTCH signalling pathway.
Subject(s)
Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome/genetics , DNA, Neoplasm/analysis , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Skin Neoplasms/genetics , Adolescent , Alleles , Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome/metabolism , Child , Chromosome Aberrations/genetics , Chromosome Aberrations/metabolism , Chromosome Disorders , Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9/genetics , DNA Mutational Analysis , DNA Primers/chemistry , Female , Genetic Markers , Humans , Loss of Heterozygosity , Male , Patched Receptors , Patched-1 Receptor , Pedigree , Phenotype , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational , Receptors, Cell Surface , Skin Neoplasms/metabolismABSTRACT
The number of leukocytes, proportion and absolute number of granulocytes, lymphocytes, CD4+ cells, CD8+ cells, CD16+ cells, B-lymphocytes, monocytes, natural killer cell (NK) activity, and granulocyte and monocyte phagocytic functions--ingestion and intracellular killing--were determined in a group of 27 patients with ductal invasive breast carcinoma, stage I-III, before and 7 months following postsurgical telecobalt radiotherapy, divided into two subgroups, one of them receiving tamoxifen (TMX group) and the other one not receiving any further therapy (control group). In control group, proportion of all lymphocytes and CD8+ cells as well as absolute number of all lymphocytes, CD4+, CD8+, CD16+ and B lymphocytes were decreased following TCT in comparison to their pre-TCT values, while in TMX group only absolute number of all lymphocytes remained decreased following TCT. Moreover, post-TCT proportions of all and CD8+ lymphocytes as well as absolute numbers of all and CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in TMX patients were significantly increased in comparison to the same parameters in control post-TCT patients, although there was no difference between the two subgroups before TCT. At the other hand, granulocyte ingestion was decreased in post-TCT TMX patients compared to post-TCT values in control patients and NK cell activity showed a similar, although statistically not significant, tendency. It seems that TMX helps recovery of lymphocyte populations decreased by radiotherapy, probably by stimulation of cells carrying estrogen receptors, but its effects on phagocytic functions and probably NK cell activity seemed to be rather inhibitory than stimulatory.
