Large artery intracranial stenosis in young adults with ischaemic stroke.

Large artery intracranial stenosis (ICS) is a common finding in stroke patients, but is much less prevalent in Western countries than in Asia and in young adults than in the elderly. We investigated the prevalence and causes of ICS among French young adults with ischaemic stroke. Clinical and radiological data of patients aged 18-54 years treated consecutively for acute ischaemic stroke in the anterior circulation at a tertiary stroke centre were analysed retrospectively. Patients with>50% ICS were identified. ICS was evaluated using TOF-MRA, vessel wall-MRI, digital subtraction angiography and CT-angiography. A total of 316 patients were included. ICS was diagnosed in 29 patients, resulting in a prevalence of 9.2% (95% CI, 6.2 to 13.3). The leading cause of ICS was atherosclerosis (n=13), ahead of moyamoya disease (n=4), dissection (n=2), vasculitis (n=2), and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (n=1). The cause of ICAS could not be determined in 7 patients. ICS was found in nearly one in 10 ischaemic strokes among French young adults. Atherosclerosis was the leading cause of ICS. The cause of ICS could not be determined in almost a quarter of the patients.

Moving bed biofilm reactor as an alternative wastewater treatment process for nutrient removal and recovery in the circular economy model.

Over the last years, an increasing concern has emerged regarding the eco-friendly management of wastewater. Apart from the role of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for wastewater and sewage sludge treatment, the increasing need of the recovery of the resources contained in wastewater, such as nutrients and water, should be highlighted. This would allow for transforming a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) into a sustainable technological system. The objective of this review is to propose a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) as a novel technology that contributes to the circularity of the wastewater treatment sector according to the principles of circular economy. In this regard, this paper aims to consider the MBBR process as the initial step for water reuse, and nutrient removal and recovery, within the circular economy model.

Effects of carrier addition on water quality and pharmaceutical removal capacity of a membrane bioreactor - Advanced oxidation process combined treatment.

This research was performed to assess the production of reclaimed water from urban wastewater in membrane bioreactor - advanced oxidation process (MBR-AOP) and moving bed biofilm reactor - membrane bioreactor - advanced oxidation process (MBBR-MBR-AOP) combined treatments to study the effect of biofilm incorporation. Both combined treatments were operated at the same conditions (10 h of hydraulic retention time, 6500 mg/L of mixed liquor suspended solids and 25 mg/L of hydrogen peroxide dosage over 15 min). Additionally, the removal capacity of some pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin and ibuprofen) and their impact on the kinetic behaviour of the biomass in both systems were evaluated. From the results, it was found a membrane-based bioreactor can achieve both wastewater secondary treatment and pre-treatment for advanced oxidation process, so both MBR-AOP and MBBR-MBR-AOP treatments have a great potential to produce high quality reclaimed water (biological oxygen demand <0.5 mgO2/L, suspended solids <1 mg/L, turbidity <1 NTU and no presence of E. coli), according to European Commission proposal 2018/0169/COD. The addition of carriers improved the biodegradation of the most persistent pharmaceuticals in the biological treatment (from 69.20 ± 1.54% to 75.14 ± 2.71% for carbamazepine and from 60.41 ± 2.16 to 63.14 ± 2.70% for ciprofloxacin). It had, as a consequence, the MBBR-MBR-AOP system showing a complete degradation of pharmaceuticals after 5 min AOP treatment compared to the MBR-AOP system. The loss of biomass in the MBR-AOP (from 5233.45 to 4451.92 mg/L) and the increase of the substrate degradation rate for organic matter in both treatments (from 37.27 to 41.42 and from 30.25 to 33.19 mgO2/(L·h) in MBR-AOP and MBBR-MBR-AOP, respectively) are some of the consequences of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewater.

A lumped model of the lipase catalyzed hydrolysis of sardine oil to maximize polyunsaturated fatty acids content in acylglycerols.

The aim of this work was to produce diacylglycerols (DAG) and monoacylglycerols (MAG) with a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Rhizomucor miehei lipase mediated-hydrolysis of sardine oil was conducted at several water activities. The system was mechanistically modeled to predict the time evolution of the concentration of triacylglycerols, DAG, MAG and free fatty acids (FFA) and the concentration of saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The release of the first fatty acid from the triacylglycerol was independent on the unsaturation degree. Contrary, the hydrolysis of the second one was highly affected by the degree of unsaturation, PUFA being the fatty acids that showed the highest resistance to hydrolysis. MAG percentage was maximum (7mol%) at lower water activities, while DAG content was favored at higher water activities (35mol%), achieving a 2-fold concentration of DHA.

Development of an up-grading process to produce MLM structured lipids from sardine discards.

The aim of the work was to produce MLM structured lipids with caprylic acid (M) as medium chain fatty acid located at the external bonds of the glycerol backbone and concentrated polyunsaturated fatty acids (L) from sardine discards (Sardine pilchardus) in the central bond of the glycerol. To that end, the following steps were conducted: (i) fish oil extraction, (ii) Omega-3 free fatty acids (FFA) concentration (low temperature winterization), (iii) two-steps enzymatic esterification and (iv) triacylglycerols (TAG) purification (liquid column chromatography). The resultant purified triacylglycerols accomplished with the oxidative state (peroxide and anisidine value, PV and AV) required for refined oils. As enzymatic treatment, Omega-3 concentrate FFA (Omega-3>600mg Omega-3 per g oil) were esterified with dicaprylic glycerol employing Novozyme 435. This process presented high regioselectivity, with ∼80mol% of concentrated fatty acids esterified at the sn-2 position.

Two-step nitrification in a pure moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment: nitrifying and denitrifying microbial populations and kinetic modeling.

The moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) is a novel solution to conventional activated sludge processes and membrane bioreactors. In this study, a pure MBBR-MBR was studied. The pure MBBR-MBR mainly had attached biomass. The bioreactor operated with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 9.5 h. The kinetic parameters for heterotrophic and autotrophic biomasses, mainly nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), were evaluated. The analysis of the bacterial community structure of the ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), NOB, and denitrifying bacteria (DeNB) from the pure MBBR-MBR was carried out by means of pyrosequencing to detect and quantify the contribution of the nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the total bacterial community. The relative abundance of AOB, NOB, and DeNB were 5, 1, and 3%, respectively, in the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), and these percentages were 18, 5, and 2%, respectively, in the biofilm density (BD) attached to carriers. The pure MBBR-MBR had a high efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) removal of 71.81±16.04%, which could reside in the different bacterial assemblages in the fixed biofilm on the carriers. In this regard, the kinetic parameters for autotrophic biomass had values of YA=2.3465 mg O2 mg N(-1), µm, A=0.7169 h(-1), and KNH=2.0748 mg NL(-1).

Seasonal variations in the regiodistribution of oil extracted from small-spotted catshark and bogue.

The aim of this work was to seasonally characterize the nutritional quality of oil extracted from small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) and bogue (Boops boops). The proximate composition, lipid profile and regiodistribution of the fatty acid in the glycerol backbone were analyzed. In addition, three nutritional indexes were calculated (atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes and the hypocholesterolaemic/hypercholesterolaemic ratio). Both species presented PUFA as the predominant fraction, the most abundant being DHA. Healthy values of the aforementioned indexes were maintained throughout the year. Moreover, the relative composition of omega 3 fatty acids at the sn-2 position ranged from 47.3 to 66.8 mol%, attracting interest in the employment of these oils as the raw source for the production of 2-monoacylglycerols. Regarding the individual behavior of each fatty acid, DHA presented a high tendency to occupy the sn-2 bond, whereas EPA presented the opposite behavior.

Advanced methods for the elimination of microorganisms in industrial treatments: potential applicability to wastewater reuse.

Because of the growing need to eliminate undesirable microorganisms in different industrial treatments, mainly in the food and agricultural sector and the pharmaceutical industry, a number of increasingly effective systems for disinfection to eliminate microorganisms have been devised. This article analyzes different methods to eliminate and/or significantly reduce the number of microorganisms in industrial contexts and in environmental engineering. Although, in the past, thermal treatments had been used most frequently for microbial elimination, the method is costly and has the disadvantage of modifying the organoleptic and/or physicochemical properties of the food products. For this reason, new technologies rapidly are being developed, such as high-intensity pulsed electric fields, high-pressure systems, ultrasounds, and irradiation, which effectively eliminate microorganisms without deteriorating the properties of the product. These emerging technologies are potentially applicable in the field of environmental engineering.