Sewage-water treatment with bio-energy production and carbon capture and storage.

Typical large-scale sewage-water treatments consume energy, occupy space and are unprofitable. This work evaluates a conceivable two-staged sewage-water treatment at 40,000 m3/d of sewage-water with sewage-sludge (totaling 10kgCOD/m3) that becomes a profitable bioenergy producer exporting reusable water and electricity, while promoting carbon capture. The first stage comprises microbial anaerobic digesters reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 95% and producing 60%mol methane biogas. The effluent waters enter the subsequent aerobic stage comprising microbial air-fed digesters that extend COD reduction to 99.7%. To simulate the process, up-to-date anaerobic/aerobic digester models were implemented. A biogas-combined-cycle power plant with/without post-combustion carbon capture is designed to match the biogas production, supplying electricity to the process and to the grid. Results comprehend electricity exportation of 13.21 MW (7.92 kWh/tReusable-Water) with -9.957tCO2/h of negative carbon emission (-0.6 kgCO2-Emitted/kgCOD-Removed). The biogas-combined-cycle without carbon capture achieves 21.08 MW of power exportation, while a 37.3% energy penalty arises if carbon capture is implemented. Configurations with/without carbon capture reach feasibility at 125 USD/MWh of electricity price, with respective net present values of 6.86 and 85.07 MMUSD and respective payback-times of 39 and 12 years. These results demonstrate that large-scale sewage-water treatment coupled to biogas-fired combined-cycles and carbon capture can achieve economically feasible bioenergy production with negative carbon emissions.

Screening biorefinery pathways to biodiesel, green-diesel and propylene-glycol: A hierarchical sustainability assessment of process.

Plant design implies the best choice among a set of feedstock-to-product process pathways. Multiple sustainability performance indicators can blur the decision, and existing sustainability assessment methods usually focus only on environmental life-cycle performance and corporate metrics or solely on the gate-to-gate process. It is relevant to incorporate integrated system analysis to address sustainability comprehensively. To this end, the Sustainable Process Systems Engineering (S-PSE) method was previously introduced to select the most sustainable feedstock-process-product configuration via four-dimensional indicators (environment, efficiency, health-&-safety, and economic), and then pinpoint the sustainability hotspots of the best design to unveil possible improvements. This work expands S-PSE by adding new features: (i) cradle-to-gate environmental assessment; (ii) composition of flowsheets; (iii) new indicators; (iv) statistical screening of indicators; and (v) 2030 Agenda compliance. A biorefinery case-study demonstrates S-PSE: to select the best pathway from soybean-oil, palm-oil, and microalgae-oil to biodiesel, green-diesel, and propylene-glycol. Firstly, statistical screening reduces the indicator set by 62%. Results evince all routes from microalgae-oil as economically unfeasible due to oil cost, despite superior environmental performance. S-PSE evinces palm-oil-to-biodiesel as the most sustainable due to lower cradle-to-gate emissions and manufacturing cost, with sustainability hotspots associated to hazardous methanol input and energy-intensive distillations. 2030 Agenda analysis also outlines palm-oil-to-biodiesel as best for 5 out of 10 Sustainable Development Goals linked to the reduced indicator set.

Benefits of flavonoid and metronidazole use after excisional hemorrhoidectomy: a randomized double-blind clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Excisional hemorrhoidectomy remains the most effective treatment for a significant group of patients with hemorrhoids, despite the potential for postoperative pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of flavonoid and metronidazole use in the postoperative period on patients undergoing excisional hemorrhoidectomy. METHODS: A double-blind randomized clinical study was performed. Sixty-eight patients underwent excisional hemorrhoidectomy and were randomized into 4 groups of 17 patients each to receive double-placebo (G1), metronidazole plus placebo (G2), flavonoids plus placebo (G3) or metronidazole plus flavonoids (G4) in the postoperative period. A standard analgesic protocol was offered equally for all groups. Postoperative pain, bleeding, edema, pruritus and tenesmus were evaluated during the following three periods: from immediately after the operation until postoperative day (POD)7, from POD 8 to POD 14, and from POD 15 to POD 30. The patients were required to complete symptom questionnaires and to attend postoperative follow-up on PODs 7, 14 and 30. The effect of each drug was assessed for each symptom, and the groups were compared with each other and over time. RESULTS: There was less severe pain in all postoperative periods in the groups using flavonoids (G3 and G4, both p < 0.0001), with an observed synergistic effect of flavonoids combined with metronidazole during the first 14 days after surgery (p < 0.0001). Flavonoid use was also associated with decreased bleeding (G3, p = 0.031 and G4, p = 0.016) between the first and second postoperative weeks CONCLUSIONS: The use of flavonoids alone and in combination with metronidazole resulted in a reduction of most symptoms, particularly pain, after excisional hemorrhoidectomy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The present study was registered in the SISNEP (document CAAE-0035.0.240.000-11), after approval by the research ethics committee (CEP) of the Hospital Felício Rocho (protocol nº393 / 11).

Economic leverage affords post-combustion capture of 43% of carbon emissions: Supersonic separators for methanol hydrate inhibitor recovery from raw natural gas and CO2 drying.

Offshore oil/gas productions are power intensive and CO2 emitters from gas-fired power generation. This work investigates supersonic separator as a strategy for affording post-combustion capture backed up by cost reductions. Conventional offshore gas processing usually loses thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor methanol in processing and exported gas. This work analyses a supersonic separator variant gas processing simultaneously reducing methanol losses. Such process dramatically improves gas-plant profitability via cost-reduction of methanol make-up and power-consumption, simultaneously increasing revenues from liquefied-petroleum-gas by-product. This economic leverage affords post-combustion carbon capture, including subsequent CO2 dehydration and compression for exportation of high-pressure liquid CO2. This corresponds to abate 43% of CO2 emissions boosting revenues via enhanced oil recovery. Moreover, CO2 is dehydrated via another supersonic separator operating with minimum head-loss, minimizing compression costs. Despite its much higher investment, the new process with carbon capture presents higher net value (865.63 MMUSD) than the conventional processing without carbon capture (829.31 MMUSD), being economically feasible and more environmentally adequate with cleaner natural gas production and successful CO2 management. The new process is superior in several scenarios and particularly favored by oil prices above 55 USD/bbl. Rising oil price from 40 to 100 USD/bbl, the new process net value rises 29%, whereas the conventional counterpart rises only 7.5%. In addition, as a plausible future scenario, CO2 taxation favors the new process, which always has superior economic performance, even without CO2 taxation. In summary, implementing supersonic separators in offshore natural gas processing aiming at anti-hydrate recovery and CO2 dehydration for enhanced oil recovery creates economic leverage sustaining Carbon Capture & Storage without loss of competitiveness. This result, backed up by rigorous thermodynamic simulations and economic-environmental assessments, configure an original achievement to the literature.

Effects of CO2 enrichment and nutrients supply intermittency on batch cultures of Isochrysis galbana.

Aiming at enhanced performance to increase economic feasibility of microalgae based processes, Isochrysis galbana was grown in three modes of cultivation: batch, intermittent fed batch and semi-continuous. The batch mode was conducted under two regimes of aeration: conventional aeration and CO2 enriched aeration (5% v/v in air). Increased biomass productivity without significant impact on lipid accumulation was observed for CO2 enriched aeration relatively to cultivation aerated with air only. The intermittent fed batch cultivation policy was proven to be useful for lipid accumulation, increasing the lipid content by 19.8%. However, the semi-continuous mode resulted in higher productivity due to increased biomass concentration; the biomass productivity reached 0.51 g/(Ld). Fluorescence measurements were performed; the calculated low electron transport rate showed the need to increase the irradiance. The results showed that I. galbana can be grown in semi-continuous condition at high levels of biomass productivity.

Inter-relação entre doença periodontal e doenças cardiovasculares - abordagem etiopatogenética / Relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular diseases - an ethiopatogenetic aboarding

As patologias que envolvem os tecidos periodontais podem ter influência sobre a saúde geral dos indivíduos ao afetar diretamente ou contribuir para o desenvolvimento de alterações em outros sistemas do organismo, inclusive o sistema cardiovascular.A identificação de fatores de risco constitui uma condição essencial para o desenvolvimento de métodos de prevenção, diagnóstico e tratamento de doenças sistêmicas. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a relação entre a doença periodontal e as doenças cardiovasculares, enfatizando a primeira como fator de risco para o surgimento e/ou agravamento dessas últimas.

Periodontite agressiva: uma abordagem atualizada / Aggressive periodontitis: a brought up to date boarding

A periodontite agressiva caracteriza-se por uma rápida progressão, acometendo principalmente adultos jovens, apresentando-se de forma localizada ou generalizada, com grande perda das estruturas de sustentação dos dentes, perda esta incompatível com a mínima quantidade de fatores etiológicos presentes. O diagnóstico é concluído com base na anamnese associada aos achados clínicos, radiográficos e exames laboratoriais, podendo ter a sua etiologia associada a fatores genéticos e imunológicos. Em virtude de sua severidade, é imprescindível que o cirurgião-dentista estabeleça um diagnóstico preciso, a fim de evitar perdas dentárias precoce.

Eag1 potassium channel immunohistochemistry in the CNS of adult rat and selected regions of human brain.

Eag1 (K(V)10.1) is the founding member of an evolutionarily conserved superfamily of voltage-gated K(+) channels. In rats and humans Eag1 is preferentially expressed in adult brain but its regional distribution has only been studied at mRNA level and only in the rat at high resolution. The main aim of the present study is to describe the distribution of Eag1 protein in adult rat brain in comparison to selected regions of the human adult brain. The distribution of Eag1 protein was assessed using alkaline-phosphatase based immunohistochemistry. Eag1 immunoreactivity was widespread, although selective, throughout rat brain, especially noticeable in the perinuclear space of cells and proximal regions of the extensions, both in rat and human brain. To relate the results to the relative abundance of Eag1 transcripts in different regions of rat brain a reverse-transcription coupled to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (real time PCR) was performed. This real time PCR analysis showed high Eag1 expression in the olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and cerebellum. The results indicate that Eag1 protein expression greatly overlaps with mRNA distribution in rats and humans. The physiological relevance of potassium channels in the different regions expressing Eag1 protein is discussed.

Double-barrelled wet colostomy with simultaneous urinary and faecal diversion: results in 9 patients and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Double-barrelled wet colostomy is a urinary diversion technique indicated when a concurrent faecal diversion is needed. It is a simple procedure, technically easy to accomplish and well received by patients. The purpose of this study is to report the results of double-barrelled wet colostomy, with emphasis on operating technique, morbidity, functional results and a review of the literature on the subject. METHODS: The medical records of 9 consecutive patients, between January 2001 and May 2005, who underwent surgical extended resections with double-barrelled wet colostomy for a malignant central pelvic mass, were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were asked to respond to a questionnaire assessing quality of life. The questionnaire used was the QLQ-C30 version 3, proposed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). RESULTS: This study presents results obtained from 9 patients, emphasizing morbidity and quality of life. One patient presented with pyelonephritis. We did not identify complications such as hydroelectrolytic disturbances, peristomal dermatitis or hydronephrosis. The patients who submitted to the procedure exhibited high levels of quality of life and found caring for the stomas straight forward. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that double-barrelled wet colostomy is an excellent choice for patients who require concurrent urinary and faecal diversion, one that does not present technical difficulties and does not require a prolonged operating time. It avoids the complications frequently present in standard wet colostomy and does not rule out making a continent urinary reservoir later, in patients that meet healing criteria.

Estenose supraaórtica em dois pacientes da raça negra / Supravalvular aortic stenosis in two black patients

Dois pacientes negro, de 18 e 12 anos e do sexo masculino, com retardo mental e facies características de elfo, apresentavam severa estenose aórtica supravalvular, caracterizando a síndrome de Williams, ou da estenose supravalvar aórtica. Ambos foram submetidos a correçäo cirúrgica da estenose, com boa evoluçäo em seguimento de um e quatro anos. Pela primenra vez esta forma clássica da síndrome é descrita em pacientes negros

Two male black patients, 18 and 12-year-old, with mental retardation and typical elfin face, presented with severe supravalvular aortic stenosis, thus characterizing Williamss or aortic supravalvular stenosis syndrome. Both were submitted to surgical treatment of the stenosis, and are assymptomatic after a one and four years follow-up. For the first time this syndrome, in its classical form, is described in black patients

Fístula da artéria coronária direita para o ventrículo esquerdo: relato de caso operado / Right coronary artery to left ventricle fistula: report of a surgical case

Os autores descrevem um caso de fístula de artéria coronária direita (ACD) para o ventrículo esquerdo (VE). A fístula congênita das artérias coronárias se inclue no diagnóstico diferencial do sopro cardíaco contínuo tanto na criança como no adulto. Nesse relato por ser a cavidade de drenagem o VE com regime de alta pressäo näo foi detectado sopro. As características clínicas do caso levaram ao diagnóstico de coronáriopatia de etiologia aterosclerótica, evoluindo com angina instável e arritmia ventricular de difícil controle medicamentoso. O estudo cinecoronariográfico revelou fístula ACD-VE, levando a uma intervençäo cirurgica, com bons resultados. A cirurgia realizada foi a ligadura da coronária distal, o mais próximo possível do vaso fistuloso, sem ser utilizada a circulaçäo extracorpórea. Um ano após a cirurgia o paciente foi levado no reestudo angiográfico de maneira eletiva e absolutamente assintomático. Estäo salientando os aspectos de melhora clínica pós-operatória, a marcada reduçäo de calibre na ACD e a persistência do trajeto fistuloso com circulaçäo, tanto intra como intercoronária. Lembramos a raridade deste tipo de fístula (ACD-VE), e da presenca de angina de peito acompanhada de arritmia ventricular grave nestes pacientes

Reproductive effects of the anticancer drug cyclophosphamide in male rats at different ages.

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of the anticancer and immunosuppressant drug cyclophosphamide (CP) on several endpoints of the male rat reproductive system at different ages; 10-day-old (experiment A), 45-day-old (experiment B), and adult (experiment C) Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with CP at doses of 20 mg/kg/day or/week and 100 mg/kg/week for 2 weeks (experiment A), doses of 20 mg/kg/day for 5 weeks and 100 mg/kg/day for 10 days (experiment B), and doses of 20 mg/kg/day for 5 weeks (experiment C). In all groups CP induced a significant rate of mortality. Body weight gain was moderately to severely reduced in two groups of experiment A (20 mg/kg/day and 100 mg/kg/week) and of experiment B (20 mg and 100 mg/kg/day) but normal in the others. Absolute as well as relative reproductive organ weights decreased following some of the treatments in experiments A and B. At the light microscope level, effects of CP ranged from nonapparent in immature rats (experiment A, 100 mg/kg/week for 2 weeks) and young adult animals (experiment B, 100 mg/kg/day for 10 days) to moderate in the other groups treated for 5 weeks (experiments B and C). Affected tubules exhibited atrophy, exfoliation, and a decrease in the number of spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes, and round and elongated spermatids. Sertoli cell function appeared preserved, whereas Leydig cells, present in the intratubular tissue of the rats in all the experiments, were occasionally and moderately altered in animals of experiment B, as shown by significant decreases of serum testosterone and LH levels. Leydig cell dysfunction in these rats was associated with normal in vitro basal and hCG-stimulated testosterone production. A significant decrease in epididymal sperm reserves was observed only in one group of animals (experiment B, 100 mg/kg/day for 10 days). Since in these animals the number of spermatids in the seminiferous tubules was normal, it is possible that CP at a high dose alters the epididymal function. Furthermore, fertility trials demonstrated that despite no change in the number of implantation sites, there was a dramatic fall in the number of fetuses per female in all the experimental groups. In conclusion, this study shows that in pre- and postpubertal rats treated chronically or subacutely, CP primarily and essentially induces alterations of germ cells, whereas this compound has little or no direct effect upon Leydig cell and Sertoli cell functions, respectively.

[Initial degeneration of the articular cartilage in the rat]. / Dégénérescence initiale du cartilage articulaire chez le rat.

The authors have investigated the process of degeneration of articular cartilage in its early stages using an experimental model which has made it possible to show, for the first time, the effects of a mechanical parameter other than excessive pressure--that is excessive friction. The two healthy hips in twenty anaesthetised young rats were used for the study. One hip was kept immobile and served as a control. The other was subjected to physiological movements of flexion and extension continuously and without rest for periods varying from twelve hours to seven days. The articular cartilage of the two femoral heads was examined by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. A new fact was demonstrated. Cartilage wear is also associated with the simple movement of two joint surfaces over one another without any muscle contraction being involved. In the genesis of cartilage wear, excessive friction alone seems to be as important as excessive pressure.

Distúrbios do equilíbrio hidro-eletrolítico e ácido-base na insuficiência cardíaca / Disorders of water-electrolyte and acid-base in heart insufficiency

Faz-se uma revisäo fisiopatológica dos distúrbios do metabolismo da água e eletrolíticos e do equilíbrio àcido-base na insuficiência cardíaca e apresentam as alteraçöes observadas em 30 pacientes. Apesar do pequeno número de casos de uma síndrome muito comum é possível assinalar a elevada freqüência de determinadas anormalidades e salientar a sua importância clínica

[Pathology of the umbilical cord]. / La pathologie du cordon ombilical.

The pathology of the umbilical cord is an important factor in placental pathology, and may be the cause of acute fetal distress or antenatal death, though many unknown factors still remain.