Evaluation of waste biomasses and their biochars for removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

This work evaluates the use of biomasses and their biochars as adsorbents to remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from water. Coconut waste (CW) and orange waste (OW) were pyrolyzed at 350 °C to produce the corresponding biochars (BCW and BOW). Adsorption tests using a mixed solution of benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene showed removal percentages of 30.33-83.43% (CW), 47.09-83.02% (BCW), 24.20-74.25% (OW), and 23.84-84.02% (BOW). The adsorption mechanisms appeared to involve π-π interactions of similar groups of the adsorbate and adsorbent, together with hydrophobic effects. There was no indication of competition between the PAHs for the adsorption sites, and there was evidence of cooperative adsorption. The PAHs could be desorbed from the adsorbents with efficiencies in the range 34.88-72.32%, and the reuse of the adsorbents in two further cycles demonstrated their potential for use in the removal of PAHs from water.

On the extraction of topologically correct thickness measurements using Khalimsky's cubic complex.

The extraction of thickness measurements from shapes with spherical topology has been an active area of research in medical imaging. Measuring the thickness of structures from automatic probabilistic ume (PV) effects and the limited resolution of medical images. Also, the complexity of certain shapes, like the highly convoluted and PV ments. In this paper we explore the use of Khalimsky's cubic complex for the extraction of topologically correct thickness measurements from probabilistic or fuzzy segmentations without explicit parametrisation of the edge. A sequence of element collapse operations is used to correct the topology of the segmentation. The Laplace equation is then solved between multiple equipotential lines and the thickness measured with an ordered upwind differencing method using an anisotropic grid with the probabilistic segmentation as a speed function. Experiments performed on digital phantoms show that the proposed method obtains topologically correct thickness measurements with an increase in accuracy when compared to two well established techniques. Furthermore, quantitative analysis on brain MRI data showed that the proposed algorithm is able to retrieve expected group differences between the cortical thickness of AD patients and controls with high statistical significance.

Hyposialorrhea as an early manifestation of Parkinson disease.

We sought to determine whether hyposialorrhea is an early manifestation of Parkinson disease (PD). We measured basal and citric acid stimulated secretion of whole saliva in 20 patients with early stage (Hoehn-Yahr I-II) PD who had motor symptoms for less than 1 year and were on no medication and 11 age matched controls. Compared to controls, PD patients had significant reduction of both basal (0.0964+/-0.08 vs 0.293+/-0.112 ml/min, p<0.001) and reflex (0.263+/-0.213 vs 0.537+/-0.313 ml/min, p<0.001) salivary secretion. Our findings confirm that hyposialorrhea is an early autonomic manifestation of PD.

Hepatic damage in C282Y homozygotes relates to low numbers of CD8+ cells in the liver lobuli.

BACKGROUND: Although most Caucasian patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) show the same mutation in the HFE gene, the phenotypic expression of the disease varies greatly. We have previously shown that patients with HH who have high iron stores have low numbers of circulating CD8+ T lymphocytes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Liver and peripheral blood were studied in 37 C282Y homozygous HH patients; nine normal livers and 11 livers from patients with cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus or alcoholic liver disease were also investigated. Eleven jejunal biopsies from HH patients and 17 normal biopsies were studied. The numbers of CD8+ cells were determined in peripheral blood by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis, and in the liver or small intestine by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: In HH patients the number of CD8+ T lymphocytes in peripheral blood correlated significantly with the number of CD8+ cells in the liver lobuli but not with that in the small intestine. Body iron stores correlated negatively with the number of CD8+ T lymphocytes in peripheral blood and in the liver, but not with the number in the small intestine. HH patients with cirrhosis had the lowest CD8+ cell count in liver sections, in contrast with other forms of cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that HH patients with the HFE C282Y mutation and low numbers of CD8+ cells in the liver lobuli have higher iron stores and are more prone to develop liver cirrhosis.

Assessment in the diagnosis of male chronic genital tract infection.

Different methodologies have been proposed to interpret the microbiological findings associated with contaminating, indigenous microbiota of the anterior urethra. In order to solve the controversy related to the diagnosis of chronic seminal infections in asymptomatic young adults, the results applying Stamey and Meares' criteria were compared with those obtained when semen cultures were studied for significant bacteriospermia. A total of 218 consecutive asymptomatic male partners of infertile couples were evaluated by the four-specimen technique described by Stamey and Meares' with the addition of semen (SM). Infection was detected in 46% by SM, while semen cultures (SC) showed a prevalence of infection of 41%; 73 patients were positive by both criteria and 102 negative; 27 patients were positive by SM technique in prostate fluid while their semen cultures were negative; 16 patients had positive semen cultures and were considered negative by SM. The kappa statistic indicated a good degree of agreement between both methodologies (kappa = 0.61, z = 8.68, p < 0.001). The estimated risk of being considered negative attributable to the semen culture (27 patients) was 25% (attributable risk = gamma ac- = 0.2550), and of being considered positive attributable to the semen culture (16 patients) was 26% (gamma ac+ = 0.2579). The 95% confidence limits were estimated in 12 to 39%, and in 13 to 31%, respectively. In view of these results, to establish the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis, the addition of prostatic fluid or voided urine cultures after prostatic massage, must be performed. Semen culture confronted with first-voided urine avoid overestimating seminal infection.

Assessment in the diagnosis of male chronic genital tract infection.

Different methodologies have been proposed to interpret the microbiological findings associated with contaminating, indigenous microbiota of the anterior urethra. In order to solve the controversy related to the diagnosis of chronic seminal infections in asymptomatic young adults, the results applying Stamey and Meares criteria were compared with those obtained when semen cultures were studied for significant bacteriospermia. A total of 218 consecutive asymptomatic male partners of infertile couples were evaluated by the four-specimen technique described by Stamey and Meares with the addition of semen (SM). Infection was detected in 46

by SM, while semen cultures (SC) showed a prevalence of infection of 41

; 73 patients were positive by both criteria and 102 negative; 27 patients were positive by SM technique in prostate fluid while their semen cultures were negative; 16 patients had positive semen cultures and were considered negative by SM. The kappa statistic indicated a good degree of agreement between both methodologies (kappa = 0.61, z = 8.68, p < 0.001). The estimated risk of being considered negative attributable to the semen culture (27 patients) was 25

(attributable risk = gamma ac- = 0.2550), and of being considered positive attributable to the semen culture (16 patients) was 26

(gamma ac+ = 0.2579). The 95

confidence limits were estimated in 12 to 39

, and in 13 to 31

, respectively. In view of these results, to establish the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis, the addition of prostatic fluid or voided urine cultures after prostatic massage, must be performed. Semen culture confronted with first-voided urine avoid overestimating seminal infection.

Improvement of semen quality in infected asymptomatic infertile male after bacteriological cure.

Bacteriological etiology was investigated in 29 infected asymptomatic infertile males. The localization of the infection and the effect of a long term antibiotic therapy on semen parameters were evaluated. The most frequent etiological agent isolated was Enterococcus faecalis. Positive bacteriological culture was obtained in prostatic fluid in 16 patients and in semen in 13. Bacteriological cure was achieved in 24 cases and it was associated with improved seminal parameters: sperm concentration, viability and total motile sperm per ejaculate. In 5 patients without bacteriological cure there was no change in semen analysis after antibiotic therapy. In 45% of the infected patients there were less than 0.5 x 10(6)/ml seminal polymorphonuclear leukocytes. In view of these findings granulocyte concentration seems to be a poor marker to predict infection.

HFE mutations in patients with hereditary haemochromatosis in Sweden.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of mutations (C282Y and H63D) in a newly identified gene HFE in patients with hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) in Sweden. DESIGN: Molecular genetic analyses of the HFE gene (polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by enzyme restriction) were performed in genomic DNA from unrelated patients with a clinical diagnosis of HH and in healthy subjects. SETTINGS: Patients with HH treated with phlebotomies at Karolinska Hospital and Huddinge Hospital were analyzed. SUBJECTS: Eighty-seven unrelated patients with HH and 117 healthy controls. RESULTS: It was found that the HFE C282Y mutation occurs in 94.2% of chromosomes from patients with HH. Eighty patients (92.0%) were homozygous for the C282Y mutation and one was heterozygous. Three patients were heterozygous for both C282Y and H63D mutations. One patient was homozygous and one was heterozygous for the H63D mutation. One patient carried normal alleles. In healthy controls, the C282Y mutation occurred in nine subjects (7.7%), all of which were heterozygous. The H63D mutation was found in 28 control subjects, one of which was homozygous. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the majority of patients with HH have the C282Y mutation in the HFE gene. The frequency of the H63D mutation was higher in controls than in patients with HH, although in chromosomes at risk the frequency of the H63D mutation was higher in patients.