Application of online instrumentation in industrial wastewater treatment plants - a survey in Flanders, Belgium.

A survey regarding online instrumentation and control was conducted among 90 companies managing their own biological wastewater treatment plant in Flanders, Belgium. In this study, all types of online instrumentation have been found suitable for automatic process control. However, its integration in general process control as well as in nitrogen removal and chemical dosing control appeared to be rather limited. Only dissolved oxygen and pH sensors were widely applied, being present in 96% and 69% of the plants, respectively. Widespread process integration is mainly obstructed by the fact that companies, especially small and medium-sized, still do not regard wastewater treatment as a full-fledged part of the production process. Operators often lack technical expertise in this domain and tend to be skeptical towards automated control mechanisms. In addition, the price of online instrumentation is still perceived as too high, in particular at smaller companies. Lastly, the design of the existing wastewater treatment plant does not always allow for real-time control. Certain measures such as operator training, monitoring of energy and chemical consumption and reduction of instrumentation costs are essential for widespread application of online process control in future years. Additionally, water reuse can create an important incentive.

Cross-resistance profile determination of two second-generation HIV-1 integrase inhibitors using a panel of recombinant viruses derived from raltegravir-treated clinical isolates.

The integrase inhibitor raltegravir (RAL) is currently used for the treatment of both treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced HIV-1-infected patients. Elvitegravir (EVG) is in late phases of clinical development. Since significant cross-resistance between RAL and EVG is observed, there is a need for second-generation integrase inhibitors (INIs) with a higher genetic barrier and limited cross-resistance to RAL/EVG. A panel of HIV-1 integrase recombinants, derived from plasma samples from raltegravir-treated patients (baseline and follow-up samples), were used to study the cross-resistance profile of two second-generation integrase inhibitors, MK-2048 and compound G. Samples with Q148H/R mutations had elevated fold change values with all compounds tested. Although samples with the Y143R/C mutation had reduced susceptibility to RAL, they remained susceptible to MK-2048 and compound G. Samples with the N155H mutation had no reduced susceptibility to compound G. In conclusion, our results allowed ranking of the INIs on the basis of the antiviral activities using recombinant virus stocks from RAL-treated patient viruses. The order according to decreasing susceptibility is compound G, MK-2048, and EVG.

Predictive value of two endogenicity measures.

Endogenicity has been considered to have a major predictive value as to the therapeutic response to antidepressants. Two recently introduced measures of endogenicity (the Michigan Discriminant Index and the Hamilton Endogenomorphy Subscale) were investigated regarding their potential predictive value. It was concluded that, in a group of selected depressive patients, neither the Michigan Discriminant Index, nor the Hamilton Endogenomorphy Subscale, had a predictive value concerning short-term response to antidepressants.