Demonstration of a tool for automatic learning and re-use of knowledge in the activated sludge process.

Wastewater treatment plant operators encounter complex operational problems related to the activated sludge process and usually respond to these by applying their own intuition and by taking advantage of what they have learnt from past experiences of similar problems. However, previous process experiences are not easy to integrate in numerical control, and new tools must be developed to enable re-use of plant operating experience. The aim of this paper is to investigate the usefulness of a case-based reasoning (CBR) approach to apply learning and re-use of knowledge gained during past incidents to confront actual complex problems through the IWA/COST Benchmark protocol. A case study shows that the proposed CBR system achieves a significant improvement of the benchmark plant performance when facing a high-flow event disturbance.     

Benchmark simulation Model no 2 in Matlab-simulink: towards plant-wide WWTP control strategy evaluation.

In this paper, implementation of the Benchmark Simulation Model No 2 (BSM2) within Matlab-Simulink is presented. The BSM2 is developed for plant-wide WWTP control strategy evaluation on a long-term basis. It consists of a pre-treatment process, an activated sludge process and sludge treatment processes. Extended evaluation criteria are proposed for plant-wide control strategy assessment. Default open-loop and closed-loop strategies are also proposed to be used as references with which to compare other control strategies. Simulations indicate that the BM2 is an appropriate tool for plant-wide control strategy evaluation.     

WWTP dynamic disturbance modelling--an essential module for long-term benchmarking development.

Intensive use of the benchmark simulation model No. 1 (BSM1), a protocol for objective comparison of the effectiveness of control strategies in biological nitrogen removal activated sludge plants, has also revealed a number of limitations. Preliminary definitions of the long-term benchmark simulation model No. 1 (BSM1_LT) and the benchmark simulation model No. 2 (BSM2) have been made to extend BSM1 for evaluation of process monitoring methods and plant-wide control strategies, respectively. Influent-related disturbances for BSM1_LT/BSM2 are to be generated with a model, and this paper provides a general overview of the modelling methods used. Typical influent dynamic phenomena generated with the BSM1_LT/BSM2 influent disturbance model, including diurnal, weekend, seasonal and holiday effects, as well as rainfall, are illustrated with simulation results. As a result of the work described in this paper, a proposed influent model/file has been released to the benchmark developers for evaluation purposes. Pending this evaluation, a final BSM1_LT/BSM2 influent disturbance model definition is foreseen. Preliminary simulations with dynamic influent data generated by the influent disturbance model indicate that default BSM1 activated sludge plant control strategies will need extensions for BSM1_LT/BSM2 to efficiently handle 1 year of influent dynamics.     

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma presenting as an aural polyp

Renal cell carcinoma may metastasize to the head and neck region at different stages of its evolution. We present a case of an undiagnosed renal cell carcinoma presenting as an ear polyp, and discuss the difficulties of the diagnosis and the management of these tumours.     

Prevalence of weight reducing and weight gaining in adolescent girls and boys.

Surveyed the prevalence of weight reducing and weight gaining in 1,373 high school students. 63% of the girls and 16.2% of the boys reported being on weight-reducing regimens; 9.1% of the girls and 28.4% of the boys were trying to gain weight. Most female reducers and male gainers were already normal weight. Whites and Hispanics were more likely to be reducing, whereas Blacks were more likely to be gaining. Exercise and moderate caloric reduction were most popular for weight reducing, and a small but significant number were regularly using fasting, vomiting, laxatives, and appetite suppressants. The rate of weight reducing in female high school adolescents has increased significantly since similar surveys of American youths 20 yrs ago. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Respiratory infections in patients with HIV

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia has long been considered the predominant pulmonary disease in patients with HIV, but several factors are changing this perception. The population infected with HIV is increasingly composed of injection drug users, and racial and ethnic minorities, which represent groups that have a high incidence of bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis. The increased longevity attributed to antiretroviral therapy and P. carinii pneumonia prophylaxis is accompanied by more profound immunosuppression, rendering patients susceptible to Pseudomonas, Aspergillus, and other opportunistic pneumonias. Trimetrexate and atovaquone are now available for the treatment of P. carinii pneumonia. Both are less effective than standard regimens of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but have fewer adverse effects. The diagnosis of respiratory infections complicating HIV usually depends on isolation of the pathogen. The routine use of transbronchial biopsy during bronchoscopy is controversial because the prevalence of P. carinii pneumonia is high in most centers caring for patients with AIDS, and bronchoalveolar lavage is usually diagnostic in this disease. However, biopsy enhances the yield of bronchoscopy, especially in the diagnosis of noninfectious pulmonary disorders and infections other than P. carinii pneumonia.     

Nitrone spin-traps block calcium channels and induce pulmonary artery relaxation independent of free radicals

Free radicals react with nitrones to form stable nitroxides which can be identified by ESR spectroscopy. Unfortunately, little is known regarding the pharmacological properties of these compounds. In this study, three commonly used nitrones, 5,5-dimethylpyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO), alpha-phenyl-tert-butylnitrone (PBN), and alpha-(4-pyridyl 1-oxide)-N-tert-butylnitrone (POBN), were found to induce relaxation of preconstricted isolated rat pulmonary artery rings. Additional experiments with PBN indicated that vasorelaxation could not be attributed to production of endothelial derived factors, prostaglandins, or free radicals. Patch-clamp techniques revealed reversible calcium channel blockade with PBN at a concentration below that needed to detect free radicals. Calcium channel blockade probably accounts for the vasorelaxation observed in the isolated ring preparations described here, and should be considered when using nitrone spin-traps both in in vivo and clinical studies.     

Association with capsid proteins promotes nuclear targeting of simian virus 40 DNA

All animal DNA viruses except pox virus utilize the cell nucleus as the site for virus reproduction. Yet, a critical viral infection process, nuclear targeting of the viral genome, is poorly understood. The role of capsid proteins in nuclear targeting of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA, which is assessed by the nuclear accumulation of large tumor (T) antigen, the initial sign of the infectious process, was tested by two independent approaches: antibody interception experiments and reconstitution experiments. When antibody against viral capsid protein Vp1 or Vp3 was introduced into the cytoplasm, the nuclear accumulation of T antigen was not observed in cells either infected or cytoplasmically injected with virion. Nuclearly introduced anti-Vp3 IgG also showed the inhibitory effect. In the reconstitution experiments, SV40 DNA was allowed to interact with protein components of the virus, either empty particles or histones, and the resulting complexes were tested for the capability of protein components to target the DNA to the nucleus from cytoplasm as effectively as the targeting of DNA in the mature virion. In cells injected with empty particle-DNA, but not in minichromosome-injected cells, T antigen was observed as effectively as in SV40-injected cells. These results demonstrate that SV40 capsid proteins can facilitate transport of SV40 DNA into the nucleus and indicate that Vp3, one of the capsid proteins, accompanies SV40 DNA as it enters the nucleus during virus infection.