Treatment of high strength aqueous wastes in a thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor (TAMR): performance and resilience.

In the present work, the thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor technology was studied for the treatment of high strength aqueous wastes mainly containing dyes, surfactants and solvents. The thermophilic biomass resilience and the process stability under critical conditions (such as rapid rise of the mixed liquor pH, oxygen supply interruption, etc.) were also evaluated. The experimental work was carried out with the use of a pilot plant at semi-industrial scale, which was managed throughout for 14 months; the operation temperature was 49 °C and the organic loading rate was increased from 3 to 12 kgCOD m-3 d-1. Critical conditions, especially the interruption of oxygen supply, affected the pilot plant performance but did not cause a complete system break down. After the temporary reduction of process performance, also proven by the decrease in the oxygen consumption, the normal working conditions were restored. Moreover, the longer non-aerated phase involved a significant reduction (40%) of volatile suspended solids concentration in the biological reactor and the increase of 30% in foaming power; nevertheless, once the oxygen supply was reactivated, optimal conditions were rapidly restored. Therefore, the study showed the high resilience of the thermophilic biomass, which was able to recover full functionality after critical events.

A comprehensive update on the morphology and distribution of the invasive scaffold-web spider Eidmannella pallida (Araneae, Nesticidae) with a focus on new records from Italy.

Updated non-native distributional data of the invasive spider Eidmannella pallida (Emerton, 1875), Nesticidae, are herein summarized together with the morphological characters of the species. We report all the known localities from the literature. Furthermore, we present and discuss recent findings for the Italian peninsula. In particular, the species has been consistently found in vineyards and annual crop fields in North Italy and in olive groves in South Italy. We include a redescription of the species, and detailed illustrations of the diagnostic characters of both males and females, based on stereomicroscope and SEM images. The spreading potential of the species and its possible impacts on local communities are discussed. Our data suggest that E. pallida has high invasiveness potential and several new findings in non-native areas were recorded in the last years. We found that E. pallida can establish permanent populations in crop-dominated landscapes and has a tendency to exploit vulnerable ecosystems such as the subterranean environment. We thus recommend new and more comprehensive studies on this species to investigate in deeper detail its phylogeny, ecology, and micro-habitat preferences. A high effort should be placed to assess the potential negative effects of E. pallida on the endemic fauna in invaded areas, especially in caves.

New method to measure and improve consistency of baroreflex sensitivity values.

OBJECTIVE: Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) is an important prognostic index in cardiovascular diseases, however, its use is complicated by different methods difficult to compare and standardize, often providing conflicting results. We tested whether the simple ratio of RR interval to systolic blood pressure global variabilities (assessed by standard deviations) is a reliable measure of BRS, by measuring the agreement with six established methods. In addition, we tested whether high-pass filtering of data, by removing slow non-baroreflex-mediated fluctuations, could improve the agreement between different BRS methods. METHODS: In 1,409 subjects, we compared 6 established methods (derived by cross-spectral and sequence analysis) and the new method, supine and in response to tilting (1,175 subjects). Data were analyzed after linear detrending, high-pass filtering at 0.025 and 0.05 Hz. RESULTS: Although all seven methods showed a general agreement, the new method consistently showed the lowest distance from the median of the remaining methods (0.04 ± 0.06 ms/mmHg over 2,584 files, p < 0.05 with respect to the second best method). High-pass filtering improved (p < 0.001) the agreement between methods without reducing the sensitivity to changes induced by tilting. Only the new method could provide estimates in all 2,584 files tested. INTERPRETATION: The new method intercepts the mean information of all other methods better than any other method, hence providing a simple, easy to standardize (no mathematical constraints) and yet robust and reliable BRS estimate. High-pass filtering markedly improves the agreement of all methods, without loss of sensitivity, and could be routinely used in clinical trials, to provide comparable BRS estimates.

Integrating novel (thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor-TAMR) and conventional (conventional activated sludge-CAS) biological processes for the treatment of high strength aqueous wastes.

A combination of thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor (TAMR) and conventional activated sludge (CAS) was studied by means of two pilot plants at semi-industrial scale in order to simulate the new configuration adopted in a full-scale facility for the treatment of high strength aqueous wastes. Aqueous wastes with high contents of organic pollutants were treated by means of the TAMR technology, progressively increasing the organic load (3-12 kgCOD m-3 d-1). A mixture of municipal wastewater and thermophilic permeate was fed to the CAS plant. The main results are the following: achievement of a high COD removal yield by both the TAMR (78%) and the CAS (85%) plants; ammonification of the organic nitrogen under thermophilic conditions and subsequent mesophilic nitrification; capacity of the downstream mesophilic process to complete the degradation of the organic matter partially obtained by the TAMR process and precipitation of phosphorus as vivianite and carbonatehydroxylapatite in the TAMR plant.

Trained breathing-induced oxygenation acutely reverses cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes and renal disease.

AIMS: Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, evaluated as baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), could be acutely corrected by slow breathing or oxygen administration in patients with type 1 diabetes, thus suggesting a functional component of the disorder. We tested this hypothesis in patients with the type 2 diabetes with or without renal impairment. METHODS: Twenty-six patients with type 2 diabetes (aged 61.0 ± 0.8 years, mean ± SEM; duration of diabetes 10.5 ± 2 years, BMI 29.9 ± 0.7 kg/m(2), GFR 68.1 ± 5.6 ml/min) and 24 healthy controls (aged 58.5 ± 1.0 years) were studied. BRS was obtained from recordings of RR interval and systolic blood pressure fluctuations during spontaneous and during slow, deep (6 breaths/min) controlled breathing in conditions of normoxia or hyperoxia (5 l/min oxygen). RESULTS: During spontaneous breathing, diabetic patients had lower RR interval and lower BRS compared with the control subjects (7.1 ± 1.2 vs. 12.6 ± 2.0 ms/mmHg, p < 0.025). Deep breathing and oxygen administration significantly increased arterial saturation, reduced RR interval and increased BRS in both groups (to 9.6 ± 1.8 and 15.4 ± 2.4 ms/mmHg, respectively, p < 0.05, hyperoxia vs. normoxia). Twelve diabetic patients affected by chronic diabetic kidney disease (DKD) presented a significant improvement in the BRS during slow breathing and hyperoxia (p < 0.025 vs. spontaneous breathing during normoxia). CONCLUSIONS: Autonomic dysfunction present in patients with type 2 diabetes can be partially reversed by slow breathing, suggesting a functional role of hypoxia, also in patients with DKD. Interventions known to relieve tissue hypoxia and improve autonomic function, like physical activity, may be useful in the prevention and management of complications in patients with diabetes.

Heart rate/blood pressure ratio as predictor of neuromediated syncope.

BACKGROUND: Predicting the occurrence of syncope in advance during tilt test could be useful to prepare the medical staff in preventing complications connected with this procedure, particularly in patients with no pre-syncopal symptoms. Our objective was to develop a simple algorithm able to predict the onset of neuromediated syncope during the tilt test. METHODS: We analysed the trend in RR interval, blood pressures, the ratio of these two variables and their derivative, as possible predictors of neuromediated syncope during tilt test. We studied 145 patients: 72 tilt test positive (age 7-82 years, 23 male, 49 female) and 73 tilt test negative (age 8-82 years, 36 male, 37 female), coming at our attention for suspected syncope. We evaluated time of prediction, sensitivity, specificity and receiver-operating curves (ROC) of the trends in RR interval, blood pressure, their ratio and the derivative of their ratio, in predicting syncope. RESULTS: The derivative of the ratio between RR interval and systolic blood pressure (dRR/SBP) was able to predict syncope 44.1 ± 6.6s in advance with a sensitivity of 86.2% and a specificity of 89.1%. Area under the curve of ROC was 0.877 (p<0.001). The method was able to predict syncope in all three forms of neuromediated syncope: cardioinhibitory, mixed and vasodepressor. Similar results were found using the pulse pressure (dRR/PP). CONCLUSIONS: Using dRR/SBP or dRR/PP it is possible to predict the occurrence of syncope in advance during tilt test.