The effects of head rotation exercise on postural balance, muscle strength, and gait in older women.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of resistive exercise (RE) with head rotation exercise (RE+HRE) on postural balance, lower limb muscle strength, and gait in older women. This study was conducted from December 7, 2015 to January 29, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. Forty older women were recruited at welfare center and randomly allocated to RE+HRE (n = 20) or RE (n = 20) groups. The RE+HRE group performed RE+HRE for 60 min twice per week for 6 weeks, using an elastic band with variable resistance along the length. The HRE included horizontal or vertical head movement during the exercise. The RE group performed RE in a similar manner, but without head movements. The outcome measures were static postural balance (one-leg stance test, functional reach test, and postural sway), dynamic postural balance (timed up and go test, four square step test, and Mini-balance evaluation systems test), lower limb muscle strength (sit-to-stand test), and temporal gait parameters. In the RE+HRE group, all variables were significantly improved compared to baseline (p < .05), and postural balance and gait were significantly improved compared to those in the RE group (p < .05). These findings suggest that RE+HRE can improve dynamic postural balance, gait speed, and cadence in older women.

[Effect of Salinity on Nitrogen Removal Performance of a Pilot-scale Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation Process and Its Recovery Kinetics].

The denitrification characteristics of anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB) treating high salinity wastewater were investigated in an pilot-scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR, 530 L) by gradually increasing the Cl- concentration. The results showed that AnAOB can adapt to the high salinity (Cl- concentration of 10000 mg·L-1) environment for high-efficiency denitrification by means of gradual salinity acclimation and total nitrogen (TN) removal rate of up to 92.3%. In particular, the denitrification performance was influenced by two gradients of Cl- concentrations, namely 6000 mg·L-1 and 10000 mg·L-1, but it could be gradually recovered as the acclimatization process continued. The modified Boltzmann model accurately fit the activity recovery process of AnAOB after being inhibited by the different salinities, and the correlation coefficient R2 was above 0.96. The fitted recovered median values tc for Cl- concentrations of 6000 mg·L-1 and 10000 mg·L-1 were 28.765 d and 44.495 d. NRRmax for these concentrations was 0.145 kg·(m3·d)-1 and 0.212 kg·(m3·d)-1, and NRRmin was 0.021 kg·(m3·d)-1 and 0.085 kg·(m3·d)-1, respectively. After salinity acclimation, the dominant bacteria of AnAOB were Candidatus Brocadia and Candidatus Jettenia (the abundances were 14.76% and 2.7%, respectively), the granulation degree and sludge density increased to varying degrees, and the sludge color was reddish brown.

[Suppression and Recovery Characteristics of Pilot-scale ANAMMOX-ASBR System Treating Desulfurization and Denitrification Tailings from Thermal Power Plant].

A pilot-scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR, working volume 530 L), inoculated with oxygen-segmented sludge in an oxidation ditch process, was developed to investigate the start-up of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) and its combination with denitrification for deep-level nitrogen removal from desulfurization and denitrification tailings of a thermal power plant. The results showed that, under conditions with a temperature of (35±1)℃and reaction time of 20 h, ANAMMOX was successfully started up after 180 days. During the stable operations phase, total nitrogen (TN) removal rate and removal efficiency reached 91.1% and 0.3 kg·(m3·d)-1, respectively. During the activity suppression stage of the ANAMMOX-ASBR treating real desulfurization and denitrification tailings, the recovery of its activity could be achieved in 93 days by removing inhibitory factors (Cl- concentration) and reducing the concentration of influent substrate. In addition, by gradually increasing the addition ratio of desulfurization and denitrification tails (30%, 70%, and 100%), the coupling of ANAMMOX and denitrification was achieved in the ASBR to ensure stable effluent TN removal rate and COD concentrations below 92% and 88.5 mg·L-1, respectively. The modified logistic model was more suitable for the NRR recovery process after ANAMMOX was impacted by desulfurization and denitrification tailings. The NRR recovery delay time λ was 17.777 cycles, the and R2 was 0.92948.

[Start-up and Process Characteristics of Simultaneous ANAMMOX and Denitrification (SAD) in a Pilot-scale Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (ASBR)].

A pilot scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR, working volume 530 L), inoculated by anaerobic sludge from an A2O process, was developed to investigate the start-up of anaerobic ammonia oxidation (ANAMMOX) and its combination with denitrification for deep-level nitrogen removal from saline wastewater. Simultaneously, the flora structure was analyzed. Results showed that under the conditions of temperature 35℃±1℃ and reaction time 14 h, ANAMMOX was successfully started-up after 160 days of operation. During the stabilized operation stage, ANAMMOX coupled with denitrification (SAD) led to a total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency and removal rate of 91.1% and 0.45 kg·(m3·d)-1, respectively. The successful cultivated sludge formed granules and presented as a light red color, with the main bacteria genus being Candidatus Brocadia (10.6%). Additionally, high efficiency nitrogen and organic carbon removal (COD and TN removal efficiency of 93.2% and 90.0%, respectively) from wastewater simulating desulfurization and denitrification tailings with high salinity (Cl- concentration of 8000 mg·L-1) was achieved in the SAD system by gradually increasing the salinity gradient. Moreover, the denitrification in SAD was mostly NO3--N→N2, with partial denitrification (NO3--N→NO2--N) accounting for only 30.3%.