Phosphorus Co-Existing in Water: A New Mechanism to Boost Boron Removal by Calcined Oyster Shell Powder.

The removal of boron (B) from water by co-precipitation with hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been extensively studied due to its low cost, ease of use and high efficiency. However, there is no explicit mechanism to express how resolved B was trapped by HAP. Thus, in this work, the process of removing B from water was studied using a low-cost calcium (Ca) precipitation agent derived from used waste oyster shells. The results showed that the removal rate of B in the simulated wastewater by calcined oyster shell (COS) in the presence of phosphorus (P) is up to more than 90%, as opposed to virtually no removal without phosphate. For B removal, the treated water needs to be an alkaline solution with a high pH above 12, where B is removed as [CaB(OH)4]+ but is not molecular. Finally, the synergistic mechanism of co-precipitation between HAP and dissolved B, occlusion co-precipitation, was explained in detail. The proposed method discovered the relationship between Ca, P and B, and was aimed at removing B without secondary pollution through co-precipitation.

Effects of Jinye Baidu Granule on fetal growth and development with maternal active human cytomegalovirus infection.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of Jinye Baidu Granule ( JYBDG), a traditional Chinese medicine compound prescription, on fetal growth and development with maternal active human cytomegalovirus infection. METHODS: A prospective, randomized and controlled trial was adopted during January 1996 to June 2002. From the pregnant women with an abnormal pregnant history, 240 cases were screened to be infected by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). They were assigned according to the random number table to two groups. The 122 cases in the treatment group were administrated with JYBDG, one package each time, three times a day for two continuous weeks, while the other 118 in the control group did not receive any treatment. The negative conversion rate of both HCMV-IgM and HCMV late mRNA, the positive rate of HCMV-DNA in placenta and the intrauterine transmission rate between the two groups were compared, and fetal growth and development in partial fetuses were also observed. RESULTS: The negative conversion rate of both HCMV-lgM and HCMV late mRNA, the positive rate of HCMV-DNA in placenta and the intrauterine transmission rate in the treatment group were 77. 05% (94/122), 48. 98% (48/98) and 21.74% (10/46) respectively, while those in the control group were 38. 14% (45/118), 67.50% (54/80) and 52.63% (20/38) respectively, all showing significant difference between the two groups (P<0. 01). Totally 35 normal infants and 11 abnormal infants were born in the treatment group, and the number in the control group was 20 and 18 respectively, and comparison between the two groups showed significant difference (P<0.01). Six months of child birth, the scores of both mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI) of infants were higher in the treatment group (20 cases) than those in the control group (20 cases), but there was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: JYBDG could decrease the intrauterine transmission of HCMV and is beneficial to fetal growth and development.