Development of a full-scale wastewater treatment plant for licorice root processing factories: A hybrid biodegradation-lime-alum-ozonation process.

Liquorice is a perennial legume that grows principally in Asia, the Middle East and some parts of Europe. The sweet root extract is mainly used in the pharmaceutical, food and confectionary industries. It contains 400 compounds, including triterpene saponins and flavonoids, which are responsible for liquorice's bioactivities. The wastewater (WW) arising from the processing of liquorice can have negative environmental effects and must be treated before being discharged into the environment. Different WW treatment solutions are available. In the last years, increasing attention has been paid to the environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The present article discusses a hybrid biological (anaerobic-aerobic) and post-biological (lime-alum-ozone) WWTP, designed to treat 105 m3/day complex liquorice root extract WW for agricultural purposes. The influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD5) were found to be 6000-8000 mg/L and 2420-3246 mg/L, respectively. With a biological hydraulic retention time of 8.2 days and no addition of extra nutrients, the WWTP reached a stable condition after 5 months. Over the course of 16 months, its highly efficient biological treatment reduced COD, BOD5, total suspended solids (TSS), phosphate, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate and turbidity by 86-98 %. However, the WW's colour proved resilient: only 68 % of the colour was removed by the biological treatment, necessitating a combination of biodegradation-lime-alum-ozonation processes in order to reach 98 % efficiency. Thus, this study reveals that liquorice root extract WW can successfully be treated and reused for crop irrigation.

Comparing the effect of preparation of the implant sites with piezosurgery and conventional drilling on the stability of implants at 5-months follow-up.

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of preparing for implant site osteotomy with conventional drilling or piezosurgery on the stability of oral implants after a 5 month follow-up period. Thirty patients participated in this randomized clinical trial and received two implants in posterior mandible in bone of the same quality. All surgical procedures were performed by the same surgeon. Implant stability amounts were measured by resonance frequency analysis using the Osstell Mentor device and are reported in the format of implant stability quotient (ISQ) values at baseline and 90 and 150 days after surgery. All implants were well osseointegrated. Differences in ISQ levels were statistically significant in the piezosurgery group at all time intervals, whereas those in the conventional drill group were not significant as analyzed by analysis of variance. The significance of differences between the two groups in each time interval was assessed with Student's t test. In the second interval (90 days), there were statistically significant differences in ISQ levels between the two groups at the buccal, lingual side of implants and mean of two measurements, but at baseline and 150 days, there were no significant differences between these techniques. The early increase of ISQ values in piezoelectric sites shows that piezosurgery is a less traumatic bone osteotomy method with a shorter inflammatory phase and little resorption compared with sites prepared by conventional drilling. ISQ values of up to 60-65 at the time of insertion of the implant predict a good prognosis for immediate implant loading. In this study, the ISQ values were almost always higher than this, offering the safe condition for immediate or early loading protocols after the piezoelectric method of implant site osteotomy. These results may increase predictability of immediate-loading procedure in oral implantology.

Efficacy of Application of Platelet-Rich Fibrin for Improvement of Implant Stability: A Clinical Trial.

Use of platelet concentrates to increase implant stability, due to their regenerative potential, has recently attracted the attention of researchers. This study aimed to assess the effect of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) on dental implant stability. This clinical trial evaluated 10 patients who received 50 dental implants. Each patient received at least two implants. Half of the implants were placed in the sockets along with PRF while the remaining half were inserted conventionally without PRF. Implant stability was measured by resonance frequency analysis on the day of surgery (T1), at one week (T2), and at one month (T3). At the end of the first week (T2), the mean implant stability quotient (ISQ) was 59.85 ± 5.32 in the PRF group and 55.99 ± 3.39 in the non-PRF group. Compared to baseline, the ISQ increased in the PRF group by 0.12 ± 0.47 (P = 1.000) and decreased in the non-PRF group by 2.42 ± 0.36 (P < 0.001). At one month postoperatively, ISQ significantly increased by 6.89 ± 0.96 in the PRF group and by 4.82 ± 0.92 in the non-PRF group compared to baseline (P < 0.001). Application of PRF in the implant osteotomy site can prevent or minimize primary reductions in implant stability and seems to enhance the process of osseointegration.