Creatine homeostasis and the kidney: comparison between kidney transplant recipients and healthy controls.

Creatine is a natural nitrogenous organic acid that is integral to energy metabolism and crucial for proper cell functioning. The kidneys are involved in the first step of creatine production. With kidney transplantation being the gold-standard treatment for end-stage kidney disease, kidney transplant recipients (KTR) may be at risk of impaired creatine synthesis.

Cysteinyl-maresin 3 inhibits IL-13 induced airway hyperresponsiveness through alternative activation of the CysLT receptor.

Background: Cysteinyl-maresins, also known as maresin-conjugates in tissue regeneration (MCTRs), are recently discovered lipid mediators proposed to reduce airway inflammation.

Objective: To investigate the influence of MCTRs on IL-13-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in isolated human and mice airways.

Methods: Before responsiveness to contractile agonists were assessed in myographs, human small bronchi were cultured for 2 days and mouse tracheas were cultured for 1-4 days.

Prostaglandin D inhibits mediator release and antigen induced bronchoconstriction in the Guinea pig trachea by activation of DP receptors.

The mechanism by which cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition increases antigen-induced responses in airways remains unknown. Male albino guinea pigs were sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA). Intact rings of the trachea were isolated and mounted in organ baths for either force measurements or lipid mediator release analysis by UPLC-MS/MS or EIA following relevant pharmacological interventions.

Mast cell-derived serotonin enhances methacholine-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in house dust mite-induced experimental asthma.

Background: Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is a feature of asthma in which airways are hyperreactive to stimuli causing extensive airway narrowing. Methacholine provocations assess AHR in asthma patients mainly by direct stimulation of smooth muscle cells. Using in vivo mouse models, mast cells have been implicated in AHR, but the mechanism behind has remained unknown.

Lipoxin A reduces house dust mite and TNFα-induced hyperreactivity in the mouse trachea.

Lipoxin A (LXA) is considered a specialised pro-resolving mediator that decreases inflammation: however, pro-inflammatory effects have been described in the airways. Here, we investigated whether LXA could influence airway hyperreactivity induced in mouse trachea by house dust mite extract (HDM) or TNFα. Intranasal instillation of HDM caused a serotonin (5-HT) mediated airway hyperreactivity ex vivo (E: 78.

Upgrading of sewage treatment plant by sustainable and cost-effective separate treatment of industrial wastewater.

The Olburgen sewage treatment plant has been upgraded to improve the effluent quality by implementing a separate and dedicated treatment for industrial (potato) wastewater and reject water. The separate industrial treatment has been realized within a beneficial public-private partnership. The separate treatment of the concentrated flows of industrial wastewater and sludge treatment effluent proved to be more cost-efficient and area and energy efficient than a combined traditional treatment process.

Emission of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide from a full-scale single-stage nitritation-anammox reactor.

At a full-scale single-stage nitritation-anammox reactor, off-gas measurement for nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N(2)O) was performed. NO and N(2)O are environmental hazards, imposing the risk of improving water quality at the cost of deteriorating air quality. The emission of NO during normal operation of a single-stage nitritation-anammox process was 0.

Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma development after diagnosis of VIN increases with age.

Objective: The purpose of the present study is to investigate the trends in incidence of both usual (u) and differentiated (d) vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) separately, their malignant potential and the relation with other HPV related anogenital lesions in the Netherlands during a 14-year-period.

Methods: The incidences of both types of VIN and vulvar SCC were retrieved from the Nationwide Netherlands Database of Histo- and Cytopathology. Population data were retrieved from the Database of Statistics Netherlands.

Startup of reactors for anoxic ammonium oxidation: experiences from the first full-scale anammox reactor in Rotterdam.

The first full-scale anammox reactor in the world was started in Rotterdam (NL). The reactor was scaled-up directly from laboratory-scale to full-scale and treats up to 750 kg-N/d. In the initial phase of the startup, anammox conversions could not be identified by traditional methods, but quantitative PCR proved to be a reliable indicator for growth of the anammox population, indicating an anammox doubling time of 10-12 days.

Full-scale granular sludge Anammox process.

The start-up of the first full scale Anammox reactor is complete. The reactor shows stable operation, even at loading rates of 10 kg N/m3.d.

Characterization of microbial communities removing nitrogen oxides from flue gas: the BioDeNOx process.

BioDeNOx is an integrated physicochemical and biological process for the removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from flue gases. In this process, the flue gas is purged through a scrubber containing a solution of Fe(II)EDTA2-, which binds the NOx to form an Fe(II)EDTA.NO2- complex.

Cometabolic reduction of bromate by a mixed culture of microorganisms using hydrogen gas in a gas-lift reactor.

The discharge of bromate, a suspected carcinogen, will be restricted in the near future. To assess the possibility of biotechnological treatment of bromate-containing wastewaters, the removal of bromate by chlorate-reducing microorganisms was studied. The removal of bromate and chlorate was studied in laboratory gas-lift bioreactors supplied with hydrogen gas as electron donor in the absence of molecular oxygen.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation by marine and freshwater planctomycete-like bacteria.

Recently, two fresh water species, " Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans" and " Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis", and one marine species, " Candidatus Scalindua sorokinii", of planctomycete anammox bacteria have been identified. " Candidatus Scalindua sorokinii" was discovered in the Black Sea, and contributed substantially to the loss of fixed nitrogen. All three species contain a unique organelle--the anammoxosome--in their cytoplasm.

CANON and Anammox in a gas-lift reactor.

Anoxic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) and Completely Autotrophic Nitrogen removal Over Nitrite (CANON) are new and promising microbial processes to remove ammonia from wastewaters characterized by a low content of organic materials. These two processes were investigated on their feasibility and performance in a gas-lift reactor. The Anammox as well as the CANON process could be maintained easily in a gas-lift reactor, and very high N-conversion rates were achieved.

Digiplot: a PC programme for drawing tumour volumes for radiation therapy treatment planning using computed tomography images.

Computed tomography (CT) provides explicit information for tumour localisation. However, CT data are displayed in the transverse plane, whereas on the Radiotherapy Simulation films, radiation portals are commonly directed into anteroposterior and lateral planes. Using present day radiotherapy planning computers, it is possible to read in the CT data to determine the tumour volume in anterior/posterior and lateral directions and to perform dosimetry calculations.