Waiting time for radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery in early breast cancer: a retrospective analysis of local relapse and distant metastases in 615 patients.

Background: Postoperative radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is the standard in the management of breast cancer. The optimal timing for starting postoperative radiation therapy has not yet been well defined. In this study, we aimed to evaluate if the time interval between BCS and postoperative radiotherapy is related to the incidence of local and distant relapse in women with early node-negative breast cancer not receiving chemotherapy.

Rapid screening procedure to optimise the anaerobic codigestion of industrial biowastes and agricultural livestock wastes in Cyprus.

Small-scale experimental investigations were undertaken on the anaerobic digestion (AD) and codigestion of livestock waste and industrial biowastes. A simple procedure was developed to rapidly determine the suitability of wastes for digestion. The experiment was split into two phases; initially, the seed (digested brewery waste) was replaced by the test waste over a period of 5 days.

Minimization of the diffuse pollution caused by dairy farms in Cyprus through the development of guidelines for their sustainable operation.

This paper summarizes the work carried out for Cyprus in respect to developing guidelines on the measures that have to be taken for the reduction of the impacts caused by the operation of dairy cow farms and in a second stage, to aid the competent authorities in permitting the dairy farms under the Water and Soil Pollution Control Law. The paper includes information on the existing situation in Cyprus in regards to: (1) the operation of the farms, the production of waste and the existing practices for the management of waste, and (2) the guidelines and measures for the reduction of waste, odours and the use of waste in order to ensure the safe and sustainable operation of the farms and the management of waste.

Development and optimization of dark Fenton oxidation for the treatment of textile wastewaters with high organic load.

The examination of the effectiveness of the chemical oxidation using Fenton's reagent (H(2)O(2)/Fe(2+)) for the reduction of the organic content of wastewater generated from a textile industry has been studied. The experimental results indicate that the oxidation process leads to a reduction in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration up to 45%. Moreover, the reduction is reasonably fast at the first stages of the process, since the COD concentration is decreased up to 45% within four hours and further treatment time does not add up to the overall decrease in the COD concentration (48% reduction within six hours).

Occurrence patterns of pharmaceuticals in water and wastewater environments.

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites and transformation products in the environment is becoming a matter of concern, because these compounds, which may have adverse effects on living organisms, are extensively and increasingly used in human and veterinary medicine and are released continuously into the environment. A variety of pharmaceuticals have been detected in many environmental samples worldwide. Their occurrence has been reported in sewage-treatment-plant effluents, surface water, seawater, groundwater, soil, sediment and fish.