Iodine deficiency in pregnant women in Austria.

Background/objectives: In Austria, iodine deficiency has been considered to be eliminated owing to table salt fortification with iodine, but whether this also applies to pregnant women is unclear. Even mild iodine deficiency during gestation may lead to neurocognitive sequelae in the offspring.

Subjects/methods: This is a cross-sectional investigation of urinary iodine excretion in 246 pregnant women (first trimester n=2, second trimester n=53, third trimester n=191, gestational diabetes mellitus n=115, no gestational diabetes mellitus n=131).

Nutrient and trace element supply in anaerobic digestion plants and effect of trace element application.

To investigate process behaviour and process disturbances in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants, samples of more than 1500 main digesters were taken and concentrations of macro- and micronutrients as well as volatile fatty acids were analyzed. Out of these samples, 600 digesters using energy crops only and 80 digesters using waste substrates were selected to compare the chemical composition as a result of different substrate feeding. High variations in element concentrations were found in both groups.

A simple micro-photometric method for urinary iodine determination.

Background: Urinary iodide concentration (UIC) is useful to evaluate nutritional iodine status. In clinical settings UIC helps to exclude blocking of the thyroid gland by excessive endogenous iodine, if diagnostic or therapeutic administration of radio-iodine is indicated. Therefore, this study established a simple test for the measurement of UIC.

Impact of nickel and cobalt on biogas production and process stability during semi-continuous anaerobic fermentation of a model substrate for maize silage.

The importance of nickel and cobalt on anaerobic degradation of a defined model substrate for maize was demonstrated. Five semi-continuous reactors were operated for 250 days at 35 °C and a well-defined trace metal solution was added to all reactors. Two reactors each were limited regarding the concentration of Ni(2+) and Co(2+), respectively, for certain time intervals.

New data on temperature optimum and temperature changes in energy crop digesters.

As a result of self-heating in anaerobic digesters when using energy crops in the feedstock, the influence of temperature on the digestion process came back into focus. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of such temperature increases on process stability. Furthermore, different strategies for the transition from mesophilic to thermophilic conditions and the resulting methane yields at different temperature levels were evaluated.