Effect of ambient temperatures on disinfection efficiency of various sludge treatment technologies.

Sewage sludge produced during municipal wastewater treatment has to be treated efficiently in order to reduce impacts on the environment and on public health. In Germany and many countries, large quantities of sludge are reused in agriculture in order to recycle nutrients and organic material. In order to quantify the effect of different ambient temperatures on conventional and advanced sludge treatment technologies as well as on disinfection efficiency, a comprehensive research study was performed at Braunschweig Institute of Technology.

Pre-conditioning with synthetic CpG-oligonucleotides attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury via IL-10 up-regulation.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether pre-conditioning with CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN) may change cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-dependent inflammation and modulates infarct size and cardiac performance. WT and TLR9-deficient mice were pre-treated with 1668-, 1612- and H154-thioate or D-Gal as control. Priming with 1668-thioate significantly induced inflammatory mediators in the serum and a concomitant increase of immune cells in the blood and spleen of WT mice.

Sludge treatment and reuse considering different climates and varying other conditions--export-oriented research for developing and threshold countries.

Sewage sludge accumulating during biological wastewater treatment has to be treated appropriately to avoid impacts on the environment and risks to public health. Especially pathogen reduction is necessary when sludge is disposed or reused in such a way that human contact is possible. In industrialized countries various sludge treatment technologies are available, but these are often only approved under local conditions.