PVA-gel beads enhance granule formation in a UASB reactor.

PVA-gel beads were used as a biocarrier in a lab-scale UASB reactor treating synthetic wastewater composed of corn steep liquor (CSL) with the aim of evaluating its use as a growth nucleus to enhance granule formation. Over 117 days of operation, the organic loading rate was increased to 22.5kgCOD/m3/day with an influent COD of about 10.

Reduction of urinary levels of pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline and serum levels of soluble receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand by etanercept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The effects of soluble TNF-alpha receptor, etanercept, on bone metabolism were investigated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thirty RA patients were administered etanercept once or twice a week for more than 6 months. We evaluated clinical and laboratory parameters and measured urinary excretion levels of pyridinoline (PYD), deoxypyridinoline (DPD), cross-linked N-telopeptides of type I collagen (NTX), and serum levels of bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), osteoprotegerin (OPG), and soluble receptor activator of NFkappaB ligand (sRANKL) at the baseline and at 3 and 6 months after initial treatment with etanercept.

Effects of deposit feeder Stichopus japonicus on algal bloom and organic matter contents of bottom sediments of the enclosed sea.

Algae growing in an enclosed sea may inhibit eutrophication because they absorb nutrients in the water. However, dead algae often cause anaerobic conditions in the water just above and on sediment after they are deposited on the bottom. We found that Stichopus japonicus inhibited the anaerobic processes coupling water sulfite production in sediment.

[Study of complications after endoscopic sclerotherapy for esophageal varices--particularly 2 cases that changed portal circulation after sclerotherapy].

In 116 patients with esophageal varix due to liver cirrhosis who received the endoscopic sclerotherapy, the following complications were observed after the sclerotherapy: 38 ulcer formation; 19 chest pain; 16 hypotension; 15 fever; 12 pleural effusion; 6 esophageal stenosis and so on. Furthermore, two cases with marked changes of portal circulation were experienced after the sclerotherapy. The first case had severe bleeding out of duodenal varix four months after the sclerotherapy and died because of massive bleeding.