Intervention study to verify the effect of live classic music during hemodialysis on the quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease.

Introduction And Objective: Music has been closely linked to medicine since ancient times, and has brought numerous benefits to the health of patients. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) undergoing hemodialysis (HD) generally have a health-related quality of life (HRQL) lower than the reference values ​​of the general population. The objective of the present study is to verify if the intervention of classical music live and "in situ" during the treatment of HD has effects on the HRQoL of the patients.

Nitrification during extended co-composting of extreme mixtures of green waste and solid fraction of cattle slurry to obtain growing media.

Next generation of waste management systems should apply product-oriented bioconversion processes that produce composts or biofertilisers of desired quality that can be sold in high priced markets such as horticulture. Natural acidification linked to nitrification can be promoted during composting. If nitrification is enhanced, suitable compost in terms of pH can be obtained for use in horticultural substrates.

Heavy metal content in rubbish bags used for separate collection of biowaste.

The heavy metal content of several rubbish bags used to collect the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is shown in this paper. Nowadays, several public awareness campaigns carried out by municipalities have promoted rubbish bags based mainly on their appearance, without concern for their heavy metal content. A high amount of heavy metals was detected in some polyethylene bags promoted in different campaigns for OFMSW source-sorted collection, while compostable bags presented low quantities of heavy metals.

An assessment of the characteristics of yard trimmings and recirculated yard trimmings used in biowaste composting.

The aim of this research was to characterise samples of yard trimmings (YT) and recirculated yard trimmings (RYT) that are used to co-compost organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) taken from 18 composting facilities in Catalonia (NE Spain), to determine their contribution in the composting process, and to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of reusing RYT. We found significant differences between the characteristics of the two materials. RYT had higher pH levels, electrical conductivity, and organic and ammonium nitrogen content than YT.