Prevalence and determinants of psychological insulin resistance among type 2 diabetic patients in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: Psychological insulin resistance (PIR) is a common but unappreciated phenomenon by health care providers with a negative impact on the control of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aim: To determine the frequency of PIR and its determinants in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Setting: This study was conducted in Kinshasa in three health centres providing management of diabetic patients.

Azathioprine in Chronic Recalcitrant Erythema Nodosum Leprosum: A Case Report.

Erythema Nodosum Leprosum (ENL) may have a chronic course which may be recalcitrant to treatment. Preferred treatment modalities are systemic corticosteroids and thalidomide. Azathioprine, methotrexate and cyclosporine are immunosuppressants which may also be used as a steroid sparing agent.

Theoretically Guided Analytical Method Development and Validation for the Estimation of Rifampicin in a Mixture of Isoniazid and Pyrazinamide by UV Spectrophotometer.

A simple, rapid, economic, accurate, and precise method for the estimation of rifampicin in a mixture of isoniazid and pyrazinamide by UV spectrophotometeric technique (guided by the theoretical investigation of physicochemical properties) was developed and validated. Theoretical investigations revealed that isoniazid and pyrazinamide both were freely soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethyl acetate whereas rifampicin was practically insoluble in water but freely soluble in ethyl acetate. This indicates that ethyl acetate is an effective solvent for the extraction of rifampicin from a water mixture of isoniazid and pyrazinamide.

Performance of sequential anaerobic/aerobic digestion applied to municipal sewage sludge.

A promising alternative to conventional single phase processing, the use of sequential anaerobic-aerobic digestion, was extensively investigated on municipal sewage sludge from a full scale wastewater treatment plant. The objective of the work was to evaluate sequential digestion performance by testing the characteristics of the digested sludge in terms of volatile solids (VS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and nitrogen reduction, biogas production, dewaterability and the content of proteins and polysaccharides. VS removal efficiencies of 32% in the anaerobic phase and 17% in the aerobic one were obtained, and similar COD removal efficiencies (29% anaerobic and 21% aerobic) were also observed.

Sequential anaerobic/aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge: analysis of the process performance and kinetic study.

Sequential anaerobic-aerobic digestion was applied to waste activated sludge (WAS) of a full scale wastewater treatment plant. The study was performed with the objective of testing the sequential digestion process on WAS, which is characterized by worse digestibility in comparison with the mixed sludge. Process performance was evaluated in terms of biogas production, volatile solids (VS) and COD reduction, and patterns of biopolymers (proteins and polysaccharides) in the subsequent digestion stages.

Two-phase partitioning bioreactors operating with polymers applied to the removal of substituted phenols.

Significant improvement in biodegradation performance has been demonstrated arising from the reduction of cytotoxicity provided by the sequestering of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) within Hytrel polymer beads added to a two-phase partitioning bioreactor (TPPB) operating in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) mode. This reduced toxicity is particularly apparent as the feed substrate concentration is increased; in fact it was shown that at a feed of 1000 mg/L 4NP, the inhibitory effect of the substrate completely prevents degradation from occurring in a single-phase system, whereas at only a 5% polymer loading, rapid and compete biodegradation is achieved. Different polymer/aqueous phase ratios were used to detoxify varying feed concentrations, and degradation rates were enhanced through the use of increased polymer loadings.

Biodegradation of 4-nitrophenol in a two-phase sequencing batch reactor: concept demonstration, kinetics and modelling.

The objectives of this work were to demonstrate the potential of a two-phase sequencing batch reactor in degrading xenobiotics and to evaluate the kinetic parameters leading to a mathematical model of the system. 4-Nitrophenol (4NP), a typical representative of substituted phenols, was selected as the target xenobiotic; this compound has never been remediated in a two-phase bioreactor before. Partition tests were conducted to determine the most appropriate partitioning solvent, and among the three investigated solvents (1-undecanol, 2-undecanone and oleyl alcohol), 2-undecanone was chosen because of its favourable partition coefficient and its negligible emulsion-forming tendencies.

Inhibition of protein kinase C in PHA-activated PBMC treated with anti-HLA class I monoclonal antibody is associated to decreased proliferation and expression of cell cycle related genes.

Treatment of PHA-activated PBMC with anti-HLA class I monoclonal antibody (mAb 01.65) shows: 1) depletion of particulate protein Kinase C (PKC) and partial reduction of cytosolic PKC after only 10 min.; 2) inhibition of tritiated thymidine (3H-Td) incorporation; 3) slowing down of cell cycle; 4) reduced expression of four cell cycle related genes.