Clonal propagation of Eucheuma denticulatum and Kappaphycus alvarezii for Philippine seaweed farms

Technique improvement and cost reduction of branch culture, micropropagation, and callus production of carrageenan-yielding seaweeds Kappaphycus alvarezii and Eucheuma denticulatum is presented. Low cost branch culture is possible by enriching seawater with 0.1% coconut water with 1 mg l^–1 indole-3-butyric acid for 24 h wk^–1 or continuous culture with 0.01% Algafer, a Philippine fertilizer. Micropropagation of 0.5 cm explants had almost 100% new branch production demonstrating the viability of callus regenerated plants. The use of carrageenan as a media for callus production was not effective when compared to agar. Propagules of both species, transferred from the University of the Philippine Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) culture facility to the field, showed daily percent growth rates of 5 to 5.5% d^–1 over 84 days. Based on the costs of the UPMSI laboratory, a culture facility in the seaweed farming area is estimated to cost about U. S. $22000 during the initial year and 58% less the second year.     

Composting of explosives and propellant contaminated soils under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions

Summary Composting was investigated as a bioremediation technology for clean-up of sediments contaminated with explosives and propellants. Two field demonstrations were conducted, the first using 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazocine (HMX), hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), and N-methyl-N,2,4,6-tetranitroaniline (tetryl) contaminated sediment, and the second using nitrocellulose (NC) contaminated soil. Tests were conducted in thermophilic and mesophilic aerated static piles. Extractable TNT was reduced from 11840 mg/kg to 3 mg/kg, and NC from 13090 mg/kg to 16 mg/kg under thermophilic conditions. Under mesophilic conditions, TNT was reduced from 11 190 mg/kg to 50 mg/kg. The thermophilic and mesophilic half-lives were 11.9 and 21.9 days for TNT, 17.3 and 30.1 days for RDX, and 22.8 and 42.0 days for HMX, respectively. Known nitroaromatic transformation products increased in concentration over the first several weeks of the test period, but decreased to low concentrations thereafter.     

Radiotherapy facilities,equipment, and staffing in Poland: 2005–2011

Background and purpose

To evaluate the current status of radiotherapy facilities, staffing, and equipment, treatment and patients in Poland for the years 2005–2011 following implementation of the National Cancer Programme.

Methods

A survey was sent to the radiotherapy centres in Poland to collect data on available equipment, staffing, and treatments in the years 2005–2011.

Results

In 2011, 76,000 patients were treated with radiotherapy at 32 centres vs. 63,000 patients at 23 centres in 2005. Number of patients increased by 21%. In 2011, there were 453 radiation oncologists – specialists (1 in 168 patients), 325 medical physicists (1 in 215 patients), and 883 radiotherapy technicians (1 in 86 patients) vs. 320, 188, and 652, respectively, in 2005. The number of linear accelerators increased by 60%, from 70 units in 2005 to 112 in 2011. The current linac/patient ratio in Poland is 1 linac per 678 patients. Waiting times from diagnosis to the start of treatment has decreased.

Conclusion

Compared to 2005, there are more treatment facilities, more and better equipment (linacs), and more cancer care specialists. There are still large differences between the 16 Polish provinces in terms of equipment availability and ease of access to treatment. However, radiotherapy services in Poland have improved dramatically since the year 2005.     

Expresión sexual y regulación de la sexualidad en residencias de personas mayores

Objectives

The study had three objectives: (a) To determine how staff perceives the frequency of different sexual expressions in long-term care facilities for older people; (2) to quantify policies aimed at guaranteeing residents’ sexual rights in such institutions, and (3) to determine factors influencing the presence of these kind of policies.

Requirements on bacterial polyesters as future substitute for conventional plastics for consumer goods

Bacterial polyesters such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) or polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have to pass the following requirements to be accepted on a large scale: (i) they have to fulfil an urgent market need: (ii) they require that new and efficient composting systems are installed in urban areas; (iii) they have to complete with the present plastics as far as quality and processing performance are concerned; (iv) they have to meet the requirement for the registration as food packages; and (v) they have to meet competitive price limits. (i) Some 30% of the plastics in the municipal waste originates from goods which are less than 1 year in use and tend to be heavily soiled by food and feed residues. This part is difficult and expensive to dispose of. Biodegradable alternatives could replace a large part of it. The waste could be diverted from landfills and incineration to composting sites near the end user. The savings in costs and frustrations are the source of a pressing demand for biopolymers, especially for producing goods which do not demand longevity and which are likely to end up soiled with organic matters. (ii) Composting infrastructures exist in rural areas. In urban areas new systems for collecting and composting ‘garden and kitchen wastes’ are being installed for reducing landfill problems, especially in Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. These installations give biopolymers a competitive edge in the disposal discussion. (iii) Bacterial polyesters meet various quality and processing performances. They are water-resistant, and goods made of the polyesters are water-tight. The material can be processed by injection and by blow moulding. However, the esters are not flexible enough for forming films or foils. They also tend to become brittle and to lose their vapour barrier properties. It is expected that these limits will be overcome by improving blend formulations. (iv) Bacterial polyesters are not yet allowed for use as food package material. Since the esters represent a novel product, the procedure for the registration poses serious, but no insoluble problems. They require long and costly tests. There are no indications that bacterial polyesters would not attain the requirements. However, they are not expected to serve as food packages in the near future. (v) The present prices for bacterial polyesters are far too high to be accepted on a large scale by the processing and packaging industry. Costs are high mainly because of the raw material prices and to the small-scale production units. They can be lowered to accepted levels by investing in larger units in countries where inexpensive raw materials are available. Thus they will be able to meet the price limits. Since bacterial polyesters increasingly meet the requirements for the penetration of a mass market and since more and more consumers accept composting as an environmentally sound way of recycling organic materials, the polyesters are expected to penetrate a significant part of the short-lived and contaminated plastic products markets by the turn of the century.     

Microbial community succession and lignocellulose degradation during agricultural waste composting

The changes of microbial community during agricultural waste composting were successfully studied by quinone profiles. Mesophilic bacteria indicated by MK-7 and mesophilic fungi containing Q-9 as major quinone were predominant and seemed to be important during the initial stage of composting. Actinobacteria indicated by a series of partially saturated and long-chain menaquinones were preponderant during the thermophilic period. While Actinobacteria, fungi and some bacteria, especially those microbes containing MK-7(H4) found in Gram-positive bacteria with a low G+C content or Actinobacteria were found cooperate during the latter maturating period. Since lignocellulsoe is abundant in the agricultural wastes and its degradation is essential for the operation of composting, it’s important to establish the correlation between the quinone profiles changes and lignocellulose degradation. The microbes containing Q-9 or Q-10(H2) as major quinone were found to be the most important hemicellulose and cellulose degrading microorganisms during composting. While the microorganisms containing Q-9(H2) as major quinone and many thermophilic Actinobacteria were believed to be responsible for lignin degradation during agricultural waste composting.     

Biofiltration of composting gases using different municipal solid waste-pruning residue composts: monitoring by using an electronic nose

The concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the composting of kitchen waste and pruning residues, and the abatement of VOCs by different compost biofilters was studied. VOCs removal efficiencies greater than 90% were obtained using composts of municipal solid waste (MSW) or MSW-pruning residue as biofilter material. An electronic nose identified qualitative differences among the biofilter output gases at very low concentrations of VOCs. These differences were related to compost constituents, compost particle size (2-7 or 7-20 mm), and a combination of both factors. The total concentration of VOCs determined by a photoionization analyser and inferred from electronic nose data sets were correlated over an ample range of concentrations of VOCs, showing that these techniques could be specially adapted for the monitoring of these processes.     

Biodegradability of injection molded bioplastic pots containing polylactic acid and poultry feather fiber

The biodegradability of three types of bioplastic pots was evaluated by measuring carbon dioxide produced from lab-scale compost reactors containing mixtures of pot fragments and compost inoculum held at 58 °C for 60 days. Biodegradability of pot type A (composed of 100% polylactic acid (PLA)) was very low (13 ± 3%) compared to literature values for other PLA materials. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) results suggest that the PLA undergoes chemical structural changes during polymer extrusion and injection molding. These changes may be the basis of the low biodegradability value. Biodegradability of pot types B (containing 5% poultry feather, 80% PLA, 15% starch), and C (containing 50% poultry feather, 25% urea, 25% glycerol), were 53 ± 2% and 39 ± 3%, respectively. More than 85% of the total biodegradation of these bioplastics occurred within 38 days. NIRS results revealed that poultry feather was not degraded during composting.     

Influence of humic substances on bioavailability of Cu and Zn during sewage sludge composting

Influence of humic substances (HS) on bioavailability of Cu and Zn was characterized during 120 days co-composting of sewage sludge and maize straw. At the initial stage of composting, Cu and Zn in sewage sludge were released as organic matter was degraded, and water soluble Cu and Zn increased markedly. Water soluble Cu and FA content decreased after 21 days whereas water soluble Zn increased during the whole process. Both HA-Cu and HA-Zn were significantly and positively correlated with HA and H/F, respectively. At the end of composting, the distribution coefficients of HA-Cu and HA-Zn reached 27.50% and 3.33% respectively with HA-Cu/HA-Zn ratio increased from 1.29 to 2.73. The results suggest that Cu combined with HA more strongly than Zn, and composting treatment could decrease bioavailability of Cu markedly.     

规范实验动物设施管理,提高科研服务质量

实验动物设施是医院科学研究的技术平台。如何利用有限的资源,全面提高实验动物中心科研服务水平是管理者亟待解决的问题。本文通过总结第四军医大学口腔医院实验动物中心的规范化建设及管理,探索提高实验动物中心运行效率和科研服务质量的方法。