Advanced Treatment Methods Research Articles

Experimental Study on Papermaking Wastewater by Advanced Electrochemical Oxidation Method

Papermaking wastewater effluent from a biological processing unit was treated by an advanced treatment method-electrochemical oxidation process. The experiments were carried out in an electrochemical reactor using RuO2\SnO2 coated on titanium as anode and stainless steel as cathode. The changes of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction and other relative parameters have been determined as a function of treatment time and applied current density. The optimum reaction time and current density was 60min and 5mA/cm2, respectively. Results indicate that as an advanced treatment method, electrochemical oxidation can treat papermaking wastewater to achieve the standard of effluents effectively.

Advanced Treatment of Biochemical Treated Coking Wastewater by Ozonation Process

Advanced treatment of biochemical treated coking wastewater was studied experimentally with ozonation process. The effects of initial pH value, ozone concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the COD and color removal rate were investigated. The results showed that ozonation was an effective method for advanced treatment of biochemical treated coking wastewater. The increasing of initial pH value, ozone concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time has enhanced the removal rate of COD and color. Meanwhile, the results also revealed that the maximal COD and color removal rate of 69.65% and 92.27% could be reached under the optimal conditions of the initial pH value is 10.5, ozone concentration is 150 mg/L, reaction temperature is 298 K, and reaction time is 30 min.

Magnetically Separable Water Treatment Technologies and their Role in Future Advanced Water Treatment: A Patent Review

AbstractMagnetic separation has been recognized as an important property for the simple deployment of micro and sub‐microparticles into solution in the field of water treatment. Many materials with desirable properties for water decontamination are hindered due to the difficulty inherent in removing them from solution post‐treatment. By securing these materials to magnetic compounds, this important issue can be solved as removing active materials from wastewater requires only the application of a magnetic field. This review article presents and discusses many recent technologies, in the form of patents, which exploit the property of magnetic separation for advanced water treatment, including methods of adsorbing pollutants from wastewater and magnetically separating them, as well as methods of deploying active materials for the degradation of contaminants, then magnetically retrieving these catalysts. The requirement for advanced wastewater treatment methods becomes more essential as new, persistent contaminants arise as a result of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial processes which cannot be addressed by traditional water treatment procedures. Magnetic separation promises to be a critical factor in these advanced methods, allowing the safe deployment of active materials which would otherwise be unusable, opening the gate to more efficient, economic and environmentally friendly water purification.

Controversies in Vaccination

Infectious diseases still jeopardize human health and even lives. In spite of the variety of advanced treatment methods, prevention is considered to be the most effective way to fight infections, and vaccination, no doubt, is one of the most effective preventive measures in the history of mankind. The vaccine controversy is based on a dispute over morality, ethics, effectiveness, and/or safety. There is no 100% safe or effective vaccine; however, benefits clearly overweigh risks. Ironically, as the numbers of cases of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases are falling, the controversies relating to vaccine safety are growing. Vaccines are generally victims of their own success. Controversies can afflict the positive acceptance of immunization, decrease the coverage and uptake and finally threaten the health of children and adults.

Novel data processing and image co-registration algorithm for region-specific lipid profiling in colorectal cancer tissue using DESI imaging mass spectrometry.

e14620 Background: Imaging mass spectrometry (iMS) is a promising technique for cancer biomarker discovery. Clinical translation of iMS requires advanced data treatment methods and efficient co-registration of histology and iMS imaging modalities. In this study desorption electrospray ionisation (DESI) iMS has been used to address four aims: 1. To develop a data processing workflow to address current limitations; 2. To design an interactive software platform for image co-registration; 3. To investigate region-specific lipid biochemistry in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue using the strategy outlined in aims 1-2; 4.To introduce an automated tissue recognition system based on multivariate molecular ion patterns (MIPs). Methods: Fresh CRC tissue sections (n=49) were subjected to DESI-iMS using a Thermo Exactive mass spectrometer coupled with a DESI ion source. Mass spectra were collected in the range m/z = 200-1000. Sections were then H&E stained and scanned at high resolution. DESI-iMS data pre-processing involved peak detection, removal of noise/solvent related peaks and variance stabilising normalisation. An interactive image co-registration interface was developed using a feature-based image alignment algorithm for precise exploration of tissue region-specific biochemistry. A Recursive Maximum Margin Criterion (RMMC) algorithm was introduced for improved extraction of tissue specific MIPs. Results: CRC DESI-iMS profiles consisted mainly of complex lipids including phosphatidyl-inositols, phosphatidyl-serines, and phosphatidyl-ethanolamine plasmalogens. Different histological tissue regions showed characteristic lipid profiles. An automated tissue recognition system using multivariate MIPs derived by the proposed RMMC approach demonstrated highly accurate (classification accuracy >98%) identification of pixels according to tissue type (cancer, healthy mucosa, smooth muscle, fibrous tissue, stroma). Conclusions: This workflow permits accurate tissue-specific lipidomic characterisation of the CRC tumor microenvironment and permits accurate reconstruction of different tissue types based on MIPs.

Phosphorus and organic matter removal from synthetic wastewater using alum and aluminum hydroxide

At present, chemical processes are widely used to remove phosphorus and organic matter from water or wastewater either as the only advanced treatment method or as a pre-treatment stage to biological treatment, and aluminium salts have been traditionally used as coagulants. In the present study removal of orthophosphate or dissolved organic matter with the use of two aluminium sources: alum [Al2(SO4)3•18H2O] and aluminium hydroxide [Al(OH)3(s)] is examined for the wastewater treatment process. Amorphous aluminium hydroxide was chosen because it is the hydrolyzed (olated) product of alum and an important adsorbent of inorganic and organic substances in soils since bayerite, gibbsite and boehmite contain a large portion of aluminium hydroxides. Laboratory jar test studies were carried out using either an orthophosphate solution (10 mg l-1) or a tannic acid solution (50 mgC l-1) as simulated wastewater and the effect of parameters such as coagulant dose (up to 15 mg Al l-1 in the case of alum and up to 90 mg Al l-1 in the case of Al(OH)3) and pH (2-12) is investigated. The values of these parameters were based upon measurements on municipal wastewaters from the input of the primary treatment of a wastewater plant in Athens. Orthophosphates have been chosen as a P surrogate as they are the major portion of the total P found in wastewater and tannic acid solution was used as a surrogate for soluble organic matter. It was proven that alum is much more efficient in phosphorus and tannic acid removal than aluminium hydroxide. The optimal pH values are 5-6 in both cases, alum and aluminium hydroxide, although alum is efficient in a wider pH range (4-7) and a mechanism was proposed to interpret these results. In pH values less than 6 the mechanism proposed was chemical bonding between Al species and tannic acid or phosphates creating insoluble complexes while in bigger pH values (6-8) adsorption on solid Al(OH)3. Freundlich isotherm was proven to fit satisfactorily the experimental data for aluminium hydroxide and orthophosphate at 250C suggesting heterogeneous sorption, with KF and N values 49,1 and 0,19 respectively. The findings of this work may not only contribute to a better understanding of the chemistry of chemical wastewater treatment and therefore to an improvement of the process but also on phosphorus and organics fixation in soils that contain a large portion of aluminium hydroxides.

Innovation in orthopaedic surgery as it relates to evidence-based practice

The field of medicine relentlessly pursues scientific advancement through ongoing basic science research and clinical investigation. In the present landscape of rapidly evolving technology in economic-driven medical systems, the interest and enthusiasm to innovate newer and more advanced products, diagnostic methods, less-expensive drugs and treatment methods has never been greater. Reitsma and Moreno, in their text titled Ethical Guidelines for Innovative Surgery, aptly describe this persistence ‘‘new is hot, old is not’’ [17, 18]. In the field of orthopaedics, millions benefit from medical innovations on a daily basis. The raise in multidisciplinary research between surgeons, basic scientists, bioengineers and product engineers, however, has resulted in numerous ‘‘innovations,’’ of which not all have turned out to be beneficial to patients. We have learned repeatedly that new products, however, promising the preliminary studies, may ultimately prove to have no benefit. Further, hundreds of thousands of patients have experienced harm and complications as a result of new medical devices, drugs and therapies that lacked proper testing or inadequate scientific backing by clinical trials [24]. A common problem within the field of orthopaedics is that the motivation of the inventors (to improve health care) and manufacturers (to increase profit) to develop a new product may not completely align. Moreover, there is a lack of consensus on how ‘‘innovation’’ is defined. The April 2012 issue of Nature featured an article on rewardable innovation in drug therapy which reviewed nine articles that investigated the definition of innovation [2]. While the authors found that ‘‘newness’’ and ‘‘usefulness’’ were used in all but two studies, not a single study defined innovation as ‘‘has to be beneficial to patients’’ [2]. The purpose of this article is to emphasize that innovative medical devices and treatments must be safe, effective and economical but, above all, must result in no harm to patients. Moreover, new products should be judged critically by orthopaedic surgeons, scientists and industry prior to being utilized in standard clinical care. Furthermore, the following should be considered when evaluating innovative products: (1) the quality of the available scientific evidence, (2) potential conflicts of interest that may have influenced the presented evidence and (3) the influence that marketing may have on our evidence-based practice.

Developing nursing curriculum to facilitate the delivery of holistic care to the military veteran

Daily media coverage tells the story of challenges facing returning members of the United States Military. High rates of suicide, more than twenty per day, horrific traumatic injuries necessitating challenging physical and emotional healing, and lingering post-traumatic stress disorders warranting the most advanced methods of treatment are reported daily. As America recoils from two prolonged oversea wars, the need for prepared healthcare providers is essential not only for the Veterans Administration (VA), but also for civilian based healthcare systems. The bulk of nursing education literature seems to evidence a void regarding this segment of the population. What seems like a prime education focus remains yet to be enacted in most nursing programs. The authors have responded to this challenge, by creating curricula developed to increase nursing student awareness of veterans’ unique needs, and to prepare undergraduate nursing students to provide quality care to veterans. Through the creation of a laboratory simulation scenario, students learned how to holistically view and respond to the needs of a veteran client. Debriefing allowed for reviewing the experience and discussing concerns. Outcomes measured via pre- and post- testing survey reflected the complexity of patient care needs. Students were asked to rate their ability to identify and prioritize appropriate nursing interventions. Anecdotal feedback was positive in that students consistently expressed a need to have additional simulation experiences.

Development of treatment and clinical results in childhood acute myeloid leukemias in Hungary

Acute myeloid leukemias (AML) comprising approximately 15 % of pediatric leukemias account for 30 % of all leukemic deaths in children worldwide. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate now reaches 60–65 % in Western Europe, North America, and the developed countries of Australasia due to risk-tailored chemotherapy and vigorous supportive care. According to data of the Childhood Cancer Registry of the Hungarian Pediatric Oncology-Hematology Group (HPOG), 234 children with AML were treated using the AML-IGCI-90, the AML-BFM-93 (1990–2000), and the AML-BFM-98 (2001–2011) protocols in Hungary. Four-year OS of patients was 34.5 % with the IGCI-90 and 47.9 % with the BFM-98 protocol. Mortality in AML is mainly associated with progressive disease; however, 5–15 % of patients die from treatment-related complications. We have retrospectively analyzed in detail the causes of death in a cohort of patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2011. There were 59 of 112 (52.6 %) fatal events registered until December 31, 2011. The main causes of deaths were progressive disease in 28 patients (47.4 %), infection in 21 patients (35.5 %), bleeding in 6 patients (10.4 %). Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was carried out in 30 patients and there were 12 (12/59; 20.3 %) transplantation-related deaths of that transplantation-related graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was seen in 3 patients (5.0 %). Second malignancy (a medulloblastoma) in 1 patient (1.7 %) occurred. HPOG follows the advanced diagnostic and treatment methods of the International BFM Study Group (I-BFM-SG). Unfortunately, treatment outcome measures do not reach that of working groups participating in I-BFM-SG AML clinical trials. The key for improving cure rates in Hungary is to decrease treatment-related mortality (TRM) by applying more vigorous supportive care for children with AML preferably within the frames of clinical studies.

Utility of a 3-Dimensional Tiisue Site Marker in the Post-Operative Treatment of Breast Cancer Patients

INTRODUCTION: Improvements in surgical techniques such as breast conservation, oncoplastic surgery and sentinel node biopsy have resulted in significant improvements for patients with breast cancer. In most cases, breast conservation requires post-operative radiotherapy, which can be burdensome and can cause significant complications to the breast and surrounding tissues. Recent technological advances have made it feasible to perform external beam radiation in a more targeted and accelerated fashion. However, many of these methods are not yet widely used in the breast due to the difficulty in defining the precise treatment area. The purpose of radiation is to treat the margins of the lumpectomy cavity, the most common site for recurrence. For this reason, a more precise mechanism for delineating the surgical site could potentially be helpful in treatment planning. OBJECTIVES: To determine the utility of an implantable, 3-dimensional bioabsorbable tissue site marker after intra-operative placement. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients were selected to have the BioZorbTM tissue marker implanted at the time of surgery (lumpectomy). Pre-operative imaging studies including mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used to determine extent of disease. Patients with breast implants or concomitant serious medical conditions were excluded. A total of eight patients were implanted and evaluated. All patients requiring adjuvant radiation therapy were referred for evaluation that included standard and 4-D CT to evaluate dose planning including respiratory motion. Multiple treatment plans were generated and compared, including standard tangent pairs, 3-D noncoplanar conformal, split arc coplanar VMAT, and a variant of split arc coplanar VMAT. All treatment protocols were in compliance with ASTRO guidelines per the NSABP B-39/RTOG 04-13 trial. RESULTS: The marker was easily identified using clinical maging, and clearly delineated the margins of the lumpectomy cavity. It allowed for 3-dimensional characterization of the borders surrounding the lumpectomy cavity, and it was easily distinguishable from the seroma, thus defining the GTV more accurately. Respiratory motion was easily tracked using the device making it possible to apply advanced radiation treatment methods such as IMRT and accelerated protocols. When compared to conventional methods of determining the GTV, use of the arker resulted in treatment volumes that were reduced by more than 50%. In appropriate patients, the marker also facilitated the use of an accelerated protocol, decreasing total treatment time from 6 weeks to 5 days. CONCLUSIONS: The utility of this 3-dimensional, bioabsorbable tissue marker was confirmed when placed into the lumpectomy site. The marker was consistently visualized without difficulty, was readily incorporated into standard and advanced dose planning methods, and had appreciable benefits when designing optimal dose treatment plans. Most notably, the PTV values were significantly decreased, and facilitated the use of advanced radiation techniques. The unique features of this marker may have significant impact on the adoption of targeted external beam radiation in an accelerated fashion as outlined by the NSABP B-39/ RTOG 04-13.

Removal of iopromide from an aqueous solution using dielectric barrier discharge

AbstractBACKGROUND: Both ionic and nonionic ICM are recalcitrant to ozone and traditional waste water treatment plants. In this study, the efficiency of one kind of ICM‐iopromide (IOPr) removal from an aqueous solution using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) method was investigated.RESULTS: An energy density of 1.5E05 J L−1 resulted in the most significant removal (98.8%) of IOPr. At this energy density, no decrease in total organic carbon (TOC) was observed. Based on the IR spectra, degradation of the IOPr molecule involved hydroxylation, carbonylation and deiodination. BOD5/COD measurements indicated that the biodegradability of IOPr increased significantly as a result of DBD treatment. The byproducts of IOPr after DBD treatment were more polar and easily adsorbed and biodegraded by the activated sludge. The removal of IOPr from the solution followed first‐order kinetics, with Ks of 0.10 min−1, 0.11 min−1, 0.44 min−1 and 0.15 min−1 corresponding to energy densities of 1E + 05 J L−1, 1.3E + 05 J L−1, 1.5E + 05 J L−1 and 1.8E + 05 J L−1, respectively. The kinetics of the deiodination reactions were more complex due to subsequent iodide oxidation.CONCLUSION: DBD is very effective as a pretreatment or advanced treatment method for increasing the recalcitrant chemical's biodegradability and making subsequent biological treatment more efficient. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

Abstract 3566: Multimodal optical imaging for detection of oral neoplasia

Abstract Despite advances in treatment methods the 5-year survival rate for patients with oral cancer in the United States is still only 61%, in part due to late stage diagnosis and subsequent difficulty of surgical treatment for advanced disease. To improve the ability of clinicians to detect early stage disease and to treat advanced cancers, we developed a multimodal optical imaging system (MMIS) to evaluate tissue structure in vivo at macroscopic and microscopic scales. The MMIS noninvasively measures changes associated with the development of precancer and cancer, including alterations in tissue autofluorescence properties (due to loss of collagen integrity, epithelial thickening, metabolic changes, and microvascularization) and alterations in tissue morphology (nuclear enlargement and crowding within the epithelium). The macroscopic imaging component of the MMIS acquires autofluorescence images of tissue with an excitation wavelength of 405 nm, a field of view of 45 mm, and spatial resolution of 0.1 mm. Loss of autofluorescence intensity is quantified by calculating the normalized red-to-green ratio in widefield autofluorescence images. Regions of tissue that display reduced blue-green autofluorescence are examined further using the high-resolution imaging component of the MMIS, which is a compact fluorescence microscope coupled to a fiber-optic imaging probe with a 720 μm diameter field-of-view and 4.4 μm spatial resolution. High-resolution imaging is performed at an excitation wavelength of 455 nm following topical application of proflavine, a fluorescent contrast agent which predominantly stains cell nuclei. Alterations in nuclear size and crowding are quantified by calculating the mean nuclear-to-cytoplasm ratio in high-resolution images. The MMIS was used to measure 100 sites in 30 patients undergoing surgery for oral cancer or precancer. Histopathology results from tissue specimens collected from the measured sites were used as the gold standard. Tissue specimens with a histopathologic diagnosis of dysplasia (mild, moderate, or severe) were further evaluated for molecular alterations by immunohistochemical staining for the markers Ki-67, p63 and PHH3. The MMIS correctly classified 98% of pathologically confirmed normal tissue sites and 95% of sites graded as moderate dysplasia, severe dysplasia, or cancer. MMIS measurements also correlated with molecular markers in 87% of sites with mild dysplasia. Following stratification of mild dysplasia sites by biomarker status, multimodal optical imaging classified all 100 measured sites with 93% sensitivity and 96% specificity. These findings support the ability of MMIS to guide the clinician in identifying neoplastic tissue, and potentially those sites with elevated risk of malignant transformation. This would have considerable impact on the detection and treatment of oral cancer and other epithelial malignancies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3566. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3566

Evaluation of hydrophilic cotton processing wastewater treatment methods and giving the optimum method for it

We studied the methods of wastewater treatment of hydrophilic cotton producing industries. Several major cotton producing countries, such as India, have provided very stringent environmental standards for these industries, and it is expected that these standards are becoming more stringent day by day. This is necessary for monitoring and control facilities, in order to minimize problems and difficulties associated with treated wastewater disposal. Unit processes of these industries are: pretreatment, dyeing, printing and other complementary processes. In this industry, aside from considerable amounts of energy and water consumption, considerable quantity of wastewater is also produced. This article discusses all types of waste producing hydrophilic cotton processes; we have also advanced wastewater treatment methods, such as electrical oxidation, membrane processes, biological and photochemical treatments. Results showed that traditional methods of wastewater treatment are compound methods including physical–chemical and biological methods, and requires substantial investment and operational costs. Compared to traditional methods, membrane systems are very effective methods and are a good substitute. Investigation showed that hybrid treatment methods that include absorption and absorption by nano-filtration can play an effective role in improving treated wastewater quality. Moreover, advanced treatments such as ion exchange systems can improve wastewater quality to the extent that it can be recycled to the production processes for second usage.

Reuse of effluent water obtained in different textile finishing processes

Abstract: The use of clean water in textile finishing is both common and very expensive. Effluent water subjected to advanced methods of physical, chemical, and biological treatment could be used for this purpose. However, information obtained from industry and the literature shows that effluent water obtained from different finishing processes may be reused without being totally purified. In this paper, a method is proposed to determine the viability of reusing effluent water obtained from different textile finishing processes of cotton fabrics after just basic treatments. These treatments include; filtering, airing, pH regulating and ion exchange. Effluent water obtained in different textile finishing processes was analysed in terms of pH value, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), SS (Suspended Solids), colour, hardness and conductivity. Effluent water for treatment and the process where the treated water was reused were determined by means of the proposed method, based on a multiple criteria decision making approach. A laboratory scale trial was conducted to investigate the efficiency of treatment.

Removal of Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds, Estrogenic Activity, and Escherichia coliform from Secondary Effluents in a TiO2-Coated Photocatalytic Reactor

This study investigated the photocatalytic removal of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), estrogenic activity, and Escherichia coliform (E. coli) in secondary effluents from a wastewater treatment plant in a cylindrical photocatalytic reactor. Its application for advanced wastewater treatment processes was evaluated. Estrone, 17α-estradiol, estriol, nonylphenol, and bisphenol A were chosen as target EDCs because of their high prevalence in wastewater. EDCs, estrogenic activity, and E. coli in the secondary effluent were rapidly removed within 100 min of TiO2 photocatalysis. Reactor performance was enhanced significantly by TiO2 photocatalysis compared with UV photolysis. Filtration was evaluated as a pretreatment method in TiO2 photocatalysis by comparing the reduction rate of estrogenic activity and E. coli in filtered samples with unfiltered wastewater samples. The inactivation rate of E. coli increased significantly after filtration, whereas the estrogenic activity reduction rate only slightly increased. This could be attributed to the partial impeding effects of suspended solids on photosensitive reactions induced by humic acid during photocatalysis. TiO2 photocatalysis with filtration pretreatment can be an effective method for advanced wastewater treatment. This is the first report on the removal of EDCs and E. coli from secondary effluents using TiO2 photocatalysis as an advanced wastewater treatment process.

Lignin Removal by Adsorption to Fly Ash in Wastewater Generated by Mechanical Pulping

Stringent discharge requirements call for advanced methods of wastewater treatment to take on where biological treatment fails to succeed. Here, the adsorption potential of fly ash, an on-site available and cheap material, was tested in batch and continuous flow fixed bed experiments using bleaching effluent from an integrated mill producing mechanical pulp. Various models were fitted to the experimental data to find the best description of the adsorption system and to obtain important model parameters: the Freundlich model yielded the highest correlation and indicated that the process was favorable. The bed depth service time model suggested that the adsorption in the column setup involved more than one rate limiting step, and the Thomas and Clark models generated similar curves which satisfactorily described adsorption at short bed depth. The fly ash showed good adsorptive properties of wood derived substances: both lignin and extractives were effectively separated from the effluent.

Lack of information and access to advanced treatment for Parkinson's disease patients.

BackgroundParkinson’s disease (PD) patients’ own knowledge and experience and access to information, in relation to advanced treatment methods, are very limited. The aim of this study was to map out PD patients’ perception about various advanced treatment methods, their availability and regional differences in medical care, and to investigate patients’ experience of their medication and quality of life.MethodsA survey was sent to 4886 PD patients of the Swedish Parkinson’s Disease Association covering demography, the patient’s illness, current treatment, received information about advanced treatment alternatives, and health status. Advanced PD was considered as patients diagnosed >5 years ago, using PD medication >5 times/day, and experiencing motor complications >2 hours/day.ResultsIn total, 3327/4886 persons (68%) responded (57% men) of which 1300 (39%) were classified as having advanced PD. Mean age was 71 years with a median disease duration of 8 years. The treating physician was a neurologist (86%) but varied between counties (96% to 52%) and was most frequent in urban areas. Doctor appointments were 1.7 times/year with regional variation (2.1 to 1.1). Three out of four patients had heard of advanced treatment options and were interested, but were denied treatment. Only a small proportion of patients were informed of these by their physician. Nine percent were satisfied with their medication (including 4% of advanced patients). One third of patients experienced their general health as poor or very poor.ConclusionThe majority of Swedish PD patients are treated by neurologists. Annual numbers of doctors’ appointments were low in an international context and can partly be explained by the shortage of neurologists and other trained specialists. Doctors only provided a small proportion of patients with advanced therapy information, despite patients’ interest. Hence, improvement is warranted regarding doctor appointments, information about various advanced treatment options, and their availability.

Study on Laccase Immobilization with PVA Materials

This article used glutaraldehyde to immobilize laccase and then used the immobilization laccase to treatment papermaking effluent. The study first discussed the effect of PVA crosslinking degree, epoxidation temperature and epoxidation time for the performance of PVA carrier. The research found 100g PVA ( mass fraction is 10%), 35mL glutaraldehyde, 10mL DMSO and 10mL epoxy chloropropane reacted 6h in 60 °C, pH=11-12 and surface amount of epoxidation reached the max value. its amount is 0.3073mmol . And then the laccase were fixed with the max value. The optimum conditions of immobilization laccase treated papermaking effluent were researched. The effects of treated time, temperature, pH value, the dosage of enzyme and HBT, the removal value of CODCr and decolorization were tested. The effects of treated time, temperature, pH value, the dosage of enzyme and HBT, concentration of Cu2+ on the removal value of CODCr and decolorization were tested. It was found that the optimum conditions for immobilization laccase treatment were Cu2+ 0.006μmol/L, HBT 0.008g/L, pH=4, temperature 50°C, reation time 6h (with air injected). The result showed that the CODCr removal rate reached 63.15%, the decolorization rate reached 61.53% in 8h. Furthermore BOD/COD of chemical pulp effluent was increased from 0.17 to 0.455. Comparing with dissociation laccase, stabilities of immobilization laccase for hot and pH increased. Through this research a new advanced treatment method can be found. This method can improve biodegradation performance of papermaking effluent. Papermaking effluent treated by aerobic, anaerobic and laccase system will achieve standard discharge.

SU‐E‐T‐43: Calculation of the Risks of Second Cancer and Cardiac Toxicities for a Pediatric Patient Treated with Photon and Proton Radiotherapies

Purpose: Although advanced radiation treatment methods deliver highly conformal primary dose, they will expose patients to stray radiation doses, which increases patientsˈ risks of radiation‐induced late effects. Second cancer and cardiac toxicity, two chief late effects of concern, can be physically and psychologically devastating to patients that survive their first cancer. There are limited comparative studies about second cancer risk for patients following photon and proton craniospinal irradiation (CSI), and there is a lack of predicted risk of cardiac toxicities for those patients. The purpose of this work was to calculate the risks of second cancer and cardiac toxicities after receiving photon and proton CSI therapies, based on realistic patient data, accurate dose calculation and latest dose‐response models. Methods: Treatment plans were created for both modalities for a pediatric patient with medulloblastoma. The risks of second cancer for radiosensitive organs and normal tissue complication probabilities (NTCP) for the heart sub‐structures were calculated using existing models and dose volume histograms (DVH) from commercial treatment planning system (TPS). Primary doses were taken from TPS directly, and stray radiation doses were obtained from measurements or Monte Carlo simulations. Sensitivity tests were carried out to test the sensitivity of the final results to the changes of dose‐risk relationship, NTCP model parameters and neutron radiation weighting factor. Results: The preliminary results showed that proton therapy generated much lower risks of second cancer and cardiac toxicities compared to conventional photon therapy, regardless of the changes of potential uncertainties in plausible ranges. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that proton therapy will confer lower risks of second cancer and cardiac toxicity compared to conventional photon therapy for children receiving CSI. Sensitivity tests strengthened our conclusion. This study is the prototype of an evidence‐based approach for selecting best treatment modality for pediatric patients.

Endocrine disruptor screening: regulatory perspectives and needs

National and international governments are in the process of establishing testing programs and strategies to assess the safety of currently used chemicals with regard to their potential to interact with the endocrine system of man and wildlife, resulting in potential impacts on reproduction, growth, and/or development. Specifically, the USA, Japan, EU, and OECD have established testing approaches and regulatory frameworks with aim to assess the risks associated with chemicals that have endocrine disrupting properties (EDCs). While there has been a large amount of efforts over the past two decades in context with the assessment of chemical safety, no comparable attempts to harmonize and mutually accept testing strategies and decision-making criteria for environmental monitoring and assessment exist to date for EDCs. In fact, many of the current environmental programs such as the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) or the US Clean Water Act do not explicitly test for EDCs, and considering the unique requirements and endpoints required to assess the endocrine potential of a sample, these programs are unlikely to appropriately address exposure to these chemicals. This is of great concern since EDCs are ubiquitous in the environment, especially in aquatic ecosystems. One of most important sources for EDCs in the environment is the effluent from sewage treatment plants. Many EDCs such as the natural and synthetic estrogens 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol, respectively, are not completely removed with conventional wastewater treatment systems. In recognition of these concerns, in Europe, there is increasing pressure to further develop advanced wastewater treatment methods, such as ozonation and activated carbon treatment for a broad application in municipal wastewater treatment. Another issue is the continuing lack of understanding of the environmental relevance of the phenomenon of ED. A great number of studies have been conducted to describe potential ED in wild and laboratory animals. Most of these studies relied on biomarkers of estrogenicity such as vitellogenin induction in males and mild histological alterations (e.g. occurrence of testicular oocytes), and to date - with few exceptions - no convincing evidence of population relevant impacts of exposure to EDC in the wild exist. In conclusion, while there has been a great deal of research and efforts in context with the hazard assessment and regulation of EDCs, there is still a large number of remaining uncertainties and issues. These range from animal rights concerns due to significant increases in the use of animals to fulfill testing requirements, associated needs for alternative testing concepts such as in vitro, in silico, and modeling approaches, lack of understanding of the relevance of the exposure of man and wildlife to EDCs, and the need for inclusion of EDCs in current environmental programs such as the WFD. In this article we attempted to summarize the current state-of-the-art of regulatory and scientific approaches in context with EDCs, and to identify issues and future needs to address current shortcomings in the field.