Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in ...December 2019. The virus has quickly spread around the globe and has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Although in COVID-19 respiratory symptoms predominate, there is a relevant body of evidence that initial symptoms and complications of COVID-19 are not limited to the pulmonary system, but can involve also the gastrointestinal tract.
We report a case that presented with ischemic colitis in the setting of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.
An experimental campaign was carried out on a hospital and cemetery waste incineration plant in order to assess the emissions of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated ...dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Raw gases were sampled in the afterburning chamber, using a specifically designed device, after the heat recovery section and at the stack. Samples of slags from the combustion chamber and fly ashes from the bag filter were also collected and analyzed. PCDD/Fs and PAHs concentrations in exhaust gas after the heat exchanger (200–350
°C) decreased in comparison with the values detected in the afterburning chamber. Pollutant mass balance regarding the heat exchanger did not confirm literature findings about the de novo synthesis of PCDD/Fs in the heat exchange process. In spite of a consistent reduction of PCDD/Fs in the flue gas treatment system (from 77% up to 98%), the limit of 0.1
ng
ITEQ
Nm
−3 at the stack was not accomplished. PCDD/Fs emission factors for air spanned from 2.3 up to 44
μg
ITEQ
t
−1 of burned waste, whereas those through solid residues (mainly fly ashes) were in the range 41–3700
μg
ITEQ
t
−1. Tests run with cemetery wastes generally showed lower PCDD/F emission factors than those with hospital wastes. PAH total emission factors (91–414
μg
kg
−1 of burned waste) were in the range of values reported for incineration of municipal and industrial wastes. In spite of the observed release from the scrubber, carcinogenic PAHs concentrations at the stack (0.018–0.5
μg
Nm
−3) were below the Italian limit of 10
μg
Nm
−3.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The factors affecting polychlorinated dibenzo-
p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) formation were studied in sewage sludge incineration tests carried out on a demonstrative ...plant. The plant includes a circulating fluidised bed furnace (FBF) and a rotary kiln furnace (RKF), operating alternatively. During the tests sewage sludge was spiked with chlorinated hydrocarbons and the operating parameters of the afterburning chamber were varied. PCDD/F were sampled in each test before the bag filter, thus collecting the above contaminants before abatement systems.
From the tests it appeared that PCDD/F were always produced in more abundance in the tests carried out by FBF than by RKF. The higher PCDD/F concentrations in the tests by FBF were reached when sewage sludge was spiked with a high dosage of a surrogate organic mixture of chlorinated hydrocarbons and when the afterburning chamber was used only as transit equipment with the burner off.
The distribution of the different PCDD/F homologues was compared. P
5CDFs were generally the prevalent fraction, with very few exceptions for the tests by RKF at high temperature of the afterburning chamber. As for FBF tests, it was found that the PCDD/F homologue profile depends on the afterburning chamber temperature.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
34.
Meditation, Sleep, and Performance Guerriero, Lauren E.; O’Hara, Bruce F.
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine,
02/2019, Volume:
4, Issue:
2
Journal Article
To demonstrate that sewage sludge incineration could be a safe operation if well conducted and that hazardous compounds could also be disposed of without problems in sludge incinerators plants, a ...research program has been set up by the Italian Water Research Institute on a demonstrative scale plant where a completely circulating fluidised bed furnace and a rotary kiln furnace can operate alternatively. In this paper results of tests performed by a fluidised bed furnace on sewage sludge spiked with highly chlorinated compounds under different operating conditions are presented. A deep investigation on micropollutants formation has been made at different sampling points: before and after bag house filter, and at the chimney. The experimental data show that concentrations of PCDDs+PCDFs (TE) and of PAHs do not strictly depend on the operation of the afterburning chamber and that a complete compliance with the European and Italian standards on the emissions were always achieved even in the most critical conditions investigated.
An experimental campaign was carried out in a thermoelectric power plant in Southern Italy in order to evaluate the emissions released during the utilisation of three different fuels, Orimulsion-400, ...coal and heavy fuel oil (HFO) with high content of sulphur. Macropollutant concentrations in the exhaust gases were recorded by the continuous monitoring system and the Institute on Atmospheric Pollution of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) carried out samplings and analysis of Polycydic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and Polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDF), halogenidric acids and metals. The pollutant concentrations, mass flows and emission factors were compared. Each fuel met the air emission limits for all the pollutants. Coal showed the highest emission levels, whilst HFO and Orimulsion were fairly similar. NO" SO
2
and particulate matter showed constant concentration for all the fuels, while Orimulsion and HFO SO
2
concentrations were critical at the highest operating power. Orimulsion showed the lowest PAHs values and PCDDs and PCDFs were much lower than the limits, for all the fuels. Particular attention must be paid with vanadium and nickel during Orimulsion utilisation. For these metals mass balances were carried out.
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper addresses the identical parallel machine lot-sizing and scheduling problem with sequence-dependent set-up costs and uncertain processing times. The evolution of the uncertain parameters is ...modelled by means of a scenario tree, giving rise to a multistage stochastic mixed-integer program. Fix-and-relax procedures, exploiting the specific structure of the problem, are developed and compared. Computational results on a large set of randomly generated instances show that the gap between the best heuristic solutions and the lower bounds provided by a truncated branch-and-bound never exceeds 3%.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Objectives To report on and examine differences in the use of four types of rehabilitation services (occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, and speech therapy) by men and women following a ...work-related traumatic brain injury in Victoria, Australia; and to examine the importance of demographic, need, work-related and geographic factors in explaining these differences. Methods A retrospective cohort design was used to analyze 1786 work-related traumatic brain injury workers' compensation claims lodged between 2004 and 2012 in Victoria, Australia. ZINB regressions were conducted for each type of rehabilitation service to examine the relationship between sex and rehabilitation use. Covariates included demographic, need-related, work-related, and geographic factors. Results Out of all claims (63% male, 37% female), 13% used occupational therapy, 23% used physiotherapy, 9% used psychology, and 2% used speech therapy at least once during the first year of service utilization. After controlling for demographic, need-related, work-related, and geographic factors, women were more likely to use physiotherapy compared to men. Men and women were equally likely to use occupational therapy and psychology services. The number of visits in the first year for each type of service did not differ between male and female users. Conclusions Our findings support a sex-based approach to studying rehabilitation utilization in work-related populations. Future research is needed to examine other factors associated with rehabilitation utilization and to determine the implications of different rehabilitation utilization patterns on health and return-to-work outcomes.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The GC/MS technique is still the staple for analyzing pesticide residues in water. However, many of the current-use pesticides are not amenable to GC/MS analysis. As shown recently in some published ...reports, the LC/MS technique could fill this gap. We developed a sensitive and specific LC/MS method for determining 45 widely used pesticides having a broad range of polarity in water. This method involves passing 4, 2, and 1 L, respectively, of drinking water, groundwater, and river water through a 0.5-g graphitized carbon black (Carbograph 4) cartridge at ca. 100 mL/min. In all cases, recoveries of the analytes were better than 80%, except for carbendazim (76%). The performance of the electrospray/mass spectrometer (ES/MS) detector was optimized by adopting in-glass distilled methanol as the organic modifier and 10 μmol/L trifluoroacetic acid as an additive to the mobile phase. The effects of varying the electrical field in the ES/MS transport region on both sensitivity and specificity of the detector were evalu ated. The in-source collision-induced decomposition process afforded great specificity of the method, at little or no expense of sensitivity. For drinking water, the limits of detection (LODs) were calculated from both total ion current chromatograms and extracted ion current profiles. In the former case, LODs ranged between 1 (atrazine) and 9 (butoxycarboxim) ng/L. In the latter case, LODs ranged between 0.06 (malathion) and 1.5 (aldicarb sulfone) ng/L.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
A monitoring campaign of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyl was carried out in an Italian iron ore sintering plant by ...sampling the combustion gases at the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) outlet, at the Wetfine scrubber (WS) outlet, and by collecting the ESP dust. Few data are available on these micropollutants produced in iron ore sintering plants, particularly from Italian plants. This study investigates the PAH emission profiles and the removal efficiency of ESPs and WS. PAHs were determined at the stack, ESP outlet flue gases, and in ESP dust to characterize the emission profiles and the performance of the ESP and the WS for reducing PAH emission. The 11 PAHs monitored are listed in the Italian legislative decree 152/2006. The mean total PAH sum concentration in the stack flue gases is 3.96 μg/N · m
3
, in ESP outlet flue gases is 9.73 μg/N · m
3
, and in ESP dust is 0.53 μg/g. Regarding the emission profiles, the most abundant compound is benzo(b)fluoranthene, which has a relative low BaP toxic equivalency factors (TEF) value, followed by dibenzo(a,l)pyrene, which has a very high BaP(TEF) value. The emission profiles in ESP dust and in the flue gases after the ESP show some changes, whereas the fingerprint in ESP and stack flue gases is very similar. The removal efficiency of the ESP and of WS on the total PAH concentration is 5.2 and 59.5%, respectively.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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