Seckel syndrome, also known as Harper's Syndrome and Virchow-Seckel-Syndrome, was first described by Seckel in 1960, and is a rare (<1:10,000 live births) autosomal recessive trait. The syndrome ...(OMIM 210600) is a form of primordial dwarfism, characterized by severe intrauterine growth restriction, postnatal dwarfism, severe microcephaly with variable mental retardation, facial anomalies and skeletal abnormalities. Cardiac anomalies have been described in only five case. We report a male newborn with typical findings of Seckel sydrome associated with Tetrology of Fallot. This is the first case reported in concomitance with Tetralogy of Fallot, and might be a new finding of the syndrome. We would like to emphasize that clinicians should perform diagnostic interventions for congenital cardiac defects in Seckel Syndrome.
The membrane bioreactor (MBR) used in this study consisted of a jet loop bioreactor (aerobic high rate system) and a membrane separation unit (microfiltration). Jet loop membrane bioreactor (JLMBR) ...system is a high performance treatment system. High organic loading rates can be achieved with a very small footprint. The JLMBR is a compact biological treatment system which requires much smaller tank volumes than conventional activated sludge system. Solid–liquid separation is performed with a membrane. The JLMBR system, of 35
L capacity, was operated continuously for 3 months with a sludge age of 1.1–2.8 days and chemical oxygen demand (COD) loads of 3.5–33.5
kg
COD
m
−3
day
−1. The mean concentration values of COD, total nitrogen (TN) and PO
4
3− in cheese whey (CW) were found as 78,680
mg
L
−1, 1125
mg
L
−1 and 378
mg
L
−1, respectively. Ninety-seven percent COD removal rate was obtained at the sludge age (
Θ
c) of 1.6 days and volumetric loads of 22.2
kg
COD
m
−3
day
−1. TN removal was obtained as 99% at the loading rates of 17–436
g
TN
m
−3
day
−1. PO
4
3− removals were between 65 and 88% for the loading of 30–134
g
PO
4
3−
m
−3
day
−1. The system could simultaneously remove the COD, TN and PO
4
3− at high efficiencies. The sludge flocks were highly motile, dispersed and had poor settling properties.
The raw chess whey (CW) treatment capacity of a jet loop membrane bioreactor (JLMBR) was evaluated. Raw CW was first characterized for carbonaceous, nitrogenous and phosphorus compounds. The total ...COD range of the raw CW was between 73 and 86
kg
m
−3 and 82% of the total COD was found to be soluble. The JLMBR system, of 32
l capacity was operated continuously for 3 months with a sludge age of 1.1–2.8 days and COD loads of 3.5–33.5
kg-COD
m
−3 per day. A treatment efficiency of 97% was obtained for 1.6 days of sludge age and COD loads of 22.2
kg-COD
m
−3 per day. The sludge flocks observed in the system were highly motile, dispersed and had poor settling properties. The membrane filtration characteristics of this sludge were investigated and increasing MLSS concentration decreased membrane flux values.
Treatment of wastewater containing high organic matter was investigated by means of a jet loop bioreactor combined with a membrane process. Volume of jet loop bioreactor and area of membrane ...filtration unit were 23
l and 155
cm
2
respectively. It was found that jet loop reactor had high mass transfer coefficient
(
K
L
a
)
varying from 58.8 to 486
h
-
1
depending on the water flow rate (i.e. power input) and air flow rate. Oxygen transfer efficiency and oxygenation capacity of the reactor varied from 12 to 22.5% and from 0.2 to 1.8
kg
O
2
kW
-
1
, respectively. The efficiency of jet loop membrane bioreactor was found to be approximately 97% for a volumetric organic load of 2–
97
kg
COD
/
m
3
day
over a period of 10 weeks. The reactor was not disturbed from the organic loads up to
68
kg
COD
/
m
3
day
, but the treatment efficiency decreased to about 60% at higher organic loads. This decrease was due to insufficient oxygen transfer rate. The relationship between the effluent substrate concentration and the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) values was determined. Applied food/microorganism (
F/M) ratio was varied between 2.5 and
17
day
-
1
. Critical sludge age of the system (
Θ
c
m
) was evaluated to be 7.2
h. Sludge with unsatisfactory settling characteristics formed at high
F/M values under turbulent conditions. Therefore, membrane process was used for solid–liquid separation and effluent solid concentration was approximately zero. Specific cake resistances
(
α
)
changed with
F/M ratio. It was found that permeate fluxes were significantly effected with
F/M ratio much more than mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS). Average flux was
2.50
m
3
/
m
2
day
for
0.2
μ
m
pore sized cellulose acetate membrane. It was concluded that the jet loop membrane bioreactor has distinctive advantages such as the ability to treat high strength wastewater, low area requirements and easy operation.
Excess embryos from patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo transfer for male infertility were cultured to determine the rate and timing of their progression to the blastocyst ...stage. In 194 embryo transfer cycles, four embryos with the morphologically best grading were transferred and at least two embryos were cultured. The cycles were classified as: group 1: no excess embryos reached blastocyst stage, group 2: >50% of embryos reached blastocyst stage by days 4-5, group 3: <50% of embryos reached the blastocyst stage by days 4-5, group 4: >50% of the embryos reached blastocyst stage by days 6-7, group 5: <50% of the embryos reached blastocyst stage by days 6-7. All groups were similar regarding female age, duration of infertility, and parameters of ovarian stimulation. In group 1, clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were 14 and 11% respectively, and were similar to those of group 4. In group 2, clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were 75 and 33%. Multiple implantations occurred in 81% of group 2 or 3 cycles, compared to none in group 1 cycles. The results suggest that the development potential of the embryo is intrinsic, and that embryos which carry a high potential for development yield a high clinical pregnancy rate and multiple implantations.
The air pollution is the one of the most important environmental problems in Erzurum, situated in the eastern of Turkey, during winter periods. The unfavorable climate as well as the city's ...topography, and inappropriate urbanization cause serious air pollution problems. The air pollutant concentrations in a city have a close relationship with its meteorological parameters. In the present study, the relationship between daily average total suspended particulate (TSP) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentrations with meteorological factors, such as wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, pressure and precipitation, in 1995-2002 winter seasons was statistically analyzed using the stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. According to the results obtained through analysis, higher TSP and SO2 concentrations are strongly related to colder temperatures, lower wind speed, higher pressure system and weakly lower precipitation and higher relative humidity. The statistical models of SO2 and TSP including meteorological parameters gave R2 of 0.74 and 0.88, respectively. Furthermore, the correlation between the previous day's SO2, TSP concentrations and actual concentrations of these pollutants on that day was investigated and found as 0.84 and 0.53, respectively. In order to develop this model, previous day's SO2 and TSP concentrations were added to the equations. The new model for SO2 enhanced considerably (R2 = 0.92), but for TSP new model was not enhanced (R2 = 0.89).
A prospective study was performed to determine the feasibility of evaluating the uterine cavity by sonohysterography (SHG) in women who were scheduled for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) due ...to severe male factor infertility and who had not had a previous hysterosalpingography (HSG). Sonohysterography was performed in 80 women scheduled for ICSI. A subsequent hysteroscopy was undertaken in patients with intracavitary lesions. The outcome of ICSI for the women undergoing SHG was compared with that of 240 cycles performed (during the same time period) in patients who had a normal HSG before admission to the clinic. There were no complications attributable to the SHG procedure. Hysteroscopy correctly identified all lesions depicted by SHG. SHG and HSG groups were comparable with regard to female age and duration of infertility. Clinical pregnancy rates per transfer were 40.2% and 42.5% in the SHG and HSG groups, respectively. Abortion rates in the two groups were also similar (14.8 and 11.0%, respectively). In conclusion, sonohysterography appears to be a simple, inexpensive, and safe alternative to HSG for evaluation of the uterine cavity in women scheduled for ICSI.
In this study, simulation results for a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of Erzincan city, which is located at the east of Turkey and serving 124,000 population equivalents, are ...presented. The dynamic behaviour of simultaneous carbon removal and nitrification process carried out in an Carrousel type aerator and also the clarification-thickening function of final settler were modelled employing activated sludge model 1 (ASM1) and a dynamic model, respectively. In the first step of the study, detailed wastewater characterization required by the process models were performed and the variables such as readily (
S
S) and slowly biodegradable (
X
S) substrates were analysed with a respirometric technique. Simulations were performed using pre-compiled model and layout implemented in GPS-X simulation software. Daily values of parameters such as Soluble and Total COD, total nitrogen, suspended solids, NO
3-N, NH
4-N, organic-N, soluble inert substrate (
S
I),
S
S and
X
S were used as input data. In model calibration, it was determined that the change in the default values of four model parameters gave a reasonable match for investigated variables.
The aim of this prospective, randomized and controlled study was to compare the clinical efficacy of intravenous magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and oral sildenafil therapies with persistent pulmonary ...hypertension of the newborn. A total of 34 infants in the MgSO4 group and 31 infants in the sildenafil group completed the study. The time to reach the adequate clinical response defined as oxygen index (OI) level of <15, a pulmonary artery pressure of <20 mmHg) was significantly shorter in the sildenafil group ( p = 0.002). Duration of mechanical ventilation was longer and the number of the patients requiring inotropic support was higher in the MgSO4 group ( p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively). Although among two groups the difference in OI > 5 as speculated in our hypothesis could only be found at 36 h of the treatment, sildenafil was more effective than MgSO4 in the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborns with regard to time to adequate clinical response, duration of mechanical ventilation and support requirement with inotropic agents.
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