Increased number of monocytes and plasma levels of MCP-1 and YKL-40 in first-episode psychosis

OBJECTIVE

Accumulating evidence implicates immune activation in the development of schizophrenia. Here, monocyte numbers, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40) were investigated in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients.

METHOD

CSF and blood were sampled from 42 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and 22 healthy controls. The levels of YKL-40 and MCP-1 were measured using electrochemiluminescence assay, and blood monocytes were counted using an XN-9000-hematology analyzer.

RESULTS

We found higher plasma levels of MCP-1 and YKL-40 in FEP patients compared with healthy controls, a condition that was unrelated to antipsychotic and/or anxiolytic medication. This was combined with an increased number of blood monocytes and a borderline significant increase in YKL-40 levels in the CSF of tobacco-free FEP patients. Plasma or CSF chemokines or blood monocytes did not correlate with the severity of symptoms or the level of functioning.

CONCLUSION

These data demonstrate activation of monocytes in FEP and strengthens the idea of an immune dysfunction of psychotic disorders. Further studies are required to perceive a role of YKL-40 and MCP-1 in the initiation and progression of schizophrenia.

Long term experience with the nutrient limited BAS process for treatment of forest industry wastewaters

The nutrient limited biofilm-activated sludge (BAS) process was developed with the aim to ensure maximum biological treatment efficiency in combination with good process stability, low sludge production and minimum effluent concentration of nutrients. The first full scale nutrient limited BAS (NLBAS) processes were implemented at Södra Cell Värö and Stora Enso Hylte in 2002. Since then another three full scale installations have been built. The aim of this study was to investigate and summarise the long-term treatment results, process stability, sludge production and sludge characteristics for the five full scale NLBAS processes. It was of particular interest to compare the nutrient limited operating mode with regard to the different types of production and wastewater that the mills represent (kraft, TMP and newsprint, bleached CTMP). The study showed that after the initial start-up period, which varied from a couple of weeks to three to four months, all plants meet their respective discharge limits. The sludge production for the different plants varies between 0.07 and 0.15 kg TSS/kg COD and the sludge characteristics are with few exceptions excellent. In conclusion, the nutrient limited BAS process is suitable for both upgrades and new installations of biological treatment for different types of forest industry wastewaters.

Treatment of packaging board whitewater in anaerobic/aerobic biokidney

Whitewater from production of packaging board was treated in a combined anaerobic/aerobic biokidney, both in laboratory scale and pilot plant experiments. Both the laboratory experiments and the pilot plant trial demonstrate that a combined anaerobic/aerobic process is suitable for treating whitewater from a packaging mill. It is also possible to operate the process at the prevailing whitewater temperature. In the laboratory under mesophilic conditions the maximal organic load was 12 kg COD/m3*d on the anaerobic reactor and 6.7 kg COD/m3*d on the aerobic reactor. This gave a hydraulic retention time, HRT, in the anaerobic reactor of 10 hours and 2 hours in the aerobic reactor. The reduction of COD was between 85 and 90% after the first stage and the total reduction was between 88 to 93%. Under thermophilic conditions in the laboratory the organic load was slightly lower than 9.6 COD/m3*d and between 10 and 16 COD/m3*d, respectively. The HRT was 16.5 and 3.4 hours and the removal was around 75% after the anaerobic reactor and 87% after the total process. For the pilot plant experiment at a mill the HRT in the anaerobic step varied between 3 and 17 hours and the corresponding organic load between 4 and 44 kg COD/m3*d. The HRT in the aerobic step varied between 1 and 6 hours and the organic load between 1.5 and 26 kg COD/m3*d. The removal of soluble organic matter was 78% in the anaerobic step and 86% after the combined treatment at the lowest loading level. The removal efficiency at the highest loading level was about 65% in the anaerobic step and 77% after the aerobic step. In the pilot plant trial the removal efficiency was not markedly affected by the variations in whitewater composition that were caused by change of production. The variations, however, made the manual control of the nutrient dosage inadequate and resulted in large variations in effluent nutrient concentration. This demonstrates the need for an automatic nutrient dosage system. The first step towards such a system was to evaluate two different on-line instruments. Both had severe stability problems, which made them unsuitable as parts in a system for control of the nutrient dosage.

Full scale implementation of the nutrient limited BAS process at Södra Cell Värö

A combination of the suspended carrier biofilm process and the activated sludge process (biofilm-activated sludge--BAS) has been shown to be very successful for the treatment of different types of pulp and paper mill effluents. The robust biofilm pre-treatment in combination with activated sludge results in a stable, compact and highly efficient process. Recent findings have shown that nutrient limited operation of the biofilm process greatly improves the sludge characteristics in the following activated sludge stage, while minimising sludge production and effluent discharge of nutrients. The nutrient limited BAS process was implemented at full scale at the Södra Cell Värö kraft mill and taken into operation in July 2002. After start-up and optimisation over about 5 months, the process meets all effluent discharge limits. The removal of COD is close to 70% and the removal of EDTA greater than 90%. Typical effluent concentrations of suspended solids and nutrients during stable operations have been 20-30 mg/L TSS, 0.3-0.5 mg/L phosphorus and 3-5 mg/L nitrogen. The sludge production was 0.09 kgSS/kg COD removed and the sludge volume index was 50-100 mL/g.

A comparison of conventional activated sludge and low sludge production strategies for advanced treatment of kraft pulp mill effluent

Parallel laboratory investigations were conducted to examine aspects of two distinct but related bioprocess strategies for low sludge production in the treatment of the same TCF kraft pulp mill effluent. The purpose of this article has been to compare the performance results from these two bench-scale trials with respect to nutrient demands, nutrient discharge, COD removal, and waste sludge characteristics. The LSP (Low Sludge Production) process can be used to significantly reduce sludge yield with excellent sludge characteristics. These sludge characteristics seemed to be related to elevated protozoan grazing pressures. The BAS (Biofilm-Activated Sludge) process achieves similar reduced sludge yields and sludge characteristics while at the same time significantly reducing the nutrient demands and discharge levels. For both LSP and BAS process optimization, the selector nutrient loading is critical to the overall process performance. Selector nutrient requirements are distinct from the overall process nutrient requirements.

Variability of patch type preferences in relation to resource availability and breeding success in a bird

This paper investigates how variability in partial foraging preferences for patch types can be used as a behavioral indicator of the energetic value of that patch type, and of overall food availability in the territory. The species studied was the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor) and the patch types it uses are four groups of tree species (oak Quercus robur, birch Betula pendula, B. pubescens, alder Alnus glutinosa, and lime Tilia cordata), in which it feeds upon wood-living insect larvae. We partition the variation in foraging preferences into three scales. Firstly, within territories, the foraging preference for a tree species group was positively related to the prey density in that species group. That is, the preferences measure the patch types' energetic profitabilities. This result should be general in cases like the present, where the costs of using different alternatives do not differ substantially. It may therefore be the preferred behavioral indicator in determining the relative benefits associated with different alternatives. Secondly, between the seven years of study, much of the variation in tree species group preferences was attributable to measured fluctuations in the density of one important prey species (Argyresthia goedarthella, Argyresthidae, Lepidoptera), which occurred in some years on birch, in others on alder, and in one year was virtually absent. Thus, in concordance with the previous result, the values of these tree species groups fluctuated between years according to prey density. Thirdly, between territories, we found that the preference for one tree species, lime, was higher in areas where it was more abundant. We attribute this to the fact that the density (per patch) of at least one important prey species (Stenostola dubia, Cerambycidae, Coleoptera) on lime increased with the abundance of its host tree species in the territory. That is, the overall food availability was higher in territories where lime was more common. Hence, the preference for lime estimates overall food availability. This conclusion is strengthened by two additional facts: the preference for lime correlates positively (1) with the average giving-up density of food, which has previously been shown to estimate overall food availability in the territories, and (2) with reproductive success, at least during the early stages of reproduction.

Anaerobic Growth of Microorganisms with Chlorate as an Electron Acceptor

The ability of microorganisms to use chlorate (ClO 3 - ) as an electron acceptor for respiration under anaerobic conditions was studied in batch and continuous tests. Complex microbial communities were cultivated anaerobically in defined media containing chlorate, all essential minerals, and acetate as the sole energy and carbon source. It was shown that chlorate was reduced to chloride, while acetate was oxidized to carbon dioxide and water and used as the carbon source for synthesis of new biomass. A biomass yield of 1.9 to 3.8 g of volatile suspended solids per equivalent of available electrons was obtained, showing that anaerobic growth with chlorate as an electron acceptor gives a high energy yield. This indicates that microbial reduction of chlorate to chloride in anaerobic systems is coupled with electron transport phosphorylation.