In many oceanic regions, growth of phytoplankton is nitrogen-limited because fixation of N2 cannot make up for the removal of fixed inorganic nitrogen (NH4+, NO2-, and NO3-) by anaerobic microbial processes. Globally, 30-50% of the total nitrogen loss occurs in oxygen-minimum zones (OMZs) and is commonly attributed to denitrification (reduction of nitrate to N2 by heterotrophic bacteria). Here,...

The processes that convert bioavailable inorganic nitrogen to inert nitrogen gas are prominent in continental shelf sediments and represent a critical global sink, yet little is known of these pathways in the Arctic where 18% of the world's continental shelves are located. Moreover, few data from the Arctic exist that separate loss processes like denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation...

The growth rate and biomass yield efficiency of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria are markedly lower than those of most other autotrophic bacteria. Among the anammox bacterial genera, the growth rate and biomass yield of the marine anammox bacterium "Candidatus Scalindua sp." is still lower than those of other anammox bacteria enriched from freshwater environments. The activity an...

Pagetoid reticulosis, also known as Woringer-Kolopp disease, is a rare variant of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma usually presenting as an isolated patch or plaque on the extremities. Immunohistochemical staining of T-cell markers can be variable, but as the name implies the epidermotropic lymphocytes consistently display a "pagetoid" appearance. The following case demonstrates clearance of this cond...

PURPOSE Time spent in "sports/outdoor activity" has shown a negative association with incident myopia during childhood. We investigated the association of incident myopia with time spent outdoors and physical activity separately. METHODS Participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were assessed by noncycloplegic autorefraction at ages 7, 10, 11, 12, and 15 yea...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the accuracy of noncycloplegic refraction compared with cycloplegic refraction in diagnosing refractive error in primary school children in southern Thailand. MATERIAL AND METHOD This is a cross-sectional study. One hundred twenty children aged from 6-13 years who had visual acuity of 20/40 or worse in at least one eye were included. All the children underwent autorefrac...

A 78-year-old woman with burn-induced cervico-mento-sternal scar contracture was scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. During inhalational induction of sevoflurane, her airway patency deteriorated. The right lateral position and assist ventilation using a breathing bag dramatically improved her airway patency.

Autotrophic nitrogen removal through sequential partial nitritation and anammox reactions can be achieved in biofilm reactors by controlling the oxygen concentration in the bulk liquid in such a way that nitrite oxidizers are outcompeted by anammox bacteria. In the case of granular sludge reactors, the granule size may influence the optimal range of oxygen concentration, as has been confirmed i...

The need to reduce energy input and enhance energy recovery from wastewater is driving renewed interest in high-rate activated sludge treatment (i.e. short hydraulic and solids retention times (HRT and SRT, respectively)). This process generates short SRT activated sludge stream, which should be highly degradable. However, the evaluation of anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge has been limit...

It is quite well known that the diffusers are required for efficient conversion of the dynamic head generated by the impeller in a centrifugal fan. Hence the flow into the diffuser passage plays a crucial role in determining the efficiency of conversion. The flow in the region bounded by the impeller exit and the diffuser entry i.e. the radial clearance space is generally considered to be highl...