At this time the European Union regulations require that the heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) of mineral waters be assessed at two recovery temperatures: 22 degrees C for 72 h and 37 degrees C for 24 h. This procedure is time consuming and expensive. Development of new rapid methods for microbiological assessment of the microbial flora in the bottled water is an industry-driven need. The object...

Maximum admissible concentration level (MACL) of barium in natural mineral waters, natural spring waters and potable waters was set at the level of 1 mg/l, while MACL of this element in natural curative waters intended for drinking therapies and inhalations were set at the levels of 1.0 mg/l and 10.0 mg/l, respectively. Those requirements were related to therapies which are applied longer than ...

A new analytical method for the determination of halogenated and aromatic volatile organic compounds in groundwater, mineral water, and drinking water at concentrations ranging between 1-10000 ng/L is developed. A new type of headspace sampler that combines static headspace sampling with a trap is used, yielding very low detection limits and good repeatability without carryover effects. An unex...

The main objective of this study was to analyse the occurrence of yeasts and filamentous fungi in drinking water as well as to investigate their correlation with the indicator bacteria of faecal pollution. Yeasts were detected in 36.6% and 11.6% of the bottled mineral on water dispensers and tap water samples from municipal system, respectively. Twenty-one (35.0%) of bottled mineral water and t...

The Reverend Joseph Glanvill, FRS' was expressing a contemporary view of the aims of the Royal Society when in 1668 he wrote, "We must seek and gather, observe and examine and lay up in bank for the ages to come. This is the business of the experimental philosophers." These words could be applied to the foundation of the Bath General Hospital, which opened in 1741, where it was hoped that by me...

In this paper we use First–Order Hybrid Petri nets (FOHPN), an hybrid model that combines fluid and discrete event dynamics, to model the concurrent activities of manufacturing systems. In particular we consider an existing mineral water bottling plant and we show how the FOHPN model is extremely suited to describe the highthroughput production lines, that are one of the main components in the ...

In 1769 the Edinburgh-trained physician, Dr William Buchan, produced the first edition of his Domestic medicine, which was to be a best-seller over the next thirty years. Edition after edition followed, nineteen in all in Britain, each of 5000 to 7000 copies.2 Pirated in America, translated into every language in Europe, recognized by the Empress of Russia, Domestic medicine made Buchan's name ...

Preserving the hydration status means to balance daily fluids and salt losses with gains, where depend on several physiological environmental factors. Especially for athletes, these could be relevant negatively influence performance: therefore, their hydro-saline must preserved personalized pre- rehydration plans all along performance period. Scientific literature in this field is mainly dedica...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of beer consumption (BC) on the functional and structural properties of human serum proteins (HSP). Thirty-eight volunteers (after coronary bypass) were divided into two groups: experimental (EG) and control (CG). Nineteen volunteers of the EG consumed 330 mL per day of beer (about 20 g of alcohol) for 30 consecutive days. The CG volunteers co...

A sensitive and simultaneous spectrophotometric flow injection method for the determination of vanadium(IV) and vanadium(V) is proposed. The method is based on the effect of ligands such as 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (TPTZ) and diphosphate on the conditional redox potential of iron(III)/iron(II) system. A four-channel flow system is assembled. In this flow system, diluted hydrochloric...