Renal Sympathetic Hyperactivity in Hypertension: True or False? To the Editor: Increased renal norepinephrine spillover, observed by using isotope-dilution method, is thought to indicate renal sympathetic hyperactivity and to play a crucial role in hypertension. However, SYMPLICITY HTN-3 (Renal Denervation in Patients With Uncontrolled Hypertension), the first randomized shamcontrolled trial, f...

The attractiveness of both ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to various actors throughout the world represents a serious threat to U.S. security. These weapons and delivery systems are popular in part because they are highly visible symbols of military prowess. As such, they provide significant influence on regional balances of power, even among friends and allies. Furthe...

Having personally witnessed the destruction at the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, this paper presents my personal feelings and observations as an observer of both disaster and terror. Aside from the unimaginable horror as a result of the carnage, a feeling of helplessness was particularly prominent due to the inability to be able to care for casualties since most victims were fataliti...

Phenol is a ubiquitous organic contaminant in drinking water. Biodegradation plays an important role in the elimination of phenol pollution in the environment, but the information about phenol removal by drinking water biofilters is still lacking. Herein, we study an acclimated bacterial community that can degrade over 80% of 300 mg/L phenol within 3 days. PCR detection of genotypes involved in...

The tragic events of 9/11 and the concerns about the potential for a terrorist or hostile state attack with weapons of mass destruction have led to an increased emphasis on risk analysis for homeland security. Uncertain hazards (natural and engineering) have been successfully analyzed using probabilistic risk analysis (PRA). Unlike uncertain hazards, terrorists and hostile states are intelligen...

A simple experimental set-up was used to study the treatability aspect of phenolic wastewater. Three types of systems: i) activated sludge (A.S), ii) granular activated carbon (A.C) and iii) activated sludge plus activated carbon (A.S + A.C) were experimented under different phenol loadings (100, 200 and 300 mg/l) and different flow rates (21.6 and 43.2 l/d) with initial COD concentration 500 m...

Bacterial degradation of organic pollutants in soil has been studied extensively but little is known about the availability and degradation of pollutants by bacterial resident on leaf surfaces. Here, we examined availability and degradation of phenol on leaves by introduced cells of a known phenol degrader and by natural microbial communities. Phenol-responsive gfp-expressing Pseudomonas fluore...

The phenol nerve block has been widely used in clinical practice for spasticity reduction, but the correlation between the dosage of phenol and its effectiveness has seldom been discussed. The objective was to determine the optimal duration of phenol in contact with the nervous tissue and to investigate the dose-response relationship of 5% aqueous phenol solution by percutaneous nerve block in ...

Formaldehyde and phenol biodegradation during the denitrification process was studied at lab-scale, first in anoxic batch assays and then in a continuous anoxic reactor. The biodegradation of formaldehyde (260 mgl(-1)) as single carbon source and at phenol concentrations ranging from 30 to 580 mgl(-1) was investigated in batch assays, obtaining an initial biodegradation rate around 0.5g CH(2)Og...

In this study, the performance of an aerobic moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was assessed for the removal of phenol as the sole substrate from saline wastewater. The effect of several parameters namely inlet phenol concentration (200-1200 mg/L), hydraulic retention time (8-24 h), inlet salt content (10-70 g/L), phenol shock loading, hydraulic shock loading and salt shock loading on the perfor...