<p>Filtermaterial av 75 % torv och 25 % kolaska har använts under 2 respektive 4 år för rening av avloppsvatten från två biltvättar. Jämförelse med Kristianstads kommuns riktvärden för avloppsvatten från fordonstvättar visar att filtren fungerat. För avfallsklassning krävs kunskap om innehåll av miljöfarliga ämnen i produkter som använts i tvätthallarna. I brist på kunskap om innehåll av ej analyserade miljöfarliga ämnen i filtren anses förbränning vara ett bra omhändertagande ur miljösynpunkt, då energi och aska återvinns.</p> / <p>Sewage water from two car washes has been treated during 2 and 4 years respectively, using a filter made of 75 % peat and 25 % carbon-containing ash. A comparison with the guiding values for car wash sewage water in Kristianstad municipality shows that this type of filter works well. Classification of the filter as waste requires knowledge about the content of environmentally harmful substances in products used in the car washes. Because of the lack of knowledge about the content of non-analyzed substances in the filters, combustion must be regarded as an environmentally good way of disposing the filter material, as both energy and ashes are recycled.</p>

<p>The parasite <i>Echinococcus granulosus</i> causes hydatid disease, a major zoonosis. A fatty-acid-binding protein, EgFABP1, is important for the parasite, as it must acquire almost all its lipids from its environment or the host. The structure of EgFABP1 has been solved and refined to 1.6 Å resolution. The structure reveals that EgFABP1 has the 10-stranded β-barrel fold typical of the family of intracellular lipid-binding proteins. </p><p>Human semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO; EC 1.4.3.6), also known as vascular adhesion protein-1, is a copper-containing monoamine oxidase that occurs both as a membrane-bound protein and in a soluble form in plasma. SSAO has been implicated in glucose transport in adipocytes, the differentiation of adipose cells and the leukocyte extravasation process. Toxic reaction products have been suggested to cause some of the vascular complications associated with diabetes and SSAO is therefore of pharmaceutical interest.</p><p>The structure of a truncated, soluble form of human SSAO has been determined to 2.5 Å resolution. The structure reveals that a leucine residue located adjacent to the active site could function as a gate controlling its accessibility. An RGD motif is displayed on the surface where it could be involved in integrin binding and possibly play a role in the shedding of SSAO from the membrane. Carbohydrate moieties are observed at five out of six potential N-glycosylation sites. Carbohydrates attached to Asn 232 flank the active site entrance and might influence substrate specificity. The structure also reveals a vicinal disulfide bridge, which we hypothesise could act as a redox switch involved in the protein’s mechanism of action. The structure of a complex of SSAO and the irreversible inhibitor 2-hydrazinopyridine has been solved and refined to 2.9 Å resolution. Both structures together will aid efforts to identify natural substrates, provide valuable information for the design of specific inhibitors and direct further studies. </p>

The parasite Echinococcus granulosus causes hydatid disease, a major zoonosis. A fatty-acid-binding protein, EgFABP1, is important for the parasite, as it must acquire almost all its lipids from its environment or the host. The structure of EgFABP1 has been solved and refined to 1.6 Å resolution. The structure reveals that EgFABP1 has the 10-stranded β-barrel fold typical of the family of intracellular lipid-binding proteins. Human semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO; EC 1.4.3.6), also known as vascular adhesion protein-1, is a copper-containing monoamine oxidase that occurs both as a membrane-bound protein and in a soluble form in plasma. SSAO has been implicated in glucose transport in adipocytes, the differentiation of adipose cells and the leukocyte extravasation process. Toxic reaction products have been suggested to cause some of the vascular complications associated with diabetes and SSAO is therefore of pharmaceutical interest. The structure of a truncated, soluble form of human SSAO has been determined to 2.5 Å resolution. The structure reveals that a leucine residue located adjacent to the active site could function as a gate controlling its accessibility. An RGD motif is displayed on the surface where it could be involved in integrin binding and possibly play a role in the shedding of SSAO from the membrane. Carbohydrate moieties are observed at five out of six potential N-glycosylation sites. Carbohydrates attached to Asn 232 flank the active site entrance and might influence substrate specificity. The structure also reveals a vicinal disulfide bridge, which we hypothesise could act as a redox switch involved in the protein’s mechanism of action. The structure of a complex of SSAO and the irreversible inhibitor 2-hydrazinopyridine has been solved and refined to 2.9 Å resolution. Both structures together will aid efforts to identify natural substrates, provide valuable information for the design of specific inhibitors and direct further studies.

Filtermaterial av 75 % torv och 25 % kolaska har använts under 2 respektive 4 år för rening av avloppsvatten från två biltvättar. Jämförelse med Kristianstads kommuns riktvärden för avloppsvatten från fordonstvättar visar att filtren fungerat. För avfallsklassning krävs kunskap om innehåll av miljöfarliga ämnen i produkter som använts i tvätthallarna. I brist på kunskap om innehåll av ej analyserade miljöfarliga ämnen i filtren anses förbränning vara ett bra omhändertagande ur miljösynpunkt, då energi och aska återvinns. / Sewage water from two car washes has been treated during 2 and 4 years respectively, using a filter made of 75 % peat and 25 % carbon-containing ash. A comparison with the guiding values for car wash sewage water in Kristianstad municipality shows that this type of filter works well. Classification of the filter as waste requires knowledge about the content of environmentally harmful substances in products used in the car washes. Because of the lack of knowledge about the content of non-analyzed substances in the filters, combustion must be regarded as an environmentally good way of disposing the filter material, as both energy and ashes are recycled.

No description available.

Surgical repair of torn rotator cuff tendons have a high rate of failure and does not address the underlying pathophysiology. Tissue engineering strategies, employing the use of multipotent progenitor cells or growth factors, represent potential therapies to improve the outcome of rotator cuff surgery. The use of glycosaminoglycan-based biomaterials in these therapies may enhance the effectiveness of cell and growth factor delivery techniques. Furthermore, understanding the cellular and molecular mediators in tendon overuse can help elucidate the causes of tendon degeneration. Thus the overall goals of this dissertation were to 1) develop heparin-based biomaterials to enhance cell pre-culture and maintain growth factor bioactivity and 2) characterize the histological and enzymatic changes in a supraspinatus tendon overuse model. To investigate the use of heparin in enhancing dynamic signaling, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were encapsulated in heparin-containing hydrogels and evaluated for differentiation markers when cocultured with a small population of differentiated cells. To probe the effect of sulfation of heparin on the interactions with protein, selectively desulfated heparin species were synthesized and evaluated for their ability to bind and protect proteins. Finally, to develop a tendon overuse model that can become a test bed for testing future targeted therapeutics, an animal model was evaluated for tissue damage and protease activity. Together these studies represent a multi-pronged approach to understanding how tendon tissues become degenerative and for developing technologies to improve the biological fixation of tendon to bone in order to reduce the need for revision surgeries.

With the progress of high alloy steelmaking processes, it is essential to minimize the loss of valuable metals, like chromium and vanadium during the decarburization process, from both economic as well as environmental view points. One unique technique to realize this aim, used in the present work, is the decarburization of high alloy steel grades using oxygen with CO2 in order to reduce the partial pressure of oxygen. In the present work, the investigation on the oxidation of iron-chromium and iron-vanadium molten alloys under CO2-O2 mixtures was carried out and presented in this dissertation. For oxidation study on Fe-Cr molten alloy with CO2-O2 mixtures, on the basis of thermodynamic analysis, energy balance calculation and modeling results, experimental validation in laboratory was carried out, and later on, the oxidation kinetics of Fe-Cr and Fe-Cr-C melts under controlled partial pressure of oxygen was investigated. Thermodynamics calculation and energy balance estimation demonstrated that, it is possible to use CO2 or CO2-O2 mixtures as decarburizers during EAF process and high initial carbon contents in the steel can be adopted at the beginning in order to reduce the cost. A generic model has been developed to describe the overall process kinetics prevailing in metallurgical reactors containing liquid metal and gas bubbles. This model is general and can be extended further to consider any gas liquid reactions in any chemical engineering reactor, and especially the metallurgical ones, like AOD. In the present dissertation, the model is applied in predicting the evolution of Cr and C contents in a Fe-C-Cr melt during injection of different O2-CO2 mixtures. The related simulation results illustrated that CO2 is efficient in Cr retention. In order to verify the modeling results, 1kg induction furnace experiments were carried out in the present laboratory. The results indicated that the predictions of the model are in good agreement with the experimental results. Meanwhile, the experimental results indicated that the Cr-losses can be significantly lowered by replacing the oxygen with CO2 in the injected gas, specifically for Fe-Cr-C melts with carbon levels higher than about 0.8 mass%. Subsequently, the oxidation kinetics of Fe-Cr and Fe-Cr-C melts was investigated under different CO2-O2 mixtures. It is indicated that, the oxidation rate is controlled by the chemical reaction at the initial stage and the reaction rate can be expressed as  at the Cr range of 11-21 mass% in the Fe-Cr melt. For oxidation study on Fe-V liquid alloy, the investigation of the oxidation kinetics was carried out under CO2-O2 mixtures, which is followed by the study on thermodynamic properties of vanadium containing slags. During oxidation of Fe-V melt, in the case of alloys with vanadium contents exceeding 10 mass%, there exists an incubation period before the chemical reactions prevail the process. In addition, the ‘incubation time’ increased with the increase of temperature and the vanadium content, whereas it decreased with the increase of oxygen partial pressure in the oxidant gas. High-temperature mass spectrometric method was used to determine the activity of the vanadium oxide in CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-V2O3 slags, whereas, the oxidation states of vanadium in the CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-VOxslag system was studied by XANES method. The results indicated that, higher basicities stabilize higher vanadium oxidation state, whereas, higher temperature stabilizes lower vanadium oxidation state. The present work, which was carried out within the ECO-STEELMAKING project funded by MISTRA via Jernkontoret is expected to lead to implementation of some modifications in high alloy steel production based on fundamental concepts towards more environment-friendly steel processing. / <p>QC20100628</p>

Στην παρούσα διατριβή ερευνήθηκε η αξιοποίηση μεταλλευτικών, βιομηχανικών παραπροϊόντων, των στερεών Υπολειμμάτων Βορίου (ΥΒ), που δημιουργούνται σε διάφορα στάδια κατά την παραγωγική διαδικασία προϊόντων βορίου. Τα εν λόγω παραπροϊόντα, που κατηγοριοποιούνται σε πέντε ποιότητες, SBW, DBW, SSBW, TBW και MBW, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ως πρόσθετο Α’ υλών για την παραγωγή τούβλων και κεραμιδιών, και ως Α΄ ύλη για την παρασκευή τεχνητών ελαφροαδρανών. Πραγματοποιήθηκε φυσικοχημικός χαρακτηρισμός και θερμική ανάλυση όλων των ΥΒ. Στη συνέχεια μελετήθηκε η επίδραση προσθήκης διαφορετικών συγκεντρώσεων ΥΒ (SBW και SSBW) σε αργιλούχες Α΄ ύλες. Έγινε μια πρώτη προσέγγιση παρασκευής και ελέγχου κεραμικών δοκιμίων με τη μέθοδο της ξηρής ανάμιξης και αξονικής συμπίεσης, προκειμένου να περιοριστεί το φαινόμενο διάχυσης υδατοδιαλυτών ενώσεων βορίου που περιέχονται στα ΥΒ. Η προσθήκη 5%κβ SSBW και θερμοκρασία όπτησης 900-950°C οδήγησε σε κεραμικά με παραπλήσιες ή ακόμα και βελτιωμένες ιδιότητες (αυξημένες μηχανικές αντοχές) συγκριτικά με τα κεραμικά αναφοράς. Επιπλέον εξετάστηκε η παραγωγή δειγμάτων με ΥΒ (SBW) και διάλυμα εμπορίου με βορικό (Evansite®) ακολουθώντας διαδικασία παραπλήσια της βιομηχανικής πρακτικής. Στους 1000°C, παρατηρήθηκε μείωση της απορρόφησης νερού και αύξηση της αντοχής σε κάμψη για τα δείγματα με βορικά, σε σύγκριση με τα δείγματα αναφοράς. Η προσθήκη βορικών ευνόησε τη δημιουργία νέων κρυσταλλικών κατά την όπτηση. Δεδομένης της χημικής και ορυκτολογικής σύνθεσης των ΥΒ (πλούσια σε συλλιπάσματα και υψηλές απώλειες πύρωσης), πραγματοποιήθηκε επιπρόσθετα μελέτη των φυσικοχημικών μηχανισμών θερμικής διάσπασής τους. Σε θερμαινόμενη τράπεζα παρατηρήθηκε η ικανότητα διόγκωσης και ανάπτυξης ρευστής φάσης των ΥΒ, καθώς και μιγμάτων αυτών με άλλα υλικά, με σκοπό την εργαστηριακή παραγωγή ελαφροαδρανών. Βάσει των αποτελεσμάτων προτάθηκε ένα μίγμα αποτελούμενο από 70%κβ ΥΒ, 20%κβ αργιλούχο μίγμα και 10%κβ χαλαζιακή άμμο, για τη μορφοποίηση ξηρών σφαιριδίων. Απότομη θέρμανσή τους στους 760°C οδήγησε σε πορώδη υαλοποιημένα αδρανή με φαινόμενη πυκνότητα <1g/cm3. Το ενεργειακό κόστος παραγωγής των συγκεκριμένων αδρανών είναι χαμηλότερο, καθώς παρατηρήθηκε μείωση στη θερμοκρασία σε σχέση με άλλα τεχνητά ελαφροαδρανή, που παρασκευάζονται στους 1100°C. Για την αντιμετώπιση της διάχυσης ενώσεων βορίου προς την επιφάνεια των ξηρών σφαιριδίων, που οδήγησε σε προβλήματα κατά την πειραματική διαδικασία και σε υποβάθμιση της ποιότητας των τελικών προϊόντων, εξετάστηκε η προσθήκη φρουκτόζης ως παρεμποδιστή στο μίγμα Α’ υλών, με στόχο την βελτιστοποίηση της διαδικασίας παραγωγής ελαφροαδρανών από ΥΒ. Προσθήκη έστω και 0.5%κβ φρουκτόζης οδήγησε σε ικανοποιητικό έλεγχο, ενώ οι φυσικές ιδιότητες των παραχθέντων αδρανών τα κατατάσσουν στην κατηγορία των ελαφροαδρανών, σύμφωνα με το πρότυπο ASTM 330-97. Τα αποτελέσματα οδήγησαν στην κατανόηση βασικών φαινομένων θερμικής διάσπασης και στην ανάπτυξη μιας βέλτιστης διεργασίας παραγωγής τεχνητών ελαφροαδρανών χρησιμοποιώντας ΥΒ ως εναλλακτικές Α’ ύλες, με προφανές ενεργειακό και περιβαλλοντικό όφελος. / In the present thesis, the valorisation of mining and industrial by-products, the solid boron-containing Wastes (ΒW), which are created at various stages during the production process of concentrated and refined boron products, were investigated. The by-products under consideration, existing in five types SBW, DBW, SSBW, TBW and MBW, were used as additives and raw materials in clay mixes for the production of heavy clay ceramics (bricks, tiles and artificial lightweight aggregates). The BW were characterised in means of chemical and mineralogical composition and studied for their thermal behaviour. In addition, clay mixes with different amounts of BW (SBW and SSBW) were studied. A first approach was made on the formation of ceramic samples by dry pressing in order to minimize the borate migration towards the surface. The physical and mechanical properties, as well as the microstructure of the final products were studied. For 5 wt% SSBW addition and firing at 900-950°C, the sintered bodies presented comparable or improved physical and mechanical properties with respect to the reference formulation. Moreover, SBW or a commercial available borate solution (Evansite®) were introduced in a clay-based mix aiming to investigate their behaviour during a processing cycle comparable with that followed in the heavy clay industry. For firing at 1000°C, water absorption was reduced and bending strength increased for the samples with borates, compared to the reference samples. The addition of borates resulted in the formation of new crystalline phases during firing at high temperatures. BW consist of important fluxing oxides as well as of gas producing minerals during firing. Tests were performed on the bloating behavior of BW and mixes of them with other materials, by means of heating microscopy, aiming at the laboratorial production of lightweight aggregates (LWA). A new mix was proposed, according to the obtained results, consisting of 70wt% BW, 20wt% clay mixture and 10wt% quartz sand, for the formation of pellets. Abrupt heating of the dry pellets at 760°C, for 5min, resulted in porous LWA with bulk density <1g/cm3. The process was less energy demanding as the temperature was reduced compared to the one of the synthetic aggregates produced, where the firing temperature is 1100°C. During drying a white layer of boron salts was formed on the surface of the green pellets, which result on firing of a glassy layer causing alterations of their surface and experimental difficulties. In order to address this problem, fructose was added in the raw mix as a migration inhibitor. Addition of even 0.5wt% fructose inhibited the salt formation and a glassy impervious layer was formed after firing. The physical properties of the final samples meet the requirements of LWA according to the standard ASTM 330-97. The results of this thesis, led to the development of an optimised process for the production of artificial LWA with BW, as an alternative raw material.

Les défauts de génome mitochondrial provoquent des maladies neuromusculaires, pour lequel aucun traitement efficace n'a été mis au point. La plupart des mutations mitochondriales sont hétéroplasmique, ce qui signifie que l'ADN mitochondrial (ADNmt) de type sauvage et muté coexistent dans la même cellule, et le changement de proportion entre deux types d'ADNmt pourrait rétablir les fonctions mitochondriales. Le but du projet était le développement du système pour cibler l'ARN thérapeutique dans les cellules humaines vivantes. Au cours de ma thèse j'ai synthétisé une série de nouveaux ARN anti-réplicatifs contenant modifications chimiques pour augmenter leur stabilité dans la cellule, et mis au point la nouvelle méthode de synthèse chimique des molécules d'ARN contenant cholestérol fixé par l'intermédiaire d'un pont biodégradable. Ces ARN étaient capable de pénétrer dans les cellules humains, d'être adressées dans les mitochondries et de diminuer la proportion d' ADNmt muté. / Defects in mitochondrial genome cause neuromuscular diseases, for which no efficient therapy has been developed. Since most mitochondrial mutations are heteroplasmic, wild type and mutated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coexist in the same cell, and the shift in proportion between two mtDNA types could restore mitochondrial functions. The aim of the project was development of carrier-free system for targeting the therapeutic mitochondrially importable RNA into living human cells. During my PhD study, I have synthesized a set of new anti-replicative RNAs containing various chemical modifications, aiming to increase their stability in the cell, and developed a new method for the chemical synthesis of RNA molecules containing cholesterol attached through a biodegradable bridge. Cholesterol containing antireplicative RNAs were characterised by efficient cellular uptake, partial colocalisation with mitochondria and ability to decrease the proportion of mutant mtDNA.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / This work was to study the influence of the magnetic field on the reduction of hexavalent chromium, removal of COD and total chromium, addition of cell growth in batch (batch reactor), using a mixed culture from located in a tanning city of Franca-SP (AMCOA). The influence of static magnetic field generated by a device that produces an electric current through a conductor, producing a magnetic field around the conductor, like a magnet. This equipment produces a magnetic field pulsed square wave of constant intensity and frequency. In the first step of adjusting the mixed cultures of chromium VI obtained a promising response. Thereafter, a preliminary test was performed to analyze the behavior of the influence of the magnetic field in the reduction of chromium VI and diameter of the reactor, obtaining 71% reduction of chromium VI with a larger diameter, without the presence of magnetic field has seen a reduction of 53%, with an initial concentration of 100 mg/l of chromium and a time of 4 hours of process. In other stages of the project, performing the tests with different frequencies of the magnetic field (1,2,5 and 10 Hz) and doing an analysis related to cell death of micro-organisms, showed that for frequencies of 10 Hz, there was cell death presents some cultures, which was confirmed in a lower frequency. The results were satisfactory when used in a magnetic field frequency of 5 Hz, maximal reduction of chromium VI reducing the time about 4 hours of processing, better removal of COD and total chromium using a volume of 500 ml and concentration of 100 mg/l initial chromium. Checking the influence of different frequency magnetic field, the initial effluent volumes (300 and 1000 ml) and initial concentration of chromium VI (50, 150 and 200 mg/l). The higher the initial concentration the lower the chromium reduction of chromium VI, larger volumes and a reduction of chromium VI and removal of COD and total chromium is not as significant as the use of smaller volumes. / Neste trabalho foi realizado o estudo da influência do campo magnético sobre a redução de cromo hexavalente, remoção de cromo total e DQO, além do crescimento celular em modo descontínuo (reator batelada), utilizando-se de uma cultura mista proveniente do curtume AMCOA localizado na cidade de Franca-SP. Foi avaliada a influência de campo eletromagnético estático gerado por um equipamento que produz uma corrente elétrica, passando por um condutor, produzindo um campo magnético ao redor do condutor, como se fosse um ímã. Este equipamento produz um campo magnético pulsante com onda quadrática de intensidade e frequência constantes. Na primeira etapa de adaptação das culturas mistas ao cromo VI obteve-se uma resposta promissora. Posteriormente, foi realizado um teste preliminar para analisar o comportamento da influência do campo magnético na redução de cromo VI e diâmetro de reator, obtendo 71% de redução de cromo VI com um maior diâmetro, sem a presença de campo magnético obteve uma redução de 53%, com uma concentração inicial de 100 mg/L de cromo e com um tempo de 4 horas de processo. Nas outras etapas do projeto, realizando os testes com diferentes frequências de campo magnético (1, 2, 5 e 10 Hz) e fazendo uma análise relacionada à morte celular dos micro-organismos, mostrou-se que para frequências de 10 Hz, havia morte celular de algumas culturas presentes, o que não foi verificado em uma frequência menor. Os resultados foram satisfatórios quando se utiliza uma frequência de campo magnético de 5 Hz, com máxima redução de cromo VI reduzindo o tempo em torno de 4 horas de processo, com melhor remoção de cromo total e DQO, utilizando um volume de 500 mL e concentração de 100 mg/L de cromo inicial. Verificando a influência de diferentes frequências de campo magnético, volumes iniciais de efluente (300 e 1000 mL) e concentrações iniciais de cromo VI (50, 150 e 200 mg/L). Quanto maior a concentração inicial de cromo menor foi a redução de cromo VI, e em volumes de efluentes maiores a redução de cromo VI e remoção de cromo total e DQO não foram tão significativas quanto em se aplicar volumes menores. / Mestre em Engenharia Química