9% and 22% versus 2.7%; p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Congenital sepsis proven by positive blood culture

was also more likely to occur (3% versus 0%; p = 0.027). Presence of funisitis further increased the likelihood of the above abnormal laboratory results.

Conclusions. selleck chemical Histological chorioamnionitis increases the likelihood of having markers of infection, bacterial colonization, and congenital sepsis. Only 3% of histological chorioamnionitis resulted in congenital sepsis confirmed by blood culture.”
“BACKGROUND: Inactivated sludge systems, sludge settling ability is considered a critical step in effluent quality and determinant of solid-liquid separation processes. However, few studies have reported the influence of saline wastewater an activated sludge. This work aims the evaluation of settling ability properties of microbial aggregates

find more in a sequencing batch reactor treating saline wastewaters of up to 60 g L(-1) NaCl, by image analysis procedures.

RESULTS: It was found that the sludge volume index (SVI) decreased with salt content up to 20 g L(-1), remaining somewhat stable above this value. Furthermore, it was found that between the first salt concentration (5 g L(-1)) and 20 g L(-1) aggregates suffered a strong deflocculation phenomenon, leading to a heavy loss of aggregated biomass. Regarding SVI prediction ability, a good correlation coefficient of 0.991 between observed and predicted SVI values was attained.

CONCLUSION: From this work the deflocculation of aggregated biomass with salt addition due to pinpoint floc formation, dispersed bacteria growth and protozoa absence could be established. With respect to SVI estimation, and despite the good correlation obtained, caution is advisable given the low number of SVI data points. (c) 2008 Society of Chemical Industry”
“Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of primary stapes surgery with and without a vein graft in patients with otosclerosis and to

determine the differences in the postoperative gain in air-bone gap (ABG) and air-conduction (AC).

Study Design: Selleck HSP990 A nonrandomized multicenter clinical evaluation.

Setting: Two tertiary referral centers in The Netherlands and France.

Patients: Otosclerosis patients that underwent primary stapedotomy surgery.

Intervention: Primary stapedotomy surgery without a vein graft (n = 939, first center) compared with primary stapedotomy surgery with a vein graft (n = 3691, second center).

Main Outcome Measures: Preoperative and postoperative audiometric results were compared. An analysis of variance was performed to evaluate differences in postoperative ABG and AC gains between surgeries with and without a vein graft, adjusted for potential confounders.

Results: The postoperative ABG was 10 dB or lesser in 72.1% of the patients without a vein graft and in 93.2% of patients with a vein graft.