Membrane technology for sustainable water resources management: Challenges and future projections

Although water is essential for human survival and has always been critical to the social and economic growth of the world, it is unfortunately distributed irregularly worldwide and is threatened by countless source of pollution. Addressing the issue of water resources sustainability is extremely crucial for societies in order to maintain safety as well as social, ecological and economic progress. The issue of water scarcity has pushed the world to develop adequate technologies and approaches for sustainable water resources management. In addition, to seawater and brackish water, industrial and municipal wastewater are also considered to be important available resources that need to be taken into consideration to increase sustainability and at the same time to meet SDGs. Indeed, as the population grows, agricultural, domestic and industrial activities produce large amounts of wastewaters that can be treated and reused in variety of purposes considering circular economy philosophy. Nowadays, wastewaters are treated in order to be reused for industrial, agricultural and other domestic purposes. In this context, membrane technology is a preferred choice for treatment of water from different wastewater streams for reuse in a more sustainable way, taking into account the philosophy of circular economy and the targets set from UN. This review discusses the links between the concept of sustainability and the treatment of water resources, including wastewaters with membrane technology. It provides a tangible framework for presenting the relevant challenges and future prospects but also the benefits that will come. The practical results of the research serve as reference point for stakeholders, policy makers dealing with sustainable water development strategies considering SDGs and circular economy.     

Can brucellosis influence the course of chronic hepatitis C in dual infection?

Hepatitis C and brucellosis are infectious diseases that occur worldwide, and both are endemic in Egypt. Co-infection with both agents is possible, and this can involve the liver in various ways. In this study, we investigated serum tissue inhibitor metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), viral load, and liver functions in patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) before and after brucellosis treatment. Over 3 years, 241 consecutive HCV patients (before interferon therapy was received) with recurrent fever who had occupational contact with animals were tested for brucellosis co-infection by a standard tube agglutination test. In patients with dual infection, viraemia (RT-PCR), TIMP-1 measured by ELISA, and liver functions were assessed and re-evaluated 2 months after brucellosis treatment. The number of patients with HCV/brucellosis co-infection was 32 out of 241 (13.3%). TIMP-1, viraemia, AST, ALT and bilirubin showed significant decrease (improvement) after brucellosis treatment (p < 0.001) but an insignificant difference (p > 0.05) with regard to serum albumin and prothrombin concentration. The study revealed that brucellosis is an important infection in HCV-infected patients and can aggravate the course of disease, suggesting that early treatment and prevention are important.     

Investigating the performance of four specific types of material grafts and their effects on hemodynamic patterns as well as on von Mises stresses in a grafted three-layer aortic model using fluid-structure interaction analysis

One of the important parts of the cardiac system is aorta which is the fundamental channel and supply of oxygenated blood in the body. Diseases of the aorta represent critical cardiovascular bleakness and mortality around the world. This study aims at investigation of hemodynamic parameters in a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of three-layer grafted aorta using fluid–structure interaction (FSI). It assumes that a damaged part of aorta, which may happen as a result of some diseases like aneurysm, dissection and post-stenotic dilatation, is replaced with a biomaterial graft. Four types of grafts materials so-called Polyurethane, Silicone rubber, Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Dacron are considered in the present study. The assumption of linear elastic and isotropic material is set for the both aorta's wall and aforementioned grafts. Blood is considered as an incompressible and Newtonian fluid. The results indicate higher displacement in Polyurethane and silicone rubber in comparison with other two. Furthermore, results reveal that blood flow velocity has slightly higher values in PTFE and Dacron grafted models compared to Polyurethane and Silicone rubber ones. Even though there are some differences in hemodynamic patterns in these grafted models, they are not considerable as much as von Mises stresses across the graft-aorta intersections are. This study shows that the types of material grafts play an important role in the amount of stresses particularly at intersections of aorta and graft.