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The incidence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in Swedish women during pregnancy is largely unknown. This retrospective pilot study was performed on consecutive sera sampled from 3,094 women at delivery during 1992-93. Specific IgG anti-toxoplasma antibodies were found in 14% (450/3,094). Serum drawn from the women during the first trimester and cord blood from their children were analysed for IgG and IgM anti-toxoplasma antibodies. A seroconversion during pregnancy was found in 4 women, whose children were followed up at 4 years of age. No signs of sequelae, either neurological or ophtalmological, were found in 3 of the children. The fourth child died at 1 year of age of a disease of different aetiology. An incidence of a primary toxoplasma infection of >1/1,000 pregnancies in this pilot study justifies a larger study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Presently, there is a growing need for handling automobile shredder residues – ASR or “car fluff”. One of the most promising methods of treatment ASR is pyrolysis. Apart of obvious benefits of pyrolysis: energy and metals recovery, there is serious concern about the residues generated from that process needing to be recycled. Unfortunately, not much work has been reported providing a solution for treatment the wastes after pyrolysis. This work proposes a new system based on a two-staged process. The ASR was primarily treated by microwave pyrolysis and later the liquid and solid products become the feedstock for the high temperature gasification process. The system development is supported within experimental results conducted in a lab-scale, batch-type reactor at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The heating rate, mass loss, gas composition, LHV and gas yield of producer gas vs. residence time are reported for the steam temperature of 1173K. The sample input was 10g and the steam flow rate was 0.65kg/h. The conversion reached 99% for liquids and 45–55% for solids, dependently from the fraction. The H2:CO mol/mol ratio varied from 1.72 solids and 1.4 for liquid, respectively. The average LHV of generated gas was 15.8MJ/Nm3 for liquids and 15MJ/Nm3 for solids fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]