scholarly journals Studies on the Efficiency of Eudrilus eugeniae in the Bioconversion of Tamarind Fruit Shell Waste Mixed with Diclofenac and Bisphenol-A

Author(s):  
M.K. Ramesh ◽  
K. Kalaivanan ◽  
S. Durairaj ◽  
G. Selladurai

Background: Agricultural chemicals, metals, industrial effluents, plastics, excessive dumping of unused and expired pharmaceutical chemicals etc. contaminate terrestrial, aquatic and aerial environment. The excessive usage of the unwanted chemicals elicits undesirable effects in the non target organism inhabited in the various environments. The soil biota like earthworm faces threats of the environmental contaminants. A number of research works has been carried out to study the impact of certain environmental pollutants on the terrestrial inhabitant like earthworms which are widely utilized in the waste disposal management. Tamarind shell waste is considered one of the unwanted materials dumped in the road side and being discharged from industry and from the houses. The bio waste is now a day’s utilized for various purposes. The environmental contaminants such as diclofenac and bisphenol-A are discharged into the environment and finally reach the terrestrial environment where the inhabitants are adversely affected. Hence the study has been focused to analyze the efficiency of earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae in the conversion of tamarind shell waste mixed separately with Diclofenac and bisphenol-A. Methods: Vermibed was prepared for the present work. The vermibed contains cow dung and garden soil which are common in all the pots. One pot was considered as control. The second pot was mixed with tamarind shell waste. The third pot was mixed with diclofenac and finally in the last pot bisphenol-A was taken. Healthy earworms were selected and released to the four pots. The experimental set up was maintained for 30 days. Correlation matrix and t-test was performed to understand the significance of the results.Result: The study revealed the impact of pollutants on the bioconversion of tamarind shell waste. The contaminants like diclofenac and bisphenol-A significantly decreased the micro and macro nutrient levels. The phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium level showed a decrease when compared to control on 30th day in the diclofenac treatment. The nitrogen value was also decreased in the bisphenol-A treated compost on 30th day and the value was statistically significant. The other nutrients, phosphorous and iron were also decreased significantly (P less than 0.05) in the treatment and correlation matrix showed positive and negative correlation with micro and macro nutrients. The physico-chemical characters such as pH and electrical conductivity are also altered in the experimental conditions.

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-454
Author(s):  
N. Kannadasan ◽  
Nirmala Natarajan ◽  
N. Anbusaravanan ◽  
P. Sekar ◽  
R. Krishnamoorthy

The present work has assessed sustainable vermiconversion of aquatic weed water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes). The garden soil, water hyacinth and cow dung were taken in the following the combinations of 1: 2 : 1, 2: 1: 1 and 1 : 1: 2. Two species of earthworms Eudrilus eugeniae and Eisenia fetida was used for the experiment. The total nitrogen (0.18% in control and 1.68% in earthworm treated) and phosphate (0.63 % in control and 1.64 % in earthworm treated) levels were increased and toxic heavy metals zinc (7.66 ppm in control and 2.58 ppm in earthworm treated) and copper (6.68 ppm in control and 1.15 ppm in earthworm treated) were significantly decreased. The earthworm enriches the compost with various nutrients for plant and microbial growth. Plant growth studies were conducted in all the combination of water hyacinth, maximum growth of root length (8.9cm and 7.2 in control) and shoot length (21.6cm and 16.2 in control) observed compare to control. Gut microbial analysis revealed that Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus luteus were predominantly present in the earthworm. The study recommended that the aquatic weed compost was suitable of agricultural usage.


Chemosensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Artem O. Konakov ◽  
Nadejda N. Dremova ◽  
Igor I. Khodos ◽  
Marcus Koch ◽  
Ekaterina V. Zolotukhina ◽  
...  

A novel one-pot chemical synthesis of functional copper iodide-polypyrrole composites, CuI-PPy, has been proposed. The fabrication process allows the formation of nanodimensional metal salt/polymer hybrid structures in a fully controlled time- and concentration-dependent manner. The impact of certain experimental conditions, viz., duration of synthesis, sequence of component addition and concentrations of the intact reagents on the structure, dimensionality and yield of the end-product was evaluated in detail. More specifically, the amount of marshite CuI within the hybrid composite can be ranged from 60 to 90 wt.%, depending on synthetic conditions (type and concentration of components, process duration). In addition, the conditions allowing the synthesis of nano-sized CuI distributed inside the polypyrrole matrix were found. A high morphological stability and reproducibility of the synthesized nanodimensional metal-polymer hybrid materials were approved. Finally, the electrochemical activity of the formed composites was verified by cyclic voltammetry studies. The stability of CuI-PPy composite deposited on the electrodes was strongly affected by the applied anodic limit. The proposed one-pot synthesis of the hybrid nanodimensional copper iodide-polypyrrole composites is highly innovative, meets the requirements of Green Chemistry and is potentially useful for future biosensor development. In addition, this study is expected to generally contribute to the knowledge on the hybrid nano-based composites with tailored properties.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1043
Author(s):  
Christabel Ebuzoeme ◽  
Imoh Etim ◽  
Autumn Ikimi ◽  
Jamie Song ◽  
Ting Du ◽  
...  

Glucuronides hydrolysis by intestinal microbial β-Glucuronidases (GUS) is an important procedure for many endogenous and exogenous compounds. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of experimental conditions on glucuronide hydrolysis by intestinal microbial GUS. Standard probe 4-Nitrophenyl β-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) and a natural glucuronide wogonoside were used as the model compounds. Feces collection time, buffer conditions, interindividual, and species variations were evaluated by incubating the substrates with enzymes. The relative reaction activity of pNPG, reaction rates, and reaction kinetics for wogonoside were calculated. Fresh feces showed the highest hydrolysis activities. Sonication increased total protein yield during enzyme preparation. The pH of the reaction system increased the activity in 0.69–1.32-fold, 2.9–12.9-fold, and 0.28–1.56-fold for mouse, rat, and human at three different concentrations of wogonoside, respectively. The Vmax for wogonoside hydrolysis was 2.37 ± 0.06, 4.48 ± 0.11, and 5.17 ± 0.16 μmol/min/mg and Km was 6.51 ± 0.71, 3.04 ± 0.34, and 0.34 ± 0.047 μM for mouse, rat, and human, respectively. The inter-individual difference was significant (4–6-fold) using inbred rats as the model animal. Fresh feces should be used to avoid activity loss and sonication should be utilized in enzyme preparation to increase hydrolysis activity. The buffer pH should be appropriate according to the species. Inter-individual and species variations were significant.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 780
Author(s):  
Krystyna Makowska ◽  
Slawomir Gonkowski

Bisphenol A (BPA) contained in plastics used in the production of various everyday objects may leach from these items and contaminate food, water and air. As an endocrine disruptor, BPA negatively affects many internal organs and systems. Exposure to BPA also contributes to heart and cardiovascular system dysfunction, but many aspects connected with this activity remain unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of BPA in a dose of 0.05 mg/kg body weight/day (in many countries such a dose is regarded as a tolerable daily intake–TDI dose of BPA–completely safe for living organisms) on the neurochemical characterization of nerves located in the heart wall using the immunofluorescence technique. The obtained results indicate that BPA (even in such a relatively low dose) increases the number of nerves immunoreactive to neuropeptide Y, substance P and tyrosine hydroxylase (used here as a marker of sympathetic innervation). However, BPA did not change the number of nerves immunoreactive to vesicular acetylcholine transporter (used here as a marker of cholinergic structures). These observations suggest that changes in the heart innervation may be at the root of BPA-induced circulatory disturbances, as well as arrhythmogenic and/or proinflammatory effects of this endocrine disruptor. Moreover, changes in the neurochemical characterization of nerves in the heart wall may be the first sign of exposure to BPA.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Świrk ◽  
Ye Wang ◽  
Changwei Hu ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Patrick Da Costa ◽  
...  

Copper and iron promoted ZrO2 catalysts were prepared by one-pot synthesis using urea. The studied catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption, XPS, temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 (NH3-TPD), and tested by the selective catalytic reduction by ammonia (NH3-SCR) of NO in the absence and presence of water vapor, under the experimental conditions representative of exhaust gases from stationary sources. The influence of SO2 on catalytic performance was also investigated. Among the studied catalysts, the Fe-Zr sample showed the most promising results in NH3-SCR, being active and highly selective to N2. The addition of SO2 markedly improved NO and NH3 conversions during NH3-SCR in the presence of H2O. The improvement in acidic surface properties is believed to be the cause.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
An Zheng ◽  
Michael Lamkin ◽  
Yutong Qiu ◽  
Kevin Ren ◽  
Alon Goren ◽  
...  

Abstract Background A major challenge in evaluating quantitative ChIP-seq analyses, such as peak calling and differential binding, is a lack of reliable ground truth data. Accurate simulation of ChIP-seq data can mitigate this challenge, but existing frameworks are either too cumbersome to apply genome-wide or unable to model a number of important experimental conditions in ChIP-seq. Results We present ChIPs, a toolkit for rapidly simulating ChIP-seq data using statistical models of key experimental steps. We demonstrate how ChIPs can be used for a range of applications, including benchmarking analysis tools and evaluating the impact of various experimental parameters. ChIPs is implemented as a standalone command-line program written in C++ and is available from https://github.com/gymreklab/chips. Conclusions ChIPs is an efficient ChIP-seq simulation framework that generates realistic datasets over a flexible range of experimental conditions. It can serve as an important component in various ChIP-seq analyses where ground truth data are needed.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Jinwoo Im ◽  
Calogero B. Rizzo ◽  
Felipe P. J. de Barros

With the growing concerns over emerging contaminants in indirect potable reuse (IPR) applications, we investigate the impact on human health risk of emerging contaminants introduced into groundwater. Some emerging contaminants have potential endocrine-related health effects at a specific exposure range that is much lower than current guidelines. We start by analyzing Bisphenol A (BPA), which is one of the frequently detected emerging contaminants in groundwater. The objective of this study is to understand how the non-trivial toxicity of BPA affects the estimation of human health risks and, consequentially, aquifer resilience. Based on our results, we aim to provide indications on how to improve water resources management in BPA contaminated sites. We use numerical methods to model BPA contamination of a three-dimensional aquifer, and human health risks and aquifer resilience are estimated at a control plane representing an environmentally sensitive target. A Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to compute uncertainty associated with two levels of heterogeneity. In order to evaluate health risks due to BPA, two types of Dose-Response (DR) models are considered: the monotonic DR model for general exposure and the non-monotonic DR model for prenatal/postnatal exposure. The aquifer resilience is defined as the capacity to recover the state where groundwater is considered potable (i.e., negligible health risks due to BPA). When using the non-monotonic DR model, computational results indicate that the aquifer resilience reduces and its uncertainty increases as the aquifer heterogeneity increases. On the other hand, the aquifer resilience considering the monotonic DR model enhances, and its uncertainty increases relatively smaller than the one considering the non-monotonic DR model. In addition, the variability of the aquifer resilience is controlled by the residence time of the BPA plumes at the control plane, which is related to the volumetric flow rate at the front side of the contamination source. Finally, the decision-making strategy for BPA contaminated sites should be established in accordance with the heterogeneous structure of aquifer and land uses that determines which DR model of BPA is more important in estimating the aquifer resilience.


2010 ◽  
Vol 95 (7) ◽  
pp. 1167-1176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching Hsuan Lin ◽  
Sheng Lung Chang ◽  
Tsai Pei Wei ◽  
Shiue Huei Ding ◽  
Wen Chiung Su

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 1197-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Hongyu Li ◽  
Xinguo Yang ◽  
Wei Feng ◽  
Hongyun Huang

This paper reported a facile one-pot strategy for fabrication of sulfonic graphene oxide–epoxy resin nanocomposites. The rheological and thermal properties were employed to characterize the viscosity and the curing temperature of epoxy resin. Fourier transform infrared spectra for sulfonic graphene oxide and nanocomposites indicated that the sulfonic graphene oxide contains chemical cross-linking responsible for better interactions with the epoxy resin. The state of dispersion was evaluated at different scales by still picture camera and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Tensile property tests indicated that the tensile strength and elasticity modulus of sulfonic graphene oxide–epoxy resin nanocomposites decreased slowly with increasing of sulfonic graphene oxide content. The critical flexural property and impact strength of epoxy resin filled with sulfonic graphene oxide nanocomposites were measured. The content, size, and dispersion state of sulfonic graphene oxide were examined. It was found that the content of sulfonic graphene oxide has greater impact on both flexural property and impact strength of nanocomposites compared with other conditions. For instance, the impact strength increased by 113.0% and the flexural strength and modulus increased by 39.3% and 55.7% using 1 wt.% sulfonic graphene oxide as compared to neat epoxy resin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarker Masud Parvez ◽  
Musarrat Jabeen Rahman ◽  
Rashidul Azad ◽  
Mahbubur Rahman ◽  
Leanne Unicomb ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Supply driven programs that are not closely connected to community demand and demand-driven programs that fail to ensure supply both risk worsening inequity. Understanding patterns of uptake of behaviors among the poorest under ideal experimental conditions, such as those of an efficacy trial, can help identify strategies that could be strengthened in routine programmatic conditions for more equitable uptake. WASH Benefits Bangladesh was a randomized controlled efficacy trial that provided free-of cost WASH hardware along with behavior change promotion. The current paper aimed to determine the impact of the removal of supply and demand constraints on the uptake of handwashing and sanitation behaviors across wealth and education levels. Methods The current analysis selected 4 indicators from the WASH Benefits trial— presence of water and soap in household handwashing stations, observed mother’s hand cleanliness, observed visible feces on latrine slab or floor and reported last child defecation in potty or toilet. A baseline assessment was conducted immediately after enrolment and endline assessment was conducted approximately 2 years later. We compared change in uptake of these indicators including wealth quintiles (Q) between intervention and control groups from baseline to endline. Results For hand cleanliness, the poorest mothers improved more [Q1 difference in difference, DID: 16% (7, 25%)] than the wealthiest mothers [Q5 DID: 7% (− 4, 17%)]. The poorest households had largest improvements for observed presence of water and soap in handwashing station [Q1 DID: 82% (75, 90%)] compared to the wealthiest households [Q5 DID: 39% (30, 50%)]. Similarly, poorer household demonstrated greater reductions in visible feces on latrine slab or floor [Q1DID, − 25% (− 35, − 15) Q2: − 34% (− 44, − 23%)] than the wealthiest household [Q5 DID: − 1% (− 11, 8%). For reported last child defecation in potty or toilet, the poorest mothers showed greater improvement [Q1–4 DID: 50–54% (44, 60%)] than the wealthier mothers [Q5 DID: 39% (31, 46%). Conclusion By simultaneously addressing supply and demand-constraints among the poorest, we observed substantial overall improvements in equity. Within scaled-up programs, a separate targeted strategy that relaxes constraints for the poorest can improve the equity of a program. Trial registration WASH Benefits Bangladesh: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT01590095. Date of registration: April 30, 2012 ‘Retrospectively registered’.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document