scholarly journals Isolation of Four Microalgal Strains From the Lake Massaciuccoli: Screening of Common Pollutants Tolerance Pattern and Perspectives for Their Use in Biotechnological Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Chiellini ◽  
Lorenzo Guglielminetti ◽  
Sabrina Sarrocco ◽  
Adriana Ciurli

Aquatic ecosystems represent one of the largest reservoirs of phytoplankton accounting for most of the primary production of the Earth. The Lake Massaciuccoli located in Tuscany (Italy) is one of the largest swamps that in ancient times entirely covered the Versilia coastal plain. Despite its peculiar features, especially the eutrophic characteristics, its native microalgal consortia have never been explored up to now. In this work, we isolated and described four autochthonous microalgal strains from different sites in the lake (FB, Idr, CL_Sc, and CL_Ch); the four microalgal strains were identified within the Chlorella sorokiniana clade. We exposed them to ten of the most common or emerging environmental contaminants in order to describe their preliminary response to the tested substances: five metals (As, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn), two herbicides (Metolachlor and Sethoxydim), two antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin and Benzylpenicillin) and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (Ibuprofen). Physiological response of the strains highlighted intraspecific differences; strain CL_Sc was the most tolerant in presence of metals while strain Idr was the most sensitive. All strains were sensitive to sethoxydim and tolerant to metolachlor at all the tested concentrations. Strains FB and Idr were the most sensitive in presence of Ibuprofen while strain CL_Ch was the most sensitive to the highest Benzylpenicillin concentration. Resistance pattern of strain Idr somehow reflects both the phylogenetic and the geographic “isolation” from all other three strains. Finally, optical microscope observation confirmed some differences also in the microalgae morphological aspect. Overall, all the strains showed interesting responses in presence of high concentrations of the tested substances, representing putative interesting candidates for water remediation in wastewater treatment plants.

Keruen ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Nabiolla ◽  

From ancient times our people, who grazed four food animals, believed that they had an owner. The owners of the four food animals were considered to be their "ancestors" or "peers". That is why he gave them a mythical character. He leaned on his holy ancestors and asked them to help him. He wished them well and wished them well. He thought that only then he could have cattle. That is why various rituals and ceremonies have come to everyone. Currently in the country spread a lot of myths, indicating that the cow was the cow skorlupok animal. Special attention was paid to cattle, including bull. Even the purpose of the human earth that applies to spelled. He was known in myths as the blue bull, sometimes the blue bull, which was known in folklore with special vividness. This is mostly associated with myths about the injury of the earth. In the mythology of the peoples of the world say that the earth put on, fish, elephant (for the concept of the ancient Indians), snake Cotes, the myth, widespread among the peoples of Turkic origin, including among Kazakh people put on the surface of the blue ox, and sometimes on a blue bull to pick it up. He draws attention to the myths of the bull or bull and one case depends on the blue bull. In General, the blue color has a special property, for example, "blue Bor", "blue bull", etc. "Blue" is formed from mythical concepts: " blue sky","bull of the blue God". In this regard, it should be noted that in nomadic life, it became the first cargo transport.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen C. Chao ◽  
Sergio J. de Luca ◽  
Carlos N. Idle

Studies concerning the treatment, stabilization and final disposal of biosolids, one of the by-products of wastewater treatment, in environmental recovery, have been intensified by the sanitary and environmental effects of land disposal. The careful assessment of biosolid quality shows that, when appropriately managed, the environmental risks of their uses can be minimized by chemical stabilization, and biosolids could even be used as fertilizer and soil conditioner. A research study of biosolid stabilization was performed using lime as a standard process compared to potassium ferrate (VI). The chances of leaching and solubilization of metals were tested, simulating conditions for disposal in the environment. The sanitary effectiveness in terms of pathogens (bacteria, fungi and helminth eggs) were also evaluated. Experiments were performed on the lime and ferrate(VI) treatment of compounds such as ammonia, nitrate, soluble sulphides, and total sulphates, indicators of odouriferous offensive compounds which might occasionally prevent some uses of the solids, and the results are presented in this paper. Wastewater Treatment Plants emit offensive odours generated during the sewage treatment process, as well as during the treatment and the management of biosolids. This occurs in the drying beds and the spreading of biosolids on land, due to the high concentrations of sulphur compounds, nitrogen compounds, acids and organic compounds (aldehydes and ketones). The potassium ferrate(VI) utilized in the research is a powerful oxidizing agent throughout the pH scale, with the advantage of not generating by-products which will cause toxicity or mutagenicity (DE LUCA, 1981). The ion ferrate(VI) has greater oxidizing power than permanganate, e.g., it oxidizes reduced sulfur forms to sulphate, ammonia to nitrate, hypochlorite to chlorite and chlorite to chlorate(DE LUCA et al., 1992; CHAO et al., 1992). This paper shows that, as expected, the potassium ferrate (VI) treatment replaces several chemical products utilized for odour control of sludges, mainly aggressive odours caused by ammonia and sulphides, through the formation of precipitates with iron compounds. Ferrate (VI) has often been shown to destroy soluble sulphides, transforming them into sulphate. The generation of oxygen in the decomposition of ferrate(VI) increases its oxidizing power. Ferrate(VI) applied to sludges also has the double effect of transforming ammonia into nitrates, such that this product takes the place of sulphates, acting as an electron acceptor, thus preventing the development of further odours when biosolids are utilized.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Hossein Saeidnejad ◽  
Peyman Rajaei

Essential oils constitute a heterogeneous collection of chemical compounds. Their main characteristics are that they all synthesized by plants and are volatile and mostly soluble in ethanol. They have traditionally been obtained from plants and they have been widely used for insecticidal, medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Essential oils contains about 20–60 components at quite different concentrations and they are characterized by two or three major components at fairly high concentrations. Lately, the essential oils and various extracts of plants have gained special interest as sources of natural antimicrobial and antioxidant agents because of the resistance to antibiotics that some microorganisms have acquired and the possible toxicities of the synthetic antioxidants. Spices consumed daily in different types of food to improve flavors, since ancient times, are well known for their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. During recent decades, numerous numbers of plants have been monitored for their possible role as repellents and insecticides. In this review, the chemical composition profile of some important medicinal plants was evaluated, then antimicrobial properties of a number of essential oils was compared. Antioxidant activity of some essential oils was also considered. Finally, essential oil repellent properties an an important characteristics was evaluated. Further investigation for available data related to the other biological properties of medicinal plants essential oil is recommended.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijls.v9i2.12043 International Journal of Life Sciences 9 (2) : 2015; 9-13


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Pisa ◽  
Ignacio Santín ◽  
Jose Vicario ◽  
Antoni Morell ◽  
Ramon Vilanova

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) form an industry whose main goal is to reduce water’s pollutant products, which are harmful to the environment at high concentrations. In addition, regulations are applied by administrations to limit pollutant concentrations in effluent. In this context, control strategies have been adopted by WWTPs to avoid violating these limits; however, some violations still occur. For that reason, this work proposes the deployment of an artificial neural network (ANN)-based soft sensor in which a Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) network is used to generate predictions of nitrogen-derived components, specifically ammonium ( S N H ) and total nitrogen ( S N t o t ). S N t o t is a limiting nutrient and can therefore cause eutrophication, while nitrogen in the S N H form is toxic to aquatic life. These parameters are used by control strategies to allow actions to be taken in advance and only when violations are predicted. Since predictions complement control strategies, the evaluation of the ANN-based soft sensor was carried out using the Benchmark Simulation Model N.2. (BSM2) and three different control strategies (from low to high control complexity). Results show that our proposed method is able to predict nitrogen-derived products with good accuracy: the probability of detecting violations of BSM2’s limits is 86%–94%. Moreover, the prediction accuracy can be improved by calibrating the soft sensor; for example, perfect prediction of all future violations can be achieved at the expense of increasing the false positive rate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 192
Author(s):  
Richard Styles ◽  
Michael A. Hartman

Vessel generated waves can impact shoreline stability and habitat structure in many waterways. Sheltered regions, such as coastal plain saltmarshes, support fragile ecosystems and can be particularly vulnerable to the effects of unregulated vessel operations. Instruments for measuring currents and sediment concentration were deployed in a coastal plain saltmarsh to examine the small-scale physical characteristics of the vessel wake generated by recreational craft typical of this environment. The response to vessel wake varied sharply depending upon the stage of the tide. At low tide, waves breaking on the exposed bank produced high concentrations of suspended material that were transported offshore through turbulent diffusion. When the water elevation exceeded the toe of the marsh scarp, the concentration and turbulent kinetic energy exhibited less of a statistically significant variation in response to vessel passage. For the most energetic flows, the vessel orbital velocities were dwarfed by turbulent fluctuations generated by the sheared tidal boundary layer. While further research is required, preliminary findings indicate that the dissipation of vessel wake energy may stimulate or enhance shear generated turbulence if the characteristic wave period is similar to the characteristic time scale of the energy containing eddies.


1946 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Robbins

Within the town of Norton, Massachusetts, close by the boundary between it and the city of Taunton, lies the beautiful little body of water known to this day by its Indian name of Winneconnet. This lake, fed by a system of streams from the north and west and draining southward through a complicated network of ponds, swamps, and streams into the Taunton River, seems to have been the center of a large area of Indian population in ancient times. Cultivation and other disturbances of the earth surfaces have demonstrated the existence of many sites of former Indian habitation, while numerous items in local tradition point to the fact that many Indians lived and died within the township. Hardly a garden plot that has not yielded its quota of stone implements to the collections of local “relic hunters” exists in this vicinity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Marcello De Martino

The Pythagorean Philolaus of Croton (470-390 BCE) created a unique model of the Universe and he placed at its centre a ‘fire’, around which the spheres of the Earth, the Counter-Earth, the five planets, the Sun, the Moon and the outermost sphere of fixed stars, also viewed as fire but of an ‘aethereal’ kind, were revolving. This system has been considered as a step towards the heliocentric model of Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BCE), the astronomical theory opposed to the geocentric system, which already was the communis opinio at that time and would be so for many centuries to come: but is that really so? In fact, comparing the Greek data with those of other ancient peoples of Indo-European language, it can be assumed that the ‘pyrocentric’ system is the last embodiment of a theological tradition going back to ancient times: Hestia, the central fire, was the descendant of an Indo-European goddess of Hearth placed at the centre of the religious and mythological view of a deified Cosmos where the gods were essentially personifications of atmospheric phenomena and of celestial bodies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Visva Bharati Barua ◽  
Md Ariful Islam Juel ◽  
A. Denene Blackwood ◽  
Thomas Clerkin ◽  
Mark Ciesielski ◽  
...  

The global spread of SARS-CoV-2 has continued to be a serious concern after WHO declared the virus the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. Monitoring of wastewater is a useful tool for assessing community prevalence given that fecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 occurs in high concentrations by infected individuals, regardless of whether they are asymptomatic or symptomatic. Using tools that are part of the wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach, combined with molecular analyses, wastewater monitoring becomes a key piece of information used to assess trends and quantify the scale and dynamics of COVID-19 infection in a specific community, municipality, or area of service. This study investigates a six-month long SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantification in influent wastewater from four municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) serving the Charlotte region of North Carolina (NC) using both RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR platforms. Influent wastewater was analyzed for the nucleocapsid (N) genes N1 and N2. Both RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR performed well for detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 using the N1 target, while for the N2 target RT-ddPCR was more sensitive. SARS-CoV-2 concentration ranged from 103 to105 copies/L for all four plants. Both RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR showed a significant moderate to a strong positive correlation between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and the 7-day rolling average of clinically reported COVID-19 cases using a lag that ranged from 7 to 12 days. A major finding of this study is that despite small differences, both RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR performed well for tracking the SARS-CoV-2 virus across WWTP of a range of sizes and metropolitan service functions.


Author(s):  
Donwichai Sinthuchai ◽  
Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon ◽  
Pitchaya Piyaviriyakul ◽  
Narin Boontanon ◽  
Ranjna Jindal ◽  
...  

Abstract Excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment, especially in low- to middle-income countries. This study investigated the occurrence, relative abundance, and fate of eight antibiotics at each treatment stage in four domestic and four hospital wastewater treatment plants (dWWTPs and hWWTPs, respectively), as well as mass loadings into the receiving water environments in Bangkok, Thailand. Samples were prepared by solid-phase extraction and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Antibiotic concentrations were higher in hWWTPs than dWWTPs; approximately 60 times for influents and 10 times for effluents. Ciprofloxacin concentration increased in most dWWTPs, especially in the aeration unit and return sludge, suggesting that it predominantly occurred in the solid phase. Sulfamethoxazole predominantly occurred in the dissolved form, which is more difficult to degrade, and exhibited high concentrations in effluent. Moreover, antibiotic pollutant loadings were approximately 30–3,530 times higher from dWWTPs than from hWWTPs due to higher daily discharges from the domestic sector. These plants are a major point source of antibiotic residue release to aquatic environments; thus, their efficiency should be improved by incorporating advanced treatment processes to ensure effective removal of antibiotics.


Author(s):  
V.Yu. Belousova ◽  
◽  
N.V. Kondakova ◽  
S.N. Reznikova ◽  
N.S. Serpokrilov ◽  
...  

The results of the study of gas emissions from blocked wastewater treatment plants are presented. During the experiment, high concentrations of sulfur dioxide were detected. The analysis of methods for reducing the concentration of pollutants in the air of the working area of the aeration station was carried out. It is proposed to use a biochemical purification using a biofilter with a load of bark and biohumus. A model of the installation was constructed. To determine the technological parameters of the biofilter considered different types of combinations (height, moisture, particle size) of the carrier biomass and supporting layer of gravel, the effective processing time of the gas mixture. A decrease in sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and formaldehyde was found. Additional advantages of the applied biologically active filter material are given.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document