Concentration of respirable dust and bioaerosols and identification of certain microbial types in a hog-growing facility

1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Butera ◽  
J. H. Smith ◽  
W. D. Morrison ◽  
R. R. Hacker ◽  
F. A. Kains ◽  
...  

In order to assess the effects of ventilation rate, temperature, relative humidity and source of air on bioaerosol levels and dust with particle size < 10 μm, a total of 120 pigs housed in 12 pens in two separate rooms were used. Pigs averaged 30 kg initially and the trials were discontinued when 20% of the pigs were marketed. A six-stage Andersen sampler and a light scattering particle counter were used to determine bioaerosols and respirable dust (0.1–10 μm), respectively. Total bioaerosols were assessed using Trypticase Soy Agar. Potato Dextrose Agar was used for fungal aeorsols and Baird-Parker Agar used for isolation of Staphylococcus aureus. Moulds amounted to less than 1% of total microorganisms. Gram positive bacteria made up 72% of the bacterial isolates. Respirable dust was not correlated with respirable bioaerosols. Ventilation rate (2, 5 or 8 changes h−1) did not affect bioaerosol level or respirable dust. Total bioaerosols were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in higher temperatures only. Relative humidity did not influence total bioaerosols but in one series respirable bioaerosols were significantly (R = 0.53) (P < 0.05) correlated with RH. Total bioaerosols were not different in outside air or attic air. Key words: Dust, bioaerosols, pigs, ventilation

Author(s):  
Lin Zang ◽  
Zemin Wang ◽  
Bo Zhu ◽  
Yu Zhang

Aerosol pollution elicits considerable public concern due to the adverse influence on air quality, climate change, and human health. Outside of emissions, haze formation is closely related to meteorological conditions, especially relative humidity (RH). Partly due to insufficient investigations on the aerosol hygroscopicity, the accuracy of pollution prediction in Central China is limited. In this study, taking Wuhan as a sample city, we investigated the response of aerosol pollution to RH during wintertime based on in-situ measurements. The results show that, aerosol pollution in Wuhan is dominated by PM2.5 (aerodynamic particle size not larger than 2.5 μm) on wet days (RH ≥ 60%), with the averaged mass fraction of 0.62 for PM10. Based on the RH dependence of aerosol light scattering (f (RH)), aerosol hygroscopicity was evaluated and shows the high dependence on the particle size distribution and chemical compositions. f (RH = 80%) in Wuhan was 2.18 (±0.73), which is comparable to that measured in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions for urban aerosols, and generally greater than values in Beijing. Ammonium (NH4+), sulfate (SO42−), and nitrate (NO3−) were enhanced by approximately 2.5-, 2-, and 1.5-fold respectively under wet conditions, and the ammonia-rich conditions in wintertime efficiently promoted the formation of SO42− and NO3−, especially at high RH. These secondary ions play an important role in aggravating the pollution level and aerosol light scattering. This study has important implications for understanding the roles of RH in aerosol pollution aggravation over Central China, and the fitted equation between f (RH) and RH may be helpful for pollution forecasting in this region.


Author(s):  
Masaatsu Koike ◽  
Koichi Nakashima ◽  
Kyoko Iida

Penicillin exerts the activity to inhibit the peptide cross linkage between each polysaccharide backbone at the final stage of wall-peptidoglycan biosynthesis of bacteria. Morphologically, alterations of the septal wall and mesosome in gram-positive bacteria, which were occurred in early time after treatment with penicillin, have been observed. In this experiment, these alterations were cytochemically investigated by means of silver-methenamine staining after periodate oxidation, which is applied for detection of localization of wall mucopolysaccharide.Staphylococcus aureus strain 209P treated with 100 u/ml of penicillin G was divided into two aliquotes. One was fixed by Kellenberger-Ryter's OSO4 fixative at 30, 60 and 120 min after addition of the antibiotic, dehydrated through alcohol series, and embedded in Epon 812 (Specimen A). The other was fixed by 21 glutaraldehyde, dehydrated through glycolmethacrylate series and embedded in glycolmethacrylate mixture, according to Bernhard's method (Specimen B).


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 665-679
Author(s):  
Alok K. Srivastava ◽  
Lokesh K. Pandey

Background: [1, 3, 4]oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones and nucleosides were synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation of a variety of benzaldehyde derivatives, obtained from oxidation of substituted 5-(3/6 substituted-4-Methylphenyl)-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-one and various substituted acetophenone. The resultant chalcones were coupled with penta-O-acetylglucopyranose followed by deacetylation to get [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones and nucleosides. Various analytical techniques viz IR, NMR, LC-MS and elemental analysis were used to confirm the structure of the synthesised compounds.The compounds were targeted against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli for antibacterial activity and Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum for antifungal activity. Methods: A mixture of Acid hydrazides (3.0 mmol) and N, Nʹ- carbonyl diimidazole (3.3 mmol) in 15 mL of dioxane was refluxed to afford substituted [1, 3, 4]-oxadiazole-2(3H)-one. The resulted [1, 3, 4]- oxadiazole-2(3H)-one (1.42 mmol) was oxidized with Chromyl chloride (1.5 mL) in 20 mL of carbon tetra chloride and condensed with acetophenones (1.42 mmol) to get chalcones 4. The equimolar ratio of obtained chalcones 4 and β -D-1,2,3,4,6- penta-O-acetylglucopyranose in presence of iodine was refluxed to get nucleosides 5. The [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 were tested to determined minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value with the experimental procedure of Benson using disc-diffusion method. All compounds were tested at concentration of 5 mg/mL, 2.5 mg/mL, 1.25 mg/mL, 0.62 mg/mL, 0.31 mg/mL and 0.15 mg/mL for antifungal activity against three strains of pathogenic fungi Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus), Aspergillus niger (A. niger) and Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum) and for antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacterium: Escherichia coli (E. coli), and two Gram-positive bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Bacillus subtilis(B. subtilis). Result: The chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 were screened for antibacterial activity against E. coli, S. aureus and B. subtilis whereas antifungal activity against A. flavus, A. niger and F. oxysporum. Compounds 4a-t showed good antibacterial activity whereas compounds 5a-t containing glucose moiety showed better activity against fungi. The glucose moiety of compounds 5 helps to enter into the cell wall of fungi and control the cell growth. Conclusion: Chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 incorporating [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core were synthesized and characterized by various spectral techniques and elemental analysis. These compounds were evaluated for their antifungal activity against three fungi; viz. A. flavus, A. niger and F. oxysporum. In addition to this, synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against gram negative bacteria E. Coli and gram positive bacteria S. aureus, B. subtilis. Compounds 4a-t showed good antibacterial activity whereas 5a-t showed better activity against fungi.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Ozioma F. Nwabor ◽  
Sukanlaya Leejae ◽  
Supayang P. Voravuthikunchai

As the burden of antibacterial resistance worsens and treatment options become narrower, rhodomyrtone—a novel natural antibiotic agent with a new antibacterial mechanism—could replace existing antibiotics for the treatment of infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-positive bacteria. In this study, rhodomyrtone was detected within the cell by means of an easy an inexpensive method. The antibacterial effects of rhodomyrtone were investigated on epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Thin-layer chromatography demonstrated the entrapment and accumulation of rhodomyrtone within the bacterial cell wall and cell membrane. The incorporation of radiolabelled precursors revealed that rhodomyrtone inhibited the synthesis of macromolecules including DNA, RNA, proteins, the cell wall, and lipids. Following the treatment with rhodomyrtone at MIC (0.5–1 µg/mL), the synthesis of all macromolecules was significantly inhibited (p ≤ 0.05) after 4 h. Inhibition of macromolecule synthesis was demonstrated after 30 min at a higher concentration of rhodomyrtone (4× MIC), comparable to standard inhibitor compounds. In contrast, rhodomyrtone did not affect lipase activity in staphylococci—both epidemic methicillin-resistant S. aureus and S. aureus ATCC 29213. Interfering with the synthesis of multiple macromolecules is thought to be one of the antibacterial mechanisms of rhodomyrtone.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Céline Liaud ◽  
Sarah Chouvenc ◽  
Stéphane Le Calvé

The emergence of new super-insulated buildings to reduce energy consumption can lead to a degradation of the indoor air quality. While some studies were carried out to assess the air quality in these super-insulated buildings, they were usually focused on the measurement of gas phase pollutants such as carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds. This work reports the first measurements of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with particles as a function of time and particle size in a low-energy building. The airborne particles were collected indoors and outdoors over three to four days of sampling using two three-stage cascade impactors allowing to sample simultaneously particles with aerodynamic diameter Dae > 10 µm, 2.5 µm < Dae < 10 µm, 1 µm < Dae < 2.5 µm, and Dae < 1 µm. The 16 US-EPA priority PAHs were then extracted and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to fluorescence detection. The resulting total particle concentrations were low, in the ranges 3.73 to 9.66 and 0.60 to 8.83 µg m-3 for indoors and outdoors, respectively. Thirteen PAHs were always detected in all the samples. The total PAH concentrations varied between 290 and 415 pg m−3 depending on the particle size, the environment (indoors or outdoors) and the sampling period considered. More interestingly, the temporal variations of individual PAHs highlighted that high molecular weight PAHs were mainly associated to the finest particles and some of them exhibited similar temporal behaviors, suggesting a common emission source. The indoor-to-outdoor concentration ratios of individual PAH were usually found close to or less than 1, except during the event combining rainy conditions and limited indoor ventilation rate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dillip Kumar Mohapatra ◽  
Philip James Camp ◽  
John Philip

We probe the influence of particle size polydispersity on field-induced structures and structural transitions in magnetic fluids (ferrofluids) using phase contrast optical microscopy, light scattering and Brownian dynamics simulations. Three...


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara D. Forestieri ◽  
Gavin C. Cornwell ◽  
Taylor M. Helgestad ◽  
Kathryn A. Moore ◽  
Christopher Lee ◽  
...  

Abstract. The extent to which water uptake influences the light scattering ability of marine sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles depends critically on SSA chemical composition. The organic fraction of SSA can increase during phytoplankton blooms, decreasing the salt content and therefore the hygroscopicity of the particles. In this study, subsaturated hygroscopic growth factors at 85 % relative humidity (GF(85 %)) of SSA particles were quantified during two induced phytoplankton blooms in marine aerosol reference tanks (MARTs). One MART was illuminated with fluorescent lights and the other was illuminated with sunlight, referred to as the "indoor" and "outdoor" MARTs, respectively. GF(85 %) values for SSA particles were derived from measurements of light scattering and particle size distributions, concurrently with online single particle and bulk aerosol composition measurements. During both microcosm experiments, the observed bulk average GF(85 %) values were depressed substantially relative to pure, inorganic sea salt, by 10 to 19 %, with a one (indoor MART) and six (outdoor MART) day lag between GF(85 %) depression and the peak chlorophyll-a concentrations. The fraction of organiccontaining SSA particles generally increased after the peak of the phytoplankton blooms. The GF(85 %) values were inversely correlated with the fraction of particles containing organic or other biological markers. This indicates these particles were less hygroscopic than the particles identified as predominately sea salt containing and demonstrates a clear relationship between SSA particle composition and the sensitivity of light scattering to variations in relative humidity. The implications of these observations to the direct climate effects of SSA particles are discussed.


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