Diabetes and hypertension in urban bhutanese men and women

Background: Bhutan is a mountainous country with 31% urban population. There is no information on prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in Bhutan yet. This was the first study of its kind conducted in the capital city. Objective: To determine prevalence of diabetes, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and hypertension in urban Bhutanese population aged 25 to 74 years. Materials and Methods: Stratified two-stage sampling was adopted to include 2474 respondents (Males: 1132, Females: 1342) equally distributed among different age and sex groups. A questionnaire containing demographic, educational and social details and history of diabetes and hypertension was administered on the sampled population the previous evening and blood pressure measured the next morning in nearby camp where fasting blood samples were collected and an oral glucose tolerance test done. Results: Age and sex standardized prevalence of diabetes, IGT and IFG were 8.2.0, 21.6 and 4%, respectively. Only 66.5% of the population had normal blood sugar. Prevalence of diabetes and IGT increased progressively with increasing age. Prevalence of hypertension was 26% (Males: 28.3%, Females: 23.2%). It was observed that 54.1% of diabetes population had hypertension. Conclusion: The study shows that not only is prevalence of diabetes and hypertension high in the urban Bhutanese but also there is a high diagnosis and treatment gap in these disorders

Characterization and removal of microplastics in Guheshwori wastewater treatment plant in Nepal

Contamination of river water systems by microplastic particles (MPPs) is one of the emerging global environmental concerns with potentially widespread ecological, socioeconomic, and health implications. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processes and treats wastewater to remove pollutants and release safe water into the environment. There has been limited research on the characterization of microplastics and their removal at a WWTP in South Asia. In this work, we report on the characterization of microplastics in wastewater and sludge samples (n=300) from Guheshwori WWTP located on the bank of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu representing inlet, secondary aeration tank (SAT), outlet, and sludge from November 2021 to November 2022. On average, we detected 31.2±17.3 MPPs/L, 11.2±9.4 MPPs/L, 7.0±5.6 MPPs/L, and 6.6±4.8 MPPs/g in the samples collected from inlet, SAT, outlet, and sludge, respectively. Commonly found MPPs were in the form of fiber, fragment, foam, and pellet. Largely, MPPs were red, yellow, white, blue, and black in color. The most dominant size fractions were 500 µm – 150 µm in inlet, SAT, and sludge, and 150 µm – 44 µm in the outlet sampling unit. The Guheshwori WWTP was able to remove 77.5% MPPs on average, that mostly occurred in the inlet. The effluent released into the river and the sludge still contained a significant number of microplastics particles