Treatment of Municipal Wastewater Through Horizontal Flow Constructed Wetland

Highly contaminated municipal wastewater is being disposed of into land and rivers without any prior treatment has severe side effects on human and marine animals. This research focused on the treatment of Majeed Keerio village municipal wastewater through horizontal flow constructed wetland system. The experimental study was evaluated and monitored timely over a year. The overall treatment efficiency performance of the wetland system was determined by considering organic pollutants removal efficiency. This study emphasized on the design of horizontal flow constructed wetland for the effective treatment of municipal wastewater of village Majeed Keerio, Sakrand, Sindh. The constructed wetland efficiently reduced COD, BOD5, TSS, turbidity, total phosphate, total nitrogen pollutants of wastewater, which was about 92.3%, 93%, 96%, 96.4% and 74%, respectively. This method reduced all thermotolerant coliforms. Constructed wetland system was found most economical and effective for the treatment of domestic wastewater. The effect of different hydraulic loading rates under varying hydraulic retention times within the constructed wetland was examined. The higher hydraulic retention times resulted in improved pollutants removal efficiency

Evaluation of the Iodine Concentration in Serum and Urine of Hypothyroid Males Using an Inexpensive and Rapid Method

The aim of present study was to evaluate the iodine/iodide status in biological samples (serum and urine) of 172 male hypothyroid patients (HPs) and their supplemental effects on thyroid hormones. For comparison purpose, non-goitrous subjects (n= 220) of same age group and socioeconomic status were also studied. A simple and rapid iodide-ion selective electrode (ISE) was used to measure the concentration of iodine in microwave assisted acid digested serum and urine samples. Quality control for the methodology was established with certified samples and with those obtained by conventional wet acid digestion method on the same certified reference materials (CRMs) and real samples. A linear calibration curve was obtained for a reasonable concentration range of the potassium iodide solutions. The mean concentration of iodine in the serum and urine samples of the HPs was significantly reduced as compared to control male subjects (p< 0.01). The low levels of free triiodothyronine and thyroxin were found in HPs than age matched healthy control (p< 0.005 and 0.002) respectively while high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone were observed in HPs (p< 0.008). The proposed method was relatively efficient as well as cost effective by using inexpensive equipment. It was observed that iodine in biological samples of HPs can play an important role in determining the severity of the hypothyroidism