Focus on 14 sewage treatment plants in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa in order to gauge the efficiency of wastewater treatment

In order to identify the treatment methods used in different sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the Mpumalanga Province and to determine the efficiency of wastewater treatment by these plants,municipal STPs were surveyed, and raw and treated wastewater samples collected. A total of 14 STPs were visited and the collected samples were analysed for physicochemical and microbiologicalparameters using standard methods. The treatment methods identified included ponds, activated sludge and trickling filters. The reduction of turbidity by the plants varied between 6.2 and 99.6% whileconductivity, pH and temperature varied slightly between the influent and the effluent wastewater. Thirteen (92.8%) of the plants used chlorine for disinfection of the final effluent, however only 2 (14.2%)of the plants managed to produce effluent with 0 (zero) faecal coliforms per 100 m. Common pathogenic bacteria isolated from the final effluent included Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp. and Enterococcus spp. The final effluent was used for irrigation and recycling purposes in 4 plants, all the other treatment plants discharged the effluent into the river or to the environment. Thepresent study indicated that there is a move toward the renovation of wastewater treatment by the municipalities in the Mpumalanga Province with the adoption of biological treatment. All the STPs reduced the turbidity of wastewater as well as the different microbial indicators counts; however, several pathogenic bacterial organisms could still be detected in the final effluent. Further studies are needed to confirm the role of the treatment procedures on nutrient reduction and elimination of other viral and parasitic pathogens by the sewage treatment plants

Anti-spermatogenic and estrogenic effects of Escravos crude oil in Chinchilla rabbits

This study aimed at investigating the effects of Escravos crude oil on spermatogenesis in relation to serum concentrations of estradiol and total cholesterol. A total of 30 male Chinchilla rabbits within the age range of 12 to 14 weeks and weighing 1.2 kg to 1.45 kg were used in this study. The doses of 00, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mg kg-1 body weight of Escravos crude oil were orally administered to groups A, B, C, D and E, respectively for 28 days. Serum concentrations of estradiol and total cholesterol were estimated using the microplate enzyme immunoassay and enzymatic end point methods, respectively. The SPSS software package (version 16) was used for the statistical analyses and results expressed in mean ± Standard Deviation. The results showed dose dependent significant increases in estradiol (18.32 +/- 6.46 to 69.41 +/- 12.89 pg/ml) and total cholesterol (1.32 +/- 0.24 to 2.92 +/- 0.34 mmol/l) concentrations (p<0.05), and insignificant increase (p>0.05) in the relative weight of the testis (3.80 +/- 0.40 to 5.50 +/- 0.90 g). The histology of the testes revealed decreased spermatogenic activity. The findings of this study suggest that Escravos crude oil could be a potential endocrine disruptor and anti-spermatogenic agent.Keywords: Escravos crude oil, Estradiol, Anti-Spermatogenesis, Total cholesterol, Chinchilla rabbits

Antibiotic resistance profiles and relatedness of enteric bacterial pathogens isolated from HIV/AIDS patients with and without diarrhoea and their household drinking water in rural communities in Limpopo Province South Africa

Antibiotic resistance profiles and the correlation of enteric bacterial pathogens from HIV positive individuals with and without diarrhoea and their household drinking water were determined using the KirbyBauer disk diffusion and polymerase chain reaction methods respectively. The sef gene of Salmonella enteritidis was amplified with the primer pair sefA-1 and sefA-2. The fliC gene of Salmonella typhimurium was amplified with the primer pair flicA-1 and flicA-2. Heat-labile toxin (LT) primers (Lta and LTb) were used to amplify Escherichia coli isolates and VirA1 and VirA2 for the Vir A gene of Shigella dysenteriae. Results of antibiotic resistance profiles of enteric bacterial pathogens isolated from stool samples of HIV positive and negative individuals with and without diarrhea and their household drinking water showed very similar drug resistance patterns. Over 90% of all the organisms isolated from the various study cohorts showed resistance to penicillin, cloxacillin and amoxicillin. Conversely, almost all the organisms were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, meropenem and imipenem. About 50% of E. coli isolated from the various study cohorts showed multiple antibiotic resistance to penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, doxycycline and cotri-moxazole ( PR, AR, APR, ER, TR, DXTR, and TSR ) whereas less than 10% resistance was consistently reported for ofloxacin, gentamycin, meropenem cefotaxime, cefuroxime and imipenem ( OFXS, GMS, MEMS, CTXS, CXMS and IMIS ). The majority of Salmonella and Shigella isolates from all the groups were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amikacin, meropenem, imipenem, nalidixic acid, kanamycin, piperacillin-tazo bactam, cefuroxime, doxycyclin, cefepime and ceftazidime (CIPS, GMS, AKS, MEMS, IMIS, NAS, KNS, DXTS, CXMS, CPMS, CAZS and PTZS). For Campylobacter, over 30% of the isolates were resistant to erythromycin, ampicillin, tetracycline,cotrimoxazole and ceftazidime (ER, APR TSR and CAZR) whereas over 85% were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, gentamycin, amikacin, mero-penem, and nalidixic acid (CIPS, OFXS, GMS, AKS,MEMS and NAS). In addition to penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin and erythromycin, Aeromonas and Plesiomonas spp were more resistant to chloramphenicol, but were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, amikacin, meropenem, imipenem and nalidixic acid (CIPS, GMS, AKS, MEMS, IMIS and NAS). Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) experiments using targeted species genes of S. enteritidis, S. typhimurium, E. coli, Sh. dysenteriae showed that isolates from stool samples of HIV positive and HIV negative individuals with and without diarrhoea were also present in the household drinking water of the same study cohorts, suggesting that drinking water may have been the sources of the organisms in stool sample. Furthermore, by showing that the primers were able to amplify the genes in both clinical and environmental isolates, the link between the virulence of the pathogens was established

Modeling precision treatment of breast cancer

Background: First-generation molecular profiles for human breast cancers have enabled the identification of features that can predict therapeutic response; however, little is known about how the various data types can best be combined to yield optimal predictors. Collections of breast cancer cell lines mirror many aspects of breast cancer molecular pathobiology, and measurements of their omic and biological therapeutic responses are well-suited for development of strategies to identify the most predictive molecular feature sets. Results: We used least squares-support vector machines and random forest algorithms to identify molecular features associated with responses of a collection of 70 breast cancer cell lines to 90 experimental or approved therapeutic agents. The datasets analyzed included measurements of copy number aberrations, mutations, gene and isoform expression, promoter methylation and protein expression. Transcriptional subtype contributed strongly to response predictors for 25% of compounds, and adding other molecular data types improved prediction for 65%. No single molecular dataset consistently out-performed the others, suggesting that therapeutic response is mediated at multiple levels in the genome. Response predictors were developed and applied to TCGA data, and were found to be present in subsets of those patient samples. Conclusions: These results suggest that matching patients to treatments based on transcriptional subtype will improve response rates, and inclusion of additional features from other profiling data types may provide additional benefit. Further, we suggest a systems biology strategy for guiding clinical trials so that patient cohorts most likely to respond to new therapies may be more efficiently identified

The incidence, aetiology and outcome of acute seizures in children admitted to a rural Kenyan district hospital

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acute seizures are a common cause of paediatric admissions to hospitals in resource poor countries and a risk factor for neurological and cognitive impairment and epilepsy. We determined the incidence, aetiological factors and the immediate outcome of seizures in a rural malaria endemic area in coastal Kenya.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited all children with and without seizures, aged 0–13 years and admitted to Kilifi District hospital over 2 years from 1^stDecember 2004 to 30^thNovember 2006. Only incident admissions from a defined area were included. Patients with epilepsy were excluded. The population denominator, the number of children in the community on 30^thNovember 2005 (study midpoint), was modelled from a census data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seizures were reported in 900/4,921(18.3%) incident admissions and at least 98 had status epilepticus. The incidence of acute seizures in children 0–13 years was 425 (95%CI 386, 466) per 100,000/year and was 879 (95%CI 795, 968) per 100,000/year in children <5 years. This incidence data may however be an underestimate of the true incidence in the community. Over 80% of the seizures were associated with infections. Neonatal infections (28/43 [65.1%]) and falciparum malaria (476/821 [58.0%]) were the main diseases associated with seizures in neonates and in children six months or older respectively. Falciparum malaria was also the main illness (56/98 [57.1%]) associated with status epilepticus. Other illnesses associated with seizures included pyogenic meningitis, respiratory tract infections and gastroenteritis. Twenty-eight children (3.1%) with seizures died and 11 surviving children (1.3%) had gross neurological deficits on discharge. Status epilepticus, focal seizures, coma, metabolic acidosis, bacteraemia, and pyogenic meningitis were independently associated with mortality; while status epilepticus, hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and pyogenic meningitis were independently associated with neurological deficits on discharge.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a high incidence of acute seizures in children living in this malaria endemic area of Kenya. The most important causes are diseases that are preventable with available public health programs.</p

Efficacy of Quasi Agro Binding Fibre on the Hybrid Composite Used in Advance Application

The choice for natural fibre obtained from agricultural products is on the rise due to its solution to eco-friendly, environmental and improved mechanical properties concerns. Its abundant availability, low cost, emission reduction and adaptability to base material for composite make it a prime material for selection. This review explores diverse perspectives to the future trend of agro fibre in terms of the thermo-mechanical properties as it applies to advanced application in building structures. It is important to investigate the ecofriendliness of the products of composites from fibres in agricultural wastes so as to achieve a green and sustainable environment. This will come to fore by the combined efforts of both researchers and feedback from building stakeholders