Seroprevalence of rubella in pregnant women

Background: Rubella is a droplet infection characterized by self-limiting illness. However infection during pregnancy may result in miscarriage, congenital birth defects leading to long term morbidity. The aim of the study was to estimate the seroprevalence of rubella immunity in pregnant women.Methods: Antenatal patients, irrespective of period of gestation, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were tested for rubella IgG antibodies.Results: A total of 258 pregnant women were included in the study. The estimated seroprevalence of immunity against Rubella infection was 70.5% (n=182) whereas 29.5% (n=76) were seronegative and thus susceptible to rubella infection. The distribution of seroprevalence of rubella immunity based on age group and gravidity were also evaluated.Conclusions: The results reveal high level of rubella sero positivity, which indicates continued transmission of rubella infection in the community.

Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum EGD-AQ4, Isolated from Fermented Product of Northeast India

We present a draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum strain EGD-AQ4, isolated from nonalcoholic fermented bamboo shoot products of Northeast India. The size of the draft genome sequence is the largest among all the reported genome sequences of Lactobacillus plantarum, thus enabling the exploration of new gene clusters involved in various functional and probiotic attributes

Investigation of the active biofilm communities on polypropylene filter media in a fixed biofilm reactor for wastewater treatment

© 2018 Society of Chemical Industry BACKGROUND: This research is focused on the effect of temperature on the growth of active biofilms on polypropylene (PP) filter media in aerobic fixed biofilm reactors (FBR) for wastewater treatment. RESULTS: High-throughput sequencing was used to explore the composition and diversity of the microbial community of 14-days-old (starting phase) biofilms grown at 10, 20 and 30°C. Members of the classes Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were predominant in all the biofilm samples retrieved from PP-FBRs. A total of 108 genera of bacteria were identified, with some of them present in all three reactors, including Trichococcus, Zoogloea, Aeromonas, Acidovorax, and Malikias, among others. Besides these shared populations, certain genera were abundantly found in individual biofilm samples, like Brevundimonas (17.1%), Chitinimonas (10.3%) and Roseateles (39.3%), at 10, 20, and 30°C, respectively. The metabolic capabilities of active microbial communities in PP-FBRs were estimated by assessing the changes in different variables (BOD, DO, and pH) in the influent and effluent during operation. A noteworthy BOD removal (66.6%) was shown by PP-FBRs operating at 30°C, compared with 20°C (28.3%) and 10°C (28.8%),consistent with the DO levels recorded in the effluents, highest at 30°C (70.5%), and decreasing with declining temperatures. Substantial wastewater treatment efficiencies were observed in the reactors at 30°C, attributable to the higher relative abundance and diversity of microbial biofilms. CONCLUSIONS: The development of physiologically active biofilms in PP at all prevailing temperatures strongly suggests that the material is suitable to be employed in FBRs for wastewater treatment at different operational temperatures. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

Impacts of chemical gradients on microbial community structure

Succession of redox processes is sometimes assumed to define a basic microbial community structure for ecosystems with oxygen gradients. In this paradigm, aerobic respiration, denitrification, fermentation and sulfate reduction proceed in a thermodynamically determined order, known as the ‘redox tower’. Here, we investigated whether redox sorting of microbial processes explains microbial community structure at low-oxygen concentrations. We subjected a diverse microbial community sampled from a coastal marine sediment to 100 days of tidal cycling in a laboratory chemostat. Oxygen gradients (both in space and time) led to the assembly of a microbial community dominated by populations that each performed aerobic and anaerobic metabolism in parallel. This was shown by metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and stable isotope incubations. Effective oxygen consumption combined with the formation of microaggregates sustained the activity of oxygen-sensitive anaerobic enzymes, leading to braiding of unsorted redox processes, within and between populations. Analyses of available metagenomic data sets indicated that the same ecological strategies might also be successful in some natural ecosystems

Monitoring biological wastewater treatment processes: Recent advances in spectroscopy applications

Biological processes based on aerobic and anaerobic technologies have been continuously developed to wastewater treatment and are currently routinely employed to reduce the contaminants discharge levels in the environment. However, most methodologies commonly applied for monitoring key parameters are labor intensive, time-consuming and just provide a snapshot of the process. Thus, spectroscopy applications in biological processes are, nowadays, considered a rapid and effective alternative technology for real-time monitoring though still lacking implementation in full-scale plants. In this review, the application of spectroscopic techniques to aerobic and anaerobic systems is addressed focusing on UV--Vis, infrared, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, chemometric techniques, valuable tools to extract the relevant data, are also referred. To that effect, a detailed analysis is performed for aerobic and anaerobic systems to summarize the findings that have been obtained since 2000. Future prospects for the application of spectroscopic techniques in biological wastewater treatment processes are further discussed.The authors thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors also acknowledge the financial support to Daniela P. Mesquita and Cristina Quintelas through the postdoctoral Grants (SFRH/BPD/82558/2011 and SFRH/BPD/101338/2014) provided by FCT - Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobile energy hub planning for urban communities : a life cycle thinking based framework

The current climate change targets have augmented the transition towards carbon-neutral transportation systems. Hence, electric vehicles (EVs) are viewed as the most desirable instruments to reduce the automobile industry’s dependence on fossil fuels as they can integrate energy from clean sources for transportation. The electricity grid with a high penetration of renewable energy can enable emission-free travel using state-of-the-art EVs. The extensive EV demands at peak times and increased household/workplace electricity use due to population growth have led to higher utility infrastructure investments. Further, the adoption of the smart power grid concept has seen EVs being explored as energy hubs since they can be connected to the power grid with the implementation of the vehicle to grid (V2G) concept. EVs interacting with the power grid based on scheduled demand requirements can have a significant impact on society. Cars are parked 95 percent of the time; thus, with proper design and the correct infrastructure, parked and plugged-in EVs might become mass power banks, stabilizing future electric grids. They can also power households and integrate renewable energy with storage systems. However, the successful implementation and widespread adoption of V2G presents a multi-faceted problem. Through life cycle thinking, this study explores the potential opportunities and challenges of the V2G technology and examines its technological, economic, and policy-based impacts. Accordingly, this study proposes a comprehensive framework to plan and develop mobile energy hubs considering the temporal variation of EV recharging demands. Using recharging characteristics, life cycle costs travel behaviors, and geographic data as inputs to the model, the proposed framework was applied to a city in British Columbia, Canada. The outcomes of this research would be beneficial to governments, municipalities, electric utilities, and developers to understand the dynamically changing scenario in transport electrification and make decisions on climate change mitigation programs.Applied Science, Faculty ofEngineering, School of (Okanagan)Graduat

Recent Advances in Factors and Methods for Stimulation of Biomethane Production

The role of methanogenesis in the global carbon cycle is very important for recycle of renewable biomass which, has the potential for contribution to independence from fossil fuels. Anaerobic microbes comprised of fermentative and acetogenic species decompose the complex biomass to hydrogen, formate and, acetate that are further metabolized to methane by methanogens. A general review of biogenic production of methane and methanogenic diversity involved is presented. This review gives an overview of recent patents on methane production and focuses mainly on different methods, systems and, microbial methanogenic community involved in anaerobic digestion that can be used for improved understanding of the microbial community function and relationships in methanogenesis

Case report of autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by early-onset cerebellar ataxia with spasticity, a pyramidal syndrome and peripheral neuropathy Here, we present a 28-year-old male patient with symptoms of gait instability, distal sensory loss and spasticity since 10 years of age with slow progression and is currently moderately disabled in his daily activities. His nerve conduction studies and neuroimaging were consistent with the diagnosis. Our emphasis would be on the specific magnetic resonance imaging features of the entity, which would help narrow down the genetic testing and provide the practitioner with a rather accurate diagnosis needed for prognostication and valuable counseling thereafter

Shifts in microbial community in response to dissolved oxygen levels in activated sludge

This study evaluates the degradative efficiency of activated biomass collected from a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) under three different dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, 1, 2 and 4 mg l�1. The change in bacterial diversity with reference to DO levels was also analyzed. Results demonstrate that degradative efficiency was the highest, when the reactor was maintained at 4 mg l�1 DO, but amplicon library analysis showed a greater diversity of bacteria in the reactor maintained at 2 mg l�1 DO. Bacteria belonging to the order Desulfuromonadales, Entomoplasmatales, Pasteurellales, Thermales and Chloroflexales have only been detected in this reactor. Ammonia and nitrate levels in all three reactors indicated efficient nitrification process. Results of this study offer new insights into understanding the performance of activated biomass vis-à-vis microbial diversity and degradative efficiency with reference to DO. This information would be useful in improving the efficiency of any wastewater treatment plant