Biosurfactant Production and Biodegradation of Leather Dust from Tannery

Background The leather industry contributes vast amounts of pollution damaging to aquatic and terrestrial environments. Leather dust is a chromium-contaminated waste produced from the shaving and buffering processes involved in leather tanning. Microorganisms have been investigated for their usefulness in bioremediation and recycling of waste materials. Solid leather waste is the current focus of material to be remediated in this study. Objective The present work focuses on the development of a process to degrade the leather dust protein with the aim of removing the chromium bound within the protein. As part of the study, detecting the presence of biosurfactant production was performed to fuel further interest in value-added by-products of the process. Method Bacillus subtilis SA-6 was used to treat the leather dust over a 10 day shake flask study. Daily samples were taken and analysed for chromium content by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The surface tension of the shake flask cultures was also investigated to detect for any valuable by-products such as biosurfactants for future prospects of developing an economically viable process. Results Chromium concentration demonstrated an exponential increase between 0-120 h in shake flask experiments. In the presence of B. subtilis SA-6 chromium concentration in cell free supernatant increased from 0.13±0.09 mg/L to 190.81±20.18 mg/L compared to when B. subtilis SA-6 was absent. Surface tension decreased during fermentation from 53.23±0.92 mN/m to 30.13±0.15 mN/m in 24 h. Conclusion This study demonstrates a waste management process, which detoxifies solid tannery waste to reduce environmental pollution, whilst yielding value-added products (such as biosurfactant) to provide an economically viable bioprocess with potential for large-scale development

A perfect storm : polycystic ovary syndrome masking underlying yype 1 Von Willebrand disease

Von Willebrand Disease (vWD) is the most common inherited bleeding diathesis worldwide and results in defects in von Willebrand Factor (vWF), inducing a hypocoagulable state. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by chronic inflammation and hyperestrogenism, both of which induce acute phase reactions and increase serum levels of vWF and Factor VIII, yielding a prothrombotic state. These laboratory elevations may obscure the diagnosis of underlying vWD in patients with both conditions. We report a case of a 23 year-old female with PCOS and menorrhagia who presented prior to a surgical procedure for evaluation of bleeding risk

Haemobilia: a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding

Iatrogenic injury to hepatic duct leading to pseudoaneurysm and haemobilia can occur following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We report a case of a 60 years old man presenting with haematemesis found to have pseudoaneurysm of accessory hepatic artery 4 months after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Diagnosis was made by computed tomography (CT) scan followed by celiac and mesenteric artery angiogram. The bleeding was successfully treated with coil embolization

Correlates of morbidity and mortality in severe necrotizing pancreatitis

Acute severe pancreatitis is associated with a high morbidity and mortality and frequently is accompanied by underlying pancreatic parenchymal necrosis. Patients with pancreatic necrosis must be identified, because the morbidity and mortality rate in this subgroup is much higher. Our objective was to compare the clinical outcomes of these patients based on the degree of pancreatic necrosis. A total of 35 patients were noted to have pancreatic necrosis. These were divided into 2 groups based on extent of necrosis: group A had less than 50% necrosis and group B had more than 50% necrosis. The rate of mortality (5% versus 40%) was significantly higher in group B. The rate of organ dysfunction also rose along with the rates of other morbidities and variables that were related to a patient’s hospital stay. Only APACHE II significantly correlated with the degree of necrosis, wherein the chances of substantial necrosis rose by 20% with each unit increase of APACHE II score. APACHE II Score could be employed and studied further prospectively to help identify patients with pancreatic necrosis

Occupational stress and addiction: Possible neurobiological elucidation of medical waste related individuals

Multiple factors contribute to the tendency to develop drug addictions, including social or psychological stressors. Most studies examining causes of and treatments for drug addiction have been conducted in Western developed nations. Here we used phenomenological research approach to explore the neurobiological explanation of drug addiction and to investigate attitudes towards drug use amongst individuals working with medical waste. Data were collected in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, using a variety of techniques based on formal representative sampling for fixed populations and adaptive sampling for roaming populations. We found that over half of participants interviewed reported using illicit substances to cope with occupational stress. Self-reported disease symptoms related to stress were reported by most of the respondents. Working with horrifying waste contributes to increased stress among the participants. These results indicate that in the case of these workers, workplace stressors along with cultural and socio-economic context uniquely contribute to, and exacerbate, tendencies toward drug addiction

Regeneration potential of seedling explants of chilli (Capsicum annuum)

A study was conducted with hypocotyl, cotyledon and shoot tip of chilli as explants for regeneration on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of auxins and cytokinins. Regeneration potential was determined by two ways. One is regeneration of shoot via callus formation from hypocotyls and cotyledon explants; another was direct shoot regeneration from shoot tip explant. The highest callus was induced from hypocotyl in a combination of BAP (5.0 mgL-1) with NAA (0.1 mgL-1) and cotyledon in a combination of BAP (5.0 mgL-1) with IAA ((1.0 mgL-1). The callus induction as well as shoot initiation was higher in hypocotyls than cotyledon. Shoot tips regenerated into plantlets directly with sporadic small callus at the base. Shoot elongation was accelerated by using additional supplementation of GA3 and AgNO3. Regenerated shoots rooted best on the MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg L-1 NAA + 0.05 mg L-1 IBA